What Happened To Our Ones To Watch 2010 ?

“No one cares about your 'best of 2010' list,” Josh Weller recently tweeted. He may be correct, but that won’t stop hundreds of the things appearing throughout December and Breaking More Waves isn’t going to be any different. We’ll be running down our top ten albums of 2010 from the middle of December – but before that, at the start of the month we’re looking forward and posting our annual 10 Ones to Watch for 2011.

Prior to looking forward, here’s a recap of our 2010 selections from last year.

Ellie Goulding

We said

“With her quivering girlish vocal, an acoustic guitar, neat lyrical phrasing and stuttering laptop electro beats, Goulding could deliver commercially.”

What happened?

Goulding delivered commercially. A number one album in the UK, two top five hits and two further songs that went top thirty, sold out tours - it’s been a highly successful year for Ellie Goulding.

Ellie Goulding - Guns And Horses (Monsieur Adi Remix) by monsieuradi

Hurts

We said

“….threaten to bring an ostentatious, stern, eastern European look back into fashion for bands.”

What happened?

It was Europe that really warmed to Hurts, with the band enjoying charts success in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Sweden and Finland and even an appearance on German X Factor. In the UK the band took a little longer to find their true audience, but by the time their album Happiness was released it achieved a very respectable chart placing of number four with mixed critical reaction (8/10 in the NME, 2/5 in the Guardian, 5/10 in Drowned In Sound, 3/5 in the Independent and most tellingly 9/10 by Popmatters), they also played one of our favourite gigs of the year way back in February at Wiltons Music Hall in London (here). By the end of the year they were playing sold out gigs, supporting the Scissor Sisters on their UK tour and next year are playing a tour of larger concert halls.

Beth Jeans Houghton

We said

“Quite where Beth Jeans Houghton will fit in 2010 we’re not exactly sure, but she has the voice and the songs to ensure that she can carve out her own space”

What happened?

Houghton toured with another of our Ones to Watch – Stornoway and played a string of UK festival dates. However she didn’t release any material. With her Ben Hillier (Blur, The Maccabees, Elbow) produced album now in the bag ready for release next year, Houghton can continue to carve her space in 2011.

Unicorn Kid

We said

“To the uneducated ears of an over twenty five year old or a solemn indie rock purist, the sounds of Unicorn Kid will just be considered bad music, but for his growing army of fans his electronic urgency is simply something that makes you happy.”

What happened?

In April Unicorn Kid released Dream Catcher a stunningly dirty, glitchy and energetic piece of work that became one of our favourite tracks of the year then followed it up in October with another track – Wild Life. An album is due in 2011 – it’s likely to make his growing army of hyperactive fans very happy indeed.

Unicorn Kid - Dreamcatcher - Last Japan Remix by Ministry of Sound

Delphic

We said

“It is for this reason we have selected them for our ones to watch list. Not because of musical uniqueness or commercial crossover, but because we can imagine Delphic creating a perfect indie dance summer vibe in fields across the UK.”

What happened?

Delphic didn’t achieve massive commercial success – their album charted at number 8 in the UK, but then quickly disappeared. However as we predicted their moment really came in the summer – their storming set at Bestival hit all the right spots (see our review here).

Counterpoint by delphic

Clare Maguire

We said

If a 2010 release from Clare Maguire arrives and it comes anywhere near the quality of those demos, we predict she could win a lot of fans.

What happened?

It took a while but finally in October Maguire released her thunderous debut single Ain’t Nobody, that found extra love through the heavily spacious Breakage Remix. Having played Latitude this summer and supported Hurts and Plan B on tour this autumn, Clare Maguire will release an album in 2011.

Clare Maguire - Ain’t Nobody by UniversalMusicPublishing

Stornoway

We said

“Suitcases full of the most perfect melodies.”

What happened?

When Stornoway appeared on our ones to watch list they were still unsigned. After significant label interest they inked a deal with 4AD allowing them to open their suitcase and share their wonderful songs, releasing their debut album Beachcomber’s Windowsill. The album surprised many (but not us) by sneaking into the UK top 20 album chart. They ended the year selling out the 2,000 capacity Shepherds Bush Empire in London, a far cry from when we first saw them perform to a small crowd at the Wychwood Festival in 2009. On a more personal note, Zorbing and I Saw You Blink are two of our favourite songs this year.

