We had big plans for Friday night – we were going to head down to the Blind Tiger for Les Enfants Terribles which I’d read was an early gig, then catch Yumi & The Weather headlining Juice FM’s night at the Haunt. But then it turned out that the Juice night was an early gig too which put pay to that plan. We also wanted to pop into Brighton Electric on the way home for their all night, but that didn’t seem like such a great idea with work in the morning.
So we only made one of the three gigs we wanted to, but it was a good one. My New Favourite Tribe have only just put out their first single, but judging by the rest of their set there are great things to come. I would probably have enjoyed Salt Ashes set more had it been a PA in Audio at 2 o clock in the morning, but what a voice! I’ve been wanting to see Bent Cousin since I first heard them earlier this year and they didn’t disappoint. They’ve got catchy songs which work even better live than the recordings, and on top of that they’ve got heaps more charisma that most local bands.
Saturday night was more of a success, mainly because we had much more achievable ambitions for the evening. We only wanted to see the one band – The Space Agency – who were launching their new single Bombay Potatoes at the Horse and Groom in Hanover. The Space Agency are another band who’ve been on my wish list of bands to see for a while, and they were fantastic. I don’t get to write about Surf Rock nearly enough on the blog, and the band – who also rotated instruments midway through the gig and played a set as their alter ego The Get Smashed – had talent and tunes in great abundance.
Here’s out pics from the gigs. Click through to view large:
It’s barely been a week since we updated you with the new music that we’ve heard about, but our mailbox has been overflowing with loads of tunes and videos. Here’s what we’ve heard:
We heard about the new Phantom Runners just this afternoon. It Takes Me Away is lovely jangly late 80s / early 90s sounding indie, and is probably our favourite out of this post’s selection:
New State Masses are a new band formed from the ashes of previous projects foiled by the machinations of the music industry. So far there’s only a few tracks up on Soundcloud, and we rather like the mournful Somehow, Someday which we’re featuring here, but they’ll have a single out later this year called Keep The Love which we’ll tell you more about as we hear it.
Last Heir‘s new video was filmed down on the beach, and it looks like it was on the nudist beach, although they’re all fully clothed. Monkey Heart is a catchy slice of guitar pop, which is available as a free download if you follow the link underneath the video.
We wrote about Gudjohr‘s last EP back in February. In Tandem is his new seven track mini-LP, which is a bit less acoustic, but no less endearing. It’s available as a name-your-price download on Bandcamp.
Wake Up by My New Favourite Tribe was released this week and is out on iTunes and the other usual suspects. It’s wonky electro pop, not a million miles from Hot Chip, or early nineties synthpop band Beloved. My New Favourite Tribe play at Les Enfants Terribles at the Blind Tiger this friday.
Bright Lightbulbs is King of Cats’ contribution to a new split single with Ides coming out on 9th September on Reeks of Effort. It’s a bit lo fi and a bit like marmite – you’ll either love it or hate it. You can go and watch the video over at The Line of Best Fit – As much as I try I haven’t been able to embed it here!
Finally we have a video from Flash Pan Hunter. Overcome Love With The Devil is a stripped back acoustic version of the original which is on his new album Quick Way To Enemy which came out a week or two ago. The video was filmed at Tim Bidwell’s Clockwork Owl Studios up in Kemptown.
It seems a bit early in the week to be posting up our regular weekend gig picks post, but we normally do it on a Wednesday, so here we are.
Tomorrow night’s gig pick is House of Hats, who are supporting alt folk legend Mark Mulcahy at Latest Music Bar.
There a loads of great gigs on Friday night – Les Enfants Terribles put on one of their regular gigs at the Blind Tiger with Salt Ashes, My New Favourite Tribe and Bent Cousin. Juice FM also have an all Brighton bill at The Haunt, with Yumi & The Weather, Astrid’s Tea Party and Bella Feud playing. Meanwhile Brighton Electric are holding a summer party, with Dog in the Snow, Jungfrau, Momotaro and Dissonants.
Saturday night’s choice is The Space Agency who are launching their new single Bombay Potatoes at the Horse & Groom.
Standing out from the crowd is an age old dilemma. It’s not too many years ago that a digital release was a novelty, but now it’s the default. To get a bit more attention for their new single, The Hundredth Anniversary have set up a website. You can play the track, download the track, show the lyrics and create your own video by cycling through a series of visual loops.
