So, in our weekly post about which gigs you really ought to be heading out to at the weekend, the top of our list is the series of gigs we’ve been writing about all week. Sea Monsters carries on until Sunday, with the Punk vs Hardcore night tonight, One Inch Badge vs Slip Jam B tomorrow, One Inch Badge vs One Inch Badge on Saturday (headlined by Physics House Band), and One Inch Badge vs Bizarro World on Sunday. We’ll carry on reporting on these on the night as we have been so far.
Other choice picks we’ve spotted are Catherine Ireton at Theatre Royal tonight, and Verity Susman at the Green Door Store on Friday night, which is a free gig. With any luck, I might be able to pop out of Sea Monsters and nip from the Prince Albert across the road to catch a bit of this.
After yesterday’s snow debacle, I had no trouble getting to the Prince Albert for tonight’s One Inch Badge vs Love Thy Neighbour Sea Monsters night. It was the night I’ve been most looking to based on the bands who were playing, but that’s not to say that I’m not looking forward to the other nights to introduce me to new bands.
First up was Jacko Hooper, a singer songwriter type, one man and his guitar. He had a great voice and at times, his guitar playing was stunning. His blurb cited Jeff Buckley as an influence but I was hearing more Jose Gonzales – a great voice with nice acoustic flourishes. My only concern was the his hoody was worn in the same way as Rylan from X-factor.
Jacko Hooper
The second band on the bill were Plasticine. When they were setting up, I saw four boys in skinny jeans preparing their instruments, which is a bit of a pet hate of mine. Thankfully Plasticine were much better than my first impressions, and were very enjoyable to watch. However, their mini-biog says that they are carrying the Britpop baton, but my memories of Britpop have more singalong choruses.
Plasticine
Holy Vessels were up next and played a great set of breezy country-folk, which drew heavily from last year’s Last Orders at the Marshall Arms album. It was their bassist’s last gig with the band, and a big chunk of the audience had come specifically to see Holy Vessels (including a number of people who stood right at the front and spent most of the gig taking photos on tablet phones). In a parallel universe, there’s a twin sibling of Holy Vessels where the lead singer hams up the “holy” part of their name and dresses as a gospel preacher and exalts the audience to join them in their journey. In our universe however, the lead singer keeps his eyes closed while singing and is more than polite between songs.
Holy Vessels
The big draw tonight was Abi Wade, who’s come a long way since we first saw her playing the acoustic slot at a Source New Music Night back in 2011. Easily the most obvious choice for the headline slot (despite her modesty), Abi engaged with the audience, who were awestruck by her talent, not just in her original cello-as-percussion-and-instrument setup, but also in her new set ups, introducing samples and programmed drums into the mix, or switching to piano. I’ve said it before and no doubt I’ll say it again, Abi Wade really is one of the most engaging performers Brighton has, and you really should go and see her live.
Apologies for the fact that there’s no Sea Monsters review from last night – it took me over three and a half hours to get home from work, and by the time I got back, I wasn’t in the mood for going anywhere, nor would have I wanted to subject myself to any more time out in that weather.
So no review of the One Inch Badge vs Teen Creeps night. Nothing about Great Pagans, Tiger Cub, Traams or Negative Pegasus. It was one I was really looking forward to – I’ve heard so many good things about Traams. Although one of the things I’ve heard about them is that they aren’t from Brighton, they’re from Chichester, so who knows if they made it to the gig either?
So, as I did with Sea Monsters last year, we’re going to blog every night of the festival, on the night. This year it’s even more ambitious, because there’s seven nights not six. The first night was One Inch Badge vs The Source, and editor James Kendall was spotted in the audience. Current Source cover stars were on the bill – would they live up to the hype?
900 Spaces
First band on were 900 Spaces. They’re quite pop – they reminded me a lot of fellow Brighton poppers Kovak, or maybe The Woo! Worths, but with a more distinctive vocal – a little bit Lily Allen, in a good way.
TheDealWasForTheDiamond
Next up were TheDealWasForTheDiamond, who we saw a couple of times last year. Those times had them pitched as post/math rock, but tonight they were a lot more ROCK. I’m glad I brought my ear plugs!
Kins
The band I was most looking forward tonight was Kins, and they really didn’t disappoint. There was definitely something special about them. I caught up with James Kendall after their set, and he described them better than I could – like a cross between The XX and Foals, despite them completely different bands. Go see them soon!
Written in Waters
Most of the crown were there for headliners Written in Waters. My ears were a bit confused by the two conflicting styles on stage though. The vocals were a fantastic soul / gospel mix. The rest of the band were a pretty damned good post rock band. But in my head, my understanding of post rock is that it’s all about rich layers, and my understanding of the kind of music that goes with the vocals is that it’s all about being stripped back, and I couldn’t really reconcile the two. What do I know though – the rest of the crowd were loving it.
