Breaking More Waves

Wilsen - Oblivion

2013-05-21T08:30:00.000+01:00

Music blogs are time capsules of history, a diary of the author’s romances, loves and passions for sound on public display for strangers to read. Yet in this world sometimes the first rushes of lustful excitement make us deaf; we think we hear the good, but as time goes on the bubble bursts. “It wasn’t you it was us” we can hear ourselves saying to the artist in question. We’ve changed. We’ve moved on. We’ve found someone else. We can still be friends, we just can’t love you anymore. We got it wrong.

So when we first pressed play on this song we were slightly concerned. In January we introduced our new flame Wilsen. Last year we got hot under the computer bed with Grimes and ended up naming her album Visions as our second favourite of the year. So when we saw that Wilsen had covered Grimes’ Oblivion for the b-side of their excellent new single Dusk there was the opportunity for all sorts of horrendous repercussions. Were we prepared for this coming together? Would we feel the same about both artists afterwards?

The answer was found by pressing play. Wilsen’s version of Oblivion is the sound of magic taken from a box of electronic tricks and transferred to a new world, but one that can coexist in polygamous musical harmony. No need to burst that bubble today then, and instead just use words like captivating, mesmerising, sweet and gorgeous. Oh god are we going to regret all this later? Let’s check back in 2014 to see how we feel about things then, but we’re confident we’ll still all be lovers.

Wilsen - Oblivion

London Grammar - Wasting My Young Years (Video)

2013-05-20T08:30:00.000+01:00

After nearly three and a half thousand words over the last three days on the blog, today deserves a rather shorter post as we suffer the inevitable post Great Escape comedown.

Here’s the perfect video to start that comedown with. Undoubtedly one of our highlights of Brighton's new music festival, London Grammar’s performance in a beautiful high vaulted church was as lofty, dignified and inspiring as the building itself and the closest we came to tears and goosebumps all weekend. So here's something to rekindle those emotions; whilst we were soaking up the music the band released a video for the song Wasting My Young Years.

Is it pop ? Is it soul ? Is it folk ? We really couldn't care, all we know is that everything about this song is insanely beautiful.

London Grammar - Wasting My Young Years (Video)

The Great Escape Festival 2013 - Review (Day 3)

2013-05-19T10:30:00.000+01:00

With 20 things already learnt about 2013’s Great Escape in Brighton, (see review’s here and here) Saturday found Breaking More Waves dodging the drunk hen and stag parties, townie clubbers and Morris Men (!) to find more new live music.

10 Facts We Learnt About Great Escape 2013 (Saturday).

1. Discovery at Great Escape isn’t what it used to be.

Great Escape is partly seen as a festival of discovery of new music. One of the concepts of the event is to stumble randomly over tomorrow’s unknown stars in tiny venues playing to small audiences. However, in our wireless web world this idea is probably a little far from the truth. The success of The Great Escape means that nearly every venue is packed (the days of watching Adele playing in a less than 100 capacity coffee shop third out of four on the bill as we did in 2007 are probably long gone) and with the continual development and expansion of Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Spotify and online press including new music blogs, most of the ‘discovery’ for many punters is complete before they’ve stepped out the door at home -even the festival's website had links to every bands music and a complete Spotify playlist. Yet most people are still not prepared to wager £5 to go and see three bands they’ve never heard of on a whim on a rainy Monday night in a pub in their hometown - they prefer the greater 'experience' of an event rather than a solitary gig. Great Escape packages the concept of ‘discovery’ into something different and judging by the rammed venues, people like it.

2. Chvrches may be a ‘buzz band’ but they are such because they have A.M.A.Z.I.N.G songs.

As we predicted yesterday their set at seafront club Digital was massively over-subscribed. Those who did get in witnessed a band taking a myriad of classic influences (Prince, Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk) and turning them into a glossy synth dream fit for 2013 fully justifying their position as our no.1 one to watch for 2013. With a bandaged hand Lauren providing the sweetest of vocal melodies on future pop classics like Now Is Not The Time and Science & Vision, Chvrches put an electronic bullet to the slogan ‘don’t believe the hype.’

3. Girls Aloud are now cool and kitsch enough for a Brighton club DJ to drop Sound of the Underground into a mainly hip hop and r’n’b influenced set.

This actually happened. We danced a lot.

4. The UK has its own very accessible version of Arcade Fire.

Eliza & The Bear’s afternoon set at the cave like Haunt was another packed out show, the band showing a dynamic stomping enthusiasm with their joyously uplifting set. Guitars, trumpet, keyboards, mass chants and big sing-a-long tunes that bind so tightly together that it makes you wonder why they’re not already playing arenas, alongside Embers they’re one of the best new guitar based bands we see all weekend. Euphoric is an understatement.

5. The Great Escape has many imitators but it’s still the most impressive.

With pretty much every large city in the UK now having its own multi-venue festival, the Great Escape still leads by a country mile. One of the reasons for this is that its still one of the best managed. With so many venues running its critical for stages to run to time in order for punters to be able to see what they’ve chosen to see and with very few exceptions every venue at Great Escape runs bang on, with impressively quick set up times by the artists themselves.

6. It was a good night for Denmark.

Around the same time that Emmelie de Forest was winning Eurovision for Denmark with Only Teardrops, another Danish chanteuse was pulling musical blows with punchy youthful attitude and winning Brighton over at Great Escape. Sassy pony-tailed singer Karen Marie Ørsted, performed as if she was dancing on hot coals and her life depended on it. Pilgrim glistened with sweaty, brassy, electronic grooves and whilst MØ’s tunes may not have quite enough pop hookiness to take her into the mainstream, those who like their electronic music that little bit edgier will find a lot to love about MØ.

7. Lulu James has good shoes (and an incredible set of pipes)

The award for best costume of the festival has to go to rising 21 year old Geordie soul-pop star Lulu James. With a pair of shoes that were covered in paper flowers and a combination of leotard and webbed effect prince charming pantomime jacket James looked stunning. Despite suffering technical problems on stage her club bound soul grooves sounded perfect out front. Britain’s answer to Beyonce? Well maybe not quite, but certainly she might be giving Katy B and Jessie Ware a run for their money by the time the year’s out.

