Vaporwave

Today’s Track: The Spirit Of The Beehive – ‘I Suck The Devil’s C***k’

December 30, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ (LP) (Released on April 9th, 2021) (via Saddle Creek Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and you’re tuned into the final part of my underrated underground series leading up to New Year’s Day as I deliver yet another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘I Suck The Devil’s ****’ is a title as irreverent as they come, and one that I write about hesitantly due to the demonic implications of the name, however, this is the most suitable representation of ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ – the latest album from the Pensylvania-based Prog Rock band The Spirit Of The Beehive – that we’re going to get. An insanely beautiful yet intensely difficult project to wrap your head around, the record reflects late-night paranoia music that is enigmatic and cryptic. It is also intimate without giving any significant details away, and that’s made it a favourite among the year-end lists of high-brow critics this year. Taking their name from a Spanish cinematic masterpiece released in 1973 with the same title, the band are signed up to Saddle Creek Records and boast Zack Schwartz among their lineup who honed his Vaporwave craft as a former member of Glocca Morra. A reclusive release that has gained universal acclaim this year – and one of my back-and-forth favourite listens of 2021 – ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ is the band’s first album without the former drummer Pat Conaboy and rhythm guitarist Kyle Laganella who left the band in 2020. The second single – ‘I Suck The Devil’s ****’ – is a four-part song that essentially feels like four different singles sewn together through post-production trickery. The workout-in-hell themed music video was also helmed by a trio of different directors (Part 1 is by Ada Babar, Part 3 is by Documavision and Parts 2 and 4 by Noah Burke) that each unfold in four chapters along with the music recording. You will just have to see how it all fits together below.

In what initially feels like a labyrinth of a near 7-minute recording, the band notes, “It’s our take on ‘A day in the life’. A man, overworked and undervalued discovers a portal to another time and a place where he hears a familiar song on the radio. In the context of the record, this track specifically encapsulates the dread of required performance, ultimately leading to a freeing death”, in a joint press statement. As the band channel a multitude of influences including Post-Hardcore and Vaporwave among many others, the band deliver a lengthy ego death sentence that blurs the lines between homespun Lo-Fi Rock to mangled Dream-Pop to aggressive Post-Rock to dis-associative Ambient Pop – all while wrapped in a noise collage Shoegaze thread – to create a very psychedelic journey that takes listeners from upside-down textures to inside-out downbeat sounds. Through these ever-winding spirals of self-reflection, the group pull us from one realm of bizzare fantasy to another, while creating enough compelling rhythms and bold, if fairly obscured, textures that make up the highly experimental piece of twisted Psych-Rock and melodic bursts of Post-Rock that echo glimmering fragments of Tame Impala and Black Country, New Road among other diverse comparison points. There aren’t any particularly memorable lyrics, but there are multiple planes of eclectic instrumentation that underscore the more emotive qualities of lyrics like “Scared of needles, but not of everything” and “Another middle class dumb American, falling asleep” to a notably playful effect, and so the complete package is more enticing, lyrically, than the wonky title of the track may lead you to believe. The music, however, sounds just as mischievous – mixing up some ethereal guitar rock with peculiar tangents that keep you guessing what may come next as the trio continue to create unpredictable shifts in tone. At each point in this release, I would forgive you for thinking you were listening to a different track with each few beats skipped, but it is a testament to the band’s abilities to create something so captivating through playing with cohesion, as the track cycles through its chaotic vignettes to build to an acknowledgment of an insignificant fate of the lead character, if you will. If you have been on the fence about Spirit Of The Beehive at any point, this kind of rare recording will certainly help any listeners to decide to be on the right one.

Pictured: Zack Schwartz (Co-Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Samples), Rivka Ravede (Co-Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar/Percussion), Corey Wichlin (Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Kyle Laganella (Bass Guitar) and Pat Conaboy (Drums/Electronic Drum Kit/Backing Vocals) (in 2018) (Photo Credit: Natalie Piserchi and Isabel Liang)

That brings us to the end of a very interesting post. It was nice to deviate from my typical formula a little with this segmented single, and I thank you for joining me by reading the results. Tomorrow, we’ll be looking back at a mid-00’s winter Folk classic in the spirit of the New Year’s Eve and Christmas season. The single comes from a well-known and critically acclaimed Seattle-formed Alternative Folk band who took a hiatus between 2013 and 2016 when the frontman pursued an undergraduate degree.

