Diary Alert: Put Fri 13th In Your Diary And Follow These Instructions. Thank You.

What are you doing this Friday 13^th? Forget all that ‘unlucky date’ crap. This one is going to simply fabulous.

Here’s what you need to do:

1.      Book the day off work / school / college (hopefully quite a few students will already be off on Easter Holiday). If you can’t book the day off, pull a sickie.

2.      Buy some Champagne. Remember to put it in the fridge the night before. If you can’t afford Champagne a cheap bottle of Prosecco from Lidl or other discount supermarket will be perfectly acceptable.

3.      Go to bed and set the alarm for a reasonable time so that you have had enough sleep, but it’s not too late in the day that you have missed out.

4.      Wake up, don’t bother getting out of your pyjamas, but maybe brush your teeth. Nobody likes morning breath and you need to make a bit of an effort for this special day.

5.      Ready yourself for a full-on dance / listening party (with the emphasis on dancing) for two new albums that have magically appeared on your streaming service of choice overnight. Both albums are by bands that have featured heavily on Breaking More Waves, both are fronted by a boy and girl who have delivered vocals on their songs, both have a sense of humour, colour and fun about what they do and somehow seem connected (at least in my head in terms of what they do) even although as far as I can tell they have never met.

6.      Go on your favourite streaming service (you can buy the records on physical form tomorrow) and press play. The two albums in question are Treehouse and Confident Music For Confident People.

7.     The two bands are Sofi Tukker and Confidence Man. They are both f*cking brilliant. Excuse my swearing, but they are.

8.      Dance your bloody arse off. Drink the champagne. Repeat.

In summary: Friday 13^th. Wake up. Clean teeth. Champagne out. Soffi Tucker and Confidence Man albums on the stereo. Dance in your pyjamas and go batshit mental.

Here’s a new song from Sofi Tucker. It’s called Batshit. As Prince once said, Let’s Go Crazy. 

Sofi Tucker - Batshit

New Music: Confidence Man - Don't You Know I'm In A Band

If  only all pop music was as good as the pop music that Confidence Man make.

No wonder their album, due via Heavenly on the 13th April is called Confident Music For Confident People. It makes you want to strut your stuff.

Here is a group that clearly knows that pop music at its best is fun, irreverent, has a dance routine or two and wants to shove itself hard into your ears and stay there until it's done with you.

Before that album comes a new song. It's a live favourite (although I should caveat this statement with the fact that every track that Confidence Man do live is a live favourite of mine). It's called Don't You Know I'm In A Band. Lead co-vocalist and striker of some seriously aggressive dance moves Janet Planet has described the song as for people who think they're cool just because they're in a band, before adding, with (I expect) tongue firmly in cheek: "People like us".

We're in an era where there's a strong argument that pop music is becoming overly homogenised. Confidence Man are the counter to that argument. Get out of their way, put them in VIP and give them champagne now.

Confidence Man - Don't You Know I'm In A Band

Ones To Watch 2018 - Summary and Playlist

With the 2018 Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch posts now complete, I’m wrapping things up with the full list of 10 artists selected and an accompanying spotify playlist which you can find by clicking here or stream below. It has one song from each of the acts selected.

Whilst posting about these artists I’ve had a couple of comments made from readers about balance and how the selections were all mainly female and I’d just like to address this. First, so what? It’s the music that I'm concerned about not the artists sex. Secondly that statement is actually incorrect. Yes, 9 of the 10 artists I have selected have a female vocalist (when I introduced the posts here I noted that because of my tastes, the list wouldn’t be balanced in that way) but there were 31 musicians of which 16 were male and 15 were female. So in terms of that demographic the list was pretty much balanced - although this was more from luck than any judgement.

Thank you to everyone who engaged with these posts this year. Whilst Breaking More Waves is written mainly for my own entertainment, the Ones to Watch posts are very much for others. Amongst my (real life) friend group some of my friends, who know I'm obsessed with music will often ask me ‘what are the latest new acts we should be listening out for then?’ My Ones to Watch list is essentially my online response to that real-life question. 