8. There’s still a problem with free gigs.

Running alongside the Great Escape is the Alt. Escape, a series of free gigs, showcases and parties that anyone can attend irrespective of if they have a Great Escape ticket or not. In some respects this is a brilliant opportunity for bands and those who want to put on a show; with Brighton being so busy over Great Escape weekend it virtually guarantees a decent sized crowd. Yet as folk singer Rhodes discovered on Saturday afternoon at The Mesmerist, a large audience who haven’t paid to get in doesn’t equate to silent attentive listeners. The levels of chat in the room were almost unbearable – maybe he would have been better playing to a small crowd of paying customers who were actually interested?

9. In real life Moko dances just like she does in THAT video.

She really does. (Hear her below)

10. The Great Escape is still great.

The Great Escape unquestionably remains the biggest and the best new music multi-venue urban festival in the UK. Go there and fall in love with live new music all over again.

Moko - Homesick

The Great Escape Festival 2013 - Review (Day 2)

2013-05-18T11:30:00.000+01:00

Day two of Brighton’s Great Escape Festival brings more music than you could possibly cram into any day. But we tried.

Following our review of Thursday’s proceedings, here are 10 more things we learnt about the Great Escape 2013.

1 .Finding time to eat at Great Escape can be a problem.

Unlike some outdoor music festivals where the biggest queues can often be found by either the toilets or the food vendors stalls, being an urban festival there’s plenty of choices of places to eat. Yet if you want to see as much music as possible at Great Escape, taking an hour out to grab some food seems like a horrid waste of time. Thankfully there’s a downtime period between about 5pm and 6.30pm each day, so our tip is eat a humongous breakfast, grab a quick sandwich on the go at lunch and then use that downtime wisely in the evening.

2. Embers don’t do things in small doses.

All things considered Manchester band Embers’ set at Above Audio shouldn’t work. It’s ridiculously early for rock music (12.30), the venues layout is appalling, far longer than it is deep, with the band separated from the crowd by a five feet high wall and no proper stage as such. Yet Embers blow both minds and ears. Their huge cinematic soundscapes are mountainously impressive, as if Sigur Ros has become a fully-fledged rock band. This is big music. With the addition of a violinist their unblinking fervour sonically references Chichester’s Hope of the States in so far as their sound is enormously expansive and dramatic. It is undoubtedly one of the best things we hear all day. New single Part of the Echoes (streaming below) packs punch after punch and afterwards we’re left stunned and numbed.

3. Sometimes going to see a band ‘just to pass time’ isn’t a good idea. Especially when you could be enjoying a coffee and cake.

Whilst Great Escape’s downtime should mean a chance to recover and refuel, for those who never want the music to stop, the outdoor Hub stage (a converted airstream caravan) keeps going all day. Unfortunately Poland’s Enchanted Hunters make us realise we should have followed our own tip in 1 above. Imagine a twee Bjork in a bad dream playing alt. folk and with flutes. They have a song about being dumb and walking in a forest. That says it all really. A sit down and an expensive frothy latte may have been less rock n roll, but would have been far more enjoyable.

4. A girl and a guitar still pulls a crowd.

Marika Hackman was sweetly overwhelmed by the size of her audience in the Unitarian Church, telling the at capacity crowd she expected about three people. Despite her rather serious face whilst playing (which she joked about) she displayed a neat line in comedy if the music doesn’t work out. “Sorry I’m such an awkward tuner. Not like the fish.” Her meanderingly polite songs are almost medieval in their sound and the longer she plays the more appealing her sparse plaintive tunes become.

5. We might have just seen a future star in Josef Salvat.

Is it too early to start talking about the BBC Sound of 2014 or Blog Sound of 2014 list? If it isn’t then we’d like to mark the card of Josef Salvat as an early contender. Dressed in a pastel blue suit, like the Miami Vice version of Hurts (without shoulder pads), his self-assured and lyrically uncomfortable atmospheric pop songs sound like what Theo and Adam should have been doing in 2013 if they hadn’t decided to try and become a stadium rock band. The man looks like a star and performs with the sneer and venom of a star. One to watch.

6. There’s still hope for the Klaxons.

After their appalling second album, Klaxons returned to the live scene at Great Escape in the aircraft hangar sized Corn Exchange. With a set that was heavy on first album hits and some new songs as well, the new songs sounded less aggressive, more electronic and appeared to have a semblance of a hook and a tune.

7. Sometimes astral ethereal electronic floatiness is hard to find in a stuffy scuzzy upstairs room in a pub.

Lorely Rodriguez (Empress Of) was clearly excited to be in Brighton for her debut UK show and maybe it was this excitement that translated into a performance that was much rawer and less full of the celestial loveliness of her recorded work. A rammed room seemed to adore her, but we’d have liked less bounce and more beauty. On record Empress Of might sound like The Cocteau Twins vs Grimes but in reality there's still some way to go to meet those dizzy dreamy heights.

8. Brolin could join Marika Hackman to do a stand-up routine.

The minimal soul and beats of Brolin may sound magical and mysterious and he may keep his identity hidden by sporting a menacing silver crucifix adorned mask, but strip this away and in terms of a live show there’s quite a character that seems at odds with the gentle coy beauty of hush gems like NYC “I am smiling under this mask, the trouble is when I smile I look like I’ve had a seizure,” he jokes. Later he apologises for the size of his miniature keyboard, which he says has shrunk. Unlike most bedroom / laptop producer types Brolin really seems to be able to pull it off live. Accompanied by a drummer / electronic beat maker he shadow boxes the air and takes himself right up to the crowd, even getting the tiny packed room to sing along at one point.

9. San Zhi make very pretty pop music.

They just do. Lovely little melodies that get under the skin.

10. Queues at great escape are inevitable. But you don’t have to be part of them. (We didn't really learn this, we already knew it, but lots of people are still learning)

Yesterday we heard rumours and grumblings on twitter of many venues being at capacity as the evening wore on, with lengthy queues and many one in one out situations occurring, even for delegate badge holders. Somehow Breaking More Waves missed all of this. Our tip: If there’s someone you really want to see, arrive very early and as the evening goes on limit your venue hopping. Over the last 48 hours we’ve seen 28 bands and haven’t stood in a queue once. It’s all about planning in advance and arriving early.

