New Music: A Few Favourites From The Last Few Weeks

Breaking More Waves has been on a rather extended break whilst I enjoyed a summer holiday and attended Glastonbury and Latitude festivals. Before I get back into regular posting let’s take a dive into a handful of tracks that nearly got away. Ranging from sultry disco pop to intense indie, these are the ones I’ve been playing out a lot.

Rosalía – F*cking Money Man

As the Guardian pointed out, Rosalía's ultra-modern take on flamenco has been embraced by ‘the kind of websites that make it their business to write earnest articles about the socio-political significance of pop stars’ and that those sites have indeed ‘begun writing earnest articles about her socio-political significance.’ There’s probably a whole bunch of reasons for this but most importantly it’s probably because Rosalía’s album El Mal Querer is rather bloody brilliant and that she’s become such a big star in Spain it’s impossible to ignore. She was as sharp as a blade at Glastonbury this year and now her latest track F*cking Money Man (released whilst I was basking in the sun by the pool in Torrevieja) piles on the sass. It’s also managed to upset a few language purists as she mixes a few ‘Spanishisms’ in amongst the mainly Catalan language lyrics.



Alice Jemima – Dancing in Love

Having been out on the road supporting Sophie Ellis Bextor recently, Breaking More Waves long term favourite Alice Jemima creates a new genre with new single Dancing in Love; I’m calling it soft disco. It’s played in the sort of club where you sit on extremely comfortable low-slung modular sofas, the music is never too loud to give you tinnitus and everything wraps up before midnight so that we get a good night’s sleep and no hangover. Trust me, this is the best sort of club. There’s no kebab on the way home either, just a healthy handful of berries and a small spoon of yoghurt.

The song is the opening track to Alice’s forthcoming second album Everything Changes (does anyone else immediately start singing that Take That song when they hear that title?) which includes a tune called Binge Love You, which I guess is better than binge drinking at least. She’s out on tour later this year and has more dates with Ellis Bextor (who co-wrote the track with Alice) in autumn as well.



Walt Disco – Past Tense

Glasgow based Walt Disco are one of the more interesting new wave bands out there. Are they goth? Are they pop? Are they indie? Are they New Romantic? Are we all bored of trying to put music into specific category boxes? Whatever they are, they’re magnificent. It’s why I booked them to play Dials Festival in Portsmouth this October on the same stage as other Breaking More Waves favourites The Blinders, Another Sky and Saltwater Sun (tickets for our tiny baby all day festival can be found by clicking this link – a bargain at £20). Much has been made of singer James’s Potter’s extravagant and theatrical vocals and correctly so. It’s nice to have someone singing with such gusto. The video features a girl coming to terms with the death of a friend, which leads me neatly on to the next selection (it's almost as if I planned this)...





The Murder Capital – Don’t Cling to Life

Whilst we’re talking of coming to terms with death, Ireland’s The Murder Capital give us the cheery title Don’t Cling to Life for their new single. One of the most intense yet strangely tender groups I’ve seen live in 2019 The Murder Capital matter. Clocking in at just two minutes and thirty-two seconds long, this is a demonstration of why.



Abbie Ozard – Heartbreak Radio

‘Heartbreak Spotify Playlist’ doesn’t really have the same ring to it as a song title does it? Radio is still more romantic.

I was pleased as punch to see Abbie Ozard’s newbie Heartbreak Radio sneak its way onto the Spotify New Music Friday UK playlist last week. Having posted Abbie’s tunes a couple of times on the blog (first back in 2018 with the song Average Disguise) it’s nice to know that someone else out there is taking notice. Heartbreak Radio is one of those snappy uptempo indie pop numbers that hammers along with a playful tunefulness and finds Abbie linking memory of past relationships to music. She’s improving with every release.

New Music: Alice Jemima - Icarus

I tweeted about this track last week, but let’s face it, a tweet is a momentary and rather lightweight method of supporting an artist. So, here’s a slightly longer blog post. In fact, it would have been a little odd if I didn’t write about the return of this musician considering how many times I’ve writen about her in the past, from her early bedroom demos through to signing the dotted line with Sunday Best records and her debut album.

Alice Jemima is back and she returns with a bop. All the trademark elements that made me fall in love with Alice’s music are still present - the smooth honeyed vocals, the unfussy songwriting and the snappy guitar sounds that owe a fair amount of debt to The XX - but this time round there’s an increased level of dancefloor energy rather than her normal quietly chilled delivery. This probably has something to do with the fact that the track was co-written with one of the queens of the disco, the one and only Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The collaboration goes further than just this song though, with Alice due to support Sophie on her UK tour this summer. 

Icarus is of course a character from Greek mythology who together with his father attempted to escape from Crete by wings constructed of feather and wax, but flew too close to the sun leading to the wax melting, the wings being destroyed and Icarus falling to his death. Here we find Alice singing cautiously of love and relating it to the tale of Icarus. Can love be too perfect? Can you be blinded by it? Or is there a risk of those beautiful highs leading to you flying metaphorically too close to the sun and falling? The song is a plea for that not to happen. 

It’s also a wonderful pop record.

Alice Jemima - Icarus

Favourite Albums of 2017 #12 Alice Jemima - Alice Jemima

It should come as absolutely no surprise that Alice Jemima’s debut long-player finds itself on the Breaking More Waves’ albums of 2017 list. After all this blog has undoubtedly featured more posts about Alice’s music than any other since I first wrote about her way back in 2011 and featured the songs Won’t take You For Granted and Ain’t It Funny.

