New Music: Kate Nash - Agenda

Look. This is how to do great pop music:

1. Be Inventive. Be Exciting. Be Bold. Be Fierce. Be Engaging.
2. Don’t just follow a formula.
3. Have something to say. 
4. Have a good beat. 
5. Make polite people go “Woah” and everyone else go “What the fuck.”

Kate Nash does all this and more on Agenda, one her most brilliant tunes she has ever released.

An (occasionally) sweary musical manifesto with hooks and punches galore. This is great pop music. No messing.

New Music: Kate Nash - Call Me

When Kate Nash emerged around 10 years ago there were quite a few naysayers who didn’t really give her a chance and certainly wouldn’t have predicted that she would have still been making music and selling out shows now. But if there’s one thing that I’ve learnt about pop music, absorbing it over all these years, is that nobody can second guess the future – even those who think they can. Particularly ‘tastemakers’. Look back at your favourite new music guru website or blog and for every one hit they get right, they get about ten wrong. 

Nash’s new song Call Me (no not a cover of the Blondie tune) was released yesterday. Taken from her forthcoming Agenda EP, it demonstrates exactly what I’ve always said about her; she’s got an ability to pen a quirky, hooky, pop song, irrespective of what style she adopts. And on the subject of styles, wait till you hear the title track of the EP; if it’s anything like the version she’s been performing live it’s going to surprise some of you.

After this EP Kate is going to be revisiting her debut album with a tour this summer (tickets are available by clicking here) and is currently funding her fourth album through a Kickstarter project. She's already raised over $50,000 in less than a week, which is pretty impressive. If you’ve got a spare $5,000 you can even have Kate come and play a ‘punk as fuck’ show in your own house. If only I was a little richer..... although to be honest, I wouldn’t want to annoy the neighbours, so I’d probably ask her to play acoustically. Or at least invite the neighbours round as well.

You can sign up to the Kate Nash Kickstarter by clicking here and at the same time watch a video that explains how she is going to use the money Take a listen to Call Me below.

Kate Nash - Call Me

New Music: Kate Nash - Good Summer (Video)

I have quite a history with the music of Kate Nash - from way back. It started with a slightly scrappy but infinitely charming set of songs in a small grubby tent sponsored by MySpace at Electric Gardens festival in 2006 where I chatted to her afterwards and suggested that she was like the British version of Regina Spektor. Now here I am 10 years on, pressing play on her new song, with a sense of trepidation and excitement – because that what happens when you become a fan of an artist. 

Since that first gig there have been many highs. My two fondest memories being  when Foundations went into the charts at Number 2 (quite unexpectedly) and, not quite so long ago,  a euphoric and energetic gig at Shepherds Bush Empire the highlight of which was Kate crowd surfing to pretty much the back of the room. There’s also been the occasional low; although I loved the idea of Kate rejecting commercial pop music and embracing the spirit of riot girl and punk, I didn’t enjoy Underestimate The Girl at all. However, as I suggested in a blog post at the time (here), what would you rather do, spend your whole life being unhappy trying to be what people expected you to be or happy just being yourself?

So what does Kate Nash 2016 bring? After all she’s never been an artist to just do ‘more of the same’ – right from her very first schizo-pop single on Moshi Moshi that veered from pretty acoustic songwriting to the  off-kilter beats and space weirdness of Caroline’s A Victim. 

The answer is that Good Summer is Kate’s most easily accessible song for years. In 2016 where contemporary pop music seems to be designed by committee to sound as in your face as everything else around, Good Summer seems almost lightweight in its nature – and I don’t mean that in a disparaging way. All the important ingredients are there; melody, hooks, something that makes you feel good about life, but with it there comes an uncanny charm and a likeability that’s formed through its relative simplicity. Good Summer doesn’t shout ‘I need to be in the charts so I’m going to sound like everything else’, instead it stands to the side and just gets on with the job of being an excellent pop tune. Oh and the video, a very old fashioned British garden party, finds amongst it's scenes of fun, Kate bashing what looks like a giant lemon shaped pinata (maybe because these days she's not so bitter?). It's good to have Kate back, and with a previously announced tour and more songs on the way, summer just got good.

Kate Nash - Good Summer (Video)

New Music: HOLYCHILD x Kate Nash - Rotten Teeth (Video)

Hats off to the brilliance of pop that has COLOUR and MAGIC and isn’t beige or flatpack.

Hats off to singers who have won Brit Awards and had chart success before turning their backs on it all and still fizz with ENERGY and FUN and ATTITUDE.

FUN is not a dirty word in music – there’s a note to the ‘serious music fans’ amongst you.

Dressing up is good. Don’t be boring, be ALIVE.

HOLYCHILD X Kate Nash = A.M.A.Z.I.N.G

How about a hook that says: “Do we eat or just starve ourselves tonight?” 

Hats off to colourful modesty covers.

If only all pop music was this bratish, sarcastic, insultingly beautiful, clever and LIFE AFFIRMING at the same time.

On repeat.

HOLYCHILD x Kate Nash - Rotten Teeth (Video)

Songs From Santa's Sack #3 - Kate Nash - I Hate You This Christmas

Yo-ho-ho! Gawd, why do I always have to say that? I mean it’s not that I even bloody mean it. I feel as jolly as a man who has had his private parts bitten off by a reindeer. Why? 'Cos whilst all you lot are sitting on your arses stuffin’ yourself with food, me and the elves are bustin’ a gut to get all the presents and shizzle to you on time, whatever the weather, wherever you are in the world. I f*cking hate Christmas come to think of it.

Thankfully I met this lady the other day who seems to think the same as me. The Nashster has got a new Christmas EP out which she calls Have Faith With Kate Nash This Christmas, but this song I Hate You This Christmas captures the real spirit of Christmas. Basically it involves Kate gettin' plastered at the office Christmas do then nipping round her boyfriend’s for a bit of pre-Christmas how’s yer father, only to find ‘im shagging one of her mates. Dirty bastard. Ho ho ho, now that’s what I call Christmas, sharing the love around and a racket of post-punk-pop all in under three minutes. Oh and it includes excellent use of the lyric candy c*nt. Nice work Kate. Even better work her boyfriend. Happy Christmas one and all. Yo-ho-ho!