(Top Tip: If you’re reading this before Saturday evening and are planning to see Chvrches at Digital tonight we recommend you arrive before doors open. It’s going to be one of the hottest tickets of the weekend).

Embers - Part of the Echoes

The Great Escape Festival 2013 - Review (Day 1)

2013-05-17T11:00:00.000+01:00

With the stars of tomorrow, the wannabe stars of tomorrow and the ones just doing it for the love of music irrespective of stardom or what happens tomorrow strumming, bashing, plucking and pressing their musical wares in every pub, club and gig venue down by the sea in Brighton over the course of three days it can only mean one thing. Yes, it’s the Great Escape Music festival; Brighton’s answer to SXSW and the UK’s largest and most established multi-venue new music festival.

Now in its eighth year Great Escape has grown rapidly. Whereas once there was a handful of poorly attended daytime gigs and a bunch of official night time shows, now there’s a rammed programme of events from lunch time through to the early hours of the morning, plus for music industry types a full blown conference as well.

Whereas the biggest worry for punters at most UK festivals is what will the weather be like, will the tent get washed away and how deep will the mud be, the question on most minds at Great Escape is how long will venue queues be and will they end up spending their time stood outside on the street listening to the dull thud of a drum being hit inside to the couple of hundred people who planned better than they did and arrived super early to queue for the latest buzz / tastemaker endorsed band?

Breaking More Waves has been in the thick of it of course, turning up at gigs super early to avoid the queues and catching as much new music as we possibly could. From the latest hype band to the virtually unknown, we cast our net wide. The results are our Great Escape 2013 review, brought to you in bit sized chunks each day, starting with yesterday (Thursday) or as we like to call it:

10 Things We Learnt About The Great Escape 2013 (A Review Of Sorts)

Thursday

1. Brighton wouldn’t be Brighton without a trip along the pier. But the Great Escape can do without it.

The romantic vision of ice creams, tacky amusement machines, the funfair and saucy seaside postcard images might be a holiday makers gaudy dream but the reality was that Horatio’s, a karaoke bar on the pier, which in previous years had been used as one of the locations for Great Escape, made a terrible venue. The unique concept that the bar was on a pier didn’t compensate for a low stage, poor sound and lack of atmosphere. Thankfully in 2013 organisers seemed to have realised this and Horatio’s was no longer part of The Great Escape. Good riddance to it.

2. Churches are the new rock ‘n’ roll.

We’re not talking about Chvrches the band (although like a Mr Kipling cake they are part of the exceedingly good set of synth pop bands out there) but the buildings. Rock ‘n’ roll is officially invading the house of god with the Great Escape using four such buildings for gigs.

3. Churches might be the new rock ‘n’ roll, but their ambience still ensures good behaviour.

The high vaulted grandeur of St Barthomew’s church (pictured above) may have had a bar selling alcohol but the audience for each of the bands playing there (Ruen Brothers, Milo Greene, London Grammar and Tom Odell) still sat in silent and polite admiration. And there was a lot to be admired.

The Ruen Brothers might sound like they’ve stepped straight out of the 50’s but their retro rock ‘n’ roll brimmed with a jubilant energy. The instrument swapping, every-member-of-the-band’s-a-vocalist LA quintet Milo Greene’s (streaming below) folk-pop added sun-smothered harmonies and was so perfect you couldn’t help but wonder if the whole thing was actually on tape. America’s got talent. Buzz band of the moment London Grammar showed exactly why so many people have been falling over themselves to sing the bands praises. Hannah Reid’s soulful vocals were nothing short of sensational, the band’s music so rich and full of calm beauty, they fully lived up to the hype. The only question is that their set mainly contained songs that they have already released. Will they be able to maintain the quality for a full length long player? Tom Odell, the new king of floppy fringed soft MOR completed the evening, providing moments of tender intimacy at his piano during the likes of Sense as well as stauncher rockier numbers accompanied by his band including a cover of The Beatles’ Oh! Darling. Odell may not have the emotional weight or multi-dimensional greatness of some of the singer songwriters he appears to emulate, but his set was greeted with (polite) enthusiasm from the St Bartholomew’s audience.

4.If churches are the new rock and roll then sometimes the old rock ‘n’ roll needs to take lessons.

Down at seafront nightclub Coalition we saw a rather different sort of audience, particularly for Chicago / Minneapolis synth / guitar three piece On an On, who formed from the ashes of Scattered Trees. Here’s a question. If you’re going to a gig and going to position yourself in the front rows of the audience why stand with your back to the band for 80% of the set chatting to your friends? Ah, we see, you’re drunk and you're acting like an idiot.

5. Somebody in Brighton must smell.

A well-known men’s shower gel / deodorant company that rhymes with stinks seemed to be everywhere giving out free samples at Great Escape. Thankfully though the event has yet to turn into the horrendous gluttony-fest that by all accounts SXSW is where ‘getting free stuff’ has almost become as important as the music.

6. Even at urban festivals the weather and time of day affect things.

Witness the razorblade vocals and intense guitar sonics of Holy Esque. Unquestionably an impressive alternative rock band, their set seemed mismatched at 3.30pm in a dark studio theatre room when the sun was shining outside. Maybe a late night audience buoyed with a little alcohol would have helped a little more on this occasion? Meanwhile half an hour later, under warm sunny skies at a point in time when much of the festival programme was taking a half-time nap the outdoor Hub Stage was packed for We Were Evergreen who brought innocent French abandon to the masses. Suddenly summer seemed just around the corner.

7. The Other Tribe are fun to dance to.

And why wasn’t Skirts a huge summer smash last year? Re-release this summer please.

8. We love Scottish girls. A lot. Maybe too much.

With cowboy tassels, big eyelashes and sultry sad pop noire tunes Laura St Jude’s remarkably calm and poised songs hit from the first note. Add to that two lasses by the name of Honeyblood who look super cute and hippyish but throw out brash music that's raucous and rocked with fuzzy glee and it’s fair to say that we’re ready to declare proposals of musical marriage to Scotland.

