If you pay even just a passing interest in new music then
the chances are you’ll have already come across Picture Parlour. If you haven't, then this post is for you.
They’re a band that have been gaining traction through a
number of well received live shows played over the past year or so.
This week, after releasing their debut single and getting plenty of press coverage, they have found themselves at a
bit of a storm centred around arguments of being ‘industry plants’, the
increased visibility big management and a label backing can bring you over
others that don’t, tastemaker hype, the systemic problems of the music industry
favouring white artists, stereotypes, judging artists purely by their online
statistics / data and misogynistic attacks on female artists. The Last Dinner
Party and Wet Leg have also been used as examples in many of these debates.
Some of these arguments are easy to debunk. For example,
there’s been criticism of all of these bands seemingly ‘coming from nowhere’,
which is frankly a load of uninformed tosh. Take Wet Leg for example. Lead
vocalist Rhian had been treading the boards for some time (I posted one of her
tracks on the blog here back in 2016) and co-founder Hester had also played in
other bands such as Maybe Tuesday before Wet Leg was formed. Wet Leg had
released a DIY song Girlfriend on Soundcloud in 2019 which was removed,
probably when they got signed.
Likewise, arguments that Picture Parlour have
hardly any listeners on Spotify being held up as the fact they are ‘Industry
Plants’. Well, you can’t expect a band to have listeners before they have
released anything. That’s just ridiculous. And the term ‘Industry Plants’ is
utterly meaningless anyway. I'm not even sure if most music listeners care about where artists came from - they just want tunes they like. 'Authenticity' is something that seems to exist in certain rock / indie circles in the same way as the term 'real music' does.
However, some of the arguments that have been put forward
online are certainly worthy of further discussion. For example, conversations around
the systemic issues in the music industry and the lack of inclusion of persons
of colour are very valid. However, unfortunately some of the people I’ve seen
online who are trying to address these issues are probably not taken as
seriously as they should be because of the way they put forward their
arguments, which to an observer such as myself can be interpreted as
aggressive, unkind and with a lack of nuance.
The argument that is the silliest of all though is the ‘they
won’t last’ argument, because for anyone who knows anything about pop music
will tell you, nobody has a crystal ball that works 100% correctly 100% of the
time. That’s the nature of the beast. Remember Suede? Back in the day they were
on the cover of Melody Maker under the slogan “The Best New Band In Britain”
before they had even released a single. 30 years on they’re still going strong,
selling out big venues and releasing excellent records. But then does anyone
remember Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong? They were another press acclaimed
band that released 3 singles that didn’t connect with the public before
disbanding. Pop is a funny old game.
So back to Picture Parlour. Yes, they are getting ‘tastemaker’
attention. Yes, they are all white. But let’s give them a chance. Just as we
should give any artist that makes you sit up and go ‘that sounds good’ a
chance. And if you don’t think they do sound good, why not spend your time
finding something else to celebrate rather than trying to kick a band down
before they have even had the chance to prove themselves?
For the record, Picture Parlour sound like they would be
great live. Their debut single is raw, rasping and reaches for the sky. No
wonder Courtney Love has already given them the rock royalty thumbs-up. And no
it’s not a cover of The Beatles song of the same name.
You can find the song below and on the Breaking More Waves
New Music Weekly playlist (here)
Time for another new band on Breaking More Waves. If you
follow the Breaking More Waves New Music Weekly Playlist (here) on Spotify you will of course have already heard
them, but in case you haven’t, here’s the shortest of posts to bring you up to
speed.
Introducing: Fizz. An ‘indie’ super group of sorts
consisting of Orla Gartland, Greta Isaac, Dodie and Martin Luke Brown, (alas the dogs pictured do not feature) and they make
their debut with High In Brighton, which I can only assume is about
chartering an air balloon over the south coast city or just having a grand old
time, rather than smoking any illicit substances.
Whatever it’s about, it’s a joyous opening shot with a big
shout / sing a long chorus ready for punch the air festival fun, which is just
as well as they’ve already played Great Escape (in Brighton obviously) and have
dates at the likes of Barn on the Farm and Latitude coming up in the near
future. Throw the windows open wide, turn up the stereo to maximum and blast this giddy piece of music out to make your neighbours smile,
There’s an album to follow and if it’s anything as good as
the single they might just have to ditch their solo careers.
Last week I was at Great Escape Festival in Brighton, the
multi-venue festival where careful planning, running between stages and dodging
the queues becomes a fine art.
