New Music: Haim - Little Of Your Love

This weekend coming it’s Glastonbury Festival. Or to give it its full name The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. I’ll be there with a carefully planned timetable that I’ll try and stick to as much as possible, but Glastonbury has the habit of distracting you at every corner, so if I achieve 80% of what I’ve scheduled, I’ll be happy. 

There are however a few artists that are on my must-see list and no much how much hot (or cold) spiced cider anyone pours down my throat, I will not miss these.* 

One is Lorde (she’s arguably produced the best pop album of the year so far). Another is The National (simply because they’re The National). And a third is Haim. Why? Because having been at some of their early small sweaty club shows right through to one of their biggest – the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in 2013 – where it all went a bit wrong for them with Este being taken ill (due to her Diabetes) I want to  see them succeed at Glastonbury.

If their new songs are anything to go by, I think they will triumph. Their latest tune Little Of Your Love, released today, has a slightly retro sound. I’m thinking 50’s rock n roll and Huey Lewis & The News. It’s a bit of a hooky bop and catchy as the common cold. Roll on the album.

*For potentially strong cider fuelled tweets follow me on Twitter at Glastonbury by clicking here @BMWavesBlog

Update: This post has been edited from the original version as I received some complaints, which having given things some consideration I feel were valid. Apologies to anyone who was offended / a bit creeped out. That wasn't my intention - I have always felt that giving evidence to explain something was important. However, the temperature of a past gig probably had no relevance to the new song. My intention was simply trying to show how I was rooting for Haim to do well at Glastonbury having been a fan from the early UK gigs.

2nd update: I've received a number of comments (a couple below and elsewhere online) saying they didn't think the original post was creepy - it just stated some facts. Which I guess just shows that not everyone perceives things the same way. However, on balance although for me the statement I made about Este was wearing only underwear as it was so hot at the gig wasn't creepy (I live in a house full of women and I am the only man and we talk about things like this all the time) I can see how some people would perceive it as such, hence changing the post. 

Haim - Little Of Your Love

New Music: Haim - Right Now (Video)

The ways that bands chose to represent and present themselves, especially when returning after a hiatus from public exposure is probably a more interesting dilemma than ever before; simply because there are so many possibilities. Haim have chosen to do it in the same way that London Grammar did earlier this year; a simple performance piece. No thrills, no big budget flash video, no deep conceptual idea, just a reminder of the reason why these guys were successful in the first place – namely all the simple stuff – the songs, the talent and the ability to (at their best) be an invigorating live experience.

“This is where we start…live in the studio. There’s more to come, but this is it right now,” the band tweeted. 

Right Now is more understated than the band’s first album material. It’s not a huge pop hit banger and the phrasing in the first vocal section feels a little out of place, but as the songs builds (and you just know that it’s going to, as soon as the first rough guitar chords sound out) it soon becomes clear that this is a very fine return from Haim. 

As the voice says at the end: “That’s how ya fuckin’ do it.” 

Haim - Right Now

Albums of the Year 2013

For the next 15 blog posts, we’ll be taking a look over our shoulder as we reveal our favourite albums of 2013.

Unlike blogs and websites that feature 50 or more albums in a consensus formed list, Breaking More Waves will be considering only the 15 albums that we have engaged with most over the past year. They're the choices of just one individual, not a committee.

We firmly believe that the best albums are something to be treasured in the longer term. Single tracks and EP’s can often be the equivalent of a drunk f*ck up against the wall with someone you’ve only just met or a few weeks or months of flowers and chocolates as romance blossoms. Albums however are different.

Albums are things that are to be treasured with a deeper love in the long term. When the musical sex lessens and the flowers and chocolates aren’t as regular, the best albums continue to offer more depth and joy for years on end; it’s why we keep our album list relatively short – because it’s simply impossible to have any depth of relationship with 50 albums in a year.

