Today’s Track: Falle Nioke (feat. Ghost Culture) – “Barké”

August 31, 2020 — Leave a comment

If your pet dog likes this music, they will probably Barké at it. It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Outer case for Falle Nioke & Ghost Culture’s “Youkounkoun” EP (Physical CD available from Bandcamp.com)

Yeah… You can tell I struggled a bit to come up with the tagline for this one. Good Afternoon, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and, as per usual, I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! “Barké” is a recent release which I sadly didn’t quite get around to taking a spin earlier. It comes from the EP, “Youkounkoun”, a collaborative EP mixed together by Falle Nioke and Ghost Culture. Nioke is a singer-songwriter from Guinea Conakry, West Africa. He sings in both French and English, and in some traditional African languages like Susu, Falani, Malinke and Conagui. He is also a percussionist who plays cultural African instruments like the Gongoma, Bolon and Cassi. The latter, Ghost Culture, is the alias of London-based Electronic composer James Greenwood. He has always been a producer in the UK’s underground dance scene, but he turned heads with the release of his self-titled LP back in 2015, which was named as Rough Trade’s “Record Of The Month” in January 2015. Let’s have a gander to “Barké” below.

Falle Nioke was, reportedly, quickly inspired to link up with Ghost Culture, as his first electronically-focused project, soon after he moved to the UK and signed up with PRAH Recordings. “Barké” was the first sampler they shared from their recent EP, and it’s title roughly translates to “Blessing” in English. The sound of which they craft together comes off as quite intriguing. Nioke recites African chants over a luscious Lute melody, before Greenwood adds a synergistic range of syncopated beat melodies, with a kinetic bassline that melodically whistles over the top of a stuttering, glitched-out strobe rhythm that continually dips and weaves over the top of Nioke’s tribal vocals. These vocals feel upbeat, yet grounded, paired with a sensibility of Drum and Bass that clashes the two musical roots of London and Conkary together, with a decent flow that doesn’t feel too jarring, although it takes some co-operation for you to become accustomed to it. The electronic influences aren’t heavy, with a minimalist drum pattern and a simple, hand-clapped beat that keeps the track feeling poppy and beat-driven enough to access on a first listen. It provides for a good introduction to Nioke’s distinct vocal style, as he bases a large emphasis on high notes and a mid-tempo pitch, before the electronic beats gradually decrease in frequency, and the ongoing groove makes a key change, for a soulful outro that evokes a well-rounded finish. The style feels raw and D.I.Y, with an interesting style of lyricism that probably takes a bit of interaction or perseverance for a casual listener to get the most out of it. I think it makes for some superb diversity, and it’s addictive as a grower. A great palette cleanser for a year where, sadly, nothing has gone to plan.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Youkounkoun” (EP) (Released on July 10th, 2020) (via PRAH Recordings)

Thank you very much for reading this post! Don’t worry, as I will be kicking off the new month tomorrow with a new track from a talented independant artist who has really burst onto the UK Indie Rock scene with her new track, which has been curated for an A-list slot on BBC Radio 6Music, along with a strong airplay from X-Posure, John Kennedy’s evening show, on Radio X. It’s named after a popular lunchtime meal that you would probably enjoy as a comfort food while feeling poorly. 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: Severed Heads – “All Saints Day (2015 USA Tour)”

August 29, 2020 — Leave a comment

Basement Jazz would ask: Where’s Your (Severed) Head At? It’s time for a new post…

Pictured: Tom Ellard (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar/Electronic Percussion) and Stewart Lawler (Synths/Keyboard/Engineer) (Current band lineup) at Unsound Festival 2016 (Photo Credit: Paulius Illius/www.SecretThirteen.org)

Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I am writing about your daily track on the blog because, as like always, it is my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! “All Saints Day” has always gone down as a cult classic, from what I gather. It’s probably because of my age, but I just saw this track listed on the KEXP schedule, and I thought the artwork looked really amusing, but I’ve never actually listened to this record. So, it’s going to be as much as a new experience for you as it will be for me, for today. According to my research, this is one of the most popular tracks to ever be performed by Severed Heads, a cult favourite Australian Experimental Electronic Prog-House group, which has seen several line-up changes throughout the years. This track was taken from their eighth LP record, “Rotund For Success”, released in 1989. As with the bulk of the group’s discography, the album has been reissued several times over the years by different labels, in different formats and versions. This late-80’s iteration of the duo saw Tom Ellard work with Stephen Jones on Synths and Production, but the current line-up sees Jones getting replaced by Stewart Lawler on Engineering and Percussion. In any case, Severed Heads has become known for their off-kilter style of production, experimental pop-driven hooks, and twisted splicing effects. Let’s listen to their 2015 USA Tour dub of the track below.

