Two days ago the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition short list for the live final was announced. The long list of 120 acts chosen by music bloggers and writers, which included Breaking More Waves, was cut down to the final 8 by a second judging team that included Emily Eavis, organiser of the festival. “"We're so proud of this shortlist. It was really hard to get it down to just 8 acts - the standard this year was incredible - but I think we've whittled it down to a really strong final 8. I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone who entered, and to our team of judges for narrowing it down to 120 acts. Now bring on the live final!" We couldn’t agree more. The selected eight acts are all without exception very good.
Of the shortlisted acts, one of Breaking More Waves choices, Gibson Bull, has made the cut, so we can pat ourselves on the back for the fact that someone agrees with us. Also on the shortlist is Furs who we featured on the blog in 2012.
The finalists and the writers / sites / blogs that chose them are as follows:
Gibson Bull (Breaking More Waves)
Hero- Fisher (Charming Man)
Only Girl (Judges Utd – Not one blog, but 3 combined which included this one)
M+A (Michael Cragg from Popjustice. Freelance music writer for The Guardian, Notion, Beat and Dazed)
Furs (The Line Of Best Fit)
The Black Tambourines (Resonance FM)
Pandr Eyez (Drowned In Sound)
Izzy Bizu (Michael Cragg from Popjustice. Freelance music writer for The Guardian, Notion, Beat and Dazed)
Guessing a winner at this stage is impossible – from the sophisticated pop of Only Girl to the soulful R&B of Pandr Eyez to the surf rock of The Black Tambourines, there’s a wide variety of styles on offer. However, if previous years are anything to go by there are usually 2 or 3 acts that stand head and shoulders above the other acts in the live finals, where performance and raw talent shines through. Last year we fell in love and pretty much proposed musical marriage (OK, it was more of a first date but our love has not diminished a year later) to eventual winners Bridie Jackson & The Arbour after they performed, they were that good.
For now though we’d like to draw your attention to two acts on the shortlist besides our own selection of Gibson Bull, who we'll be cheering on. First up is Hero-Fisher, who it transpires is already playing the likes of this year’s Great Escape in Brighton and the Isle of Wight Festival. Hero-Fisher’s song Fear Not Victorious starts as if it’s the female fronted baby of Manc faves James circa Sometimes (listen to the spoken word intro and the references to the weather and see if you agree) with the slightest dash of Lou Reed before grows into something rather cacophonous. It’s not an instant song, but repeated listens will find you delving deeper and deeper, not wanting to come up for air for some time. Watch the video carefully, its one of the slowest films you'll ever watch.
Hero-Fisher - Fear Not Victorious (Video)
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Secondly there’s Izzy Bizu a singer who has already had the support of Zane Lowe’s next hype on Radio 1, BBC1 Extra and a lot of pop blogs after being discovered through open mic competitions. She’s 19 years old, is from South West London and has a sweet jazzy /soul voice and is already being tipped as a next big thing, so is sure to be in the running at the live final as she can certainly sing.
Izzy Bizu - White Tiger (Video)
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The invite only final will be held at Pilton Working Men's Club on Saturday 5th April, 2014. Breaking More Waves will be in attendance – keep an eye on our twitter during the night for updates. Hear all 8 finalists on the playlist below.
Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition Shortlist (Playlist)
This is so good.
Since we introduced D/C to Breaking More Waves back in October 2013 we’ve been patiently waiting for new material to arrive and here it is. Daughter, Daughter is exactly what we wanted him to deliver. Telling the classic tale of a father who can’t accept that his daughter is in love with someone who he doesn’t approve of (“he wants to have a doctor or a lawyer”) D/C drives the song home with electronic hand claps and beats, head nodding deep bass and his deliciously husky mellow croon. We have no idea what's cool and what isn't, but if we were to hazard a guess, we'd say that this sounded cool. This is the sound of a man who knows what he's doing.
Some fatherly advice to the dad in question – lighten up man, she’s going to do her own thing anyway (“she’s got that fever”). Every resistance will find an equal and opposite force, so better to stop pushing, chill out and listen to this spot on tune. She'll love you even more if you do.
D/C - Daughter, Daughter
One of the eternal internal debates a new music blog writer / editor will have is what is new and what isn’t. Should a song not be featured simply because it’s been online for a number of months? When does new music stop being new?
Today’s new band Beech who consist of Josh Beech (see what he did there?) and Oliver Som have certainly been around for a while. They document their exact time of formation as ‘hazy’ but acknowledge working together as far back as autumn 2012 and released their first EP We Are The Masters Of Our Fate a year ago. Since then have released a further single called Lovers last September. With around 11,000 plays on Soundcloud for Lovers we’re assuming that there’s a whole world of ears out there that haven’t yet heard Beech and therefore we can still very much bundle them up as new. For those who are already familiar with the band we apologise and promise to try harder.
We’re streaming two of Beech’s songs below. The first is the aforementioned Lovers. Its initial 30 seconds are somewhat misleading; what it sounds like you are going to get is an earthy, slightly scratchy sounding alt.folk tune. Don’t be fooled for it grows into a driving expansive piece reminiscent of another Breaking more Waves favourite, Sons & Lovers, who also do pop with one foot on a rockier mountain. There’s also a hint of Of Monsters & Men when the female backing vocal comes into play. Lovers has a melody and beautiful lyrical hook that nags gently at the ears and won’t go away. “We’re just lovers, like no others, ‘cos I was just a half until I found you,” sings lead vocalist Josh and we can imagine the worlds romantics falling instantly for this song. The second tune London Riots (from their EP), has a spirit-raising musicality that is in stark contrast with the anarchy and violence of the black and white footage of the 2011 riots shown in the video.
Take a listen and keep an eye and ear out for Beech as more music is promised soon.
Beech - Lovers
Beech - London Riots (Video)
We’ve already posted the sparse and beautiful Pray For You by Tydes via Soundcloud (featuring one of our favourite discoveries of the end of 2013 Låpsley) and now here’s a video. A man with a set of telescopic loppers, some support scaffolding in what appears to be the abandoned remains of a building, some undergrowth, some acrobatics and dancing are the main components here. We really have no idea what it all means, but then does everything have to have meaning? Sometimes it’s nice just to have art for arts sake without reading anything into it.
In other Låpsley related news, she’s been announced as one of the artists playing the 2014 Kendal Calling festival.
Tydes - Pray For You (Featuring Låpsley) - Video