Kate Nash - I Hate You This Christmas

Kate Nash - OMYGOD (IMOL Remix)

The last time we checked in with Kate Nash back in March was with a post called In Defence Of Kate Nash (Not That She Probably Wants Defending)*, a minor rant about how pop is rapidly becoming a pack of blank beige coloured cards. The next thing we knew the post had found its way onto Kate’s own website My Ignorant Youth. We can only guess that someone in team Nash agreed with our thoughts.

Now here we are again, but no rant, just love, for this sultry remix from IMOL better known as William Bowerman, who has played drums for the likes of La Roux, Marina & The Diamonds, Chew Lips and Summer Camp. The remix retains just the vocal hooks, stripping away the original strutting bass, lo-fi drums and guitars and replacing them with something akin to the musical version of a Mr Whippy ice cream, all smooth, summery and soft. For more tasty treats with The Nash in the UK, Kate has recently just confirmed some new shows for October including one at Shepherds Bush Empire, London. Until then, you know what to do, just press play.

*More pure discussion / defence type posts coming soon, we've been a bit quiet on this front and we have words to say about THINGS, so be warned and watch this space.

Kate Nash - OMYGOD (IMOL Remix)

In Defence of Kate Nash (Not that she probably wants defending)

Warning: This blog post may contradict some of our other blog posts. We make no apology for this. Life is full of contadictions; but add them all up together and as a whole they make a lot more sense.

In 1982, Kevin Rowland and his band Dexy’s Midnight Runners were riding high in the UK singles charts with his Celtic sound of Come On Eileen (that year’s biggest selling single). Seventeen years on Kevin could be seen in drag, heavy make-up, suspenders and covering The Monkees and Whitney Houston on an album called My Beauty. At the time it was reported as only selling five hundred copies (the reality was it sold 20,000 worldwide). Later when Rowland, still in a dress, performed the songs from the same record at the Reading Festival he was pelted with bottles.

It was just one of the many great so called ill-advised changes in direction in pop; history is littered with them. From Bowie’s back to basics rock project Tin Machine to Moby’s thrash metal album Animal Rights.

And we use the word great here to mean just that. Sometimes these moments of apparent career suicide are actually bloody brilliant. (Read on we'll explain why)

Which brings us to Kate Nash, a singer who on the face of it could easily be accused of dumping herself in the bad-idea trash bin. Remember Foundations ? It was a number 2 hit and only held off the top spot by Rihanna. But then remember last years Under-Estimate The Girl ? It found Kate Nash trending on twitter, but mainly because of people tweeting “OMG Kate Nash has committed career suicide.”

But even though we couldn’t stand Under-Estimate the Girl, we think it’s time to defend Nash a little. We think it’s important to have the Kate Nash’s, the Kevin Rowland’s, the Moby’s and the David Bowie’s of the world in pop music. Sure, we may not like everything they’re doing artistically (although hold fire on the Nash album, because actually there’s some songs on it we really like), but without risk takers what would we have? A world that shifts more and more towards the middle ground, the boring, the beige, planet bland where every artist has their personality sucked out of them by corporate media trainers. More and more pop stars end up saying nothing, because either they have nothing to say or they’ve been taught that saying very little is better than saying something with an opinion and risking losing fans / sales. Twitter has fuelled us to become instant judgement haters on anyone who dares to actually have a voice that’s different to our own, whilst a struggling record industry and recession means that the safest card is to play is the blank one both musically and in terms of attitude. 

Which is why we really love Kate Nash. Having been dropped by her record label she seems to have adopted a ‘couldn’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks and I’m going to do what I want and have fun with it’ attitude. Her gigs have become a weirdly attractive mix of shouting, swearing, noise, grungey vibes, indie pop and lo-fi surf-rock whilst Nash talks about issues that are important to her such as self-esteem of young girls in a very honest way. Her audience may be smaller, but those who stick around are likely to do so for a longer time; because to get hardcore fans there’s usually something else to attach on to other than just the music. Unfortunately most artists have it sucked out of them as they sign up to the club of the new boring. Career suicide? What would you rather do? Spend your whole life being unhappy with what people expect you to be or just be yourself. We’re pretty sure which route Nash has chosen. She won’t give a shit about what we’ve written here, but we 100% salute her for that. We need more of the likes of Kate Nash in pop.

Kate Nash - Deathproof (Video)

Kate Nash - 3AM (Video)

The videos from Kate Nash keep on coming. Following the recent collaboration with Watsky, 24 hours ago around 3am Kate revealed the film for her own single, titled after exactly the same hour. So in tribute to those night owls amongst you, we’re sneaking it up on the blog at the same time. Judging from our daily twitter feed there’s an awful lot of insomniacs out there, the ‘Aaargghh can’t sleep’ tweet being almost as popular as the cute pet / here’s a food-porn photo of my lunch / expensive cup of coffee. Of course we all know that these food tweets are basically just signifiers of status aren’t they? Witness the hundreds of photos on Valentine’s Day of couples romantic meals, most of which appeared to be steak, cooked by a man. It’s his equivalent of doing a barbeque in the summer isn’t it?

Anyway, we digress. So here’s Kate. At 3am. Eating ice cream and decapitating teddy bears. Why? Because a relationship has gone wrong. It’s a warning to all of you who tweeted / uploaded to Instagram a photo of your Valentines meal. No matter how blissfully perfect everything seems now, it doesn’t always work out. 

