World

Today’s Track: Khruangbin – “Time (You and I)”

May 2, 2020 — 2 Comments

I fancy being a herb picker – I just don’t have the Thyme for it! It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Mortdechai” (Available to buy from June 26th, 2020) (via Night Time Stories)

Good afternoon to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke. It’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every single day, so here I am – typing up today’s track on the blog! I’m glad the sunshine is suitably warm today because it’s the perfect background to indulge in the World-Fusion sounds of Khruangbin, one of the VERY best, who are BACK! Khruangbin are a trio from Houston, Texas who blend an overall Thai influence with Earthly and mellow sounds of old-school Funk, Jamaican Dub, Psychedelic Neo-Soul and Disco-Rock. Thus far, Khruangbin have released two albums, as well as a collaborative EP with fellow Jazz Texan Leon Bridges, with their upcoming third album “Mortdechai” being set for release on June 26th via Night Time Stories. I am a MASSIVE fan of Khruangbin and so I’m very pleased to see, or rather hear, them back again! The lead single from their new record is a 6-minute belter called “Time (You and I)”! The music video features British comedian Stephen K. Amos (who I also like) and Lunda Anele-Skosana planting sandcastles around London City because… Why not, I guess? Let’s get our groove on with the track’s video below!

How Vibey! I think that’s what the “hip” crowd say! Whether I’m part of the “hip” crowd or not is all left down to your judgment. Khruangbin have mostly been an instrumental band, but “Mortdechai” will be their first album to feature prominent vocal spots on each track. Laura Lee chants: “That’s life, If we had more time, we could be together” over the top of a globally influenced, crisp rhytmn guitar groove. The melodies of the drums grow tinnier and a swooning bass guitar riff enters the fray as she continues: “We can rhyme like children rhyme/Just you and I/Have we got the time?/Make a plan for when we get old” before the track goes full throttle in it’s disco sound, with an increasingly syncopating drum beat and a low-key synth line creating a more intense backing beat. The track also features foreign backing vocals: “Hayat/E a Vida/Seo an soeul” before the guitar-driven instrumentation gets brought back into the forefront at the end. It feels like a vintage blend of old-school Funk and Soul, with a heavier focus on the Disco groove than their previous releases. Khruangbin really appeal to me with their talents of creating a very hypnotic sound and the airy vocals from Laura Lee give it a Dream-Pop edge. It’s only ever so slightly different to their previous releases, but the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – and their music is genuinely perfect in my ears – It’s shaping up to be a perfect Summer record!

  • Pictured: Laura Lee (Bass Guitar), Mark Speer (Lead Guitar) and Donald Johnson (Drums, Percussion) (2018) (via PR)

Other tracks from Khruangbin include “Christmas Time Is Here” and “Texas Sun” featuring Jazz songwriter Leon Bridges. If you’re feeling festive, check out my thoughts on the former here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/13/todays-track-khruangbin-christmas-time-is-here/ and peruse my thoughts on the bright, hazy “Texas Sun” here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/01/06/todays-track-khruangbin-feat-leon-bridges-texas-sun/

  • Pictured: Khruangbin performing a live set at the “Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival” (April 2019)

Thank you very much for reading this post! We’re having some fun on the blog tomorrow with your weekly edition of Scuzz Sundays as I take you on a stroll down memory lane to revisit an emo-punk or pop-punk track from the late 90’s or the mid 00’s! Don’t miss out! 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: Ryuichi Sakamoto – “Riot In Lagos”

April 29, 2020 — Leave a comment

Kaiser Chiefs would never be able to Predict a Riot in Lagos! It’s time for a new post…

  • Pictured: Ryuichi Sakamoto pictured on the back cover art of a 12″ vinyl copy of “B-2 Unit” (1980) (via Plexus)

Good morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, as it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music each day! I’ve been listening to a LOT of American radio lately, as a way of broadening my horizons and exploring interesting music beyond the UK’s bubble. I was rather surprised to find that I’d never heard of Ryuichi Sakamoto, a Japanese electronic composer, prior to hearing “We Love You” being played in the early hours on KEXP, a Washington-based Community radio station. From co-founding Yellow Magic Orchestra in the late 1970’s to scoring the Oscar darling film “The Revenant” in 2015, the guy’s done a lot. My favourite release is “Riot In Lagos”, a funky track that was self-produced by Sakamoto for his second solo album “B-2 Unit” in 1980. For “B-2 Unit”, Sakamoto decided to ditch the compositional pop style of Yellow Magic Orchestra to explore his interest in ambient textures and tones rather than using Yellow Magic Orchestra’s more traditionally packaged-up formula. Check out “Riot In Lagos” below.