I managed to see 36 full performances whilst I was there and
so I thought it was time to pick a couple of acts that I saw that I haven’t
written about on the blog that hit my ‘shows potential’ button.
First up today is Blusher. An Australian pop three piece who
remind me very much of 2012-2016 blog-wave era pop; their music is shiny, upbeat and you
can dance round your handbag to it. Someone described it to me as ‘music for
the gays’ and whilst I don’t fully agree with that level of exclusivity (after
all music is for everyone, right?) there’s undeniably a hint of a door left
open by Robyn on tracks like Dead End and Backbone. These are pulsing
electronic bops with hooky choruses and plenty of gloss in the production.
In the live context the band switch between serious muso
types, rocking the bass and keyboards, covering MGMT in their set, to full on hands-in-the-air cool-pop goddesses, throwing in some bedroom mirror dance routines and
lyrics that celebrate the joys of dancing to forget: "One more reason to take
the floor, call the girls up and dance until he’s gone," they sing on Backbone. "I still want the long nights, dancing with my drunk friends," on Dead End.
Their first ever UK gig in Brighton was in the neon blue lit Zahara
nightclub and it was packed with music industry delegates. It was very well received - they certainly got hips wiggling and toes tapping. A
good start here for Jade, Lauren and Miranda who are the three people who make up
Blusher. A debut EP is to follow on July 14th.
When I first started attending Britain’s biggest
new music festival Great Escape in Brighton in 2007, (I missed the first one in
2006) it was pretty easy to catch someone who was going to be the ‘next big
thing’ in the UK, by sheer virtue of the fact that there wasn’t a huge number
of artists to choose from. At the that time around 150 artists played in 15
venues over 3 days for your £35 ticket, so about 50 artists per day.
The festival was also predominantly a showcase for white male
UK based indie guitar bands (some of the names listed as headliners that year
were The Rakes, Art Brut and The Pigeon Detectives). You had to scroll down the
small print to spot the likes of Adele playing a small coffee shop, which
thankfully I did. It remains to this day one of my best brags when the conversation
turns to big artists that you saw in small venues.
These days Great Escape is very different. It’s truly
international in flavour, with artists from Australia, USA, Colombia, New Zealand
and many European countries appearing (sadly this year there are no artists
from South Korea). Also, many different genres are represented, from
folk to hip-hop to pop to soul. There's even some experimental ambient stuff in a church. In total the festival showcases over 500
emerging artists in over 30 venues plus there’s a pop-up mini festival site on
the beach. Add to that the unofficial ‘alt-escape’ shows and there are probably
over 800 artists playing in Brighton next Wednesday to Saturday.
Therefore the chances of seeing ‘the next big thing’ are slim,
especially when you add in the fact that it’s now so hard as an emerging artist
to gain enough traction and audience to make music a long term career. However,
for new music fans Great Escape remains the equivalent of what Glastonbury is
to summer camping festivals. It’s the biggest and often the best.
Every year a number of people ask me for tips on who to see.
This on its own is an impossible task. Yes, whilst I have listened to every
single artist on the bill in recorded form, it doesn’t necessarily mean they
can cut it live, especially at an early stage in their career where they may
still be developing.
However, if you’re going and don’t know where to start with so many names on the bill, here
are a few pointers of either acts I’ve already seen live and rate, or that have
caught my ear when doing my research for the festival. It’s probably not that
surprising to learn that most of these artists have already appeared on
Breaking More Waves over the last couple of years.
Here are 8 for Great Escape.
The Last Dinner Party
Whilst The Last Dinner Party (previously just The Dinner
Party) had already attracted a fair amount of attention (I tipped them as Ones
to Watch last year in a blog post that you can read by clicking here) it’s
since the release of their debut single Nothing Matters that the band has really
been grabbing listeners ears everywhere.
With a whole host of very old-fashioned reference points
(David Bowie, Sparks, Queen, Fleetwood Mac) The Last Dinner Party could appeal
to those who were around when those reference points were in their prime, but
also a younger, cooler indie crowd who are perhaps getting a little bored with
yet another post-punk band with a shouty male vocalist. Having seen them live a
couple of times I can confirm that they’re a talented gang with a charismatic,
confident front woman. Don’t expect a bunch of tunes all as instantly accessible
as ‘Nothing Matters’. This is a band who sound like they could make a great
album rather than just a collection of pop singles.
