Rizzle Kicks - That's Classic

It’s as easy to dislike Rizzle Kicks as it is to like them. After all, the UK rap duo worked with Olly Murs. But get past that and what you have is a pop act that has had huge commercial success in the last couple of years. The reason for the success? Hooky tracks, their own style, a cheeky charm, wit, energy and an exhausting work ethic that finds them with their second album already in the bag and this new track That’s Classic rolled out to the world wide web last night. It immediately positions itself alongside Down With The Trumpets, Mamma Do The Hump and When I Was A Youngster as another earworm. If you’re a hater it’s unlikely to change your mind, but if like us their infectious De La Soul referencing sound says more to you about your life than many of the US based rap acts (Jay-Z and Kanye have yet to rap about Earl Grey for example) then we think you’re bound to enjoy this one as well.

Taken from an album called Roaring 20’s, Rizzle Kicks grab that decades music (the 20's suddenly seeming to be in vogue with The Great Gatsby movie and the music of the new UK Cadbury's Marvellous Creations chocolate advert also taking reference), give a nod to Harry Potter and use some old school grooves to produce another song that (assuming there’s an edit to delete the swearing) sounds like it will soon be all over UK radio.

Rizzle Kicks - That's Classic

First to the Post – Our Perspective on New Music Blogging ‘Firsties’

Over the last few months we’ve read (and have voiced) criticisms concerning the speed-rush amongst bloggers to post about an act or a song. We’ve hinted and suggested that there are too many blogs scurrying to upload to the web with absolutely no opinion, no voice, nothing of any interest or context to say about the music and with nothing in the post to entertain or interest the reader. Why visit a blog if it’s not adding a little bit of value in some way? All the blogs we enjoy don’t necessarily post music that we like all the time (everyone has slightly different taste) but we still visit those blogs because we value their voice and words.

Yet today we’re almost contradicting ourselves and explaining why for us, in certain situations, being the first is still a little bit important.

This is our own personal take. But to get more than a tunnel vision of things we canvassed the opinion of music bloggers on Twitter for their thoughts on being ‘first past the post’. Their views were many and varied and gave us food for thought, but ultimately haven’t changed our own ideas which we’ve set out below.

Our view is this: Being first is sometimes important to certain blogs including Breaking More Waves  – but only in our case as long as we’re providing some commentary of value and the first is our own 'natural' discovery found without assistance. 

But readers for the most part don’t care if we’re first or fifteenth. It's just a personal thing for us.

For example this week’s most read post by a country mile was our piece on Chvrches new song Recover, which we posted after plenty of blogs had already written about it. The reason it was our most read? Because people liked what we wrote and shared it via social media platforms, increasing traffic way above what a high Google search place or being first on Hype Machine would achieve.

So why, despite this example, is it important to us to sometimes be the first to discover something? There are two reasons and a lot of it hinges on the type / method of discovery.

First there’s the ego. Ultimately our ego is pretty huge (basically we think we’re a.m.a.z.i.n.g, sexy and pretty damn great) so it really doesn’t need feeding, but a little top up is nice now and then. As a blogger dealing in ‘the new’ sometimes there’s a small sense of pride and purpose in being able to say “hey this is really new and I am the first person to bring it to a wider audience.” Building a sense of ridiculous self-importance is kind of fun, as long as it remains just fun and we don’t begin to arrogantly believe that we really are the world’s greatest champion of new artists. “Look at me, see how on the case I am. You don’t need to listen to anyone else, just listen to what I have to say because I am the new music game changer.  In fact I’m going to change my blog name to The Tastemaker.” Nobody likes that level of smugness. But every now and then being the first to discover a new act or song and write about it feels great for us. Not everyone feels that way, but we do. Sorry, we can’t help what we feel. It’s just built in to our personality. We liken it to how John Peel must have felt, playing a record that hardly anyone had heard before on the radio. It excites.

But here’s the key point. When we use the word discover, there are different routes of discovery. We’re not talking about being the first to copy and paste some code a PR company has sent and claiming to be the first to discover the band. That type of discovery doesn’t mean anything to us. It’s not really what we would classify as genuine discovery. Sure the music may be great and worthy of getting excited about, but in terms of getting a real buzz and sense of satisfaction we’re talking about natural, unforced, organic discovery of great new artists, through means that aren’t led by the music industry or the artist themselves. That’s what personally gives us a sense of pride. As several bloggers told us on twitter, long searches through Bandcamp and Soundcloud may be time consuming, but like mining, when you hit gold it’s a thrilling experience.