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Today’s Track: Cathy Jain – ‘Green Screen’

November 1, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Artificial’ (EP) (Available from November 5, 2021) (via Yala! Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and you’ve arrived at the right time for yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This is a brand new week and a brand new month, so I’ve got some brand new music from a brand new artist to mark the occasion of the theme. Cathy Jain is a 17-year-old singer-songwriter who mostly gravitates towards Bedroom Pop and Alternative R&B in terms of her production. She was raised in China and Australia before moving to the UK when she reached the age of 13, and she now finds herself currently based in Wistaton, Cheshire. A recent Brine Leas student, Jain can speak Chinese fluently and, in her time there, she learned how to play the Guzheng, a traditional Zither-like instrument. Jain found her break when she landed a top five place in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge Talent Search among more than 10,000 entries, and she will be releasing her debut EP – ‘Artificial’ – on November 5th via Yala Records. Her fans include BBC Radio 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne and Steve Lamacq, and BBC Radio 1 hosts Clara Amfo and Jack Saunders, and she’s also gained support from NME, Clash and The Line Of Best Fit. The follow-up to her debut single ‘Cool Kid’ is ‘Green Screen’, which was co-produced and co-mixed by her frequent collaborator Rob Heron at the Cracked Analogue studio. So, let’s give it a listen below.

Cathy Jain’s work has been featured in major playlists across streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer, and when talking about the major themes of her soon-to-be-released EP, she explained in her press release, “Together, the four tracks take a look at how we define what is really ‘real’ when we spend so much of our time either in our own heads or in a virtual world online”. For ‘Green Screen’, Jain aimed to write a single with a more “epic vibe”, and she gradually weaves together several layers of Soulful instrumentation and vocal harmonies to build the recorded track up to create some accessible Alternative Pop with hints of Lo-Fi ambience and mild Psychedelic Rock. Pulling in some Vaporwave and Chillwave influences for a surprisingly laidback opening, she complains, “I’m bored/It’s late, the stores are closed and I’d explore my phone I have some more”, during the introductory verse. The themes of virtual interaction soon become clearer, with seductive lyrics like “Notes on every sting, making each one sting” and “Things I pretend to have experienced” in later sequences while the electronic textures dabble between blissful Synths and tender, acoustic guitar riffs. Jain refuses to follow the traditional Pop/Rock/Indie single structure of the present day and abandons this pre-conceived idea in favour of switching over to different backdrops to keep things interesting, including a more glitched combination of Keys and Synths aided by some more ballad-like and sing-song vocals in the later part of the single. A few hooks like “Sometimes we just wanna be/Some melodramatic teens in the feels” and “Kissing the green screen/Making me feel things” seem to reoccur now and again, but she places a larger emphasis on sweetly drawled verses and changes of tone plus timbre rather than relying on a typically catchy chorus. The music of the overall package has a back-and-forth pace to it and the harmonies feel a little playful at times, with the attitudes of self-awareness and reflection mixing neatly with the more Dream Pop-inspired backing beats that complement her explorations of exploring a virtual self shared with her colleagues and friends. Overall, ‘Green Screen’ is an intriguing and alternative Lo-Fi Pop single that may take some less acquired listeners a few listens to wrap their heads around, but I really enjoyed how it subverted my expectations of a teen, emo dream Pop song and she does things differently to her peers. The chilled synths reminded me of Still Woozy, the long-winded romantic croons made me think about La Roux, and her youthful take on the Alternative Soul game feels fresh while appealing for fans of Lorde. One that I’d like to experience outside of my own screens.

  • Pictured: Cathy Jain in an official publicity shot for her ‘Artificial’ EP (2021) (Photo courtesy of artist)

That’s all for now! Thank you very much for your continued support regarding the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at some more brand new material, this time coming from another gifted female solo singer songwriter from Wales who has pulled in an appearance on the site before, although it was covered in the early stages of 2019 and so I would forgive you if you’ve forgotten all about it. The Carmarthenshire-born artist, who sings in English and Welsh, will issue a new album via Mexican Summer in early 2022. She’s toured with St. Vincent and Perfume Genius.

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Today’s Track: Pizzagirl – “Car Freshener Aftershave”

July 19, 2021 — Leave a comment

Love a bit of 80’s soft-Rock or 00’s Psych-Pop? You’ll want a Pizza this! New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Softcore Mourn’ (LP) (Released on July 16th, 2021) (via Heist Or Hit Records)

A good afternoon to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for a brief respite away from the scorching heat for your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Monday’s music comes from Liverpool’s Liam Brown, who has recorded his material under different names over the years, but his current and most notable solo project is Pizzagirl. He goes all-in on that theme as well, recording his brand of Indie Pop and R&B-infused Psych-Rock from his bedroom, which he calls his “Beatzzeria”. His influences include The Orielles, Grimes, David Byrne, Ariel Pink, and he loves a bit of Kelly Clarkson too. The follow-up to 2019’s ‘First Timer’, his second album ‘Softcore Mourn’ was released over the past weekend via Manchester’s Heist Or Hit independent label. It finds him venting out his own lovelorn frustrations of 21st century dating and pulling in some elements of Vaporwave. Check out the lead single, ‘Car Freshener Aftershave’, below.

