Author Archives: brightonmusicblog

Electric Soft Parade / Avenue Dot

Posted on by
1

Where to start writing about the new Electric Soft Parade album – how about last week, when I was at the Rosehill for Melting Vinyl’s unofficial Great Escape Fire Records showcase gig, with a friend who’s also friends with the White brothers? We were just catching up when Thomas bounds over, all smiles and warmth. He says hi to both of us, and before we know it, he’s off catching up with someone else he knows through being based in the local music scene for over twenty years. After he moved on, my mate relays that Alex has told him that there’s loads of unreleased Electric Soft Parade material, but that there were no plans to release it. It seems a week is a long time not just in politics, but in the world of Electric Soft Parade, because today, out of nowhere, Avenue Dot has just been released. Looking at the credits, on paper this album looks likes Alex’s baby, having written and played most of it, but the magic of ESP comes when they come together – Alex’s songwriting combined the deft touch of Tom’s drums and synths layered over the top and subtle sprinkles of stardust in the production. As you’d expect from an ESP album in this day and age, it doesn’t rest on it’s laurels – it opens (and closes) with jazz saxophones, The Hundred Years War is unashamed country and Momentary Bliss is dreamy psych. It’s good to have the brothers back.

Great Escape Brighton Bands Gallery

Posted on by
Reply

Hopefully everyone has now recovered from The Great Escape. Here’s a few shots from the local bands I saw – as always I only saw a fraction of the bands I wanted to, but I did catch Heights at Unbarred Taproom, Hanya at the Hope & Ruin, Sleeper at the Mesmerist, Penelope Trappes at St Mary’s Church, My Life Story at the Black Lion, Trip Westerns at the White Rabbit, and Hutch and Helen Ganya on the TGE Beach Stage. I’ve already picked up a Super Early Bird ticket for next year too

(click on the images to view large)

Alt Alt Escape gigs 2023

Posted on by
Reply

By now hopefully you’ve trawled through the list of hundreds of bands playing the Great Escape, and are wondering what else is out there. Or maybe you haven’t got a ticket, but know there’s going to be loads of great free stuff on anyway. If only there was one place where you could easily find out information about all* of the unofficial gigs. Well, here it is. It always ends up being one of my most popular posts every year, partly for that reason, but maybe because it’s one of the few I make that covers bands from outside of town. Anyway, strap in, because there are LOADs this year. For each event I’ve included the venue, name, link to a fb event or instagram / twitter post, and the line up (where available):

Wednesday 10th May
The Pipeline / Brighton Noise
Cowboyy, Mullholland
The Hope & Ruin / The Greatest Cape (paid) 
Other Half, Brutalligators, H_ngm_n, Regal Cheer, Buds
The Hope & Ruin (downstairs) / Ditz Disco 
Rossi Bar / Collective Mind x Basement Flat 
Lori Asha, Menda, Jimi
Green Door Store / Alt Alt Escape Kick Off Party 
Keg, Modern Woman, Flip Top Head, Mximilian, Moon Idle, Lambrini Girls (DJ Set)