Of course such discovery takes time. We’ve said this before and will continue to do so for a long time yet, but it’s the reason why many of the best ‘discoverers’ of new music are either students, the unemployed or those paid to carry out the function. Time rich = more chance of great discovery. Basically the longer you fish the better chance you have of getting a bite. Most of the best new music discovery blogs don’t have some innate skill at discovering great new music; they just have a better chance statistically.

For the rest of us, it’s often just a case of striking lucky now and then. Two of our favourite discoveries of the last two years have been the sweetly gorgeous Alice Jemima and the abrasive electronic blitz of Curxes (although Curxes have a softer and equally gorgeous side that has yet to be fully revealed), both of whom we found by chance (not through the inbox) and started writing about only to find that slowly and surely a lot of other bloggers (particularly UK based ones) came on board as well, leading to both acts becoming two of the Top 15 most blogged acts on Hype Machine in 2012 by UK bloggers. This has meant exposure and opportunities for both artists, something which we’re hugely proud of having been part of at the beginning.

Also (and again this is largely due to the ego and pretty much everyone ultimately wanting to be liked) it’s great when you’re the first to post about an act and that act responds to you with huge appreciation. “There’s nothing better than a brand new band going crazy over the fact you’ve written about them,” Josh from the excellent Crack in the Road blog told me, and he’s right. In fact Crack in the Road is a blog that prides itself on new music discovery. “A fairly high proportion of Crack in the Road posts are ‘first discovery’ pieces, and that’s where most of the traffic goes to,” Josh explained. It’s therefore no surprise to find that Josh also says that he gets a kick from being the first to find a band; however he also explained to me that he doesn’t understand the hype around being the first to post something from an already established act. It’s an observation we’d agree with, but that’s because being the first to post on an established band is more about your ability to cut and paste code quickly than hours of trawling to unearth new treasures organically.

And so there you have it; some simple reasons why sometimes we like to be first. In summary

1. It boosts our ego. (Although it's already big enough)

2. It makes us feel like we’re good at what we do (discovering new music).

3. It gives us pleasure to see those artists that we were first to discover and write about then grow their careers.

4. But most of all we love the thanks that comes from those artists that we post first about.

Of course for the masses that don’t write a new music blog (and for some that do as well) who is first is irrelevant. As one of our twitter followers (@Colourofbone) told us in less than 140 characters “No one cares. It’s an irrelevant badge and most people think anyone who boasts that sounds like a knob.” But then maybe they don’t write a blog and don’t know the effort and therefore pride that goes into discovering something great and new. When someone’s proud of something it’s sometimes hard to be humble about it.

To finish here’s a tale from a few months ago. Rizzle Kicks, a duo who have had big commercial success in the UK and are an act that we supported when Down With The Trumpets was just at demo stage, tweeted us out of the blue to say that they had never forgotten our early support. That tweet gave us a warm glow for the rest of the day - it encapsulated all of the reasons why for us; sometimes being the first to discover and post is important*

 *Even though in this case we weren’t the first! According to Hype Machine A New Band A Day got there way before us with Rizzle Kicks!

Rizzle Kicks - Earl Grey

Rizzle Kicks - Nasty

The rise of Rizzle Kicks in the UK has been phenomenal, the band managing to become bona fide pop stars playing gigs to sold-out screaming crowds of girls (and boys). But if you think their quick-fire delivery would be better suited to some old school hip-hop vibes rather than hanging round with Olly Murs and sampling the likes of Ed Sheeran and Jessie J then this new track will push your buttons. For non-album track Nasty sounds more in homage to Public Enemy (it's actually Nas)  than anything that might fancy its chances at being top of the pops. With Harley’s soft soulful vocals noticeably absent it’s left to Jordan to deliver Rizzle Kicks cheeky banter  “Guns are sexy but when I saw your mum was the only time I had a semi-automatic,” he raps. Naughty.

“Thought you guys lost it and went all commercial, safe to hear this,” comments one person on their Soundcloud player, showing that maybe snobbery is alive and well in every genre of music from pop to indie to hip-hop. 