Kate Nash - 3AM (Video)

Watsky - Hey, Asshole ft Kate Nash (Video)

Kate Nash seems to have a habit of confusing people. From her debut single Caroline’s A Victim (an almost non-song with just some simplistic beats and anti-cool lyrics with a pretty and sweetly acoustic B-Side in Birds) to a pure pop moment that jostled with Rihanna for number 1 (Foundations) to another (Under-Estimate The Girl) non-song that screamed, growled and gurgled like grandma-grunge on You Tube, rapidly generating equal amounts of love and loathing. Next up is her forthcoming Pledge Music funded girl-gang album Girl Talk which from the live performances we’ve seen will take references from lo-fi surf rock, garage guitars, pop and riot girl, distancing herself from those who loved Foundations and likely to lead to development of  a smaller but more hardcore audience. Maybe Kate might even end up as some sort of weird art-chameleon cult singer if she sticks at it?

If you’re amongst the puzzled then her next episode, a collaboration with San Francisco rapper and poet Watsky (the only recording artist we know who is releasing an album that will feature packaging that folds out into a cardboard castle), certainly isn’t going to provide you with any answers. “Will the real Kate Nash please stand up,” you might expect Watsky to rap.

But there’s a simple explanation for all of this; it boils down to creativity and energy. Nash has oodles of both and quite simply can’t stay still. It wouldn’t surprise us if after the next album she goes and records a full-on Kraftwerk inspired electronic album (OK, that’s a Breaking More Waves fantasy of the highest order, but let us live and luxuriate with it, everyone has to have dreams, but Kate if you do, we will leave our girlfriend and children and come and propose marriage to you, er maybe, well we'll think about it at least). However, whatever Nash does she probably won’t be able to help herself from occasionally sneaking in a sprightly pop melody and a little bit of potty mouthed attitude as well. She’s certainly done it again on Hey Asshole, a song about taking life’s punches and finding the strength to get up and keep searching for that pot of gold even when as Watsky says “ I don't see a f*cking rainbow and my coffee's cold.” You've got to eventually find the colour of life, just like this video does.

Watsky - Hey, Asshole ft Kate Nash (Video)

Kate Nash - Fri-End (Video)

When Kate Nash announced yesterday that she was about to reveal a new surprise on Twitter using the hashtag #KatesSurprise we decided it was time to nip down to the garden shed and get the ear defenders out again. Because the last #KatesSurprise was the atrocious Under-Estimate The Girl, a vulgar noise that led us to hypothesise that Kate Nash was either carrying out a very clever (but risky) PR stunt, is doing pop music in reverse and / or one of 8 other theories (which you can read here).

In the end having seen Nash live twice this summer we came to the conclusion that quite simply, Kate had got a bit older and changed a bit. After all if you remember your seventeen year old teenage-self compared to what you were like at twenty five you’ll probably realise that life doesn’t stay still and your ideas, ideals, tastes and beliefs mould and grow. To use a cliché Kate seems to have adopted the old adage that ‘I’m doing what I like now and if anyone else likes it, it’s a bonus.’ It doesn’t change our mind that Under-Estimate The Girl is still a crime against music, but we respect Kate’s right to do what she wants to do and even admire her for not taking the obvious route of simply attempting to repeat the likes of Foundations and Mouthwash for the rest of her life. Career suicide ? Maybe. But it's actually nice to see someone taking a risk in a society that is becoming ever more conservative musically and also offer some inspiration and an alternative view of things to her predominantly young female audience. We don’t believe (as we theorised in the past) that Kate is creating the type of music she is now making simply to get attention (although let’s face it, to a certain extent every musician that puts their music out in the public domain wants some kind of attention – otherwise why put it out in public at all?) but because, quite simply, this is what she wants to do.

So with ear defenders at the ready we pressed play on Fri-End, Kate’s new song, complete with Halloween inspired video. Whilst Fri-End isn’t going to appeal to the masses and is hardly a unique and original piece of art, but it is a fizzy energetic surf-punk romp that's way better than Under-Estimate The Girl. It even manages to hold on to some of Kate’s previous pop sensibilities - just dressed in a different way. Yes there’s some guttural shouting, yes it’s a bit noisy, but guess what? Fri-End is actually a hell of a lot of fun.

You can get the song for free by joining Kate’s mailing list.

Kate Nash, we’re sorry about some of the stuff we said in the past. But just like you we're allowed to change. Not everyone is going to think this, but we think that right now, you're kind of A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Kate Nash - Fri-End (Video)

#Katenashlivetweets

Last week we canvassed various bloggers and other music commentators for a few opinions and theories on Kate Nash’s Under-Estimate The Girl and posted them on the blog. The most important theory was that theories are a waste of time because they are just that, theories and not reality - people's belief systems click into play based on their pre-conceived ideas and their environment.

Yesterday we attempted to inject a little bit of reality into the theory and went to see Kate Nash live in Oxford. Following in Kate’s spontaneous footsteps (she recorded and posted Under Estimate The Girl in 24 hours and uploaded it straight to the internet without a care what anyone thought) we decided to annoy the hell out of anybody who follows us on Twitter and ‘live tweet’ the gig under the hashtag #katenashlivetweets. We don’t review gigs on Breaking More Waves anymore except for festivals, but you can see a flavour of some of the show in reverse chronology using the link above. 

10 Theories On Kate Nash's Under-Estimate The Girl

When former Brit Award winner Kate Nash started a hashtag on twitter last week called #katessurprise it was inevitable it would end with some new music.

What nobody predicted was that having once recorded a tune called Shit Song, she was about to take that title to heart and release a real life stinker. Here’s some theories on the track that got Nash’s name trending on Twitter over the weekend and beyond for (possibly) all the wrong reasons. Thanks to the various bloggers, bands and music types that helped via twitter / via email / text / in conversation yesterday in forming some of these theories and arguments.

Theory #1 This is actually a very clever (but risky) PR stunt.

Let’s face it Kate Nash’s profile is not what it used to be. Foundations may have only been kept off number 1 by Rihanna, but her last 2 singles Kiss That Grrl and Later On failed to chart. Rather than put out ‘just another Kate Nash track’ that would be ignored by an audience that has moved on, utilising the power of social media and releasing a song that sounds like whacking a knitting needle in your ear with a hammer, Nash has got her name back in people’s minds. This is a massive risk though. Seeking attention for something that has been described by more than one commentator as the worst song of the year could go horribly wrong in the PR stakes. Nash could end up being buried deep into pop music’s rubbish skip - never to climb out again.