That’s not to say however that we’ll still be playing our top 15 albums from this year in 2023.  Sometimes no matter how brilliant love seems, how impossible it is to envisage things changing for the worse, they do. Sometimes relationships develop in unusual ways – the long term friend that sticks around? Yes, suddenly you realise you’re in love with them. It’s the same with music – the old adage about a record being a grower can often be true.

"Why Post Your Albums Of The Year When The Year Hasn't Ended?"

Some people ask why we publish our favourite albums of the year when it’s not even the end of the year. What if we heard a new record tomorrow that blew our mind and made us question everything else we’ve heard this year? The answer is simple, a month is still the honeymoon period with any long-player and so for this reason our albums of the year list only includes records released from January through till November. We could wait till the end of January to publish the list but practical real life issues away from the blog prevent us from doing that. If however we do find anything brilliant in December (unlikely as we won't be listening to many if any new albums this month), we’ll let you know about it next year. Ok? If you really disagree with this argument go and do your own list on New Years Eve whilst we're out having fun.

How We Decide On Our Lps Of The Year - The Number Of Times We've Played An Lp Is Important! Can It Really Be An Album You Love If You've Only Played It Twice?

So now onto some technical matters – because love is as much about sorting out the practicalities as it is the rush of chemicals. Love is an emotion and therefore quite abstract. We can’t scientifically quantify it and so rating a bunch of records into a numeric list of preference is highly subjective. In attempt to remove some of the subjectivity (albeit only a small part) a few years ago we developed a top secret spreadsheet which calculates our favourite records of the year. Yes we realise this is a deeply anal thing to do, but this is our list not yours, so let us do it our way? Ok? How does the spreadsheet work? Using three simple factors:

1. The number of times we’ve played an album in full this year (yes we have kept records) divided by the number of months that we’ve owned it. This isn’t subjective, it’s fact – the idea being that if we really like a record we’re likely to have played it lots.

2. Our ‘critical’ perception of how good or bad the album is.

3. A fan factor – effectively adding further bias to the spreadsheet by giving each artist a rating before we even heard the album based on how much of a fan we thought we were of the band (this factor has been reduced by 75% this year  from last year– after all our critical perception is likely to be biased anyway).

To each of these factors various calculations and formulas are applied, the end result being a score for the record, which gives us our top 15. In previous years we have only run a top 10 list, but this year 5 records all scored exactly the same score and so we’ve included them in positions 15 to 11, but each could have occupied any of those positions.

This List Is 100% Correct As It's About Taste - Ours Not Yours 

So visit Breaking More Waves from later today to see if they match at all starting at 6.00pm GMT as we begin our countdown of our favourite records of the year, (after today each choice will be posted at 8.30am GMT) with our top record being revealed on December 19th. Will any of our Ones to Watch for 2013 who released albums (Chvrches, Haim (streaming below with the new Giorgio Moroder mix of Forever) , Savages, Gabrielle Aplin, Laura Mvula etc) this year feature? Will the likes of The National, James Blake, Hurts or Laura Marling, who have all appeared on previous album of the year lists make it on to 2013's? And what did we really think of those blockbuster / hype albums by the likes of David Bowie, Daft Punk, Arcade Fire and Kanye West? Will any of those make it into our Top 15?

We suspect the forthcoming list contains some records that will feature on many end of year polls and some that won’t. There might even be the odd ‘WTF’ choice, because ultimately this is about taste, not some attempt to have the coolest list on the planet, and our taste probably isn’t identical to yours. Warning if you don't like pop music, if you're the earnest chin stroking muso type who loves the Rough Trade Top 100 you probably won't find that much on our list you'll like (but we are prone to a little bit of chin stroking as well so bear with us).

See you later today as we begin the countdown, until then, here’s our previous #1 albums of the year.

2008 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

2009 Blue Roses – Blue Roses

2010 The National – High Violet

2011 The Unthanks – Last

2012 Lana Del Rey – Born To Die

We've seen Haim live loads of times, we've posted lots of their tracks - but what did we think of the album? Was it one we could really take to our heart? Oh gosh, it's such a tease, you'll just have to wait to find out.

