Today’s Track: Lip Filler – ‘Followup’

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

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.

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: Modern Silent Cinema – ‘A Life Of Constant Abberation’

Wish to fill your life with good music rather than constant abberation? New post time!

Warm greetings to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, a Cambridgeshire-based music lover and radio presenter, and I’m very grateful that you decided to join me for another post on One Track At A Time as we broaden our horizons when it comes to active music discovery. It was previously my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day before adulthood got in the way, so now I post sporadically about something special. I’ve got music to share from Modern Silent Cinema today, which is the moniker of Brooklyn-based independent musician Cullen Gallagher. His music encompasses elements of Lo-Fi, Instrumental Rock and Post-Rock developed by a variety of Electro-Acoustic instrumentation and Experimental guitar melodies. This year, he is celebrating a whole two decades of activity with a frequent string of six releases that evoke the history and impact of his alias. Half of these releases are comprised of fresh material while the other half of his issues are compilations of unreleased archival content. Three of these have been released including January’s ‘Passages X-XXI’ (a collection of relaxing solo piano recordings), March’s ‘The Cinema Detective’ (A dystopic sci-fi meets film theory detective study inspired by an essay from Baltimore-based clever clogs Matt Berry) and May’s ‘The Cabinet Of Modern Silent Cinema’, a rich album boasting a 13-track voyage through tracks that went astray over the years only to be revitalised by guitar duets with his brother, unearthed demo tapes and micro-cassette sketches. The next release to drop is July’s ‘Anemic Music’ – out on July 5th – which collates more tracks that are finally seeing the light of day. Give the opener ‘A Life Of Constant Abberation’ a whirl below.

All of these albums have been mastered by Caleb Mulkerin (of Big Blood notability) and Gallagher, under the instrumental guise of Modern Silent Cinema, has recently received airtime on radio stations like WRUW FM91.1 (Cleveland, Ohio) and WFMU (Jersey City, New Jersey) who have all showcased the Bad Channels Records label founder’s innate ability to play a strong diversity of instruments including the piano, lap steel, trombone, trumpet and the drums. “Sometimes there is a feeling this is a lost Fahey or Basho recording, low-fi and a wanderer of tempos and styles“, compliments Lost In A Sea Of Sound about his work. It’s not tricky to see how the comparison has been made since, on the above track, ‘A Life Of Constant Abberation‘, he playfully navigates a consistent set of instrumentation with an edged Rock ‘N’ Roll influence polished with warped Americana vibes and shaded Folk mastery. He creates a vague narrative with elements of rock opera through curved genre constructs modified by instrumental sounds alone. ‘A Life Of Constant Abberation‘ begins with a pure, 7-note guitar riff that is unphased by delay effects or auto-tuned procession with a rumbling sound that feels weighty. The volume is not overly loud, but the evident echo mixed with the simplicity of the guitar skills makes for a dramatic combo, a journey that suggests turmoil and difficulty with no spoken lyrics. The drums are equally steady but robust, this punchy combo being a second verse addition to the thumping guitar melodies. Together, the recoiling drums and the harsh lead guitar hook build up an expansive level of tension heading into the rich chorus that makes it easier for the listeners to fill in the gaps with their own stories that are open to interpretation as the strained moods continue to develop. The settled, yet uneasy groove changes when we reach a fever pitch – an agitated crescendo forms as Gallagher doubles down on the drums and puts some extra activeness on the harsh guitar melodies. However, it all gradually fades into a more calming combination of level-headed Drums marked by some lenient shredding on the bass in the later stages of the song. This dynamism between the heavy push and the retracting pull keeps things interesting, whereby it’s clear that stress is overwhelming our narrator at one point before he starts to see a more serene state of mind further afield. To conclude, ‘A Life Of Constant Abberation’ is not quite as sombre as you may be led to believe in the opening because, as the world often does, the circumstances change around our narrator and a light sense of tranqulity is up ahead with production beautifully built to enhance yet not contradict.

