This week’s playlist of the week is Breaking More Waves 2019 (New Music Updated Monthly). This is compiled by Robin Seamer, who writes the Breaking New Waves music blog. Robin’s also involved in Portsmouth’s Dials music festival, which raises money for the local branch of mental health charity Mind. Great stuff!

Refreshingly short at just under 45 mins, there’s a pop-rock retro sensibility from the start of the playlist. (NB I’m ignoring the first couple of tracks, which the explicit filter blocked from playing).

An 80s vibe

Then comes a rather lovely surprise – Salt Ashes’ outstanding downtempo cover of Madonna’s Get Into the Groove breaks the mood. Not just anyone could cover this song and get away with it, but they pull it off stylishly. Then we’re back into more of a pop-rock mood again. Gothic rock from The Murder Capital follows, sounding for all the world like they walked straight out of the early 1980s.

Next up is the atmospheric Ancoats Junction from new Glaswegian band Morning Midnight. This is a track I could probably happily play on repeat. Following on from that, Walt Disco’s Past Tense lives up to its name, with more time-travel back to the 80s. They sound like a blend of some of the most iconic bands of the period – and it works.

The playlist ends with Black Country, New Road’s powerful offering Sunglasses, which could easily be mistaken for Talking Heads having a breakdown: ‘I am so ignorant now with all that I have learnt’… ‘I am invincible in these sunglasses’…

If that’s whetted your appetite, you’ll have to listen to this one pronto before my description goes out of date when Robin updates it for tracks he’s featured on the blog in August.

Duration: 44 min, 11 songs.

Rating: 18. (Definitely got some adult content in this one. NB, it’s not all labelled as such.)

Ideal for: getting stuff done. The playlist has the right kind of energy for driving or other tasks where you can listen to the lyrics.