With an intoxicating voice that’s full of depth and soul, 20-year-old Liverpool singer songwriter Lydiah makes the sort of music that will grab you on the very first listen. There’s a gorgeously calm chemistry to what she does. Even when her vocal rises it does so with stately majesty. There’s no over the top holler here. You can hear it on her debut single Holding Back, which intertwines acoustic guitar with gentle droplets of piano to create a beautiful canvas for her voice. Lydiah reminds me a little of another woman with the initial L - Laura Marling. Whilst vocally different there’s something about her self-assuredness combined with the folky sound that has a similarity. You can hear it in the gentle pause between the words’ I’m not the one holding back’ and ‘from you’. She’s absolutely in control and there’s no rush in her delivery. Lydiah has already established herself on her local scene. In 2017 she won the Judges Award in the Liverpool Acoustic Songwriting Competition, she has picked up a number of high-profile support slots and in 2019 performed at Liverpool’s Sound City Festival. Holding Back is her debut single proper and it’s a peach. I can’t wait to hear more.
Remember when Celeste topped the BBC Sound of 2020? It seems such a long time ago and yet somehow also seems like just yesterday doesn't it? Since then the world has gone pretty mad hasn’t it? Now here she is again with her new single I Can See The Change and yet despite the title and lyrics of this song, because of its timeless sound, it gives us all some sort of stability. Produced by Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas, he says of the track: “I saw Celeste perform at the Brits back in February and was blown away. She commanded the stage in a way that was simultaneously intimate and massive and I immediately went home and downloaded her entire catalogue. When I was approached about producing I Can See The Change, I was thrilled. I have been lucky to produce songs for a few artists who I think will never go out or style and Celeste is certainly on that list.” Celeste - I Can See The Change
I’m posting this today because if you haven’t seen or heard it yet you deserve to. Plus it seems perfect for a Sunday. A Nightingale Sings Outside Our Window by Erland Cooper was a special piece created for BBC 6 Music to create a timestamped snapshot of these times. If the Covid-19 pandemic has brought and continues to bring many truly awful stories to our society it has also sometimes enabled and inspired us as humans to create moments of beauty. This is one of them. Taking field recordings made by 6 Music listeners whilst in lockdown, together with words from Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, (a recording that must be around 200 years old), Paul Weller, and some beautiful strings, Cooper creates a powerful piece that is truly moving. Deespite the changes we have all undergone, he manages to find a sense of exhilaration and hope through the sounds. Quite wonderful. Erland Cooper - A Nightingale Sings Outside Our Window
With yestetrday's announcement of the 8-strong shortlist for the 2020 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, it seems like a good time for me to do an introducing piece on the Liverpool band Courting - one of the bands on the list. I first came across them in early January when they put out their frenetic single Football, their second track after debut single Not Yr Man which was released in 2019. Courting sound like a raucous riotous proposition. Their music is the gang sound of screwed up faces and sweat; pummelling guitars and shouty vocals that are mosh-pit ready, but with something underneath it that suggests they might not just stick to one formula as they develop. They come from the same place musically as bands such as Feet, Hotel Lux, Sorry and Squid. They’re the sort of band that indie kids will like but so will your BBC 6 Music listening ex-punk middle-aged dad. Their stand-out song of the three they have released online so far is the aforementioned Football. The band describe it as being about the importance of the sport in British culture, but also how that leads to parents living out their dreams by pushing their kids into it. It’s good to see bands tackling interesting and different topics; it makes a real change from another 'be who you want to be' anthem. Their latest tune is the chirpy David Byrne’s Badside, which has both a punky strut and a swagger of Britpop combined with the best of The Libertines. It's not to do with the Talking Heads frontman (which would have been amusing) but instead tackles class tourism and casual racism. It also features a saxophone solo and for this reason alone is worth your listen. More of this musical variation please. You can see the full list of Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition finalists by clicking here. It’s a competition I’ve helped judged in the past and it always throws up some fine quality acts. 2020 also sees a few oddities on the list in so far as they are artists that have already been around for a long time, showing if nothing else that musicians have to be in it for the long game these days – success doesn’t always come overnight. I first remember coming across Ajimal for example in 2011/12 when I read about him on another music blog (Flying with Anna – now long retired) and he played Southsea Fest (RIP) in my home city around that time. I subsequently nominated him myself for the Glastonbury Competition long list in 2016. Also, Joshua Burnside will probably be known to many music fans having won the Northern Ireland Music Prize in 2017 (I wrote about him here) Courting however are fresh out the box having formed at school in 2018. Give them a listen below and get energised by their sound. Courting - Football