Mirrors

We said

"The dense ambient pulse-pop of the Mirrors reflects the sounds of early OMD"

What happened?

Having signed a deal with their hometown label of Skint, Mirrors released the singles Ways to an End and Hide and Seek and played a number of gigs including support slots with OMD themselves on their 2010 European tour. The band will release an album next year and in the meantime have packaged up their early singles into a mini album which is available to purchase directly from Skints website.

Mirrors 'Hide And Seek' by skintrecords

Holly Miranda

We said

“Her dreamily atmospheric guitar based songs are certainly not the kind of tunes that are going to infiltrate the pop charts, but provide for a smouldering and sleepy listening experience.”

What happened?

Miranda’s David Sitek produced album The Magician’s Private Library was seductively warm and as sleepy as a pillow and duvet set with titles such as Sweet Dreams, Every time I Go To Sleep and Sleep On Fire combined with even more shut eye lyrical content such as “Dreamt of you again last night,” from the slow burning trumpet laden Joints and “Wake up and you’re next to nothing,” from Slow Burn Treason.

Clock Opera

We said

"We love Clock Opera more than our own children."

What happened?

Clock Opera released a number of low key singles during the year including the transcendent Once and for All, toured with Marina & The Diamonds and hope to release an album in 2011. They remain one to watch.

clock opera - once and for all (little loud remix) by little loud

Mirrors - Hide and Seek

When we first heard the words new release, hide and seek and synthesiser all at the same time our heart skipped a beat, the brow became sweat-lined and a strange somersaulting sensation was felt in the stomach. We thought the moment had come when our not-so-hidden-guilty-obsession with 80’s synth-pop wizard Howard Jones was about to take a twist and his classic top twenty moody electronic new age ballad Hide and Seek (video here) was about to get a re-release. Unfortunately nothing could be quite that good, but Hide and Seek by Mirrors is still a worthwhile addition to the electro-pop canon.

Animated plasticine figures that live inside the television form the basis of the visuals for the song, which creates a soundscape of plodding patterned electronica. For better or worse it will never be Howard Jones though. Will it?

Mirrors - Ways to an End

Our second ‘catch up’ post of the day features another band who we named in our Ones to Watch list at the end of 2009 - Mirrors. The pulsing synthesiser based band inked a deal with Skint records earlier this year and whilst we were having a break last week sneaked out a new single - Ways to an End.

When Mirrors originally came on the scene Kraftwerk comparisons were inevitably rife - suits, motionless performance and keyboards meant that there was always a danger that Mirrors would be seen as just a parody band. However the video for Ways to an End, which was filmed in the Duke of Yorks cinema in Brighton, shows how the group have developed visually at least - watch how the lead singer jerks like he has a pair of jump leads attached to his backside. You certainly would have never seen Ralf, Florian, Karl or Wolfgang grooving like that. Musically maybe Ways to an End sounds a little too stuck in the 80’s, but it will no doubt appeal to fans of the genre - who Mirrors will find themselves facing in their masses when they tour with OMD in Europe in November. The band describe Ways to an End as a ‘seething, waterlogged, saturated yet sprightly groove.’ We consider it more akin to a bubbling synthetic voyage into robot-groove where science lab and disco merge. Judge for yourself whilst watching the video below.

Great Escape 2010 @ Brighton - Review (Day 2)

With the promise of more sun by the seaside, spending the whole day in dark nightclubs, pubs and other such venues is not such an attractive proposition. Thankfully The Great Escape provides for a number of outdoor gigs.

A carport forms an amateur makeshift d-i-y stage in the ray-drenched courtyard of Shipwrights Yard, where the Republic of Music and Skint Records present a varied showcase of artists. Yet there’s nothing amateur about The Miserable Rich. They have a beautiful elegance, grace and composure in their songs that often reference substance abuse. “They call me a pisshead, but what do they know, there’s more love in this head, than these eyes can show,” sings lead vocalist James as their cellist downs a can of Scrumpy Jack. Violin, acoustic guitar, hand bells and the aforementioned cello combine to create warm, affecting and highly charismatic songs.

Watched by both Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim and Egyptian Hip Hop the odd ball quirkiness, blonde mop top, vacant stare and warbling Syd Barret-esque psychedelic weirdness of Connan Mockasin is an acquired taste but receives love from a significant number of the audience. Childlike, almost a joke gone wrong, the songs he plays are dreamy, hazy and just one joint away from being utterly surreal.