Theory #2 This is not a PR stunt at all but a relatively spontaneous action by Nash that hasn’t been given proper thought.

In principle this is a great concept. There’s a thrilling excitement in the idea that an artist can record a song in 24 hours (as Nash said it was) and throw it up on the internet for public consumption without any record company interference. You’re hearing the song just as the artist wanted you to hear it - in its full rawness, warts and all. But theories don’t always turn into great realties. With Under-Estimate The Girl we actually wish there had been somebody around to say “Hey Kate, maybe putting this out to the public isn’t such a great idea.” Or at least persuade her to release it under a different name / image to protect the ‘Kate Nash brand’.

Theory #3 Kate Nash is being punk

When punk was born Johnny Rotten said that it was about destroying everything that had gone before – it was an attitude as well as a musical style. If this was the punk ideology then Under Estimate The Girl is not punk. It doesn’t destroy what has gone before. It sounds a lot like what has gone before (Hole, Riot Grrrl Movement etc), the only thing that has gone before it that it may destroy is Nash’s career.

Theory #4 It isn’t authentic – she’s a posh girl shouting “Look at me I’m a rebel.”

Lacking authenticity in music is an argument only used by those that don’t understand pop. Every performance by an artist is faked to a greater or lesser degree. Some of the greatest forms of music from disco to rockabilly to electronica have been chastised as being inauthentic. If all music was truly authentic we would strip away much of what makes music great; things like glamour, drama and most importantly influence and inspiration from outside sources. We really don’t care if Nash is authentic or not (although the fact that she has been quoting her love of Bikini Kill for a number of years, played in punk side project The Receeders in 2009 and has worked with the indie bubblegum teenage pop band, Supercute!, producing their first album suggests her authenticity is genuine) All we care about is this; do we like the music (for like read ‘is it good music’). Sadly it isn’t.

Theory #5 Kate Nash is just doing pop music in reverse.

The normal route for pop musicians through history has been to start by making underground non-commercial records before making a transition to radio-friendly songs that the masses love but the original audience hate, claiming their beloved artist has ‘sold out.’ Maybe having made her money with her debut album and moderately selling second album Kate Nash is doing things in reverse.

Theory #6 Every artist deserves the right to be able to create the art they want now matter how self indulgent.

As an artist the ultimate success is not pleasing others but ensuring that you please yourself. The question that must be asked though is was it necessary for Nash to unleash this song on the public at large? Just because you’ve had a satisfying dump in the toilet doesn’t mean that the rest of the world will be interested.

Theory #7 Kate Nash is just showing how conservative our listening has become.

In the last decade the way we listen to music has become more conservative, with nearly all so called new music taking references from the past. Innovation fades away as new ideas become scarcer. So many underground artists make music that sounds like the music the bands parents (or even grandparents) used to listen to. So if Nash has shocked her fans with her bolt of noise (which admittedly is also taking masses of influence from the past) at least there’s a possibility that she’s helped create a debate about the music we listen to and the way that we listen to it. As we’ve suggested time and time again on this blog, rock music has just reached middle age and there’s nothing that can stop the ageing process. Rock music is now just a tradition in the same way folk music has become a tradition. Nash is just continuing a tradition.

Theory #8 Before every album Kate Nash puts out a deliberately peculiar song.

Remember Caroline’s A Victim? That preceded Foundations and the Made of Bricks album. In fact Caroline’s A Victim was very sneaky. It was Foundations in disguise. Don’t believe us? Listen to the chords on the acoustic version of the song here, then compare with Foundations here. So with Under-Estimate The Girl maybe she’s doing the same again ?

Theory #9 Kate Nash’s change of style is good / bad.

The history of pop shows that many of the best bands undergo change both musically and stylistically in order to survive or they die a death of ever decreasing returns creatively and commercially; change in pop music is therefore an inherently a good thing. So Nash deserves to be applauded for doing something different. It’s just not very good.

Theory #10 Theories are a waste of time, because we don’t actually know the reality.

So essentially everything we've written here was pointless, except to maybe entertain and promote discussion. 

As identified in Theory #2, theories don’t always turn into realities and everything we’ve written here could be way off the mark from what Nash or you think. In fact even our belief that this song is a crime against music is just a belief, not fact. The evidence of numbers of You Tube likes and dislikes for the song currently matching each other suggests the track is certainly divisive, so we’ll leave it at that. If you haven’t seen or heard the song yet, here it is. Prepare yourself.

Breaking More Waves will be attending a Kate Nash gig next week. We're hoping to find something that we can engage with. To see if we did, follow us on twitter.

Kate Nash - Under-Estimate The Girl (Video)

Music That Made Me #9 - Foundations - Kate Nash

In terms of musical hierarchy, it would probably be possible to trace back my history of love of female fronted pop to some sort of birth point, but this series is not in any linear order – like rummaging through a pile of clothes at a jumble sale memories are best all muddle and mixed.

So let’s zoom in on the summer of 2006 to the now defunct Electric Gardens Festival in Kent and pick out something from the mountain of memories. It starts with a gang of vibrant, colourful excited teenagers crossing my path as I wait for the days music to begin. One of them in particular bounds chock-full of energy at the head of the pack - a pale skinned flame haired girl in a green dress with a unique flower design. There’s something distinctive and exciting about her but it’s not quite quantifiable.

Twenty minutes later I happened by chance to be at the smallest stage on the site – the Myspace stage – a muddied white canvas marquee that could hold no more than a hundred or so people, to take a punt on whoever was playing there. It was a girl called Kate Nash and as she took to the stage I saw that it was the same girl I’d spotted bouncing across the site just a few minutes before.

