We haven’t posted up a gallery of a local gig since October last year, and the last time we featured a gig at the Green Door Store was back in 2014. It’s been a while. So here are some shots from last night’s gig. Prince Vaseline headlined supported by Red Deer People and grasshopper, and turnout was surprisingly good for a grey Sunday in January. Click on the pics to view large:
Since we’re well and truly in the new year, then surely it’s time for some new music. It’s been a little while since we last had a roundup of Brighton’s best new tunes, but that’s mostly because everything goes quiet over Christmas. Everything’s back up and running now, so without any further ado let’s catch up.
Morning Smoke‘s latest single Soft Decay actually came back on 15th December on local label Cannibal Hymns, but by then we were far too busy feeling festive. You can catch Morning Smoke live at Sticky Mike’s on 5th February.
Rob finally got around to posting Rob’s top ten for 2015 local Brighton tracks of last year. As ever it’s a great mix, but there’s too much good music emanating from Brighton so Jon thought he should pump it up a little with ten more stonking south coast classic tracks released over the last 12 months. Obviously, between us, we’ve missed loads, for which we’re sorry, but we look forward to the coming year and more great Brighton music.
10. Grand Palace – Let it go
New alt-country duo of Hayley Savage (vocals & guitar) and Dan Harding (drums) have a fine collection of songs which we look forward to hearing more of next year.
9. The Raving Beauties – All we’ve got is now
After a while in the wings, Brian Bell finally released his album of power-pop classics written with Gordon Grahame (Lucky Jim) on local At The Helm label and it was terrific.
8. Rockerswitch – Show me
A limited edition vinyl single by Simon Bate and Martin Jenkins which perfectly absorbs a fantasy psychedelic sixties vibe.
7. Tiger Lion – Empty Chair
In a tribute to freedom of movement within the European Union, mysterious Frenchwoman Clémentine Blue produced an enchanting EP on the formerly-of-Brighton now-German-based label Woodland Recordings, from which this track is taken.
6. Mum Dad & The Kids – When In Rome
Another continental reference from live favourites MDK let this track slip as the b-side from their forthcoming single on Bleeding Hearts Recordings. We can’t wait.
5. The Delta Bell – Carry Us Home
Kate Gerrard and her band released a wonderful album this year, from which this track is taken
4. Rooster Cole – Up to the Teeth
A stunning new EP ‘Bird Don’t Sing’ included this wonderful Bad Seedish video from the inimitable Mark S Aaron.
3. Self Help Group – Luigi’s Waltz
Second album from The Self Help Group came out this autumn, and this song was the first single. The forthcoming second single Smile Club is also fabulous – due out shortly.
2. Kristin McClement – Planks
The long-awaited debut album from Kristin McClement was called ‘The Wild Grips’ and came out this year. This track is from it.
1. Bella Spinks – Regenerate
From her wonderful debut EP, suitably entitled ‘Debut’ this track was our favourite. We couldn’t find a video or bandcamp link but we like this song so much we’re sending you over to Soundcloud where you can hear the full EP
https://soundcloud.com/bellaspinks/regenerate
Here’s a blog post that I meant to write back at the start of December, but you’ve probably read enough excuses from me about why I’m not blogging as much as I ought to these days. As ever, it’s been a nightmare to cut things down to ten (which is why we’ve got eleven), and if you asked me tomorrow the order would no doubt change. But any further ado, here’s our end of year round-up:
10 : Tigercub / Demob Happy
Back in October Demob Happy snuck out their debut album Dream Soda, and then at the end of November Tigercub released their Repressed Semantics EP. Both releases are fantastic, and both bands have been touring hard all year. we couldn’t choose between the two:
9 : Prince Vaseline
Prince Vaseline’s first full length A Naturally Coloured Pleasure really was a pleasure for us when it came out in the middle of this year:
8 : Black Honey
Last time we saw Black Honey they were supporting fellow Brightonians The Wytches at The Haunt and they wiped the floor with them:
7 : Grasscut
We kept going back to Grasscut’s third LP Everyone Was a Bird, and everytime it sounded better and better, and then last month they gave us a video premier of The Field:
6 : The Go! Team