“This is our first gig in the sunshine, we’re not usually of a very sunny disposition,” suggest Mirrors (pictured) as the rhythmic pulse of Fear of Drowning rings out over the courtyard. Certainly their angst-ridden ambient electro pop shouldn’t work in the daylight and the addition of sharp suits, dark shirts, ties and attempt of using a strobe in broad daylight should fail dramatically, but it doesn’t. With their vocalist adding some skinny boy camp robot dancing it seems that Mirrors emergence into the light is a good thing.

As the ever expanding audience enjoy the weather there are two things that strike immediately about Tigs, the lead singer of Chew Lips. First that she exudes self confidence, pulling shapes and chatting to the audience as if they were her new best friends, the second that she carries a superb vocal - a soulful Karen O singing perfectly over layered digital pop. This girl can really sing, without seeming to ever try too hard. Slick, with its plentiful bounty of beeps and builds is particularly gilt-edged. The Great Escape may be an indoor festival, but sometimes dancing in the afternoon sun is the top-drawer way to go.

As evening slowly approaches The Futureheads play a not so secret ‘secret’ show on the porch roof of the entrance to Audio. The set is punchy, urgent and short, the band appearing to be somewhat befuddled by the unusual setting of the gig which sees them raised up significantly higher than the crowd and surrounded by palm trees. “This is very strange isn’t it? You can probably see right up my nose into my brain,” jokes lead singer Barry. As second wave indie brit rock / landfill indie has died a death it’s important to note that The Futureheads remain a going concern. It’s easy to be complacent about their concise new wave sound, but they are still a sharp and impassioned band. Still not afraid to give the punters what they want they end with their cover of Hounds of Love (see video below) and skip away into the sunset.

Coalition welcomes the space drums, synth washes and robot vocals of Polish three piece Kamp! Heading for planet future-retro pop their danceable grooves hint at French house and colder German electronica. It slowly draws people in to the darkness and dancing.

Dancing is something that you might expect from an audience watching Gold Panda. Or at least some significant head nodding. Yet Life is so oppressively rammed that even the chopped samples and loops of You cannot make people move - probably because they can’t. Nine months ago Gold Panda played in Brighton (here) and about forty people were there to witness it. How times have changed.

Back in Coalition Wolf Gang brings a menagerie of influences and mixes them all up to give a modern pop context - hints of David Byrne, eccentric indie pop and possibly even first album MGMT can be heard. Standing infront of an illuminated white cube with his name on it, a white scarf draped around his neck, Wolf Gang (real name Max McElligott ) is at his best when he’s creating big sing-a-long pop songs such as The King And All Of His Men, which despite being a hit track on many of the hip blogs has a mainstream sensibility written all over it that suggests it wouldn’t be out of place on BBC Radio 2.

As the night continues its time for Hurts. For the third time this year they overwhelm us with their melodramatic theatrical brilliance. Opera singer. Check. Theo Hutchcraft staring moodily at the floor. Check. Affected use of the hand in pocket. Check. Vampire cheekbones. Check. Almost Nazi-esque outstretched hand. Check. Sensuously fingering the microphone stand. Check. Slicked hair and suits. Check. Yet aside from the image, all of the calculated pretension, all of the things that make Hurts visually so appealing to some and annoy the hell out of others, they have a collection of grandly brilliant pop songs. And at the Great Escape, unlike the NME tour where at some venues Hurts found some punters drifting away as they played, the band have the audience in their hands, or rather most of them - Drowned in Sound in an entirely predictable way tweeted that Hurts were gut sucking. By the time Better Than Love blasts in in a wave of strobe light euphoria, Hurts are riding the crest of the wave. Theo even has a wry smile on his face. He knows this is vindication. “Do you ever feel emptiness, are you scared it’s going to last forever?” Theo questions at the start of Happiness. Despite what some have been suggesting, the sound of Hurts is not empty at all. This is how all great pop music should be. Triumphant.

Still in Coalition Kid Adrift have a difficult job to follow and unfortunately suffer serious technical difficulties. They only have stage monitors for two songs, half their rig cuts out and one drunken member of the audience feels it necessary to shout abuse at them. Yet the band persevere and ultimately deliver with waves of beats, complex crescendos of piano and extreme bombastic rock sounds. Imagine Muse suddenly discovering processed heavy beats on a laptop, and you would be somewhere close with Kid Adrift. There’s an element of prog-rock pomposity to what Kid Adrift do, but there’s a magnificence to their pomp that is refreshingly exciting.

