Polly Scattergood - New Waves @ Breaking More Waves

Whilst publishing our One's To Watch list for 2009 last December, there were a number of artists that we considered for the ten in the list but eventually discarded. This month we have blogged our way through those that missed out, under the title of New Waves @ Breaking More Waves. Polly Scattergood is our final artist who crept around the edges of the list, but was always more likely to be found hiding in a shadowy corner.

Polly Scattergood makes music that is experimental and emotional, sung with feminine charm and a super vulnerability that belies a dark undercurrent. With an album due for release in March, this Brit school graduate has been described as “The Kate Bush of the 21st century,” and there are certainly elements of Bush in her slightly leftfield style.

Her atmospheric angst music is a mix of piano, electronica, pattering beats and guitar that hosts some rather troubled lyrics. On Nitrogen Pink Polly sings “And all the education daddy, it never paid, because the fat man took my innocence away.” Then on the ghostly I Hate The Way she comes across like a young Beth Gibbons whispering “Well you can take what you want cos I’ve got nothing, pass me some pills, and I will go to bed, but however much I toss and turn I feel a dark place up ahead,” before singing with the air of dark madness “Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo - my doctor said I’ve got to sing a happy tune.” These sombre unsettling reflections on life show a deep confessional tone that disturbs, yet draws you further in. If these songs are autobiographical, she’s a psychiatrists wet dream.

Haunting and slightly disturbing, Polly Scattergood is unlikely to be featuring on any commercial radio stations in the near future, but she is all the better for it.

DJ Hojo Hits Returns - New Songs / New Look !

In 2009 DJ Hojo Hits begins a new campaign of aural fun on the unsuspecting British public. Following his debut DJ sets at Bestival 2008, where he subjected punters to an hour of nothing but the tunes of 80’s synth pop star Howard Jones , and subsequent appearances at parties and clubs across the south coast, DJ Hojo Hits returns in 2009 with a new look, a new sound and new gigs being confirmed.

We are delighted to announce that the first of these confirmations is that DJ Hojo Hits will be returning to UK Festivals this summer, with a slot confirmed at Blissfields 2009, alongside artists such Laura Marling, one of our One’s To Watch for 2009, Mumford & Sons and dance specialists Subgiant.

DJ Hojo will be widening his mojo with a big slab of eclectic party tunes from his bulging box. Expect anything and everything from hard dance to guilty pleasures, but with every tune designed to put a big old smile on your face.

DJ Hojo will also be presenting a new image, so forget the 80’s wig, Howard Jones tshirt and bad shades. This is all new baby. Keep an eye out on You Tube and this blog for an exclusive of the new DJ Hojo Hits look coming soon. But for the time being, here’s a very short reminder of what DJ Hojo is all about.

And before you ask, yes Breaking More Waves has a very special relationship with the man that is DJ Hojo Hits. We share the same body. So expect more DJ Hojo Hits updates here soon

XFM Xposure All Dayer @ London Camden Barfly

An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump

The annual XFM Xposure All Dayer at the Camden Barfly is a gruelling musical marathon that showcases some of the latest indie and rock upstarts and urchins. A slog of a day in a darkened room that smells of lager and stale bodily odours, its one for the dedicated and determined only. But with determination comes reward, as previous years have seen such acts as Jamie T, The Horrors, Frank Turner, Mystery Jets and Friendly Fires all tread the boards. So who would this years winners and stinking losers be?

Pulled Apart By Horses have almost finished their set by the time Breaking More Waves arrives. We witness five minutes of flailing, speaker stacking climbing, punishing, hair flinging, uncompromising, dirty old school rock riffage with a big old dose of shouting. Brains are pulled apart by this brutalism, never mind horses.

An Experiment On The Bird In The Air Pump look and sound like three girls who have just stepped out of a Tarantino film. With earthy guttural gothic-blues vocals, if looks could kill scowls, stripped down stage front drums and a t-shirt that proclaims “Jesus died for somebody’s sins,” they are artily cool and scare all the Top Shop indie kids away. This is the true alternative. An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump are glorious in their instrument swapping darkness.

Harrow based quintet Rogues are so blatantly now we suspect a backlash before they even start. We’ve blogged about them before, and despite their early placing on the bill, they are one of the more outwardly commercial propositions on stage today. They meet the generic white indie pretty boy, haircuts and skinny jeans look but add eighties fashion and synth sounds to their urgent riffs and belting dance rhythms on songs such as Not So Pretty. Like a modern take on early Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet combined with guitar sounds of Foals and Bloc Party, they pull a young crowd at the front of the stage and could easily find this fan base growing.

The multi cardigan wearing Laurel Collective are up next, their quirky oddball sound being inventive but not immediately engaging. The twitchily spinning Vuitton Blues combined with bands geeky dancing and obvious enjoyment for what they do gradually wins the crowd over. Mixing musical styles a plenty, co vocalists Martin and Bob provide handclaps, wide eyes and sweet big hearts in their rough pop style to produce an almost feel good factor in the room.