Mae Stephens
After Mae Stephens went Tik-Tok viral earlier this year with
her break out tune If We Ever Broke Up is she destined for 1 hit wonder land or
a big-time pop career? There haven’t been any further releases (why bother when
you’re still collecting streams like they are going out of fashion? 95 million
and counting for If We Ever Broke Up) and so maybe Great Escape will be our
first opportunity to see if Mae Stephens is going to be here for the longer
period or not. Worth checking out just to find some answers.
Prima Queen
Louise Macphail and Kristin McFadden make up Prima Queen. They
hail from Bristol and Chicago respectively and make beautiful music that sits
somewhere on the Venn Diagram between indie, rock, country, pop and singer
songwriter. They are one of the bands I’ve seen the most in the last 12 months
and every time their music sweeps me up. I’m not sure if it’s the gorgeous
melodies or their very real storytelling that veers from sad songs that will
possibly make you cry (Butter Knife) to tunes about dating someone whilst not
really being over a previous partner (Eclipse) but whatever it is they are a
band to fall in love with.
Unfortunately, Prima Queen clash with The Last Dinner Party on
the timetable, so there’s a difficult choice to be made here. All I can suggest
is whoever you don’t see, you get tickets to see their own show in the
future.
McKinley Dixon
Unlike some of these recommendations, McKinley Dixon already
has plenty of work online, including a number of albums. A new long-player
follows this summer and his visit to Great Escape festival will give new
audiences a first chance to hear what he’s about. Inspired by everything from
Mary J Blige to OutKast to My Chemical Romance, his current EP Beloved! Paradise!
Jazz? gives a good example of his music; a glorious summer kissed flow of jazz,
hip-hop, pop and soul. He’s playing a number of shows so there’s no excuse not
to catch him at the festival.
Vlure
If you haven’t seen Vlure live yet you are missing a trick.
Imagine the characters from Trainspotting in a nightclub dancing to Faithless and
intense rock and roll. That is the sound of Vlure – a band that give it 110% at
every live show they play. Like Prima Queen Vlure was a recent runner up at the
Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition. Vlure are one of those bands that
really only make sense when you’ve seen them live.
Caity Baser
Another artist that appeared on the Breaking More Waves Ones
to Watch 2023 list last year, Caity Baser is a UK artist who might have found
some initial fame on Tik-Tok, but unlike many of her contemporaries she’s no
one hit wonder. Her sassy, lyrically witty pop has already won her a legion of
young fans and its starting to translate into chart positions. Last year’s ‘X&Y’
narrowly missed the top 75 in the UK at number 77 and this year’s ‘Pretty Boys’
went top 30 at number 26.
After selling out London’s Forum, next up for Caity are a number
of summer festivals, perhaps showcasing her music to a different type of fan
than those who are currently obsessing over her as she hits the likes of Great
Escape, Latitude and Barn On The Farm. Live some of the smoothness of her records gets taken out, but you go home feeling like she's your new BFF. Look out for my favourite Friendly Sex.
Gurriers
A few years ago one of my highlights of Great Escape was an
Irish showcase at the tiny Prince Albert pub where I caught a beautifully
intense set from The Murder Capital. This year that same showcase is in the
same venue and the potential highlight is another band bringing further force.
That band is Gurriers. If you like your guitar bands raw and rage fuelled then on
the basis of the music they’ve so far delivered, Gurriers will be for you. If
you can’t make the Prince Albert show on Thursday afternoon, they are also
playing Alphabet on Friday evening and
an Alt-Escape show (which non-ticket holders can attend) at Folklore Rooms on
Thursday night.
Mickey Callisto
What’s not to love about a man who does big gay pop songs,
clearly models his stage presence on Freddie Mercury and on the 19th May will release an absolute banger about a nightclub called Homospace? Mickey
Callisto is the fun you’ve yet to experience but really should. He’s the
ultimate groovy space-cadet.
8 not enough for you?
Here are a further 8 recommendations: Heartworms, Debby
Friday, Bellah Mae, Venbee, Rianne Downey, Nell Mescall, Another Sky, Ttrruuces
Bonus Tip !
And here's a final bonus tip. If you're at the festival for the 3 full days (4 if you include the limited offerings on Wednesday night) don't just stick to the genres you like and things you know. One of the beauties of Great Escape is that there are plenty of artists playing who rarely visit this country, or may never do so again. For at least half an hour in one of the three days, choose something at random that is totally different from what you'd usually see. Maybe try some hybrid Colombian folk with London jazz and hip-hop (Mestizo Collective) or some Australian sex pop (Big Wett). You may hate it, you may love it, but it will expand your musical mind either way.
