Lorde - Bravado (FFFRRANNNO Remix)

Some of our favourite tracks that we’ve featured on Breaking More Waves in 2013 so far include the songs from London Grammar’s soulful debut EP, Indiana’s sexy Bound, AlunaGeorge’s groovy Attracting Flies, Violet’s Where The Wild Things Grow, Chvrches’ synthtastic Recover and New Zealand newcomer Lorde and her Love Club EP (from which we featured the majestic Royals).

Let’s turn our attention to another track from that EP. Bravado is the song that opens Lorde's 5 tracker and there’s a certain similarity in parts to the higher elements of the vocal delivery of Marina & The Diamonds. In fact the opening moments of the track sound like a musical-pop cousin to one of our favourites from Electra Heart – Fear and Loathing. You can hear the original by clicking here. However, this remix from FFFRRANNNO who is also from New Zealand (it’s just pronounced Frano – the producer’s real name) does all the things we want a remix to do, in so far as it takes the song to new places (a glitchy electronic sort of place, as if Purity Ring are in the building and grinding up and down hornily in the bedroom) and gets us all hot under the collar. Phew we’re going for a cold shower. Crazy.

Lorde - Bravado (FFFRRANNNO Remix)

Tom Hickox - New Waves

If there’s one word to describe the music of Tom Hickox, it’s gravitas. For here’s a singer whose stop-you-in-your-tracks baritone carries a powerful and earthy weight that is simply impossible to ignore. Yet it’s not just about the voice, it’s also about the songs. Take one listen to the solemn The Angel of the North (streaming below) and frankly if you aren’t left stunned into submission there is something horrendously wrong with the way you listen to music.

Born the son of renowned conductor and an orchestral timpanist mother, the  thirty-one year old singer’s tunes possess a poetical and theatrical sensibility to them that lends themselves to being played in grand music halls or candlelit churches. Take the bright lights beckoning ballad of The Pretty Pride of Russia (which has already been used to soundtrack a Doctor Martens advert) as a classic example. Here over piano and strings Hickox sings from a woman’s perspective of her dreams to journey to London. “He said he'll find me a job and a luxury flat with other girls like me and I'll have a salary more than in my dreams to buy jewellery and fur and clothes,” he coos before adding “there's more to life than this, the world must be explored and London is the perfect place for me to be adored.”

Then there’s the Let Be More Your Lover (which you can see a live version of here) a piece so warm and beautiful that it makes you question all the other music you’ve ever heard. Its a deep love song about the longest lasting and truest love - till the very end. If you’re a fan of Antony and the Johnsons this might be the song for you.

We’ve already seen his name tagged alongside the like of Tom Waits, Scott Walker, Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen and to those we’d like to add The Tindersticks and Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy (when he’s not writing saucy, jokey and occasionally overly smug pop songs) as other reference points. But forget our words, forget the references and for the love of your ears just listen. The Angel of the North can be downloaded for free from Soundcloud below. Hickox’s album War Peace & Diplomacy is due this spring. 

Tom Hickox - The Angel Of The North

Tom Hickox - The Pretty Pride of Russia (Video)

Hockey - Love Is Strange

Anyone remember Portland, Oregon’s Hockey? We vaguely do. We wrote about them a couple of times way back in 2009 and our conclusion at the time was that whilst Too Fake whilst a pretty decent low rent attempt at being LCD Soundsystem, there wasn’t a lot else to get excited about. “The band let themselves down with some unforgivable second rate white funk moments that made even the most excruciating slap bass moves from Mark King of Level 42 seem acceptable,” we said of one live show. Well that was then and this is now and Hockey are back. A new twitter account was recently unleashed with these words in 3 tweets “If U R on the right track, things will come along to show U U R on the right track. Don't get too excited. Stay on the right track. U know we had a twitter account that mysteriously vanished. U know we almost changed our band name,” and a slow jam called Defeat on the Double Bass Line was premiered on Filter Magazine.

However it’s the second song to emerge from the new world of Hockey that has reaffirmed our faith in the band a little. It’s called Love Is Strange and it sounds like the group (who are now just a duo consisting of Ben Grubin and Jeremy Reynolds) have been spending their time playing console games, listening to Hot Chip and Vampire Weekend and creating miniature funky computer grooves that lightly nudge you in the direction of the dance floor. The trouble with pop music is that a band’s window of opportunity often has the shutters closed on it very quickly. The question for Hockey is have those shutters been bolted tight or can Love Is Strange push them open a little?

Hockey - Love Is Strange

The Other Tribe - We Should Be Dancing

Yes, we can all get a bit lost and down in our troubles sometimes can’t we? Everyone’s allowed to go a bit emo now and then - it's OK to do that. Yet according to The Other Tribe on their new track We Should Be Dancing, injecting a bit of rhythm into the bloodstream is one of the best medicines to chase the blues away. With a big clattering percussive edge and tribal house feel this free track from Bristol’s facepainted answer to Friendly Fires and the Klaxons fast forwards us to summer time, sunny festivals and even sunnier smiles. And isn't there just a hint of Depeche Mode in the bass line of this song? We think so.

Like this? Head over to the bands Facebook and grab it as a free download.

The band have a number of confirmed dates in April and May which you can see here and keep an ear out for future forthcoming single Summer Love, which we’re secretly hoping is going to be some sort of weird fresh-faced disco blaster rehash of Summer Nights from Grease. That would be interesting.

The Other Tribe - We Should Be Dancing