Thursday 11th May
Arcobeleno / Kick Out The Jams x The Songbird HQ x Bubblebrain Records 
Ruth Lyon, DUM FUN, The Trusted, Just Kids, SHADY BABY, Mango In Euphoria, The Velvet Hands, Sour Kix, CURRLS, KOPPER, Sovereigns, This Is War!, After London, Creeping Jean
The Rosehill / Melting Vinyl Fire Records showcase (Ticketed / SOLD OUT!) 
Islet, Bas Jan, Thala, RVG
The Pipeline / Brighton Noise 
Soft Walls, Regal Cheer, Garden Centre, Public Body, Lobby
Grand Central / End of the Trail 
Harker, IORA, School Disco, Wedance, The Kut, Bighead Tea Drinkers, Enjoyable Listens, Flora, Hollows, House of Plenty, Dan Ottewell, Eddz, Hugmynd, Chavez Cartel, Erin May
St Nicholas Church / Alt Alt Escape 
Micheal Baker, speelburg, Ellie Ford, Bee and Jackrabbit, Hilang child
The Hope & Ruin / No Friends in the Industry: LTN’s unofficial TGE party 
My First Time, Al Costelloe, Hanya, Frozemode, Kyoto Kyoto, Humour
Fiddlers Elbow / No Friends in the Industry: LTN’s unofficial TGE party 
Public Body, Cumgirl8, Dejiuvhs
Sidewinder / Scruff of the Neck x Believe 
1Up / Acoustic All Dayer 
Neev, Bryony Dunn, Darragh, Route 500, Luke Fraser, Bertie Newman, Darcey Hope, Alexander Wood, Liza Lo, Quaking Aspens, Fred Greaves, Mehala Ray, Jack Left, Caitlin, Natsuma, Martha Eve, Sunflower Thieves, Harley J Hensen, Julia-Maria, Dwara, Charlie Bennett, Lily Wolfe, Emma Thomas
Unbarred brewery / Joy x Unbarred party (sign up for tickets) 
Headline TBA, Teeth Machine, pinkpirate, Antony Szmierek, HEIGHTS, Modern Woman, Elanor Moss, Girl Scout, Lip Filler
Smithereen Takeover / Black Lion 
Our Propaganda, Monakis, Currls, Youth Sector, Projector, Feet, Snake Eyes, I know I know, Snayx, Sick Joy, Secret Act, CLT DRP, Kid Kapichi (DJ Set)
Smithereen / Takeover Mesmerist 
Genevieve Mills, Family jools, Wavysof, Storry, Gravy River, Rising Fever, Wynona, Yumi & The Weather, Harrison Larner-Main, Trueman & The Indoor League, Secret Act x 2
Smithereen / Takeover Post House 
Blair Davie, Bojockey, dan Ottewell, Burr Island, Oktoba, Lean with the Breeze, Aiden Grimshaw, Rachel Hawker, Mia
Folklore Rooms / Form Party 
Gurriers, Cloth, Two Blinks I Love You, Hannah Georgas, Haley Blais, Elle Coves, Ichiko Aoba
Rossi Bar / DHP Family 
Ichiko Aoba, Hutch, C Turtle, Militarie Gun, She’s in Parties
Presuming Eds / the Greatest Cape x Collect Call 
Slimy Bench, Debdepan, The Stanford Family Band, Archie Sagers, Sad Dads, School Disco, Ladylike, DLD, Safety Jacket, Pencil
The Brunswick / Off Axis Presents 
Adam Hopper, Alex Apolline, Charlie Austen, Cortnë, Dakota Avenue, Dubinski, Fond Of Rudy, Foreign Mornings, Forgetting The Future, ĠENN, Madman State, Mima Merrow, Miro Shot, Nixon Tate, Sara Rae, The Northern Threads, WondRWomN, Work In TV
Brighton Youth Centre / Secretly ROM 
Ciel, Big Special, Billy Sullivan, Personal Trainer, Sun June, Caleb Elliot, The Tubs, Arcadia, Joe Probert