After being away from Liverpool’s scene for a short break, Liam Brown had this to say about the new album: “Over the last year or so I’ve been screaming, sighing, crying and lying at my computer, which has manifested itself into my aptly titled second album Softcore Mourn”, adding, “The first single ‘Car Freshener Aftershave’ is a cold reminder to the internet that I still exist and I still haven’t figured that out yet. I’d say this is a break-up song” to his press release notes. Likened to LCD Soundsystem and The Postal Service by Gaby Mawson of Clunkmag.com, the new tune goes for a hint of nostalgia with 90’s dial-up tones and Prog-Synth sounds that appear directly lifted from the 80’s by complementing the retro, teen-hood aesthetic of the self-referential lyrics. The Chiptune-leaning vocals contort themselves around different layers of instrumentation that are continuously adjoined to the soundscape, as the percussive finger clicks and fizzy Lo-Fi synths emerge in the cutting edge of the fray at elusive key changes. Quirky lyrics, like “Where are the cameras? I must be punk’d” call back to outdated popular culture, and lines like “Well, if you’re gonna cry, then at least make it snappy/Cause once in a while, well, I kind of feel happy” add subtle sentimentality to the mix with a vocalist who feels socially pessimistic leading us on the charge. The chorus, led by “The California motel vomit/It’s like a Jackson Pollock” and “The California motel vomit/It wasn’t me, I promise”, emphasizes the quirky sense of his own self’s inertia. The ambient electronica bulk of the track feels like it’s been lifted from a falsely futuristic 80’s infomercial. Constructively, I think the production space gets a little too busy at some points, and I would have liked for his voice to come out more naturally at times. There’s more here to enjoy than not, though, with a fun edge of Prog-Synth and hyperactive visuals that make his breaking point seem believable, and there is clearly a welcome personality to this track. A stuffed, but delicious, Crust.

  • Pictured: Liam Brown (aka Pizzagirl) in a ‘Softcore Mourn’ PR shoot (2021) (Photo by HeistOrHit.com)

That’s all for today, but please feel free to join me again tomorrow for another slice of action. BBC Radio 6 Music are a huge fan of my next artist, who makes his debut appearance on the site tomorrow. The London-via-NYC songwriter and producer previously found his footing in the Future-Soul duo Voices Of Black, and he’s set to support Yard Act later this year ahead of the release of his new album – due in August.

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Today’s Track: Joey Pecoraro – “You Never Told Me That”

May 18, 2021 — Leave a comment

A humble fella making Music For Happiness and your Imagination. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Old Time Radio” (LP) (Available from May 21, 2021) (via Alpha Pup)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, as you may have probably imagined by now, it’s time for me to get typing up for your track of the day on the blog, as per usual, since it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Aged 26, the Detroit-based independent electronica producer Joey Pecoraro studied Film at The University Of Michigan. That’s where he fell in love with the films and, evidently, the Radio plays of the 1930’s and the 1940’s, and he began to make his own music in his bedroom ever since 2014. His music takes on a Chillwave sound that also incorporates elements of Lo-Fi and Instrumental Hip-Hop music. He also loves to keep his own details very brief, simply describing himself as “Joey is a guy from Michigan who makes music for your emotions” for his biography on Spotify. His new album, ‘Old Time Radio’, follows up 2019’s ‘Deep In A Dream Of You’ EP and 2020’s ‘Sea Monster’ LP, and it releases this Friday via the Los Angeles-based indie label Alpha Pup Records. Check out his new single – ‘You Never Told Me That’ – below.

I first caught wind of Joey Pecoraro’s bedroom productions by hearing ‘Train, Cold, Snow’ on KCRW’s Today’s Top Tune podcast filled of daily samplers that you can download for free, and I’ve been keeping up with the new singles from his new album with keen ears since then. An interview from last year that I found suggests that he’s been listening to a lot of Buerno Pernadas and Westerman since the Lockdown era began last Spring, which have no doubt inspired the sonic direction for his latest body of work, which seemingly sees Pecoraro experimenting with samples from radio dramas he has either filtered or looped to make them sound vintage, or has used clips from authentic radio plays of a bygone era. Either way, it feels unusual and creative, and he certainly seems to be very unique for his age, especially. For ‘You Never Told Me That’, we freefall easily into what sounds like dialogue from a dated radio play scene of the 50’s or a deleted out-take from an old-time Christmas film like ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’. It’s not exactly clear what is being said, but it just establishes the tone softly and sweetly. From there, the creative direction goes into a more Instrumental style because the intellectual delivery of the script gets swiftly replaced by the sounds of insects chirping happily, twinkling Keyboard melodies and Classical String sections that seem happy to lurk out of the centre. Wordless vocals are layered above the top with a harmonic progression, as the Synths of the track continue to pave their own way for an arrangement that feels lush, relaxed and soothing. It all feels virtuosic, with seemingly obscure samples that have been tinkered away at and merticulously layered to create an absorbing atmosphere that induces calm and invites for you to have a moment to think as it’s listener. Sure, it never really goes anywhere. However, it doesn’t need to. This one disregards typical traits of Pop and Rock music like catchy hooks or poly-rhythms for the most part, and instead, it dedicates a space to convey a mood and a feeling. It also reminds me of The Avalanches, and he said that he loves them while responding to a YouTube comment from a fan asking him about them in one of his recent single uploads. This music is totally right up my street. Love this one.