Her set was awkward, full of technical difficulties, had a lo-fi d-i-y aesthetic to it and seemed to be mainly watched by a small handful of family and friends. However, underlying it all there was charm, pop melody and a girlish kookiness that hinted at the makings of a British Regina Spektor. I absolutely loved it and it was, despite being what you may expect to be the early afternoon lunch time lull, the highlight of my festival.

After her performance I spoke to Kate to find out if she had any recorded material available, but at the time she was unsigned and told me to listen to her GarageBand demos on Myspace. This was a time when Myspace was at its peak – it was a simple and direct way to communicate with new artists. Alongside another new act that I was enjoying (Adele) I’d occasionally send a message to Kate and she would usually respond. It led me to go and see her at a songwriters showcase in Brighton a few months after Electric Gardens. By this time she’d been signed and was about to release her debut single through Moshi Moshi records. She only played 4 or 5 songs that night but I had fallen in musical love.

The last time I heard from Kate via Myspace was the week her first major label single – Foundations - was released. I messaged her via Myspace to say I thought it was brilliant and that it should get in the UK Top 40 singles. A week later she wrote back “OMG, Foundations is no.2 in the mid-week charts!” Suddenly Kate Nash became a pop star – something to this day I’m not convinced she ever really intended or wanted.

Kate Nash, like quite a proportion of much of the music I like, was derided by the music snobs, yet I maintain that “You said I must eat so many lemons ‘cause I am so bitter, I said I’d rather be with your friends mate ‘cause they are much fitter,” is one of the funniest, cleverest, cockiest and most memorable lyrics in a pop song of the last few years. Kate’s My Fair Lady gawd blimey LDN accent may have irritated the pants off many, but Foundations was an edgy, poignant and brilliantly constructed tune that stood out like a sore thumb in a chart full of R‘n’B footballers wives tosh.

There may have been nothing of Kate Nash’s that that has grabbed me in the same way since and her second album and subsequent live shows have left me feeling exasperated and disappointed, but Foundations will always be my bargain find at the jumble sale.

Kate Nash - My Best Friend Is You

Poor Kate Nash. We gave her a right old bashing recently (here) and so we approach My Best Friend Is You with a high degree of fear. It wasn’t the riot grrrl influences, the aggressive filth that was spouting from her mouth or the personal politics that worried us. It was the fact that our recent gig experience of Ms Nash was of something so amateur, so lacking in quality, that we half expected to compare this album with the proverbial cat being strangled.

Thankfully My Best Friend Is You is not the nightmarish wailing banshee turd we expected. Instead it’s a mixed bag, with a few real turkeys, some so-so’s and a handful of highly likeable pop gems. In places it’s a very angry, foul mouthed, even cathartic sounding album. Certainly nobody could accuse Nash of playing it straight and safe, nor being bland. It widens Nash’s musical palette, skipping from breezy, brassy sixties girl group influenced piano pop ( Kiss That Grrrl, Do-Wah-Doo ) through shouty alt. rock ( I Just Love You More ) to lo-fi weary sounding alt folk (You Were So Far Away) and experimental oddness ( Mansion Song, I’ve Got A Secret). There’s nothing here that will find Nash hitting the heights of the upper reaches of the pop charts for as long as she did with Foundations in 2007, but neither is the record career suicide.

The good include the aforementioned sixties girl group pop songs which bring to mind everything from The Supremes and The Shirelles to the more modern context of The Pipettes first album. Also the pounding hooky Later On and the semi-spoken word Don’t You Want To Share The Guilt - a song that even though it doesn’t have a particular melody or chorus is the highlight of the album. Starting simply with some gentle strumming and xylophone it gradually builds with a throw everything into the kitchen sink production, with Nash hyperventilating a monologue that concludes that she likes to be a noisy lass because she’s got something to say.

There are also a number of songs that the skip button was designed for. The coming out of the closet I’ve Got A Secret takes a nursery rhyme melody and repeats the title of the song ad nauseam over simple drumming and grungy sounding guitar. Quality control went out the window here. If anyone wanted ammunition to shoot Nash down with this would be the song. Likewise Take Me To A Higher Plain takes some folksy hoedown sounds with Kate’s vocal providing a juvenile jump-around-your-bedroom-punk-girl-vocal. It was probably a lot of fun to make, but should have then been locked in a safe marked ‘We had a laugh that day in the studio didn’t we,’ rather than being put out for public consumption.

The most divisive track on the album however is the provocative Mansion Song. First previewed way back in October 2008 at a Moshi Moshi records evening (here), it starts with Nash spitting out the words of a groupie hate poem. “I fancy the hip rock ‘n’ roll scenester, I want to be fucked and then rolled over because I’m an independent woman of the 21st century.” Later she continues “I can get fucked like the best of men.” Then just to maximise shock value she adds “Strip, strip, strip and shag. Fuck and get fucked in drag,” before the music jumps into a C30, C60, C90 percussive lo-fi discovery of Bow Wow Wow. It’s certainly hard hitting and will probably be offensive to some. Whatever your opinion of it, all credit to Nash for at least not complying with female stereotypes. If the use of such strong language is entirely appropriate for any singer, male or female, particularly one who has a relatively young fan base who may follow her as a role model is another matter however.

My Best Friend Is You is hardly the album of the year. It is however in places surprising, interesting and passionate; and contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, it isn’t a complete load of toss.

Kate Nash - Do Wah Doo

Earlier today we posted a pretty scathing review of Kate Nash playing live. She seemed to be experimenting with the idea of career suicide, playing a set that was often angry, edgy and musically rubbish. It was a gig that was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Having put the gun to her head, she has now begun to pull the trigger. In this weeks NME Kate is quoted as saying “Music for me is about sticking it to the man, not shaking hands with him.” Er, aren’t you on a major label Kate ? Haven’t you shaken hands with the man quite a bit ? After all you looked pretty pleased about winning a Brit Award a couple of years back. Later she continues by talking about record companies saying that she thinks they are damaging, because they sell false images -“They invent a bunch of pretty little girls to do something alternative and build up their little indie careers even though they’ve been signed to a major the whole time.” Er, not like when you released your debut ‘alternative’ single Caroline’s A Victim on Moshi Moshi records before releasing Foundations on a major then Kate? It’s a highly embarrassing read and although Kate denies that she has been influenced by her boyfriend Ryan from The Cribs in terms of the music she now likes, it reads as an almost identical agenda to that which he spouted to the NME back in 2007.