Rizzle Kicks - Nasty

Top 5 Tracks of 2011 (Final Post of 2011)

This is the final post on Breaking More Waves for 2011. It’s time to close down, get the mulled wine hot and wafting vapour through the house, put Phil Spector’s cracking A Christmas Gift for You on and forget about the world of new music for a while.

Thank you very much if you’ve visited, read what we’ve written and listened to the music that has been featured on the blog in 2011. We’ve had a great time curating and creating it. Just the other day someone said to us that “Breaking More Waves is like going down the pub for a chat and a laugh with your best music-obsessed friend,” and for us that is the biggest compliment. This blog may not be the biggest, the coolest, the classiest or even have the best ‘taste’ ( the worlds sneering self-appointed realmusic (yes it's one word now) fans must have the best taste, because according to their book My Taste Is Better Than Your Taste Because I Said So, they said so and therefore must be right). But we’re proud of what we’ve created. Our success is just finding time to post 435 times this year (that’s the equivalent of a medium sized 400 page novel) against a background of a life that primarily revolves around family, children, full time employment many miles away from music or writing and a busy and active social life.

Our next post will be on 1st January 2012 and then on the 2nd we’ll be revealing the Top 5 artists in the Blog Sound of 2012 poll. Then for the next few days after that we’ll be introducing you to a whole bunch of new bands and artists in our New Waves feature, a number of which have had little or any UK based blog coverage. As January rolls on we’ll also be getting argumentative in a new feature, one that we’ve already sneakily started (here) called In Defence Of. It will be our regular ‘down the pub having a good old debate with friends about a musical issue’ post. We might even try and defend some pretty non-defendable subjects, like why Matt Cardle deserved to win the Guardian Readers album of the year poll. (Basically in summary, he deserved to because most people voted for him and that is what a poll is about. It doesn't mean it's 'the best' album, just that more people voted. That's democracy dear Guardian, so don't get all snobbish and claim as you have that PJ Harvey was 'the moral victor' because you invented the rules for the poll and a bunch of people felt passionate enough about Cardle (or joined in the fun for other reasons) to follow those rules and make him win. There was nothing immoral about that.

Incidentally, the Breaking More Waves album of 2011 was Last by The Unthanks but no one else seems to think so according to the polls - but it's still 'the best' to us. That's taste for you Guardian, we're all different, there's no right or wrong and those who are congratulated for having excellent taste are normally only congratulated by those with similar tastes.

More of that in 2012, but for now it’s time to press pause. Have a really happy Christmas and a brilliant New Year. We’ll be back on Jan 1st, but if you really can’t wait till then why not follow us on Twitter, right here or see what we're listening to on Last Fm here?

We’ll leave you with 5 songs that we’ve featured on Breaking More Waves that you could loosely term our tracks of the year. In choosing them we have made no attempt to look back at what we have featured on the blog in case we missed something, but just chosen the songs that have stayed with us all year, and that we'll remember as being very much part of our 2011. We're not saying they're the best, just the ones that made our own personal 2011 a little special.

Lana Del Rey – Video Games

It wasn’t just about hype. The hype wouldn’t have existed if the song wasn’t utterly affecting.

Lana Del Rey - Video Games

Rizzle Kicks – Down With The Trumpets

Our ‘told you so’ track of the year.

Down With The Trumpets by Rizzle Kicks

Alice Jemima – Red Coat

Holed away somewhere in Devon a virtually unknown young singer songwriter created this effortlessly sweet summery sounding pop song. It was love on first listen.

Alice Jemima - Red Coat (new version)

Nicola Roberts – Beat Of My Drum

In our game of good pop bad pop, this was very very good.

The Milk – All I Wanted Was (Danger)

“Get ready. Press play. Get your dancing shoes on. Brilliant.” That’s what we said of The Milk then. We couldn’t agree more now.

See you in 2012. Over and out.

The Saturday Surf #24

Night draws in for the Saturday Surf. This is the last one for 2011. We’re giving this feature a little rest until the New Year, but it will be back in January. Next week also sees the last ever Music That Made Me post. That will be on Monday, and will include some conclusions and thoughts that wrap the whole series up.

We have some new features planned for 2012, but as we soon dive into late November /December the blog will be taken over by our Ones to Watch for 2012 and a post by post run down of our ten favourite albums of the year. Then we’ll have a break for Christmas and all being well the site will be back up and running on New Years’ Day 2012. Yes, this feels like the downhill stretch at the end of a music blogging marathon. Year on year we’ve increased the amount of posts on the blog to the point where we’ve gone way beyond hitting the blogging wall and we reckon a rest is well deserved. Of course there's still more to come in November, but as we ease up to the finishing tape there will be a slight slow down in blog posting before we sprint for the line in the last month.

