An independent unfunded music blog from south-central UK.
Every year since this blog started way back in 2008 I’ve published a ‘Ones to Watch’ list of new artists that I think are worth keeping an eye and ear on in the forthcoming year. This time round I had decided that I wasn’t going to do such a list (which forms a series of posts) purely because the blog has been very inactive in 2025. However, over the last few days I had a change of heart and so…
Whilst Breaking More Waves blog has slowed to the point of being defunct, I hope there’s still a space for yet another end of year album list amongst the multitude of end of year lists – this one only being finally decided at the end of the year. As I’ve said with previous end of year list posts, by now if you’re a music fan you’re probably sick of these things by now and don’t want to read pages…
It’s that time again when new music fans and the music industry in the UK descend to the south coast for the annual multi-venue music festival known as the Great Escape in Brighton. I guess I’m part of the furniture at the festival now, having attended 17 of the 18 events since the very first one in 2006. Along the way I have witnessed a number of now high profile artists in their infancy, playing…
Are You Listening? Reading’s annual multi-venue music festival returns to the Berkshire town this weekend. Breaking More Waves has been a regular attendee to the event; our records show us first visiting in 2013 which appears to have been the first. Since then, except for 2024, we’ve been every year. Despite being a firmly established event Are You Listening? doesn’t always get the praise or…
As you may have noticed Breaking More Waves is on a break at the moment. But it’s going to return fairly soon. In the meantime you can still find plenty on new music weekly on the Breaking More Waves Spotify playlist, which is called New Music Weekly. You can find it by clicking here. You’ll find plenty of cracking new tunes there and it’s updated almost every Friday. Here’s one from this week.…
It’s the end of the year and that means it’s the appropriate time to post an end of the year list. Not November. Not even the middle of December. But at the end of the year. So here is the Breaking More Waves Favourite Albums of 2024 list. There’s no big commentary or no real explanation of the records here. This is because if you are the sort of person that pays any interest in end of year lists,…
Man/ Woman/ Chainsaw is Billy Ward (vocals, guitars), Emmie-Mae Avery (vocals,keys/synths), Vera Leppänen (vocals, bass), Clio Harwood (violin) and Lola Cherry (drums). The final choice on this year’s Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch list they are arguably the least ‘new’ of the 10 acts on the list, having released their first song Any Given Sunday late in 2022. Two further songs followed in 2023…
The ninth Ones to Watch 2025 is Disgusting Sisters; a duo that featured on the blog in September prior to releasing any music. Since then they’ve released they’re debut single Killing It and Breaking More Waves has managed to catch them live. From that live show I can confirm that they are the new queens of dancing in front of the bedroom mirror pop. They’re cool, sassy and fun. They describe…
The next selection on the Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch 2025 list is a bit of a stab in the dark. To date The Itch have released just 1 song – the mighty Ursula . Released last April it was immediately featured as the Breaking More Waves song of the week. This is how it was described on the blog at that time: ‘For Georgia Hardy and Simon Tyrie (who are The Itch) have created something rather…
Do you like pop music? Then the chances are you’ll like the seventh artist on Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch list for 2025. Chloe Qisha is a Malaysian born and UK based singer and songwriter who released her debut single VCR Home Video this July. Since then she’s released a number of other tracks including two really catchy tunes; Sexy Goodbye and I Lied, I’m Sorry. These songs straddle that…
The sixth artist on this year’s Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch list hail from Cork in Ireland and are a five piece called Cliffords. They are an indie rock band with the sort of weighty sound that takes you to a higher plane. Songs like the powerful Second Skin showcase Iona Lynch’s commanding vocal delivery whilst Harry Menton’s guitars go from creating moments of tender beauty to waves of…
The next artist on the Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch 2025 list released his debut single just over a month ago – so this selection is probably somewhat ahead of the curve. Mudi Sama is a British-born, Nigerian-raised artist who, based on that one song ( Jealous Type ) is clearly in debt to the 00’s guitar sound – something you don’t see from many black artists given the scene at the time was…
The fourth artist on the Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch list is Jacob Alon. Jacob hails from the Fife area of Scotland and makes utterly bewitching and tender acoustic music that is already finding a fan base, with their 2025 tour of small venues in January already a sell out. Interestingly for an acoustic artist the two songs Jacob has released so far have both been produced with Dan Carey – a…
The Pill are the first of this year’s One to Watch artists that have featured previously on Breaking More Waves, from back in April when they introduced themselves to us with their debut single Bale of Hay . Since then the Isle of Wight pop punksters have added a couple more frantically hilarious satirical songs to go with their ode to being blonde. Next there was Scaffolding Man , a song about…
If you’re a fan of the likes of Jorja Smith or Olivia Dean you may well want to add another Smith to your collection. It’s the second artist on the Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch list for 2025 and her name is Nia Smith. A graduate of the Brit school, Nia’s releases so far are contained on her Give Up The Fear EP released just last month. Each song sounds distinctively and gorgeously effortless…