  • Pictured: Joey Pecoraro in a Magnetic Magazine press shoot (2020) (Photography by Diana Georgie)

That’s all, folks! Join me again for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ tomorrow, where we will be revisiting an unlikely UK Top 20 chart success upon it’s re-release in 1984 produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley who have produced records for Madness and Elvis Costello back in the day. The artist was an English stand-up comedian, whose surrealist humor is in the vein of Monty Python or Billy Connolly, who was voted the 18th ‘Greatest Stand-Up Comic Of All-Time’ by the viewers of Channel 4’s ‘100 Greatest Stand Ups’ television one-off programme in 2007. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Iden Kai – “Disco James”

April 1, 2021 — Leave a comment

My haircut would be right for a Silent Disco – no volume what-so-ever. New post time!

  • Pictured: Front Sleeve for “Disco Fortuna” (Released on January 15, 2021) (via Neon City Records)

Good Afternoon to you (Borderline Evening) – I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s finally time again for me to get scribbling up about your track of the day on the blog, as per typical, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Bandcamp is a truly excellent resource for finding some rarities from some of the world’s independent creatives, and one of my recent discoveries has been Iden Kai’s new album, ‘Disco Fortuna’, which was released to the app and wherever you stream your music on January 15th via Neon City Records. I could find very little information on Iden (Which is pronounced as “Eiden”) when I had searched him up on the web, other than knowing how he pronounces his name and that he is a Mexican DJ and Electonic Funk record producer. However, he seems to be gaining some rock solid traction with those who enjoy their Future Funk and Disco revivialist anthems – for instance – he currently has 3.3k montly followers on Spotify and ‘Disco Fortuna’ has amassed over 10k streams on the platform as well, which is pretty good going for someone so off-the-radar online. Check out the single, ‘Disco James’, below.

Iden Kai offers up his mixes to the currently popular ‘Future Funk’ sub-genre, which, if you are not familiar with the name of this style of music, it pays homage to the viral culture of Synthwave, Chillwave and Vaporwave, but ultimately takes on a more hyper-melodic and anime-style visual work that is defined partly by it’s samples of rare smooth jazz, R&B and lounge Jazz recordings of the 80’s. In more simpler terms, it’s basically the most “poppy” music that you could probably come across, with young artists who share their material around places like YouTube. It’s sometimes seen as quite a trashy and disposable style of production, but like with any good art, it just depends how you treat the genre and what credibility you strive to add to it. ‘Disco James’ is actually a nice way to get acquainted with the relatively new sub-genre. It strips away the more ‘trashy’ qualities of the early-2010’s internet meme culture for me, and it provides an update to 90’s house that feels driven by more Japanese influences. The sound is strikingly upbeat, as Horn melodies and synth instrumentation provides a throwback feel designed to get the party grooving. Meanwhile, the vocal samples are chopped up and screwed up, the lyrics barely inaudible, to also carry across a Metropolitan aesthetic. The keys are playful and the effects experiment with nostalgic moods, with a breakdown towards the end of the track that feels less Jazz-influenced and more video game sound directed. Of course, there’s quite little here in the way of original material from the artist – but it seems like the goal for Iden was to re-purpose these prominent samples of vintage tunes for appeal towards a fresh audience. While it probably won’t appeal to everybody for it’s disposable approach to art, depending on who you ask, it’s earned a few good repeat listens from me. Super melodic, emphasizing on fun and knowingly nodding to the 80’s with care, there’s enough here to keep the party dancing all through a long night.

  • Pictured: Still image from the ‘Disco Fortuna’ music video (2021) (Photo by Real Love Music)

Thank you for checking out my latest post – I did try to beef it up! This one should get the extended bank holiday weekend moving in style. The festivities continue tomorrow with our ‘New Album Release Friday’ section – where we take a sampler of one of Good Friday’s new album releases. Tomorrow’s track comes from a fresh South London 4-piece group who have been fusing witty, jumbled Spoken Word sections with Post-Rock guitar shredding to unanimously praised effect! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Tycho – “Outer Sunset”

January 9, 2021 — 1 Comment

Better keep my grammar in check on this one. Nobody wants a ‘Typo’. New Post time!

