You may well have already heard Lost and Found by big voiced Welsh pop singer Betsy – it was featured top on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist last week (which let's face it probably does a better job than any blog could do of delivering you all the latest new pop tunes in a day - especially if you don't want any commentary like this). Since that time I’ve seen lots of people (ok an exaggeration – to be honest its 3) saying that the song sounds a lot like Cher or makes them think of Cher. For me it makes me think of Heather Small from M People or Shara Nelson when she was singing with Massive Attack. However, even if it pops images of Joss Stone, Nik Kershaw, Elvis Presley or your granny into your brain, hopefully it will also make you think of words like superb or exquisite as well. If your brain is thinking sausages and chips, then your mind's not really on it and it's time to go and get your lunch / dinner. In a relatively weak year for brand new artists Betsy is sitting somewhere near the top of the ladder right now. It’s why I’m featuring her for the third time this year on Breaking More Waves. Footnote: When I first heard this song on Friday I searched on Google for Betsy and Lost & Found. At that point all I really learnt was that there were quite a few pets called Betsy and a fair few of them had been lost. Hopefully that's all changed now - both that the pets have been found and that the singer's song will be getting plenty of posts. Betsy - Lost and Found
I have quite a history with the music of Kate Nash - from way back. It started with a slightly scrappy but infinitely charming set of songs in a small grubby tent sponsored by MySpace at Electric Gardens festival in 2006 where I chatted to her afterwards and suggested that she was like the British version of Regina Spektor. Now here I am 10 years on, pressing play on her new song, with a sense of trepidation and excitement – because that what happens when you become a fan of an artist. Since that first gig there have been many highs. My two fondest memories being when Foundations went into the charts at Number 2 (quite unexpectedly) and, not quite so long ago, a euphoric and energetic gig at Shepherds Bush Empire the highlight of which was Kate crowd surfing to pretty much the back of the room. There’s also been the occasional low; although I loved the idea of Kate rejecting commercial pop music and embracing the spirit of riot girl and punk, I didn’t enjoy Underestimate The Girl at all. However, as I suggested in a blog post at the time (here), what would you rather do, spend your whole life being unhappy trying to be what people expected you to be or happy just being yourself? So what does Kate Nash 2016 bring? After all she’s never been an artist to just do ‘more of the same’ – right from her very first schizo-pop single on Moshi Moshi that veered from pretty acoustic songwriting to the off-kilter beats and space weirdness of Caroline’s A Victim. The answer is that Good Summer is Kate’s most easily accessible song for years. In 2016 where contemporary pop music seems to be designed by committee to sound as in your face as everything else around, Good Summer seems almost lightweight in its nature – and I don’t mean that in a disparaging way. All the important ingredients are there; melody, hooks, something that makes you feel good about life, but with it there comes an uncanny charm and a likeability that’s formed through its relative simplicity. Good Summer doesn’t shout ‘I need to be in the charts so I’m going to sound like everything else’, instead it stands to the side and just gets on with the job of being an excellent pop tune. Oh and the video, a very old fashioned British garden party, finds amongst it's scenes of fun, Kate bashing what looks like a giant lemon shaped pinata (maybe because these days she's not so bitter?). It's good to have Kate back, and with a previously announced tour and more songs on the way, summer just got good. Kate Nash - Good Summer (Video)
You may well remember Oakland indie musician and all round creative type Hazel English from last year; she cropped up a number of times on Breaking More Waves, where amongst other things I (correctly) predicted that a lot of music writers would use the word dreamy when describing her sound, compared her to Jeremy Corbyn and revealed that Hazel English probably wasn’t even her real name. Now Hazel is back with a video for Never Going Home, the song that first pricked my ears last April. However, I have some serious health and safety concerns about this video. For here we find Hazel, sitting on a rocky outcrop, (you’ll first see it just after the 30 second mark) apparently with a serious drop below her, with no safety harness on. Yes, I know what you’re all thinking ‘but she’s a musician and musicians are dangerous crazy sexy people who live life on the edge.’ Well if that’s true let me ask you this; when Kanye played Glastonbury last year why did he wear a full safety harness (that he then struggled to get off - showing his lack of personal protective equipment skills) when he went up in the air on a cherry picker when wind speeds were low? If Kanye, who let’s face it seems to be capable in his mind at least of doing anything, from designing to being president, doesn’t feel safe in a situation where there’s a slight chance of falling, then surely Hazel should be taking more precautions? Or, just like her name, is this all a big bluff and the ground is just a couple of feet below? Or maybe she’s rigged up some sort of safety net fixed to some scaffolding just out of shot? Anyway, health and safety concerns aside, there’s an awful lot I love about Hazel. I love her preppy style, this retro / home shot styled video and I adore her dreamy (yes, there you go I’ve used the word) music; it’s music a long way from the majority of the stuff that floods my in box these days (identikit r ‘n’ b bangers and very average laptop produced electronic pop). It seems that I’m not the only one – having amassed a huge number of plays on Soundcloud she’s now been signed to Marathon Artists (Courtney Barnett, Jagwar Ma), and is getting ready to release her first 5 track EP in October. For this time round Never Going Home, which will feature on the EPhas been given a fresh mix by Charlie Huggall (Florence and the Machine, Låpsley) and now I’m just hoping that we’ll see her over in the UK for some gigs at some point. Press play on Never Going Home and let go of your body and mind’s safety harness as you lose yourself in its chiming guitars. Hazel English - Never Going Home (Video)
Sadly it’s not a cover of the synth pop tune of optimism and freeing your mind of preconceived ideas by 80s synth and keytar wizard Howard Jones, but still, this er.... new song by Warpaint positively grooves with a near tribal funkiness. It’s the sound of a band loosening up, and having fun: “You’ve got the moves, bang bang baby,” they chant. Sure it’s silly, like taking your clothes off and running into the ocean after a drunken beach party, but hell, life is short, let's enjoy it. A fine return and probably my favourite song they've ever released with the exception of Undertow and Stars. It's good to see a band shaking it up a little (and hence getting their first post on this blog since way back in 2009). Warpaint - New Song