That’s all I’ve got for now! I want to say a huge thank you for giving me your time and attention today and thank you for giving me hope rather than constant abberation for doing so. Join me in the subsequent weeks on One Track At A Time for more new posts about the music that’s getting my creative soul flowing including tunes by bold, emerging artists like Julia-Sophie, Bad With Phones, Ebbb, Lip Filler and some others.

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Today’s Track: Hinds (feat. Beck) – ‘Boom Boom Back’

After a few weeks away from you – I’m making a BIG boom back. Time for a new post!

Get your headphones ready! Feel the crunching beats with me, Jacob Braybrooke, as I return to One Track At A Time once again to bring another recommendation into the life of yours as a fellow music lover. It used to be my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day before peak adulthood got right in my way! ‘Boom Boom Back’ ushers in a new era for the Madrid-based indie rock duo Hinds, who have experienced a tumultous time of troubles in the time leading up to their current comeback. Hinds have been around since 2011, originally as a 4-piece of ferocious female creatives, but they now exist as a dynamic duo comprised of original members Ana García Perrote and Carlotta Cosials who share the lead vocal and guitar duties amongst themselves. They have supported The Libertines, The Vaccines and Black Lips on tour in addition to designing their own clothing line in 2017 with Urban Outfitters that was sold alongside an exclusive limited edition 7-inch of their single ‘Holograma’ with 50% of the proceeds going towards an Austin-based not-for-profit organisation – Attendance Records – that provides students at public schools a platform to produce their own music, websites and magazines. Besides the recent single ‘Coffee’, it has been since the pandemic of 2020 that we’ve heard much from Hinds following ‘The Prettiest Curse’ LP being issued that year. A blow has been dealt because they have lost a drummer, a bassist and a management company. However, Perrote and Cosials are carrying the baton of Hinds as a duo, having spent the past decade touring across the globe and sharing their unique fusion of Garage Rock-infused pop with Psychedelic elements with the world. They’ve also gained a friend in Beck, who they met at a film screening in LA by chance. Their fourth studio album – ‘Viva Hinds’ – is now set to release on September 6th on Lucky Number Records. UK tour dates in Brighton’s Prince Albert and London’s The Lower Third are taking place at the end of this month. Check out the raucous new track ‘Boom Boom Back’ below.

Recorded in rural France with Pete Robertson (Beabadoobee, Orla Gartland, Chloe Moriondo) as their producer, Hinds are breaking new ground in light of vowing to continue their passionate Lo-Fi oriented explorations in substance as a pair instead of a quartet by including their first tracks to be entirely sung in Spanish on their new record, which also boasts a collaboration with Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten. The playful energy of the music video is matched by the rhythmic aggression of the melodies on ‘Boom Boom Back’, an infectious intro to the upbeat and beautifully braggadocious slab of 80’s-inspired Rock ‘N’ Roll that I can’t wait to hear on the rest of ‘Viva Hinds’ in September. Nonchalant ambience of the girls laughing is followed by a thumping drum riff and a swirling guitar riff, filling the air with stadium-sized rock sounds as we build up to the catchy chorus of “Do you want to fall in love in a bar tonight?/Do you wanna fall in love with a broken heart?” backed by gritty, non auto-tuned vocals sung above crisp, crunchy chords. It’s not very romantic at all, as Hinds settle for sexual pleasure instead and carry their quirky personalities into the rest of the track. Beck hops on for his own verse at one time, joined by lyrics like “Faking laughs, melted ice, throwing dollars and dice/Do you want to step aside a hologram of your life” that showcase his penchant for obscure hooks and mesh tidily with the rebellious attitude of Hinds, who fill the empty space with Spanish vocals and chatty ambience reminiscent of an irresponsible adult’s dream of a youthful teen party at various points yet the alternative rock spirit of the chorus packs a punch and keeps the tone balanced well. The result is a delighfully charming, wonderfully catchy and affectionately 90’s tune that is sure to generate excitement for the long-awaited new album. It feels like the perfect summer anthem, with Hinds delivering an accessible yet specific vocal performance and it’s nice to hear Beck getting to do what he does best after a string of more conventional pop-oriented releases. I don’t need to be in a bar to fall in love with ‘Boom Boom Back’ since hearing it at home offers many thrills.

