George Maple - New Waves

The name George Maple doesn’t really sound like it was made for a pop star does it? A waffle or sweet manufacturer perhaps, or maybe even a supplier of innovative kitchen gadgets, but not a rather cool Australian vocalist who has recently moved to the UK.

Of course George Maple isn’t the singer’s real name, in reality she’s Jess Higgs and you may have stumbled across her voice on the discotastic Flight Facilities song Foreign Language. Maple’s slinky tones can also be found on a collaborative effort with fellow Australian Flume and a song called Bring You Down. A third opportunity for giving her voice some ear love came on a song called Uphill, her debut solo single released last year.

However, for the uninitiated this is Maple’s first appearance on Breaking More Waves and we’re streaming her forthcoming single Fixed which is released through Tuluum Records on April 15 as well as the video for Uphill. Taking the same reference points as Jessie Ware (in fact every time we hear Uphill we can’t really believe that it isn’t a new Jessie Ware track) Maple’s sound takes a light minimalist touch allowing the beats and vocals to do much of the work, even if that work is relatively restrained. It’s very of the moment, very late night seductive and very non-kitchen gadgety. There you are George, use that one on your future press releases. “Very non-kitchen gadgety – Breaking More Waves.” 

George Maple - Fixed

George Maple - Uphill (Video)

Casual Sex - New Waves

If you follow us on twitter you’ll know that during the last few days we took a little journey to Scotland to listen and watch some A.M.A.Z.I.N.G pop music. Today we continue the theme of Scotland and pop, but this isn’t pop in the way Girls Aloud are pop, nor is it pop music in the way that Popjustice suggests that there is a certain sort of Pop Music For People That Don’t Like Pop Music which is basically pop  that is initially marketed through the likes of Pitchfork, cool blogs and evening shows on BBC Radio 1 etc to gain credibility before it reaches out to the mainstream and all the cool blogs then move on to pastures new muttering ‘sell out’ / ‘not as good as the early stuff’ under their breath. No, this is Pop Music That People Who Like The First Two Types Of Pop Music Won’t Like. I guess if we were being a bit lazy we could just call it indie pop but then when the likes of Scouting For Girls get described as ‘indie-pop’ that term has become redundant and meaningless anyway.

So let us introduce you to Casual Sex. No, not like that. Keep your clothes on. Let's get to know each other a bit first. They’re a band. They make pop music. But it’s not the type of pop music that is likely to make bloggers get cross about ‘major label intervention’ or ‘writing commercial crap’, because that's unlikely to happen. It sounds in places like Edwyn Collins / Orange Juice / early Pulp and even a bit of Franz / Bowie boffing The Clash. Those who have grown up on just a diet of pop like Katy Perry and Britney will say that it isn't pop at all. These are good things. Casual Sex make music that you can shuffle disco dance around your bedroom to and pretend it’s 1981.

Pop music for the most part is a bit like Casual Sex – joyously exhilarating but not likely to be with the same partner for the long term. And that’s fine. Want to enjoy some with us?

Casual Sex - Stroh 80

D-E-W-L - Nobody Make A Sound (Video)

Waiting for a release from London duo D-E-W-L has taken the word hanging to new levels. It was May 2012 when we started feeling all hot under the collar, seductive and smoochy about their online track Red Velvet and it’s only relatively recently that they’ve announced the release of debut single Nobody Make A Sound, which comes from a trip-hop indebted place not that far from Massive Attack. This is night time music full of cinematic slow-motion grooves, a sound that is foreboding and beautifully sinister. Let it slowly invade your personal space like cigarette smoke drifting across the room. Smooth.

If you’re in London you can catch D-E-W-L live at the Shacklewell Arms on March 25th supporting Half Moon Run, the same day as the song is released. Pre-order here.

D-E-W-L - Nobody Make A Sound (Video)

Lorde - New Waves

Ok we’ll admit it, we’ve been rather shallow. Youthful New Zealand pop sensation type Lorde has been cropping up left right and centre on blogs over the last few months, creating a stir on the Hype Machine chart and generally being associated with words like buzz, tastemaker-love and one to watch. Even musical queen of the blog buzz Grimes has been tweeting her love of all things Lorde; but we’ve ignored writing about her. Not because of the music, which we haven’t really got round to listening to, but because of the publicity picture above. Yes sorry, we really are that shallow.

Of course as a connoisseur of new music we really shouldn’t make first impression judgements on anything but the songs. But we all do don’t we? If you saw a picture of a band consisting of four surly tattooed males with long dark lank greasy hair, tattoos, leather jackets and an abundance of beards you’ll probably have already developed a preconceived idea of the sort of music they play. (Chances are it's not going to be electropop or hip-hop). If you don’t then congratulations you’re a far better human being than most, having as 80's synth pop wizard Howard Jones once suggested thrown off your mental chains.

Now let’s take a look at that picture again; a slightly weird looking girl who looks like she’s stepped out of one of the deleted scenes from Lord of the Rings holding a rat and a snake. Frankly, things are not looking good. In fact they're looking rather scary. Our filters and blinkers went into blank it out overdrive and we decided not to listen.

Then our flimsy mind was changed in a second as Lorde uploaded another picture on Facebook (below). She didn't look so freaky here - albeit we weren't sure about having the dog there. A bit of Google searching and we found some other pictures of pre-Lorde like this from 2011 (no dog and a keyboard player who looks a bit like what Howard Jones looks like now). In fact it seems there's quite a bit out there on the internet, including acoustic cover versions on You Tube of The Kings of Leon and Pixie Lott. We decided we’d better press play and then reread the rules of pop. That's how shallow we are.

For Lorde (real name Ella) is making great pop. Million Dollar Bills judders like a d-i-y bedroom Sleigh Bells with the guitar noise button switched off, Bravado is 2013’s slightly calmer Marina and the Diamonds, and then there’s the stunning anti-extravagance anthem Royals (streaming below) with its super smooth and confident simplicity that hooks us in on first listen hook line and sinker.

Lesson learnt? Never judge a book (or musician) by its cover (or press publicity picture). Lorde has the potential to become one of our favourite new pop stars of 2013. Our ears and eyes are wide open, even if she brings a whole zoo and dresses as Galadriel, or decides to pronounce her name like those Finnish Eurovision winners.

Lorde - Royals