So without further ado, here is the final Saturday Surf of 2011.

Princess Chelsea – The Cigarette Duet

Quirky music box fairy-tale oddness from Princess Chelsea aka Chelsea Nikkel, a bedroom producer from Auckland, New Zealand who charms with this simple song about, yes, smoking a cigarette. Complete with boy-girl vocal interplay, la la la’s and a video filmed in a hot tub, this ditty is like one of those long lost easy listening classics.“I was different then, I don’t need them to be cool,” sings Jonathon Bree. He’s right, this is stupidly cool.

Princess Chelsea - The Cigarette Duet

War of Words – Panic (Ben’s Panic Street Beaters Remix)

War of Words is a new pop duo that are releasing not just one, but two singles on the same day through Popjustice Hi-fi in December. They consist of Abi and Lucy who are both 23 years old. They’ve (whisper it quietly) come through the Brit School route to be recording artists, but before you shove your snobby indie nose in the air, have a listen to this remix by Ben Langmaid of La Roux, its sexy electro sound rampages around the dance floor but keeps a very strong song element. Apparently there’s a remix of the other single – Battleground - from the other half of La Roux (Elly Jackson) in the offing too. Hopefully this remix work signals the start of further La Roux action and hopefully album number 2 in 2012.

War Of Words - Panic (Ben's Panic Street Beaters Remix)

Rizzle Kicks - Mama Do The Hump

Finally, there's a Brighton residents bed-in with Rizzle Kicks and the funky uncle of big-beat Mr Fatboy Slim on this choice track from the Rizzle Kicks debut album Stereo Typical. Like a crazy cowboy in hip-hop chaps and stetson this one drags you in with a musical lassoo that's very 1998-2000.

Rizzle Kicks have been an interesting phenomena this year for Breaking More Waves. We post hardly any hip-hop on the blog, but when we first heard these two lads we were quickly smitten with their cheeky brand of brit-rap. Having supported them throughout the year, when many others in our peer group were telling us they were awful and wouldn't appeal to anyone, Rizzle Kicks have answered with hit singles, a hit album and sell out UK shows. Whilst commercial success doesn't always equate to good, it does show that in terms of music blogging you have to trust your instincts and not follow what everyone else says. Sometimes, as a blogger, if you like something, other people will too. Thus ends the Saturday Surf, or should that be Saturday Sermon? Have a great weekend.

Rizzle Kicks - Mama Do the Hump

The Saturday Surf #20

Did you notice it - the most important and momentous piece of news across the internet this week?

No, not that in the UK nearly 1 million young people aged under 24 are now unemployed, nor worldwide that President Obama has promised the 'toughest sanctions' on Iran over the alleged bomb plot, nor even the celebrity news that Beyonce was accused of faking her pregnancy with a false bump. There was something that surpassed all of this.

The Breaking More Waves twitter account reached tweet number 10,000.

That’s a lot of useless babble on the internet.

To mark the occasion we originally had big plans to create a flash mob event where hundreds of music bloggers ran naked into the cold UK south coast sea holding signs reading ‘STILL BREAKING MORE WAVES’, but eventually settled for something a little easier and wrote a blog post about it instead.

However when we weren’t tweeting our life away proclaiming our love for Nicola Roberts we were discovering the goodness of new music and as usual on a Saturday have brought together a few of the finds that nearly got washed away in the tide as we surfed .

Rizzle Kicks – When I Was A Youngster (Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer Remix)

If you’ve spent any time at UK festivals away from the main stage the chances are you’ll have come across the fine English gentleman that is Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer and his banjolele. On a one man mission to introduce hip-hop to the Queen’s English this Chap-Hop superstar has turned his attention to Breaking More Waves favourites, regulars and now bona-fide UK chart stars Rizzle Kicks. As Mr B says himself let’s rock, ideally with some cucumber sandwiches and a cup of tea, or maybe a sneaky sherry. Splendid.

