Here’s a question for you. What do you do with the members of your band that don’t sing or dance in a pop music video where you’ve decided to not allow them to play their instruments? I don’t know about you, but I feel a little sorry for Broods’ Caleb here. Because whilst Georgia swans around dancing and singing in the California desert, Caleb is resigned to just doing nothing in particular. i can imagine the director now: "Hey Caleb, your job is to stand around and look moody OK?" Spolier alert no.1 – Caleb gets a bit bored around the 1.50 mark and does a nifty looking jump in the air. There should have been more of this at random moments in the film - whilst the actors did their thing Caleb could be leaping around in the background for comedy effect. Spolier alert no.2 – the storyline for the video is a break-up one, but you just know they’re going to get back together don’t you? Heartlines is the latest single to be released from Broods’ second long player Conscious and was co-written by Lorde. Isn’t it about time we heard something from her in her own right? Well, whilst we wait I’d suggest giving the Broods record a spin, particularly if you like full bodied but elegant electronic pop music. It's bolder than their first and it's one of the ups and downs and the starts and the break ups of life. Their debut was one of my top 5 of 2014. It's too early to say if this one will be in 2016, but it's certainly no stinker. So, a note to pop music video directors. Next time let’s just give Caleb something to do, OK? Broods - Heartlines (Video)
It's quite comical that some people (who haven't met me) think that because I write a music blog I must be some sort of hip trendy dude. Far from it. The reality is that, myself and most music bloggers I’ve met are far from cool. Put a couple of us in a room together and we’ll sit and happily have a geek-off for hours obsessing about nothing but music. Why on earth would we spend money on trendy clothes and haircuts and hanging out at cool clubs and bars when we could spend it on enlarging our record collections? However, being a music nerd and particularly one who loves new music does mean that from time to time I end up writing about artists that are considered trendy (note: trendiness never lasts, it’s transient, and generally relies on another factor – youth) but I’ve never written about those artists because of that. It’s always been because I like what they've created. So today I’m featuring the new single from UK duo The Shires – a band who I’m sure are in no way considered trendy. They’re probably considered the opposite of that and I'm positive they really couldn’t care. After all, in the UK country music has never really been perceived as cool. Yet if trendiness is linked to youth you might be surprised to know that according to a recent CMA study 47% of 18-24 year olds now identify themselves as country music fans. And irrespective of how you perceive The Shires and their music, they’ve been doing rather nicely in terms of finding an audience as I predicted when I named them as Ones to Watch back in 2014. Since that time The Shires have become the biggest-selling country act in the UK last year (including US artists), and one of the biggest-selling breakthrough UK artists of any genre alongside James Bay, Years & Years & Jess Glynn. And unlike those three acts I’ve just named The Shires haven’t continued to flog the hell out their debut record until people are sick of it. They’ve already got another album in the bag (it’s out in October) and kick it off with this song Beats To Your Rhythm. Whilst the title of the song might sound like The Shires have discovered a new previously hidden dance direction, fear not. For this new tune does exactly what you want from The Shires, namely country music is a reference point, but it also has a big old fashioned pop heart. Maybe The Shires aren’t the sort of band you’d expect to find on a hip trendy new music blog. But then Breaking More Waves has never been about being hip or trendy - you should be able to tell that just from landing here and seeing that I still post via an old-school blogspot template. Take a listen to Beats To Your Rhythm - a rousing, glad to be alive hook laden tune that I imagine will be all over BBC Radio 2 this summer. It was released to streaming services today. The Shires - Beats To Your Rhythm
Today sees the release of Viola Beach’s album. It’s not the debut album the band would have made, but instead a document of the songs they had recorded before they were killed in a car accident. I’ve already written about how just a couple of days before their deaths they had been confirmed for Dials Days, a small one-day festival in Portsmouth that I helped book. When I heard the news about the accident it stunned me as much, possibly more than Bowie, Prince etc. Why? Because Viola Beach seemed so much more real in my life; they were going to play an event I was helping with, and as a new music blogger I could relate to them as another young band that like many before (and many that will follow after) was pushing forward with bright hopes, golden dreams, ambitions and glorious expectations. They were doing it the old fashioned way - getting out there, playing live, and building a fan base. Music can be many things. It can be a comfort, a way of connecting people, a way to forget the world. But it can also be something much more simple. It can be something to put a smile on your face. Leading up to the release of the Viola Beach album today I’ve read several pieces that have suggested that rather than listen to this album and dwell on the brutal tragedy, we should smile; because Viola Beach wrote music to make people feel happy. For me, this is perfect. There’s so much crap, so much sadness going on in the world, so many people being angry, casting negative judgements on people that they don’t even know, that sometimes it seems that we’ve forgotten that we’re all only here for a certain length of time and that we should be trying to get as much out of our short time on planet earth. Sure, it’s not always easy but we should at least try. I’m lucky, I’ve already lived a lot longer than Viola Beach. I’m absolutely going to enjoy the music the band left, smile and celebrate. I hope you will to. To mark the posthumous release of the album an animated video for lead single Boys That Sing has been revealed today. It's streaming below. RIP Kris, River, Tomas and Jack and their manager Craig. You will be missed not only by your family and friends, but music fans who didn't even know you. Viola Beach - Boys That Sing (Video)
Breaking More Waves has been sitting in amongst the participants for the blog thrill ride that has been the Fickle Friends story so far from the very beginning and with new song Cry Baby there’s no stop barrier in place. Despite (by blog standards) having been around for a while now, Fickle Friends still sound fresh and fine, like the new kids on the block. This one is 100% uptempo and groovy with all the basic things that a pop song needs in their correct places; hummable hooks and melodies, catchy instrumental parts, and something that stands out from the crowd without ever being alienating. Oh and it’s 3 minutes and 6 seconds long, so only 6 seconds off the perfect pop song length. Not bad. Fickle Friends - Cry Baby