This is the new single from International Teachers of Pop. Here are all (well 4) facts you need to know: 1. If you look a little closely at the video you’ll see that at least one member of the band has joined the #MusiciansInTheBath club. By now you’ll probably all understand my obsession with this ever growing movement – but if not you really do have a lot of catching up to do. 2. Flood The Club is taken from the bands forthcoming album Pop Gossip which will be released on Friday 28th August. So far every single from it has been first-rate and this one is no exception so I’m excited for the album. 3. All proceeds from the download of the song will go to the support fund for the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge. Adrian from International Teachers of Pop has described the Trades Club as one of his favourite venues: “Playing the Trades Club is always that much needed cuddle on the tour itinerary.” As you are no doubt aware lots of independent venues are struggling to survive right now and if punters and musicians value them in any way shape or form, where they can afford to, they need to put their hands in their pockets and help support them. Here’s looking at all you big wealthy musicians in particular. One really hopes the Adele's and Ed Sheeran's of this world have made some donations - remembering where they started out. 4. The track itself is a dark disco banger, considering a dystopian world of clubbing that’s very clean; discos with their sprinklers on all night, taps over-flowing on the dance floor. It’s the sound of steel and throbbing avant-synths ready to pump up the volume and turn up the strobes. This one goes deep and will leave you yearning for a dirty night out on the town even more so than you did before. Get tapped in to this. International Teachers of Pop - Flood The Club
Today’s new band are the creators of impressively phantasmagoric pop music that dances from technicolour disco to moody alt-pop in just a blink. Their name is Hourglvss and yes, they are another band from the school of bad spelling. But don’t let this put you off. This Brighton duo that consist of Katie Benbow and Sophie May Williams know a thing or two about making music for the brain that also pumps and grinds your hips on the dancefloor. Having met through a mutual friend these two agents of pop quickly found a shared love of music, art and fashion - Sophie had unknowingly already been a customer on Katie’s online vintage clothes shop. Soon Hourglvss was formed and they worked with Bat For Lashes collaborator Ben Christophers before releasing two singles in 2019. The dark alt-pop Johnny which cast them as the British counterpart to Lykke Li and the quirky and exotic dub-Western of Dead Man’s Hand which received support from Radio1’s Jack Saunders, BBC Introducing and Radio X. Since that time Hourglvss has been laying low but last Friday saw some new material – and it’s a glitterball and rainbows banger. There’s what sounds like a deliberate and definite reference to Aneka’s Japanese Boy (look it up if you don't know it - you've missed a mini-classic), plus I hear hints of Abba, International Teachers of Pop, Scissor Sisters and Goldfrapp. Think dancing forever in 70’s and 80’s discos amongst all the sweat and sequins. It’s a song of non-stop highs and freedom. “Feed me, read me, tease me, see me now,” Hourglvss sing and in my head I can see Nile Rodgers and John Travolta nodding appreciatively. Supreme Beings? Supreme pop music more like. Hourglvss - Supreme Beings
Maude Latour first showed up a couple of times in the Summer of 2019 on Breaking More Waves; a university girl making unabashed pop music with a photo of her with a bath, which as regular readers will know is an important asset in pop music promotion. She followed this all up with an EP called Starsick, which was full of pop tunes that were way better than many others that get huge wads of cash thrown at them to make them successful. Now Maude is back, keeping it homegrown again. Furniture is a break-up pop song: “I mentioned that I hope we stay friends, but I regret what I said, because I heard what you told them; damn I really hate your guts!” Once again there’s a vague whiff of Lorde in the song (not that I’m implying that Lorde smells) combined with a bright bubblegum energy and the occasional fuzzy guitar. Maude's music makes breaking up sound like fun. The video is a low budget affair, filmed entirely in her dorm with her friends just before lockdown / closedown / isolation / quarantine or whatever you wanted to call it - look out for the bottle of hand gel that accurately time stamps the piece.
