Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar Day Seventeen – Curxes / Further Still

Posted on 17/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Curxes put out two singles this year but we’d already kicked off our rundown of our twenty five favourite tracks of the year when Avant Guarded appeared. Further Still is a classic example of Blitz Pop – the name that Curxes have given to the genre. Drums turned up to 11 and a gutsy vocal performance all tied together with a decent tune. There’s been a few pointers to some more tunes that Curxes have got waiting in the wings ready to release, so we look forward to hearing them in 2014.

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar Day Sixteen – Milk & Biscuits / Hairstyles

Posted on 16/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Milk & Biscuits

When Milk & Biscuits put out their epic single White Noise in 2012, it was described as being the first single to be taken from their album Spirit Nap which was meant to be due early this year. We didn’t get an album, but we did get the brilliant Belle & Sebastian-esque single Hairstyles, which we loved.

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar Day Fifteen – The New Union / Staying Friends

Posted on 15/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

The New Union released their first full length EP to the world back in June. The self titled 12″ contained four tracks of predominantly guitar based pop and for a debut it was incredibly accomplished. Staying friends was the lead track and still gets a lot of plays around these parts.

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar Day Fourteen – Kins / Post Tropical Storm

Posted on 14/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Back in July Kins quietly released their eponymous debut album. There was no big press hype, no barrage of emails from eager PRs, in fact there was very little information at all. Some records can speak for themselves though – Kins was one of those, sounding not a million miles away from Foals or Alt-J, and a consistently great record throughout

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar Day Thirteen – Us Baby Bear Bones / Swamp

Posted on 13/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Us Baby Bear Bones debut EP What Starts With U Ends With An I was a long time coming. We first heard about it back in April last year and it finally got a release in June. It was well worth the wait through – Handmade packaging where the cover formed a small part of a much bigger image (which you can see slowly taking shape on their website as people buy copies of the EP), and five fantastic tracks which defy classification. Obtuse but accessible, a mixture of electronic and analogue instrumentation, catchy but without traditional choruses. Swamp was our favourite and you can listen to it here:

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar Day Twelve – Black Rooster Black Shag / Run Baby

Posted on 12/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Despite being called End of Year Lists, most start to be formed in early November. By then most bands have put out everything for the year, before they go into hibernation for the winter. It’s always a pleasure to hear new music though, whenever it comes up, so when Run Baby popped into our in box in mid-November we were very happy, especially since it’s such a great track. Run Baby might not be the most original track in our Advent Calendar, but it is the most Rock’n’Roll.

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar Day Eleven – The Beautiful Word / Particles

Posted on 11/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Many months before Particles the album came out, Particles the single was released. We’ve been fans of The Beautiful Word since before we started the blog and over the years the band have grown up a lot. When Particles hit our stereo back in May we could hear straight away that this was the sound of a band who had grown into their sound. At the time the single came out we said that this was probably the best thing they’ve done. By the time we reviewed the album we were sure of it:

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar Day Ten – Champione / The View

Posted on 10/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Rory Muldoon, aka Champione put out his debut EP Home earlier this year, and we liked it a lot. Most of the EP was instrumental house music, but he roped in Tiny Dragons’ Lizzie Massey for vocals on standout track The View:

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar Day Nine – British Sea Power / Machineries of Joy

Posted on 09/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Most bands don’t get around to putting out one album per year, but in 2013 British Sea Power have managed two – the soundtrack to From The Sea To The Land Beyond (which they performed live at the Duke of Yorks earlier this year and released a week ago), and Machineries of Joy, hailed as both a mature album and one of their best. The single of the same name appeared in March and is the ninth door in our advent calendar:

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar Day Eight – Cate Ferris / Blaze Bright

Posted on 08/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

One thing 2013 should be remembered for is the great summer we had. After a run of what felt like years of terrible, rainy, cold summers this year reminded us how summers ought to be. A good, hot summer deserves an appropriate soundtrack and Cate Ferris’ collaboration with reggae legend Nick Manasseh turned out to be just what we wanted to hear.