On Friday Night The Levellers played a one-off sell out gig at Brighton Dome to celebrate twenty five years as a band. Support came from two other acts who’ve collaborated with The Levellers over the years – Electric Soft Parade, who played a set taken from their new album Idiots, and McDermott’s Two Hours who were originally a band who inspired The Levellers but who the Levellers went on to produce. We took our camera along to capture a permanent record of a timeless night.
This is our second post of new music this week. Maybe bands are getting their music out their in festival season, or maybe it’s a coincidence, but you certainly won’t hear us complaining about more music.
The Seed is the new album from Eliza Jaye. Australian born Eliza’s debut album starts off a bit folk rock (with violin added by her sister Anna, who’s contributed to records by the likes of Bat for Lashes and Brakes), but quickly you come to realise that anything goes, as long as it’s rock. The album is out on 26th July, with a launch party on the day at the Ranelgh. Here’s the video for her latest single Marmalade:
A few weeks ago we mentioned that the Pact remix of Canvas by Tiny Dragons would be appearing on a new mix released by Kitsune records. The track also appears as part of the band’s new Come Alive EP, available as a six song download on iTunes, or on 7″ through the band’s online shop. Here’s the video for the lead track:
The Meow Meows‘ album Somehow We Met comes out a week on Monday (29th July). Their launch party is this friday, at the Gladstone. Here’s the video for the first single from the album, Siberian Soup, in honour of Pussy Riot:
Them The Sky have put up a video for Echolalia – one of the tracks from their forthcoming EP . Their only show of the summer is going to be at Latest Music Bar next week on the 24th, so if you like the sound of this, get down there:
Black Rooster Black Shag are a brand new band who are making their live debut at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar on 27th July. Their debut album As Far As My Lead Will Take Me is out this autumn, preceded by the single Amsterdam, which is out now:
Boing is the single from Amongst The Pigeons, and came out on 15th July. The song is more of their Orbital inspired dance music, and the video was filmed on the pier:
The weekend is almost upon us so it’s time for our weekly round up of the best local talent that you can see live this weekend.
We’ve spotted two great gigs on Thursday night – Tiny Dragons are playing at Club Criminal at Latest Music Bar, with support from Fools Knowledge, Dead Whisky and Dress Theque. Round the corner at the Blind Tiger The Resonators headline Dub Organiser.
On Friday there are a crazy number of local bands playing live in Brighton. The biggest show is at the Dome, where the Levellers play Brighton for the first time in ages to celebrate their twenty fifth year as a band. Support comes from Electric Soft Parade. Friday night also has two gigs by Brighton bands at the Blind Tiger. Early doors Standard Lamps and Calico are on the bill, and later on from 10pm The Impellers play their own gig. Meanwhile The Meow Meows are holding a launch party for their album at The Gladstone, and Emberhoney, Mishkin Fitzgerald and Simonne (without her Dark Stars) play at the Komedia. Just a few miles out of town, British Sea Power play at the Gentlemen of the Road Festival in Lewes.
The rest of the weekend we think you should be out enjoying the sun, stopping only at the end of the weekend when Brighton Folk hold their regular night at the Brunswick with Dave Blackwell topping the line up.
Last night GAPS rounded off a mini tour to promote their debut 7” with a hometown gig at the Green Door Store.
The first support came from The Hundredth Anniversary, who were more together yet more relaxed than I’ve ever seen them. It’s still shoegaze, of sorts, but the angular drumming and tight rhythm section elevate them above the competition. The second support took things in a completely different direction – Laurie James Ross, better known as Eagles For Hands, played a set of House music using a table full of electronics controlling different channels and vocal samples. Sometimes things went a little bit garage and on some tracks the direction went a little bit deeper, but throughout the whole continuous set the Green Door Store sounded fantastic. Definitely one to watch.
The evening belonged to GAPS though. Their single Keep You / Cascade was released yesterday, and the duo were celebrating with a local gig. Ed was on the left on synths, drum pads and two microphones and Rachel filled the rest of the stage with guitars, more drums and more microphones. Their music has been described as folktronica, which probably fits with what they do on paper but doesn’t truly do justice to their sound. The best known examples of the genre seem to be electronica with a bit of folk added to make things more interesting or vice versa, but what we heard last night was a much more equal union of the two. AA side Cascade, with its long quiet seagull laden intro before the beats kick in, was dropped into the set early on, with flip side Keep You saved until the penultimate track. Discounting the gremlins before the end of the set GAPS played a great gig, making a sound that’s familiar, but unlike anyone else in town.
