If the late great John Peel was still with us, I wonder what he would think of music today? In particular, as a champion of non-professional ‘bedroom musicians’, making music just for the pleasure of it, the highlight of their ‘careers’ being a play on his show, would he have been excited about the way that technology has enabled virtually anyone with a laptop to have a go? After all Peel always found the near amateurism of many of the acts he played charming – something that set him apart from all of his peers. Somewhere back in the past that’s where Alex Crossan aka Mura Masa started. Just a kid with some technology, possibly in his bedroom, living on an island not particularly known for its huge musical heritage (Guernsey), working out what to do, what worked, what he liked and then developing it. Peel would have liked that part. But now Mura Masa is way beyond that. He’s had over 20 million streams on Soundcloud, appeared on plenty of Ones To Watch 2016 lists including Breaking More Waves own, the BBC Sound of 2016 (5th place) and the Blog Sound of 2016 (1st place). Peel wouldn’t have been bothered about any of that for sure, but still I’d like to think that he liked where Mura Masa had come from. Now here's a new tune from Alex. What If I Go? finds Mura Masa defining his sound further; it’s a track that skips, struts, jumps and then fully bounces its way across the dancefloor full of immediate cocksure goodness. Add in a neat soulful hook sung by Bonzai (who you’ll find on his own label Anchor Point) and you’ve got yourself a tune that’s good enough to satisfy the cool kids who want their music to have enough exotic interest for a deeper listening experience, but also for those who just want to get off their faces, have a good time and dance dance dance.
Cast your mind back to the beginning of December and you may remember a post about the Blog Sound of 2016. It's an annual poll of a selection of UK music bloggers that asks each blog to select their 3 favourite emerging acts, ranked in order, with their favourite scoring three points, then two and one. From that poll a longlist of 15 artists was produced, each of the 15 being those that received the most points. Today the top 5 acts that received the most votes have been revealed and they are: 1st Mura Masa
2nd The Japanese House
3rd Aurora
4th Aquilo
5th Loyle Carner
Mura Masa is the first male solo artist to top the Blog Sound poll and follows in the footsteps of Lapsley, Banks, Marika Hackman, Haim and Friends all of whom garnered the most points in previous years. From Breaking More Waves perspective I’m pleased with these results as all of these artists have been featured on the blog over the last couple of years, and three of them (Mura Masa, Aurora and Loyle Carner) were in my own Ones to Watch list. In fact of those 3, I chose 2 of them for my own 3 votes for this poll. To see Breaking More Waves own 10 Ones To Watch click here. To see all of the main UK tips lists combined into 1 to see who most people are tipping have a look at this post on Music Ally here.
Of course we know there’s still 22 days of 2015 left, which theoretically means that our favourite song of the year could yet to be released, but experience tells us that’s pretty damn unlikely (although Låpsley came close in December 2013 with Station). So without further ado, here are the 5 songs that have made us laugh the most, cry the most and most importantly, dance the most. There's been a lot of dancing. Song Of The Year - Petite Meller – Baby Love What we said in January 2015: “One of the brightest things about pop music is its occasional ability to dazzle by throwing in the unexpected and for it all to make sense and be utterly brilliant. Such is the new video and song from French singer Petite Meller, who up to now has been skirting around the edges but never hitting the bullseye. That all changes with new tune Baby Love which throws in giraffes, big hats, flamingo impressions, dancing and saxophone playing children and music that hits the ‘it’s good to be alive’ button with some force. If you watch this and don’t feel deliriously happy afterwards then something is seriously wrong. We're handing the award for best pop video January 2015 to Petite Meller right now”
The Runners Up Oh Wonder – Landslide What we said in July 2015: “We’re sorry, but all of you geology boffins are going to be a little disappointed, because the song isn’t anything about an earth movement that leads to the triggering of a ground failure in a downwards direction. Instead, it’s a soothing and infinitely pretty tune of comfort and friendship, effectively saying ‘keep your chin up,’ but in a rather more sensitive way than that.”