It’s time to leave your preconceived ideas at the door. Skullcrusher, despite the name and the gothic looking typeface that brands her images, is not some sort of doom metal band. It is in fact the musical project of L.A based singer-songwriter Helen Ballentine and I’m totally smitten with her debut song Places/ Plans. Written whilst she was unemployed Places / Plans sounds perfect for these times of closedown and quarantine. Formed on a gentle measured cotton-wool canvas of acoustic strums it’s a song to float away to: “Could we? The window’s open and I’m lying alone. We’ll see. ‘Cos I don’t have any plans for tomorrow,” she sings, adding ethereal colour through soft keyboard hues. Places / Plans sounds beautifully lazy – a Sunday morning on the bed in Spring. It’s a whisper rather than the bludgeoning blow the name Skullcrusher suggests, but is has just as much impact. A debut EP is on its way in June. Skullcrusher - Places / Plans
When your first album achieved critical acclaim and a fair degree of commercial success, taking you in a year from playing pubs to Brixton Academy it’s bound to do weird things to your head. There are so many ingredients that are conducive to poor mental well being; from exhaustion through relentless touring and promotion to the false sense of self that can be obtained from the ego boosting positioning on a pedestal. This stuff can be even harder when you’re young and have little experience or the confidence to take a step back and say no. Musicians are just people, just like the rest of us. They're not special when it comes to inner strength. So when Fontaines D.C, the band that produced my favourite album of 2019, announced that they were cancelling a number of festival slots last summer due to health issues you couldn’t help but be concerned. Was this another group of young men who were about to be torn apart mentally and / or physically by an industry that still seems to push those who are successful to the limits? Thankfully it seems that Fontaines D.C. survived and yesterday evening saw the band return with not only a new song but details of their second album, delivered in an impressively quick turnaround from their first. This is clearly no Stone Roses Second Coming or the like. The title of the song and album are A Hero’s Death which reflects lead singer Grian Chatten’s need to write something to alleviate the fear that he would never be able to follow up Dogrel, the band’s first record. Produced with Dan Carey in his London studio the song doesn’t deviate from what we already know of Fontaines D.C, with lots of repetition in both the vocals and guitars. And is there a slight resemblance to Last Night by The Strokes in those guitars? I think so. Having already hinted in earlier interviews at a Beach Boys influence it’s also no big surprise to hear some ‘ba ba bas’ thrown into the arrangement as well. It’s a solid and safe start for the band but it’s probably not wise at this stage to second guess the new album with references to influences such as Broadcast, Lee Hazlewood and Beach House being thrown around. The fact that the band have got to this stage so quickly is on its own to be applauded, let's just hope that during this campaign they and those around them look after themselves. Perhaps the current lockdown measures might actually help? Fontaines DC - A Hero's Death
During these strange times of isolation, what do we want from our musicians and creatives? It’s a question I’ve been mulling over a lot recently, especially as in terms of the latter, many people who probably wouldn’t normally consider themselves ‘creatives’ are becoming exactly that, arguably devaluing what professional / semi-professional creatives do. Certainly my Instagram feed (and my home) has become awash with artwork, complex cooking, baking and sowing; things that my friends and relatives who have spare time to fill are making. Thankfully I've yet to make that middle-aged dad ambient album that I've always wanted to make and put it on Bandcamp, but beware, there's still time. One of the conclusions I’ve come to is that what I want from musicians is those with big talents to create a bit of joy and fun. It’s easy in serious times to consider that being deeply earnest and sincere is the most appropriate way to behave; to make art that reflects what people believe the mood to be. Yet the stuff I find myself being drawn to is the likes of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s kitchen disco on Instagram on a Friday night where Sophie gets her glad-rags on, the glitterballs, bunting and disco lights come out and she has a boogie whilst she sings karaoke to her own songs – all whilst her small children