  • Pictured: Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) at Greek Theatre, Los Angeles (in 2019) (Photo Credit: Jon Bauer)
    Pictured: Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) at Greek Theatre, Los Angeles (in 2019) (Photo Credit: Jon Bauer)

Good Morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to – once again – fulfill my daily duties of typing up your daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music every day! A little bit like Boards Of Canada, Tycho is an ambient electronic music producer (currently based in San Francisco) who loves to blend multiple aspects of media tools within his disposal to fully realize vital themes of Nature and Environment within his compositions. From taking samples of weather broadcasts and pre-recorded dialogue, Scott Hansen usually creates a luscious set of rural soundscapes to allow his elements of downtempo guitar and analogue production to breathe. In fact, you may also know his work already – as the graphic designer ISO50. “Outer Sunset” was the lead single from his most recent album, “Simulcast”, which was released back in last February as a co-distribution between Ninja Tune and Mom + Pop Records. This work is connected to “Weather”, Hansen’s previous LP record, of which Hansen has removed the vocal sections, and Hansen had decided to expand upon the ambient instrumentation instead. It’s a very timely record to hear during Lockdown – a time where one of the few positives has been the re-positioning of nature and birdsong as one of the world’s beauties outside of our windows – and it sadly fell under my radar a bit beforehand. That’s about to change. Let’s have a listen to “Outer Sunset” below.

Many critics have attributed that “Simulcast” finds Hansen strip down his futuristic technology for a dip back into the dreamy, lo-fi electronica that originally bought him to the dance. Hansen said of the LP: “A Simulcast is the transmission of a program across two different mediums and two different languages”, expanding with, “With these two albums, I wanted to present the same ideas in two languages, one more literal, and the other more open to interpretation”, before explaining, “Simulcast expands on the concepts laid out in ‘Weather’, but shifts into the abstract, with instrumental soundscapes in place of lyrics, opening up a visual space and translating the message into a new language”, in his press notes. “Outer Sunset” fuses hazy guitar lines with a chilled-out electronic synth loop, although I feel the melodies are beat-driven enough to sustain an indie, ‘pop’ flair. The beats aren’t entirely off-kilter, but they feel serene and simple. There is a palpable sense of stillness about it, with some sun-licked guitar tones to add a fair rumble of bass, and a merticulously layered sequence of shuffle beats that are carefully plucked beneath them, to an almost DJ Shadow-ish degree of subtle Hip-Hop breakbeat influences. The melodies present a feeling of coming-of-age and nostalgia to me, and this leaves me cutting off from the outside world for a few minutes and delving into my own thoughts for a little while, this showing a visual effect of the mellow Indietronica stylings. These elements of Synthwave, modern Chillout and 10’s Vaporwave are upbeat enough to carry the airy Pop beats all of the way through, although the tone is still fairly laidback, and the chord progression remains simple. It shapes up to be perfect “In The Bathtub” music.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for "Simulcast" (Released on February 28th, 2020) (via Mom + Pop Records)
    Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Simulcast” (Released on February 28th, 2020) (via Mom + Pop Records)

Thank you for checking out today’s post – It was better late than never, eh? It’s already going to be time for a new entry in our Scuzz Sundays series tomorrow, and we’re going to be making up for the lack of notable new releases with a “big name” post from the past instead. It’s a less obvious pick from the band in question though, even if it is that legendary Grunge trio who used to feature now-Foo Fighter Dave Grohl in the drumming seat amongst the famous line-up. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Boards Of Canada – “An Eagle In Your Mind” (1998)

November 3, 2020 — 1 Comment

David Attenborough would be all over this bird of nature! It’s time for a new blog post!

  • Pictured: Marcus Eoin and Marcus Sandison in a vintage press shot (unknown date) (via Warp Records)
    Pictured: Marcus Eoin and Marcus Sandison in a vintage press shot (unknown date) (via Warp Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to repay my promise of typing up about your daily track on the blog today, as it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! An interesting classic IDM record that I’ve been listening to over the last few weeks is “Music Has The Right To Children”, an ambient record from 1998 which was self-produced by Boards Of Canada, a Scottish electronic music duo, on the Warp Records label. The piece of material went down as a landmark in electronic music work, and it has appeared on many best-ever lists from music publications like Pitchfork and Mojo. While the bulk of electronic music sprawls from Industrial and futuristic technology from urban environments – the intriguing case of Boards Of Canada is that the duo grew up in a very small urban community in Scotland, where they have since remained very reclusive from their fanbase, hardly ever taking part in any press interviews or live performances. For “Music Has The Right To Children”, the brothers of Marcus Eoin and Mike Sandison decided to create experimental sounds from outdated analogue software and samples taken from 1970’s public broadcasting children’s programmes to invoke themes of early childhood, nostalgia and nature. The duo have shrouded themselves in secrecy, and started making music by sending Casettes of their work to their friends and family. Let’s see a fan-made video for “An Eagle In Your Mind” below.