Haim - Forever (Giorgio  Moroder Remix)

Haim - Edge

After a successful 2012 where Haim generated word of mouth acclaim through their raw charismatic live shows and shinier than newly polished shoes EP (the song Forever being the glistening gem) they topped the BBC Sound of 2013 poll and the UK Blog Sound of 2013 poll (narrowly beating Chvrches by just a vote or two, but these two bands were way ahead of the chasing pack). Not every blogger loved them though, Drunken Werewolf writing of them at the time the following: “They’re an everybody band, and by proxy they’re a nobody band. Everyone will love them. No one will be sure why, save the fact they’ve been told to by Zane Lowe. I get the feeling they’re destined to follow the path of fellow genre blurrers Warpaint – that of spontaneous combustion followed by dwindling light and a little flourish centred around an Autumn tour, though probably not until 2014 and their album won’t be anywhere near as good.”

Now as one of the co-ordinators of the Blog Sound poll we're beginning to think about the voting for the 2014 long list we can look back at 2013 and suggest that the pollsters got it right with Haim. Right now their debut album Days Are Gone is getting mainly decent reviews (although not everyone likes them - have a look at this one and see what you think) and is currently sitting just behind Justin Timberlake in the UK’s top album sellers. There’s been plenty of talk in the last 48 hours about a ‘chart battle’ – one of those industry and media led concepts that help generate a story and potentially help Haim’s sales a little more, but we're too busy enjoying the album to worry about that.

If you’ve purchased Days Are Gone one song you may not have heard is Edge, a co-write and co-production with Twin Shadow, only present on the UK iTunes bonus edition. With Danielle’s seductive vocals and some Phil Collins In The Air Tonight drum rolls (we don’t care what anyone says – we love that song) bonus is the right way to describe this add-on.

Haim - Edge

Haim - The Wire

Haim seem to confuse quite a few people. It’s easy to understand why. Their live shows, which include Este’s gymnastic bass face (proving that it’s not only drummers that do sex faces when playing music), flirting with the audience and jam session moments certainly have more kick and punch than their studio work, but that’s fine with us; after all who wants to go and see a band live and it’s just like listening to the record? (OK in terms of just the sound we’ll admit there are exceptions, but those exceptions always add something else to the experience to make it worthwhile. Example = Kraftwerk.)

With new song The Wire (unfortunately not a tribute to Nicky Wire from the Manic Street Preachers) our approach to listening is different. By now most Haim fans have had an opportunity to see the three sisters play live at either a festival or their own show or if not via the multitude of You Tube clips out there. So with this track we’re comparing the live version that most of us know with the studio version rather than vice versa.

The recorded form is a taught little beast, but pretty much how we would imagine it. The vocals and harmonies are locked in perfectly, the music slick, but still holding onto the essence of the live version. It’s probably not as instantly pop as Forever although it does have the same break down at about two and a half minutes in where the vocals chant ‘always keep your heart locked tight’ and the guitars strut in sexily like they’re auditioning for a part in the introduction to Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor.

The most interesting thing with Haim now (from our own UK perspective) will  be how this song does on national radio and in the UK charts. Having now been through the hype mill and having done all the groundwork, this is where we get to find out if all translates into sales. 

Haim - The Wire

Haim - Falling

For just the first couple of seconds of Haim’s new single Falling you could be mistaken for thinking that you’re about to hear a reworking of Ultravox’s electronic symphony Vienna before their trademark rock-pop-r'n'b Ariel Rechtshaid produced and polished sound kicks in, complete with breathing “ah’s” and grooves that, like Madonna, you just know you’re going to want to get into. Yet despite the three singing sisters chirpy-pop persona’s, Falling isn’t all about joy lyrically. “Into the fire feeling higher than the truth, I can feel the heat but I’m not burning,” one of them sings as she admits that “I’m a slave to the sad heaven.”