You could argue that nothing else really sounded like “Riot In Lagos” in the 1980’s and, in 2020, not much has changed at all because barely anything still does. This strange and experimental electro-dance record establishes a very futuristic aesthetic through it’s propulsive acid-house interludes and it’s restless, skittering breakbeat sections that make up the bulk of the verses. There’s no lyrics to speak of, but the abstract nature of the bustling, oriental techno-bleeps and an intriguing, uniquely post-modern take on the broad classical music genre, provides us with the result of a very timeless and sophisticated backdrop to the combination of an African dancehall-like energy and a more densely layered, science-fiction based Ambient House soundscape. In a few ways, Ryuichi Sakamoto also draws on the grooves of Afrobeat in his focus of creating repetitively composed, propellant melodies that feel danceable, in transporting the G-Funk mannerisms of Fela Kuti to a filtered electronic setting. The results are strikingly effective, with a nostalgic video-game soundtrack linking up with a techno-modernist House sound that feels influential for the likes of Plaid and Autechre 10 years later, along with Four-Tet and Peggy Gou in slightly later times. Basically, it’s Funk music, but created by machines – Count me as a fan already.

  • Pictured: Ryuichi Sakmoto pictured with the 2017 vinyl re-issue of his album “B-2 Unit” (1980) in Korea (via Facebook)

Thank you for reading this post! As always, I’ll be back tomorrow with an in-depth look at the brand new single from an English songwriter originally signed to Rough Trade Records who is also the son of Ian Dury and he modeled on the front cover artwork of Ian Dury’s debut album “New Boots and Panties” released back in 1977! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today's Track: KAYTRANADA (feat. Charlotte Day Wilson) – "What You Need"

April 24, 2020 — Leave a comment

This Haitian DJ is hellbent on building “Celestial” grooves! It’s time for your new post!

  • Pictured: Press shot of KAYTRANADA (Louis Kelvin Celestin) backstage at the Sonar Barcelona Festival 2019 (July 2019)

Good morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing to you about your daily track on the blog, as it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to do so, virus or not! Since it’s a pretty barren week for new releases and, given our unfortunate time, they will all probably be for a while, I’m instead going to focus on writing about slightly older music that I discovered earlier on, but I never got around to writing to you about. KAYTRANADA (He spells out all of his name in block capital letters, so I’m going to as well!) is the pseudonym of Louis Kelvin Celestin, an Electronic Dance music producer from Haiti who started out as one half of a duo with Lou Phelps, The Celestians. In 2016, he rose to fame as a solo artist with “99.9%”, a record which explored a psychedelic and experimental rock sound. He followed it up with “Bubba” in December of last year, a more mellow-sounding electronic dance record, which featured collaborations with the likes of Pharrell Williams, Estelle, Tinashe and Kali Uchis, to name a few. Sadly, Forrest Gump’s “Bubba” wasn’t among them. “What You Need” is a single he recorded with Charlotte Day Wilson. Let’s have a listen to it below.

“What You Need” is one of the more mid-tempo, house-ready selections from his second album, “Bubba”, but, at the same time, I think that it avoids a strict categorization. It’s a lot more radio-friendly than some of his other output, but Wilson’s guest spot on vocals and the glittering production work adds an element of soul to deem it alternative enough to not sound generic. Wilson recites: “I never wanted you to see this part of me/I wish you would have told the truth/Oh, than make us settle”, as she reminisces about a past relationship that went awry. The chorus hook goes: “Be in my arms/Slowing my beating heart/’Cause even when it’s wrong you’ll see/That it’s what you need” as a spacious synth twirls around the main chorus lyric. The elements of 00’s disco continue to develop with a slight variation of the first verse: “I never wanted you to see this part of me/Now all I can hope to do/Is tell you still” as a light keyboard riff enters the fray and the slight Funk groove adds a laidback and chilled-out emotion with a breathed quality. The end result is a groovy little number which would make a good warm-up for a longer club night of more hardcore dance tunes. It is a good spot of sun-soaked, roof-down-in-the-car, sultry house vibes.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “BUBBA” (Released on 13th December, 2019) (via R.C.A. Records)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with an in-depth look at a charity single which was produced during quarantine by the frontman of a well-known American alternative rock band who named themselves after a song performed by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band in The Beatles’ 1967 musical film – “Magical Mystery Tour”! 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: Keith & Tex – “Stop That Train”