Here’s a summary of the 10 artists chosen and a playlist featuring 1 song by each act.

1. Sigrid
2. Jade Bird
3. Superorganism
4. The Blinders
5. Pale Waves
6. Grace Carter
7. Off Bloom
8. Confidence Man
9. Pink Kink
10. Maisie Peters

I'll be updating the Breaking More Waves monthly playlist at the end of this month as per usual, but it won't include the Ones to Watch posts only the other new music that I have uploaded in November. If you want to follow the monthly Breaking More Waves playlist you can find that by clicking on this link.

Ones To Watch 2018 - #8 Confidence Man

2017 has definitely been the year when pop music got more politicised. Personally, I think this is a good thing. There’s only so many songs you can stomach about being in da club or (even worse) just being yourself and not giving a shit about what anyone else thinks. In fact, I believe that all of the popstars who have been putting that message out over the last few years have been treading dangerously. If the message was be yourself but make sure you take account of others feelings as well, then I could endorse it. But just not giving a shit what others think of you is dangerous. There's no empathy - it's just selfish. That’s how criminals think.

With musicians being more politicised it helps inspire an arena for fans to think about things a little more deeply – irrespective of if you agree with the artist or not. Not thinking about things too deeply leads to complacency and history has taught us that complacency can have dangerous implications.

Yet whilst music has become political I also believe there’s a need for the opposite; music that is silly and a bit fun. It’s pop music’s job to provide escapism and make you feel good about things – even if it’s only for a fleeting hour.  This is why it's OK to like Radiohead / Bon Iver and also Girls Aloud / Britney Spears. 

It's also where a band made up of members of Australian bands The Belligerents, Moses Gunn Collective and the Jungle Giants come in. Because they formed a new super group called Confidence Man.

For Confidence Man are all about fun, dancing and letting yourself go. They’re the sort of sexy disco shorts excitement bubble that everyone needs in their life now and then. Sure, their music isn’t going to be up there in the hallowed rock n roll halls of fame alongside Pink Floyd, The Clash, The Smiths or Oasis, but you’ll probably never wiggle your hips to any of those bands like you will Confidence Man. I reckon they'd even make Thom Yorke throw his arms in the air and thrust his crotch backwards and forwards a bit.

Back in March 2017 Janet Planet, Sugar Bones, Reggie Goodchild and Clarence McGuffie first got introduced to the readers of Breaking More Waves and they went on to be one of my undisputed highlights of both The Great Escape Festival and Glastonbury. This is a band who put on a high camp show of sass. In 2018 we should get an album via Heavenly Recordings. Go and see them live if you get the chance and get ready to dance like nobody is watching.

In a world that sometimes feels like it’s turning to shit, Confidence Man will give you a reason to smile again. Get ready to get down (under). 

Confidence Man - Better Sit Down Boy

New Music: Confidence Man - Better Sit Down Boy (Video)

Fitter, faster, stronger…

Since Australian four-piece Confidence Man first appeared on Breaking More Waves things have been going pretty well for the band in the UK. They were one of the most talked about acts at this year’s Great Escape Festival in Brighton (don’t say I didn’t warn you) and they achieved the virtually unthinkable for a new band at Glastonbury and packed out the Williams Green stage at a pre-lunch time slot and got everyone dancing.

Now they’re upping the game again with the zestful Better Sit Down Boy, a tune which is guaranteed to make you want to throw on your leotard, sweat bands and disco shorts and bounce it, pump it and thrust it like you’re just one gym session away from total ecstasy. 

Coming on strong like a long lost Fatboy Slim / Big Beat track from the mid-90’s Better Sit Down Boy is pure too many beats per minute joy. 

Accompanied by a video which finds Janet Planet, Sugar Bones and the others as well as variety of body builder types working out it reminds me that a Confidence Man gig is an experience in keep fit and exercise itself – by the end of it you’ll be a sweaty but happy mess.

