Choosing the 10 artists in this year’s Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch 2015 has been harder than any previous year. We could have quite easily expanded the list to include artists such as Vaults, Raury, All We Are, Shannon Saunders, Soak, Kacy Hill, Claudia Kane, Ibeyi, Rebecca Clements, Sam Sure, Honne, Black Honey, Billie Marten, Shura and Meanwhile. The number of possible choices shows that music is in very good health in terms of emerging talent.
However the final artist we’ve chosen is UK based singer, songwriter, producer and self-taught multi-instrumentalist Elderbrook (real name Alex Kotz), who first cropped up on Breaking More Waves late in 2013 (around a similar time that other choices such as Laura Doggett and Lapsley did) and has subsequently signed with Black Butter records, home of the likes of Rudimental and Clean Bandit.
The reason for our eventual choice is because of the exciting possibilities this artist offers. The small amount of his music published so far has managed to blend elements of dance, hip-hop, folk, electronica and soul in a way that is both exploratory and yet accessible. Some (including ourselves) have referenced Alt-J as a possible reference point with certain songs (although not the ones we're streaming below) but there’s a sense with his work that he really could go in any direction – categorisation here is pointless. What we do know is that the construction of his songs is fascinating, formed as they are from unusual beats and ideas, but those ideas are never over loaded, Elderbrook let’s his songs grow giving them a very organic and natural feel.
Elderbrook’s debut EP Simmer Down was released at the start of the week. What comes next we’ve no idea, but we’re fascinated to see.
Elderbrook - Could (Video)
Elderbrook - How Many Times
Chløë Black picked up a lot of blog attention with her song 27 Club which many people assumed to be her debut tune, although some Google digging we did for an earlier blog post showed that Chløë isn’t a total newcomer, having previously released under the name Chloe Leighton, as well as having the likes of I Would Never Die For You lurking on the internet and a song that took the same name as the most addictive TV series ever; Breaking Bad.
However, it was 27 Club that really grabbed people’s imaginations (including ours) partially because of the voice, but also the subject material (the 27 Club being a term that refers to musicians who died at age 27 from either suicide or alcohol / drug abuse). Comparisons to Amy Winehouse singing a Lana Del Rey track were inevitable. It seems that there’s more good stuff to come from Chløë with co-writes alongside Justin Parker (yep, another Lana reference, he co-wrote Video Games) and Arcade (who helped produce Iggy Azalea’s Fancy) in the bag.
Big voice. Big tunes. Big possibilities for Chløë Black in 2015? We hope so for the lady who tags her music as 'goth and soul'.
Chløë Black - 27 Club (Video)
Pop music is a funny old beast. Some artists seemingly appear out of nowhere and are immediately everywhere (of course the reality is that they’ve been working at it for a while but just haven’t entered the public arena until they think they’re 100% ready – and that readiness includes getting all the right marketing and promotion tools in place as much as it does having a fully brilliant body of work ready to release) whereas for others there’s a slow drip feed and gradual build of momentum before any sort of significant public recognition is achieved.
Josef Salvat could have easily fitted into the first category, after all he made his first appearance on Breaking More Waves in the first half of 2013and at that stage had already picked up by a number of blogs before us. Yet a year and a half later Salvat still isn’t a household name, far from it, but all the signs are now there that come 2015 there will finally be an album. There’s been a debut EP proper ( In Your Prime) in the later part of 2014, dates supporting one of last year’s Ones To Watch Banks on her short UK tour and his own smaller scale tour next year already booked, so it finally seems things are pushing forward.
Yet irrespective of if Salvat becomes a household name or not, all the signs are there that his album might just be the sort of lyrically intimate but musically euphoric pop to cherish. From the self-destructive lyricism of Hustler (below) to the dramatic and poised Shoot And Run, Salvat appears to know how to write a classy tune.
Josef Salvat - Hustler (Video)
Josef Salvat - Diamonds (Cover)
Having gate crashed the internet this summer with OctaHate, Ryn Weaver got a number of music commentators on the world wide web pretty worked up. Why? Because it seemed there was some serious industry backing in the promotion of the song. Benny Blanco, Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos and Cashmere Cat produced the track, Charli XCX co-wrote it and the likes of Jessie Ware, Hayley Williams and Tom Krell of How To Dress Well all quickly tweeted about it shortly after it was released. The words “manufactured pop act,” were the words that came to many minds, a concept that here at Breaking More Waves we couldn’t care less about . We’re don’t carry the same mindset as Nottingham singer Jake Bugg, who once told The Sunday Times "Manufactured pop bands, they don't have any heart, they don't have any soul. It's really sad for me, when you work hard at what you do with your guitar, and then you pop the radio on and it's like some weird trumping sound coming out of it.” This of course was said by a man who doesn’t even use his real name to perform under and whose debut album was co-written with a number of hired co-writers, including one who has written Kylie Minogue and Liberty X. Maybe we need to have a conversation about the word manufactured Jake.