April 23, 2020 — Leave a comment

To keep in shape, I wonder if they have a Personal Train…er! It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Keith Rowe and Texas Dixon in a photoshoot to promote a tour with The Steadytones (2018) (via 4 Ecluses)

Good morning to you on this sunny Thursday! I’ve been looking forward to the hot weather and planning accordingly in the hopes of whisking you away to the even brighter and warmer shoals of Kingston, Jamaica for this Jamaican Rocksteady classic from Keith & Tex! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to do so! Keith Rowe and Phillip Texas Dixon are some of the late guardians of the 60’s Rocksteady and Dub genres from Jamaica. Rowe and Dixon were introduced to each other by a mutual friend after both growing up near the Pembroke Hall area, before finding little success in a 5-piece vocal group, but more so later when Rowe and Dixon continued their act as a duo. The two are still going strong to this day, having released the entirely acoustic Rocksteady album “Same Old Story” via Liquidator in 2017, a return to their early Reggae roots following years of more experimental endeavors. It led to tours around the UK, Hong Kong and Brazil last year as their musical journey carries on. Arguably their biggest hit is “Stop That Train”, a single which they released back in 1967. It’s been covered and sampled several times since. Let’s have a listen to the single below.

A timeless, mellow dubbed single which feels like a precursor to the Reggae Roots sound of the mid-70’s in a few ways, Keith & Tex’s “Stop That Train” is a stand-out track from the output of the Trojan Records label in the late 60’s, although I feel the slightly melancholic texture adds a low-key strength in comparison to some of their contemporary peers from their time. Built around a mid-tempo steel drum groove, Keith sings: “Stop that train/I want to get on/My baby, she is leaving me now” and “She said, my dear, I do love you/No matter what they say or do/I keep shouting” above a shimmering cymbal rhythm that keeps going and going. A slight precursor to the “Funk” boom of the 1970’s, repetition in sound in order to control a flowing groove is key. At a mid-way point, the track leads us to a beautiful guitar solo which twangs and shakes as all of the instrumentation in the background slowly dissipates, leaving the guitar riff as the sole layer. Tex joins for the chorus, as well as adding some neat, calming backing vocals to support Keith’s pace. The consistent, mid-tempo drum riff makes its return as Keith & Tex repeat the chorus with a strong male harmony and a thick Jamaican accent which emphasize the traditional reggae sound amongst a gentle keyboard riff. The rhythm is a little bit harder and deeper, with the lyricism more rough-edged, than your average 60’s Rocksteady track. The loops are catchy, but the focus on voice is the draw. A golden oldie that should not be forgotten.

  • Keith & Tex (Keith Rowe & Phillip Texas Dixon) performing “Party Night” live for KCRW (December 2017) (via YouTube)

Thank you for reading this post! I hope that you enjoyed it! I’ll be carrying on with the warm vibes tomorrow for an in-depth look at a fairly recent-ish single from a Haitian electronic music producer who began to produce his own material at the teen age of 15 and he’s part of the hip-hop fusion duo The Celestics! 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: Tomo Nakayama – “Tick Tock”

April 21, 2020 — Leave a comment

The clock is ticking, hopefully, on this awful Quarantime time! It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Portrait Cover Artwork for “Pieces Of Sky” (Released on September 8th, 2017) (via Ricebelly Music)

He’d like to “Get To Know You” now! Happy Tuesday, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music on the blog to you each day! One of the most recent releases that I’ve covered on the blog lately, “Melonday” is the new LP record by Tomo Nakayama, an electronic artist signed to Ricebelly Records. Nakayama was raised in Japan, but he is currently based in California. Nakayama has a strong background in composing independent film scores and he’s also got his roots set in indie folk, as he is best known for being the leader of cinematic indie folk group Grand Hallway. “Melonday” is a surprising departure from the ambient and tranquil sounds of his previous catalogue because he’s exploring a very pop, feet-on-the-dancefloor sound, focusing on groovy disco-pop anthems, with the aid of co-producer Yuuki Matthews, who’s also worked with Teardrops and The Shins – Let’s have a listen to “Tick Tock” in the self-produced music video for it below!