Of course Kate has some valid points - the fact that values in music and life in general are important is one that many wouldn’t disagree with. As Public Image Limited once sang “Anger is an energy,” and the opinions that Kate Nash is prepared to give could be used in a constructive way. However, actions speak louder than words and if Kate really wants to stick it to the man, she needs to get off her major label and start putting out her screaming expletive laden songs such as Mansion Song on her own little D-I-Y label. Whilst she’s dancing around dressed as an air hostess in a pop music video financed by a major, she’s hardly the champion of the underdog. Maybe she’s trying to subvert from within, but we suspect if she is, she may soon find herself kicked out.

So Kate Nash we’d love to sit down with you and have a cup of tea and a chat, because you’ve probably got some really great ideals and arguments, and even although we’ve written some very harsh words about you recently, we still really want to like you. But whilst you’re releasing great pop gems like Do Wah Doo with its sexy surfy guitar and sixties harmonies (video below) through a huge corporation, it comes across as your good self who is selling a false image.

Kate Nash @ Brighton Komedia (Review)

Before you read this review of Kate Nash at Brighton Komedia, if you haven't done so yet, read the backstory of our romance with her music here. It places some context on what you will read below. Once you've done that, we can continue.

Sometimes pop stars go bad. Throughout the chapters of pop history we’ve seen it happen. Whether it’s the drugs, the alcohol, the inflated ego, the desire to be experimental and artistic or the influence of the leftfield boyfriend or girlfriend, it’s never a pretty sight or sound. From Robbie Williams commercial failure Rudebox to Kevin Roland of Dexys Midnight Runners wearing a dress and recording an abomination of cover versions, there’s nothing worse than a mainstream pop star going experimental yet forgetting that change must also be of merit, have quality and be engaging. Based on this gig at Brighton Komedia, a low-key warm up show for the forthcoming release of her second album, My Best Friend Is You, Kate Nash is another name to add to the list of pop star casualties. For a good 75% of this gig Nash seems committed to potential career suicide.

Things start well enough, as she bounds on stage in a flurry of black and white, looking like she has just escaped from a Mary Quant fashion shoot. She settles immediately, if slightly breathlessly, into the triumphantly breezy 60’s girl group influenced You'll Never Listen. It’s immediately hooky, catchy and straightforward; a future single in the making. Following up with the playful Pipettes-gone-surfing Doo Wah Do and old single Mouthwash, everything so far seems to be on familiar territory. But as the set develops it becomes very clear that the world Kate has been inhabiting for the last two years – dating Ryan Jarman of The Cribs, reading feminist literature and listening to acts such as Bikini Kill and Sonic Youth, has had a profound negative influence. Kate ditches the piano almost completely to play both electric and bass guitar to a backing that ranges through musical textures of the rough, angry and shockingly amateur. It’s like watching a sixth form band have their first ever jam session in a garage.

Introducing one song as being about “Homophobic pricks” the lyrics are “I’ve got a secret I can’t tell you. You would judge.” And that’s it - just repeated over and over again in a jaded nursery rhyme chant over gravely lo-fi guitars, before she finally adds “Why can’t we be friends, you can’t pretend,” at the end. Considering that Nash has been away for two years you have to wonder what she has been doing with her time. This ‘song’ must have taken all of five minutes to construct. The one line repeated trick is used again on the visceral I Just Love You More, which at least has some energy as a redeeming feature, but leaves most of the audience scratching their heads and longing for Foundations, which never comes.

Unfortunately the Nash vocal just isn’t suited to the material. Whereas bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs or The Pixies ( possible reference points) have a strength of voice that delivers, Nash comes across as a precocious spoilt brat, howling and screaming like a banshee. She’s far better when she’s playing a quiet if lyrically childish ditty that starts by listing all the things she hates ( falling over, grazing her knee) followed by a list of things she likes ( cream teas, strawberries, ghost stories). Although somewhat cringeworthy, at least here her voice is soft, almost come-to-bed seductive and the overall effect is sweetly touching. This is in sharp contrast to the moment when she unleashes a pent up feminist monologue against male rock star behaviour and the audience are barraged with a host of expletives of how she wants to be “fucked” and that “it’s a cold shower and a scramble for a dirty pair of knickers.” She apologises to the fans at the front, explaining that the words are not about her, but it still makes for an intense and uncomfortable listen.

Quite how all of this coarse sound will appear in a recorded form remains to be seen. With Bernard Butler (Duffy, Black Kids etc) at the helm there is some hope that out of this mess will come something coherent and engaging, but on the evidence of this gig it seems that Nash has jumped off the cliff and forgotten her parachute. We commend her for her bravery, but the rudimentary performance and lack of quality in over half of the songs leads to a massive sense of disappointment. Towards the end of the gig Kate suggests that now these songs are the audiences to take and nurture. There don’t seem to be many volunteering to do so. As baffled punters leave the building after very little attempt at demanding an encore, the question being asked is “What on earth was she thinking of?”

A shorter 'remixed' version of this review features at The Dirty South

Kate Nash @ Brighton Komedia (Intro)

A common way to start a review is to set the scene by delivering the back story. It enables context and pulls the reader in, often elaborating on the truth and forgetting the boring details. The back story makes every artist sound interesting, even if the reality is often far from it. So, here’s some context to this gig, for this review could never be impartial and open minded.

It was back in 2006 when we first came across an unsigned Kate Nash propping up the bill on an unsigned bands stage at the now extinct Electric Gardens Festival in Kent. Sitting awkwardly at a piano she bashed out slightly scrappy but charming Spektor meets Allen pop songs. We instantly fell in love with her in the way that all great romances start – you have to forget analysis of why, it just is.