Friday 12th May
Arcobaleno / Kick Out The Jams x The Songbird HQ x Bubblebrain Records 
Jean Genie’s Massive Hugs, Aerial Salad, Tom Saint, Martha Makes Mistakes, SONS, Soaked, London Ghost, Kill, The Icon!, The Red Stains, School Disco, RETROPxSSY
Easy Tiger / The Escaped 
Comforts, Swum, The Daylight
Caravanserai Luna Park / Acid Box / Abyss Superfuzz Weekender 
L’*cl**r, ILL Considered, K*rm* Sh**n, J*p*n*s* T*l***s**n, H***h
White Rabbit / Acid Box / Abyss Superfuzz Weekender 
Secret Guest, School Disco
Hotel Pelirocco / Soundway Records 
Folklore Rooms / Alt Alt Escape 
Hayfitz, Neev, Soophie Jameson, Sorcha Richardson, Jacko Hooper, Juanita Stein, Joseph Lawrence, Edie Bens, Emily Roberts, Somoh, Nierra Creek, King Isis, Thala, RVG, The Leavning, Yabba
Detour Vintage / H8 ESC STREET PARTY 1 
Unhang, Lenf / Gurf, really Big really CLEVER, Credentials, Shark Stuff, Nine Dead Mice
St Nicholas Church / Alt Alt Escape 
Cubzoa, growing boi, hollow hand, Fred Hills trio, Scarlett fae, Sock drawer, Night House, the leaning, Yumi and the weather, Jouis
Gladstone Hard of Hearing Magazine x Slack City
Platonica Erotica, Bingo Fury, Max Fulcrum & The Win, Kyoto Kyoto, Hank, Alien Chicks
The Hope & Ruin / No Friends in the Industry: LTN’s unofficial TGE party 
Blue Bendy, Butch Kassidy, Shelf Lives, Loose Articles, Welly
Fiddlers Elbow / No Friends in the Industry: LTN’s unofficial TGE party 
Delivery, CIVIC, Maruja
Grand Central / Fierce Panda & End Of The Trail 
Josh Luck, Hugmynd, Bag of Cans, Enjoyable Listens, Jekyll, Big Special, Albert Gold, China Bears, PABST, Gulz, Rowsie, Alibi, Pearll, Lazy Queen, Signature Gold, Eville
Sidewinder / Scruff of the Neck x Believe
1Up / Cntrl Alt Escape 
Love Always SKM, Nature TV, Martha Eve, Isla Rico, Ochre, Johnny Ecclestone, Adam Scott Glasspole
Pipeline / In The Pipeline 
Public Body, Humour, University, Delivery, Trout, Baby Vanga
Unbarred brewery  /Joy x Unbarred party (sign up for tickets) 
Headline TBA, Teeth Machine, pinkpirate, Antony Szmierek, HEIGHTS, Modern Woman, Elanor Moss, Girl Scout, Lip Filler
Black Lion / Smithereen Takeover 
Briskin, Sean Nicholas Savage, The Leaning, Alien Tango, Love for the Peaches, Ruti
Mesmerist / Smithereen Takeover 
Jack Boyd, Alice Auer, Cortney Dixon, Vacations, Woodruff, Secret Act, Ula, Eyelar, Frozemode, Will & The People, Flat Party, Mothers Boy
Post House / Smithereen Takeover
Secret Act, Olivia Stevens, The Taylor Twins, Hattie Chandler, Chris Simmons, Liam Cromby, Izzie Yardley, Leona, TJ Walker
Rossi Bar / DHP Family 
Hotwax, Antony Szmierek, UNIVERSITY, Mary in the Junkyard, Mandy Indianana
Presuming Eds / the Greatest Cape / Collect Call
Bee and Jackrabbit, Bobby Smiles, Hollow Hand, Hypsoline, Comforts, Nature TV, Love for the Peaches, Giant Peach, Low Girl, Collect Call, The Leaning
Bella Union Shop Instores 
Sophie Jameson 4pm