Delphic + Mirrors @ Brighton Audio

If there was any question about how music fashion has evolved over the last couple of years, the answers could be found at Brighton Audio. Rather than bands formed out of scruffy lager swilling lads in skinny jeans who think that the world revolves around The Libertines, The Strokes and Oasis, this sold out gig featured two bands bringing a smarter, overtly pompous attire to the stage. Support band Mirrors look more like actors or models with their dark shirts, suit jackets, ties and cooler than thou haircuts. Meanwhile Delphic (pictured) are like scissor sharp cool geography teachers in clean white collars, who only speak to the audience to announce the bands name and to say thank you at the end. Rather like overpriced sparkling mineral water these groups are pretentious perhaps, but refreshing at the same time.

The lack of rock ‘n’ roll styling also applied to the audience behaviour, which seemed somewhat subdued for Delphic. After all, this is a band that seem to promise the possibility of giddying plateaus of euphoric abandon with their focussed mix of electronic preciseness and taught guitars. However, maybe because of the venues slightly cramped low claustrophobic stage, or just the fact that it’s a dreary Tuesday night, Delphic were not able to deliver that big hands in the air moment. The band tick all the right boxes – strobes that suck your eyeballs, sharp near perfect looped instrumentation, beats that blend seamlessly from song to song, glacial cataclysmic rocket ship washes of sound, all of these things bring the band so close to taking off, but they never quite do.

Delphic have a cool unaffected manner on stage – even when a sampler gets knocked over onto the floor it doesn’t seem to phase them – but that manner seems to somehow translate into the music tonight. Delphic obviously understand electronic music and can structure a song perfectly; Red Lights, Doubt and the closing instrumental Acolyte all demonstrating well executed peaks and troughs , but there’s a lack of passion that leaves most of the audience nodding and bobbing rather than pumping and bouncing. If this show had been a sexual liaison it was a perfect gentle kiss with intentions of going further rather than the full deal of a delirious orgasmic rush.

We’ve reviewed Mirrors live shows before here and here and tonight as support act some of their visual aesthetic is lost. The screen on which their minimalist visuals are displayed is tucked to the side behind Delphic’s fluorescent tube lighting, and the masses of keyboards are forced to congregate around Delphic’s drum kit, rather than lining up in a deliberately regimented formation. If anything Mirrors show more humanity and emotion than Delphic though, with the lead singer attempting some fey indie kid meets drunk-uncle at a wedding dancing and attempting to speak to the audience. Attempt is the best description here though. For example Search In The Wilderness is introduced as being “About searching in the wilderness.” Hardly informative or inspiring communication really. The bands music – the sound of the bastard child of OMD and Depeche Mode artificially inseminated through a Juno 60 is at times dark and luxurious whilst on other songs such as Into The Heart displays more than just a knowing wink to the 80’s. In fact Mirrors are so 80’s influenced that they run the risk of just being seen as a parody band – this could be a negative criticism but then we could have said the same of La Roux 18 months ago, and look what happened to them.

Despite these reservations - that for Delphic the gig never really kicked to a higher level, and for Mirrors that they verge on the side of ambience that becomes pastiche - both bands provided incredibly competent musicianship, well structured songs and a synthy seriousness that makes The Libertines et al seem but a distant memory for now.

Mirrors - Ones To Watch 2010 #8

The dense ambient pulse-pop of the Mirrors reflects the sounds of early OMD, Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode, continuing the electronic revival that invaded the charts like knotweed in 2009.

However unlike many of this years synth gang, the garden that Mirrors have grown in is matted in darker, woven textures. This makes the Brighton four piece a less obviously commercial proposition but none the less an interesting one. The bands live shows are rapidly becoming a talking point, their measured performances featuring minimalist abstract video projections with the suited band displaying an air of haughty high-brow coolness behind keyboards and electronic drum kit.

Mirrors were formed by two previous members of the indie band Mumm-Ra, but their sound is very different from that previous incarnation. There have already been criticisms that the group are just blatant plagiarists, taking reference points that are all too obvious, but then the same could be said of White Lies this year, who the band remixed A Place Too Hide for. Such criticisms certainly didn’t affect White Lies commercial popularity.

