Around a month ago, Van Zon released their debut EP “All Things, All One Aglow“, and a couple of weeks later, Glasshouse Red Spider Mite released their EP “What Do You Mean The Monster?… Hahaha“, and last night the bands played a double headline launch gig at Alphabet, supported by London band Catbandcat. We went along with our camera to capture things for posterity:
(click through to view large)
On Thursday, Penelope Trappes played a hometown gig at Alphabet, concluding the tour of her latest release A Requiem. The album is a powerful work, perfectly encapsulating the grief that overshadows it’s ten tracks. For the live performance Penelope was joined Klara Schumann on cello and Kat Pihl on keyboards to recreate the imposing visceral sound of the recordings, and Alphabet was probably the best venue in town to do justice to this. There was a strong visual dimension too, with lighting designed by Agnes Haus (which at some points was nothing more than just a handheld industrial lamp) and headwear inspired by the organic form of branches of a tree. The arpeggiated synth lines of one of the albums more electronic moments, Red Dove, provides some light towards the end of the performance, and the night closes serenely with Thou Art Mortal, the last track on the album, with waves of sound washing over us to send us on our way.
Support on the evening came from Zac Clowes and Jonah Wardle, who played and continuous thirty minute cinematic ambient set
A Requiem by Penelope Trappes is out now on One Little Indie:
Earlier this month Memorials released their debut album Memorial Waterslides on Fire Records (last year’s Music for Film didn’t count as a debut because it was soundtracks, apparently). The duo have just completed a UK tour to support the release, starting in Scotland a couple of weeks ago and culminating in a hometown gig at Alphabet last night, supported by Emma Gattrill. A personal highlight for us was the extended version of the album’s centrepiece Memorial Waterslide II (if you’re wondering about part one, that was released on their Centre Pompidou EP earlier this year), which brought to mind some of Stereolab’s extended psychedelic tracks – indeed both bands share a manager and Laetitia Sadier was spotted in the audience at the gig (Graham Sowerby from AK/DK – playing at Alphabet next week – and David Best from Fujiya & Miyagi were also in attendance). The gig ended early without an encore which gave me the time to enjoy a drink at Alphabet’s gorgeous new bar downstairs, which feels like a sophisticated secret drinking den and might well be Brighton’s best kept secret.
Memorial Waterslides is out now at record shops, streaming sites and at bandcamp:
There’s been a bit of an anomaly since the introduction of streaming that while you can get your recordings online the moment you’ve finished recording and mixing them, there’s always going to be a bit of a lag to get a physical product out in the world. Ladylike released their latest single Horse’s Mouth back in July, but the physical option – on flexidisc – is just coming out now and was available as part of the ticket bundle for last friday’s show or at the Merch stand. If you didn’t make it to the show you can pick it up on their bandcamp page. Support at the gig came from newcomers with familiar faces Goodbye, who we’ll be keeping an eye out for, as well as a Mandrake Handshake DJ Set, who aren’t a Brighton band but Elvis’s support for the local scene is unsurpassed, so warrants a mention. Here’s our photo gallery:
Brighton Music Blog 