By now you probably all know the Haim buzz trajectory. From SXSW, to blog buzz to Forever to their transcendent Great Escape performances to the BBC Sound of and Blog Sound of list top placings. Haim have gone up the mountain very quickly and no doubt there are those who are waiting at base camp for them to come falling (ouch) back down again. But we can’t see it happening with this song. It’s on par with Forever in our book, so it looks like there’s still time for Haim to enjoy the view from the top. 

Haim - Falling

Blog Sound of 2013 - Results

The Blog Sound poll aims to identify the most popular emerging acts amongst UK music bloggers and was organised for 2013 by this blog together with the Von Pip Musical Express.

The votes have been counted, the results are in and they can now be revealed.

Congratulations to Haim, this years most voted for.

The 5 artists out of the 170 nominated that received the most votes by the 49 UK music blogs that took part in the poll are

1^st Haim

2^nd Chvrches

3^rd= Savages

3^rd= Pins

5^th The Neighbourhood

The number of nominations cast for the top 2 bands in the poll was incredibly close, with Haim holding off Glasgow’s electronic pop finest Chvrches by just one vote. These two acts were considerably ahead of all the other bands that received votes, garnering more than double the number of nominations than the equal joint third placed acts – the indie guitar bands Savages and Pins. The Neighbourhood came in fifth and represent America’s second band on the shortlist. It’s interesting to note that all five acts are bands. Solo musicians didn’t feature at all. There are also some similarities to the 2012 list which also featured all bands, the majority of the acts having female vocalists, the winner being American and one Scottish act appearing in the Top 5 (although Chvrches second place has little to do with a strong Scottish vote, far from it, in fact their votes came from a whole variety of different types of blogs throughout the UK).

The Blog Sound 2013 poll’s intention wasn’t to criticise the BBC Sound of poll but simply to canvas a particular demographic – that of UK music bloggers - who have fairly small representation on the panel of pundits who vote on the BBC poll. The 2013 Blog Sound long list contained 7 acts that were also then revealed to be on the BBC Sound of List (AlunaGeorge, Chvrches, Haim, Laura Mvula, Palma Violets, Savages and Tom Odell) and 8 that weren’t (Curxes, Daughter, Mo, Pins, Randolph’s Leap, Rhye, Seasfire and The Neighbourhood).

The winners Haim have been one of the most talked about bands of the last few months and were the second most blogged act by UK Hype Machine listed bloggers in 2012. They also featured in Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch 2013 feature in November alongside Chvrches and Savages. Haim consist of three sisters from California and were originally in a band with their parents called Rockinhaim. They signed a record deal earlier in 2012 and will release their debut album in 2013. Their sound fuses elements of classic rock, r ‘n’ b and pop and they have been compared with the likes of Fleetwood Mac, TLC and Wilson Phillips.

You can hear all of the 5 shortlisted acts in the Soundcloud stream below.

The songs are

Haim – Forever

Chvrches – The Mother We Share

Savages – Husbands

Pins – LuvU4Lyf

The Neighbourhood – Let It Go

Blog Sound 2013 Shortlist Playlist

So, with music bloggers being a knowledgeable bunch with a good eye and ear near the musical coalface, the question is are these 5 acts going to be the multi-million selling artists of tomorrow in the UK? The evidence suggests almost certainly not.

First, because bloggers were asked to name what they considered to be the best emerging talent. ‘Best’ doesn’t actually mean ‘commercial big hitters’ – it really means ‘aligns with my taste’ and many of the blogs represented on the poll have underground / leftfied / indie tastes or specialist taste. For example, in 2012 Ed Sheeran had one of the biggest selling albums in the UK, yet his song The A-Team was blogged about by only 1 UK based Hype Machine listed blog (this one).