Our point is this. In this day and age arguing about the process of manufacturing and authenticity in rock and pop is a bit silly. Pop has always been about collaboration. Even the most ‘real’ or ‘authentic’ band will often use an engineer and / or producer in the studio to help them create the best recorded sound – this in itself is a manufacturing process. What is so inherently bad about collaboration? Any artist that thinks that they have all the talent themselves and don’t need help from others has a very high self-deluded opinion of themselves or really are bloody good. Some are good singers, some good song-writers, some good performers, some good producers. But very few are all of these on their own.
So we come back to Ryn Weaver. Her debut EP was the product of many talents. It was that collaboration that produced a recording of quality pop. But one excellent EP is very different to a brilliant album or a long term career. It’s why Ryn Weaver has to be One to Watch in 2015, can she (and whoever she works with) deliver the goods time and time again? Time will tell.
Ryn Weaver - OctaHate (Video)
Most of the acts listed on Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch list have already featured on the site at some point over the last year or so, many of them a number of times, the list effectively being a summary of some of the best acts we’ve featured who we think are going to go on to a prosperous 2015 either creatively, commercially or both. A large number of the acts featured were originally introduced under our New Waves feature.
However today’s pick is the exception to the rule. With a debut single titled Nashville Grey Skies it probably doesn’t take much brain power to deduce that The Shires play country music. However, the spelling of grey should also give a big clue to the nationality of this duo. They don’t come from Tenessee or Texas but from Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire in the UK, hence the name. The Shires music is rooted in the traditional sounds of country, but they give it their own UK twist as they sing of gin and tonic and village greens.
With a groundswell of popularity for country music over the last few years in the UK with acts like First Aid Kit and Caitlin Rose finding sizeable audiences and with Taylor Swift becoming one of the most talked about stars worldwide (albeit now with a move to pop) The Shires could be next in line. This is a band with an ability to connect to trad-country fans with those simple old fashioned virtues of strong songs and an ability to play live. They have a chance of not only finding a loving in audience in their homeland, but in the same way that the UK took black r’n’b and rock n roll music from America in the 50’s and sold it back to the States with its own UK twist, The Shires could do so with country in 2015.
The Shires are Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes and signed to Decca Records early in 2014. They have so far released 2 singles and The Green Note EP, which got to number 1 in the iTunes Country charts. The EP includes a cover of Reef’s Place Your Hands that transforms that beast of a song into a thing of pristine beauty. They won’t be lighting up the blogosphere, getting approval from Zane Lowe, and the so called tastemakers will probably sneer at their ‘uncoolness’, but for those who like country music, aren’t concerned with trends or fashion and just like good songs (Nashville Grey Skies is a real earworm - you've been warned) whatever the genre, keep an ear out for The Shires.
The Shires - Nashville Grey Skies (Video)
The Shires - Young Hearts (Cover)
Our fifth one to watch for 2015 is another artist who, like earlier choice Laura Doggett, first appeared on Breaking More Waves at the back end of 2013 with a song that still stops us in our tracks; the calm perfection of Station. At the time we posted Station it had just a few hundred plays. Now it has over half a million.
When Station was uploaded to Soundcloud, sailing enthusiast Holly Lapsley Fletcher was just a d-i-y artist recording at home on GarageBand . Very few people could have had any idea that this song was part of the beginning of a journey that would, over the course of the next 12 months, lead her to play Glastonbury Festival on the BBC Introducing stage as her second ever electronic gig and sign with XL Records, the home of diverse artists such as Adele, FKA Twigs and Jungle.
Låpsley has grown from making songs created from simple acoustic guitar loops to beautifully crafted pieces that encompass downtempo electronica, ambient and on Falling Short, a song about the complexities of relationships and not being able to hold on, elements of jazz and soul but all played with a very modern experimental edge.
Her debut EP Understudy is being released on January 5th next year. Her journey is only just beginning and for that reason she has to be one to watch for 2015. What roads will she take next and where will they lead?
