Here’s our regular pick of where to go and get your fill of local music this weekend.
Tonight we recommend heading to The Brunswick to see some members of bands playing solo sets. Hannah from Moulettes is supporting Sam Walker from The Muel, and door tax is a fiver. If Hove seems a long way away (which it does sometimes), then there’s also Flash Bang Band at the Prince Albert, which is only four pound entrance. Support comes from Lion Bark and The Vinyls.
Our Friday night choice is Transformer, who are playing at the Blind Tiger and is free to get in! Saturday night’s pick is this week’s Brighton Rocks at Sticky Mikes with Running Dogs, The Chances, High Tyde, Clipper and Harting, and will set you back four pounds.
Oui Love is a platform for French bands to get more exposure in the UK. What are we doing bringing them up on a blog all about bands from Brighton, I hear you ask? We’ll get to that later…
Yan Wagner
Oui Love started a few years ago, and as well as bringing bands to tour the UK, it’s also brought them over to festivals, becoming a regular feature at The Great Escape. Last night, with Melting Vinyl, four bands played under the Oui Love banner – three French and one linked to Brighton (see – I can write about the night here!).
Jupiter
I arrived as Yan Wagner was onstage, playing lush electro. The synths said New Order, but the vocals were more brooding. Next up, Jupiter took to the stage. The three piece had a great pop sensibility, with coquettish female vocals over songs which drew from the great French House tradition. Definitely ones to watch, for sure. Headliners Juveniles struggled for a while with some kind of short circuit which pulled the power on their equipment after a couple of bars, and the time taken to fix it ate into their set meaning they only got to play a few songs. What they did play was fantastic though. Loud exuberant live house, with clattering drums and rich bubbling synths. If only they could have played for longer.
Omega Male
That’s enough about French bands though. This is Brighton Music Blog after all. The reason we went along to the evening was to see the evening’s third act – Omega Male, who released their debut album last week. Half of Omega Male is David Best from Brighton’s Fujiya & Miyagi. When I found out that David Best was working with Omega Male and that Matt Hainsby was working on his own I Am Ampersand project, I feared that maybe we wouldn’t hear from Fujiya & Miyagi again, but seeing the rest of the band in the audience has put those ideas to rest. Omega Male’s live setup has Best on vocals and guitars, and Project Jenny Project Jan’s Sammy Rubin on keyboards and backing vocals. I sensed a certain nervousness – maybe it was because it’s one of the band’s first ever gigs, maybe it was the home crowd, or maybe it was because he didn’t have the safety of the band that he’s been playing with for over ten years – but there was no talking inbetween songs, and many were performed with eyes closed. The set followed a different arc from the album – where the record closes with the serene beauty of Buildings Like Symphonies, this was thrown in quite early into the set which built up to bigger, more up tempo songs later on, which made sense for what was predominantly an evening of dance music. Live, they don’t match up to Fujiya & Miyagi just yet, but I have no doubt they can achieve it in time – All they need is a bit more stage presence, and maybe a huge closing track they can jam out to, like Best’s other band have with Electro Karaoke.
The Oui Love winter tour heads to The Shacklewell Arms in London tonight, and then onto the Soup Kitchen in Manchester on Thursday. Omega Male only performed at the Brighton leg of the tour.
Last thursday night, The Blind Tiger was the place to be in town as the great and the good of Brighton crowded in for the launch of Jennifer Left’s new single Diggory. Spotted amongst the crowd were other local artists, producers, record label bosses, magazine editors and photographers. Not bad for a chilly November evening.
The May Birds
Support came from The May Birds, one of the latest bands to pass through Tim Bidwell’s Clockwork Owl studio. Despite missing their piano player, a beautiful sound came from the stage – lovely harmonies and lush arrangements. I look forward to hearing their EP once Tim’s finished working his magic. If only the crowd had appreciated them a bit more though – In my opinion, the level of background chat was quite insulting. It might have been people not paying too much attention to the support band, or the acoustics in the Blind Tiger, or the May Birds being quite quiet, but if you’re at a gig have a bit of respect, eh? It’s not just me that thinks it’s bad manners – it was top of the list on the Source’s recent Gig Charter.
Jennifer Left
I mentioned last time I saw Jennifer Left that she’s had a bit of a transformation of late into more of a pop star. It could be the sharp bob haircut she now sports, or the more extravagant stagewear, or just the confidence from having your songs played on the radio, but whatever it is, she continues to get better and better. There’s more communication with the audience, there’s less fiddling between songs, the musicianship seems slicker – again, it’s not just a single thing that you can put your finger on that’s improved. The set opened with their first single Black Dog, and rattled through a whole load of tracks which will end up on the upcoming album Hushabye as well as their gorgeous Bossa Nova version of New Order’s Temptation. The cover is one of the b-sides to Diggory, which the band closed their set with.
Tonight we recommend heading to The Brunswick to see some members of bands playing solo sets. Hannah from Moulettes is supporting Sam Walker from The Muel, and door tax is a fiver. If Hove seems a long way away (which it does sometimes), then there’s also Flash Bang Band at the Prince Albert, which is only four pound entrance. Support comes from Lion Bark and The Vinyls.
Brighton Music Blog 