Second because, as mentioned earlier, all of the acts on this poll are bands and if 2013 follows the current trends, groups (with the exception of Coldplay, One Direction and Mumford & Sons) just aren’t selling as well as solo artists. Take a look at this list of who sold the most albums in the UK in 2012 for the evidence.

Third because last year's Blog Sound 2012, whilst unearthing some interesting acts that were very different to the BBC Sound of 2012 failed to produce any real big commercial hitters in the short list.

But then rock n roll doesn’t always follow the rules. So we’re throwing the Rules Of Pop (volumes 1,2 and 3) out of the window and instead  we’re just going to listen, watch and enjoy whatever happens to music in 2013. We’ll see you for the Blog Sound of 2014? Maybe some of the new acts we feature this year on the blog will turn up on that?

Breaking More Waves 5 nominations for the Blog Sound Poll were Haim, Chrvrches, and Curxes (who all made the long list and 2 made the short list in 1st and 2nd) plus Avec Sans and Alice Jemima. Neither Avec Sans or Alice Jemima made the list, but yesterday Alice Jemima was featured on BBC Radio 1's new music takeover with Rob Da Bank playing 3 songs in session at the world famous Maida Vale studios. You can hear the whole session (which is stunningly beautiful, particularly the last track When You Dance here).

That's all our end of year lists / polls and such like done now. Let's get back to new music shall we ?

Haim - Don't Save Me (Video)

Here is the new video from Haim, released today, for their rather slick new single Don’t Save Me. Here are some thoughts. They may be right or wrong, but without them we'd probably just be writing a boring review of the video.

1. Some people are still getting things wrong, particularly in the UK. Haim is pronounced ‘hyme', but is not to be confused with the word hymen which is a very different thing indeed. We're pretty sure they had that 'joke' a lot when they were at school.

2. If their record label has done its job properly Haim are guaranteed certs for a nomination on this year’s BBC Sound of List. Watch this space next week to see if they also get onto the UK bloggers version of the list - The Blog Sound of 2013. If we were the betting sort we'd put money on a double header there.

3. Haim’s progression from potential hype / buzz band to the real deal has developed quite nicely. In the UK the point where it really kicked off was at this year’s Great Escape in Brighton; the band talked of this when they revisited the town on their recent headlining dates. We’re pretty sure that the first gig they played in Brighton will go down as one of the best shows they ever played in the UK. We’ve seen them twice since, but that first gig really felt like a ‘moment’ and not just because one of their number stripped to her underwear, although that certainly was a ‘moment’ of sorts. And yes, we've talked about that particular 'moment' a number of times on the blog this year. It obviously had a profound effect on us.

4. We’ve already talked about the fact that Don’t Save Me sounds like the glossy soft focus soundtrack to an 80’s teen movie, so instead we’ll talk about how this video reinforces the stereotype that we have in the UK that all Americans are great at basketball, just like we’re pretty sure that every person in the States thinks that after a hard days work at the office us Brits all immediately make our way to the park for a game of kick-a-bout. The reality of course is that the majority of our country sits at home playing FIFA 12 or Pro Evolution Soccer on our X-Boxes whilst slumped on our couches and ever fattening arses.

5. Talking of stereotypes Haim need to be careful that their crude flirtatiousness doesn’t become more talked about than their music, although we think they’re going to find that difficult. After all at their recently streamed iTunes gig Este first announced that “I think everyone’s enjoying the show, everyone clapped, so I guess they are, unless my tampon string is showing and you’re just trying to alert me to it?” Then later she chatted a man in the audience up and gave her mobile number to him (and potentially if it was the real one several thousand people round the world watching).

6. What’s not apparent from a casual listen to Don’t Save Me is how in the live form Haim display a hell of a lot more classic rock influences. This track is probably one of the softer songs in their arsenal.