Rizzle Kicks - When I Was A Youngster (Mr B "The Gentlemen Rhymer" Remix)

Dan Mangan – Post-War Blues

A Breaking More Waves blog post regular in 2009, Canada’s Dan Mangan returns with a new album Oh Fortune which sees Mangan stretching his sound and working with the likes of free-jazz experimentalists and a near orchestra. Not that this means that the results are unlistenable. In fact Post-War Blues positively bristles with both commercial and creative energy, taking Mangan’s highly recognisable gravel soaked voice to a chest-thumping, rabble-rousing, mightily-muscled piece of indie folk rock glory. Did we say it's free to download? It is you know.

Dan Mangan - Post-War Blues

My Tiger My Timing – Written In Red

From blues to red and the danceable indie flavours of My Tiger My Timing. Lead singer Anna’s soft and delectable purr keeps all the chiming guitars and the boogie groovy beats together nicely with something that sashays its way onto the indie dance floor without resorting to throwing in a dubstep wobble or power chord. Written In Red is released on November 14 through Snakes & Ladders.

My Tiger My Timing - Written In Red

Paper Crows – When Friend Survive (Discopolis Remix)

When Friends Survive is the new single from Paper Crows – it’s their third but the first to be released on Pete ‘Weekend Starts Here’ Tong's resurrected label ffrr. When Friends Survive sounds like an opening statement, it’s more experimental and less song based than their previous work, revolving around repetitive beats and some bigger dagger like synth sounds. Earlier references to Kate Bush and Bat For Lashes can be thrown out the window.

You can hear the original here but we’re particularly fond of a remix put together by Edinburgh’s Discopolis which goes from smooth sorcery to rave fist-puncher to dirty-disco floor-banger in just over three minutes. It’s free to download below.

Paper Crows | When Friends Survive (Discopolis Remix)

Torches – Little Ice Age

Finally if you’re anywhere near The Old Blue Last in London this weekend the chances are you’ll probably be able to spot a new music blogger hanging around somewhere. The clues? The iPhone, the constant tweeting, the surprisingly unfashionable clothing (“because it’s all about the music man”) and the ability to nod appreciatively at a bored looking man pressing one button on a laptop whilst two singular notes come out of it and melt into each other on stage. The reason the hype of bloggers will be loitering around Shoreditch drinking expensive dodgy pints? Because of Binnacle.

Binnacle is a ‘micro-festival’. In the olden days it would be called ‘an all-dayer ’ but micro-festival sounds so much cooler doesn’t it? And let’s face it this is East London, so it has to sound cool otherwise it’s worthless and to be sneered at. It also bills itself a festival of ‘future-sounds’ which could almost be seen as ironic when you listen to some of the very old fashioned reference points some of the artists playing appear to be influenced by. As is fashionable in the blog-base world these days there’s lots of ambient / electronic acts playing and a fair few underground bands as well. Torches (who are appearing at Binnacle) sound a little bit like Wild Beasts covering Hurts whilst looking for the anti-depressants , or any cold faced band that wore a long grey overcoat in the 80’s. As terrible or amazing that sounds depending on your perspective, it’s actually pretty good.

Torches - Little Ice Age

Ed Sheeran - You Need Me, I Don't Need You (Rizzle Kicks Remix)

How do you judge music? How do you determine what’s good and what’s bad? At Breaking More Waves our judgement is simple – does it make us feel something – something wonderful, something emotional? If it does, then it’s good music. For us it doesn't have to be technically competent, that definition of 'good' is for chin-stroking muso's who have forgotten how it is to feel alive. It’s why the Breaking More Waves definition of good will often be different to another music blog, because we all feel different emotions about different things and at different times.

Mention the name Ed Sheeran and the chances are you’ll get one of two responses. The first is a swooning puppy-dog eyes-wide dreamy faraway look and a gentle sigh followed by something along the lines of “Oh I love him so much,” the second is a look of utter disdain. This is the way emotions work. This is the way ‘good’ and ‘bad’ music is defined.

We’ve never shied away from enjoying music that is made for commercial gain or on a major label. Music is just music and once you start passing judgements on something because of anything other than the song then your judgement is coloured and that’s a dangerous thing.

But of course you know and we know that this last statement is a load of balderdash because our judgement is coloured all the time in the amazing world of pop music. That’s why the haircut, the ‘coolness’, the look of a performer, how sexy they are, what they said that you agreed with in an interview, how old they are, even if your peer group like them or not all affect your judgement. For example if you live in the UK, if we played you a record and told you that Fearne Cotton adores it how would you feel? What about if we told you that Abeano blog or Transparent blog had raved about it? What about if we told you that the singer went to Brit School? Or had won X-Factor? Chances are that you’ve already made your mind up about the song to a certain extent before you’ve even heard it.