Another previously blogged artist Rose Elinor Dougall, ex Pipette, brings pop sophistication and casio confidence as she tries to eye sex the audience with her sideways glances. Spending most of her time behind her keyboard she excels the most when she leaves their shield and sings centre stage. Her material is warm and vibrant with the highlight being the almost stomping indie Come Away With Me.

“This is a song I wrote a couple of days ago, so I’ll probably fuck it up, but better to do so now than when it’s being recorded,” jokes mournful vintage country / folk singer Jay Jay Pistolet before melting hearts with his tender, heartfelt tunes. Girls swoon as he almost apologetically says “Thanks for being so polite,” and admits that he is actually a “cheesy guy.” His earnest demeanour and the timeless romantic simplicity of his songs provide a victory for the meek in a rock venue. Jay Jay, so good they named him twice.

Are you still with us on this marathon? At this stage Breaking More Waves almost hits the wall. But that wall is kicked down hard by Middle Class Rut. MC Rut as they are also known are a two piece from California that make the sound of an army. With a lead singer that shakes his head so hard we are scared it will fall off, and a bare chested drummer with the words ‘For Sale’ emblazoned across his chest, they spit out high volume, powerful rock in capitals. It’s almost unbelievable that the sound they make is coming from just one guitar and a set of drums. It makes The White Stripes look like big cissies. This is hard, ferocious, pummelling stuff. Donnington and Reading Festivals must be calling.

Slow Club

Breaking More Waves has come across Slow Club live several times before, and tonight they are the best we have seen them. They are utterly engaging, uplifting and bring big smiles to the crowd. Despite false starts and songs that collapse in the middle Charles and Rebecca’s take on alt. country is the absolute highlight. Comparing the gig to a Take That reunion and charming with tales of teenage parties in limousines with bin liners for windows, they charge through a set of campfire ballads, cooing and yodelling that makes Breaking More Waves think that when they release an album later this year it will be an essential purchase. The vocal interplay and chemistry between Charles and Rebecca is growing with every gig they play, but they retain their sense of fun and ragged roughness that made them so appealing in the first place.

Esser has been the subject of considerable hype of the last few months, and based purely on this evenings performance, it may not be fully justified. With his big quiff and turned up jeans, he certainly looks the part, and his attacks on a drum placed near the front of the stage provide some visual entertainment. Unfortunately his quirky funky electro pop lacks distinction through a rather muted expressionless vocal and song construction that is built around simple one line choruses repeating themselves until you have no choice but to submit . “Oh you’ve got me in a headlock, nothing in the world’s going to help me now,” he chants over and over again, but these words fail to move us in any way, except possibly to the bar.

So it is left to Twisted Wheel to up the ante and provide a thrilling and exciting end to the evening. If like Breaking More Waves you subscribe to the theory that music is an art form that needs to constantly evolve and challenge in order to remain exciting, then Twisted Wheel will be your worst nightmare. With the sneer of The Clash, the drive of The Jam and the football terrace mentality of Oasis, Twisted Wheel are a delight to those who think that The Enemy are the best band the UK has produced this decade. Lads in polo shirts are suddenly slam dancing in a circle to the front and the venues bouncers are kept very busy. The band are furiously fast and tempestuously tight, but as bodies fly past it leaves Breaking More Waves feeling that it’s rather like watching a tribute band to lad culture, and we're not sure if that is really where we want to be in 2009.

Then it's over. Rather like a real marathon the place is sweat soaked. It stinks to high heaven. But the floor is covered with crushed plastic lager glasses rather than bottles of water. We have made it, a mini indoor festival survived, the inelegant beauty of a toilet venue has not quite destroyed us.

Fight Like Apes @ London Camden Koko

The last time Breaking More Waves came across Fight Like Apes they were performing to a virtually empty basement club in Brighton. Tonight as the screen that hides the stage from the auditorium slowly rises, the band walk out to see a rammed and intoxicated Camden Koko. The volume of punters flushed with excitement has little to do with the bands presence however, and more to do with the fact that this is Friday night, it’s Club NME, it’s gone midnight and extravagant self indulgence of an alcoholic kind has proceeded this moment.

Fight Like Apes are ready to storm it though. The bands frenzied, quirky, occasionally disturbing bombardment of synth and bass combined with the strident vocal of hair tossing MayKay suits a night like this. One moment they are ramming out a volatile cover of Lightsabre Cock Sucking Blues by Mclusky, with its lyrics of “Nicotine stained on account of her crutch, and I’m aching from fucking too much.” The next MayKay is ascending the speaker stack and playing with the hair of girls in the front row. This is a band who want to sonically and visually grab you by the tits and balls, and possibly yank them off. They even ask the crowd to boo for them, which everyone is happy to do. Bass player Tom salutes the masses, this is a two way satisfaction.

The gig climaxes with Lend Me Your Face, probably the quickest speed fuck the audience have ever had, before Battlestations explodes in a screaming orgy of samples and electronica, the band throwing their keyboards to the floor. The audience have been taken, indie cool lost in a smiling mosh pit at the front. Whether the next morning anyone will remember this hardcore unrelenting aural gang bang may well depend upon the extent of the hangover, but no doubt Fight Like Apes satisfied in a bruising and wonderful way.