With the history of Severed Heads in their career seeming almost as strange as the highly experimental, IDM-driven style of their music, “All Saints Day” incorporates a House-laden melodicism into a harsh, although not abrasive, electronic synth bassline and a groovy, but slightly distorted, snare effect. It often feels like some kind of “Wrong” or “Broken” auto-tune machine, with Cymbal samples being looped backwards and delayed pedal effects making the club-rolling dancefloor House beats sounding a little bit sideways. There is enough of a melodic Synthpop element to the track though, with a trendy late-80’s synth-oriented club sound and spoken word vocals that often feel comparable to Pet Shop Boys or Bernard Summer. The smooth synth-rock development replaces a grating percussion sample, sounding like a door loudly creaking, from the opening. The vocals flutter above a Disco-Rock layering, going: “For I am willing to believe/Wishing to be strong, Fighting on your side”, over the top of curiously appealing, monstrous vocal samples and the brassy, prominent Synth-Strobe stabs. An unintelligible female vocal loop, a manipulated jumble of celestial Drum blips, and an ethnological, almost tribal, backing vocal loop compete against each other in the bizzare cloud of experimentation. It’s very off-kilter, but it’s well-paced throughout and feels fairly cohesive, but it’s wonky enough to add a touch of charm and warmth. It somewhat feels like a product of it’s time, with innovative 80’s synth stabs and hefty use of the Analogue synth hardware that was new and exciting in it’s heyday, but it also feels very intentionally off-kilter and appealingly unstable enough to have a timeless effect. If it came out tomorrow, I don’t think that anybody would question it much, but you could point directly to its influence. To conclude, it does have “me” written all over it judging by my own personal tastes, and I think this is a really cool tune. I would love to see a revival of this niche dance scene.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Rotund For Success” (Released on 31st October, 1989) (via Volition Records/Nettwerk)

Thank you very much for reading my daily music blog post! As per usual, I will be back tomorrow with your new weekly edition of Scuzz Sundays, the feature where I pick an Emo-Rock or a Pop-Punk relic from between the late-90’s and the mid-00’s to see if it can hold a candle to modern standards! If you are a fan of Burnout Paradise, the classic racer video game from 2008, you’ll be in for a blast from the past tomorrow, so make sure you don’t miss out on it! 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: Disclosure – “ENERGY”

August 28, 2020 — Leave a comment

If you thought The Chemical Brothers were the space and time of British electronic dance music – these two are actually brothers. It’s all relative! It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Guy Lawrence (Programming/Engineer) and Howard Lawrence (Turntables/Effects) being interviewed backstage at the Roskilde Festival, Denmark (in June 2015) (Photo Credit: Marv Watson/Redbull.com)

Good Morning! I am Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing up about your daily track on the blog, as per usual, since it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Fittingly releasing on a Friday, which is today, in time for the underground raves you can’t go to, is “ENERGY”, the third studio album from the Surrey-raised real-life Brother DJ duo of Howard and Guy Lawrence, as Disclosure. It marks the end of a very long and grueling wait for their fans (Including my friend Grace, in particular), since this is their first proper album release in half a decade. They have kept their fans busy in the gap with a recent string of live mixes, new EP’s and the odd collaboration or two, along with mixtapes and regular live-streamed sessions, of which many of the obscure tracks appear on the deluxe version of their new album. It has a promising guest line-up, with the likes of Kelis, Slowthai, Fatoumata Diawara, Mick Jenkins, and several more involved. Disclosure have some mainstream hits under their belt with the likes of Sam Smith and Khalid, along with two Grammy Award nominations for Best Dance/Electronica Album for 2013’s debut “Settle” and for 2015’s follow-up LP “Caracal” too. Let’s stream the titular track below.