generally get in the way and fall over a lot. It’s hilarious and weirdly brilliant and is impossible not to smile at. It feels like Sophie is doing it for herself, but also for us and (importantly) because she’s talented these stripped back live performances also show off just how well she can sing (whilst having a boogie). It’s an antidote to the numerous yawn-inducing slow-paced online acoustic home gigs I’ve watched where an artist sits in their hoodie ineffectually playing guitar, singing lamely, whilst watching the number of viewers slowly drop off. Which brings me to the new Arlo Parks song. In theory this should be everything I don’t want right now. The subject matter is serious; mental health. The song isn’t a rave banger. “It’s supposed to make people who are struggling feel less isolated and start a conversation surrounding the prevalence of mental health issues in today’s world,” Arlo explains. It has lyrics that mention the gloom-pop lord himself Robert Smith. And yet despite the heaviness of the song Black Dog is undeniably enchanting. Its sweet-nature and Arlo’s silver-toned and soulful voice make everything seem that little bit better. So maybe Black Dog isn’t ‘fun’ but there’s still a joy of sorts to be found in its beautiful construction.
Here are a few important POP! Facts about Megan Lara Mae: 1.She has a new single out. It’s called Jungle. 2.Megan released Jungle on her birthday. Which was a nice present to all of us, even though for approximately 365/366ths of us it wasn’t our birthday. (No I haven't got the number wrong - it's a leap year, remember?) However, it was my birthday so I'm in the double lucky 1/366th. Happy belated birthday to Megan and myself. April 30th was a good day for births. 3.Megan played Dials festival in Southsea, Portsmouth (which I help book) last year. She opened one of our smaller stages – a step down from playing Glastonbury which she also performed at in 2020 perhaps? But she was mightily impressive and probably stayed a lot cleaner with our festival being in a city rather than a sunburnt field. Also she had a full band at Dials and was solo at Glastonbury so Dials wins. Bigger isn't always better. 4.Jungle features a very good “HEY!”. If you haven’t yet realised the prominence of HEY! In pop music I recommend you read this article (click here) courtesy of the Guardian which explores the HEY! list in probably more detail than anyone could feasibly imagine. 5.Jungle is a modern electronic pop tune that would sound even better falling out of the radio if only it was given the chance. The song is one of those ‘do your own thing / don’t follow the rules / you can be unconventional and it’s OK’ anthems of encouragement: As always with songs of this nature I think artists should add this caveat: “However if the little voice inside your head is contemplating murdering someone, it’s probably best to re-think your take on not following the rules.” 6.In summary Jungle is a cracking computerised pop tune but with plenty of human heart. But just don’t let any would-be murderers hear it. Megan Lara Mae - Jungle
Over the years I’ve decided that I seem to have some sort of music magnet in my body, because quite often when I’m at a gig I’ll look across and standing next to me is a musician or pop star. Or at least someone who I think is one. It can be pretty awkward /weird Googling the name of someone who you think is standing next to you just to check that they are who think you are. Of course I could just turn round and just say “Excuse me, are you Emili Sande?” but then if they confirm they are it is probably even weirder to thank them and then say nothing else. Because there’s nothing I really want to say to Emili Sande. I could ask her if she is having a nice time, but the chances are she isn't because some random bloke is interrupting her evening, or perhaps I could ask her what she thinks of the gig, but as she's probably here watching a friend the answer doesn't really count. Or I could tell her that I saw her live once at a festival and thought it was a bit boring, but frankly why would she care about what I think? Of course there's always the very British option of asking her about the weather, but that just seems lame. So instead Google is my friend rather than Emili and yes in case you are asking she was one of the popstars who stood next to me at a gig. At this stage I think it's important to note that it was only for the support band and then she left. Another more recent music magnet occurrence is Norwegian pop person Moyka, who I’m 99% sure stood next to me at an Iris gig in Camden. (Google wasn't involved this time). To be fair to Moyka she stayed for the whole show and danced