Tomorrow, GAPS release their new single I Know It’s You. On Thursday night they held a launch party at the Green Door Store, with support from Foreign Skin and Eagles for Hands. We went along and took some photos:
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I Know It’s You is out on Monday 9th December on Sexbeat Records
One thing 2013 should be remembered for is the great summer we had. After a run of what felt like years of terrible, rainy, cold summers this year reminded us how summers ought to be. A good, hot summer deserves an appropriate soundtrack and Cate Ferris’ collaboration with reggae legend Nick Manasseh turned out to be just what we wanted to hear.
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The brothers Alex and Tom White brought their Electric Soft Parade back to hometown Brighton for the first gig of a short pre-Xmas tour. Playing songs from their latest album ‘Idiots’, a contender for many people’s end-of-year best-of lists for sure, they … Continue reading
For most of this year Fear of Men have been working hard on the debut album, which is nearly finished and due to hit the shelves in April 2014. To tide us over until then, the band put out their previous 7” and cassette releases together as a compilation called Early Fragments, which came out on coloured vinyl, cd and download back in February, then on tape for Cassette Store Day in September. The compilation came out with one unreleased track – a new tune called Seer which is what we’re featuring in our Advent Calendar for you here.
It’s been a busy year for the Nordic Giants – after a few years in which they only managed to release two EPs / singles in total (which both featured the same lead track – Shine – which appeared in last year’s advent calendar), the band managed to release a single and a double EP in the last twelve months. Speed The Crow’s Nest appeared in February, and then in October the Build Seas, Dismantle Suns EP was released in two parts at either end of a near sell out national tour.
We’ve picked Neotenie as the choice for our Advent Calendar – it comprises of their classic cinematic sound overlaid with samples prophesising big changes ahead, not necessarily for the best. We could have picked any of the tracks from the EP though – all fantastic stuff.
We might be approaching Christmas, but the new music keeps on coming, with five new tracks to share this week.
First up is Curxes with their new single Avant-Guarded. They hinted at the track with a series of videos on Youtube that we blogged about a couple of weeks ago. Avant-Guarded is another fantastic electro-pop assualt from the band and is out now to buy on Bandcamp.
On the first day of Christmas, Blood Red Shoes gave to us… The Perfect Mess. The band posted up QR codes in 10 cities across the world and said that they’d release the song once they were all found, which they were within 24 hours.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have recorded a new version of Higgs Boson Blues from this year’s Push The Sky Away. The new version is an epic, clocking in at more than nine minutes:
Normanton Street launch their Phoebe Freya EP on Friday Night at the Green Door Store. They’ve posted up one of the tracks – Juicy – as a taster on Soundcloud.
Finally Omnivert have got in touch to tell us about their new track which features Helen Ganya Brown, better known on the blog as Dog in the Snow. Chichijima is available as a name your prices download on Bandcamp.
Back in March, The Physics House Band put out the first release on their new label kldscp (named after their regular Kaleidoscope club nights held at Sticky Mike’s). It was a seven track compilation of local electronica, and the standout track for us was the blissed out beats of Foreign Skin’s Hoi Sum. Hoi Sum means happy in Cantonese – Flavia Aliverti was born in Hong Kong – and the track is certainly devoid of any negativity. Best enjoyed on a hot sunny day with a cool drink close to hand.
Normally December is a quiet time for music, but once again Brighton is doing us all proud by being as busy as ever. Here’s our picks of the best of the local live music this weekend:
On Thursday Night, GAPS launch their new single I Know It’s You with a gig at the Green Door Store. Support comes from Foreign Skin and Eagles for Hands. Thursday is also December’s Source New Music at the Dome Studio Theatre, headlined this month by Rum Committee, with Mok, Neon Saints Brass Band and Barcode also on the bill. Meanwhile, over at the Brunswick Tim Keegan & The Quiet Lifers are playing at the Brunswick. They’ll be previewing tracks from their forthcoming album The Long Game, as well as other material from their back catalogue, a tribute to Lou Reed and maybe something a little more festive. As if that wasn’t enough, at the Blind Tiger there’s a Beatabet takeover with Le Juki, Bryony Bird and Collectress.
Friday night sees The Electric Soft Parade play their Christmas Show at the Unitarian Church. The band will be playing two sets – an acoustic Electric Soft Parade set of rarities and covers, and an second set of Christmas songs with an expanded band. There’s promise of mince pies and mulled wine too. Normanton Street and Phoebe Freya are launching their new single at the Green Door Store, and carrying on with an afterparty at Brighton Arts Club after 11. Support at the Green Door Store comes from Alice Amelia, The Remedy and The White Bicycles. As if that wasn’t enough for Friday Night, Hypnotised are supporting the Godspeed / Silver Mount Zion side project Esmerine at Saint George’s Church.
There’s plenty to choose from on Saturday too – Eliza Jaye is playing at the Ranelagh, House of Hats, Jacko Hooper and Fiddes Smith are at the Brunswick, and Two Jackals are at Coalition. Finally, on Sunday, Sealings play at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, supported by Shudder Pulps, Keel Her and Witching Waves.
In the meantime, we’re off to see Lion Bark at the Hope tonight.
A Lily’s Lupa EP came out last month on Love Thy Neighbour, and it’s lead track – The Sparrow In the Lemon Tree – is absolutely gorgeous. Layers of lush strings, harp and delicate vocals interweave with quietly burbling electronica of the gentlest tracks in our list. You can catch A Lily live next Friday (12th) when they’re on the bill at the Green Door Store with Asgeir and Farao.
We’d been aware of Dog in the Snow for a little while, but it wasn’t until we caught them at the Green Door Store at their Two Three Four mini-festival in August that we really sat up and paid attention. There was something about the performance, and Helen Ganya Brown’s voice, and the music which as much art as it was rock, that set them apart from the other bands we caught. A few weeks later we were presented with sparse avant garde pop of Fire in the Sky, haunting and beautiful and our third pick for our Advent Calendar.
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