7. George Ergatoudis head of music at BBC Radio 1 and Andy Roberts programme director at Kiss FM have both gone on record recently to say that ‘guitar music is coming back.’ We assume that they’ve looked out at new bands coming through and decided that there’s enough quality out there to make such a statement, rather than just deciding that they are the god like makers and curators of fashion itself. Haim have positioned themselves nicely whichever way fashion / music goes. If guitars are back then they can rock hard. If not, then there’s enough pop and shine to their songs to ensure they can still capture radio play in the UK.

8. You know how drummers do 'sex faces'? The Haim girls play guitars but they do the best sex faces. Go see them live and stand near the front. It's very entertaining.

Here's the video.

Haim - Don't Save Me (Video)

Ones to Watch 2013 - #2 Haim

Haim are three sisters Danielle, Alana and Este from San Fernando Valley, USA and grew up playing classic rock songs in their family band Rockinhaim. But it was when they dropped mum and dad, set out on their own and played this year’s South by South West festival that they really began to fly.

Fast forward a couple of months and the bands cheeky charisma, geeky coolness and harmonised melodic pop charms were one of the thrilling highlights at the 2012 Great Escape Festival in Brighton. Based on that sweaty, powerful, fun, down to underwear, lowdown and dirty performance the band made their first appearance on the blog in May (here).

Haim’s music forms a three way triangle between rock, r’n’b and pop. Imagine the raw adrenalin of The White Stripes, the song craft of Fleetwood Mac and the potential pop of Wilson Phillips. Add to that an infectious energy for performance, engaging banter on stage and the ability to swap instruments and vocal duties with ease and you have a band that manage to make something very fresh from a bunch of reference points from the cobwebbed past.

With a record deal signed in June (celebrating with a gig in London where mum and dad joined them on stage), some small scale UK headline shows planned for later this month and some massive arena concerts supporting Florence and the Machine  (remember when she was one of our Ones To Watch back in 2008?) Haim are going to be picking up plenty more fans before the year is out. 2013 is theirs for the taking. No question. If you haven't watched the video for Forever (one of our favourite songs of 2012) it gives you a great idea of the band.

Haim - Forever (Video)

Haim - Forever (Dan Lissvik Remix)

Haim - Don't Save Me

If we had to choose a band to spend an evening to hang out with, we’d probably choose Haim; because Haim seem like immense fun. They’re a group that seem to understand that it’s possible to not take music seriously at all whilst at the same time taking the music very seriously. They probably win our award for best in between song banter at any gig we’ve been to this year.

Don’t Save Me is their first single, following on from their debut EP and first cropped up on a few blogs a few days ago in a quite possibly not legitimate radio rip form, but we’ve been waiting for the official stream which made its way onto the internet yesterday. It’s got a strangely glossy soft focus  80’s teen movie soundtrack quality to it – we’re thinking Mannequin, Breakfast Club, Top Gun or Pretty In Pink - and takes only a couple of listens to get under your skin.

The Haim sisters are already being widely tipped as one of those bands that will end up on the end of year tip lists (yes, that’s how it works these days, people tip who may be on the tip lists - at this rate next year people will be tipping who will be on the tip lists for the end of year tip lists). In fact we made our prediction back in August (here). Of course Breaking More Waves will be publishing its annual Ones to Watch list from sometime in late November, hopefully just before the BBC Sound of 2013 list is announced. Will Haim be on ours? You’ll have to wait and see.

Haim return to our home country of the UK this November for some headline shows (we’ll be catching them at Brighton’s Haunt) before some support slots with Florence & The Machine.

Haim - Don't Save Me

Haim - Forever (The Knocks Remix)

How much do we love Haim right now?

Well if it was a choice between our family and the three LA sisters (and let’s not forget the man with a name that sounds like a film / porn star - Dash Hutton – on the drums) it would be a very close run thing. Hold on, let’s think about that a little more……

No. Sorry the family would have to go.

We suspect (actually we 100% know) that this will not be the last time you read about Haim on this blog. After all we’ve got end of year lists to create.

