Video: Heavy Sea - Thom Cross

"Heavy Sea" is the debut single from new solo artist Thom Cross Available on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/heavy-sea-single/id809992087 https://www.facebook.com/ThomCrossMusic https://twitter.com/thomcrossmusic http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomCrossMusic http://www.thomcross.com/ Produced by Thom Cross & Will Donbavand 'Heavy Sea' video: WRITER/DIRECTOR Phoebe Hartley PRODUCER Tamasin Simpkin EDITOR Ben Hall DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Cesar Salmeron COSTUME DESIGN Holly Preston COSTUME ASSISTANT Heather Smith

Full disclosure: The Thom Cross lead singer is a personal friend, but still, this video and debut single are pretty strong. There's a big Bowie vibe to the song and you can consider my emotions amped...

The video for Heavy Sea was created by WHAM BAM in Melbourne.

You can grab the single on iTunes.

Stream: Massive (KRTS RMX) - Fem Fel X PBJ

Remix from Fem Fel x PBJ's Massive. A nice 90's break beat action for the groovers out there. Enjoy. Check his work here: Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWg-ZWUnTtI https://soundcloud.com/femfelmusic https://twitter.com/femfel https://facebook.com/femfel

This remix of Massive by Fem Fel X PBJ from KRTS is all kinds of nice. I've been following KRTS since his excellent album The Dread Of An Unknown Evil and he continues to deliver the goods.

If you don't already know it, the original track is also worth checking out, the loose feel of KRTS' mix really adds a contrast to this.

Video: Heart & Soul - James Wolf

Heart & Soul feels a little too obvious in some ways... Nu disco / house painted a little by numbers perhaps, but there's no denying it's catchy as hell. Heart & Soul is produced by Tom Neville, whose credits include Kelis and Ellie Goulding - and you can feel his influence all over this track.

D/R/U/G/S was responsible for one of my favourite tracks of last year and here he provides a remix of Heart & Soul that pitches down the vocals to create something a little more moody and smokey:

Info // Bookings: james@autonomymusicgroup.com

Hearts & Soul is out on Monday through Herculean Records.

2014 Hype: Realize You - Empress Of

It seems almost impossible to get any information about Empress Of, which is kind of ridiculous because despite her aloof approach to PR she is screaming for some cross-over success. With slinky indie sass meets snappy synth pop melodies it's hard to figure how you could not love every one of the handful of tracks Lorely Rodriguez has put out as Empress Of.

Rodriguez is Brooklyn based and appears to divide her singing between English and Spanish, with her Systems EP featuring two tracks in each language. That EP is good - Hat Trick being a particular highlight. But the track that has me most excited and caught my attention in the first place is the the single she released towards the end of last year, Realize You. There's a high-art angle to all of this - a sort of synesthesia that comes from Rodriguez's experiments with colour, as explained on Dazed Digital last year when they interviewed her.

Realize You is a beautifully slinky yet stumbling and obsessive record. Soft bubbling electronic melodies and those gorgeous slightly Germanic, slightly techno drums. It is Rodriguez's vocals that steal the show though, her obsession shining through, scary yet alluring: I want to be your boyfriend / and I want to be your girlfriend / and I want to take you there / and I want to watch you do it.

1 November. . .Iceland Airwaves, Reykjavic 2 November. . .Pitchfork Paris 3 November. . .Hit the City Festival, Eindhoven 5 November. . .Birthdays, London 14 November. . .El Plaza Condesa, Mexico City 16 November. .

Check out Hat Trick below:

SYSTEMS A 1 Hat Trick 2 No Means No B 1 Tristeza 2 Camisa Favorita PREORDER via DOUBLE DENIM (World ex. North America) http://doubledenimrecords.bigcartel.com/product/dd019-empress-of-systems-ep PREORDER via TERRIBLE (North America) http://terriblerecords.bigcartel.com/product/empress-of-systems-ep http://www.facebook.com/empressof https://twitter.com/empressoff

There is also quite a bit more on the Empress Of Soundcloud page and a rather surreal video for Champagne:

This is probably the last in my series of posts on artists I'm tipping for big things in 2014. You can read the rest here and check out my Spotify playlist containing some of the bands best songs (and some bands I haven't had time to cover) here.

2014 Hype / Stream: Brain - Banks

I'm already about 57% in love with Banks, and I barely know anything about her. Born and based in LA she started to gain attention last year when she toured in support of The Weeknd and released a couple of pretty stunning EPs last year. Her sound isn't a million miles from The Weeknd's, but definitely benefits form Banks' femininity - this is rough edged indie R&B and I can't wait for an album. It doesn't hurt matters that just looking at her makes my eyes hurt.

All of Banks' material to date has been pretty stellar but her latest track Brain, produced by Shlomo, kind of blows them away:

iTunes: http://po.st/BanksBrain Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/1ryZH6Cu7CTEArHpPWUFC2 www.facebook.com/hernameisbanks twitter.com/hernameisbanks @banksbanksbanks www.hernameisbanks.com https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shlohmo/215424843565 twitter.com/shlohmo @shlohmo http://shlohmo.tumblr.com BANKS "LONDON" EP Now Available - PURCHASE HERE: smarturl.it/banksep UK HEADLINE TOUR // COACHELLA // GOVERNORS BALL and more tour dates up at: http://hernameisbanks.com/shows

Whilst you are here, check out Warm Water and This Is What It Feels Like:

Don't forget to check out the rest of my 2014 hype here, and listen to the Spotify playlist here.