Mura Masa ft Nao – Firefly What we said in November 2015: "Take one listen to Firefly (one of the underground pop songs of 2015) and you’ll understand. He makes crisp, glitchy, electronic dance music that has one eye on the dancefloor, one eye on the headphones and one eye on the pop arena. Oh, that’s three eyes, but that’s the point. Mura Masa does things just that little bit differently."
Oh Wonder – White Blood What we said in June 2015: "We live in an internet enabled world that seems to become ever more callous, ever more judgemental, ever more unhopeful. Listen to this song. Go and hug someone. Tell them that you love them. For without hope and love we’re lost. This tune will make you feel that love."
Public Service Broadcasting – The Other Side What we said in August 2015: "The Other Side just oozes atmosphere, with the mounting tension in Mission Control becoming the central force of the piece. Despite the professional and controlled delivery from the announcer, you can hear the joy in his voice as Apollo 8 re-establishes contact and the music perfectly matches that happiness as it gushes forward in celebratory style. Absolutely brilliant and surprisingly emotional."
If you follow us on Twitter (here) you might have noticed that we’ve been dropping subtle hints about a number of the acts that will feature on the Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch 2016 list over the last few months. A case in point is Mura Masa who we excitingly described as the sound of the future in October. Welcome to that future. Mura Masa is an electronic producer (real name Alex Crossnan) who originally hails from Guernsey but more recently has been based in Brighton. He’s hit all the right ‘tastemaker’ blogs, had a feature in the Guardian’s New Band of the Week column, had the support of BBC Radio 1 and has collaborated with the likes of yesterday’s One to Watch Nao as well as Breaking More Waves favourite and BBC Sound of 2015 nominated artist Shura. But all of that means nothing if in the real world people don’t like his music – but they clearly do – and we do to. His set in the Invaders of the Future new acts tent at this year’s Bestival was the busiest we saw the place, and just a few weeks ago his gig in a dark sweaty basement club in Brighton already felt way too small for him. We could easily see Mura Masa ‘doing a Disclosure’ and taking his laptop generated music to much bigger spaces. What makes Mura Masa so good? Take one listen to Firefly (one of the underground pop songs of 2015 - featuring yesterday's pick Nao) and you’ll understand. He makes crisp, glitchy, electronic dance music that has one eye on the dancefloor, one eye on the headphones and one eye on the pop arena. Oh, that’s three eyes, but that’s the point. Mura Masa does things just that little bit differently. He takes sounds that shouldn’t work together and bundles them together in one exciting flow of interest. It’s not often you’ll hear slow mournful strings on a dance track, but Alex throws them in alongside a command to ‘let me see your lighters’, and Shura’s beautiful vocal to create something that works on a whole variety of levels. If he can keep up this standard in 2016 he’s got to be one watch. That’s why he’s on this list. Mura Masa - Firefly (featuring Nao)
Are you prepared for this? Mura Masa is undeniably one of the men of the moment, his internet popularity turning into real life physical demand - at this year’s Bestival his Invaders of the Future set was one of the busiest on that stage of the weekend for a new artist. Of course the trouble with living in the moment is that the moment passes – 'now' eventually becomes yesterday. But let’s not worry about that at this point, because sometimes artists have the ability (if they want it) to create more than just one 'now'. If you like what Mura Masa has done so far then new track, Love For That is everything you could possibly ask for and even more. The more comes in the form of Shura, an artist that has managed to create her fair share of moments so far, from her original 'night folk' sounds, first featured on Breaking More Waves back in 2011, through to her more soft-rocking electronic disco pop that got the blogs quivering with excitement and a place on the last BBC Sound Of list. If you were a musical cook then the Mura Masa / Shura recipe (let’s call them Shura Masa) would surely be the signature dish at your latest on the money restaurant - just listen to it; there are strings, there’s Shura’s beautiful calming vocal, there’s groove, there’s even a call to see those lighters. Tasty. Mura Masa - Love For That (featuring Shura)
