Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 21/08/2013 by brightonmusicblog

It’s a bank holiday weekend, so we’ve got a bumper round of gigs to tell you about this week, extending all the way out to Monday.

On Thursday night Juice FM return to the Haunt for a series of gigs showcasing local bands that they’re calling IntroJuice-ing. On the first of these DrDr launch their new EP with support from Dirty Damn Humans and Vaude Villains. It’s also the first night of Fragile Creatures residency at The Blind Tiger, and they’re joined by Mynie Moe. As well as that, TigerBiteFever launch their Love Is Strange EP at Latest Music Bar.

There’s another two launches on Friday night. Speak Galactic and P For Persia launch their split 12” at the Green Door Store, and yourgardenday launch their Flat Stream EP at St Andrews Church.

Late night on saturday at Sticky Mikes, The Repeat Prescriptions play their last show for a while, supported by The Space Agency.

At The Edge of the Sea is a festival curated by The Wedding Present which has been running at the Concorde over the August Bank Holiday Weekend for a good few years now. This year The Wedding Present play George Best on Saturday and The Hit Parade A-sides on Sunday. Support comes from his 90s pop incarnation Cinerama playing the two sides of their debut Va Va Voom across both nights, and a whole host of supports including Brightonians Dog In The Snow, Pete Fij & Terry Bickers and Monster Bobby.

Finally, if you’re still standing come Monday night, get down to the Green Door Store where Kill Moon headline, with Puppet Kings, The Hunger Pact and The Downing Street Years also on the bill.

New Music – The Space Agency, Spit Shake Sisters, Electric Soft Parade, Samuel Organ, Chris T-T, I am L, White Peaks

Posted on 19/08/2013 by brightonmusicblog

We’ve got more genres than you can shake a stick at for this week’s selection of new music. There’s surf rock, psychedelia, post rock, mind bending electronica, indie and art rock.

Bombay Potatoes is the new single from The Space Agency. It’s surf rock, with an eastern flavour. It’s out on 26th August, and the launch party is at the Horse & Groom on Saturday 31st.

Spit Shake Sisters recently lost their keyboard player, so they’ve put out the last recordings they made with him for free. Overdope and Modern Drugs Make Aliens are on Bandcamp now for download:

Electric Soft Parade have also put a track up for free download. 1969, which isn’t on new album Idiots, features Matt Eaton from Pure Conjecture on backing vocals, and you can get hold of it by signing up to their mailing list

Samuel Organ is better known as one third of Brighton Prog Jazz titans Physics House Band. Not content with knocking our socks off with that, he’s put out a free three track EP called Y:

The Bear is the title track from the new Chris T-T and the Hoodrats album of the same name. The album’s not out until 7th October but if you pre order the album from Xtra Mile Recordings, you get a download of The Bear.

I am L is the stage name of Laura May Brophy. Lion Heart is a track that she’s recently put up on Soundcloud which recalls Brighton’s own Bat For Lashes:

Finally, White Peaks have made their Turbluence EP free for download. Of the two tracks of atmospheric rock we prefer the second, Omnipresence, with it’s big post-rock finish:

Speak Galactic / P for Persia split single

Posted on 18/08/2013 by brightonmusicblog

On Monday 26th August two of Brighton’s finest space rock terrorists are putting out a split EP entitled “Aegis Arctic Alp” via Cupboard Music, Beatabet and Fcking The Night.

One of favourite live bands P for Persia take on side A with three tracks – Rainbow Flux, Saint Luanne and Uncanny Valley (see video below). Side B passes the baton to Speak Galactic, who we’ve raved about on many an occasion, who only contribute two tracks – New Inventions and Magnified Destiny – but the latter does clock in at around 18 minutes long.

Both bands deliver out there soundscapes that complement each other’s sound really well – P for Persia’s are more guitar based, punctuated with their trademark 8 bit bleeps, Speak Galactic’s start off more synth based, but there’s definitely saxaphones in there and seeing their live setup who knows what’s going into making the noises they do.