Låpsley - Station (Video)
In a Ones to Watch 2015 list that this year focuses heavily on solo artists, Bristol born five piece Coasts are the first (and only) indie rock band to be listed. Having formed in 2011 Coasts have been on a gradual upward trajectory due to their ability to deliver hooky anthems that sit very comfortably in the collections of those who own records by the likes of Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, Saint Raymond, Sons & Lovers and Foals. Songs such as Oceans (4,000,000+ plays on Soundcloud and counting) and A Rush Of Blood have become not only firm internet favourites, but the band have developed a decent live following as well. Next year they’ve already been confirmed for SXSW in Austin, Texas and with their big sound we can easily imagine Coasts being adored at 2015’s UK summer festivals. Their debut album is scheduled for 2015 and let's face it, as a blog called Breaking More Waves, based by the sea, we had to include a band called Coasts on this list didn't we?
Coasts - A Rush Of Blood (Video)
Coasts - Lions
If there’s a common theme connecting a number of our Ones to Watch for 2015 it’s one simple thing – great voices. Here’s another one. Brighton’s Rory Graham, who goes by the name of Rag ‘n’ Bone Man has a voice that gets you inside. Richly soulful and gutsy it’s already led us to proclaim his 2014 EP Wolves as the best free to download recording of the year. Whilst evidently seeping himself in blues influences from the past his music is no simple revivalist project; listening to Wolves and previous releases Put That Soul On Me and Bluestown you’ll hear hip hop, funk, pop, gospel and even some wild-west styled country ballads. Rag ‘n’ Bone man can do all of this, because he has the tonsils and lungs to deliver.
Having already featured a couple of times on Breaking More Waves in October Rag ‘n’ Bone Man recently told Hunger website that he’s been “sitting in a room in South London with no windows making music with my pals, drinking loads of coffee and smoking cigarettes.” He’s also starting to get out a bit though, supporting Kate Tempest and playing a number of headline shows this month, one of which in his home city of Brighton had to be upgraded due to demand for tickets.
On the basis of what we’ve heard and seen so far we’re convinced that given the right exposure Rag ‘n’ Bone man could well be finding himself with an army of fans before 2015 is out, but even if he doesn’t, if future releases match up to his recorded work so far he has to be one to listen (and therefore watch out for) in 2015.
Rag 'N' Bone Man - Guilty
Swedish soul pop singer and self-confessed Beyoncé fan-girl Seinabo Sey shares a number of similarities with Laura Doggett, our first One to Watch for 2015. Both artists have incredible moving voices – deep, powerful and reminiscent of many classic artists of the past and both appeared recently on the same episode of Later With Jools. Laura even tweeted her love of Seinabo after the show. Each artist has also been around for a while, but has only really begun to grow in stature in the UK in 2014 - Sey’s song Younger had already been a Top 20 hit in Sweden in 2013. However, it’s 2015 where we might find the 24-year old artist who has spent part of her life in her father’s home of Gambia, becoming a household name worldwide.
Reports from her recent show at the Basement of the Edition Hotel in London (a show which found Frank Ocean in attendance and James Blake DJing) suggest that live Sey’s voice is able to win over even the hardest cynic.
We’re wondering how long it will be before this Beyoncé fan-girl has Beyoncé as a fan. If she continues to deliver the songs in 2015, it can’t be long. We're naming Seinabo as One to Watch because we think she might just grab commercial success and she's brilliant as well.
Seinabo Sey - Rather Be (Cover) (Video)
Seinabo Sey - Younger
We open our Ones to Watch for 2015 with an artist that almost sneaked in on last year’s list. Laura Doggett’s name and music has been floating around for a few years now with a past place on the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition longlist (her selection was by the now defunct Illegal Tender blog) and being a finalist of the Next Brit Thing, a national music competition for 11-19 year olds backed by the UK music industry, The BRIT Awards and the government. Her first appearance on Breaking More Waves was under our ‘New Waves’ introducing feature in December 2013.
However, it wasn’t until July 2014 that music blogs really started to take notice of Laura when the Sohn produced Phoenix hit the internet, a track which we described as ‘astonishingly good.’ Whilst Phoenix is full of edgy minimalistic beats and looped effects we suspect as time pans out and Laura releases more material we’ll find her songs sit far more in the genre of classic singer songwriter than edgy leftfield pop. She’s already cited the likes of Tracy Chapman and Annie Lennox as artists that she admires and this gives us a hint of what may be forthcoming. Her voice, which has a tone deep from the heart, sits well alongside those reference points. Her live gigs, which have included supports with Sohn himself as well as John Newman have demonstrated how well her voice stands up to scrutiny.
Laura has a debut LP scheduled for May 2015 and plays a very special show by candlelight at the intimate oak chambers of the Sam Wannamaker Playhouse in January. Many more shows are sure to follow.
In an age when thanks to Simon Cowell the words Britain’s Got Talent can mean very little, Laura Doggett is reclaiming them back from his grasp. It’s because of this talent that we’re naming Laura as our first of ten ones to watch in 2015.