Mirrors have been slowly growing their sombre electronic profile in 2009, having played sets at Latitude Festival, Loop Festival and The Great Escape reviewed here They have also released two singles, the self funded Look At Me and Into The Heart on Moshi Moshi and in November started their own club Un Autre Monde. Early next year they will be out playing some support slots with another one of our ones to watch Delphic.

Fear Of Drowning

MIRRORS | MySpace Video

Mirrors - Fear Of Drowning

Since we first came across Brighton band Mirrors back in April the group have been labelled a buzz band, received a tongue lashing from the NME, played just a handful of shows, and received a fairly good reaction on a number of blogs including this one. The band have also released their debut single Look At Me which we reviewed here and you can purchase exclusively on 7” vinyl through Pure Groove here . Now without announcement the band have put a new video out to the world. Fear Of Drowning is the song that Mirrors have been opening their few live outings with. It’s a brooding polished pulsing number with ambient lush washes of synth, distant cinematic drums and lyrics about being shrouded in sin. Listening to this track over and over again we have become more and more convinced that the Brighton tag is an error and the band are actually from Berlin - it has that arty European feel to it. And yes, Kraftwerk are a reference point, both musically and visually. Mirrors are a band that have a strong visual aesthetic, it’s one of the things that sets them apart from your typical scruffy band of twenty something blokes in skinny jeans. That alone should be worth celebrating, but the music is equally of cause for joy, albeit in a sombre and reflective way. Here's the new video.

Fear Of Drowning

Mirrors - Look At Me

Back in April we first posted about a new Brighton band named Mirrors, who rather like the Fear Of Flying to White Lies transformation, had a direct connection with the band previously known as Mumm-Ra. Mirrors are of course a very different proposition from Mumm-Ra, with a live show that is artily sophisticated and based on a strong visual aesthetic. This sensibility seems to extend to every aspect of the bands presentation, even their press releases. The release for Mirrors forthcoming single Look At Me simply reads “Mirrors follow the straightest of lines. Mirrors are attentive to minutiae. Mirrors are parallel to everything and equal to nothing. Mirrors are a vehicle for refraction. Mirrors are black and / or white. Mirrors are minimally over the top. Mirrors are the practical and aesthetical application of all things mirrors. Mirrors are a pattern for imitation. Mirrors are pop noir.” It reminds us a little of other releases from bands such as Dexy’s Midnight Runners and the KLF / K Foundation who tried to communicate a vision or message a little different from the norm. Pretentious ? Yes. But as long as the music has merit then such sloganeering has its place in pop music.

Since their Great Escape performance Mirrors have already been labelled by certain sectors of the media as a ‘buzz’ band, with all the negative connotations that such a label holds. The danger for Mirrors is that perceptions may be altered before anyone has even heard a note. So for the record, Look At Me is about as eighties as you can get. Full of downbeat vocals, UFO sounds, retro keyboard melodies and hints of early Depeche Mode and OMD. Reflect on the video and draw your own conclusions, but we think its splendid. Look At Me is just the right kind of song for mooching miserably in the corner at the disco to. The single will be released exclusively through Pure Groove records on the bands own label on 7” vinyl and can be ordered here . Mirrors play just a handful of shows this summer including Latitude and Loop Festivals.

Mirrors + Yes Giantess + Erik Hassle + The Dolly Rockers @ London Hoxton Bar & Kitchen

A few days ago Breaking More Waves reported on the Great Escape in Brighton where two of our highlights pulled us into the world of synthtopia where Apple Macs and keyboards rule. These highlights were Brighton based pop noir specialists Mirrors and Boston, USA funksters Yes Giantess. At the Gold Dust club at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, a venue of huge disco balls, black painted blockwork and industrial urban trendiness, both bands collide to bring an evening of electronic ecstasy with not a guitar in site.

But before the fingers can glide across the keys we have to endure the crime against pop music that is Dolly Rockers. An X Factor riot of sequins, short skirts and sauciness, they are a hand on the hip, dancing in front of the bedroom mirror, amateur Girls Aloud. Without a live band it’s backing track karaoke. They even have the audacity to sample a section from one of the best pop songs of the eighties - Duel by Propaganda - and destroy it. We’ll give them some credit for a song called Champagne Shirley that slags off girl glamour models and their most un-Girls Aloud use of the F word, but when they say “We’re going to do a rubbish ballad,” we couldn’t agree more.

