New Music: Broods - Peach (Video)

What should be pop music's raison d'etre? To cheer you up when things aren’t so good? To make you laugh? To make you dance? To make you cry (but in a good way - real tears of joy?) I think so.

Pop should be as much about feelings as it should be about songs. Of course good melodies, beats and voices help, but pop is about more than that. 

And if someone asked you ‘who makes really good pop music’ as described above, who would you name? Britney? Abba? Wham? Maybe. New Zealand's Broods probably wouldn’t be the first band on your lips. But then you probably haven’t heard Peach yet.

Because Peach is a good very good great pop song. Not great as in Pitchfork will love it and the indie dudes will stroke their chins and confess that although they don’t normally like mainstream pop, the Broods song is pretty OK. But great as in if you were out on a Friday night (tonight) and had drunk a couple of large glasses of wine and were feeling a little melancholy and this came on the speakers, by the time the chorus kicked in you’d be up there on the dance floor, grinning like you've won the lottery, with a skip in your step, swinging your hips and feeling bloody fantastic.

Add to that its bonkers video from the TV studios of ‘Midnight with Mick Knight’ featuring Georgia’s alter ego Peaches Magenta and some soft-focus Abba moments, and what Broods have done is scattered a whole load of colour into what they do. 

Broods - Peach (Video)

New Music: Broods - Heartlines (Video)

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)

New Music: Broods - Free (Video)

Next on a catch up of new tunes whilst I've been away on holiday is something from New Zealand's Broods. 

Georgia and Caleb's debut album Evergreen didn't have a particularly high profile here in the UK but that didn't stop it being one of my most played of 2014. It's mix of melancholy, euphoria, tenderness and sentimentality combined with hooky and memorable songwriting was hard to beat. If there was any concern that Evergreen was a one off, Broods dispel the worries with this. Free is a song that takes the slightly edgier and darker undercurrent of electronic pop that bands like Depeche Mode and Chvrches do and adds Georgia's biggest vocal performance so far to its industrial polish. The video looks a little like something from the Divergent movie series, playing around with virtual reality, and marks a fine return from the duo.

Broods - Free (Video)

The Great Escape Festival 2015 - Preview (Part 3 of 5)

This is the third installment of a series of posts designed to suggest a few artists that might be worth your attention if you're struggling to decide who to see amongst the hundreds playing at this year's Great Escape in Brighton. Click back through the previous two posts to see recommendations 1-8. Here's our next four:

Recommendations

9. Låpsley 

Winner of the Blog Sound of 2015 poll, a nominee on the BBC Sound of list and one of our choices as Ones to Watch 2015 last November, Liverpool's Låpsley (real name Holly Lapsley Fletcher) has been making quite a storm over the last year and a half with her beautiful downtempo electronic music that captures the minimalism of James Blake and then twists and manipulates it into something with aspects of jazz, soul, classical, pop and ambient dance in it. Having put going to university on hold she's signed to XL records and is now pursuing a musical career to see where it takes her. With only a handful of live shows under her belt, she's on a fast learning curve, but her Understudy EP from January  bodes very well for an innovative and intriguing album at some point in the future.



10. Float Fall

Belguim's Float Fall captured hearts with a delicate little pop song that sounded like a cross between The Beautiful South's A Little Time, David Gray's Babylon and Coldplay's Fix You with beats back in 2013. It was called Someday and we've been waiting for them to make their way to the UK ever since. Finally 2015 is that time.



11. Broods

Of New Zealand brother sister duo Broods' debut album Evergreen, last December we wrote: "Despite the album achieving number 1 in the charts in their home country and number 5 in Australia, in the UK Broods hardly made any sort of dent in the public consciousness due to a promotional campaign that appeared to focus largely on Australasia and America rather than Europe. This is a shame, because with Evergreen Broods conjured up a record of swelling atmospheric synths, polished production (from Joel Little of Lorde fame) and most importantly some excellent melodic, hooky, memorable pop songwriting that has been the soundtrack to the second half of our year." 



12. Ward Thomas

Ward Thomas (another sibling duo) are one of the groups that alongside Breaking More Waves favourites The Shires are being touted as responsible for an upsurge in UK based country music. If vocal harmonies, good old twangy guitars and songs that sound like they've come straight out of Nashville are your thing, then we recommend Ward Thomas for Great Escape.

12 From '14 - Some Of The Best Songs On Breaking More Waves This Year

We’re getting ready to say goodbye to another year and here at Breaking More Waves it’s been a very successful one. 

How do we define this success? In three simple ways:

1. We’re still doing what we do. That might not sound a particularly impressive statement, but to continue to keep Breaking More Waves running, this year posting nearly 50 more times than any previous year and hitting over 500 posts in total, against the pressures of a demanding full time job and family is success in itself. 

2. To still get huge pleasure and enjoyment out of doing what we do.

3. Having cheekily asked on Twitter if anyone would be prepared to pay to read our blog posts and getting a few positive answers, in January of this year, alongside another music blogger Adam from Alphabet Bands we put this to the test and participated in a non-stop 24 hour Blogathon to raise money for Cancer Research asking readers (as well as friends and family) to sponsor us. We were stunned by the reaction from readers and their generosity, eventually raising just over £1,500 between the 2 blogs in the 24 hour period. Receiving £50 donations from complete strangers who were reading our posts was an incredibly humbling experience and without doubt the best and most valueable thing we have ever done in Breaking More Waves 6 and a half year history. 

Goodbye 2014.

We’re closing our year by featuring 12 of our favourite songs we've featured this year, each one in video form. For once, we 're providing no commentary on the individual tracks, we think we've said all we want to say for one year.

This isn’t a definitive list as we’ve chosen 1 song from each month, meaning that on really good months a number of great songs have had to be sacrificed and some songs that we adore haven’t made the cut as they never had a video. We've also chosen 12 different artists.

See you in 2015.

January

Låpsley - Station



February

Indiana - Solo Dancing



March

Jungle - Busy Earnin'



April

Zella Day - Sweet Ophelia



May

La Roux - Let Me Down Gently



June

Broods - Mother & Father



July

Laura Doggett - Phoenix



August

Charli XCX - Break The Rules



September

Seinabo Sey - Pistols At Dawn



October

Clarence Clarity - Those Who Can't Cheat



November

IYES - Glow



December

Young Fathers - Get Up

Albums of the Year 2014 #2 Broods - Evergreen

Our second most played album per month this year is Evergreen from New Zealand electronic pop duo Broods.

Despite the album achieving number 1 in the charts in their home country and number 5 in Australia, in the UK Broods hardly made any sort of dent in the public consciousness due to a promotional campaign that appeared to focus largely on Australasia and America rather than Europe. This is a shame, because with Evergreen Broods conjured up a record of swelling atmospheric synths, polished production (from Joel Little of Lorde fame) and most importantly some excellent melodic, hooky, memorable pop songwriting that has been the soundtrack to the second half of our year. Given the right exposure in the UK its commercial success elsewhere could have been repeated here.

There are moments of euphoria, melancholy, tenderness and sentimentality on this record that are touchingly brought to life through the simple joys of a pop song. Little’s production works perfectly, in the same way it did with Lorde’s debut;  he keeps things relatively sparse, the electronics sounding crisp and with a feeling of contemplation that suits lead singer Georgia Nott’s icy and subtly sensual tones well.

In 2013 Chvrches’ The Bones Of What You Believe was our album of the year. In 2014 Evergreen was the closest thing to that - a record that whilst being pop was underpinned by a darker more mature sound. It really should have been a worldwide hit, but if (in the UK at least) it’s the one that got away, we’re very glad that we found it.

Broods - Mother & Father

Broods - L.A.F (Video)

It seems like at the moment you’re not allowed to write anything about music without somehow shoe horning Taylor Swift in to the conversation, so we’ll just jump right on that bandwagon and add our two pence worth. Here we go: (Hold on we’ll get to Broods)

Taylor Swift’s album 1989 is a very good pop album. The best way we can describe it is well-crafted, at worst it’s formulaic. It’s got at least 7 or 8 potential singles on it, maybe 9 at a push and even the filler is nearly all way better than most. It’s almost as if Taylor has been listening to every hit commercial pop single by the likes of Katy Perry and Rihanna and the like plus quite a lot of the pop that is sometimes commercial and sometimes isn’t such as Chvrches, Robyn, MØ and Femme, as well as quite a lot of older pop that was commercially successful then but isn’t often celebrated these days such as Toni Basil and Debbie Gibson. Why do we mention this in connection to New Zealand’s Broods? Because as much as we’re enjoying Taylor’s album and it will probably find a place in our end of year lists, we’re enjoying another pop album, that of Broods, even more.

From that album Evergreen comes L.A.F and a new video. We assume L.A.F doesn’t in this case stand for liquid ass fire as urban dictionary suggests. This one starts a bit lusty (“kissing in the hallway, turn off the lights”) but then seems to turn into some zombie-movie inspired vision (“blood hits the pavement from your eyes”). Best of all however are the parts where Georgia sings “but I’ve got you,” or specifically the “you” part of the song. You’ll see what we mean when you hear it. Georgia wins the award for best singing of the word ‘you’ in a pop song in 2014.

Other points to note – there’s some marvellous orange squeezing in this video, Innocent Smoothies and the like would not be happy with that waste. There’s also plenty of neon. 

What does the video all mean? No idea, but we’re pretty sure if Taylor Swift had made it there would already be a thousand think pieces on line about it.

Broods - L.A.F (Video)

Charli XCX - Break The Rules (Broods Remix)

The release of Broods really excellent debut album has been a bit of an oddity. Already available in certain parts of the world, our own country of the UK has been starved from listening to it unless you 1. Illegally download it. 2. Import it. We suspect the majority will opt for 1, which is a shame. 

We’re also a bit confused about the release of Charli XCX’s next album Sucker, which is also being released in different territories at different times, which will surely leading to even more illegal downloading. Also Boom Clap did very well and was a proper hit (number 6 in the UK, number 8 in the US, and 9 in Australia), but Break The Rules seems to have stiffed a bit, just sneaking into the lower reaches of the UK top 40. We thought it deserved to do better, being the sort of track that you can bounce up and down vigorously to. Then there’s London Queen a bubblegum punk track that’s been pushed out onto You Tube with a Tracey Beaker styled lyric video (which you can see here). We’re not sure where that really fits in the big scheme of things and we’re hoping that before Charli pushes out Sucker she’s got another big radio banger to pull out of the bag. 

Which brings us to this remix, in which Charli XCX gets a good seeing to by Broods. We’re not sure where these remixes really fit in the big scheme of things either, but that’s for record labels and industry types to worry about. What we do know is that we like this one. It’s what you’d expect from these two artists when they’re pushed together. It squeezes a little more darkness out of the song than the original. It's a bit industrial and oily. Let it dribble and drum menacingly all over your ears. 

Charli XCX plays Heaven in London tonight. 

Charli XCX - Break The Rules (Broods Remix)

Broods - Four Walls

With New Zealand’s Broods’ debut album out in some parts of the world (the rest of us will have to wait until 2015 it seems, unless you import it or are a bit dodgy and download it illegally) here’s another offering from it, and what a lovely get-the-tissues-ready-you-might-be-about-to-have-a-tear gem of intimacy it is. With Georgia singing lines like “you know I told you that I wasn’t scared, well I lied,” and “I’m trying not to make you love me, but I don’t want to try too hard,” you can be assured that this is pretty open and confessional stuff. We’re pretty certain that anyone who has heard a love song in their life and thought ‘that’s how I want to feel about somebody’ will relate to Four Walls – a lovely piano based ballad given a modern electronic pop sheen that deals with some of the complexities of the heart. Love isn't always that simple you know.

Broods - Four Walls

Broods - Mother & Father

Here it is, the new single from New Zealand’s Broods, in which lead singer Georgia Nott expresses the fears of getting older and flying the parental nest. “I don't want to wake up lonely, I don't want to just be fine,” she sings. Most parents who have children that are getting near to or are at the age where departure may soon become inevitable will probably have a little shiver. 

We’re pretty sure that Ma Nott and Pa Nott must be pretty proud of Georgia and Caleb right now. For with Mother & Father’s glistening opulent synths combining with lyrics that anyone who has ever felt a little bit lost and under confident in this vast world will be able to connect with, Broods have produced a pop record that is crafted with elegance and feels both honest and human. 

In Breaking More Waves home country of the UK Broods play Latitude Festival on the 19th July and Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on the 22nd. The song is on iTunes now.

Broods - Mother & Father

Broods - Bridges (Video)

The song that introduced us all to Broods was Bridges, just one of the tracks you can find on their debut EP. Yesterday the New Zealand duo released this video for the song. Here’s all you need to know about the plot:

The son of Dr Spock from Star Trek and one of The Inspiral Carpets is sad. (0.07) Well, wouldn’t you be if you had two fathers and had inherited their looks? He’s also a vampire and that pisses him off as well because he really fancies chicken kiev but that’s full of garlic. So he hangs out with Marika Hackman’s sister who is advertising happiness lessons to cheer himself up. (0.12) After a naughty cigarette (0.22) Marika’s sister (let’s call her M-Sis) admires the large testicles of professional footballer Ryan Giggs (0.33) albeit on a figurine rather than the real thing. Spock-son is jealous of Giggs and his unfeasabily large testicles so when he sees him walk buy, he discharges a big load of gob over him in anger. (0.49) Next whilst M-Sis dreams of spiders (0.59), Spock-son dreams of blowing her brains out (1.08). M-Sis thinks that Spock-son needs help with his violent and angry tendencies and so takes him to church where to make him more balanced she teaches him some gymnastics (1.24) and a spot of drama where they act out parts of Titanic.(1.32) Spock-son is let down though as M-Sis refuses to participate in the scene where Kate Winslet is drawn naked and further disappointment ensues when M-Sis refuses to pole dance in her underwear, despite Spock-son promising a large amount of money to her. (1.38 ) So they fight, with pillows, and during this fight Spock-son reveals his true vampiric self (2.00) only to greeted with the revelation that she is also a vampire and one of higher status than him. (2.03) After taking a nice juicy bite (2.10) but refusing him one M-Sis leaves to go back to Vampire Queen Marika Hackman (2.31) and write a song about her experiences, (quite possibly called Itchy Teeth) whilst Spock-son goes looking for Lorde who because of her goth-teen looks he suspects may also be a vampire of equal stature. Entering a room with dry ice and pot plants he may have stumbled upon the end of Lorde’s Team video and so can finally can declare himself a Vampire Lord. 

On the other hand, maybe this is just the classic boy / girl friendzone situation and poor old Spock-son is left lovelorn and lonely. He certainly burned his bridges here.

Broods - Bridges (Video)

24 Hour Blogathon : Broods - Coattails

People (and by people we mean the people of the internet who write and talk about music, particularly new music) are getting very excited about New Zealand’s brother sister duo Broods. It’s easy to see why, they tick a lot of the boxes that people of the internet who write and talk about music like to write and talk about, including the fact that they’ve worked with man of the moment Joel Little of Lorde fame.

So let’s take a pause for breath and all calm down a bit shall we? We’ve seen the people of the internet who wr… (blah blah blah we don’t need to say that one again do we?) proclaim things like they’re on their way to international stardom and this may or may not be the case, but all we’re saying is let’s not get too worked up about things OK? Broods are undoubtedly good, but the Rules of Pop has a chapter called Barriers And How People In Pop Trip Up Over Them and right now Broods have only jumped the first couple and there’s a lot of them on this rather difficult course. Think of it as the Grand National for musicians with Becher’s Brook still in the distance. Sometimes it's the bands that are equivalent of Foinavon at 100-1 that come through to win.

With those cautious words over, we can now get to the music. Broods have recently posted their debut 6 track EP on Soundcloud, which includes Never Gonna Change which we previously streamed here and this one Coattails, another piece of rich and full bodied electropop which comfortably sits alongside their other small collection of tunes. We wonder what Georgia is referring to as she sings nonchalantly “our souls are meant to be sold, and our friends are only to hope, that I can't do what I'm told.” Is this a reference to the bands current flirtations with the music industry we wonder?

Broods - Coattails

Broods - Never Gonna Change

Music sites / magazines / blogs that haven’t published your Ones To Watch / Sound of 2014 tips lists yet, hold your horses. It might just be time to add New Zealand’s sibling duo Broods to that list. After all they’re ticking all the right boxes with experience / past history (The Peasants), a hit making producer on board (Joel Little of Lorde fame) and a debut track (Bridges) that has been all over the blogs (including ours). Now to add to that check list they can add a second release in the form of Never Gonna Change which finds Broods stepping up from a crawl to a confident stride.

Never Gonna Change adds a melancholy depth to the Broods catalogue of two, from Georgia Nott’s opening delivery of “You’re pushing down on my shoulders and emptying my lungs,” to the shadowy synths that sweep through the chorus. This is pop with a steely cold edge, just the way we like it. 

Having now signed to Polydor in the UK and Capitol in the US following the success of Bridges, we’re pretty certain this isn’t the last time you’ll be hearing from Broods. In the meantime you’ll no doubt find this song blowing up around the internet.

Broods - Never Gonna Change

Broods - New Waves

Welcome to the Lorde effect. When a country with a population far less than our own capital city of London suddenly produces one of the most interesting new global popstars of 2013, it’s inevitable that our eyes and ears start twitching and wondering what other musicians are waiting to be unearthed on the other side of the world. (You may remember we also featured New Zealand artist FFFRRANNNO in October.)

One answer comes in the form of Georgia and Caleb Nott, a brother and sister from Auckland, who as a musical duo adopt the name of Broods. Both Georgia and Caleb were formerly members of the now disbanded group The Peasants who produced the rather pleasing pop / rock tune Letting Go (video here).

Broods debut track is Bridges, a song that sounds utterly contemporary; with its simple piano, big sweeping synths, gentle electronic drum sounds and soft vocals courtesy of Georgia, it glides into a world of comfort and hypnotic sighing pop beauty. Sometimes things come to an end and ties have to be severed, and when that happens this is the perfect tune for that moment. “Now we’re burning all the bridges now, watching it go up in flames.”

Oh and guess what. Bridges was produced by Lorde collaborator Joel Little. That man seems to be helping craft some of the world’s most adorable pop right now.

Broods - Bridges