Delta Maid - Under Cover Of Darkness

A few hours ago in the UK Dolly Parton was trending on twitter, so this post seems (even if we say so ourselves) very well timed. Take a musical blender, press the buttons marked The Strokes, country, blues and of course good old Dolly herself and the results will be the musical smoothie that is Liverpool chanteuse Delta Maid. She’s recently recorded a version of Julian & Co’s boogie tune Under Cover Of Darkness and as you listen you’ll see that she has very much put her stamp on it.

Delta Maid could be accused of plain imitation – her American reference points are so obvious, but in the UK where these days it seems that every young boy or girl that has discovered folk and roots music and can play acoustic guitar is jumping on the bandwagon driven by the likes of Marling and Mumford, it’s nice to see someone doing something a little bit different with it.

As we mentioned in our previous post (here) on Delta Maid, her album is due May 9.

Delta Maid - Under Cover of Darkness - Strokes Cover by Delta Maid

Charli XCX - Stay Away (Salem Remix)

Hyperactive saucy pop starlet in the making Charli XCX first featured on Breaking More Waves way back in November 2009 (here) and since then the wheels of industry have been turning. A few days ago a clip of her future dark-pop single Stay Away cropped up on Soundcloud and her Myspace (listen here) and now she’s formed an unlikely but sexy coupling with Salem who have managed to achieve what to date nobody else has managed to do – to slow down Charli XCX’s vivacious spirit to something that crawls musically in a manner that is bleak, unsettling and brilliantly energumenical.

Following fashion magazine appearances, low key festival slots and now hip druggy remixes it seems that it’s almost time for Charli XCX to be fully revealed to the world. If you haven’t caught her live yet (read our review of her here) you can catch her in the UK at Gold Dust at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, London on the 20 April and a late night showcase at Coalition in Brighton at the 2011Great Escape.

Cave Painting - New Waves

One of the criticisms of new music blogs is that in their constant search for fresh faced bands and up-to-date music there’s a tendency to get knicker-wettingly over excited about artists on the basis of just one or two songs. Then later when the artist doesn’t live up to initial promise, blogs are kicked for over-hype. But someone has to make the first call. Otherwise we’ll all drown in a sea of James Blunt and Pigeon Detectives new releases.

So we make no apologies for introducing Brighton five-piece Cave Painting on the back of just two songs we’ve heard, one of which – Midnight Love – we’re streaming below. The other Leaf you can download for free from Bandcamp here. This band will probably disappear into the dark chasms known as what-ever-happened-to-them obscurity but for now we’re taking a punt.

With a tribally rhythmic vocal intonation that’s almost African in manner combining with downtempo guitars and drums that hold a weary heaviness on Midnight Love, Cave Painting's indie tunesmithery wields understated atmosphere that after several listens grows into something rather tranquil and persistent.Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this little bit of hype was justified, but if over time it wasn’t, at least we can enjoy this song.

Midnight Love by Cave Painting

Channel Swimmer - New Waves

Channel Swimmer is an artist whose name perfectly reflects his music – it’s warm, lazily good and full of dreamy sunshine coastal vibes. There are whispers to the likes of Washed Out, The Go Team and Gold Panda in what Channel Swimmer creates. It’s a cliché we know, but his music really is perfect for golden days that merge into mellow hazy nights and watching sunsets on the beach with your loved one.

Channel Swimmer is one Mathew Mayes, a 24 year old Welsh DJ, producer and electronic musician who used to go under the name Organ Morgan, creating tracks using his record collection as a starting point. He received a fair amount of blog love at the time and found support from the likes of BBC DJ’s Tom Robinson and Bethan Elfyn.

In 2009 Organ Morgan became Channel Swimmer as Mathew began working towards recording a 26 track album with one track for each letter of the alphabet from A-Z. He’s also constructed a number of remixes including Tin (The Manhole) by Everything Everything and more recently Breaking More Waves favourites Polarsets song Sunshine Eyes, which streams and is available for free downlaod below together with two other works.

Listen to the warm, nostalgic sound of Charade which samples Donald Fagen’s classic tune I.G.Y, turning it into a dreamy, cotton wool wrapped piece of bliss and you’ll know that summer is on its way. Then let the whistles, bongos and chanting of Zulu take over and forget about the return of acts like The Avalanches, instead letting yourself drift into another world with this peachy piece of music.

Channel Swimmer - Charade

Channel Swimmer - Zulu

Sunshine Eyes (Channel Swimmer Mix)