Fan-made videos have played a significant factor in keeping the Boards Of Canada’s fanbase active over the years, with long gaps of years between the subsequent album releases, and the band managed to pull off an elaborate “Easter Egg Hunt” in the highly-anticipated marketing push towards 2013’s “Tomorrow’s Harvest”, but that’s another story for another day. “An Eagle In Your Mind” is the third cut on the track listing for “Music Has The Right To Children”, and it perfectly sums up the basic key elements of the album, for my two cents. As you’ve probably noticed, it’s not really a track that is very accessible from a dancing point-of-view – despite being labelled as an “IDM” release. Instead, we’re given some meditative textures and peculiar sounds that feel rooted in degraded synthesizer hardware and 1970’s-inspired Hip-Hop break-beats. The track begins with a slowly fading synth line that soon washes over the top of a scratching, downtempo turntable beat sample. The sound, although entirely instrumental, manages to feel very rich and fresh because it sounds emotionally mature and hallucinatory, to a degree. Ideas of early childhood memory and adolescent behaviour peek their head in at a midway mark, when the tempo of the Syncopated backing beat increases and a very abrupt vocal sample of “I Love You” cuts into the picture, and it signals for a whistled backing vocal sample and an emerging synth line that comes into full force later on, with a harsh ambience that seems very dense. There may not be very much going on here, melodically – but the lo-fi beats have been layered in a hugely calculated and meticulous manner. The ideas of early childhood memory develops very smoothly, as a result, with cut-off samples and resonating synth work managing to evoke emotions which are ever so slightly strange and peculiar – and – for me – this is what manages to make the record stand out as a truly fascinating and unique project. It feels as if you’re a child, sitting at the TV, watching old advertisements fly by, or like you’re riding a bike with your friends around the countryside as your mind wanders to an imaginative, fantastical place. In a nutshell, it plays out like an adult’s reflection of their nostalgia – as you’re left with fragments of memories at this stage of your life and it’s hard to filter what is real and what is fantasy as a child anyways – and the record is bizarrely accurate in doing so. An album that would take time and perseverance to connect with you, but – depending on your upbringing as I was a strange child myself – it will slowly reward you with a payment of nostalgic, intricate sounds which are unrivalled. Go and listen!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for "Music Has The Right To Children" (LP) (Released in 1998) (via Warp Records)
    Pictured: Cover Art for “Music Has The Right To Children” (LP) (Released in 1998) (via Warp Records)

Thank you for reading my new post! Please feel free to join me tomorrow – where we’ll be making a change of pace with an in-depth look at the latest album from one of the most legendary African-American Hip-Hop groups of all-time, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Fame in 2013, and critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine named them as “The most influential and radical band of their time” for AllMusic in 2017. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Aphex Twin – “#3”

August 18, 2020 — Leave a comment

Happy Birthday, Richard – I hope your card came! It’s time for a special Birthday post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Selected Ambient Works (Volume II)” (Released on 7th March, 1994) (via Warp Records)

Only the die-hards will get the reference above… Good Morning and a Happy 48th Birthday to Richard D. James, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m typing another daily post on the blog, because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! As mentioned beforehand, August 18th marks the commemorative birthday of one of the best people to have ever lived, Richard D. James, mostly known as Aphex Twin, who is 49 years old today. If you’ve been following my blog and my other projects for a long while, you’ll be aware of my totally unprofessional Fanboy obsession for the guy. He is, without much doubt, my favourite male solo musician of all-time. Therefore, I have planned to look back at one of his most popular projects, “Selected Ambient Works Volume II”, to mark the occasion. Released in 1994, this was his second full-length album, which James claims to have literally made in his sleep… heavily inspired by melodies that he’s heard while he was Lucid Dreaming at night. He likens it to “Standing in a power station on acid”, and it enjoyed a relatively quiet release period based on my research (Since I wasn’t born then… So don’t quote me on it), before it gained a large cult following and it became one of the most critically-acclaimed albums of the 1990’s, appearing on all-time best lists from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and Spin. There’s no lyrics whatsoever, and the sound sees James harkening back to the Easy Listening classics from Brian Eno, during the 1970’s, for inspiration. The main factor of significance related to this album comes from a service which allowed fans to mail each other and discuss the obscure sounds and deep, layered soundscapes of the record. In a time where social media simply did not exist, it was basically the first album ever to basically get talked about, thus becoming a social event. None of the track listings have official names either, and one fan – Greg Eden, has once popularized names of the track which get used by fellow fans and journalists based on a murky set of images that can be found in the album’s liner notes of each physical copy. “#3” is one of James’ most beloved tracks by fans and the press, and it is more commonly referred to as “Rhubarb”. Let’s have a listen below.