We thought that The Go! Team had split up for good after 2011’s Proof of Youth, so their return this year, sounding fresher than ever, with The Scene Between was some of best news we heard:
5 : IYES
IYES have kept a lower profile live this year, but put out two very strong EPs called Part One and Part Two:
4 : Clowwns
We’ve been waiting for The Artful Execution of Macho Bimbo for years here at the blog. We only wish we’d been recording when Bleeding Hearts label boss Chris explained the reasons for all the delays over a pint about a year ago, although half of it was prefaced with “this is just between us…”
3 : Sea Bed
Sea Bed were our great new find this year. Electronic music with soul who we end up evangalising about to everyone we meet. They haven’t got much music online at the moment, but there’s promises of exciting things to come this year:
2 : The Fiction Aisle
Heart Map Rubric was a thing a majestic, beautiful work of art and was arguably the finest thing that Tom White has put his name to to date:
1: GAPS
GAPS managed to top last year’s collaboration with Maya Jane Coles with In, Around The Moments, their first long player which straddled the line between electronic and acoustic while managing to sound unlike anything else which would be labelled folktronica:
Grasscut’s 2015 album Everyone Was a Bird has been this year’s slow burn grower for us so when were offered the opportunity for a video premier we jumped at the chance. The band have produced videos for each of the tracks from the album and we’re pleased to provide the first showing of the promo for the album’s penultimate track The Field. The video was conceived and directed by Roger Hyams, who’s worked with Grasscut’s Andrew Philips in the past – when Grasscut played at The Basement back in June the show opened with Roger Hyam’s short film Grand Union, which was scored by Andrew.
Andrew described the video is “a beautiful representation of the idea of trying to make the landscape reveal its secrets and depths”. It was partly shot on the South Downs, and has a nod to the slightly unorthodox campaign the band undertook for their previous album. He told us a bit more about the track and the album : “I wrote The Field about people who get up at the crack of dawn in all weathers in the relentless pursuit of ideas. Roger’s vision of this was for me to dig up a film canister he’d buried on the Downs, take it to a darkroom and develop it into a beautiful photograph of a tree – also taken by him. This burial he says was a subtle allusion to Grasscut concealing cassettes around the country for our last album, Unearth. Almost all (apart from two) of those cassettes from Unearth were found. The one at Spurn Head near Hull was found this year, three years after leaving it.”
You can watch the video for The Field below, and you can pick up Everyone Was a Bird on LP or CD from Resident.
Kicking off this week’s new music post is the latest track from David Harks, who featured in last year’s top ten tracks (which reminds us, we really should think about getting something together for this year). Tripping Ghosts is a more ethereal affair, mirroring the reflective nature of the lyrics. It’s out now on Jumjum records, backed with a remix by French duo Loframes:
Tomorrow The Fiction Aisle release their debut long player Heart Map Rubric. Thomas White’s latest project is a big departure from his previous indie exploits – Electric guitars are out, in are brooding orchestral arrangements and jazz solos. The album is currently being streamed over at Never Enough Notes and is being released on Chord Orchard, a label set up by Tom specifically to release Fiction Aisle records.
The album launch takes place Friday night at the Unitarian Church with support from Capt Lovelace and Nick Hudson. More details of the gig can be found on the facebook event page.
It’s been a few weeks since our last New Music post, and we were playing catchup with that one, so there’s a lot of ground to cover. Here’s a selection of our favourite tunes that have come to our attention in the last couple of weeks.
First up is Our Girl with their debut single Sleeper, the coolest four minutes of guitar music we’ve heard in a while:
We’re big fans of Sea Bed here at Brighton Music Blog, and when we heard that they had a new single we thought that would be a good time to catch up with them. As with most things on the blog at the moment we’re not quite as up to speed as we’d like – the single was released as a digital download at the end of October – but we dropped them a line anyway…
Hi Sea Bed, how are you?
