Today’s Track: Lip Filler – ‘Followup’

July 5, 2024 — Leave a comment

You may be hooked as quickly as you can say “Dermatologic Surgery”. New post time!

Pictured: George Tucker (Co-Lead Vocals, Keyboard), Verity Hughes (Guitar, Backing Vocals), Jude Scholefield (Guitar, Percussion), Theodore Pasmore (Bass Guitar) and Nate Wicks (Drums) (2023) (Photo taken by PR)

The summer days are upon us! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it was previously my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day before adulthood got in my way, so now I post more sporadically about special sounds. Lip Filler are an exciting, emerging indie rock band from London who weave elements of Electronic music and Post-Punk together like a Bunsen burner and a cylindrical tub of Helium in your school’s chemistry class. The West London-based 5-piece started their project with humble beginnings, having resided in a flat above a chicken shop in Shepherds Bush where their synergy and influences began to boil as hard as an egg in a saucepan. This has led to the evolving reputation of the band as a caustic capital force in London’s live scene to be created and, most importantly, they have now been able to buy a pet tortoise for their flat because why wouldn’t you? They have received some airplay from BBC Radio 6 Music since, along with just finishing up their first UK headline tour run. Having already supported the likes of Pit Pony, Gene Pool, XVOTO, Alfie Templeman and Picture Parlour and worked with producer St Francis Hotel (Little Simz, Michael Kiwanuka, Greentea Peng) on their debut single, Lip Filler are focusing their attention on tapping into a vast pool of creative collaborators and tidily transitioning to studio production practices to maintain their arresting momentum. ‘Witchescrew’ is their second EP – out now via Chess Club Records – and ‘Followup’ is the remarkable lead single, despite what its title may imply. Let’s give it a spin below!

Diving deep into their psyche, Lip Filler says, “Time is a precious thing; when we are told to wait for something sometimes we feel as though we’re not making any progress. We push ourselves to ensure we’re occupying our time efficently”, as they expose their emotional vulnerabilities in a press release regarding ‘Followup’, adding, “Taking this to the extreme would mean avoiding sleep altogether, or sleepwalking. I think that’s how this song began to adopt more paranormal themes”, says vocalist George Tucker. Absolute sense is made by Tucker’s comments on time management and relative frustrations because patience shines strongly as a key theme of their shape-shifting song. We start with a glossy yet melodic lead guitar riff that sounds akin to a shiny 90’s Alternative Rock crossover hit by a band like Placebo or The Smashing Pumpkins, as the blatant lyric of “I’m so sad” begins to reverberate throughout the disillusioned tone of the track. At this point, you may expect an Emo track to unfold alike the ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature that we used to own in this blog’s heyday, but a change of direction takes course and the angularity grow sharper. Lyrics like “Motion sickness in your sleep/I’ve been underneath the tyres” are given a rhythmic scheme akin to a Rap-Metal track, while the guitars grow more bitter in substance and the Grunge mentality runs thicker. “You turned oh shit/I get my creature on”, delivered with a static effect, proves to be an imaginative detour that suggests a larger mental health issue at play due to its contorted nature. The band continue to dynamically cut together their influences of Pop-Punk, Nu-Metal and Shoegaze with a cut-and-paste collage effect as stop-start electronic instrumentals with a distorted tone and up-tempo vocal loops continue to add a psychedelic haze to the mix. Overall, while the volume on ‘Followup’ can be high at times, the technical musicianship finds its place to shine as the band continue to subvert expectations throughout the explorational track and stitch together a vibrant library of late 90’s and early 00’s rock sounds at a towering level of creativity. Less so of “I’m so sad” and more like “I’m so excited” about the future in store for this daring, experimental crew.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘witchescrew’ (EP) (Released on May 24th, 2024) (via Chess Club Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me for a few minutes on One Track At A Time today and if you’re always on the look-out for more new music suggestions beyond the mainstream, please follow me on my other channels that you can seek out below.

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Today’s Track: Mindchatter – ‘Brain Pills’

April 23, 2024 — Leave a comment

You need some brain pills to fuel your desire to seek new music. Time for a new post!

Pictured: Bryce Connolly (aka Mindchatter) performing at a vibrant live set (2022) (Photo via MusicTech.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke and it always used to be my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day. That’s before my adulthood got right in the way! Somewhere deep in the suburban situation of New York City is where you’ll be able to find Bryce Connolly, a multi-instrumentalist and EDM producer who was recently featured on KCRW’s Today’s Top Tune podcast. That’s how I caught wind of ‘Brain Pills’, a rather silly yet relatable track dripped in irony regarding the current “Ask My GP” crisis that rages across the world. Finding a curious intersection between a genre-less approach to beats and blatant anecdotal lyricism on ‘Brain Pills’, he reflects on the experience of being prescribed his medication by a psychiatrist on an application via video call. Speaking about the humour and irony that he found in the experience, he says, “The whole process is extremely goofy. I was diagnosed by a woman wearing a hoodie… I’m pretty sure I was older than her, too. Anyways, it seems like this has become the new normal because a lot of people are relating to the song”, in a press release. Sample the track – which is taken from his EP ‘This Is A Reminder That You Are Not Behind Your Face’ released in February – below.