GAPS single launch gallery (click on the pics to view large):
I was going to put up this blog post over the weekend, but I figured with the weather like it was you wouldn’t be in reading the internet, you’d be out in the sun.
Out of nowhere, Kins eponymous debut album appeared last week. Already picked out by many local commentators as an interesting live prospect, their first excursion on full length long player doesn’t disappoint. Sounding something like a more sonically experimental Foals, you can take a listen on the soundcloud below, and buy on iTunes here. We’ll be reporting from the album launch at the Green Door store next monday.
Following on from Gazelle Twin‘s Mammal EP from earlier this year, last week she released a split EP with I Speak Machine of Ultravox / John Foxx covers. The EP is entitled Exponentialism and is out now on Metamatic Records, and is available from the all good music retailers (including Resident). Here’s the video for Gazelle Twin’s version of Never Let Me Go from the EP:
Cate Ferris has a new 7″ out now on local label Roots Garden. Blaze Bright is a gorgeous piece of dub reggae co-written and produced by legendary producer Manasseh, which is ideal listening for these temperate days. You can pick up the 7″ from Roots Garden on eBay here, or you can buy it digitally from Juno here.
We’ve already written about GAPS new single Keep You / Cascade which is out today on Sexbeat. They’re holding the launch tonight at the Green Door Store. Support comes from Eagles for Hands and Hundredth Anniversary.
Do you want to see some live music this weekend? Of course you do. So here’s our picks of the best local bands playing around Brighton over the next few days.
Thursday night is all about the support slots – Soccer 96 are at the Blind Tiger supporting Polaroid 85, and The Impellers are opening for Shuggie Otis’ rescheduled show at the Concorde.
Friday Night is the launch of Le Juki’s new album Capillaries which is taking place at the Unitarian Church.
Finally Saturday afternoon is Patchfest, which takes place at William Clarke Park, better known as The Patch – one of Brighton’s hidden gems tucked away behind Elm Grove and Lewes Road. We don’t know much about the rest of the line up, but we do know that Bentcousin are playing at 3pm, which is good enough for us to recommend it.
Normally most of our gig previews are posted up a couple of days before the weekend they occur, giving you all a few day’s notice of what’s coming up. Occasionally, if something catches our eye we might make an exception and point it out a bit earlier, and that’s just what we’re doing here.
On Saturday 27th July, The Hollow Tree Fundraiser takes place at Saint Luke’s Church, in aid of the RSPB. Three local acts are playing – The wonderful Mary Hampton, anti-folk heroes 21 Crows, and Brighton Music Blog favourites Do You Feel What I Feel Deer?. There also promises to be a raffle, giant games, and the opportunity to build a habitat on your head. There’s more information on Facebook.
This also gives us the opportunity to post up the video for the Mary Hampton Cotillion’s latest release Gold Hat, which appeared online last week:
Here’s some new music that’s popped in our inbox recently for your aural delectation:
First up is the new Crayola Lectern single Slow Down / Trip in D, both standout tracks from The Fall and Rise of Crayola Lectern LP out earlier this year. We’ve already shared the video for Slow Down, and the single comes with alternate versions of both tracks. You can buy on iTunes here.
Le Juki release their album Capillaries on Beatabet today, which is up to buy on Bandcamp. One for fans of quirky folktronica, the band are holding their album launch on 12th July at Unitarian Church.
We’ve previewed the video for Dead Captain‘s track Maybe Maybe, and today the whole EP finally got released. The New Plan EP is available for download from Bandcamp.
Changing styles again, next up is Tubba 3 Ply‘s debut release Pass Me By / Fake MC, out now on 7″ or download. They describe it as Breakbeat Dub Punk Techno:
Finally, to calm things down, we have Limbic System‘s new EP- Beat Wave. The soundcloud link below is for our favourite track Distant Lands, which sounds a little like fellow Brightonians The Mummers. You can listen to the whole EP here.
Hopefully we’ll have more new music to share with you soon from the likes of Cate Ferris and The Mojo Fins, so watch this space!
We’ve had news in this week about the new Abi Wade single. The Boxer was produced by Daniel Copeman of Esben and The Witch, with a video made by Brighton’s Create Studios:
As with her previous releases the track is centred around Abi’s haunting vocals and cello, but instead of percussion coming from the noises made between her instrument and her bow, The Boxer introduces programmed beats giving a much fuller sound than before.
The Boxer gets a digital release on 15th July on Love Thy Neighbour.
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