On his first day of COVID-19 quarantine, Tomo Nakayama laid out a white sheet in his studio and decided to groove to the sound of “Tick Tock” to film his own music video for the track. It’s a compelling move to release a dance album while nobody is allowed to congregate for a boogie on a dancefloor. I feel that Nakayama has done as good as a job as he could have though, and I think the intimacy of this video adds a light-hearted humor that we all need in this time. Nakayama croons: “Girl in the evening gown/Where do you go when you’ve got nothing around?” and “We live in a lonely time/You’ve got your devices/I’m in service to mine” above a stuttering synth melody which shimmers and shakes over a tender backing vocal. He also comments on the dating app culture that we’ve come used to, quickly reflecting on his age and experience level when it comes to romance: “Swiping away the signs/Of growing older/But, I believe in you”, before he repeats the chorus: “Tick tock when you look at the clock/And the second hand starts to move/You look tough, but I like you a lot and I know you like me too”, a melodic synth hook that comes after a slowed, self-reflective line of interwoven synth beats. The chord progression is very propulsive, as he trades acoustic guitar strums for bright, swirling watercolor synths. It sounds very 80’s, and unashamedly so, with a clear Breakfast Club throwback style. It’s a track simply about being open and honest when it comes to finding love in the digital era, but I feel there’s a personality and maturity behind the simplicity of the surface and the part where he grabs a shoe and shimmers: “hello” with it held to his ear as a phone cracks me up. Lyrically, it’s easy and simple to follow, with kinetic hooks and catchy vocals creating a very Phoenix sound. It’s bright, ‘cutesy’ synthpop sweetness!

  • Pictured: Tomo Nakayama with a physical vinyl copy of “Melonday” (Released on April 7th, 2020) (via Facebook)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with an in-depth look at a recently released single which made it to John Kennedy’s X-Posure evening show playlist on Radio X! It’s the new dance project from a trio of musical icons including a former Radiohead producer, the vocalist of FEMME/lau.ra and Joey Waronker, who’s toured with REM and Beck as their live drummer. 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: Sinead O’ Brien – “Taking On Time”

April 20, 2020 — 1 Comment

An Irish punk songstress who personifies “Poetry In Motion”! It’s time for a new post!

  • Sinead O’Brien: “I don’t think anyone should be afraid to use their words” (2019) (Photo Credit: Zac Mahrouche)

Good morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and, as always during this time of self-quarantine, I’m still writing about your daily track on the blog! Virus or not, it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music each day! Having been writing limericks and publishing her fictional short stories in the esteemed London Review Of Books, Sinead O’Brien is an Irish poet and songwriter who fuses Nick Cave-esque spoken word delivery with melodic, electronic composition. O’Brien was born in Dublin, Ireland before she moved to London at an early age, taking up her first taught piano lessons at the age of six. O’Brien gets her inspiration from her fascination with being nosy… erm, I mean – people watching! She told So Young Magazine: “I started out by writing observational pieces, noting expressions, environment, the slightest changes in atmosphere and behavior of people. I am completely fascinated by these subtleties.” You and me both, Sinead! She also describes her work as a collaborative process with her touring band. A single that she describes as “genre-less” is “Taking On Time”, a single which she debuted on the “Speedy Wunderground – Year 4” compilation LP last year. Let’s give it a listen below!