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me for another musical musing today and I want to say a huge thank you for your support at this time where my posts are more sporadic. I will be back soon with another heartfelt recommendation of a new track, this time coming from a North Carolina-based Electronic producer who adds a unique touch of IDM and Glitch Hop to his House music explorations. He has produced tracks for Azaelia Banks and he’s performed a live set at the Sydney Opera House. You may also know him for releasing music under the names of Tstewart and Syndrome. He’s also 1/2 of the experimental duo Dream Continuum alongside Jim Coles aka OM Unit.

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Today’s Track: Mindchatter – ‘Brain Pills’

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

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.

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Today’s Track: Elkka – ‘Make Me’

Femme Fatale is for the artists with more than just a pretty face. Time for a new post!

Pleasure. Sexuality. The glare of desire that blurs out everybody else in the room. The look of love at first sight that paints an immediate picture of that one you want to be with regardless of a physical connection. These are all common human themes that feel relatable within the results of Ellka’s latest track ‘Make Me’ which has, over the past couple of weeks, grown on this exhausted music journalist like the wings slowly forming on a caterpillar which turn it into a beautiful butterfly as it manifests over the course of approximately 4 weeks on average. Elkka is the release name for the Cardiff-born DJ/Producer Emma Kirby who is currently making a name for herself on the EDM scene in London. Following years of being widely supported by peers including Four Tet, Caribou, Sofia Kourtesis, Jon Hopkins, SHERELLE and Floating Points, Kirby is set to unleash her first full-length album record ‘Prism Of Pleasure’ onto the public on May 3rd via Ninja Tune. She also won an AIM Award for Best Remix for her work on a ‘Megapunk’ remix, a track which was originally produced by one-woman Emo/Punk orchestra Ela Minus. A 10-track project written over the course of 18 months, ‘Prism Of Pleasure’ is a bold, vibrantly textured exploration of intimacy and identity within the LGBTQ+ community that explores her gradual rise to day-to-day music production as a lucrative career. The cover artwork is rooted in this concept, which features a photograph of Elkka taken by her wife Alex Lambert who is also an artistic collborator that represents the ideology of the female gaze that has always been prevalent in the media. ‘Make Me’ is the sensual and ambitious lead single of the long-awaited album that promises to stand as a token of her personal evolution as an artist. Spin it below.

“Make me love you, make me love you, make me love you” is a hypnotic refrain that reverbarates through the four-to-the-floor rhythmic pattern of the track and, in its straightforward essence, gets the pure pleasure that has rested in Elkka’s mind across to the listener as an emphatic statement of lust and attraction. “Make me is one of the first tracks I wrote for this project. It really sums up the album for me. Its about connection and vulnerability you feel with someone whilst laced with this uncontrollable intensity and pattern“, Kirby has told the press about the single in her promotional materials which makes it clear to her fans that ‘Make Me’ is an emblematic assertion of the album’s main drive. The hefty, continous drum beats and the opaque, substantial synth notes mesh beautifully with the straightforward, fleshy vocals to create the substantial amount of intensity that can be heard in the new, glistening track. At one point, the dense crescendo is relaxed and the vocals have a more disco-esque feel to them that allow a flirtatious quality to merge through the foundations. By the end, it’s clear that a mixture of warm intentions and simple sexuality are rubbing against each other to create a beautiful dance anthem that is so sonically varied that it pulls you in unexpected directions while remaining consistent to its core of displaying pure passion in a romantic situation. Overall, I love ‘Make Me’ due to this zealous and excitable style and while it isn’t hitting you around the head with its LGBTQ+ themes, they feel integral and necessary to the tune in a natural way.

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me on the recent reunion tour for One Track At A Time after I went on a hiatus and please join me again next week where I will be showcasing another one of my favourite recent releases. Next time, it is coming from a Belgian electronic music producer who has been stepping out of the shadows of a Charlotte Adigery collaboration to shine in his own solo spotlight. I look forward to it!

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

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

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.

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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