“We couldn’t bring our full band all the way over from Sweden,” announces the Popjustice approved and Mystery Jets haircut a like Erik Hassle. So instead he serenades the audience with simple acoustic arrangements on the only guitar that will be seen for the evening. His set is short with well crafted songs and a flawless voice that could easily slip into the mainstream if given the right exposure.

Then the new princes of the keyboard take to the stage in two chapters. Yes Giantess have a song called Deceptive Man, and believe us these guys are deceptive men. They may not look like hot lovin’ sex machines whose mission it is to make the ladies swoon, but they have a few cheesy yet sincere tricks up their sleeves. Witness lead vocalist Jan announcing that “Making love to a tambourine ruins my hand.” This guy doesn’t bash or hit a tambourine, he makes love to it. Get that girls. His band mates join in with the physical arousal, bouncing and thrusting against their synths whilst throwing their heads back in sweaty orgasmic excitement whilst their drummer pounds away in shorts. And for girls who want some lyrical come on action try “I just want to say that you’re beautiful, you’re looking incredible, girl you’re making everybody’s day,” from the immense Daft Punkish slow groover Tuff N Stuff and then be prepared to practice making babies.

Then there’s the music. We’d love to rifle through the Yes Giantess record box. It wouldn’t surprise us if we found Passion Pit, Michael Jackson, The Human League, Madonna, New Kids On The Block, James Brown and Cameo in there. This is a band that are clever enough to play the three killer tunes currently on their Myspace first and then throw down slab after slab of spunky grinding synth wash to get people moving. Ladies, they’re asking, and you’re dancing.

Mirrors (pictured) may also bring synths by the van load but they bleep and pulse from a different shadowy zone than Yes Giantess. As the room darkens a flickering electronic riff pulses out, whilst the bands name glows at the back of the stage. Suddenly it disappears and is replaced by a single white square projection and the band enter to a large cheer. The square becomes animated with smaller squares inside whilst Mirrors cover the crowd with lush ambient textured electronic noise. It radiates out across the room to create an atmospheric soundscape filled with pop melody. Abstract images and patterns develop from the square whilst haunting melancholy keyboards cascade into songs such as Look At Me; it’s all Blancmange meets The Human League meets OMD with a tiny bit of Ian McCulloch in the vocal. Yes it’s very eighties, yes its very cool and yes it’s very good. A Mirrors show is more of an evocative experience than a gig. Go experience.

It seems incredible that both Yes Giantess and Mirrors are still unsigned bands. Surely that cannot last ?

The Great Escape @ Brighton - Day 1

With not a campsite or drop of mud in sight and over three hundred bands playing in over thirty venues over three days, The Great Escape is the ideal festival for music fans whose idea of a weekend without a shower is absolute hell. Now in its fourth year, the Brighton event goes from strength to strength with punters being able to see a number of established acts as well as a host of up and coming bands around the city, for a fraction of the price of a huge outdoor festival. Inevitably some of the more hotly tipped artists will draw full houses and some people will be left standing in queues if the particular venue is at capacity, but Breaking More Waves encounters none of these problems with the bands it sees. Careful planning is the key word here.

Thursday starts with a busy lunchtime gig at Arc on the seafront. Sporting one of the finest beards in folk music William Fitzsimmons talks about how he has “A terrorist looking face,” which led to detainment at Stansted airport on his arrival to the UK. Seated under a single spotlight, Fitzsimmons brings harshly intimate lyrics and gentle sounding acoustic songs concerning divorce, death and his troubled relationship with his father to a hushed audience. “The only goal I have is to make you feel worse about yourselves than when you arrived,” Fitzsimmons half jokes. With his soft easy on the ear Sufjan Stevens styled vocal ,the overall sound created lacks the deep emotional resonance to achieve this goal no matter how bleak the subject material.

For a contrary musical perspective, a short walk to The Hope finds Vile Imbeciles, who bombard the small crowd with a jerky stumbling freeform frenetic brand of guitar noise and Horrors like goth haircuts, tattered jeans and jackets. It’s an ugly cacophony that disregards melody completely and tries to rape the audience via an uneasy listening experience. Ears bleed. Perversely we like it and don’t bother finding the music doctor or police.

The long mirrors, domed roof lights and bohemian feel of the Red Roaster coffee house is almost the perfect space for acoustic music and Charlie Calleja does a sterling job in bringing his classic singer songwriter style to the small seated audience of about thirty people. With a creamy voice that soars effortlessly and a red wine warmth that calms, his honest songs are the perfect end to that first compilation mix tape for a new girlfriend.