So here’s a remix. Now in theory, when we love a groups music, the idea of someone mucking around with it fills us with terror; but not with Haim. Because although Haim are a rock band (of sorts) they’re a rock band that make you dance. Stupidly. Sweatily. Possibly taking off your clothes and declaring your undying love at the same time.

So a remix that simply ramps up the dance element of Haim’s brilliant Forever (one of our songs of the year) is absolutely fine. So absolutely fine that we fully expect you to be down to your underwear by the time this track finishes. 

Haim - Forever (The Knocks Remix)

Haim - Hold Me

LA’s Haim have provided Breaking More Waves with not one, but two of the best gigs we’ve seen this year. The first was in the sweatbox of the Psychosocial Basement at Brighton’s Great Escape; one of those ‘buzz’ shows that actually justified the hype. The second was at Dingwalls in Camden London, where one of the three sisters described it as the best day of her life. They’ve also provided us with one of our favourite songs of 2012 in Forever, so whatever they come up with next has high expectations to meet. 

To pass time though there’s a cover version of Fleetwood Mac’s Hold Me, originally featured on the Mac's 1982 album Mirage. The cover comes from a tribute album called Just Tell Me That You Want Me. We’ll take that, although what we really want is the bands own original material, which hopefully we'll see a lot more of in the next year or so. Also if they don't release anything else much this year (having signed a major label deal the day of the Camden gig) it wouldn't surprise us if their name cropped up on the BBC Sound of 2013 longlist. We'll put money on that now.

Haim - Hold Me (Fleetwood Mac Cover)

Haim - New Waves

If you’re a fan of new music the chances are you’ve probably already come across Haim (pronounced as in time not rain), the Los Angeles four-piece consisting of Danielle, Alana, Este and (the non-pictured drummer) only man in the band Dash. So we apologise if we appear to be ‘late’ or ‘not on the case’ in only featuring Haim in an introductory new wave feature now, but the fact that the group have at the time of writing just over 2,500 followers on Twitter and 4,862 likes on Facebook suggests that there’s still a huge volume of people who have yet to hear their music, so even if you know all about them, a lot of people don’t.

Back in March Haim created quite some buzz in Austin, Texas at SXSW with the NME naming them as one of the 10 hottest new bands on the planet. Now of course just because a band is creating a stir in the music and / or social media doesn't necessarily mean they're any good. 'Hottest band' can sometimes equal most well networked or sleeping with the editor and nothing more. Fast forward to this month and at Great Escape festival Haim had become quite literally the hottest band on the planet – or at least in Brighton. In the Psychosocial Basement on Friday night the temperatures reached get naked sauna like heights, with even one of the band stripping down to her underwear.

It was at this sweat inducing set that Haim really showed what they’re about. You may have read elsewhere that they’re like the r ‘n’ b version of The Staves. That description doesn’t really get close except for their sisterhood and long hair. What we have here are almost two distinctly different bands in one. The studio versions of the songs on Haim’s debut Forever EP may be full of harmonious r’n’b smoothness but live it’s tougher, louder, rawer and full of classic rock references (Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, The White Stripes and Patti Smith) than the glossy productions streaming below. It’s all the more compelling for it - they're like an r'n'b band for people who don't like r'n'b. Take a look at the crowd sourced video of a recent London pub gig at The Shacklewell Arms below and by the end we think you'll agree that Haim are really quite thrilling. Quite how the band are going to pull these two strands of forceful-rough and groovily-polished forward to one coherent form remains to be seen, although perhaps they shouldn’t. Maybe their Jeckyll and Hyde musical forms can gloriously co-exist happily together. One thing is for sure though, be it the temperature of their gigs or the level of buzz about the group; Haim really are one of the hottest new bands in the world right now.

You can currently download the Forever EP for free from the bands website (here) in exchange for your email address. Stop whatever you're doing (reading this) click the link and get yourself 3 cuts of musical perfection. You won't regret it.

Haim - Forever



Haim - Better Off



Haim - Let Me Go (Live Crowd Sourced Video)