The black-and-white visual style of the video provides both a stark contrast and a subtle backdrop to the pure, vibrant and intriguing fusion of spoken word delivery and the experimental post-punk sensibilities of “Taking On Time”. The opening line, “This, that I am”, is taken from a philosophical idea coming from poet Martin Heidegger’s theory of “all the different ways of being”, as O’Brien remains calm and controlled through the rough pacing of the track. O’Brien matches a layered bass guitar riff with a ringing cowbell melody. She recites: “Possessed by ideas/I am no more than a thinker than a prisoner of dreams” and “Forever we’re standing inside frames/To transcend the world of things we see untruly from inside frames” over the top of an echoed vocal processor and a shimmering drum riff. O’Brien adds a symphonic burst of electric guitar chords as she repeats the choral hook: “This, that I am, Taking On Time” over the top of the repetitious guitar lines and the sonic synthesizer palette, topped off by a crashing drum beat. It has all been programmed very fluidly and O’Brien’s thick Irish accent adds a subtle quality of anger to her vocal performance, which is cerebral but also melodic as she interweaves her vocal hooks with the fragmented electronic synth lines and the constantly thumping rock instrumentation. These alternative punk sensibilities merge with the poetic, raw lyric delivery and the electric palette to create a stunning and intriguing sound which conveys the personality of O’Brien and her artistic influences quite easily. It’s in no way pompous, but it’s written with a touch of sophistication. It’s unique and creative!

  • Pictured: Sinead O’Brien in a press shoot to promote “A Thing You Call Joy” (2019) (Photo Credit: Zac Mahrouche)

Thank you very much for reading this post! I hope you enjoyed it! As usual, I’ll be back tomorrow with an in-depth look at a new track from a Japanese film score composer who has his roots set in Cinematic Indie-Folk and used to be the leader of Seattle rock band Grand Hallway! He’s been exploring a synth-based, dancefloor-ready sound on his latest album, which is uncharted waters for his career! 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: Ratgrave – “World Aid”

April 18, 2020 — Leave a comment

Did you know that a Rat’s favourite game is Hide and Squeak? It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Ratgrave (Max Graef & Julius Conrad) in a still from their “World Aid” music video (2020) (via YouTube)

I’ve never seen a rat turning in it’s grave! Good morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m trying to lighten up your grey British weather Saturday with your daily post on the blog! It’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music each day! Ratgrave are an ambient experimental duo from Berlin in Germany, made up of producer Max Graef and engineer Julius Conrad. Although their names sound oddly familiar, I’ve just recently heard of them due to KEXP, an american radio station based in Seattle which played “World Aid” by Ratgrave at roughly 3.30am…. in California! This was the middle of the morning here in England. I enjoy listening to KEXP in the morning because it exposes me to a lot of music outside of the British indie bubble that I wouldn’t hear on the likes of BBC Radio 6Music or X-Posure on Radio X. Ratgrave are a “deep dive” – with figures of around 1,000 views when it comes to their recent music videos on YouTube. The duo are two multi-instrumentalists who are driven by their love of 1980’s soul, jazz and rock records, with a diverse variety of psychedelic influences that are sonically evident on their new album, “Rock”. It’s the duo’s first LP release under the Black Focus Records label! Let’s have a listen to “World Aid” below!

You might have noticed that my description of the duo’s sound was vague, but I didn’t want to spoil the suprise for you! Although the electronic production work on “World Aid” is fairly minimalist, the sound palette feels very cleansed, but it’s packed with a wide range of mismatched genres. The vocal range is very simple, with a single”I love myself” line, which sounds sun-soaked in a drum-groove melody and a continuous keyboard riff. Graef and Conrad were going for a highly spiritual, funk-infused sound on “Rock”, explaining, in a press release, that their original idea was to express: “the essence of energy and vibration we felt in different styles of music, almost like a parallel component connecting all things we like.”, deciding it as why they would simply name the album “Rock”. It’s a creative direction that has been displayed on “World Aid”. By far, the highlight of the track are the bizarre Pan Pipe melodies, which add a very Earthly and World-based tone to the eclectic Jazz-Funk rhythm of the track. This is a classical, old-fashioned style of instrumentation which doesn’t feel used very much, but Graef and Conrad keep repeating the same formula, over and over, for maximum effect. The Falsetto vocals add a disjointed Jukebox tone as they blend with the Balearic pipes and the playful Keyboard melodies. The sound design is psychedelic, a key component which feels abstract, but the delightfully “Plastic” keyboard riffs and the complex, skittering Dub beats add a warmth to the punchy, “misfit” ambient soundscape. It almost sounds like there’s a cohesive soulful disco tune hidden underneath the enigmatic, disjointed ambient textures. I find it difficult to identify what the duo’s visual aesthetic really is – judging from the art style of the music video for the track, but it’s intriguing. It may lack a slight focus to hold all the ideas together a little bit more tightly, but I love how the humour is obscure and the overall track is deliberately wonky. The result is a curiously vague, melodic pan-pipe tune that encompasses many different sub-genres of electronic Jazz, Soul and Funk at once and it’s hard to box the sound into a specific category. It’s not a track that I would expect the masses to “get”, but I wouldn’t want them to, as “Ratgrave” is an intriguing creative playground of experimentation for Max and Graef to mess around with. Cleverly layered and fascinating – it’s a nice record to keep to yourself a little bit!