Skip forward a couple of months and following Myspace liaisons we caught up with Nash at a singer songwriter’s event at Brighton Komedia. Kate performed about four songs, including a couple with Peggy Sue. They sealed the deal. Funny, sassy and a little quirky, we were convinced that Kate Nash was going to be a star. One record deal later and Foundations sat at No.2 in the UK pop charts throughout the summer of 2007. Irrespective of your views on Nash, the cocky lyrics “You said I must eat so many lemons ‘cause I am so bitter, I said I’d rather be with your friends mate, ‘cause they are so much fitter,” are if nothing else instantly memorable. Her My Fair Lady gawd blimey LDN enunciation may have annoyed as many as it pleased, but there is no denying that Foundations was an edgily brilliant pop song. Tours and festival appearances followed and all was well.

Yet music history continued to evolve. The odyssey of pop music and fashion is one of stylistic change, with artists being dumped by audiences quicker than Ashley Cole can bed another ‘classy’ lady. And whilst Nash was beavering away with album number two we jumped into bed and romped passionately with Florence and the Machine, Ellie Goulding, Blue Roses, Laura Marling, Little Boots and Marina and the Diamonds to name just a few and enjoyed it a lot.

Then we hear rumours. Rumours that the new Bernard Butler produced Kate Nash album My Best Friend Is You is not very good at all. Worse than that, we hear that it’s a steaming pile of turd. I Just Love You More, a screaming banshee Huggy Bear-esque free download puzzled, whilst the sixties surf guitar and piano pop of debut single proper Do Wah Doo trod more familiar Nash ground, with catchy melodies and hooks. Another rough demo of album track Kiss That Girl displays a fifties / sixties petticoat nostalgia, but the demo is so rough it is impossible to tell what the finished article would sound like. Then there was the new haircut. This is the context, the back story to this review. We try to bring an open mind, but there are niggles. Niggles that we are going to be the Ashley Cole of music blogging -that we are going to fall out of love with Kate Nash and bed up with whoever else we can find. There are niggles that divorce is on the horizon.

We step up to the Komedia in Brighton, four years on from our last romantic rendezvous, with concern furrowed on our brow.

Was there a happy ending ? Well, you'll have to check back here tomorrow.

Kate Nash - I Just Love You More

Here’s the perfect valentine gift for your punk rock girlfriend or boyfriend. It starts with a wail of guitar noise then adds a simple garage rock riff and a straight laced slightly sexy female spoken vocal intoning “I just love you more,” over and over before caterwauling and screaming into the microphone. Repeat for three minutes and that’s pretty much it. Add a few ba ba ba’s and shouts of I love you with some sweaty heavy panting at the end and voila, your angry tattooed suicide girl or boys underwear will be well and truly off. Now consider this question. “Thanks darling, who was that music by? Was it a lost Bikini Kill / Huggy Bear riot girl song? “

Er, no. Unbelievably it’s a new song from Kate Nash. Yes, Kate ‘I-wear-vintage-dresses-and-sit-at-my-piano-eating-cake-and-drinking-tea-whilst-playing-cute-Lily-Allen-Regina-Spektor-pop-songs’ Nash. Of course we all know the girl is all loved up with Ryan from The Cribs, and has been playing some secret shows under a nom de plume 3 piece named The Receeders, but really, did anyone expect this? Well actually yes. When this blog was a developing babe at the back end of 2008 we reviewed a Kate Nash performance (here) and suggested that she had become an indie mentalist and that she could go anywhere with her new material. Now here’s proof of that pudding.

Of course on hearing the name Kate Nash your punk partner will immediately dump you, but consider this; Kate Nash could have started her second album campaign with just more of the same. But instead she has offered up something obtusely non-commercial that if nothing else is going to shock a lot of her fans. Career suicide maybe, but we admire her bravery. Of course the song isn’t the lead single from her forthcoming album, just a taster, that will be left to the potentially seriously annoyingly titled Do Wah Doo, so this track may not tell the whole tale. We blogged recently (here) about the new haircut of the Nasher and how things could go seriously wrong for her because of it, but we’ll wait till the album released in April to decide if our comedy theory is correct.

You can listen for yourself to I Just Love You More by downloading the track for free from the new Kate Nash official website (here) in exchange for your email address until next Monday. Then go chat up a new indie-punk partner, play them this song, get their knickers off, but don’t tell them who the track is by if you want it all.

When Popstars Haircuts Go Bad

Those who have followed Breaking More Waves in its younger forms before it became just another music blog on the internet, will know of our obsession for all things Kate Nash. Yes, we fully understand that there are as many haters of The Nash as there are lovers, but we have been firmly seated in the ‘We Heart Nash’ camp. We’ll even go as far as admitting that we wiped a small tear away when we heard that she had gotten all cosy and hugged up with Ryan out of The Cribs. You know, the one that once declared “The mainstream attitude of indie bands today is a bigger problem than global warming.” Just try telling that to a polar bear.

However with news beginning to spread that The Nashers second album is being readied for release ( and no we are still referring to Kate here rather than a band - although if you live in London you can see Kate play in a real band - a side project called The Receeders - tonight in Hoxton), a wave of panic has set in. Why ? Because the once sweet and charming Nash, all vintage clothes like your granny used to wear and just-got-out of-bed-but-I-still-look-kind-of-sexy red hair has been replaced by a look that we can only describe as robo-indie meets child of Satan. It’s not good. We celebrate change, as creative complacency is dull, but it has to be good change. Just to make it clear. This. Change. Is. Not. Good. Full. Stop.

In the recently taken picture above not only is Kate committing the cardinal sin of wearing a tee-shirt of her boyfriends band, but she sports a haircut that is really not befitting of her.

Which leads us to ponder a hypothesis. When good artists (assuming that you think Nash is a good artist) change their hair, do they go bad ?