Saturday 13th May
Mucky Duck / Rockbox Advertising 
Friend of Frankie, Nadia Sheik, Abbey Moon, Great Gable, HCK9, Ulysses Wells
Arcobeleno / Kick Out The Jams x The Songbird HQ x Bubblebrain Records 
Adult Trauma, Sunday Club, Low Girl, Scrounge, Breakup Haircut, The Gulps, Cavalcade, Vixey, F.O.E.S, Cross Wires, DAAY, The Novus, YUKE, Sarpa Salpa
The Rosehill / Fake escape 3pm-midnight Fake Escape Festival 2023 — The Rose Hill
White Rabbit / Acid Box / Abyss Superfuzz Weekender 
Delivery, Hollow Hand, Trip Westerns, Frank & Beans, The Gluts, Tinman
Pipeline / Beth Shalom Records showcase (paid) 
Regal Cheer, Lakes, Sleemo, Bleak Soul
Detour Vintage H8 ESC STREET PARTY 2 
Staff Party, Human Leather, Mullholland, Regal Cheer, shunTA, Fjango Chutney
Gladstone / Slackscape (sign up for tickets) 
Cubzoa, Canned Pineapple, Welly, Public Body, Yumi & The Weather, Loose Articles
The Hope & Ruin / No Friends in the Industry: LTN’s unofficial TGE party 
A Fungus, Personal Trainer, Hollow Hand, Cyst, Ciel, Tummyache
Fiddlers Elbow / No Friends in the Industry: LTN’s unofficial TGE party 
YOWL, BABii, DITZ, Secret!, HOT FACE
Folklore Rooms / End Of The Trail
Holly Henderson, Fergus, Jekyll, Sarpa Salpa, Haig, Low Girl, Ruby Cross, Hollows, Family Jools, Dan Ottewell, Heavy Salad, Weekend Recovery, Part Time Animals, Chavez Cartel, Ratoon, Enjoyable Listens, Mango in Euphoria, The Lotts
Sidewinder / Scruff of the Neck x Believe 
Rossi Bar / STONED & STARVING #13 ALT ALT ESCAPE SPECIAL 
ELLiS·D, Max Fulcrum & The Win, The DSM IV, Flip Top Head, LibraLibra, Electric Cowboy Club, Teenage Sequence, Really Big Really Clever, Play Dead, Moon Idle
Black Lion / Smithereen Takeover
Girl Band, Owners Club, Canned Pineapple, Well, Moonlight Parade, The Kairos, Secret Act, James Walsh (starsailor), Secret Act x 4
Mesmerist / Smithereen Takeover 
Max White, Sarah Collins & Friends, Great Gable, Libra Libra, Ski Lift, Nadia Sheikh, Barbara, Germein, Rilas Edge, Secret Act x 3
Post House / Smithereen Takeover 
Georgia Mooney, Outline, Thomas Ashby, Rob Vincent, Matt Owens (Noah & The Whale), Anni Pohto, Jacko Hooper, Lydia Clowes, Aimee Moody
Presuming / Eds the Greatest Cape / Collect Call 
NightHouse, Cephos Powders, Fearn, Jason Nolan, Hilang Child, Single Ruin, Maximilian, Lifter, Harper, Nagasaki Dog, Seek Warmth
Shortts / Heavenly Recordings x Speedy Wunderground 
Revival Season, Miss Tiny
Freemasons / The Beluga Escape 
Fragile Creatures, Laurence Kingston & The Above, Sanistation, The Loose Fits, Mudcoffee
Bella Union Shop Instores 
Cubzoa 2pm
Rybka / Clunk-A-Bonanza 
School Disco, Trip Westerns, Stanford Family Band, Ochre, Ladylike

*I say all, but there’s almost definitely other stuff going on that has passed me by – if you hear of anything that I don’t have drop me a line and I’ll get it added

Brighton Bands at the Great Escape

Posted on by
Reply

The Great Escape is next week! Indisputably THE best week for music in Brighton, and one where hopefully some local bands can get a bit more exposure too. As well as the main festival, there’s also the Alt Escape, and I’ve tried to pick out all the Brighton bands on both those line ups in this post. There’s also loads of unofficial gigs happening, and I’ll be making a separate post about those, which will be a bit of a moving target right up until the gigs themselves happen.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the Brighton based acts I’ve spotted over at the Great Escape site:

ARXX AMAZON NEW MUSIC STAGE 4:30pm Thursday
ARXX WATERBEAR VENUE 11:30pm Friday
CIEL WATERBEAR VENUE 12:30am Friday
CIEL LATEST MUSIC BAR 3:30pm Saturday
CLT DRP THE HOPE AND RUIN 3:10pm Thursday
CONGRATULATIONS TGE BEACH STAGE 6:30pm Saturday
DAISHA PATTERNS DOWNSTAIRS 11:00pm Saturday
DANIEL WAKEFORD JUBILEE SQUARE 6:15pm Saturday
DIRTSHARKS WATERBEAR VENUE 7:00pm Friday
EBI SODA HORATIOS 2:00pm Saturday
EDIE BENS ONE CHURCH 12:30pm Thursday
EDIE BENS FABRICA 7:15pm Thursday
EGYPTIAN BLUE THE OLD MARKET 8:17pm Friday
FARI WATERBEAR VENUE 3:15pm Saturday
FLIP TOP HEAD WATERBEAR VENUE 10:00pm Friday
FRANK HOPKINS ST MARY’S CHURCH 8:30pm Thursday
HANYA HORATIOS 7:30pm Saturday
HELEN GANYA TGE BEACH STAGE 9:30pm Saturday
HUTCH TGE BEACH STAGE 8:30pm Saturday
JAMES MARRIOTT JAMES MARRIOTT 3:15pm Saturday
LAMBRINI GIRLS CHALK 8:30pm Friday
LIME GARDEN HORATIOS 11:15pm Thursday
NOKIA MANSION WATERBEAR VENUE 12:30am Thursday
ORCHARDS WATERBEAR VENUE 12:30am Saturday
PENELOPE TRAPPES ST MARY’S CHURCH 7:45pm Friday
PLANTOID TGE BEACH STAGE 7:30pm Saturday
POLITE BUREAUX WATERBEAR VENUE 9:00pm Friday
PUBLIC BODY PUBLIC BODY 11:30pm Saturday
SIGNATURE GOLD WATERBEAR VENUE 2:15pm Saturday
THE HEAVY HEAVY AMAZON NEW MUSIC STAGE 7:30pm Thursday
SLANT GREEN DOOR STORE 10:15pm Friday
VOICENOTES WATERBEAR VENUE 1:30am Thursday
WREX WATERBEAR VENUE 11:30pm Saturday
YONAKA CHALK 10:30pm Friday
DARK HORSES FIDDLERS ELBOW (alt escape) 9:50pm Thursday
PHN-TM NORTH LAINE BREWHOUSE (alt escape) 1:00pm Saturday
NOT SARAH NORTH LAINE BREWHOUSE (alt escape) 4:45pm Saturday
DLD NORTH LAINE BREWHOUSE (alt escape) 7:00pm Saturday
CONGRATULATIONS NORTH LAINE BREWHOUSE (alt escape) 8:30pm Saturday

Dark Horses supported by the New Eves at the Hope & Ruin gallery

Posted on by
Reply

On Saturday night Dark Horses played a launch show at the Hope & Ruin to celebrate their new album While We Were Sleeping. They were joined by album producer Bob Earland on synths, and guitarist Paul Philips also got on stage for a couple of tracks. Support came from Brighton quartet The New Eves, with a DJ turn between acts from Dark Horses long time photographer Ali Tollervey. The band are always visually arresting – this time augmented with visuals from James GM (which felt like they could have been a bit more prominent in our opinion) – so we got there early and got a good spot down the front to take some photos:

Dark Horses interview

Posted on by
Reply

A couple of weeks ago, Dark Horses released their third album While You Were Sleeping. We fired over a couple of quick questions to ask about the record and the launch gig taking place later this month

While We Were Sleeping album cover. Photo by Ali Tollervey

Your last album Hail Lucid State came out back in 2014, and while there’s been a few live performances and tracks released, it’s taken until now to get the album together. Has it been a long hard slog over all that time, or did you go away then regroup more recently?
Not a long hard slog as such but it’s been a real test of patience. It’s taken time to #1 find the right label home for the release #2 wait patiently for post pandemic backlog of vinyl production to run down and #3 all be in the same country together safely!