This is outstanding hyper-pop. Extra marks for the “Oh you speak French? Oh man that’s neat” line as well.

Confidence Man - Better Sit Down Boy (Video)

New Music: Confidence Man - Boyfriend (Repeat) (Video)

Australia’s Confidence Man is a band I’ve been banging on about a lot this year. In fact they’re my favourite new pop group of 2017. 

There’s a whole bunch of reasons for this. 

First the live shows; hyperactive danceageddon gigs with sassy don’t fuck with us attitude and a compulsive energy that's guaranteed to leave you with biggest smile on your face, even although the band themselves apply stern Paddington Bear (RIP Michael Bond) hard stares throughout. 

Then there’s the whole concept of the band; from the cartoonish names (Janet Planet, Sugar Bones, Reggie Goodchild, and Clarence McGuffie) to their strong visual identity – netting over the drummer and keyboard players faces to obscure their faces, overly tight pants and baby doll dresses. Confidence Man look like pop stars from the get go. 

Then there’s the songs - high energy relentless volcano pop that bubbles and explodes with dangerous regularity. Their whole reason for existence is to make you want to get high whilst getting down. They teach you how to feel alive.

As yet not many of these songs have made it online. So far there’s the delirious Bubblegum and the party time electro funk of Boyfriend (Repeat), which are out there on all the usual streaming services. 

Whilst we wait for more Boyfriend (Repeat) now has a video and it perfectly captures the essence of the song with a disturbingly funny idea that takes a bunch Kens (some dressed in ways you’ve probably never seen Ken dressed before) and subjects them to treatment by microwave, blender, saw, barbeque and pink plastic mallet to name just a few. Men be warned. When your girlfriend says: “My boyfriend wants to talk, my boyfriend talks to much,” this could be your fate if you don’t shut up.

Confidence Man - Boyfriend (Repeat) (Video)

Review: 5 Acts At Great Escape 2017 That Had The Wow Factor

Brighton’s Great Escape, Europe’s largest new music festival, is like a live version of a new music blog, with over four hundred artists vying for your attention playing shows in clubs, pubs, churches, hotels and other locations of the south coast town. The key word with the Great Escape (much like this year’s event’s weather which went from heavy rain to sun) is variety. In just over 72 hours of being in Brighton I saw indie, country, folk, jazz, pop, soul, funk, disco, rap and many other genres, witnessing 37 full sets.

Of those 37 performances, the quality level was very high and so it’s impossible to say which gigs were the best. However, there’s something very exciting about seeing an artist for the first time and their performance leaving you breathless and giddy. So, whilst I went to shows by acts that I’ve witnessed already such as Alice Jemima, Skott, Casi, Pumarosa, Liv Dawson and Jerry Williams and they were all hugely enjoyable, these five gigs by musicians that I'd not seen before had that ‘wow’ factor that you can only get the first time you see a band or solo performer. They came from all sorts of genres and, reflecting the Great Escape’s truly international curation, from all over the world.

Sigrid (Coalition) Norway

It might have been raining outside, the venue ceiling was dripping inside with leaks but Sigrid just can’t stop winning and spreading sunshine. A superb Later with Jools debut, an outstanding debut EP and positive reviews from critics and fans alike, the new pop lady on the block had a lot to live up to and she delivered. Sigrid was as charismatic and praiseworthy as I’d imagined. Yes, of course Don’t Kill My Vibe gained the biggest cheers but the rest of her set was coated with enough quality to suggest that alongside other new potential pop stars such as Maggie Rogers and Skott, that it’s possibly time for Perry, Gaga and Spears to move to one side. 

Sultan of the Disco (Latest Music Bar) Korea

On entering the Latest Music Bar for a K-Pop Night Out (which actually took place in the afternoon) guests were greeted by friendly Korean hosts and handed glow sticks, cute animal temporary tattoos and leaflets about the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. It clearly wasn’t going to be an ordinary gig by UK standards. And it wasn’t. 

In a sweaty basement bar Sultan of the Disco delighted with non-stop dance routines, classic disco grooves and funk not dissimilar to Chic, The Jackson 5 and Bruno Mars together with a joyful cover version of Ghostbusters; which you can see a clip of by clicking here from my Twitter feed. Dressed in kimono style dressing gowns, shades and headbands the band threw to the audience cuddly toy versions of Soohorang and Bandabi the Winter Olympics 2018 mascots and at one stage lead singer Nahzam Sue played keyboard by being held mid-air by other band mates. Band’s don’t normally do encores at Great Escape, but there was no way the audience was going to let Sultan of the Disco get away without playing one. 100% fun.

The Rhythm Method (Brighthelm) UK

The Rhythm Method (pictured below) are the sort of band that could only come from the UK. Or rather England. More specifically London. They channel The Streets, Madness, Squeeze, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, and The Pet Shop Boys. Lead vocalist Joey told the late night drunken crowd “You don’t want to be here, we don’t want to be here,” whilst looking thoroughly pissed off and I couldn’t tell if he was joking or being serious. They had catchy hooks, bored sounding half spoken-word lyrics that referenced politics, pubs and sex and opened with a song that, if I’m not mistaken, mentioned salad cream. "Play Home Sweet Home," shouted someone in the audience referring to the duo's most well known track. "No," replied Joey. And they didn't. And it didn't matter. You’re either going to love them or hate them and if they get around to releasing an album I suspect there’s the potential for it to be an instant cult classic.

Confidence Man (Komedia) Australia

Confidence Man are a group that make every regular indie rock band, every bland music by formula pop band and every Drake wannabe seem as boring and pointless as ironing socks. Janet Planet, Sugar Bones, Reggie Goodchild and Clarence McGuffie came dressed in a baby doll dress, way too-short shorts and two gothic beekeepers hats respectively and for 20 frenetic minutes bombarded the audience with comic strip sassiness, high energy dance routines, (click here for what they were doing) and Lucozade fuelled skilfully crafted electro bubble-gum tunes. That’s all the time it took for Confidence Man to quickly become one of the most talked about bands of the day. I can’t wait to hear and see more.

Tom Adams (Unitarian Church) UK / Germany

Sat at a piano in the corner of the church Tom Adams (pictured below) created the closest thing possible to heaven. Placed somewhere between Phillip Glass and Sigur Ros, Adams’ contemplative modern classical pop with choir boy falsetto voice and soft ambient electronic backing was a beautiful still moment amongst the craziness, the crowds and the energy of much of Great Escape. It was a perfect way to end the Friday evening. He’s already created one of my favourite records of 2017 (Silence), and the live incarnation was just as good.

The 37 artists I saw at Great Escape and Alt-Escape 2017 were: 

Benny & The Hair Nets, Fable, Porshyne, Confidence Man, Jade Bird, The Van T's, Be Charlotte, Liv Dawson, Songe, Swimming Tapes, Sigrid, Shitkid, Nilufer Yanya, Tom Grennan, Cosima, Salen, The Rhythm Method, Flamingods, Slotface, Rosie Carney, Hazel English, Childhood, Matt Woods, Wrabel, Sarathy Korwar, Julie Byrne, Tom Adams, Alice Jemima, Bokito, MC Sniper, Sultan of the Disco, Jerry Williams, Matt Maeson, Off Bloom, Casi, Skott, Pumarosa

Preview: The Great Escape 2017 (Part 2.1 - Music Tips)

With less than a couple of weeks until 450 bands and solo performers and 1000s of punters descend to the seaside in Brighton for the annual orgy of new music that is The Great Escape, most music geeks will already have worked out their must sees, possible sees and might sees, with spreadsheets, apps and good old fashioned bits of paper being utilised to work out their timetables.

If you’re one of those people then this post isn’t for you. However, if you are organised but haven’t been to Great Escape before you might want to check out Breaking More Waves practical tips guide for making the festival work for you by clicking this link here.

If you’ve been less industrious in your timetabling or are looking at the full list of artists and are thinking ‘I only know about 4 of these’ then this post is for you. Put your trust in Breaking More Waves and allow this blog to act as your filter. With no messing, I’m recommending 10 acts playing Great Escape 2017 that come with the Breaking More Waves seal of approval – 5 are featured in this post and 5 in a further post published tomorrow. There should be no surprises that they’ve all featured in some form on the site before.

1. Confidence Man (Australia)

The fact that the two front persons in Australia’s Confidence Man are called Janet Planet and Sugar Bones should be enough to recommend them to you without any further information, but if I add in on point dance routines, pop songs that buzz so hard with energy that they might explode into confetti showers at any point and more fun than you thought humanly possible, then you’ll understand why Confidence Man are one of the must sees of Great Escape. Take a look at the live video below and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Novelty pop maybe, but life (and therefore music) doesn't always have to be serious.

Komedia 12.10pm May 18th
Sticky Mike's Frog Bar 23.30pm May 18th
Horatio's Bar 13.30pm May 20th




2. Jade Bird (UK)

Jade Bird was the subject of an introducing post on Breaking More Waves in Summer 2016 and still there’s been no official single or EP release. Yet with slots supporting the likes of Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Tom Odell and Mahalia and a number of festival slots besides Great Escape confirmed (Latitude, Bushstock, Field Day) Jade is clearly working towards that. Catch her mix of acoustic folk, country Americana and pop early.

Patterns (Upstairs) 13:15pm May 18th 
Prince Albert 22.30pm May 20th



3. Sigrid (Norway)

In 2015 one of the main highlights of my Great Escape was Norway’s Aurora whose mesmerising performances were so good I ended up seeing her twice. Norway could win again in 2017 with another single named pop star. Sigrid’s Don’t Kill My Vibe has already been a huge on line hit and Great Escape is her’s for the taking.

Coalition 20.00pm May 18th
Wagner Hall 16.30pm May 19th



4. Rosie Carney (Ireland)

Rosie Carney is another artist that first featured on Breaking More Waves in 2016. Making beautifully poignant songs awash with meaning and melancholy, Rosie will appeal to those who love the music of the likes of Billie Marten, Lucy Rose and Laura Marling.

Jubilee Square - 13.45pm May 19th



5. Tom Adams (Germany)

His debut album Silence was largely recorded in his one bedroom flat in Berlin and is already one of my favourites of the year. It’s a quiet and gentle record formed largely of soft piano, ambient electronics and Tom’s haunting falsetto that transports you to another place. Thankfully his one show at Great Escape is in a church – which seems the perfect location for his music. If you want something far away from the rock ‘n’ roll shenanigans of much of Great Escape, mark down Tom Adams as one to watch.

Unitarian Church 22.30pm May 19th

New Music: Introducing - Confidence Man

If you like your pop music colourful, cartoonish and hyperactive then this new Australian four-piece will be right up your funky street. What’s not to like about a band with a lead singer called Janet Planet (the best pop star name I’ve heard in a long time) and some dudes called Sugar Bones, Reggie Goodchild and Clarence McGuffie? Even before you’ve heard the music you just know that you’ve got yourself a group that ooze the good stuff. And they do. In fact they don't just ooze it, they spout it like one huge hip quivering fountain. Confidence Man’s music is sassy, sexy and a hell of a lot of fun. I dare you to listen and not want to shake your ass. You want reference points? OK, I’d suggest Gorillaz, Deee-Lite, Miami Sound Machine, The Go Team, Milkshake by Kelis and Tom Tom Club for starters. This is music for the sunshine. This is pop music doing what pop should do – making you feel f*ckin’ alive and wanting to dance your socks off.

Get ready to get down. Prepare for Confidence Man to wrap you round their finger. Don’t you wish you had some Bubblegum? You've got it now.

Confidence Man - Bubblegum

Confidence Man - Boyfriend (Repeat)