So here’s a new remix from Ed Sheeran of You Need Me, I Don't Need You, remixed by another Breaking More Waves supported act Rizzle Kicks. If you don’t like either act or if like both, the chances are that you’ve already made your mind up about the song before you even press play. We have no idea what Fearne Cotton thinks of it, but we’re pretty sure you won’t be seeing it on Abeano. We’ll give you one more piece of information to influence your thinking – the track is as much Rizzle Kicks as it is Sheeran, with completely new rapped verses. Oh and there’s some rude words as well. Now press play and make your own judgement if you haven’t done so already.

Ed Sheeran - You Need Me, I Don't Need You (Rizzle Kicks Remix)

The Saturday Surf #7

Take a ‘semi-ironic’ hipstamatic photo of the sea / waves / beach / surf (we’ve yet to feature girls in their swimwear – possibly the most chosen photo of any ‘cool’ blog out there), a little bit of text and a handful of tracks that didn’t quite make it onto the blog this week and what have you got? Yes, it’s Breaking More Waves Saturday Surf, a fundamentally lazy blog post. So without further ado, here are a small handful of songs that we didn’t want to get swept away in the on-going tide of incoming new music and so are bundling together in one buy one get three free posting at the end of the week.

How many times have we posted about Rizzle Kicks on the blog? Six actually. So let’s make it seven with this choppy and banging re-invention of Down with the Trumpets by Star Slinger. “If you feel like embedding it on your blog that would be wickedddd,” state Sylvester and Rizzle on their very own blog. Consider it done boys.

Down With The Trumpets (Star Slinger Remix) by Rizzle Kicks

Next is electronic pop chanteuse Florrie, who has written a fascinating blog post on how she funds what she does. It’s great to read an artist being so open about how and where the money comes from and is lost; for instance Florrie reveals that she loses approximately £450 for every gig she plays, yet still makes more money than she loses, mainly from synchronization rights. Taken from her new 6 track EP Experiments which is released on June 14, this song Experimenting with Rugs is probably the best thing she’s done so far. There’s also an incredibly stylish video for the song which you can see here.

Experimenting With Rugs by Florrie

For your further consideration, here's some synth pop that sounds like it's 100% designed for a Kitsune compilation. Sleepy Age, a three piece from New Zealand, fall just on the right side of seaside pier gaudiness with this song Decor, which has enough infectious synth riffs to accompany the hooky fantasy line of "girls look better in your head than they do in your bed."

Sleepy Age 'Decore'

Finally meet Ronika, from Nottingham, who is bringing back electronic-disco flavours last heard back in the mid-80’s – the influences seem to be debut album Madonna and even more specifically the song Who Found Who by Jellybean featuring Elisa Fiorillo – now there’s a classic we haven’t played for a few years. The track we're streaming Forget Yourself is her new single and is released on Monday. Right we’re off to dig out our old Shalamar LP’s.

Ronika - Forget Yourself

Rizzle Kicks - Down With The Trumpets (New Version + Remix)

At year end it’s pretty much 100% guaranteed that one of the songs that will find itself sitting pretty near the top of the Breaking More Waves ‘irresistibly happy’ list will be Down With The Trumpets by Rizzle Kicks. Its brassy grooves and ska-bound rhythms have managed to re-invent and merge the sounds of The Specials and De La Soul in one youthful modern package and bring the bounce wherever it’s heard.

With a well-received Radio 1 Big Weekend slot and a having spread the word further with a number of shows at Brighton’s Great Escape it’s onwards and upwards for Rizzle Kicks and that starts with a slightly re-worked version of Down With The Trumpets (the original which we first featured in November 2010 now cast into the hidden dark chambers of the internet) plus a new video and a Wookie remix that was given its first spin out on the radio courtesy of BBC Radio1 Xtra's MistaJam last Saturday. You can purchase the track on June 12 on iTunes.

Ready? Yeah yeah, let’s get down with the trumpets.