There was a bit of activity around 2017/2018 – the single XIII (which opens the album), and the track Yes Yes Yes (the second track on the record) which was released by Love Thy Neighbour to accompany their Triptych gigs. Was the plan at the time that these would form the start of the album, or were these one offs that it was just the right time to release into the world?
They were already part of the album, we were planning to release that in Summer 2020 but for obvious reasons that was not to be. As mentioned there was the added challenge of being in different countries and not being able to travel. The title now seems even more apt! But we well and truly awake now.

You’re playing at the Hope & Ruin on 15th April, and it’s billed not just as a gig, but a Live AV show in collaboration with visual artist James GM. Can you give us an idea of what he’s going to be doing?
James GM is a fantastic AV artist who is passionate about minimalist contemporary art, especially within the world of digital. From minimalist painters like Cy Twombly to modern animators such as Kevin McGloughlin and David Hughes, abstract visual art forms fascinate him.
He is using his programming background to create reactive visual pieces to compliment the music. As always visuals are a crucial collaborative part of how we like to work and of corse the advances in technology make for a great space for extermination and creativity. As the images will be reacting live to our performance we won’t know how things will look until we play! The fun is in the discovery!

While You were Sleeping has been released on a US label – will you be heading to the states to play some shows out there? Are there plans for more UK shows following the album launch?
We would love to make it across the pond one of these days but for now we will focus on closer shores. We are excited to be invited to join the fantastic Ravonettes at O2 Islington Academy on the 10th of May followed but a whirlwind appearance at The Great Escape Festival on the 11th May at The Fiddlers Elbow, with other exiting announcements to come, watch this space 🙂 http://www.darkhorsesmusic.com
We have more artistic collaborations in the pipe line, continuing to play with machine learning, film, dance and performance.

The Go! Team at Chalk gallery

Posted on by
Reply

Last night the Go! Team played their first hometown gig for five years. Since then, they’ve released two albums – Get Up Sequences Part One, and Get Up Sequences Part Two, and this gig was the final date of the tour promoting Part Two. The set covered their whole career – they played at least one song from each album, but the night lent most heavily from their debut (which they noted turns 19 this year) and their latest records. The set list (if you can’t read upside down from the first photo) was:

Let the Seasons Work
Mayday
Ladyflash
Divebomb
Get it Together
I Loved You Better
Semicircle Song
Huddle Formation
The Scene Between
Gemini
Going Nowhere
Keys to the City
Everyone’s a VIP to Someone
The Power is On

(encore)
Whammy-O
T.O.R.N.A.D.O.

(click through the images to view large)

Quatermass III supporting Saint Etienne at the Old Market

Posted on by
1

Last Friday we headed down early to the Saint Etienne gig at the Old Market for a visitation from our local out of this world galactic psyche rock experience Quatermass III. Veering between glam and kraut but never taking their eyes from the prize they proved the perfect warm up for Saint Etienne, a third of whose core members are now Brighton based (well, Hove, actually) Continue reading →

A pint at the Prince Albert with David Best from Fujiya & Miyagi

Posted on by
Reply

Last week, in between their UK tour dates and a gig in Paris supporting Kit Sebastian, I caught up with Fujiya & Miyagi’s David Best at the Prince Albert and chatted about new album Slight Variations, Dub, Optical Illusions, playing at the O2 and the lost Fujiya & Miyagi album

Continue reading →

Fujiya & Miyagi at Patterns photo gallery

Posted on by
Reply

Last night Fujiya & Miyagi played a home town gig at Patterns as part of their tour to support their new album Slight Variations, and the band were on top form playing a set made up of a mix of tracks from the new album all the way back to Ankle Injuries. Support came Bunkr, who previously supported Fujiya & Miyagi back in 2016 under his Lost Idol guise.

The full set list was:

Non Essential Worker
Sweat
Uh
Digital Hangover
Freudian Slips
Extended Dance Mix
Transparent Things
Personal Space
New Body Language
Collarbone
Knickerbocker
Seratonin Roshes
Impossible Objects of Desire

encore:
Slight Variations
Ankle Injuries