The eponymous debut brings together eleven originals and her Soundcloud conquering cover of No Diggity (thankfully unaltered from the original bedroom studio version) with a chilled blend of post-XX singer songwriter guitar pop painted with flourishes of electronics. Working predominately with producer Roy Kerr, Alice has created a record that works best at each end of the day. The lusty So and the smooth When You Dance Like That can ease you out of bed gradually in the morning but also can coax you back much later with their intimate night time glow. Songs about falling in, being and falling out of love are the order of the day although the deviations into murder mysteries (Cocoa Liquor) and money and trying to please other people (Liquorice) not only provide lyrical diversions, but musical ones as well – Jemima even breaking out into spoken word / rap for the latter. 

If you like your pop subtle, feminine and always with one eye on keeping things simple, then Alice Jemima deserves your time. A lovely debut.

Alice Jemima - Dodged A Bullet




Alice Jemima - Electric

New Music: Alice Jemima - Home

Appearing on streaming services today with no fanfare pop singer songwriter and long-time Breaking More Waves favourite Alice Jemima returns with a new song. Of course, what is new to the casual listener often isn’t new to the fan, certainly I’ve heard Alice play this one a number of times live. 

Home is the musical equivalent of a peach. It’s certainly a little bit fruity. It's all about desire. Here we find Alice singing of wanting to go back to someone elses place, trying to erase the memories of a ‘love I used to know’ from her head. But it goes further than that, with Alice singing of ending up in a romantic situation under the stars on a rooftop. “Hoping you feel this to, kind of thinking you do, by the look in your eyes, by the kiss you’ve just supplied.” 

Home wasn’t featured on Alice’s debut album, but this is far from some cast off / b-side material; with its hook that seeps softly into the brain and slinky mix of electronics and indie guitars that Alice does so smoothly and so well, this is as good as anything else she has released. It also does that classic singer-songwriter trick of opening the song with the line that will eventually become the chorus to place it immediately in your head even before you even realise that it is the chorus. Sneaky.

Alice has been playing a number of UK festivals this summer including Secret Garden Party, Boardmasters and Camp Bestival with The Big Feastival being her next stop.

Alice Jemima - Home

Preview: The Great Escape 2017 (Part 2.2 - Music Tips)

Following yesterday’s post of 5 Breaking More Waves approved acts that I’m recommending to watch at 2017’s Great Escape in Brighton here are a further 5 that, should you be a little overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of music on offer at the festival, you might want to consider watching. If you fancy watching them all, this is possible - the timetable allows you to catch all 10 with a bit of planning.

Alas the Royal Pavillion pictured above isn't one of the venues at the festival, but if you do have any spare time in Brighton when the music isn't on, I'd recommend a trip there as well as Resident Records store, the North Laines, Brighton Museum and a stroll along the seafront.

6. Alice Jemima (UK)

Regular readers won’t be in any way surprised to find Alice Jemima on this list, she has after all been one of the most featured artists on Breaking More Waves since 2011. Alice first played the Great Escape 2 years ago at a small Alt-Escape event watched by about 10 people. Last year she was on the main programme with just one afternoon show at the outside venue of Jubilee Square. This year she returns with several million streams on her Spotify, 2 shows at Great Escape (one late night and one opening) and a debut album of softly sung indie singer songwriter pop with touches of electronica, that fulfils on her promise. 

Latest Music Bar 23.00pm May 19th
Komedia Studio 12.15pm May 20th



7. Bokito (UK)

Not to be confused with Kero Kero Bonito, Bokito come to Great Escape with a strong debut song (Better At Getting Worse), a decent amount of support from music blogs and a nomination on the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition longlist. With a lead singer that looks like a metal band but ‘dances like an African woman’ (his words) and having drawn comparisons to Vampire Weekend, Everything Everything, Metronomy and Jinja Safari, Bokito will be playing their blend of tropical indie in the Queens Hotel, one of the stranger venues of Great Escape – the space is basically a staircase lobby below the reception. But everyone has to start somewhere – I saw Dan Smith from Bastille play this space, before he’d even formed Bastille (see this review from 2009 here).

Queens Hotel 13.30pm May 20th



8. Sultan Of The Disco (South Korea)

Two of the best things about Great Escape is the sheer variety of music on offer and the fact that there are many international showcases. This year one such showcase is a South Korean extravaganza, which will include rapper MC Sniper, rock band The Monotones and the incredible Sultan Of The Disco who first came to prominence in the UK following an appearance at Glastonbury Festival 2014 (although they formed in 2006). Taking inspiration from soul and funk, Sultan Of The Disco are all about dance moves, costumes and lots of entertainment. 

Latest Music Bar 15.15pm May 20th
Latest Music Bar 22.30pm May 20th



9. Casi (UK)

Back in 2013, another music blogger, Chris from The Metaphorical Boat tweeted me about a singer called Casi Wyn, suggesting he thought she would be my metaphorical cup of tea. At the time the music she was doing didn’t really grab me. Fast forward two years and not only had I changed my mind (see here) but Casi (minus the Wyn) had played a Welsh music showcase at the Great Escape in 2015. Since that time her music has developed even further significantly and her expressive electronic pop song The Beast encapsulates just how good she has become. She’s back at Great Escape 2017 and is now firmly one of my recommendations.

Coalition 21.15pm May 20th



10. Skott (Sweden)

Striking electronic pop from Sweden? Yes, it’s Skott, one of Breaking More Waves past 10 Ones To Watch for 2017 and the last of my tips for the Great Escape 2017.  You’ll find a number of the 10 acts that I featured as One to Watch for 2017 on the Great Escape bill such as Jerry Williams, Hazel English, Cabbage and Liv Dawson but it’s Skott that takes the glittering, icy crown with her dramatic multi-blog approved sound. Catch her immediately after Casi on Saturday night.

Coalition 22.15pm May 20th

New Music: Alice Jemima - When You Dance

Breaking More Waves doesn’t review albums. When the blog started I did run a few critiques of certain long players but quickly came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to spend my spare time being a naysayer about other people’s work - I'd rather be positive and champion things I love; and negativity would always be the danger in writing opinion reviews. I prefer to leave that to the paid critics.

However, that’s not to say that occasionally I won’t mention in a post a particular album that I rate or at the end of the year summarise my favourite long players in expanded list form.

Up until a week or so ago I was struggling to find any albums released in 2017 that really struck a chord with me in a big way. Then along came Stormzy’s Gang Signs & Prayer and it clicked. Then a week later it was the turn of Alice Jemima to release her first album. 

Anyone who has spent a little time on Breaking More Waves will know that I’ve been championing Alice's journey from fully unsigned bedroom artist through till now with some persistence. Therefore, the arrival of her fully formed debut was an exciting although slightly nervous time. Although I was confident Alice was going to deliver a great pop record, until I’d actually played all 12 songs, I couldn’t be sure.

Any remaining doubts were quashed on first play. The eponymous long player is an alluring and quietly confident record that wrestles with being in love, falling out of love and the way Alice lives her life. It’s a record that with Alice’s soft vocal tones and subtle production sounds perfect to wake up to but also sounds perfect in the dead black of night. It’s a record that, at its core, focusses on traditional song writing but is blessed with modern contemporary production. It’s a record that fully justifies everything I’ve ever said about Alice Jemima. 

There, that’s a mini review for you in 83 words. Treat yourself this weekend. Go to your local record store and buy it. There really isn’t a weak track on it.

From the album here’s the sublime When You Dance. Being one of the older tracks on the record it’s one I’ve seen slowly morph from minimalist guitar ballad into its current more upbeat form. Dealing with that beautiful second when you’re lost in a dancefloor moment with someone to the exclusion of everything else it’s as sweetly tender as a song about banging bass and beats could ever be.

Alice Jemima the LP is out on Sunday Best now. She's out on tour right now. Catch her in Manchester tonight, Bristol tomorrow and London on Monday. She'll also be playing showcases at SXSW in Texas for the BBC and Sunday Best Records.

Alice Jemima - When You Dance

New Music: Alice Jemima - No Diggity (Video)

When Alice Jemima first started actively uploading music to the internet, alongside the plethora of original material, she would regularly record cover versions in her own style. Most (possibly all) of them featured on Breaking More Waves at some point. From Alt-J to Lana Del Rey to Raleigh Ritchie to lesser known bands like Strangers, Alice put her own unique stamp on them all. The biggest success both commercially and creatively of those covers was her take on No Diggity, which I believe she almost took down from the internet after its initial release because she had second thoughts about its quality.

Millions of streams later, it’s clear that in this particular case Alice was wrong, and the song will be featuring on her debut album, through Sunday Best, which is just around the corner. To remind us all that it's coming there's now an official video for the tune.

Watch some roller skating dudes do their thing to Alice’s sensual chilled recording – with a brief appearance by the lady herself at the end.

Alice Jemima hits the road for a short tour to promote her forthcoming album, starting at Glasgow’s Hug & Pint on the 3rd March and finishing at London’s Lexington on the 6th before she heads out to play some shows at SXSW in Austin Texas.

Alice Jemima - No Diggity (Video)

New Music: Alice Jemima - Electric

Alice Jemima has been in it for the long haul. From early demos first posted here back in 2011 through to March 2017 when she finally releases her debut album through Sunday Best Records (you can pre-order it by clicking here) Alice's has been no overnight journey. 

When she first started putting out music to the internet it felt like there was no strategy or timetable; it seemed that she’d just record a song, put it online and see what happened. At one point it felt like she was uploading a new track every few weeks and it was pretty exciting. Thankfully 2016 has seen a return to the old way of doing things, with a flurry of releases. With Dodged a Bullet still finding its way into people’s consciousness, thanks in particular to it some daytime Radio 1 airings through BBC Introducing and finding its way onto many a playlist (the song has now clocked up 888,000 plays on Spotify), she’s already followed it up with Electric, a song that’s been a regular in her live sets this year.

Electric has a low key, late night, lamplight, post-club feel to it, finding Alice singing of cities that don’t sleep and regrets in her silky unmistakable voice. If you’re a fan of The XX then the dark flashes of guitars here will be very much to your tastes.

One day there will probably come a time when Alice Jemima will release a new song and I won’t post it. Today is not that day though. This one cuts straight to the core.

Alice Jemima - Electric

Witness The Sickness - When I Got Ill At A Music Festival

This was meant to a long read review of the 2016 edition of a festival that I’ve attended every year but one. I was going to write about how after a really impressive climb from small scale boutique festival in 2004 to a huge beast of an event that had attracted star names such as Stevie Wonder and Elton John, Bestival 2016 took a bit of a tumble in ticket sales and found itself having to downsize. It was going to be a fan perspective review, but with as much balance as I could muster, giving the goods and bads of the scale back. It was also going to be a review that focused on not only the new acts (as this is largely a new music blog), but one of The Cure, who were headlining the festival on the Saturday night and are one of my favourite bands of all time.

However, it isn’t. Here’s why…..

Bestival always brings surprises and wonder, it’s one of its characteristics that keeps pulling me back year after year for that short but expensive ferry trip across the Solent from my home in Southsea, Portsmouth. Yet this year there was a particularly horrible surprise in store for me; it was the year I became unwell at the festival.

Now don’t worry, it wasn’t anything that threatened my life and 6 days later I am 100% fighting fit; but for a few hours it felt like the devil was inside me – just disguised as a digested chicken burger.

The biggest irony to all of this is that I work in a public health and safety environment as part of my day job. I’m therefore acutely aware of how risky festivals are and how dangerous they can be when they go wrong. Most people probably don’t stand by the main stage and question what wind load it has been designed to and what the evacuation plan for a particular area is, but I do. It’s just inbuilt in me because of my profession. 

Also being a little bit older than your average Bestival goer these days I tend to pamper myself a little more. I don’t camp on site, but instead pitch my tent (below) 15 minutes down the road where I can get a nice shower, a swim and at the end of the day a good night’s sleep with nobody tripping over my tent guy lines. I drive to site every day, so I don’t drink alcohol and drugs are just never something I’ve been interested in.

As far as your average punter goes I’m probably quite low risk in terms of ending up in the festival medical centre. But that’s where I was last Saturday night.

On four o’clock in the afternoon whilst watching sad Scottish rockers The Twilight Sad pile on the goth guitars and Ian Curtis style dancing to a small but appreciative crowd in Bestival’s Big Top I mentioned to my friend that I felt a tiny bit odd. “I’m probably a bit dehydrated so am going to get a bottle of water.” One bottle gulped down and the feeling didn’t go away. It got worse. Quickly. 

Heading towards Wolf Alice on the Main Stage I had started to turn a grey colour and was beginning to feel shivery cold. I had an urge to lie on the wet, slightly muddy grass and sleep. However, I couldn’t do that because that was the time when the sick decided to come up and out. ‘Oh god, people are going to be thinking I’ve been overdoing it the night before,’ I thought. My friend did a grand job of looking after me, supplying liquids and buying me an extra jumper from Oxfam to try and keep me warm, but the nausea and the cold just got worse and worse. 

By the time Ride was playing I was in the medical centre having my temperature, blood sugar and some other tests done and sitting by a heater that I was told was blowing out hot air but I couldn’t feel a thing. It was working, my body was just playing stupid games. 

With 20 minutes to go before The Cure I was laying on a bed that looked a bit like a body bag, feeling like absolute shit. Call me a wimp, but I’m really not very good when I get ill. I’ve generally got high pain threshold, but being unwell seems to lower it very quickly. I’m also not very good at being sick. This was only the third time in my life throwing up.

I decided I was going to make it out for The Cure. I’d get through it. I wasn’t going to miss them. 

We shuffled through the mud in our wellies to secure a spot quite a way back. The Cure started. At this stage I realised I really wasn’t with it at all. Robert Smith looked like a weird giant through a fish eye lens. “How are they doing that?” I asked my friend and then suddenly realised that I was watching the screens to the side of the stage thinking it was the stage itself. As I said, I really wasn’t with it. I think I was verging on hallucinating. 

Then I threw up again. 

Robert Smith’s lyrics rattled through my head: “I’ve waited hours for this, I’ve made myself so sick,” seemed particularly appropriate. It was time to go. I’d managed just over one song of their set. As I walked out the exit of Bestival and up the infamous hill of death to the car park at the top I could hear the band rolling out the hits. I was very close to crying. I'd let everyone down. It was the end of my Bestival. It’s a festival that over the years has brought me virtually everything – this year it was the lurgy. 

Here’s what I learnt about being ill at a festival:

1. A music festival is one of the worst places to be ill. Everyone else’s happiness makes you feel even sadder. I just wanted to crawl away and hide from it all. It felt like the whole festival was crushing down on me.

2. If you get ill, go to the medical tent. The staff there are brilliant. They kept my spirits up, gave me good expert advice and nothing was too much trouble. Some people complained about certain security staff at Bestival this year. I can’t believe anyone could ever fault the medical staff. That tent felt like a sanctuary.

3. Friends and loved ones don’t let you down in bad times. My friend who I was with never complained that we missed The Cure, ran around and got me all the things I needed to keep me safe and really was the one who convinced me that trying to watch anymore of the festival wasn’t an option. The next day, when I was utterly exhausted and found even walking a short distance incredibly tiring, my girlfriend sailed over to the Isle of Wight, packed up all my stuff for me and got me home with as much love and warmth as anyone could ask for.

4. Even when you play it safe, things can go wrong. But on the other hand I’ve been to over 80 festivals and most of them have been perfectly uneventful except for good events.

5. Although (thankfully) I was with a friend, I sometimes go to festivals on my own. I wrote about this earlier this year (click on this link to read). I wonder what would have happened if I’d been on my own at Bestival? When the food poisoning started I just wanted to lay down and sleep. What would have happened if I had done that? It’s made me seriously question if I would do another festival on my own.

On a happier musical note, and considering this is a music blog, here’s some music. Since I first discovered Alice Jemima in 2011 I’ve watched her grow as a person and artist and seen her songs find a growing audience. I’ve also featured her an awful lot on this blog. Her new single Dodged A Bullet has already picked up some play on Radio 1 care of Huw Stephens (come on daytime shows…you know you want to). 

Bestival has been a special festival to Alice and I. In 2012 after writing about her Alice camped with me and my friends at the festival as a regular punter. A few years later she was signed to Sunday Best Records, the label part of Bestival and the Sunday Best world and this year she played the main stage at the festival. A bit of a moment for her. A bit of a moment for me. Here’s a new remix of the current single by How To Dress Well.

Alice Jemima - Dodged A Bullet (How To Dress Well Remix)

All photos were taken before the food poisoning and when the sun beamed down on the site (which it did for the majority of the weekend).

Preview: Bestival 2016

If there’s one festival that solely changed the way I feel about music, festivals themselves and to a certain extent life (yes honestly), it’s Bestival.

Back in 2004 I’d usually attend one or two music festivals a year, which would mainly be chosen from a small list of Glastonbury, Reading, V Festival or Guildford. Then I saw an advert for a new event on the Isle of Wight that claimed it would have guaranteed sunshine, Fatboy Slim, Morris Dancers, a Kate Bush tribute act, Basement Jaxx and it would all be set in an adventure park with a toboggan ride.

That event was Bestival and in early September myself and a friend hopped on the ferry in the pouring rain to journey Robin Hill Country Park. The rain stopped as we stepped off the boat onto the island and from there a habit began.

Since that year I’ve only missed one Bestival (in 2014 when I was in America) and during that time I have seen it change and grow. I’ve also had the opportunity to DJ at the festival in stages that have included a tiny treehouse, a hidden disco and a massive big top full of thousands of people just a couple of hours before M.I.A took to the stage. I even got away with bookending the DJ set with 2 Lionel Ritchie songs; Hello for the intro and All Night Long to finish. I have so many great memories of Bestival and as with any long lasting relationship, a couple of sour ones as well. But 99% has been great - even Bestival can't control the storms that lashed down on Thursday night in 2008.

Some of the highs, besides the DJ sets, have been the weird non-musical moments; being greeted at the entrance gates one year by a bunch of grannies on motorbikes as well as two girls in an open topped double decker bus who were flashing their topless selves at the queue, the warmest smiles in the world of the ladies of the Women’s Institute Tea Tent high on the hill, attending a wedding in an inflatable church between two festival regulars known as The Dude and Flora Mouse who met on the Bestival Website Forum, cocktails in a Bollywood Bar at 11am and sitting in a pitch black open air theatre, alone at about 10pm watching The Evil Dead.

Bestival was one of the first ‘boutique’ festivals; that 2004 event had only about 3-4,000 people in attendance (don’t believe Wikipedia which states 10,000). Sure it took elements of other festivals (in particular Glastonbury and now the defunct Big Chill) but added in its own special flavours to create something vastly different to any other festival I had experienced at the time (including Glastonbury).

In 2004 it was unique, but in 2016 it is less so. There are now many festivals that have taken aspects of Bestival and grown them in their own way and this year sees the festival facing greater competition than any other. Bestival has influenced my taste in festivals and my enthusiasm for them, with the likes of Flow (in Finland), End of the Road and Latitude being some of my favourites. The bands in a dirty, smoke-laden field and nothing else approach of Reading is far less appealing these days. But with all this competition the continued growth of Bestival probably just isn’t a reality – it probably explains why this year it appears the event has downsized somewhat - although there is now the family friendly Camp Bestival, Bestival Tornoto and Common People festivals all under the Bestival umbrella.

So why do I love Bestival so much? I think it’s because it combines so many great things.

Whereas some very good, very respected festivals (for example End of the Road or Green Man) do everything with immaculate taste and a strong sense of curation, they lack the sheer eclecticism, party spirit, sense of madness and free spirited fun that Bestival at its best has. I love the fact that this year at Bestival I can go from dancing to Diplo or Fatboy Slim in a huge spaceport complete with a 20m rocket in the centre and giant astronauts firing lasers across the sky, to watching a poetry collective in an open air amphitheatre, to catching music that ranges from hip-hop to indie to pop to disco to soul to house and then go for a bounce on the world’s biggest inflatable castle. Oh and I haven’t even mentioned the fancy dress that gives the place a carnival atmosphere (and yes there’s a real carnival as well).

So if you want to come and join the party, grab a ticket by clicking here and maybe I’ll see you there? It’s my final outdoor festival of the summer, as it has been for 12 of the last 13 years.  

And don’t forget, for new music fans Bestival has plenty of it, especially in the invaders of the future stage. Here’s three of my tips from this year’s line up (although I could have included many more). The future is almost here....

Alice Jemima

Breaking More Waves regular Alice Jemima signed with Sunday Best records around this time last year, so it’s no surprise to find her on the bill at its sister festival. I understand that Alice will be playing early on Friday morning on the main stage. If you’ve spent any time on this blog you’ll know how much I adore her music. Worth getting up early for.

Petite Meller

If anyone on this year’s bill meets the Bestival ideals more than Petite Meller I can’t think of them. Her live show is a joyous dressing up dance-a-thon that makes you glad to feel alive – just like Bestival.

The Japanese House

My original 3rd choice was originally Rationale, but he has now cancelled, so instead I'll recommend an act from Bestival's new music stage - The Invaders of the Future. The Japanese House aka Amber Bain featured quite heavily on Breaking More Waves when she first released material last year and since that time has gone on to support The 1975 on tour - no surprise there given they are on the same label. There hasn't been that much in the way of new material recently, but with some forthcoming live dates and this Bestival show it shouldn't be too long before there's more - so get to the Invaders of the Future and get an early glimpse of what may be to come.

New Music: Alice Jemima - Dodged A Bullet

Writing about new music can often seem a little odd if, like me, you go to a lot of gigs, because the new releases you’re writing about are already very familiar to you, hearing them in their early stages as the artist road tests the songs live before the final polished recorded versions are done and dusted.

So it has been recently with Alice Jemima. By the time her Liquorice EP saw the light of day, the likes of So, Under The Radar and the title track already seemed like old friends to me; my interest was more what the final studio versions of the songs sounded like compared to the live versions that had become embedded in my head. However, new track Dodged A Bullet comes with a slightly different context; I think I’ve only heard it two or three times live, including at Alice’s first London headline show at the Sebright Arms (where members of London Grammar were in attendance to check her out) so this one comes relatively fresh wrapped, still full of the joys of discovery.

Dodged A Bullet refers to Alice looking back at a relationship that she realises that she’s better out of. “I won’t be singing your name,” she coos with that soft voice that has been casting its magic over me since 2011. As with any song I’ve ever heard by Alice it encompasses her ability to make pretty melodies without over complicating things sonically. Here you’ll find some ghostly guitar twangs, come-down electronic pulses and beats all perfectly placed with an alluring delicacy. She really is the queen of the exquisite pop song. Take a listen below.

You'll find Alice playing at a number of festivals over the next few weeks including Sea Change Festival in Totnes, Bestival, Manchester's Neighbourhood Feestival and one in Hackney called Wonderland, hopefully just so we can all do the Alice In Wonderland joke. (Sorry).

Alice Jemima - Dodged A Bullet

New Music: Alice Jemima - So

A few years ago when Alice Jemima was asked who she ideally wanted to work with or produce her LP she took only a moment to think about her answer before boldly stating “Jamie XX”. Whilst Alice’s wish hasn’t come true (yet) there’s no doubt that there’s a big dollop of influence from The XX on the sound of So, the second track on her second EP and the first to be released through a record label (Sunday Best) rather than self-released.

For people who were introduced to Alice by way of Liquorice, So represents a different side of her musical output. If Liquorice was Alice’s daydream pop record then So is its midnight musical cousin that takes you dancing all through the night. “You got me feeling wow, and that’s all I want right now,” she sings as the intricate beats, skeletal song structure and that voice bring on the goosebumps again.

Fact: The 4 songs on the forthcoming EP are all flawless – every one of them could have been the lead track. Go and pre-order it by clicking here for the vinyl, then go and see her play her first London headline show, next week at the Sebright Arms on the 15th June, you can grab tickets here. Oh and if anyone knows Jamie XX, get him to get in contact with Alice Jemima. I'm sure she wouldn't mind him knocking out a remix of this track.

Alice Jemima - So

New Music: Alice Jemima - Liquorice (Video)

Alice Jemima’s Liquorice, her first self-penned material to see the light of day since her debut All The Boyfriends EP back in 2012, will for many be their introduction to the Devon based singer songwriter. So even although Alice is technically not a new artist (a quick search on Hype Machine will show you just how many songs she has self-released in the past) it still makes a lot of sense that last weekend she played at Brighton’s new music festival the Great Escape and this weekend coming will be alongside the likes of Blossoms, Izzy Bizu, Rosie Lowe and Declan McKenna on the BBC Introducing Stage at Radio 1’s Big Weekend. Of course Breaking More Waves has been writing about Alice since virtually before cavemen walked the earth. More recently I wrote about my journey with her as a person and her music in a longer post about the song last month, which you can find by clicking here.

Continuing her prolonged introduction comes a video for Liquorice. A bright and amusing affair (everyone I’ve shown it to has had a little giggle at the ‘bum bongo / wobbly jelly’ part) it reminds me a bit of the visuals that Little Boots released for her Working Girl album campaign, with its use of simple colour backgrounds and visual interpretations of both the lyrics and the sounds. Watch it to light up your day.

Alice Jemima - Liquorice (Video)

The Great Escape 2016 - Preview / Recommendations (Friday)

No messing, no commentary on the event (you can find that on yesterday’s post), I’m just going straight in with 5 music makers that are on my list of possible (venue capacities permitting) acts to see at this year’s Great Escape festival, which takes place in Brighton city centre at a variety of venues between 19th and 21st May. Then I finish by tossing up a link to a recommendation for a band on the Alt Escape line up as well.

Here are my choices from the Friday line-up. (You can find Thursday's choices on this link here) If you’re going you can see all these 5 selections with no clashes (unfortunately my Alt Escape bonus pick does clash). If you’re a regular reader of Breaking More Waves none of these choices will in any way surprise you.

Note: You should also go and see Have You Ever Seen The JaneFonda Aerobic VHS? On Friday at the Queens Hotel at 14:30 because with a name like that and being from Finland they can be nothing but incredible. Also in between Black Honey and Declan McKenna at Wagner Hall  there’s Loyal, an act that is very much loved by the blogosphere, so they’re going to be worth sticking around for. Don’t go to the bar instead.

Xylaroo 13:00 The Pop-Up Stage

If singing sisters are a thing (and the evidence suggests they are – The Staves, First Aid Kit, Haim…er…..The Nolan Sisters) then these sisters, one of two acts we’re recommending from the Sunday Best stable are another name to add to the list. I tipped Xylaroo as One to Watch for 2016 last year on the blog, so go on, take my advice and watch them.

Pleasure Beach 15.30 Spiegeltent

I’ve seen (and maybe in some cases written) words about Northern Ireland’s Pleasure Beach that compare them to Arcade Fire, War On Drugs and Bruce Springsteen. This is the point where I should say ‘but that’s just lazy journalism’. But it isn’t – because those comparisons have some basis of truth. It’s not lazy journalism – it’s accurate journalism. Lazy journalists are the ones who work for a couple of hours in a day and then call it quits to go down the pub / watch TV. Anyway, I digress. I have no idea what Pleasure Beach are like live, but if they sound anything like their recorded material they should be pretty marvellous.

Alice Jemima 19.00 Jubilee Gardens

The unsigned artist that I’ve posted the most about in the history of Breaking More Waves, but now she’s signed to Sunday Best. She recently released a rather clever tune called Liquorice. It went top 10 on the Hype Machine. She’s playing BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend. It’s all very exciting. This is why you should catch Alice Jemima at Great Escape. If you see a man explode like a bomb in front of you – that’s me. The excitement got too much.

Black Honey 20:30 Wagner Hall

The band most likely to 'do a Wolf Alice' over the next year or so. Need I say any more? Rock ‘n’ roll with a nostalgic twangy cinematic twist. Breaking More Waves regulars.They’re the real deal and genuine contenders. If you haven't seen them yet, make Black Honey a must. 

Declan McKenna 22:30 Wagner Hall

The winner of the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition in 2015. Two fascinating, unusual and assured singles in the form of Brazil and Paracetamol. Another of Breaking More Waves’ Ones To Watch 2016. A young but rare talent doing something different in a crowded field of the singer songwriters. For once someone that isn't Ed Sheeran-like or r'n'b influenced pop

Alt Escape Bonus Pick: Majik 19.15 North Laine Brewhouse 

New Music: Alice Jemima - Liquorice

When I started writing a new music blog, I didn’t really think why I was writing it, I just did it. I had no aspirations to become an A&R man in the music industry or a music journalist. I had no desire to be considered cool or for my blog to be ‘successful’ whatever that means – except perhaps unless success means enjoying what you do – in which case I have every desire to be that and am by my own definition successful. 

I just set up a blog and wrote it. 

I never thought about some of the wonderful opportunities it could bring me, or how it would allow me to meet many brilliant people from all aspects of life.

This is very much the case with Alice Jemima. I first wrote about her way back in 2011, when she was a seventeen year old, just recording songs in her bedroom. Since that first post about Alice, I have, in a very small way, been part of her journey. It’s a journey that has found me getting to know her a little. From our first taste of marmalade vodka under a setting sun in Dorset, to attending a Radio 1 Maida Vale session with her (truly one of the highlights of my life) to drunk dancing to sixties music in my hometown of Portsmouth with Alice screaming “I could dance all night,” as we dragged her away from the dancefloor to get some sleep. All because I wrote some words about her on the internet.

It’s been incredible to see Alice go from having just a handful of plays on her Soundcloud, to her cover version of No Diggity clocking up nearly 3 million listens. It’s been exceptionally gratifying to see her develop slowly and naturally, from a nervous but engaging performer to the person she is now; more confident, assured and knowing what she wants to do. But maybe the most exciting thing of all was finding out that Alice had been signed to one of my favourite independent record labels; Sunday Best. It's a label that's released the likes of Lucky Elephant, Kitty Daisy & Lewis, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Valerie June, Kate Tempest's early project Sound of Rum and more recently Xylaroo; all favourites of mine. It's a label that seems to focus on quality and originality rather than whatever is flavour of the month. Then of course then there’s Bestival, the festival that sprung from Sunday Best, which is one of the highlights of my year – I’ve even got to perform there myself several times as a DJ, once to a huge and rammed Big Top. I’ve missed just 1 Bestival since it started in 2004, and Alice has also become a regular there – way before she was signed.

So to the music. It’s been 4 years since her self-released debut EP. That’s a hell of a long gap before releasing your second. But like with all good cooking, you need great ingredients and time. Alice has both. Now she’s ready. There’s an EP due in June. There will be an album as well. But for now, here’s Liquorice. If you've heard Alice's older self-released material (pretty much of all of which has feature on this blog), you're in for a surprise. Liquorice is unlike anything she’s done before. It’s the one that when I first heard it in her live set it made me go ‘WTF’ and then by the end I was grinning from ear to ear. It’s a sweetshop extravaganza. It's a very clever and utterly unique pop song. It shows how far Alice Jemima has come. It's probably not like anything else on her album. It's bubbling with goodness.

Let’s take those flying saucers right up to Mars. What a journey.

Alice Jemima - Liquorice

8 Things We Learnt This Weekend About Running A Music Festival

Whilst Breaking More Waves home city of Portsmouth is well served for music festivals such as Victorious (a huge outdoor event with some big names and bargain ticket prices) and Icebreaker (local scene multi-venue festival), when it’s longest running new music event, Southsea Fest announced it was taking a year out there was some disappointment locally.

So rather than just moan about it, a bunch of local music enthusiasts, including Breaking More Waves,  got together and decided to run a replacement festival that we called Dials (the name coming loosely from the concept of everyone involved having different tastes / skills - different locations on the dial if you like). Dials was strictly D-I-Y. There was no big corporate sponsor, no advance funding except for digging into our own pockets, and the vast majority of people involved in the team were also balancing busy day jobs and other life commitments that had nothing to do with running a such an event.

Whilst Breaking More Waves’ involvement in the festival was far less than some of the other truly hard working souls who put their names forward, what we did do for Dials (help in booking some of the acts using the contacts that we’d developed from running the blog, putting some money on the table, organising and running the majority of press liaison, and a small amount of marketing and promotion) helped us gain a deeper understanding of just some of the pressures and difficulties festivals are under, some of which don't get talked about very much. 

Here are some of the things we learnt:

1. Cashflow is everything (Part 1 – Punters and tickets)

Stuff doesn’t happen without it being paid for. And when your main source of funding is ticket sales this means that there’s a very difficult balance between what’s going out and what comes in. When you book your ticket for a festival you might think that the money goes straight to the organiser. Not necessarily. Many ticket agencies withhold money they take until after the event has occurred, so that if it is cancelled they can refund easily. So as an organiser your choice of who you sell tickets with is incredibly important for cashflow, as is how you arrange for things to be paid for up front, and as a punter, if money isn't being held back by the ticket agency, buying your ticket early or from local physical retailers can help the festival to overcome the issue of cashflow.

2. Cashflow is everything (Part 2 – Bands)

Dials’ original intention was to pay every band on the bill. However, it quickly became clear after doing the maths and taking all costs into account this wasn’t possible. Quite simply, to put on an event with 45 bands (that’s nearly 200 musicians - roughly a quarter of our total capacity / ticket sales) in small venues, with no big sponsorship and to pay everyone would lead to cancellation before tickets had even started to be sold. Before Dials we’d always thought that musicians should be paid for every show they played, but the practical reality is far more complex. Dials paid every national touring act that performed, and most larger local acts, however some acts, who were generally occupying bottom of the bill slots, playing to just a handful of people for half an hour, weren't offered payment. However we tried to treat these acts as fairly as we could – they were all given a small amount of free drinks and had their festival wristband so they could enjoy the rest of the day watching the music after they had played.

3. Cashflow is everything (Part 3 – Blaggers)

The number of blaggers shocked us. That's blaggers, not bloggers. This wasn’t an expensive festival (£15 early bird / £18 regular / £20 on the door, for an event that ran from 1pm to 11pm + DJs after ) and every band was entitled to a set number of cheap guest tickets at £10 where they arranged them in advance. We also had a number of photographers, press and competition winners who received free tickets.  Yet we were surprised at the numbers of people trying the ‘I’m friends / with such and such a band and I should be on the guest / press list’ approach or people who expected there to be a totally free guest list. Dials wasn’t Glastonbury. It was a small independent festival where every ticket sale counted; not to make money for the organisers, but so that we could pay the people we had agreed to pay; artists, security etc. 

If you went to see a film you wouldn’t expect to get a free ticket from the cinema just because you happened to be mates with one of the actors in it would you? Music festivals are the same. The bottom line is if Dials gave everyone  who thought they were entitled to a free ticket a free ticket, there would be no Dials. 

Likewise the number of bands / their representatives who put down frankly ludicrous requests in their contracts for their riders. If you called a plumber to your house to do a small job that you were paying him say £150 for would you expect the plumber to request a roasted chicken (sliced) and a bottle of spirits in addition to his payment?

4. It’s quite possible to have a festival line up that features as many acts with women in them as men.

Earlier this year you may have seen various articles online asking why UK festivals were dominated by male only bands after Josh at Crack In The Road blog produced a now internet-famous poster showing the acts playing this years Reading / Leeds festivals that contained female musicians. At Dials we were very pleased that nearly half of the acts playing contained female musicians. Several ticket holders commented positively on how great it was to see so many women on stage. It’s sad that they should even have to comment on this, but what we learnt was that: 1. It is very possible to book a festival line-up where women were given as much opportunity as men and  2. That punters will watch music by either sex – all they care about is if the acts are good or not.

5. There’s a lot more to organising a festival than you could possibly imagine. You do need professional help and people with experience.

Despite the D-I-Y approach that Dials had, within the team we had highly professional and experienced people who knew what they were doing. Without these hard working and brilliant people who understand how to run venues, who know the right people to speak to and who understand the stuff that nobody wants to do like financial accounting Dials wouldn’t have happened. These people all put their hearts into Dials for one reason - they wanted a live music event like this in Portsmouth.

6. Successful bands aren’t just good musicians. They go about their jobs professionally.

If you’re a musician and you’re due to play a festival and your stage time is 1.30pm, turning up late or even worse not at all because you’ve been waiting for a taxi / are hungover / didn’t realise what time you were on and not phoning the organisers to let them know is not a way to impress either the festival management or the punters who have decided to come and watch you rather than someone else. To be fair Dials only had a small amount of these instances and they were from local artists lower on the bill who probably lack experience – all of the more well known acts were absolutely professional in their approach. In fact our main headliner was the first band to arrive!

7. Everyone wants their name on the top of the bill.

We suspect this is more to do with bands agents than the bands themselves (who generally don’t seem to care and just want to play) but everyone wants their name nearer the top end of the poster that’s advertising the event. Maybe the way to go is just to list all bands from A-Z, then there is no room for egos, only the alphabet.

8. Being part of running a music festival carries some level of stress, but with the right team, it can be an absolute blast.

To say that we were on an incredible high after the last band had played at Dials is somewhat of an understatement. Seeing bands like Black Honey (one of our choices / bookings for the event) play to a packed sweaty room, watching another of our choices  Alice Jemima, who we have been championing for some time, playing to a warm and attentive crowd and clearly enjoying herself, getting namechecks from stage for the blog from at least 2 of the acts that played and meeting many of the artists that we have written about over the last few years who without exception were lovely, seeing so many positive comments about the festival on social media after it was all finished and just being part of it all  was way more than we could have ever expected when we started this humble music blog back in 2008.

And the thing that we’ve learnt the most? That old cliché about teamwork being the best way to get results. That truly was the way with Dials. 

*This post is the opinion of Breaking More Waves Blog and not necessarily reflective of the opinion of all of the Dials team.