Laura Doggett - Phoenix (Video)
Laura Doggett - Moonshine (Jakwob Remix)
Over the next 10 days we’ll be publishing Breaking More Waves 10 Ones to Watch for 2015.
Of the artists chosen, the vast majority will be of no surprise to regular readers. This list is effectively a summary of many of the emerging music makers that we’ve featured on previous Breaking More Waves posts in the last year or so who we are taking guess on as worth keeping an ear and eye out for in 2015, although not necessarily because all of these artists will become big commercial hitters (although we hope that some of them do). There will however be one artist that we’ve not yet featured to date, just to keep you on your toes.
We've been asked by a number of people this year why do we publish this list so early? After all it’s still only November. 2015 is still a distance away. So this post provides an explanation of why:
1. Other Polls - Particularly The Blog Sound Poll
Over the December and January period there will no doubt be many Ones to Watch / Sound of type features cropping up on websites, blogs and the in media in general including of course the much debated BBC Sound of 2015 poll and the lesser known Blog Sound of Poll. As one of the organisers of the Blog Sound Poll we get to see every vote that is submitted by participating bloggers. Therefore we could be influenced by those votes in publishing our list and we very much want to make this list our own. So we write our list and the associated posts in October before the Blog Sound Poll voting starts, publishing in November around the time the voting nears completion.
2. Music Blogging Sometimes Has To Take A Back Seat
During late November / early December, with the exception of a small handful of posts, we take a few weeks off from writing the blog for personal reasons. Whilst we’ve got our blogging feet up (don’t worry – we’re very busy elsewhere, we’re not just lounging around eating mince pies, smoking a pipe and drinking fine sherry - there's a day job, family and friends to think about) the blog itself remains active, publishing first our Ones To Watch and then Albums of 2014 posts, one a day. They're all pre-written. We have to start publishing in November to fit it all in. Sure we could just do one post and do one big list, but we like the idea of a drip feed - something for regular readers to catch up on for a few minutes each day.
3. Signing Off A Year With A Bunch Of Lists Feels Good - A Sense Of Achievement
We could really publish a Ones To Watch post at any point in the year, looking forward to the next twelve months, but as we get close to the closedown of one year and start of another it feels nice to bookmark that time with these lists and enables us to take the time off described.
4. Tradition
It’s become a bit of a tradition for us to publish this list every year around this time and go early with it. Want to see who we selected previously? There’s been a fair few big hitters, including the likes of Florence & The Machine, Mumford & Sons, Marina & The Diamonds, Ellie Goulding, Chvrches, Haim, James Blake, Lana Del Rey, Charli XCX and James Blake. Anyone remember Visions of Trees or Yes Giantess though? The full lists are below.
We’ll be publishing our first one to watch for 2015 at 9.30am today and then one will follow every day at 8.30am GMT until all ten have been published. The one rule for this year is that every artist must not have had a UK top 40 hit single before the list is published.
The Previous Ones To Watch Lists In Full
Ones to Watch 2009 (10 artists)
La Roux, Little Boots, Passion Pit, Yes Giantess, White Lies, Skint & Demoralised, Alessi’s Ark, Florence & The Machine, Mumford & Sons, Marina & The Diamonds
Ones to Watch 2010 (10 artists)
Ellie Goulding, Hurts, Beth Jeans Houghton, Unicorn Kid, Delphic, Clare Maguire, Stornoway, Mirrors, Holly Miranda, Clock Opera
Ones to Watch 2011 (10 artists)
Clare Maguire (2nd nomination after failing to release anything in 2010), James Blake, Misty Miller, The Vaccines, Starsmith, Let’s Buy Happiness, The Milk, D/R/U/G/S, Visions Of Trees, Spark
Ones to Watch 2012 (15 artists)
Lucy Rose, Spector, Alabama Shakes, Foxes, Dot Rotten, Lianne La Havas, Lana Del Rey, Willy Moon, Michael Kiwanuka, Queen Of Hearts, The Staves, Ren Harvieu, Outfit, Charli XCX, Rachel Sermanni
Ones to Watch 2013 (15 artists)
Chvrches, Haim, Gabrielle Aplin, Savages, Chasing Grace, Tom Odell, Sons & Lovers, Avec Sans, Laura Mvula, Curxes, Matt Corby, The Night VI, Luke Sital-Singh, Valerie June, Alice Jemima
Ones to Watch 2014 (10 artists)
Wolf Alice, Chloe Howl, Sophie Jamieson, Jungle, Flyte, Mononoke, George Ezra, Banks, Eva Stone, Iyes
Stay tuned as we publish one post a day for the next 10 days, including at the weekend.