Iceland Spar – the opener of the new Esben and the Witch album – is a bold statement of intent, guitars either crash around noisily or are conspicuous by their absence pushing Rachel Davies vocals to the fore. The quietLOUDquietLOUD almost post-rock dynamic recurs a number of times throughout the album, but the record is better defined by the sound introduced on the second track, Slow Wave. Dominated by slinky, shimmering textures, ethereal vocals, and instrumentation which is probably guitars but is subject to technical wizardry to make it sound other-worldly beautiful.
One of the album’s best tracks is last year’s single DeathWaltz, urgent guitars soundtracking forlorn, melodic vocals. This is about as pop as Esben and the Witch are going to get. The high point for us though is The Fall of Glorieta Mountain, an elegant, slow motion, glacier of a track. “Is this an answer or is this an echo?” ask the lyrics philosophically, initially over acoustic guitars which morph unassumingly into a backing which is at the same time both majestic yet understated.
Wash The Sins Not Only The Face isn’t an album which will give you the hope to get through these cold, dark days, but it is an album which will reflect this time of year perfectly – dark, sometimes bleak, inward looking, but with a beauty in it’s iciness, which deserves to be appreciated.
Wash The Sins Not Only The Face is out today on Matador Records
For 2013 I’ve got a grand plan to speak to a lot more of the people that we write about on the blog, to try and shift the balance away from opinion so much. If you don’t agree with us, that’s fair enough, but we still want to post up things that you might want to read. To kick this all off we caught up with Robert Fidora and Macaulay Hopwood, better known as Curxes, who not only featured in our Advent Calendar / end-of-year-list substitute, but also popped up in the Blog Sound of 2013 longlist, as well as the BBC / Hype Machine 2012 Zeitgeist list.
Last year’s Sea Monsters wasn’t curated by outsiders, but this year’s is. How did you come to be hosting an evening?
We have a really good relationship with One Inch Badge. They’re big supporters of the magazine through their advertising and we find it very easy to write about the gigs they put on as not only are there so many to choose from, they’re also very interesting up-and-coming bands. But I guess they asked us because we’re the only magazine that exclusively writes about the Brighton music scene.
Current Source cover stars Kins are second on the bill. Are headliners Written in Waters set for big things in 2013?
Essentially they could be absolutely huge or drive everyone mad. They’re not for everyone – it’s a very strange mix of styles, they’re kinda goth soul meets Pink Floyd – but the people that like them really love them. Kins are much easier to get you head around – they’re really powerful on stage but also very melodic. But I don’t think many bands would find it easy to follow Written In Waters – they’re so dramatic. Come and make up your mind. You really have to see them.
Who are SOURCE’s tips from the bands playing across the other nights?
I guess that you might be able to tell by the people who have been in the magazine, especially those that have been on the cover. Country rock band Holy Vessels recorded our song of 2012 and they’re every bit as good live as on record. Abi Wade plays the cello like no one you’ve ever seen – totally original – while AKDK and Physics House Band are both intense and intelligent bursts of noise, the former electronic and the latter jazzy. Other that that I’m most looking forward to seeing hip hop outfit Rum Committee for the first time.
If you could have got any Brighton band, past or present, to play your night who would you have chosen?
Tough question – I’d very much like to see one more gig by Gloria Cycles, so they would be on the bill. Nick Cave, obviously. I saw Grinderman at the King Alfred Centre so know how powerful he can be when he’s right in front of your face. And I guess I’d like to see The Maccabees play all the early songs they won’t play any more – in a room full of over excited teenagers, like their infamous gig at the Concorde. Finally I’d like to see Bat For Lashes’ first live incarnation – the all girl band – again. She was a delight in those early days. And still is, of course. That’s not a bad line up in anyone’s books.
Sea Monsters seems to have replaced Brighton Live as the local music festival. Why do you think that is?
I think the problem with Brighton Live – which was a brilliant idea – is that by the end it only attracted bands who weren’t already getting lots of gigs elsewhere. I was part of the board for a while and I pushed for more curated nights, something we did at Sticky Mike’s over three days as a SOURCE-branded event. I don’t want to say the rest of it was full of BIMM bands but… it was full of BIMM bands. That’s not so bad bit it isn’t representative of the Brighton scene as a whole. Brighton Live needed to tempt bands to be involved that were way too big to play for free because it was good for the community. But that never really happened. Sea Monsters works better, I think, because the bands are asked to play and already it’s seen as a badge of honour to be chosen. Because it sells out all the bands get paid, which is good. It’s a shame Brighton Live fell from its former glory because there were a lot of good people involved with very good intentions.