Busy, tired and looking forward to the new year now. We have a new live rig that we’ve been putting together the last few weeks and inbetween all of that have loads of exciting gigs to rehearse for and of course… Keep writing!
Back at the end of July you announced a new single which has only just got released. What can you tell us about it?
So the single Akira is a techno pop song we finished up earlier this year and released through indie label Four Thieves. It’s kind of our first real statement as Sea Bed emphasising our love for both the underground and more mainstream artists of the last few decades, but still carrying over an air of mystery as to what we will do next release wise. We have known each other for a while now and both writing and performing with very clear intentions compared to previous projects we were in has allowed our creative freedom to flow and make something we feel is unique on record and on stage.
Is the song anything to do with the 80s manga film of the same name?
The lyrical content is about awakening and what road you choose to take with the important decisions in your life. With that in mind, there are strong parallels to the film. Realising that you have the power within you to positively alter your destiny is what the song was originally written around and in the manga, Tetsuo (the antagonist of the film for those who don’t know) has supernatural powers awakened in him but uses them for destruction and revenge.
The 12″ of the single sold out weeks before the release date. You must have been pretty chuffed with that?
Absolutely, It’s amazing to have support from a label like Four Thieves who believe in what you’re doing enough to get the music out there in whatever format possible. Most importantly it’s people like yourself who go out of their way to support and listen to new music that keeps the whole thing alive.
You always have great visuals at your shows, and the band photography that you’ve had done is really strong. How important is the visual side of things for you?
100%! We take it as seriously as the music and try to have a hand in everything we do so that it doesn’t lose sight of what Sea Bed is about. We have found in the past Very quickly other people can steer your image down some very unimaginative routes. I think artists had a larger window of time pre and early internet age to really craft their identity visually and sound wise but now every minute detail that is posted can be clawed back through time by search engines so we have to be completely satisfied with whatever art forms we release under Sea Bed.
Talking of live shows, I see you’ve got a date in Shoreditch in for January. Are there any more Brighton dates lined up?
Yes that’s for the Ibiza Rocks festival, their equivalent of BBC introducing which is amazing! Brighton will see us playing the Green Door Store on the 19th November and Patterns on December 10th, hopefully beta testing our new chunky live setup.
When you posted on Facebook about the new single coming out you hinted about an exciting new release coming in 2016. Is there any more that you can tell us?
Without giving away too too much it will be another vinyl and digital release through Four Thieves only we are doing a full EP with them! So all new tracks, a big remix for the A side and video to accompany it which will be early 2016 when everyone has recovered from the post Christmas and New Years hangovers.
You DJed last week at the launch party for Via Tirana’s new single. Are there any other local bands you think we should be listening to?
That was a great night, ended the party with a track by Clouds called Chained To A Dead Camel which for most of the people left in there made them lose their shit!
There are some really sick electronic acts around Brighton at the moment. We are vibing Troves, INWARDS, Karl Toon, Foreign Skin, Mount Bank and in the more traditional band world there is a mental new Soul act called Bathcat and the guys in Big Society. That and all the usual suspects like Demob Happy and our good mates in Black Honey which most people are raving about at the mo. Brighton’s got a good thing going on.
On 25th Ingrid Plum releases her debut album Plangent. Where her earlier work was based around vocal interpretations of traditional and modern folk songs, sung solo with a knack for bringing a whole room to hushed awe, her first full length introduces instrumentation and other musicians adding to the mix.
The launch of the album takes place tomorrow at St Andrews Church on Waterloo street and will be the only performance where most of those who contributed to the record will be joining Ingrid on stage. These include Rachel Dey (Do you Feel What I Feel Deer, Restlesslist, Milk & Biscuits), Al Strachan (Sons of Noel & Adrian, Crayola Lectern) and Tim Cottrell (Das Fenster). Support comes in the form of folk songs from Jo Burke and poetry from Gary Goodman.
Here’s a taster of what you can expect – the video for Do Not Come Into Darkness – produced in characteristic homespun style. If you can’t make along tomorrow, Ingrid will embarking on a headline tour in the spring.
Brighton Music Blog 