Last Drive is slow motion shoe gaze, with thick slabs of guitars and desolate vocals. You can download it at lastdrive.thehundredthanniversary.com (along with everything I described above)
Next Monday Flash Bang Band release their new album Bite Your Tongue on At The Helm records. We’ll be doing a full write up on that in full course, and with any luck interviewing the band too. In the meantime though, here’s their new single, Screw Come Loose, complete with retro green screen effects. The single is out now digitally, available via the usual suspects.
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:
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.
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.
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?
Want to know what’s been on the Brighton Music Blog stereo this month? Then read on:
1) Kins – Post Tropical Storm Our most listened to track was Post Tropical Storm from Kins eponymous debut album. It’s powerful guitar pop, but the power doesn’t come from obvious hooks or direct choruses, but from it’s sonic quality. Tribal drums and layers of shimmering guitars coupled with angelic vocals don’t just elevate Kins’ songs above the rest but take them to a different place altogether.
2) The Electric Soft Parade – One Of Those Days Our soundtrack to the summer is still Idiots by the Electric Soft Parade. One of Those Days effortlessly breezes out of the speakers with sugary sweet vocals, a light swirling guitar riff and shuffling drums. Here’s a live version from the album launch at the Green Door Store back in June
3) Cate Ferris – Blaze Bright Another tune which has sounded amazing in the sunshine is Cate Ferris’ new single Blaze Bright. Who doesn’t love a bit of reggae in the summertime?
4) Champione – The View (feat. Lizzie Massey) / Tiny Dragons – Come Alive (PACT Remix) Yes, Yes. This is two tunes. Well spotted. They’re both dance tunes with Lizzie Massey’s vocals at the forefront, the first in autotuned form on the title track from Champione’s recent EP, and the second as part of her band Tiny Dragons, remixed by PACT who also remixed their track Canvas for a recent mix cd released on Kitsune records. The unmixed PACT remix of Canvas is also on the download package of the Come Alive EP.
5) Crayola Lectern – Trip In ‘D’ (Version) The past couple of month’s Top Tens have featured tracks from Crayola Lectern’s leftfield The Fall And Rise of … album which came out back in April. Never one to do things the way you’d expect, in July he released a single to go alongside it. Slow Down features in album and alternate versions, alongside a different version of the ten minute long Trip in D, which is the track we’ve selected for our Top Ten. The first eight minutes don’t stray too far from the territory laid down on the album version but just when you’re least suspecting it the track takes a sideways swerve and morphs into a motoric Krautrock monster, awakening the ghost of early period Stereolab.
6) TOY & Natasha Khan – The Bride The Bride nearly didn’t get to feature in our Top Ten after we picked up the limited-to-250-copies 7” from Resident only to discover on first listen that it was damaged. Speedy Wunderground managed to find another copy from somewhere though and it hasn’t left our record deck since. Despite being a cover of an 70s psychedelic Iranian tune, it’s sounds surprisingly like what you’d expect a collaboration between Bat for Lashes and Toy might sound like – The piano lines and vocal inflections are unmistakably Natasha’s, and the thick chugging guitars match Toy’s trademark sound.
7) GAPS – Keep You GAPS are probably our favourite discovery of the year so far. The band released their double A side Keep You / Cascade on Sexbeat records two weeks ago at a gig at the Green Door Store, and we put Cascade in our top ten last month. Keep You is the more beat heavy side of the 7”, but still has a beautiful pastoral quality to it:
8) Becky Becky – House Of The Black Madonna We meant to write about Becky Becky’s album launch gig at the Green Door Store a few weeks ago, but it was a busy weekend for us and we ended up missing the moment. As live shows go, it was much more of a performance than most bands manage. Pulsating synth pop (provided by ex Fence Collective Peter Mason) was accompanied by is-it-real-or-is-it-an-act wine drinking from pint glasses and drunken behaviour from Woodpecker Wooliams. The closest reference point is something like The Knife, but this was more pop and less art. The House of the Black Madonna is from Becky Becky’s forthcoming album of the same name.
9) Us Baby Bear Bones – Sun The Us Baby Bear Bones EP What Starts With a U Ends With an I is still getting a lot of plays at Brighton Music Blog HQ. As convenient as it may seem, Sun was already coming up as having the most plays of the five tracks last week before the rather chilling video got posted:
10) Limbic System – Distant Lands Limbic System sent us their Beta Wave EP to listen to a few weeks ago, and the beautiful, fragile Distant Lands was the standout track for us. The band are holding their launch party for the EP at Latest Music Bar on 16th August.
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