The first artist on the Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch list for 2025 is Luvcat. Luvcat (yes apparently the name is taken as a reference to The Cure) is one Liverpool born Sophie Morgan Howarth, who released her debut single under the Luvcat monicker in May 2024. With three songs now under her belt ( Matador , He’s My Man and the originally named Dinner @ Brasserie Zedel) her smokey dramatic…
We’re nearly at the end of the year which means it’s time for the 2 annual lists that Breaking More Waves has published ever since its birth in 2008. First up is the Ones To Watch list. 10 artists that it may be worth keeping an eye out on for in 2025. As always this is not a tip list of who will be big (although previous years have included artists that have gone on to do very well indeed; from…
When this blog was in its prime it was a reasonably common occurrence to feature artists that had yet to release any ‘official’ recorded music, instead relying on shaky live You Tube clips or dodgy Soundcloud demos. The last band that featured here in that way was The Dinner Party, who a few months on had changed their name (for the better) to The Last Dinner Party and became a so-called overnight…
Is Steely Dan cool these days? Or is it the case that they’re deeply unfashionable? Either way, every person should make it their mission in life to listen to The Nightfly by Donald Fagen (the lead singer of Steely Dan). If I was writing one of those ‘100 Albums You Must Listened To Before You Die’ lists it would definitely feature. The reason I mention this record is that there is definitely a…
Whilst Breaking More Waves has never been a ‘local’ music blog, over the years these pages have introduced a fair-few artists from the south-central region of the UK. Today it’s time to welcome another, a band that, based on their debut single, could possibly be filed under the category ‘Beach-Goth’. Ugly Ozo hails from the Isle of Wight and is the latest in a line of guitar wielding, freakishly…
Picture Parlour have already ‘faced the music’ from a number of critics for allegedly being the dreaded ‘industry plant’; a meaningless and absolute b*llocks term, that becomes even more meaningless and b*llocks when the people calling them industry plants don’t seem to be explain exactly what they mean or give any evidence of them being such except vague statements like “I know they are.” I've…
You may not know it butt this is what you knead. A peach of a video and a song that asks you to get off your backside and dance. If your plans have gone a rye, don’t worry, it’s impossible to feel sour when you hear this. Let’s just hope that it makes Sofi Tukker a bit of dough. Warning: The video contains a beautiful set of buns. And some baguettes that despite being at the pool don’t get soaking…
Song of the Week this week could so very nearly have also fitted into an artists new / introducing type post, as on first glance Imogen and the Knife is a brand new artist, with Mother of God appearing to be a debut single. However, delve just a tiny bit deeper and you’ll find that Imogen has already released music between 2018 and 2021 under just the name Imogen, amongst them the song White Lines…
This week’s track is a combined ‘Song of the Week’ and ‘New’ post as it’s a debut tune from a brand new band. It is, as always, featured on the current Breaking More Waves New Music Weekly Playlist which you can find by clicking here . Ursula by The Itch appeared online last week and prompted a flurry of posts from all the tastemaker websites; it’s easy to see why though. For Georgia Hardy and…
The Pill are like the snotty but sparkling d-i-y punk-pop sisters of Wet Leg, or perhaps Panic Shack, with extra venom. Debut single Bale of Hay , released yesterday, is less than 2 minutes long but packs in more wit and energy than most bands manage in years. “I’m a blonde bitch. Bimbo, butthole, tits. You expect me to be a sex icon. Oh wait, I am,” they proclaim with fake surprise before…
The eagle eyed and observant amongst you will have noticed that there was no Breaking More Waves Song of the Week last week – due to being on holiday. However, the New Music Weekly playlist did get hastily constructed, put together in a hotel room whilst overlooking the Tyne ( sadly no fog or Paul Gascoigne were present ). It’s back to regular service this week with a number of songs in contention…
This week’s Song of the Week blog post is a little different insofar as I’m not writing about the song itself, but instead highlighting the Breaking More Waves New Music Weekly playlist on Spotify, where the Song of the Week will always feature. There’s a handful of points I wanted to make about this playlist. 1.This playlist ultimately is made for me to listen to as much as you. And I do. They…
This week's song of the week is Goddess by Laufey. I’m often surprised that despite playing sold out shows across the world, winning a Grammy and having released acclaimed records such as Bewitched and Everything I Know About Love , when I mention Laufey to many of my peers they look at me with a puzzled expression. “Never heard of him / them,” they often say. Maybe Goddess will be the track where…
This week’s Song of the Week is a Eurovision song contest entry. Originally the plan (last Friday) was to feature Olly Alexander’s Dizzy , my home (UK) entry as Song of the Week. The signs all looked good. Olly has plenty of experience at performing, the song was co-written and co-produced by Danny L Harle (who co-wrote Bunny Is A Rider with Caroline Polachek and Houdini by Dua Lipa) and the…
If on a weekly basis like me, you scroll through all the big weekly playlists on Spotify, it’s pretty likely you’ll find a lot of songs that sound boringly similar. Pop music has always been that way of course, it’s why we can described music as having an ‘80’s sound’ or ‘60’s sound’. Pop = a popular sound, so if it's popular humans will want to make more of it. However, it’s always nice to…