Down With The Trumpets by Rizzle Kicks

Down With The Trumpets (Wookie Remix) by Rizzle Kicks

The Saturday Surf #2

It’s been a good week for music. Rumours spread that the KLF are back together performing ambient folk under the name FLK (we do love a KLF rumour, no matter what it is - have a look here and here) plus more information about our favourite member of Girls Aloud - Nicola Roberts – LP began to emerge (here). Now we’re going to make it even better with our nearly new feature called The Saturday Surf, where we round up a number of tracks that didn’t quite make it onto Breaking More Waves with their own individual post, but all get our approval.

Whilst we’re waiting for Nicola’s arrival, new Spice Girls colliding with Bananarama girl-pop duo Oh My! shoved out a remix of their debut track Run This Town which we first featured back in March. With jaggy synths and we’ve got attitude hooks this is worth clicking on the arrow to download for free. Oh My! have been following classic pop traditions and rather than slogging their way round toilet venues playing live shows to twenty people for credibility, they are out there doing PA’s at schools – giving the kids what they want, what they really really want.

Oh My! - Run This Town [TMS remix]

Brighton’s Rizzle Kicks have already been given the Breaking More Waves treatment a number of times and here they are again with their new track Prophet (Better Watch It). It continues their cheeky, innovative and playful blend of rap / pop with soulful vocals that’s not a million miles away from the wonderful De La Soul. Rizzle Kicks will be one of the acts playing this years Great Escape Festival launch party in Brighton next week before they head up north to feature on the BBC Introducing Stage at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Carlisle.

Prophet (Better Watch It) by Rizzle Kicks

Next up is a new band that a small number of blogs have picked up on. Theme Park is nothing to do with Alton Towers, Disney World or Legoland and everything to do with making music that sounds very much like Talking Heads with a slightly tropical twist. The band consists of two brothers and three friends from London. Milk is their suitably groovy introduction.

Milk by Theme Park

For those who like soft feminine vocals and acoustic tenderness you could do no wrong by wrapping your ears around the songs of Alice Jemima. Having introduced you to her with two tracks Ain’t It Funny and Won’t Take You For Granted, here’s another tune – The Woman. With its gorgeously calm melody and understated charm it’s a little diamond of a song.

The Woman - Live @ Toybox Studios, with bass & violin by Alice Jemima

Finally ex Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man and ex Les Incompetents dude Fred Macpherson returns with a new project – Spector. Their debut single Never Fade Away is a crooning pop extravaganza, immaculately produced with just a drop of nostalgia – it’s the kind of classic tune that your mum would like – and if she does then your mum has damn fine taste. Probably the finest work to date from a man whose twitter strapline states “I like music. Maybe more than music likes me.”

Spector - Never Fade Away

Rizzle Kicks - Price Tag

We’re becoming massive fans of Rizzle Kicks – there’s something just massively engaging about them – they display a cocksure combination of humour and cool that only lads of their age can. Their song Down With Trumpets (here) remains one of our vital tracks of last year and their home shot videos entertain with rich and occasionally silly invention.

Now Rizzle Kicks have turned to Jessie J’s recent no.1 hit in the UK – Price Tag. Note the money t-shirt, the funny miming effect as Jessie J’s vocal kicks in, the Café Nero loyalty card, the beans-on-toast straight from the can pause moment and the comedy shades and bling chains dancing towards the end. Ch-ching ch-ching - Rizzle Kicks boil with enough charisma to flip our pan lid.

Jessie J - Price Tag (Rizzle Kicks X Rural Remix) by Rizzle Kicks

Rizzle Kicks - Fly Me To The Moon

This post is designed for those who suffer from neurobehavioral problems such as attention deficit as well as those alcoholics who want to get down the pub for the weekend after spending five minutes scanning their favourite blogs. Basically we're keeping it short.

Our current favourite weekend tune is Down With the Trumpets by Rizzle Kicks (blogged here) - 100% guaranteed to get any dance floor (sober or drunken) bouncing. However, here’s another side to the Rizzle Kicks boys – a soft acoustic jam through Fly Me To The Moon which is a long way from their De La Soul influenced flows or rocking d-i-y White Stripes (R.I.P) sampling moments. There’s some soul hidden under their intelligent cheekiness, so give them a couple of minutes of your time.

Then after that, that’s Breaking More Waves done for this week. We’ll be back soon with some new bands and on Monday our usual dose of nostalgia with Music That Made Me. We’re off to the pub, gotta fly....