If you’re only recognizably familiar with “Windowlicker” and/or “Come To Daddy”, this would likely catch you off-guard and take you by suprise quite a lot! “#3” is not very beat-driven at all, instead offering to you a moment of serene beauty and timeless fascination, demanding your full attention as you stand still for a few moments and simply interact with the sound. It deeply moves many of James’ most dedicated fans, with a light tension which captures a feeling between distressing and comforting. “#3” consists of a static synth line that feels soft and consonant, with a peaceful tone and a very subtle rumble of Bass which gently alters the course of the key changes throughout the track. It shines in allowing you, as the listener, to associate the track with whatever nostalgic images or contemplative emotions that your mind can conjure up. To me, it reminds me of a well-kept lake of water, as a tide moves briskly, but slowly, outwards as the ripples of the wave form a small tide. This is due to the percussion-free electronica forming up a meditative sentiment, and the breezy Organ pipe melodies adding a semblence of a sun-soaked vibe to it. The album was a slow-burning word of mouth triumph in it’s success, and it manages to feel wholly original and highly different to James’ other works. Once you have interacted with the record by giving James your co-operation, it slowly unfolds and it becomes a record, with “#3” in particular, that replaces it’s initial uncompromising feel with a charm that gets slowly discovered. It requires the surrender of your brain cells to work it properly, but it’s well worth the effort because this is music that has a transcendent beauty of it’s genuine own. One of the most interesting selections from one of the all-time greatest!

  • Pictured: Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) at an undisclosed gig in his early days (1992) (via electronicbeats.net)

If you’re pining to hear some more Aphex material, you’ve come to a decent place! You can read up my thoughts on “Vordhosbn”, from 2001’s “Drukqs”, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/09/24/todays-track-aphex-twin-vordhosbn/, and you can also check out my festive write-up for ““XMAS EVET_10 (Thanaton3 Mix)” here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/24/christmas-eve-special-aphex-twin-xmas-evet_10-thanaton3-mix/. Or, if you’re a first-time listener or you want to get more familiar with Richard’s beautiful music, you can check out my very own podcast here, which offers a guide of “5 Tracks To Get You Into Aphex Twin”. Once more, my heart goes out to Richard on his special Lornaderek day!

  • Pictured: Richard D. James on a poster for a live performance at Hallum University, Sheffield, England (1993)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! It will be back to business as usual tomorrow, with an in-depth listen to a pretty recent track which I sadly didn’t quite get the time to cover nearer to the time of it’s release. This next cut comes from an Essex-based singer-songwriter who started writing her own music when she was around 7, before re-entering the scene at the age of 9… and she’s now currently signed to Asylums’ indie label, Cool Thing Records. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Julianna Barwick – “Inspirit”

July 25, 2020 — Leave a comment

Who needs a Zumba class when you can meditate to this? It’s time for your new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Healing Is A Miracle” (Released on July 10th, 2020) (via Ninja Tune)

Get yourself comfortable for the Zen-like trance! Good Morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m typing up your daily track on the blog, just like always, because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! This is an emerging artist who I discovered through Mary Anne Hobbs’ recent episode of the BBC Radio 6Music Recommends evening show, and I was reminded of it by Lauren Laverne on her Thursday July 16, 2020 edition of the BBC Radio 6Music Breakfast show, as “Healing Is A Miracle” was the station’s album of the day. Her name is Julianna Barwick, and she is an ambient electronic composer who is based in in Brooklyn, New York. She was inspired to create her own music by her participation in a church choir at an early age while growing up in Louisiana, and she’s been active since 2006, of which she’s been using analogue synth equipment to record her own vocal sections over the electronic synth loops that she builds. “Healing Is A Miracle” is her third album, released on July 10th via Ninja Tune. The album includes contributions of work from Jónsi (the leader of Sigur Ros), along with Mary Littlemore and Nosaj Thing. Rest your weary head to the sound of leading single “Inspirit” below.