  • Pictured: Official track listing from the back of “Rock” (Released on 20th March, 2020) (via Black Focus Records)

Thank you for reading this post! I hope you enjoyed it and please make sure that you stay at home to save lives! To give us both something to do, why not join me on the blog tomorrow for your weekly Scuzz Sundays blog post? I’ll be revisiting a big, commercial hit from a British indie rock band who once had the best-selling debut album for Polydor Records! Noel Gallagher described watching the band perform live as a “religous experience” and they were subsequently labelled as “The Who of the 1990’s”! 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: Anna Lunoe (feat. Nina Las Vegas) – “One Thirty”

April 15, 2020 — Leave a comment

Two DJ’s who are spacing up a Lunoe Eclipse of their own! It’s time for your new post!

  • Pictured: Anna Lunoe at the first-ever female solo DJ set at EDC in Las Vegas (2016) (Photo Credit: Festival Sherpa)

Good morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, as it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! Having collaborated with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, one of my personal favourites as one of the most underrated British electronic dance artists, and becoming the first woman to headline a solo DJ set for Ministry Of Sound in Australia and on the main stage of the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas in 2016, Australian EDM Producer Anna Lunoe certainly sounds like a very cool artist to collaborate with or interview, and a great role model for aspiring female EDM musicians. The host of a weekly show on Apple’s Beats 1 Radio, Lunoe has come a long way from hosting at a small independent youth broadcaster to curating three compilations that hit gold certifications in Australia. The latest release in her ongoing success story is “One Thirty”, the follow-up to her “Right Party” EP which she released last year. “One Thirty”, a single featuring Nina Las Vegas, another prolific Australian dance music producer, was released as a joint production between Mad Decent records and NLV Records. The track was released in September 2019 as Lunoe and Vegas’ first collaboration together, despite being close friends for years. This pairs Lunoe’s house style with Vegas’ synth work. Let’s have a listen below.

That’s a gorgeous piece of illustrated artwork (above)! Although I don’t feel the music itself is quite as experimental and interesting, it’s still a nicely diversified and structured electronic dance record which does a reasonably good job of getting you ready to hit the dancefloor. Lunoe crafts a distorted, bass-heavy vocal sample to tie a catchy and energetic pop beat together. She wraps it around an ever-shifting acid bassline mixed by Vegas, who asserts a fast-paced and constantly evolving rhythm. Lunoe also pulls elements of Garage with her breakbeat interludes and syncopated hi-hat snares, topped off with irregular drum patterns. Vegas further diversifies the record with a West African aesthetic which fills the track with tribal chants and a playful synthesized drum melody which serves the quick-witted tempo of the track well. At certain points, I feel the vocal processing – although imaginative – can be a little overused and these devices, for me, take away from the artist a little in music, so I feel a certain commercial restriction may have held it back just a touch. Let’s not forget these are two very commercially successful artists after all. However, it’s still a lively and energetic dance collaboration which is effective, if not innovative. Overall, I feel that Lunoe and Vegas have great chemistry and they’ve used it to create a nice platform to showcase their different abilities together, although the vocals are a little too highly processed for me. However, different types of music are for different times and places, and I know that a live club environment is the intended way to experience the personality and culture behind this track! Solid and groovy, if standard, EDM fare!

