Hurts + Clare Maguire @ Brighton Concorde

There’s a certain irony that whilst millions gawp at their TV screens, getting their only fix of weekly music from the X-Factor, Britain’s best new voice is treading the boards away from eyes of the masses. Clare Maguire may currently only be the support act to melodramatic electronic pop duo Hurts in a 550 capacity club on Brighton seafront, but on the evidence of this performance it won’t be long before she’s headlining much bigger venues.

Garbed in red tassels, flowery headdress and long boots Maguire looks like some scary sexy sorceress about to cast her spell. Backed by a slick four piece band in black jackets and ties she stares moodily at the crowd before flinging her arms wide open and opening her mouth. That’s when the power hits. Huge, soulful and potently expressive her voice booms across the space; Maguire makes the likes of Florence and the Machine seem weedy. Forget the leftfield coolness that the recent Breakage remix of her debut single Ain’t Nobody implies, Maguire has the potential to appeal to the widest of audiences. Last Dance is a crampons breaking mountainous pop song, whilst Life After Dark with its rave like synths and heavy bruising drums is epic in its proportions. Her cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Big Love is delivered with unnerving confidence, her vocal presence taking full ownership of the song. “The best support act I’ve ever seen,” one member of the audience is overheard saying. He could well be right. Absolutely incredible.

It’s been a slow build for Hurts (the static Chris Lowe like Adam pictured) in 2010, taking some time to establish their true audience, but with a sold out tour and their debut album Happiness being the fastest selling debut by a British band this year, the Hurts trajectory is veering upwards. Whilst Hurts may very much be a pop band, their world is not one of neon technicolour - Hurts find glory in greyness. “It’s a beautiful rainy day,” singer Theo states with a sense of satisfaction to the audience. Yet despite their monochrome outlook their music is anything but grey. Hurts bring a gravitas and lavishness to pop music in every aspect of their detail. Collars and cuffs, stern motionless opera singers, atmospheric back lighting, composed stage presence – everything Hurts do is thought out and calculated, but it never seems cold. There’s a sense of humour in their personalities, even if they are very serious about the music, evidence of which is displayed when Theo mocks at their suits – “It’s hot isn’t it? I should have worn my shorts and T shirt.”

The music of Hurts is grandly magnificent – the likes of the boy band cool Blood Tears and Gold eliciting screams from girls (and a few boys) in its quiet moments, whilst Stay has the same Christmas number 1 potential as the East 17 song of the same name. “We say goodbye in the pouring rain and I break down as you walk away” is the most obvious sad Hollywood movie lyric ever, but for anyone who understands loss and its part in pop music, goose bumps will also be present. The group also tip their hats to Kylie Minogue, covering Confide In Me following her recent Radio 1 Live Lounge version of their own hit Wonderful Life. Ending with Better Than Love – electronic uplifting stadium pop at its best, they leave with no return - despite calls for an encore. Emotional pop music of the highest order.

Yuck - Rubber

Here’s a dirty druggy beauty of a song to lose yourself in. Rubber is the new single from lo-fi fuzz rock kids Yuck and is released as a slab of 12” vinyl on the 26^th October. A droning, squalid squall of a tune that loads up the megawatts, it kicks in at an immense seven minutes plus, virtually guaranteeing it no radio play. Surely only the bravest of DJ’s will take up on something that long? Fear not though because Rubber streams for your listening pleasure below.

Yuck are out on tour in the UK throughout October and are preparing an album for release. For now Rubber sets the stall. For fans of Sonic Youth, Pavement, J Masics, Jesus and the Mary Chain and a whole host of other seminal noise-makers Yuck are just the ticket.

Rubber by Yuck

Spark - Revolving

“Pop is dead,” Radiohead once sang. In a commercial sense they couldn’t have been further from the truth. The BBC reported earlier this year that rock sales continue to decline, with only a handful of bands such as Kings of Leon making waves in the UK charts. Of course sales aren’t everything; creatively rock is still very much alive, finding new ways to explore itself in the underground. But for now pop rules the radio as well as the majority of hearts that buy records. The question “Where’s the rock music?” was asked earlier this year on this blog (here) and in a commercial sense the answer still isn’t clear.

So here’s another pop princess. One with a bit of street attitude, a bit of class and a bit of soul - her name is Spark. If you’ve been paying attention you’ll see that we’ve been featured her a number of times on the blog since June.

Revolving is the follow up to Spark’s debut single Shut Out The Moon through pop boutique label Neon Gold. With Revolving it seems that the Walthamstow lass is moving off the single lane carriageway and onto the motorway with her foot pressed firmly on accelerate. This is an immaculately produced, solid, yet slightly quirky piece of mid-tempo pop. With its nagging oh-oh’s and what sounds like a helicopter taking off buried within the mix, it seems that now is the time for proper lift off and flight for Spark.

The single is released on 15th November. Spark plays a number of gigs this autumn including an NME Radar gig at Manchester's In The City before she heads out on tour with X Factor girl Diana Vickers. As Spark would say herself, “boom.” Revolving streams below for your pleasure. Long live pop.

Revolving by Spark (sparkthemusic)

James Blake - I Only Know (What I Know Now)

Indie-rock, new-folk, synth-pop, hip-hop, whatever the genre one of our most consistent arguments that we regurgitate regularly on the blog is that nothing is new – all music is just following tradition, re-assembling the past and twisting it for new ears.

Of all the genres that you can define, dubstep is probably the one that is least rooted in custom, although even then it’s evolved from other less elderly genres into the dark near-mainstream beast it is today.

Some of the more interesting artists out there are the ones who are taking the dubstep template but shifting it slightly into something different. Mount Kimbie, Babe Rainbow, and Burial are all producers creating warped off-centre music that finds a dark space in your heart and the emphasis here is on the word space. I Only Know (What I Know) Now from the Klavierwerke EP by James Blake is another elegantly ambient piece that fits this mould, taking samples of vocal, snatches of piano and lazy beats to create something that takes you into the darkness and comfort of Blake’s musical cocoon. And don't you just love the way the Soundcloud player pattern looks like a missile firing ?

I Only Know What I Know Now- James Blake by Anorak London