Why It's OK To Be Brit

The BRIT’s Performing Arts & Technology School, set up by the record industry in Croydon at the beginning of the 1990s has often been the subject of negativity from indie snobs. It’s easy to look down your nose at the college that has tutored the likes of Amy Winehouse, Katie Melua, Spark, the frontman of The Kooks, Katy B and worst of all the dreaded Dane Bowers. Who can forget the highly embarrassing interview that Simon Amstell carried out with two of The Kooks a few years ago where the band tried to initially deny their BRIT ‘stage school’ education? Indie credibility was seemingly something the band were conscious of, but their denial ultimately made them appear shallow and false. The perception of BRIT School by many has been that it is some sort of ‘kids from fame’ academy and has nothing to do with making great art. It’s easy to believe that those who attend are not far removed from the world of Simon Cowell led X-Factor hopefuls – desperate for fame at any price – selling their soul to the devil over their art. Other criticisms are that stars cannot be ‘taught’ but are ‘born’ and that attempts by BRIT to groom and manufacture pop stars is contrived and not authentic.

Yet last week Adele’s new single Rolling In The Deep was released in the UK. It went straight into the charts at no.2 and has been widely acclaimed by both pop writers and rock reviewers. There are very few claims that Adele is not ‘for real’ or that the song is ‘manufactured’ and yet Adele is a product of BRIT School.

There’s a very simple reason why nobody is taking shots at Rolling In The Deep - because it’s is a great song performed with real guts and soul – a raw gospel pop tune that gets better with every listen. So right now nobody except the harshest cynic cares if Adele came from BRIT or not. For all those concepts that so called music lovers get so wrapped up in – if an artist is ‘for real’, whether they have ‘integrity’ and how ‘manufactured’ can be thrown out of the window – because this time it seems that, maybe because this is Adele's second album, all that counts is the music.

And maybe, just maybe, because of BRIT Adele will earn some money from her art; whereas in the past pop stars may have had talent, they were often terribly naïve or unwilling to engage in the business side of the music industry (it’s called an industry for a reason) and ended up getting ripped off. BRIT teaches artists skills they need to survive and earn a living from their talent. Of course, there will always be an argument that great art and commerce don’t mix, that it isn’t in the spirit of punk or rock ‘n’ roll – but maybe if BRIT gives the artists that come out of it the skills and knowledge to survive in the business they won’t have to end up advertising butter on TV adverts like a certain Johnny Rotten did.

Back in November 2010 we featured a new act – Rizzle Kicks. This Brighton based duo make hooky, sample filled hip-hop not far removed from the likes of De La Soul. We really like what they do – yet once again they’re BRIT alumni. Their sound is witty, fun and just a little cheeky. We can’t imagine that they’ve been groomed or manufactured artistically in any way – Rizzle Kicks are, we’re absolutely sure, doing exactly what they want to do.

You can catch their video in our previous post about them here, and listen to both the brilliantly scampish Down With The Trumpets and Miss Cigarette below. Rather like Adele they’re another reason why it’s 100% ok to be BRIT. It's not where you're from, it's where you're at.

Down With The Trumpets by Rizzle Kicks

Miss Cigarette by Rizzle Kicks

Rizzle Kicks - New Waves @ Breaking More Waves

Here’s a confession. Over our years of being a friend of music we’ve built up a considerable knowledge of indie, synth pop, folk and a variety of other genres. But when it comes to hip hop, r ‘n’ b and such like we’re still very much novices. So here’s a question. Does not having great knowledge mean that you can’t critique something? Isn’t it more important perhaps that you are able to say if something moves you, irrespective of reference points, comparisons and technical terminology?

Thankfully Brighton’s Rizzle Kicks allow us to champion them even with our lack of knowledge and also because they move us, not in a deep emotional way, but they put a sunny smile on our face. Because their cheekily charming blend of old skool hip hop samples plenty of tracks that we instantly recognise – from the Arctic Monkeys to M.I.A. It’s fun, engaging and cockily compelling. What’s even better is that in the ska fondled Down With The Trumpets (video below) they have a potential bona fide hit single under their wings.

Rizzle Kicks consists of two vocalists / MC's Sylvester and Rizzle. They attended Brit School - but don’t let this affect your judgement. Their tracks are about teenage life. They have a mix tape that’s floating around the internet – you can download it from here. Grab it and then watch Down With The Trumpets and see if you agree that this track sounds like a hit in making.