The EP is coming out on translucent purple 12″ vinyl, or as t-shirt with a download code. The release party is next Friday at the Green Door Store, where both bands are playing, with support from Cousin.

Dog in the Snow / Les Enfants Terribles / Above Audio

Posted on 15/08/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Through a series of unfortunate coincidences we didn’t get to see Dog in the Snow live until this month. Gig clashes, not finding out about events until afterwards, timings changing – it was starting to look like we were avoiding them. We managed to put the situation right a couple of weeks ago when Helen Brown played a solo set opening the recent Two Three Four event at Green Door Store. We were so impressed that we decided there and then that we’d go and see her next time she played live, whatever else was on.

That next time was last night, when Dog in the Snow played at Above Audio. The night was put on by Les Enfants Terribles who have been putting on monthly nights at The Blind Tiger for the last year, but who also hosted a day at the Mesmerist for the Great Escape back in May and are running a stage at this weekend’s Playgroup festival.

We arrived too late to see support act Thyla, and between bands the lights were up and there was a lot of background chatter. Sadly that didn’t change when Dog in the Snow came on, and the sound wasn’t great either, with the vocals lost in the mix. Talent shone through though, with a quietly confident performance. Musically things were sometimes delicate but always purposeful, with layered soundscapes being created by Helen’s vocals and guitar (which was played with a violin bow on a couple of tracks) and her bandmate’s backing vocals , samples and keyboards. Dog in the Snow are band we’re going to do our best not to miss again.

Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 15/08/2013 by brightonmusicblog

This weekend’s big gig pick from us is Playgroup Festival. Playgroup have been playing their cards very close to their chest, not announcing a line up or a location online at the time of writing. Previous festivals have had fantastic representation from Brighton Bands and I’m willing to go out on a limb and bet that this year will too. Their website says that their new location is less than half an hour from Brighton, and a few bands have let slip that they’re playing. Les Enfants Terribles are hosting a stage with Calico headlining, and Fox in the City also on the bill. I also saw a Facebook post from The Beautiful Word saying they were playing too. Other than that, there’s not much more that I can tell you. Keep an eye on their website for more updates

There’s a few other things closer to home that we’ve spotted. On Friday night Limbic System launch their EP which we mentioned a few weeks ago at Latest Music Bar. Normanton Street launch their new single Moves on Saturday, with a gig at the Green Door Store, and an afterparty at Brighton Arts Club. Then on Sunday there’s an all day gig at the Blind Tiger called Sausage Fest with Brighton acts Boneyards, Semper Teens and Theo Verney on a bill which also includes Traams and is headed by Cosmonauts.

New Music – DrDr, Tiger Bite Fever, The Raving Beauties, Kill Moon, Adolescent

Posted on 12/08/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Here’s some new and upcoming music that’s dropped into our inbox recently that we thought we’d share with you.

First up is thew new DrDr EP – Drums Never End came out yesterday on Champion Records. They describe their sound as future bass, I’d say it was slightly garage-y vocal house. DrDr headline the first IntroJuice-ing at the Haunt on 22nd August which we wrote about in our last post. You can buy the EP on iTunes here.

Tiger Bite Fever got in touch with us back in July, but their Love Is Strange EP isn’t out until 22nd August, so we’ve held off posting about it for a little while. Tiger Bite Fever are made up of Stuart Wray from Gentleman Starkey and vocalist Amy Tinsley, who have started making soulful Americana together. The band are also launching their EP on 22nd August, but they’ll be at Latest Music Bar

Here’s some more American flavoured music, this time from The Raving Beauties with their sun drenched debut single Oh Lover, which is out today on new Brighton label At The Helm. You can buy the track via Amazon.

Black & Blue serves things up with a bit more attitude than the other tracks in this post. The new single from Kill Moon is out today apparently, although we can’t find anywhere to buy or download it right now. Kill Moon are back at the Green Door Store on 26th August.

Finally, we have Shy by Adolescent, which appears on a compilation out a couple of weeks ago called Coast To Coast put together by Irish based music blog Believe in Sound. Shy is a gorgeous sparse piece of electronica, peppered with lovely vocal samples. You can download the whole compilation on bandcamp here.