  • Pictured: Anna Lunoe chilling while dropping her “Blaze Of Glory” video (2018) (Photo Credit: dancingastronaut.com)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with an in-depth look at the brand new track from a fresh alternative hip-hop, neo-soul artist from South-East London who cites Ms. Lauryn Hill, Ms. Dynamite and Erykah Badu as her musical influences and she appeared in an Adidas advert campaign featuring poster advertisements and remixed music from up-and-coming artists getting spotlighted by the sportswear brand last year! Her latest single has made it to the C-List of BBC Radio 6Music’s daytime playlist! 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: Little Dragon – “Hold On”

April 11, 2020 — Leave a comment

Dragons would make good accountants… The economies of Scale! It’s new post time!

It’s just another Gothenburg morning for this Swedish electronic funk band, but it’s just another Saturday morning for me – Jacob Braybrooke – because I’m writing about your daily post on the blog! It’s my day-to-day pleasure to give you an in-depth look at a different track every day! Little Dragon were formed in 1996 when they attended music “jams” at an after-school club in high school, with frontwoman Yukimi Nagano meeting Fredrick Wallin and Erick Bodin, deciding on their name due to the “little tantrums” that Nagano would stress over during their sessions. She’s a perfectionist! So far, Little Dragon have six LP records under their belt, with “Nabuma Rubberband” from 2014, their fourth album, being considered their best, receiving a Best Dance/Electronic Album nomination at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015. The quartet are back with “Same Me, New Us”, pairing up with the Ninja Tune label this time for it’s release, which was on March 27th. The new album explores more soul and disco elements than the group have previously. Let’s listen to “Hold On” below…

It doesn’t quite veer into cosmic-themed territory, but “Hold On”, the leading single of the new album, is still a celestrial groover based on a disco-tinged rhythm. Lyrically, the track explores the qualities of having an evolving life that’s worth living. This is conveyed through a pulsating keyboard riff and a mid-tempo drum groove. Among a wealth of calm synthesizer framework, Nagano croons: “Hold on/Where you gone?/Where you going?” over a sleek melody of 70’s dancefloor pop. She continues: “Baby stay/time has changed us so in every way/Beyond our dreams and more/the stars are not aligned”, a vocal hook of reconciliation glazed in an R&B smoothness. She later adds: “Hold on, before you go/One thing that you should know/I never meant to hurt you so/I wish you happiness, joy and good fortune, boy”, before a short interlude paves the way for a luminous keyboard riff that sounds timeless yet contemporary, but looks to the Saturday Night Fever of the 70’s for an added punch of inspiration. The feet-on-the-floor soundscape is dance-able and relaxing, but it feels a bit sophisticated in extra measure. The key sound changes throughout the song and it’s diverse, which acts as a fun teaser for the core theme of shift in the album. The sound is very clean and polished and I think it would be a good fit for a daytime radio station because it feels accessible, but it isn’t too generic. Although the track delivers the key beats of the album to good effect, I feel the modern electro-pop sensibilities can feel a little bit half-baked or undercooked, with the track being a soulful blend in alternative pop, electronica and disco-funk, but never feeling entirely cohesive. It’s decent though, and I think that comparisons to The Knife shall be made.

  • Pictured: Yukimi Nagano (Lead Vocals/Percussion), Fredrick Wallin (Bass Guitar/Synths), Håkan Wirenstrand (Keyboard/Mixing) and Erik Bodin (Drums/Cowbell) (2020) (via Rolling Stone)

Don’t forget to catch up with my WWE WrestleMania 36 Weekend Special if you missed out – Friday’s post, “El Santo: The Silver Masked Avenger” by The Nick Atoms, is here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/03/wwe-wrestlemania-36-weekend-special-the-nick-atoms-el-santo-the-silver-masked-avenger/. Saturday’s post on Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler”, is here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/04/wwe-wrestlemania-36-weekend-special-bruce-springsteen-the-wrestler/. The weekend’s final post on “The Legend Of Chavo Guerrero” by The Mountain Goats can be perused here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/05/wwe-wrestlemania-36-weekend-special-the-mountain-goats-the-legend-of-chavo-guerrero/!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “New Me, Same Us” (Released on 27th March, 2020) (via Ninja Tune Records)