The eccentric appeal of Mindchatter’s mental health-themed music stands out for seeing the lighter side of the overwhelming aspects of life that can haunt us. It has taken him to the stages of popular festivals like Coachella, Lightning In A Bottle and Okeechobee as well as leading to support slots with artists like Polo & Pan and SG Lewis. There’s little time for grief and sadness because ‘Brain Pills’ gets to an immediate start by establishing the floaty, bubbling percussion from the opening. “Brain pills, from a doctor, on the internet” repeats as the new layers of more weighty drums and hazy, psychedelic synths progress the chords. The verse reveals more about his perception of his appointment as odd and unbelievable, as he used lyrics like “She asked questions from a PDF/I can see her apartment/It was a mess” to emphasize the careless approach of the online medical help and the fact that his mind wandered down the route of satire at the sight of her apartment seeming messier than Bryce’s own life. Effects add reverb to his vocals, giving the lyrics a trippy vibe to complement the chatter about ADHD medication. The synths have a free-wheeling effect to accentuate the psychedelia-leaning tone too, with “My chakras was not aligned” being repeated at the top of a sturdy drum beat and high frequency-aligned synths during the bridge of the track before the punchy chorus returns to take us through the journey of his imagination as his mind wanders down a different path again. Overall, I love how satire and irony are woven into the fabric of this dance track that emphasises the hillarity of an online meeting with meaningful consequences being hosted by an unprofessionally-behaved authority while feeling serious enough to surpass the stage of novelty. In a world of love songs and vengeful protest jams, it is refreshing to hear the experience of a good old anecdote being replicated in this fearless Electro-Pop track which is sharp enough to match its quirks.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘This Is A Reminder That You Are Not Behind Your Face’ (EP) (Released on February 2nd, 2024) (via Foreign Family Collective)

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Today’s Track: Lime Garden – ‘Pop Star’

March 12, 2024 — Leave a comment

When life gives you limes, make guacamole. I would if I liked avocado. New post time!

Pictured: Chloe Howard (Lead Vocals/Percussion), Leila Deeley (Lead Guitar), Tippi Morgan (Bass Guitar) & Annabel Whittle (Drums) in a recent photoshoot to promote the ‘One More Thing’ album (2024) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it used to be my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day before my adulthood got right in the way! It has been a few weeks since I last found the time to write on the blog so, first of all, thank you once again for waiting for me to return so patiently. Secondly, it allowed the space for plenty of emerging artists to grow and nurture in my favour since the last time that we interacted. One of my favourite bands that I discovered in that meantime was Lime Garden. Not only are they an all-female alternative pop 4-piece from Brighton, but they also specialise in their own brand of “Wonk Pop” which the ladies describe as an exotic combination of Disco, Pop and Surf Rock blended together. I would add that their sound takes me back to the 00’s where bands like Hard-Fi and Caesars scored chart hits with jams that were mainstream indie boom music in essence but they also had a slight urban twist to them where Dance and Psychedelic elements came into the fold rather subtly. Of course, “Wonk Pop” may imply that it’s cheap like Wonky Veg in the supermarket, but I like to think it’s as fresh as the cucumbers that you can buy straight from the greengrocers. Awful analogies aside, check out ‘Pop Star’ before reading my thoughts on the charming track below.

Reading & Leeds, Green Man and Standon Calling are just three of the festivals which Lime Garden have played since forming in 2017 leading to support slots with Yard Act and Sunflower Bean on tour. ‘One More Thing’ is the debut album out recently on So Young Records, which is a really confident first full-length effort. Lyrics reflecting on the modern strong woman stereotypes and the lengths that a creative is willing to go to get noticed are just a few of the core themes that speak to me and I feel that both their musical influences and their honest lyricism come to pass strongly in ‘Pop Star’. The opening synth riff is an interesting sonic choice that sets the scene for the sporadic lifestyle that vocalist Chloe Howard sings about with its upbeat yet slightly imperfect nature in how the pattern is a tad unsettled. The drums rattle on at a percussive, improv Jazz-like pace as Howard lays bare the highs and lows of navigating the music industry as a struggling artist with low name value. “I don’t want to work my job, cause life is short and this is long” during the chorus and “I’m finding it hard to breathe and I’m finding it hard to believe/Is this what its like for you or is this just what its like for me” in the verses details the realities of feeling stuck in a job which the powers that be have laid out for you and the curse of comparison to others on social media, respectively. Although the blind pursuit of an exciting dream that feels destined for depression is a personal reflection on these everyday issues for musicians, I also feel there’s something wider that Howard and pals are getting at here. There’s a thematic sense of rebellion to the record in which they feel defiant against the overexposure of generic music by established names being given all of the airplay and support in the modern media. The last lyric that I mentioned, especially, makes this clear to me in a subtle fashion. Overall, I really like how intelligence and dexterity are quite specific attributes to Lime Garden as a band here that can’t be heard on just any record and they offer a deep conversation on ‘Pop Star’ that, as well as the tune being quite a lively and eccentric one to groove to, there’s an attitude to it that feels totally Punk buried beneath the more obvious influences. I absolutely love the sense of specifity to them and if you haven’t heard of Lime Garden before but you are a fan of bands like Warpaint, The Strokes and The Last Dinner Party, I think that you will find their solid LP as fresh as a lime straight from the most tender source too.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘One More Thing’ (LP) (Released on February 16th, 2024) (via So Young Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your time today and keep your eyes peeled on the blog because, later in the week, I will be posting about a groovy new track by a funk, Jazz and Afrobeat-inflicted band who have recorded music with Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor and they have performed at KEXP’s World Clash Day back in April 2019.

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