Category Archives: New Music

Video Premier : Club Magic / Plenty of Fish (Big Heart)

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The best songs are the ones that manage to be both happy and sad at the same time, that fill you with hope, even if you aren’t in the most hopeful place. Songs like Temptation by New Order, or All My Friends by LCD Soundsystem, both of which I’m sure were inspiration for Plenty of Fish (Big Heart) by Club Magic. Written from the perspective of a chronic oversharer who’s been around the block, it’s hit me much harder than anything else has for a while. The recurring refrain of “Got a big heart” is their way of saying how much they’ve got to give, and I’m glad they’re sharing it with us.

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In the words of the video’s producer Amy Lucas: “This animation is a love letter to the good guys. Club Magic lifted the lyrics from real men’s dating profiles, and for the visuals I borrowed bits from the brilliant dudes in my own life. Reading in the park, watering the office plants, playing Magic: The Gathering, having enormous pints after marathons. Small, silly, sweet habits that keep people grounded. Meanwhile, a duck in knight’s armour watches over our main character from his enormous castle, somewhere out in infinite space. Except he isn’t in space. The duck lives inside our main character’s heart the whole time. It’s a celebration of solid guys who let themselves be vulnerable, and that soft little duck in our hearts that keeps us more or less headed in the right direction… The style is deliberately loose to suit the big, dreamy sound of Club Magic. I designed the character to be changeable so he could be anyone, while setting the story in and around Brighton. (Keep an eye out for the Pier and the i360…;)”

Credits:
Video by Amy Lucas
Mixed by Ed Chivers
Mastered by Ger Kacerja
Written by Club Magic

Lemonsuckr Life Is A Heist EP launch at Alphabet gallery

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Hats off to Lemonsuckr, who have a song with the line “in a murderous summer heat”, for playing at Alphabet last night in a murderous summer heat. They were playing to launch their new EP Life is a Heist, out last week, and warming up for a summer playing festivals pretty much every weekend. To say it was hot is an understatement, and Alphabet’s air con just couldn’t cope with a packed out room jumping up around to the most exciting Brighton band of the moment – it was so bad that my lenses were steaming up and I had to put my camera away. They’re playing again at the end of summer at Brighton Psych Fest – you’d be a fool to miss them

Life is a Heist is out now:

MEMORIALS / All Clouds Bring Not Rain tour hometown gig at the Prince Albert

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Last month, MEMORIALS released their new album All Clouds Bring Not Rain.  They played a stripped down acoustic set in Resident on launch date before heading to France for promotional duties. They’re currently on a near sold out UK tour which took in Brighton last night.

It goes without saying that if you haven’t listened to the album, you really must immediately – it’s easily one of the best things we’ve heard all year (jump straight to Holy Invisible or Dropped Down The Well if you’re short on time) – so there was no way that we weren’t going to be down the front with our camera:

All Clouds Bring Not Rain by MEMORIALS is out now on Fire Records:

 

Goodbye / These Things Take Time EP launch at Alphabet supported by Lindow Man

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Goodbye released their debut EP These Things Take Time a couple of weeks ago on 26th March, but the launch tour didn’t arrive in Brighton until last night so here’s our slightly late post about it. Since their arrival on the scene eighteen months ago Goodbye have been ones to watch, and their EP fulfills the promise they’ve shown. Shimmering guitars that rise and fall brush up against soaring vocals, one moment powerful then in a moment gentle like gossamer. It’s dream pop, it’s shoegaze, it’s what you should be listening to in our opinion.

Support at the gig came from newcomers Lindow Man, half of whom were former members of blog favourites Van Zon. Lindow Man hit harder than Van Zon ever did on record, but some of their last gigs before their split hinted at harder material so maybe this is what became of those songs. I haven’t seen any line ups at all yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them on the line up of an alt escape bill next month somewhere, if you do want to try and catch them.

These Things Take Time by Goodbye is out now:

 

 

Ladylike / It’s a Pleasure of Mine, to Know You’re Fine EP Launch at Green Door Store

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If you hadn’t heard, Ladylike are back, with their first full length EP, the six track It’s a Pleasure of Mine, to Know You’re Fine. It sounds like the Ladylike you might have been familiar with if you’d have seen them a year ago, but bigger and better, like the difference between watching a film on television vs watching at the cinema. Burning Heather is split into two parts which appear non consecutively on the EP. Rome (In Progress) starts off like a folk song then gets huge by the end. Fresh Linen clocks in at almost seven minutes, but with not a second wasted. If you haven’t listened yet, do yourself a favour and remedy that right away.