Continuing at the same venue, Dan Mangan is even better. The moment he opens his mouth and huskily croons his way through The Indie Queens Are Waiting, we are smitten. With a roll of throat that could have come from a pirate ship, Mangan is the missing link between Damien Rice and Mumford & Sons. With an admission that he once fell asleep at a Mudhoney concert, Journal Of A Narcoleptic is finely framed and precisely played. To finish, even though the room is half empty Mangan is brave enough to leave the stage area to stand on a piano stool and conduct the audience to sing the simple melody of Robots; “Robots need love too. They want to be loved by you.” Everyone joins in. You know when those in the media like to proclaim that “That was a real moment,” at every opportunity at every festival they cover ? Well this really was one of those moments.

Our love of Laura Groves aka Blue Roses is already well documented on this blog and it appears that this love is not alone, with swelling numbers of punters coming through the door. Blue Roses is virtually perfect in every way, from her choir girl vocal to her complex piano work. Even the moment when she pauses during Coast and someone’s mobile rings seems impeccably timed, although of course it gets a large round of laughter. Doubtful Comforts is the highlight, a ghost walk through loneliness, it’s a song from another time, unique in its music box late night ambience.

Leaving the Red Roaster with a delicious warm and fuzzy feel it is time for a change of mood and instrumentation as The Sallis Benney Theatre plays host to Brighton band Mirrors (pictured), who we first posted about last month here . Mirrors are ostentatiously lofty and uber cool. Brooding ghoulish gothic church music echoes through the room and like a scene from Poltergeist a huge screen at the back crackles into life. We almost expect a small child to cry out “They’re here,” as the band take to the stage. Dressed in matching suits and ties Mirrors line up in front of keyboards and an electronic drum kit, two members stage front, two slightly staggered behind. They stand motionless, arms by their side in darkness except for a flashing strobe fixed to their electronica. Then they start to play, lit only by the colourful abstract films behind them. Their references are Kraftwerk, New Order and most notably OMD in both their sound and look. Artily pretentious, highbrow and executed with perfection it seems amazing that this is a new band, so complete is everything about them. Each year names are touted as the next big thing. Mirrors may just be a little too cool to appeal to the mainstream, and there is a nagging doubt that their obvious pomposity may be their undoing, but their synth laden brand of pop noir may be a good sneaky outside bet for a One To Watch in 2010.

After such a run of highs, the evening finishes with a low. Grasscut are Andrew Phillips an award winning televison film and television composer and Marcus O’Dair who adds additional double bass to their experimental electronic sound. Playing to an ever dwindling audience, one person in the room says “They’re like a rubbish Enigma.” Whilst their work may be more abstract and nerdy than that, he’s not far off.

Day One is done. But rather than trudging through mud to a tent where drunkards will regularly wake us by tripping over our guy ropes all night, Breaking More Waves heads off to a warm inviting bed in a decent hotel and the promise of no queue for a shower in the morning.

Mirrors - New Waves @ Breaking More Waves

Mirrors are a band formed from the ashes of Mumm-Ra, but the phoenix that has risen from the flames is a very different beast. Rather like the way that White Lies were a different proposition from their previous incarnation Fear of Flying, Mirrors are much removed from Mumm-Ra. This three piece are an artily cool pop-noir keyboard toting band whose sound references early OMD, Depeche Mode and Blancmange.

Rather like The Cordelier Club who we featured last week, Mirrors have only one song available to the world at large at this moment in time, the restrained and haughtily highbrow Look At Me. From this song it’s easy to imagine the band shooting videos that are stylish, dramatic and intelligent, parading the dark shadowy streets of an Eastern European city wearing long overcoats whilst giving furtive sideways glances to camera over their upturned collars. After all this is a band who include amongst their influences François Pierre de la Varenne, who codified French cuisine for the age of Louis XIV, left wing journalist Wilfred Burchett and composer Claude Debussy. Pretentious ? Quite possibly yes, but this is not a criticism. It’s about time bands started making a claim to distinction with their reference points. So whilst Mirrors rifle through the works of Erwin Blumenfeld and the records of Kraftwerk, New Order and The Human League, we’ll leave you with this simple low budget film of the song Look At Me.