Recorded at a time where she was making the risky move to New York City from her childhood residence in Louisiana, Barwick commands a meditational presence that demands your relaxed attention on “Inspirit”, the opener of her new album. It seems suitably easy to sink your teeth into, but the multi-layered structure hides a soft, but meticulous complexity beneath. Her vocals are simply: “Open your heart, It’s in your head”, two lines that are drenched in a cascading, heavy reverberation effect. They get constantly repeated across the four-minute duration of the track, but they never get tedious or dull, to me. That’s because the vocal arrangement is kept refreshing at each turn, flowing with shaped stretches and loops that harmonize the breezy synth pads and the mellow, faint interplanetary pipe organ noises. The vocal loops are arranged in the style of a collage, and they are difficult to decipher, although easy to notice. This creates a subtle, aired ambience that evokes the Easy Listening music of Brian Eno, with a light texture of interweaving, discreet vocal loops and globally-influenced sonic direction that sounds comparable to the 90’s ambience of Enigma and Moby. The most intriguing part of the track, however, is the use of bass. A rumble of electronic bass synth effects splice harmoniously over the midway point, but the meditative and crystallized ambience never feels disturbed, as the thin waves of decaying bass add a somewhat dream-like trance that, for me, evokes science fiction and dystopia. Each of the different elements fit like a Jigsaw puzzle together, forming an ongoing crescendo that lightly adds new components to the fray. It provides a much-needed solidarity to a time where nothing feels certain, and everyday life can often feel bizzare, since it’s very effective in transporting you to a dream-like trance through the pretty, attention-to-detail production. It’s expression through a pure form of music. Simply put, I think it’s beautiful. Close those eyes – and just get stuck into it!

  • Pictured: Julianna Barwick recording her vocals in her recording studio (2020) (Photo Credit: Sister City/Vinyl Factory)

Thank you very much for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with your brand new edition of my weekly Scuzz Sundays feature. It’s the time of the week where we revisit either a pop-punk or emo-rock classic from the timespan of the late-1990’s to the mid-200’s to see if it can live up to modern standards, named in memory of the cancelled Scuzz TV freeview channel. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: In Love With A Ghost – “We Were Friends”

May 14, 2020 — Leave a comment

I am not In Love With A Ghost, but I am in love with this soft sound. It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Healing” (Single Release) (in 2017) (Cover design by @Salisart) (via Bandcamp)

Good afternoon to you! Indeed, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog because, as always, it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! Yesterday, I wrote about Skule Toyama, a little-known Chillwave DJ from Mexico who only has a small following and he’s one of my latest little discoveries on Bandcamp. Another artist from the same genre who I’ve also recently found on Bandcamp is In Love With A Ghost. However, it turns out that In Love With A Ghost has a much larger following and has become a bit of a viral sensation. Nonetheless, their 2016 EP release “Let’s Go” was my first introduction to this artist. “Let’s Go” is classified as a digital album, but it’s only very short, at four tracks with a 12 minute run time. There’s an old-fashioned IDM-style aura of mystery around this French composer, as the artist tends to only give cryptic teases towards the production and meaning behind their music. Their name is unknown, so is their backstory, and most importantly, they never reveal their face! “Flowers” featuring Nori is their most popular track from “Let’s Go”, with over 9.6m views on YouTube – but my favourite track from the album is the low-key and sad keyboard-driven “We Were Friends”. Let’s give it a listen below!

So.. That was “We Were Friends”. I feel that In Love With A Ghost manages, through the spacious synth riffs and the embellishing keyboard sequences, to create vivid, emotive feelings of closure and finality on this short track. In comparison to Skule Toyama’s track yesterday, the pacing is a lot slower and the melodies, although sweet and heavily electronically-produced, are more downtempo and less free-form in their structure, creating a highly stripped back sound, despite achieving the same aims of soothing you down and putting your mind into a state of relaxation. There’s no lyrics at all, but the distorted effects of the looping synths and the glitched-out basslines, enveloped in a pure and intoxicating Piano melody, create a gentle ambient texture that acts as a comforting bed for the beat-driven electronic effects to sit under. This results in an ambient texture that feels vaguely melancholic and reminiscent of a more innocent time. Maybe it makes you think about seeing an old friend for the first in a very long time? To me, it does, bringing an emotion of meeting up with somebody who you feel you might not truly “know” anymore and coming to terms with the nervousness and the fun you used to have, but also the happiness that comes from soon recapturing these memories. In any case, it’s completely up to you what this track is about. I think that’s where the strength of the sound lies. There’s attention to detail in the slow rainfall effects and the crackles of twigs breaking in the background, creating a feeling that is overall somber and contemplative. It feels like it has a super-sleek production behind it, of which I can tell it was a more expensive album to be produced than some of the earlier work, but it doesn’t lose it’s artistic identity or forget the roots of the music in the first place, a criticism that I point towards mainstream acts like Ed Sheeran or Drake, who just make totally generic and VERY commercial pop now. A “ghostly” presence – but a rewarding and excellent one!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Let’s Go” (Digital EP) (Released via Bandcamp on March 3, 2016) (via Z-Tapes Records)

Thank you very much for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed it! Please stay safe, “Stay Alert” and keep on washing those hands! I am really excited about tomorrow’s post because I’m going to be covering a brand new track that marks the return of one of my top favourite artists in the past couple of years! I still remember when she brought her mum on-stage to celebrate it when she won Best British Album at the NME Awards last night! Watch and learn BRIT Awards, that’s how you treat a real Best British Artist! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime