Remember Jungle? Back in 2013 they appeared as an almost anonymous collective spearheaded by the mysterious ‘J’ and ‘T’ and wowed us all with some euphoric dry ice filled backlit shows, captivating videos that made dance routines cool again and a series of heady neo-soul pop singles. The album that followed didn’t disappoint either and ended up on the Mercury Prize list. Now they’re back, with not one but two new songs which they’ve been playing out on a recent live tour, which I caught last night as it rolled into Brighton. Interestingly this tour missed out London, almost as if the band want to take the new songs to their fans first rather than come under too much spotlight from the press. Of the two new tracks released today Happy Man provides little surprise. It’s very much more of the same – even the lyrical themes are close to Busy Earnin’ exploring the ideas of younger people not being able to aspire to what Baby Boomers had (which seems very topical given today’s Resolution Foundation proposal to give millennials £10,000 each) "Buy yourself a dream, how's it looking? Buy yourself a car and a house to live in. Get yourself a girl, someone different. Buy yourself a dream it won't mean nothing." For me this lack of progression seems a little disappointing; it feels like the band are playing safe, albeit it's still a strong tune. (You can hear that song on Spotify by clicking here). House In LA is much more intriguing. Rather like a number of the new songs they played last night in Brighton it’s slower than much of their first album and whilst it still contains the trademark Jungle falsetto vocals it’s less funky, more cinematically downbeat and slow-mo. T and J have described the album as "a post-apocalyptic radio station playing break up songs,” and this one certainly sounds more like that than Happy Man. It may not be as obviously commercial as something like Busy Earnin’ or The Heat but it provides the possibility of an album that could go deeper than the first and that has to be better than just volume 2 of the same old same old? Jungle - House In LA (Video)
We’re getting ready to say goodbye to another year and here at Breaking More Waves it’s been a very successful one. How do we define this success? In three simple ways: 1. We’re still doing what we do. That might not sound a particularly impressive statement, but to continue to keep Breaking More Waves running, this year posting nearly 50 more times than any previous year and hitting over 500 posts in total, against the pressures of a demanding full time job and family is success in itself. 2. To still get huge pleasure and enjoyment out of doing what we do. 3. Having cheekily asked on Twitter if anyone would be prepared to pay to read our blog posts and getting a few positive answers, in January of this year, alongside another music blogger Adam from Alphabet Bands we put this to the test and participated in a non-stop 24 hour Blogathon to raise money for Cancer Research asking readers (as well as friends and family) to sponsor us. We were stunned by the reaction from readers and their generosity, eventually raising just over £1,500 between the 2 blogs in the 24 hour period. Receiving £50 donations from complete strangers who were reading our posts was an incredibly humbling experience and without doubt the best and most valueable thing we have ever done in Breaking More Waves 6 and a half year history. Goodbye 2014. We’re closing our year by featuring 12 of our favourite songs we've featured this year, each one in video form. For once, we 're providing no commentary on the individual tracks, we think we've said all we want to say for one year. This isn’t a definitive list as we’ve chosen 1 song from each month, meaning that on really good months a number of great songs have had to be sacrificed and some songs that we adore haven’t made the cut as they never had a video. We've also chosen 12 different artists. See you in 2015. January Låpsley - Station
This year’s Mercury Prize list was pretty good all in all wasn’t it? Certainly far better than the two previous years. One LP that made the shortlist and that opens Breaking More Waves fifteen albums of 2015 posts is the debut record by Jungle. Having started out as one of the UK’s buzziest bands (yes, we got in on the act naming them as Ones To Watch for 2014 here) with a series of visually compelling videos and a sense of mystery about them, ex Born Blonde members Tom McFarland and Joshua Lloyd-Watson, together with a bunch of recruits for live shows, delivered an album that whilst very singular in its vision, worked very well. Let’s face it, if you’ve just got one idea, make it a bloody good one. Jungle’s debut album is all about electronic soul, funk, grooves, falsetto vocals and a swaggering pop sensibility that ties it all together. It’s a record to play (and believe us we’ve tried it) pumping out of your car stereo on a hot city night, head bobbing, with the windows wound right down so everyone around can hear. The sound of Jungle’s debut isn’t that of lush vegetation and wildlife but the inner city concrete one. It’s a sound that helped define our summer of 2014, bringing the heat to our ears. It therefore finds itself in 15th place on our end of year countdown. Jungle - Time
Judging by our twitter timeline, over the last few hours pretty much every music website and blog known to mankind has featured the new video by Jungle. We’re now adding Breaking More Waves to that list. Jungle has really yet to put a foot wrong. From those captivating first videos for Platoon and The Heat leading to the band being on virtually everyone’s Ones To Watch / Sound of 2014 lists (including our own ), but bizarrely not on the Blog Sound of 2014 list, through to the increasingly jubilant live shows Jungle have been doing it right. Their set at London’s Village Underground earlier this year was the closest in atmosphere we’ve experienced to the swaggeringly heady and vibey trip of the Madchester baggy scene back in the late 80s and early 90s and their show in the John Peel tent at last month's Glastonbury was an incredible early afternoon triumph, the audience’s reaction seemingly overwhelming the band themselves. Even when the ‘mysterious’ T and J's past history was revealed and a bit of internet detective work revealed their rather privileged backgrounds (see the interview quotes from a teenage Tom and Josh here ) it didn’t detract because of one simple reason – Jungle were creating great music. Next week the group release their debut LP which is streaming via the iTunes store now. Warning – it’s rather excellent, you’ll be grooving all over the place. It feels perfectly timed and we have a feeling that it’s going to be the soundtrack to our summer and possibly your's as well. But before that, there’s the new video for Time, continuing the linked dance theme from the outfit's three previous films. Once again it’s mightily impressive visually, showing that older dudes can lay down some rubbery moves as well as their younger counterparts. Anyone remember Christopher Walken in the Spike Jonze directed video for Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice? Now we have a rival. Jungle - Time (Video)
This morning we featured George Ezra, one act who has been doing rather well this year since his inclusion on lots of end of 2013 tip lists, including ours. George is ramping things up as his debut album gets closer and we're looking forward to hearing the results of his labor in full soon. Here’s another of those acts that appeared on plenty of the lists, although bizarrely despite being covered by an awful lot of music blogger types last year they didn't make the Blog Sound of 2014 list, which we thought was odd. They are the mighty XL recording artists Jungle and this is their new song Time. The buzz that Jungle started last year certainly hasn’t stopped; their gig we witnessed at Village Underground in London earlier this year was about as vibey as it gets, the audience together as one on some big soulful trippy dance vibe and we hear reports that their gig at this year’s Great Escape at The Haunt had people queuing round the block to get in from way early. We’re noticing that quite a few d-i-y blogs and even pro websites are still referring to Jungle as 'mystery artists', which seems pretty lazy considering the information is all over the internet - just one or two simple Google searches (or maybe even a Twitter search) will reveal that the main founders 'T' and 'J' of Jungle are ex Born Blonde members Tom McFarland and Joshua Lloyd-Watson. Now you know that google them for more information and have a giggle at their rather cringe worthy childhood interview with the Guardian about their parents from a few years ago. No wonder they were trying to keep their identities hidden. So to the song; Time continues where Jungle left off with Busy Earnin’. It’s the sound of a hot city night where the stereo plays fresh soul and funk the whole way through, shooting electro shocks from the brain to the feet leaving you no option but to dance as the boy-boy high-low harmonies ring out. If you love what they’ve done so far you’ll love this as well. But that may also be the problem. Because with a self-titled album due mid-July the big burning question remains. As groovy as their shows are, as irresistible as these tracks seem as singles, will the album just be a one trick pony? Time will tell (see what we did there?) Jungle - Time
Continuing the theme of their other two videos that made dance routines 100% cool again, Jungle’s latest chooses not to feature the band but instead tracksuit wearing dudes and their friends giving it some streetstyle attitude in a warehouse. If you watch this and it doesn’t put a huge smile on your face there’s something seriously wrong with you. Now, wouldn’t it be good if Jungle took these videos to a whole new level when they played live and hid themselves behind a curtain and let the dancers take over the stage? Of course The Knife visualised their music in a similar way last year on tour, but their's was purposefully amateur. Jungle’s would no doubt be impressively slick. How their live show really works will be open for scrutiny again tomorrow as the band take to London’s Village Underground. Breaking More Waves will be in the crowd for that, so keep an eye on our Twitter for updates. Jungle - Busy Earnin' (Video)
Jungle have got the groove. They’ve got it bad. So bad that after previous funk-laden singles Platoon and The Heat they’re back for more*. This one’s called Busy Earnin’ and besides that groove it’s got the most sinfully good disco vocals, squirmy synths and a whole load of dangerous dancefloor bass. This is sex music, or at least it’s music for us to dream up every porn-pun and dirty double-entendre that we can think of. Busy Earnin’ is the sound of red light district nightclub sweating with seduction. It’s the sound of The Scissor Scissors having a complete makeover by Quincy Jones, Jam and Lewis and Keith Diamond. It’s the sound of the cools kids on a hot summer night, cruising the streets in a convertible, stereo blaring out loud. Busy Earnin’ is released in April. The band has now signed to XL Records, so we can expect an album later in the year. Expect the limited number of shows they’ve currently announced to be hot tickets and watch them apply the funk to festivals this summer as well. It’s time to get lost in the Jungle groove. *Footnote : A word of caution as everyone on the internet gets over excited about Jungle. Whilst this is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G it might seem less so if when an album drops it contains another 7 or 8 versions of this song. Variety might be key here. Jungle - Busy Earnin'
Jungle’s debut EP The Heat got a lot of tongues wagging a few months ago; and rightly so. The funk, electric soul, slick grooves, falsetto intimacies and retro cool that flowed from the recordings is 100% immaculate and guaranteed to get hips gently swinging. There’s a retro-classic pop sensibility, effortless style and laid back club-warmth to the songs with (initially) no information about the musican(s) at all. Add to this two mesmerising linked theme videos featuring some bad-ass dancing from a tracksuited kid (Platoon) and two roller-skaters (The Heat) and what you have is one of the most intriguing new bands of 2013. There have been hints and statements that this was a one man solo production effort, but a handful of regional UK live shows have now revealed Jungle, the live experience at least, to be a complete 7 piece band fronted by two individuals known only as “T” and “J”. Jungle have yet to play London, although a date is forthcoming and they’ve already been confirmed for next years SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. Expect the heat to get turned higher. Here come Jungle, without doubt Ones to Watch in 2014. Jungle - Drops