If I’m completely truthful with you, I’m not quite as familiar with Disclosure as more alternative British EDM acts like The Prodigy or Aphex Twin, because I’ve usually dismissed them a little bit as “Just Pop DJ’s”, seeing as they have worked with my current least-favourite Sam Smith for goodness sake. But, I’m now going to give up the cynicism and openly admit it. I LOVE ENERGY! I think this is a really, really, REALLY good track, and I’ve been streaming it on repeat a few times. Let’s start off with the opening, as a nice element of Deep House gets immediately established through the heavy West African drum melodies which the brothers borrowed from some samples they took from an album of Brazillian library music. These get layered out to the beat of a strong vocal performance that preaches mottos like “Right now, you should feel invincible, powerful, strong” and “If you are alive, I know you ain’t reached your best yet” with Acid synth sections and grooving Conga drum patterns. These vocals were recorded by Eric Thomas, who provided vocals for Disclosure’s early track “When The Fire Starts To Burn”. Thomas signals that “Now, we gon’ take it to another level” as the brothers unleash a cooled sequence of flickering Synth rhythms and light stabs of Acid Techno beats. They feel upbeat and moving, but they also have a calming effect. It leads up nicely to a startling finale of diverse, world-based instrumentation and Preacher-esque lead vocal sections from Eric Thomas, whilst the drum beats keep repeating and the Synth sections keep pushing-and-pulling the pacing up, with a polished sheen that stitches everything together with excellent flow and a faultless cohesion. The results make “ENERGY” feel vibrant and fresh, with a very exciting sound and a diverse sonic pallete that takes influence from a surprising range of Earthly sources. Based on what I have heard from Disclosure before, this is absolutely one of their best, and I cannot recommend it highly enough, and I’m glad it sounds as though Island Records, the major label of which they’re signed up to, hasn’t seemed to get their hands on the creative direction very much, at all. It just rocks my socks off.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “ENERGY” (Released on 28th August, 2020) (Album/LP) (via Island Records)

Thank you very much for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with an in-depth look at a recent rework of a cult classic single recorded by an Australian Experimental Electronic Dance duo who have seen countless lineup changes throughout the years, and have performed many comeback gigs in recent years, including a gig at The State Library Of Victoria as part of Melbourne Music Week in 2016, and a one-off double gig with Snog at the Corner Hotel in Richmond, Victoria during 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: The Avalanches (feat. Jamie XX, Neneh Cherry & CLYPSO) – “Wherever You Go”

July 23, 2020 — Leave a comment

E.T. – Phone home! You’re Hype-O-Ray has switched on again. It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Wherever You Go” (Double Single) (Released on July 22nd, 2020) (via Modular Recordings)

We’re continuing to build up to a new album of truly Astronomical proportions! Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m typing up your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! If you’ve been following the blog since it’s inception last summer, you’ll be very easily aware that I’m a HUGE fan of The Avalanches, a Plunderphonics duo from Australia (A six-piece, at one point) who produced “Since I Left You”, a classic record made from loads of curated samples, which was released in early 2000. “Wildflower”, also an exceptional record in my book, followed up a bizzare 16 years later on. That brings us to 2020, where Robbie Chater and Tony Di Biasi have sporadically released new singles under the name throughout the year to build hype for an upcoming third record, which the duo finished mastering last month. It’s been a bumpy road, with the band debunking rumors of the new album at a few turns, despite us all knowing that it exists. It’s actually been since March that we’ve had a new single, “Running Red Lights” (feat. Rivers Cuomo & Pink Siifu), from the duo. However, it’s probable that the chaos of Covid-19 has bumped their schedule around. It makes sense, as the type of music the duo makes is highly reliant on exciting collaborations with other artists. “Wherever You Go” was released yesterday morning, along with a B-side entitled “Reflecting Light”. The former features big names Jamie XX and Neneh Cherry, with additional work from CLYPSO. The Avalanches’ description reads: “Why do we send music to the stars?” the band’s accompanying statement asks. “Is it because we want our voices to live forever?” and “How else should we become pure spirits, singing forever in the dark?”, with the band also hoping that the anthem will bring hope at the face of “the whole damn world incinerating”. Let’s have a listen to the track below.

To create their own sample-fueled Space odyssey, The Avalanches enlisted the assistance of Mick Jones, of The Clash, to play the piano part in the intro. Moreover, Chater & Di Biasi experimented with samples taken from 1997’s The Voyager Golden Record, a mix-tape used by NASA to contact aliens. This Extra-Terrestrial theme feels enigmatic, and adds deeper exploration to the cosmic ideas that Chater & Di Biasi explored on “We Will Always Love You” and “Running Red Lights”. The intro of the track begins with a man talking about what humans do here on Earth, before a diverse crescendo of synths, made to sound like broken transmissions, fizzles in to get the club melodies rolling. This contrasts the tense feeling of the intro’s atmosphere, before the intensity gradually explodes and layers of voice samples are added into the background. West African chants are next, leading to a heavy synth line and the introduction of Jamie XX’s section, as very dance-laden Acid strobes are pushed to the forefront. Later, Neneh Cherry recites: “So much badness, so much anger, too much war, it’s all so frightening”, ending with the refrain: “On the radio, we can love”, before an interval that harkens back to the soft, gentle piano melodies heard at the beginning of the track. It feels disjointed, deliberately, before we go back to the club-driven, drum-and-bass bulk of the track. At this point, The Avalanches’ production work is impressive, as to be expected, with flickering radio frequency effects and distorted repeats of the different layered sections of the track. The finale bursts with a joyous, meditative backing vocal, with Jamie XX adding: “You go, you go, too” and Neneh Cherry spitting bars: “1, 2, 3, 4, On the dancefloor, that’s where you get yours”, while Sydney-based Troptronica producer CLYPSO adds ethereal and hallucinatory backing vocals, along with tribal chants and subtle Bongo drum sections, to the ongoing track. It’s always a gutsy move to release a dance record at a time where clubs are banned, and it’s a shame that Covid has ruined what they were likely planning. However, I feel The Avalanches have really knocked it out of the park, with this one. The six-minute duration is long and extensive, but the track always feels interesting, thanks to the gradual arrangement of new layers being added throughout the track. Jamie XX adds a profound and psychedelic essence to the sample effects, and Neneh Cherry adds a Gorillaz-esque hip-hop undercurrent to the track, making it sound melodic and intriguing. CLYPSO fits suitably too, with his world-influenced instrumentation blending with the overarching feelings of meditation and space exploration. The production gives a blockbuster feel, with meticulously layered NASA samples that makes it feel fun, with hidden samples and effects that add detail to each corner of the track’s soundscape. There’s a touch of humour here too, with the amusing refrain: “The Whole damn world’s been incinerated” delivered enthusiastically by Cherry at the very end. Combined, all of the collaborations make it feel very psychedelic, groovy and inspired, although it gets to a point where you think: “How many people does it take to make one song”! It’s got more of a Club sound than we usually hear from them. The best of their recent bunch.

Pictured: Mural promoting the release of “We Will Always Love You” in Melbourne, Australia (2020) (via Stereogum)

As previously mentioned, I’ve been closely tracking the new releases from The Avalanches as we build to the upcoming third LP. Click here to read my thoughts on “Running Red Lights” (feat. Rivers Cuomo & Pink Siifu) here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/20/todays-track-the-avalanches-feat-rivers-cuomo-pink-siifu-running-red-lights/, and you can also read my review for the comeback single “We Will Always Love You” (feat. Blood Orange) here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/21/todays-track-the-avalanches-feat-blood-orange-we-will-always-love-you/

Pictured: Robbie Chater (Mixing/Production/Guitar) and Tony Di Biasi (Keyboard/Synths/Bass) (2020) (via press shot)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as promised, with a break from the new music releases to wind the clock back to 2005 for this week’s retro track. The single became a well-known Top 40 chart hit, in the mid-00’s, for an American rock band, formed in New York City, who split up in 2014. 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: Tropea – “Technicolour”

July 18, 2020 — Leave a comment

Sip down on some Kia-Ora and relax out in the Sun to this! It’s time for your new post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Might Delete Later” (EP) (Released on June 12th, 2020) (via Self-Released/Bandcamp)

Good Morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing up your daily track on the blog, and that’s because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write, up on the blog, about a different piece of music every day! Tropea – a 4-piece indie Tropicalia band formed in Milan, Italy in 2017 – are one of my biggest recent deep dives, since there’s fairly little information about them on the internet, but I had first caught wind of their Summery sounds through KEXP’s Song Of The Day podcast. The 4-piece outfit have been keeping their minds active during the Covid-19 pandemic by self-producing a six-track EP, “Might Delete Later”, via Butik and peermusicITALY, last month. Tropea like to describe their music as “Pajama music for Pajama people” in relation to their pop-driven, dreamy Shoegaze-inspired 80’s synth sound. On the “Might Delete Later” EP, the band aimed to arouse the feelings of a live show, with six tracks that naturally conjoin into one another. Tropea said on “Technicolor”. via a press release: “It’s a very bonding moment and it gives a sense of community with our audience. We wanted to capture the same live energy, but also give it a new meaning since we are facing tough times: it’s a song for dreaming, dancing, or just exercising and taking care of oneself, for burning with love and taking care of each other even in the midst of the difficulties of this absurd world. It’s a tribute to those who help others see the magic, despite our illusions and the lies we tell ourselves”. Let’s get our groove on to it below.