9. No Ceremony /// are no longer a mystery.

They may have started as an anonymous Mancunian online enigma, but No Ceremony /// is actually formed of real people, not robots; normal nice looking people. In fact the sort of people that we'd happily take home and introduce to the parents. There are no masks or screens to hide their identity and the three piece make no attempt to shroud the lead female vocals with effects and auto-tune as on record (although the male ones are). Live they take the thud of the clubs and transport it to some brooding otherworldly place with an underlying sense of paranoia. Equal parts melancholic and euphoric No Ceremony /// proved they don’t need to hide themselves away.

10. Urban festivals are so much easier than camping festivals.

Short walks between stages, no drunk idiots chatting outside your tent at night, a refreshing warm shower (with no queue) first thing in the morning, coffee shops on every corner, really it makes us question why we all bother hiking off to a field in the middle of nowhere every summer.

Bands We Saw On Thursday (+Wednesday’s Alt Escape Warm Up Shows)

Warsaw Radio, Simonne & The Dark Stars, Chasing Grace, Laura St Jude, Honeyblood, Holy Esque, We Were Evergreen, Big Wave Riders, Ruen Brothers, Milo Greene, London Grammar, Tom Odell, On An On, No Ceremony ///, The Other Tribe

Milo Greene - Perfectly Aligned

Ruen Brothers - Walk Like A Man

2013-05-16T08:30:00.000+01:00

For the next three days, Brighton will be welcoming 16,000 music fans and industry delegates to its seaside environs for the biggest ever Great Escape Festival. Breaking More Waves will of course be in the thick of it and we’ll be reporting back via the blog with our thoughts, reviews and discoveries on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (Expect our reports to be a little later than our usual 8.30am postings.) We'll also be tweeting from the event here.

One of the interesting changes to this year’s portfolio of venues at the Great Escape is the increased use of churches, with four such buildings being used as part of the core programme, including for the first time ever St Bartholomew’s Church, which according to festival director Kat Morris is “absolutely stunning.”

So it seems appropriate to feature a new song by a band that not only play the Great Escape today but will be the first band to play in St Bartholomew’s. For those expecting a quiet hushed acoustic reverie though, be surprised, be very surprised. For the Ruen Brothers, a band we first introduced as a new wave back in February with their song Aces will be slamming into St Bartholomew’s with their sharp shoes and devilish take on clattering retro 50’s rock ‘n’ roll. Tipping its hat to the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons song, Walk Like A Man storms along with a clattering edge that frankly sounds completely out of place in today’s world of modern electronic bedroom producers, hip r’n’b grooves and scuzzy indie bands that have forgotten how to write a tune, and it’s probably all the better for it.

Ruen Brothers - Walk Like A Man

Moko - Hand On Heart (Video)

2013-05-15T08:30:00.000+01:00

When we go to the barber’s there’s usually a look of fear in our eyes because of our undying concern that we’re going to be trapped into that conversation with the hairdresser about where we’re going on our holiday this summer. Maybe our hairdresser should take a tip from the new video from Moko and put a crazy dancing lady singing like Shara Nelson over a modern soulful r ‘n’b backing in the room? We’d pay extra for that and it would hopefully keep the man with the scissors quiet.

Moko - Hand On Heart (Video)

Indiana - Smoking Gun (Video)

2013-05-14T18:30:00.000+01:00

Girls, here’s a word of warning. You’ve met the man of your dreams, he’s charming, good looking, attentive to your every need and seems pretty much perfect. This is great, but listen to those alarm bells when he admits to you that he quite likes playing video games.

Because fast forward a year on and Indiana’s new video for her single Smoking Gun, starring Andrew Shim (who many of you will recognise as Milky from the acclaimed This Is England series by Shane Meadows) could be your life. You’ve moved in with each other to find that the reality of being a cosy romantic couple actually equals him permanently fixed to the sofa, drinking, eating takeaways and being more attentive to the games console than you. Just a warning.

The song itself is once again awash with Indiana’s dark pop atmospheres and haunting emotion. “I have to close my eyes because if you see them you might find I’m trying to hide a smoking gun, and I could crucify myself, sometimes I want to kiss and tell,” sings Indiana and we get all sorts of goosebumps.

Powerful stuff - and a nice visual touch with the Shim and Indiana character choices at the start of the video game.

Indiana - Smoking Gun (Video)

Lorde - Royals (Video)

2013-05-14T08:30:00.001+01:00

Look. Let’s get this straight. If you’re searching for one of the best pop songs of 2013 so far, then this blog post features it. It’s Royals by New Zealand songstress Lorde.

Of course we’ve already featured the song in a New Waves post a few months back and it's been all over the blogosphere, but now there’s a video. So as it’s one of the best songs of 2013 it would be a crime not to feature the film as well.

Yet it seems that quite a few people don’t know what to make of the video because

1. Lorde doesn’t appear very much in it.

2. There’s no sultry dance routine.

3. Not a lot happens.

There seems to be quite a lot of discussion on the You Tube comments about this. It seems that whilst the song is musically restrained and deals with concepts of living a normal life (“I’ve never seen a diamond in the flesh”) when it comes to a visual treatment some people find this difficult to deal with. We think this is because ultimately pop for many people is an art form of visual fantasy. It's why the likes of Beyonce and Lady Gaga become our idols; because people want to escape their hum drum, very routine, very beige lives and the colour and unreality of pop music offers an outlet to do this.

However thankfully someone seems to ‘get it’ with Royals in the You Tube comments. This is what they say:

"(...) a lot of people think teenagers live in this world like ‘skins’ every weekend or whatever, but truth is, half the time we aren’t doing anything cooler than playing with lighters, or waiting at some shitty stop. That’s why this had to be real. And I’m at that particular train station every week. Those boys are my friends.”

So watch, enjoy and accept that sometimes not a lot happening is a beautiful thing.

Plus listen out at the end of the video. Is that a preview of an as yet unreleased track perhaps?

Lorde - Royals (Video)

Phantom Runners - New Waves

2013-05-13T08:30:00.000+01:00

This Brighton based four-piece might sound like they’ve stepped out of an indie time-warp machine stamped ‘early-90’s Brit guitar bands’ but in their tune It Takes Me Away they have a jangly gem that’s swollen with enough vibrant highs to make you want to don some big bell bottomed flares and swagger around the dance floor as if it’s 100% the right thing to do.

For Phantom Runners' It Takes Me Away aims for the stars. The languorous lead vocals and insanely crisp chiming guitars fuse together with a hooky little melody that takes some pretty obvious references, (The Stone Roses, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Ride’s Twisterella) puts them into the pot, swirls them around a bit and pours them out into a rather thrilling and intoxicating mixture. It’s undoubtedly good, the question is apart from those of a certain age trying to relieve past glories, does anyone want to listen to this type of music anymore? Well, we probably said that in 1992 when Blur started referencing The Kinks, The Who, Syd Barrett and rubbishing grunge. By 1994 the answer was quite clearly yes. It’s a lesson in pop music that we should all take heed of; you never know quite what’s going to come next, so never write anything fully off. Especially when, like this, there's a bit of a sparkle there.

Later this week much of the UK new music world will be turning its eyes and ears towards Brighton and this year’s Great Escape Festival. With the event on the band’s doorstep it’s not surprising to learn that they will be playing a showcase at the festival. Phantom Runners will be playing at the Great Escape on the Les Enfants Terribles stage on the 16th May at 9.25pm, at The Mesmerist.

Phantom Runners - It Takes Me Away

Discopolis - Falling (Committed To Sparkle Motion)

2013-05-12T08:30:00.000+01:00

If you’re a fan of summery sounding shimmering synths and glossy electronic beauty then the new single from Scottish groove kids Discopolis is probably going to be right down your street. You may already be familiar with the Dubvision Remix of Falling (Committed To Sparkle Motion), a full on sweaty club banger that’s been doing the rounds for a number of months, but today we’re featuring both the original mix (via Soundcloud) and then the radio-kissing polished to perfection version from Axwell, owner of Axtone records and one third of the recently split Swedish House Mafia. Both are lush but it's the Axwell Edit (streaming via You Tube) that has the oomph that takes Discopolis from the margins to very close to the centre, without ever losing the magic.

It’s been over a year since we’ve featured Discopolis on the blog and since then they’ve become a four piece with the addition of drummer Cat Myers. If Falling (Committed To Sparkle Motion) is the output of waiting all that time, then we’ll happily wait another year for Discopolis to hook up with some other big producers. Roll on 2014 then?

Discopolis - Falling (Committed To Sparkle Motion) Original Mix

Discopolis - Falling (Committed To Sparkle Motion) Axwell Radio Edit

Arrows of Love - The Knife (Video)

2013-05-10T08:30:00.000+01:00

You have to applaud a band who call their debut album Everything’s Fucked don’t you? A brutal bit of nihilism shows that music hasn’t lost all its rage. Now don’t get us wrong, we like a nice soft, calming and beautiful pop tune to romance our ears, but we also like (occasionally) a dirty, sexy piece of anger and self-loathing to give us balance. So thank you Arrows of Love for keeping the dark side alive, we look forward to hearing your pessimistically titled debut later this year.

We’ve already streamed The Knife, the forthcoming single released on June 3rd via Urban Fox Records on download and vinyl in a previous post via Soundcloud; now here’s the video. Unsurprisingly it’s brutal, intense, daring and a little uncomfortable to watch, but we guess the band are not yet into their candyfloss, unicorns and kittens phase yet. Maybe that will come on album two, which we’d like to name Bunnies Are Cute - Yeah!

Arrows Of Love - The Knife (Video)

John Newman - Love Me Again (Video)

2013-05-09T18:30:00.000+01:00

When we first featured John Newman back on Breaking More Waves as a new wave in 2012 it felt a bit awkward. After all, here was a guy who had already had a number 1 single and at the time we were only just introducing him as a ‘new’ act. Our reasoning was that a lot of people hadn’t clocked Newman’s name yet because that number 1 was as a guest vocalist on Rudimental’s Feel The Love.

Now after feeling the love and a fair amount of time passing, Newman lets fly solo; and he wants even more.

This one’s called Love Me Again.

Here are our three key points about the song / video.

1. (The most important point) It’s bloody brilliant.

2. If this isn’t a number 1 hit single in the UK and all over the radio there’s something very wrong with the world. What’s not to like about a song that features a huge chorus that pounds into your head, Motown / Stax / Soul references a plenty, Italian piano house riffs out of the late 80’s / early 90’s and Newman’s arse clinching vocal?

3. The video is set in a northern soul club. We like the attempt at making it authentic with the shot of the talc being sprinkled on the floor, but we don’t like the ending, which feels lazy and unoriginal these days. However we’ll forgive Newman for that one because this is one terrifically A.M.A.Z.I.N.G song. A summer smash for sure.

John Newman - Love Me Again (Video)

Elliott Power - New Waves

2013-05-09T08:30:00.000+01:00

West London’s Elliott Power sounds like he’s spent his whole life listening to some of the classic late 80's - mid 90's British soul and trip hop records. The whispered menacing vocal on Sink / Swim instantly harks back to Tricky’s 1995 album Maxinquaye, whilst the brooding but bouncy rhythms recall Soul II Soul or Massive Attack. But this isn’t just full on imitation. It may take reference, but it’s still fresh and intriguing enough to warrant more than just one cursory play.

Massive Attack’s influence seems to be fertilising a rich seam of new acts in the UK at the moment. We’ve mentioned the Bristol trip-hop gods in relation to both Moko and London Grammar in recent posts and now we’re adding Elliott Power to that collection. Of course Sink / Swim might just be a one off. Maybe next Power will release a eurodisco cover version of Run to the Hills by Iron Maiden and stun us all. OK, if we were a bookmaker we’d give very high odds on that, but anything is possible…

Sink/Swim is Power’s first official track to be put up on line and we understand that he's got a debut single coming up soon on Marathon Artists (Jagwar Ma, Jamie Isaac, Childhood). Let’s keep an ear and eye on this seemingly publicity shy dude (the photo above doesn’t really give much away does it?), .

Elliott Power - Sink / Swim

Hello. We're Back.

2013-05-08T18:30:00.000+01:00

Hello. We’re back.

When last week we posted that we were taking a few days off over the Bank Holiday weekend and suggested that we were a little exhausted, we had no idea that the zero energy feeling we were experiencing was the beginning of a nasty bout of illness.

So our short break became nearly a week dosed up on (legal) drugs – our longest period of unplanned absence from the blog for a very long time. Consider it if you will our own version of the Test Card. (Those of you too young to know what the Test Card was, go Google it and get yourselves an education)

Thankfully though, we’ve proven that song by The Verve very wrong and shown that (if you’re taking the right type) the drugs do work. So now it's foot to the floor for Breaking More Waves. Or rather we're at least up into third gear and gently accelerating to fourth as we just shake off the last few aches, pains, stresses, sweats and other unwanted sickness attributes.

So before we get back into new singles, artists and our coverage of festivals, let’s start with a duo that together with the Ibuprofen, Codeine, Aspirin and Night Nurse have been keeping us going the last few days. Public Service Broadcasting’s debut album Inform Educate Entertain was released this week and has kept us feeling alive with its very unique, slightly quirky, very British (without ever being Brit Pop) take on pop music, although we use pop music in very much the broadest sense of the word. Taking the idea of using old public information films and archive footage and weaving them into their own sonic tapestry, Public Service Broadcasting don’t create songs as such, but pieces. But those pieces are made of gold.

Incredibly, for a band that are still ‘a small band’ the news today is that this week's UK mid-week album sales chart finds PSB at number 19. Now we know all the arguments about the chart not being relevant anymore, but if they aren’t relevant why in the last month have they been reported on in the national news at least twice as major headlines? And we’re pretty sure that anyone who has gone out this week and actually purchased the Public Service Broadcasting album will be pleased as punch to find that this oddball, multi-layered, eccentrically brilliant album sitting in amongst the likes of the Justin Timberlake’s and Rihanna’s of this world. It’s the triumph of the underdog. It's like a fine looking pair of brown corduroy trousers in a sea of denim - and that's something we can subscribe to.

If you’re passing a local record store this week (or if you’re just shopping online) this is a good week for new albums in many genre's. For dance pop fans Little Boots’ Nocturnes far surpasses her debut effort (one of the best pop albums of the year so far), for those who like intense focused noisy guitars Savages’ Silence Yourself will do the trick and for those who want something just that little bit different and that little bit special, Public Service Broadcasting is what you need. All three have certainly been our musical medicine during our malaise, why not give yourself a pick me up as well?

Public Service Broadcasting are currently out on the road on a huge UK tour, we highly recommend catching them, for whilst they may not have a huge budget to spend, every aspect of their show is carefully thought through, both musically and visually, plus the band have the most unusual method of in between song banter you’ll probably ever hear. We're saying no more than that.

Here’s the title track from the LP as well as the stunning Spitfire in visual form. Originally from the War Room EP it thankfully has been included on the album as well.

Public Service Broadcasting - Inform Educate Entertain

Public Service Broadcasting - Spitfire

Meg Myers - Heart Heart Head (Video)

2013-05-02T08:30:00.000+01:00

Today is our last post on Breaking More Waves till next Tuesday*. There’s a bank holiday coming up and we’re taking a few days out before that. There’s a real life outside of the internet.

So we’ll leave you with this. We streamed Meg Myers’ new single Heart Heart Head back in April and now there’s a video.

Rather like her previous visual accompaniment for Curbstomp, this one’s another WTF? moment. We’re sure there’s some deep hidden meaning to it all, with Meg dragging burning branches and all of the butterflies, but we’re damned if we can work out what it is. Maybe we’re just exhausted and need a rest to put our brain back in gear.

Let us know if you ‘get’ it.

Till Tuesday….*

Edit: Due to illness the blog won't be back on Tuesday. Hopefully we'll be back later in the week.

Meg Myers - Heart Heart Head (Video)

Foxes - Beauty Queen

2013-05-01T08:30:00.000+01:00

It’s taking a while for Foxes to break through from blog seducer to mainstream lover isn’t it? We suggested that she was One to Watch for 2012 but the reality seems to be 2013 was more her year, having finally made it into the UK Top 40 riding on the back of Zedd.

Of course we don’t actually mean that Foxes and Zedd were participating in a piggyback race, although that image would have been rather amusing. Think of some of the great combinations you could have at pop star school sports day: Katy B mounting Mark Ronson, Dido on Eminem, Kelis on Calvin Harris. Mind you Calvin Harris could have a choice of all sorts of riders from Florence to Ellie couldn’t he? He’s basically the slapper of pop collaborations isn’t he?

But now Foxes is doing the equivalent of the musical sack race; she’s going it alone and trying not to fall over. She’s chosen a good one to ensure that doesn’t happen, with her song Beauty Queen. Released on May 13, it’s possibly her best since Youth (which we reckon deserves a re-release). Vocally Louisa (who is Foxes) sounds a lot like Marina from Marina & The Diamonds on this one and even the title sounds very Marina-esque, which if music is a competition (which in most cases it’s not, but there are forthcoming exceptions) would put her in at least bronze medal contention.

Foxes - Beauty Queen

Indiana - Animal (Video)

2013-04-30T18:30:00.000+01:00

Starkly minimal, haunting and possessing an almost uncomfortable vulnerability Indiana’s new song titled Animal, taken from her forthcoming album, shows that sometimes less is more.

A bit like this blog post.

Indiana - Animal (Video)

Laura St Jude - New Waves

2013-04-30T08:30:00.001+01:00

This Scottish singer songwriter’s emotional torch songs sound like the soundtrack to a gothic Wild West movie, and they’re utterly immersive. Welcome to the world of Laura St Jude.

This relatively new chanteuse from Glasgow, provides an interesting alternative to the vast majority of breathy ethereal singer songwriters that hit our earwaves these days. For Laura’s voice is sad and spectral, her twangy songs like a modern day version of Nancy Sinatra singing Bang Bang; and that is a very good thing.

Having already released her debut Fatal EP, Laura uploaded three new songs to Soundcloud on Sunday and it’s these tracks that grabbed our attention. There’s the haunting Mother, the seductively rich Devil’s Daughter (which streams below) as well as Town, which takes lyrical reference to Sparks as Laura sings “this old town just ain’t big enough for the two of us.” They’re all gorgeously melancholic and incredibly powerful without the need for Laura to express herself as one of those ‘big voiced’ singers like Adele or Florence. Laura’s songs create a subtle and majestic atmosphere; they have a shadowy flickering beauty that we could imagine being played in a dark candlelit chapel.

Laura St Jude will be playing the Great Escape Festival in Brighton on Thursday the 16th of May as part of a Showcasing Scotland show at the Dome Studio at 13.30 and on The Metro Hub Stage at the Festival Hub at 12.00 on Friday 17th. If you’re going, why not take yourself along and be prepared to be cast under her spell?

Laura St Jude - Devil's Daughter

Seasfire - Oh.. Lucifer

2013-04-29T18:30:00.000+01:00

Blog Sound of 2013 long list nominees Seasfire returned to the fray this week with new single Oh Lucifer and it’s a bit of a devil. Less dreamy and lights turned down at 3am than their previous work, Oh Lucifer assaults with frazzling guitar riffs that get closer to the territory of bands like Muse or parts of the second (rather disappointing) Hurts LP. The electronic throbs and pulses are still there but with Oh Lucifer they’re taking a backseat.

Thumbs up to Seasfire for taking looking like a rock band seriously as well; leather jackets and fancy skew-whiff haircuts appear to now all be present. They’re not quite there yet though; Seasfire still need to get their shades on, whatever the weather, to become true connoisseurs of stereotyped rock cool and lead singer Josh is going to have to look less happy and more serious in these photo shoots. Josh, we know the ladies love a glint in the eye and the hint of a smile, but we're not here for that Ok?

If you want your ears pulverised by these riffs there are a couple of opportunities coming up. Seasfire play sexy Madame Jo Jo’s in London’s Soho alongside Curxes, Tourist and The New Union on the 7th May (grab your tickets here now) and they have also been added to the bill of the Great Escape Festival in Brighton, playing a late night set at Coalition on Friday 17th May at Coalition with Clean Bandit and Rainy Milo.

Seasfire - Oh..Lucifer

Are You Listening? Festival 2013 - Review

2013-04-29T08:30:00.001+01:00

On Saturday 27th April the UK festival season kicked off properly with the inaugural Are You Listening? Festival in Reading, Berkshire. The polar opposite of the ‘other’ festival held at the end of August in the same town, AYL is an intimate multi-venue event featuring mainly local bands or artists having a connection to the area. At a price of just £10 for the whole day with all profits being donated to charity (Reading Mencap) it provided excellent value for those who can’t afford the exorbitant prices of the behemoth summer festivals.

Carrying on in a similar manner from last year’s festival coverage on Breaking More Waves here are 10 things we learnt about this new event:

1.Small is beautiful

Festivals often become victims of their own success. Bigger multi venue events can find punters spending nearly as much time in queues and having to plan rigorously ahead to avoid them. As a new kid on the block AYL suffered none of these problems, retaining the concept of how these events should work, with punters free to roam between the 7 venues with no at capacity issues. Yet getting a good balance of ticket sales versus capacity everywhere still felt busy enough to generate an atmosphere.

2.The stars were out in full for AYL.

We spotted Bono, Whitney Houston (back from the dead?) and Peter Andre during Bloom’s noodly indie set in The Purple Turtle. OK, they were on a TV screen showing videos to the side of the stage, but they were there in spirit, doing their bit for charity. Extra points to the birthday boy guitarist in Bloom who sported a rather fetching headband. Maybe he received it from his aunty for his birthday and had to reluctantly wear it to show his ‘appreciation’.

3.Reading appears to be in a drinks price time-warp

Was this 1998 again? £1.95 for a pint of cider in one venue. £2 for a pint of lager. We can’t imagine drinks being that price at the other Reading Festival.

4.Milk isn’t always necessarily healthy

If you fancied something more expensive to drink then the venue known as Milk was serving cocktails in glass milk bottles with a straw. We’re not sure if the other Reading Festival could compete with this either.

5.Bands often state the blindingly obvious

“Find us on Facebook and the internet.” It appears that the law is that every band in the country must say this during a performance. Come on bands, let’s have some more interesting banter or otherwise say nothing at all please. You think a lot about what and how you play - give some attention to the space between as well.

6.When it’s for charity nothing matters too much

Despite a few cancellations, including two of the bigger names on the bill (The Good Natured and Mt Wolf) nobody seemed to really mind. After all, it was all for charity, spirits were high and the organisers did a pretty decent job of communicating the cancellations (better than some larger well established festivals) and finding replacements to fill the slots.

7.Boys in the band indie rock dominated at AYL

As Elephants Are widescreen guitars were the metaphoric equivalent of a sonic air-raid, trying to find a bigger place, whilst Coastal Cities (pictured) off key yelps found a hooky charm when combined with synth subtlety and jittery hip-shaking guitars. In fact everywhere we looked there were men with guitars.

8.Tweeting about the weather at a festival is a risky business in the UK

“What a lovely sunny day at a festival.” Don’t ever tweet things like this. Two minutes later it will rain. (Thankfully it was only for a few minutes).

9.When there’s no danger of a queue at this type of event it’s fine to turn up just as an artist is about to start

Ex-My Luminaries man James Ewers’ new project is known as Lonesound and for a while it looked like the name couldn’t be more apt. Five minutes before he was due on stage the total size of the audience numbered two. Thankfully there was a last minute rush and Ewers demonstrated depth in lyrical delivery and his ability to pen a tune as he performed to a hushed appreciative crowd in the Reading International Solidarity Centre.

10.Despite all the male dominated indie rock at AYL, there were subtler softer delights to be discovered.

The gentle tones of Haze’s lounge pop provided a moment of respite against all the bluster. Imagine Nina from The Cardigans cooing at a keyboard and vocally you’d be getting close to the mark.

If AYL is to become a regular event or simply a one-off, we don’t know, but we can’t fault 2013's for starters. Value for money, raising cash for charity, highly enjoyable, with a relaxed unpretentious friendly atmosphere and some great music; Are You Listening? is a welcome new addition to the festival calendar.

Here's one of our discoveries from AYL. The lovely Haze.

Haze - In The Midst Of The Storm

Laurel - Blue Blood

2013-04-28T18:30:00.000+01:00

Is Laurel Arnell Cullen Britain’s answer to Lana Del Rey? Certainly there’s no denying that her song Blue Blood, the first new material since we introduced her almost a year ago with her song Next Time (here) carries many of the hallmarks of Lizzy Grant. From the way she sings “now we're filthy rich, sitting on the tail end of love,” in that same breathy coy girlish voice that the American songstress has used to some effect, to the haunting strings, pianos and beats, the similarity is obvious.

But irrespective of if the south coast singer is simply bandwagon jumping or not, Blue Blood is rather good; it’s full of emotional charge and musical restraint. “You made me feel again, made me dance circles, round the pieces of your heart,” coos Laurel of her beau. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait another year for a further song, but it seems not, more new material may be on its way. Apparently she only wrote Blue Blood last week, produced it herself and uploaded it in what seems to be a moment of unbound spontaneity.

However, in the year that has passed from when we first featured her on Breaking More Waves a lot does seem to have happened. She inked a deal with Turnfirst Recordings, has been beavering away under the radar writing and recording and has played a few low key London shows. Also rather amusingly she was featured in The Sun newspaper as a ‘mystery blonde’ alongside Conor Maynard (another Turnfirst artist). Thankfully though Blue Blood is a long way musically from anything Maynard has released.

Laurel - Blue Blood

Bridie Jackson & The Arbour - Please Forgive Me My Human Ways (Roxby's Wonky Remix)

2013-04-28T08:30:00.001+01:00

Bridie Jackson & The Arbour melted a fair few hearts with their Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition performance a few weeks ago and bagged themselves a slot on the Acoustic Stage at this year’s festival.

Although the band themselves may or may not be maestros of the dance floor boogie, their name isn’t one you’d associate with being ‘in da club’ really is it? Maybe in some warped other-world Bridie hangs out with David Guetta or Skrillex, just next to where we’re writhing about semi-naked in a foamy hot tub with Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake on a terrace in an expensive minimalist architect designed villa halfway up a mountain. But this is the internet and the internet is real life isn’t it? We’ll let you decide on that one.

But there’s some new music (of sorts) out there and it’s a bit of a surprise, it’s a remix. Taking the marvellous Please Forgive Me My Human Ways, an acapella track from the band's long player Bitter Lullabies, we were expecting a travesty. Bridie Jackson’s sound is arguably not one to be messed with, its purity and sparseness in danger of becoming soiled by adding anything at all.

But wait, this remix works. Why? Because it doesn’t take the obvious route of adding some glitchy beats and of the moment samples, but instead develops the original giving it an electro-blues feel. It’s not the sound of being in a club but the heavy night gone wrong walk home afterwards.

You can buy it from Bandcamp here, alongside the original and a live version of their song Mucky for less than the price of a pint of beer (or possibly even a half if you live in London). Bargain.

Bridie Jackson & The Arbour - Please Forgive Me My Human Ways (Roxby's Wonky Remix)

Please Forgive Me My Human Ways (Roxby's Wonky Remix) by Bridie Jackson & The Arbour

Arrows of Love - New Waves

2013-04-27T08:30:00.000+01:00

Everything these days has to be an ‘experience’ doesn’t it? We’re bombarded with the word. Marketing men have us believe that nothing we do can be done unless it is one. Having a cup of coffee is no longer just having a cup of coffee but has been elevated to the heights where companies exist to claim that their “whole life revolves around creating a unique coffee experience for the customer.” We no longer talk of going to the shops, but a “shopping experience.” Even music festivals have become part of the experiential marketing trick.

So it’s easy to be cynical when we say that going to see Arrows of Love live is an experience. But it is.

An Arrows of Love show is a noisy, chaotic, trashy, sexy, loud, intense, dark, not-sure-what's-going-to-happen-next, art-punk riot.

Arrows of Love is a band that appears to play for kicks and nothing else.

Arrows of Love is like a cartoon band that came to life but they’re 100% real as f*ck.

Arrows of Love is the sort of band that if you invited them to meet your parents would dive straight in and have full-on screaming orgasm drug-laden sweaty sex with each other whilst mum and dad were cooking Sunday roast and then they'd have them join in for pudding. (Actually they’re probably really quiet clean cut chartered accountants outside of the band, but that’s what we imagine.)

Arrows of Love don’t do dextrous musical proficiency, soft melodies and laptop driven glitchy beats. They probably drink from the bottle not the glass. (We're talking wine here)

Arrows of Love have a drummer who looks like he’s stepped out of time capsule that states ‘1970’s rock band,’ and he’s fantastic.

Arrows of Love have two women who you just know were the two coolest kids at school; and still are now.

Arrows of Love appear to teeter on the edge of everything, but that’s what makes them so compelling.

Arrows of Love don't just use the stage they use the venue.

Arrows of Love are not for the faint hearted.

Arrows of Love will chew your ears off and you’ll love it.

Arrows of Love play the Great Escape in Brighton at The Hope on Saturday at 21.45 (so if you can’t get in for what is bound to be an oversubscribed show by Chvrches at the same time, here’s something different to consider.) They're also on tour right now.

Arrows of Love are an experience.

*Footnote – do not be misled by the gentle sound of most of The Knife. Listen to the lyrics and wait for the song to explode.

Arrows of Love - The Knife

Arrows of Love - Illusionist (Live)

This was our final post on artists that are playing this year's Great Escape that we've never featured before.

Moko - New Waves

2013-04-26T08:30:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we featured one soulful songstress who you’ll be able to find at this year’s Great Escape Festival in Brighton (Lulu James) and today we featuring another. And guess what? She’s rather good indeed. Her name is Moko, take note of that. Not to be confused with Brian Molko of Placebo or with Moloko, probably most famous for their disco hit Sing It Back, often thought of as being called Bring It Back.

Although Moko does bring it back; to the early 90’s to be precise. That period is painted all over the rather fantastic Freeze, the song paying a huge amount of homage to Massive Attack and their classic debut album Blue Lines. You can hear the same brooding soulful melody, gentle chords and (as the song progresses) reach for the sky beats as the Bristolian legends used to purvey. Add to that the equally perfect Summon The Strength and we’re already stamping ‘big things will happen’ on this 21 year old from the New Cross area of London, as bloggers like to do.

Besides the Great Escape, where Moko plays at seafront club Coalition on the Saturday night, she has two other confirmed dates on May 2nd at XOYO, Shoreditch, London and May 3rd at the Green Door Store also in Brighton.

Moko - Freeze

Moko - Summon The Strength (Video)