with the rest of the audience. (I am assuming it was her of course). I probably would have spoken to Moyka as I was very certain it was her to tell her that I enjoyed her show I saw in London at the Courtyard, but the music had already started by the time I realised and I didn’t want to be THAT annoying person chatting during a show. Maybe of course I don’t have a pop star magnet at all and perhaps the reality is that a lot of the smaller gigs I go to are often attended by musicians friends, who are often musicians themselves, so the chances of one of them standing next to me are actually pretty high. Which brings me onto Moyka's new single. Moyka is very good. Popjustice website recently said: “The best popstar is currently Moyka and that's that.” Popjustice is probably right. She certainly deserves a place on your best new pop persons playlist. So let's look at the evidence. Colder was a proper Sigrid meets Robyn icy pop banger. Ride was at least eight of ten mood pop. Then recently Spaces took on Aurora at her own game and got a high score draw. Now we have Backwards. Moyka has said that she wrote it ‘to move on from heartbreak and sorrow’ and certainly I’m sure nobody would want Moyka to be lingering on that. Backwards is more quality hands in the air pop tuneage and is 100% dancefloor ready. Case concluded. Put her on your playlist. Moyka - Backwards
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, music isn’t just a tick box exercise for me. I hate the idea of defining myself by one genre of music, or by classifying a song or artist ‘bad’ just because it’s (delete as appropriate) mainstream / alternative or noisy / too melodic or is made by people that are old / kids. These are just some of the prejudices that music listeners will often throw into the mix to determine if something is good or not. (Don’t get me started on the ‘real music not manufactured music’ or ‘honest music’ argument as a justification for music being good or not. It’s a fundamentally flawed argument in every way.) But then sometimes, despite this resolution to keep an open mind and determine if something is good or not purely on some undefinable concept that’s centred around if a piece of music has some sort of power and connects, I’ll often contradict myself. “No, I don’t like that – it has no tune and is a mess,” the next day can turn into “I really like the lack of structure to this and the way that it challenges you with it’s lack of immediate melody.” I’m a total hypocrite. But in a way that’s the beauty of music. To paraphrase a Manic Street Preachers quote: “I reserve the right to contradict myself.” Those contradictions continue in this blog post. Music shouldn’t be a tick box exercise for me; but sometimes it is. And I’m pretty certain that every solo release that Laura Groves has ever put out (including her wonderful Blue Roses project) has ticked all my musical boxes. Yesterday Laura put a new live version of Friday (originally released in 2014) on her You Tube channel. Recorded and performed at home there is really very little to say except that it is wonderful and absolutely full of love. From the electronic ambient opening segment to the moment when Laura begins to sing “I don’t want to say goodbye,” it’s pretty much perfect. I could listen to and watch this all day. Laura Groves – Friday (Live)
Acoustic singer songwriters may be ubiquitous, but this new one hailing from New Zealand and now based in the UK is a far superior talent than the norm. “Just comforting no-frills singer songwriter kinda stuff,” is how Molly Payton describes her debut EP Mess, but really Molly is doing both the tunes and her voice a monumental disservice. Corduroy, my personal favourite is stunning. Against a backdrop of gentle strummed guitars and soft piano Molly displays an unhurried charm, remembering the first time she met someone: “Smoked drinked and danced to Bennie and the Jets and you asked me baby are you in love yet?” There's a wide screen spaciousness within this simplicity. Her rich voice flourishes against such a backdrop. Elsewhere on 1972 she sounds a little like Florence and the Machine stepping out of a relaxing weekend at a health spa as she chants 'woah oh oh' but the biggest similarity vocally is that Molly resembles a folkier version of Marina & The Diamonds. It’s a song that if she had been around a few years ago would have been all over the radio. However, now she sounds gloriously out of fashion and is all the better for it. Molly has already suggested that asecond EP is in the works and it will be somewhat heavier than Mess, so it will be interesting to see how things develop, but for now just enjoy these gorgeous pure songs.