In advance of next week’s One Inch Badge promoted Sea Monsters seven gig bonanza at the Prince Albert, we caught up with Andy Rossiter of Love They Neighbour, who’s curating Wednesday night’s gig:
Last year’s Sea Monsters wasn’t curated, but this year’s is. How did you come to be hosting an evening?
I’ve known Alex from One Inch Badge for a while now; we owned the Freebutt together and Love Thy Neighbour have done a few co-promotions with One Inch Badge, so when they asked me I had no hesitation in saying yes. The last two Sea Monsters events have been great in showcasing the best of Brighton, so it is a pleasure to be part of it.
The next Love Thy Neighbour release is by Us Baby Bear Bones, who aren’t on the bill. Did you want them to play, or were they already booked to play at the Danger Du Mort night at the Green Door Store already?
Yeah, we’re really excited to be releasing Us Baby Bear Bones debut release ‘What starts with a U ends in an I’, which is out in March. That band are incredibly creative, so expect some great artwork as well as a stellar ep! They would have played this year, but they played Sea Monsters 1 & 2, so One Inch Badge were keen not to have the band play for a third successive year.
Have the other acts on the bill got a chance of recording for Love They Neighbour, or is the night about Love Thy Neighbour as promoters rather than the label?
Love Thy Neighbour is open to all sorts of music, so if we find a band we love who get what we’re about then we’d happily release something by them. After the Us Baby Bear Bones EP we plan to release an EP by A Lily, and we’re in talks with another Brighton band about a release in the summer, but other than that we are free for something new. We see ourselves as a introductory label where acts can release their music and have complete creative control over their music & art, so I anticipate that Abi Wade, Us Baby Bear Bones and A Lily will move onto bigger & better things and we will release music later in the year potentially by acts we haven’t even heard yet.
Who’s Love Thy Neighbour’s tip from the bands playing across the other nights?
Apologies to anyone who knows me personally, because I literally don’t shut up about this band, but if you haven’t seen TRAAMS yet, then you must, they’re amazing. They make slacker lo-fi rock music with elements of Krautrock & US indie. They have an eye for a tune too. Would have loved to have done something with them for Love Thy Neighbour, but they have already moved onto bigger & better things! A close second is Physics House Band, another band who are flipping awesome and an outstanding live proposition.
If you could have got any Brighton band, past or present, to play your night who would you have chosen?
Er wow, that’s a tough one. There were loads of Brighton based bands I loved when I was about 18 like Clearlake, 80’s Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Turncoat, Charlottefield, British Sea Power, Coin-op & Electric Soft Parade, but I think it would have to be Electrelane. For those who don’t know their music, they made alternative, mostly instrumental rock & electronica and their albums were largely produced by Steve Albini. They split up in 2007, but reformed last year for live performances. My favourite album of theirs is ‘No Shouts No Calls’, which gets a lot of play in Sticky Mike’s!
Love Thy Neighbour curate Wednesday night at Sea Monsters, with Abi Wade, Holy Vessels, Plasticine and Jacko Hooper
Our regular Weekend Gigs feature is back after a bit of a Christmas break. If you’re willing to brave the cold (and the snow if weather reports are to be believed), here’s what we’d recommend
Tonight’s recommendation is a new night called Night Sweats. “But Brighton Music Blog” I hear you cry, “it’s gone seven o clock, I should have made plans already”. Aha, but Night Sweats doesn’t start until 9pm. It’s a new night for people who want to stay out a bit later, and who don’t have to worry about work in the morning. It’s headlined by Elle Kaye who are onstage at 12:15. Support comes from Rosales, Saint Savanna and Classic Plastic. More info over on Facebook.
Friday night we’re recommending a gig just outside of Brighton, but it’s close enough that we’ll let them off. Derriere haven’t played a local gig for a while, so to make up for it they’re playing two sets at their gig. They’ll be raising the roof at the Ropetackle centre in Shoreham from 8pm. More info here.
Then Sunday our advice is a gig that you can’t buy a ticket for. Esben & The Witch are launching their fantastic new album “Wash The Sins Not Only The Face” (review coming soon!) at the Green Door Stoor, and the only way to get in is to pre-order the album, which is out next monday, from Resident.
The Hundredth Anniversary have announced their first 7″ release The Jump. Following on from their split cassette (with Tyrannosaurus Dead and Gum), and October’s Pressure Shere / Slip download, Jump will be backed with a track called 34, and another bonus download track, coming out on March 18th on Tiny Lights recordings.
Brighton Music Blog 