Intro-Juice-ing

Posted on 09/08/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Up until about around eighteen months ago, Juice FM ran monthly New Music nights at The Haunt. As well as upcoming bands, they also managed to secure headline slots from the likes of Rizzle Kicks and The Ordinary Boys. The nights were a big support to the local music scene, and were sorely missed when they went on hiatus.

The good news is that they’re back with the new name of “Intro-Juice-ing”, returning to The Haunt on 22nd August, for a run of five weekly gigs.

Dr Dr headline the first gig on Thursday 22nd August, using the gig as a launch party for their new EP. Damn Dirty Humans and Vaude Villains are also playing.

The second gig sees Yumi & The Weather top the bill alongside Astrids Tea Party and Bella Feud on Friday 30th August, and announcements will be made soon for the gigs pencilled in on 7th, 13th and 20th September.

Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 07/08/2013 by brightonmusicblog

It’s looking a bit quiet on the gig front over the summer, presumably with bands off at festivals, or not playing gigs while their potential audience is off at festivals. Despite all that we’re still keeping our eyes peeled for the cream of the local crop, and here’s what we’ve got for you this week:

On Thursday night, Boon Magazine bring The Wytches to the Green Door Store for the launch of the second edition of their magazine. Lights come from the awesome Innerstrings Light Show. We did have the Evil Son’s gig at the Druids Arms pencilled in too but that’s been cancelled.

Friday night Apples & Eve headline a free, early show at the Green Door Store. Doors are at seven and like most weekend gigs the lead act will leave the stage by 10pm to make way for another later even, so get there early. Down at Sticky Mike’s Call Me Jolene are the latest band to headline Lout’s Brighton Rocks night, with support from The Long Goodbye, 2 String Slim and Das Fenster.

After another Brighton Rocks at Sticky Mike’s on Saturday night, it’s the Physics House Band’s regular night Kaleidoscope. Physics House Band are off at a festival this weekend, so they’ve handed the reins over to Caveman Genius for the night instead.

New Music – New Union, Devil in Detail, Rizzle Kicks

Posted on 06/08/2013 by brightonmusicblog

We’ve got three new tracks for you this week, from the smallest to the biggest of Brighton bands.

Devil in Detail have only just released their hard rocking debut EP. Point Scoring is the lead track:

The New Union released their eponymous EP back in June and have just released a video for the quiet piano track. This is Forget Again:

Brighton’s biggest band of the past few years are back. Rizzle Kicks return with Lost Generation, and a video sponsored by O2. When did videos start to get sponsored?

yourgardenday EP launch

Posted on 02/08/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Anyone who knows the Brighton music scene will probably have come across Robin Coward. Currently empresario of three weekly open mic spots, he was also the mesmerising keyboardist accompanying Martin Rossiter at his recent gigs. And now he’s releasing an EP of five songs by his band yourgardenday that are star quality and should knock your socks off.

Rather than go through a label, Robin’s taking the independent route and initially releasing the ‘Flat Stream’ EP through a pledge music project. The 5-track EP is full of Robin’s characteristic quirky, bright and intelligent songs with a unifying aim to “reconnect with simpler times”, all wrapped up in some superb musicianship. The EP’s being launched at a hometown gig at St Andrew’s Church in Hove on Friday August 23rd, one of a few really unique and special venues Robin’s playing at in a little week-long national launch tour. BMB will be present to report and it comes highly recommended.

In an original move, Robin’s selling tickets for the gig with a copy of the EP through the pledge music site (and there are discounts for couples who only want one copy of the EP). You can also buy some additional items, such as becoming a “metrognome” and acquiring a goodybag of yourgardenday exclusives. Or maybe you fancy one of the ten remaining copies of the first yourgardenday EP signed and hand-delivered? Nice!

www.pledgemusic.com/projects/yourgardenday

Listen to ‘Lover, do you mind? from the new EP

ps BMB would like to declare an interest in this release. Contributor Jon Southcoasting is responsible for the excellent photographs being used by Robin for the EP and launch