Thank you very much for reading this post! I hope that you stay safe and that you enjoyed reading it, as well as discovering some cool music in the process! Don’t forget to check back with the blog tomorrow – Yes, it’s Easter Sunday – but it’s also going to be time for your first new Scuzz Sundays post in two whole weeks! We’re almost there! 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: Matroda – “Beef Stick”

April 10, 2020 — Leave a comment

He could be mixing songs about beef until the cows come home! Time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Matroda (Matija Rodic) in a press photoshoot for his Spotify profile page (2019) (via PR)

I don’t know how else to start a post for a track like this – so I’ll just start off by wishing you a good afternoon and reminding you that I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different track on the blog every day! “Beef Stick”, of all titles, is a bulky club track released in 2018 by Croatian DJ and producer Matija Rodic – who is known for releasing music under the alias of Matroda. Rodic was influenced by the likes of Frank Sinatra and The Beatles in his youth and he’s been trained to play the violin, keyboard and drums – but instead of taking a classical music approach, Rodic exploded onto the UK Garage scene in 2015 with his biggest hit, a remix of 2015’s “California” by SNBRN, which he composed with Chris Lake – a single which reached #2 on the Beatport dance charts and polled in as #5 on SiriusFM’s 2015 songs of the year. He’s since gained support from Calvin Harris and Diplo. He’s also worked with world-renowned producer Porter Robinson. Needless to say, “Beef Stick” isn’t meant to be taken seriously – Let’s get into the meat of it below!

Released back in 2018 on the DIM MAK label – “Beef Stick” wastes no time in chopping to the grind (I’m very sorry) of the heavy, pulsating drum-and-bass riffs which are wrapped around a late-night club primed, unforgiving EDM structure. The concurrent drum patterns interweave with the cheeky vocal sample, which goes: “I went down to the store cuz’ I had to get a beef stick/She giggle thought of you’, said you had a pencil d***”, layered above a dark-house, sub-heavy frequency of short drum loops and boisterous tempo shifts. The production work is power-driven and compact, with a sturdy bass line and a reverb-doused vocal hook that’s robust and aggressive in nature. It feels like the electrical technicalities are wrapped around the virtue of the daft vocal sample, making it sound juvenile and crass in it’s delivery. But – if I was a bit tipsy and I was in a club late one night with this playing through the loud speakers of the floor – I’d think there are much worse things that you could be listening to. It’s obvious that Matroda has developed his following in a light-hearted way by offering up heavy, absurd mixes – and that’s a quality of electronic dance music that goes back to the Aphex Twin days of the 90’s, where he would stick his face around each of his album covers to poke fun at the industry, so there’s an element of personality to it. Some music is for a certain place and a certain time, and I do think a loud and obnoxious club setting is the more appropriate setting for this track to be enjoyed. The humour of the track is funny and the vocal sample – as immature as it may sound – is a catchy little refrain that has been stuck in my head for a good few hours now. It’s clearly not a fine art – but it’s a novelty that lasts, if only for a little while. Am I insane?

  • Pictured: Matroda (Matija Rodic) readying his keyboard in his studio (2019) (Photo Credit: dancingastronaut.com)

Don’t forget to catch up with my WWE WrestleMania 36 Weekend Special if you missed out – Friday’s post, “El Santo: The Silver Masked Avenger” by The Nick Atoms, is here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/03/wwe-wrestlemania-36-weekend-special-the-nick-atoms-el-santo-the-silver-masked-avenger/. Saturday’s post on Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler”, is here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/04/wwe-wrestlemania-36-weekend-special-bruce-springsteen-the-wrestler/. The weekend’s final post on “The Legend Of Chavo Guerrero” by The Mountain Goats can be perused here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/05/wwe-wrestlemania-36-weekend-special-the-mountain-goats-the-legend-of-chavo-guerrero/!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Beef Stick” (Single) (Released 5th October 2018) (via Dim Mak)

Thank you for reading this post – I hope you enjoyed it! It’s almost time for our first Scuzz Sundays post in two long weeks, but first, make sure that you check back with the blog tomorrow for my in-depth review of a recent track by an established Swedish Electronic-Pop group who received a nomination for their fourth album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, held in 2015! 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