Synth overload, anyone? As much of an independently produced track by nature as it is by its name, “Technicolor” is a sparkling 1980’s-inflicted Synth-Pop ditty that is, obviously, sung in Italian, with certain auras of New-Wave and Tropicalia gauzing throughout its short three-minute duration. It has a very European club sound, with agile synth rhythms and vibrant keyboard riffs, with a less guitar-driven flair than the other six tracks from the EP. It’s filled with chanting vocals, especially at the mid-way point where vocalist Pietro Selvini exclaims the refrain: “Your eyes in the blinking town/Betraying the night”, prior to a very bouncy synth-led chorus of joyous keyboard melodies and looping synth pads. The pacing is quick and snappy throughout, with a speedy vocal delivery on the verses and glistening synth strobes in the post-bridge. The verses sound fluid and rich, with glitching drum machine loops and fizzling Acid-Pop melodies that complement the Italian lyricism and the Psych-Pop oriented textures with clean and polished production. As for improvements that I could suggest, I think there is a slight over-reliance on the auto-tune machine here, and some more natural vocals would achieve a similar effect of writing a Summery indie pop track, and an incorporation of more World music Elements, such as the use of a West African drum, will also capture the vibe while decreasing the processed sound a notch. On the flip side, the vocal performance is strong, the production is handled with a tidy precision and the Blade Runner-esque 80’s aesthetics are fun. It really reminds me of The Weeknd. It’s not usually my thing, but I can tell there’s more than “just trying to have a hit” here. I want a fancy glass of juice with an umbrella in it.

Pictured: Tropea in a self-produced photoshoot to promote the “Might Delete Later” EP (2020) (via Facebook.com)

Thank you very much for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with your brand new weekly edition of our Scuzz Sunday series. It’s the time of the week where we take an in-depth stroll down the memory lane of classic emo-rock or pop-punk releases from between the late-1990s, through to the mid-2000s, to see if they can hold a candle to the new kids on the block (Modern standards, I mean, not the 1980’s boy band that flopped). 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: 박혜진 Park Hye Jin – “Like This”

July 10, 2020 — Leave a comment

Do you like it like that? I really like it “Like This”! It’s time for your new daily blog post!

Pictured: 박혜진 Park Hye Jin in a photoshoot to promote the release of the “How Can I” EP (2020) (via NinjaTune.net)

Good Morning, Afternoon or Evening – I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing up about your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! You know how it works by now, I give you my honest thoughts on an interesting or exciting track, old or new. The latter is the case for today! 박혜진 Park Hye Jin is an emerging rapper, DJ and producer who has recently signed to Ninja Tune. Born in Seoul and later based in Melbourne, Jin has become a renowned producer by the internet music community for her work in light, ambient electronic textures that feel majestic, dream-like and influenced by a wide range of cultural movements from across the globe. She’s just 26 years old, and she’s already performed at international music festivals such as Primavera and Dour – a personal favourite of her’s. She has also performed alongside British Indie stalwart Jamie XX in London last year. Two Fridays ago, on June 26th, Jin released her latest six-track EP production – “How Can I” – which thematically deals with the conflicted emotions that came to life touring around the world, with infectious whispered vocals and new sonic directions. Let’s have a listen to the EP’s lead single, “Like This”, below!

“This lead single has no English lyrics in it at all”, says Ashley Yun, a project manager at Hye Jin’s label Ninja Tune, “It’ll be a really good benchmark for how ready society is to hear music that isn’t in English. That prospect is really exciting.”, she elaborates. It’s a statement that pushes well-deserved diversity in Asian electronic music production and sonic music development as a whole, but I also feel the result of the overall sound adds a hazy, slow-moving effect that plays off Jin’s strengths in her specific right. “Like This” sounds carefree and delicate, with widely scattered vocal effects and a soft, meditative ambience that seems freeform and gently minimalist. The grooving vocal section, particularly beginning from the first verse, has an intangibly sensual delivery and uses a simple gliding effect to form up a light crescendo of chiming melodies, creating a vivid dream-like effect. Her vocals feel tranquil and sweet, in contrast to the slightly chilling percussion. The tempo is slightly raised in the chorus, and it suddenly becomes easier to dance to. However, they also feel very hypnotic to me, and it creates a firm, albeit faint, melancholy. It’s almost as if Jin is contemplating her missing absence of her family or simple home comforts at a time when she’s in the middle of a rowdy, prime-time live DJ set. I like to intepret the textures in the ambient tracks like these, but I don’t think the production of this style of music is really meant to be discussed, but felt instead, so it’s open to your own ears too. In my case, the swelling synthesizers of the minimalist house vibe feels creatively layered, and the intricate methods she uses feels inspired by Aphex Twin’s work on Selected Ambient Works Volume II, while it sounds more beat-driven, akin to Peggy Gou, a similarly contemporary DJ of Asian origin. Overall, I think this makes for excellent background listening. Mild and lush, with a catchy Earworm hook.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “How Can I” (EP/6 Tracks) (Released on 26th June, 2020) (via Ninja Tune)

Thank you very much for reading this post! Don’t forget that I’ve got a new weekly edition of Scuzz Sundays coming up in two days time, but I will be warming you up for it tomorrow with a contemporary, recently released Alternative Punk track from a young, emerging 4-piece from Liverpool. The new track is named after the “Badside” of a very famous British-American musician, theorist and filmmaker who was the lead singer/guitarist of the influential 1970’s band Talking Heads. 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: Enigma – “Sadeness (Part 1)”

July 8, 2020 — Leave a comment

This interesting German-Romanian electronic music producer managed to crack the “Enigma code” of the mainstream singles charts in the 1990’s. It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Enigma (Michael Cretu) in a photoshoot to promote “The Fall Of A Rebel Angel” (2016) (via ParisMatch.com)

Remember this one? Good Morning to you, my name is Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing up about your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! It’s a strange sight to behold – a composer managing to have a big chart hit with an ambient chillout track that was built upon Gregorian Chants and tribal Flute sounds, but somehow… before I was even born…. It happened! Enter Enigma, the alias of German-Romanian music composer Micheal Cretu. The inspiration for his experimental project was a product of his desire to make a kind of music that did not obey “the old rules and habits” of commercial pop music, and presented a new form of artistic expression with mystic and experimental components, according to his interview with Melvyn J. Willin. Thus, he produced atmospheric intercultural soundscapes which dabbled in elements of New-Age and Worldbeat. He became a very successful artist for doing so, selling a total of over 70 million records worldwide, and receiving three Grammy Award nominations. He’s still going, having released his eighth ambient LP – “The Fall Of A Rebel Angel” – in 2016. He burst onto the scene with his international hit “Sadeness (Part 1)” in 1990, a track that somehow reached the #1 spot of the singles charts in 24 countries, which includes the UK. Let’s have a listen back to his breakout track below!

I’ve always wanted to join the Gregorian monks, but I never got the chants! There is no denying that Engima’s “Sadeness (Part 1)” is probably the most profoundly odd track to reach #1 in the UK, but I feel there is a nice amount of artistic merit to it, as opposed to it being a ‘fad’, and just a novelty. Starting off with an ominous line of Gregorian monk chants, Cretu gradually adds the layers up to combine the Gothic themes with ambient dance beats that were in the contemporary boom period of the time. Cretu repurposes a sample of the drums in Soul II Soul’s “Keep On Movin'” to create a gentle hip-hop beat, and Cretu combines them with a shimmering Pan-Pipe hook to get a downtempo, sultry groove going. It creates a very multicultural and strange ambient texture, and Cretu expands the idea out with the sound of a woman panting after a breathy line of odd foreign language vocals, paired up with the unexpected, short burst of a guitar solo in the middle. The climax (No pun intended) matches the ongoing Flute melodies with the sequence of more beat-driven synthesizer riffs, and the bizzare Gregorian monk chants bring a full-circle effect to the cerebral, trance-inducing 4-minute duration of ethereal, rich sound effects and dense, world-based instrumentation. The Peruvian flute melodies are the highlight for me, and the combination of strange sounds are quite appealing in a surprising number of ways, such as the seductive vibe of the light female backing vocals and the chemistry the different sections have in creating the visionary style that amounts up to an ambient fantasia. I’m probably just reading a bit too much into it, but it does still sound imaginative, and deeply sensual. The layering is quite solid. Sadly, I have a feeling that – much like the ancient customs of an old Gregorian tribe – it will sadly be forgotten as time wares on, and ‘Chart Pop’ gets more meme-oriented by the second!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “MCMXC a.D.” (Released on 10th December, 1990) (via Virgin/Charisma Records)

Thank you very much for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as always, with an in-depth listen to the (Pssssst… it’s really bad) brand new single from a Scottish folk-rock band who originally performed the track, “When We Collide”, that The X-Factor winner Matt Cardle had the UK’s Christmas #1 Single with in late 2010. 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