They’re playing a short tour, which kicked off last night at Green Door Store.. Click through to view the photos large:

 

Flip Top Head – Trilateral Machine EP launch

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On Saturday Night Flip Top Head played a gig to launch their second EP Trilateral Machine at St Augustines Church (which has actually been an Arts Centre for seven or eight years, but this is the first gig that we’ve been aware of here). Support came from Joel Whittaker, sometimes known as the bassist in Keg (who I missed, unfortunately), and My Precious Bunny, the new project from Penelope Isles’ Lily Wolter (who far exceeded my expectations).

It goes without saying that the EP is a beautiful thing – Math / post rock with heart and soul. If you haven’t heard it, stream it right away, or better still, head over to their bandcamp and buy yourself a copy.

 

Goodbye / Meat single launch at Bella Union Shop

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Goodbye‘s debut single feels like it’s been a long time coming – At their first gigs back in Summer 2024 they already felt like a band who had been around for a while. They had songs, they had stage presence, they had a fully formed sound that takes some bands years to establish. I guess what they didn’t have at that point was a reputation, so they’ve been working hard since then and the time is finally right for them to share their first release. Meat has been a staple of their live sets for as long as I remember and appeared on the live cassette that came out back in March as a way of getting some music out into the world before a proper release. The band’s PR calls it dreampop, but there’s definite 80s / 90s indie sound to their guitars (I’m sure I heard someone that they’re named after a song by The Sundays but I can’t find anything online to support that, so don’t quote me on that).

In lead vocalist Megan Wheeler’s own words: “‘Meat’” sort of touches on the idea that some men see women as lustful objects rather than human beings, ogling them as meat. Sometimes you catch a stranger’s eye and they look right through you, as though they are stripping you of everything you are, your personality, skills, talent reduced to just meat. In my experience the majority of women I know have felt this in some form so I kept the lyrics deliberately vague and open to interpretation.”

Last night the band played a launch at the new Bella Union Shop, supported by Atticomatic. The room was packed so I’m glad I got down early for a good view to have the night captured for posterity.

 

Meat by Goodbye is out now

 

George Bloomfield / Now & Then album launch

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On Tuesday night, George Bloomfield launched his new album Now & Then at Alphabet with a full eight piece band, supported by Soft Top (who also had a cast of thousands on stage). George and his band played the album roughly in order, with a few non-album tracks tucked in the middle. In lieu of an encore the closed with Space Between which came out a couple of years ago.

We were down the front with our camera to catch the action (click through to view large):

 

Tinderbox Presents…

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If you’re anything like me, you probably aren’t really aware of Tinderbox. Maybe if you were paying attention you might have seen a poster for this week’s Human Interest gig at the Hope & Ruin and thought they were promoters. Actually, Tinderbox is a non profit artist development and music production house, based in Sussex and funded by the Arts Council. In their own words the “exist to make sure cool, diverse music keeps getting made by cool, diverse working artists, who increasingly can’t afford to get into the studio”. The team behind Tinderbox are made up of Lucy Sheehan from Projector, producer / engineer Ben Hampson, who’s been involved an impressive list of bands from Brighton and beyond, and Suzi Ireland, a music industry professional with decades of experience across management, promotion and journalism.

They’re putting on the gig on Wednesday to support some bands they’ve worked with over the last year – Human Interest, That Band Called Susan and Brighton’s Atticomatic. Keep your eyes peeled for future Tinderbox gigs which they’re hopefully putting on a couple of times a year, and if you’re a musician looking to advance your career, maybe look them up and get in touch with them

The New Eves – The New Eve is Rising

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When I first saw The New Eves back in 2023, I knew instantly that they were something special. The first sign was the hushed reading of their manifesto, read out by Nina Winder-Lind to a rapt audience (which has been recorded for the album as opener The New Eve). There was the fact that they played rock’n’roll but rejected the traditional guitar bass and drums format. And it was because as well as playing rock and roll they switched effortlessly to earthy, visceral folk music. There was also the way they mixed up the instruments they played throughout the set – Nina Winder-Lind on both cello and guitar, Ella Oona Russell on drums and flute, Kate Mager on bass and the biggest harmonica you’ve ever seen, and Violet Farrer on guitar, violin and interpretive dance. All the old rules were out of the window. Their name and their lyrics are steeped in literature and poetry, but rather than being a haughty intellectual pursuit the band translates this into something very accessible.

And tomorrow their album, The New Eve is Rising is released. Featuring all Highway Man, Cow Song and Astrolabe, which have all been singles, as well as the aforementioned The New Eve, and a handful of other tracks, the New Eves are not just rising is not just rising, but have very much arrived.

The New Eves are playing a host of instores over the next few weeks, including Resident on 8th August, and are hitting the road in September for a bigger tour in September, stopping off at Concorde 2 on 9th October. The New Eve is Rising is released on Transgressive Records on 1st August