In a completely unscientific piece of research (carried out over a 48 hour period with the assistance of Popjustice - see here) the results show a clear correlation. For instance take Bono. Ok, his haircut has always been bad, but as the mullet gave way to long lankness and then baldness set in the music got gradually worse. The Human League were unarguably at their best during the period of Phil Oakey’s asymmetrical haircut and the Dare album, but once he had shaved it all off it went horribly downhill. Another synth pop wizard Howard Jones had a string of Top 20 hits with a spiked up eighties hairdo, then the hair went flat and so did his music. Alanis Morissette cut her hair off, and her record sales plummeted. And of course when Deborah Harry went brown it really was the end. Blondie ? Pah. However sometimes the shift to blonde doesn’t really work either in terms of musical output or commercial success. Just ask Sophie Ellis-Bextor or Shirley Manson from Garbage.

So the evidence does not bode well for Nash. Of course we would never be so shallow to go off someone just because of their haircut, although there is no doubt that the haircut in pop music is part of the package. From punk to pop, from new wave to new folk, the haircut of a musician says something about the character.

We’d never just judge a book by a cover, and will always open up and read inside, but as fans of The Nash, right now we are very concerned about what she is going to deliver in 2010. We shall be watching and listening with interest.

Moshi Moshi 10th Birthday Party @ London Matter

Brands. Everywhere. On your television. On your clothes. On your street. In your record and CD collection.

I like to consider myself a relatively free thinking and open minded individual who is not subject to the marketing mans every whim; but these days it is virtually impossible to get away from some brand expression as part of your personality. And if I had to choose a record label that represented me as a brand then Moshi Moshi would certainly be one of my high level choices. I love Moshi Moshi for its eclecticism, quirkiness, vibrancy and colour that sometimes hits the mainstream and sometimes doesn’t. From the electronic springiness of Hot Chip to adventurous indie rockin’ Bloc Party, Moshi Moshi were there releasing the bands first singles.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary Moshi Moshi took over the prestigious new super club Matter, recently opened by the owners and founders of the almost legendary status Fabric, and threw themselves a bit of a shin dig, with DJ’s and a host of bands.

There has been an incredible amount of publicity about Matter, particularly its vibrating ‘Body Kinetic Dancefloor’ and stylish interior. The club itself, which is part of the 02 Dome complex in Greenwich, feels rather like an industrial space age multi storey car park, heavy on harsh concrete and steel, with exposed services and projections on nearly every service. Although primarily intended as a club, the two room venue can easily function as a gig venue as well. Tonight Moshi Moshi provide a party that goes on till seven in the morning, and a mix of some of its bands past and present.

The venue is still filling up when Kate Nash takes to the stage in a flurry of sequins to kick things off in the smaller of the two rooms. Anyone expecting bitter lemon sucking keyboard pop is in for a shock tonight as Kate dispenses with her piano and for a short while becomes an indie mentalist. Starting with a foul worded poem about groupies, she kicks off her shoes, grabs a megaphone and jumps up and down whilst screaming to distortion. It is a far cry from the heavily produced pop of Pumpkin Soup and Mouthwash. Strapping on a guitar she races through a set which for those looking forward to Foundations etc would disappoint. The only song she plays from her debut album is Birds, a beautiful tender and simple song which deals with the inarticulacy of young love. She also wheels out her very first single, the scrappy opinion dividing Caroline’s A Victim, which was of course released on Moshi Moshi. Half an hour later she thanks Moshi Moshi, flashes her eyes and with a sparkle is gone. Judged on this performance, what Kate Nash does next is anybodies guess.

The Mae Shi open the main room with their physical rock n shout n roll. The band throw out huge multicoloured parachute sheets over the audience to cover them, whilst they bash out their ambitious guttural yet glistening punishing lo fi sound that sounds like the toys are having a riot in the nursery. Guitars growl, keyboards shriek, vocals scream and ears tremble. Run To Your Grave is an electric knife stabbing, withdrawing, and stabbing again, just for fun. Let's get murdered.

Florence from Florence and the Machine arrives on stage in sparkly hot pants, tuxedo, white blouse and bow tie and proceeds to bash hell out of a single drum at the front of the stage before twirling and whirling like a ravaging spinning top. Florence has a big set of lungs that deliver the goods, part soulful, part wailing harpy. Her whole performance seems full of chaotic energy, but it is only when she almost pulls the clothes of her keyboard player and proceeds to have a girl fight on the floor of the stage with her that things seem just a little contrived, having seen her do exactly the same thing last time I saw her play. Having said that her smoking confident tribal melee of sound gets the crowd bouncing, particularly during the controversial turbo charged single Kiss With A Fist which packs the required emotional punch.

Back in room two, Slow Club, the fluffier alt country White Stripes, suffer a few technical problems and endure the fate of a band whose quieter jangling pop songs require a quiet respectful audience, rather than a crowd who have had a few drinks and now fancy a chat. Sporting the first bad moustache of the evening, co vocalist Charles Watson harmonises perfectly with drummer Rebecca Taylor and despite the technical issues they make it to the end with their infectious cuteness.

Infectious cuteness continues with Tilly and the Wall who are becoming a bona fide glittering, tinsel wearing cartoon pop band with added tap dancing. Even a guitarist with another bad moustache cannot stop the joy of current single Beat Control and a surprisingly well received cover version of Erasure’s A Little Respect. They end firing ticker tape into the audience and bouncing off with obvious joy.

It is left to Hot Chip to bring the party to a climax, which they do with ease. Warning that they “Might get a bit punk,” Hot Chip are sounding harder, tougher, funkier and dirtier than ever, with the songs sounding far more exciting than the recorded versions, turning Matter into a full on hands in the air experience from opener One Pure Thought, through Shake A Fist, Over and Over, to Ready For The Floor. The band have to plea to the crowd to take a step back to stop those at the front from being crushed and are even the subject of a couple of celebratory stage invasions. Hot Chip now have justifiable cause to claim the crown as best dance band in the UK.

I wish when I was 10 years old I’d had a birthday party like this. Maybe when I’m 40 instead ? Any takers ?