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.
Here’s a few bits and pieces that we’ve come across this week. Gnarwolves and Octopuses have the launches for their releases this weekend (see our previous post), so if you like what you hear, make sure you catch them live.
First up is the new single from Martin Rossiter. No One Left To Blame, one of the standout tracks from last year’s The Defenestration of St Martin, will be released on September 16th, but the rather chilly video is up now:
Moving from chiller to thriller, the next video is for Sun by Us Baby Bear Bones, which features on their What Starts With a U Ends With An I EP, which is available to buy via the band’s website.
Funemployed is the new EP from Gnarwolves. The band have their launch party at the Green Door Store on saturday night, and the EP sounds like this:
Octopuses launch their new single Sarcastic at the Prince Albert tonight. The track’s up on Soundcloud, and you can listen here:
We’re out of town for the weekend, but that’s not going to stop us telling you about the great music that’s on. In fact, we’re going to bring our normal timings a day earlier and start the post off from bands playing Wednesday night, since there’s some great gigs going on then that we’re gutted we’re going to miss out on.
Octopuses, Becky Becky and Do You Feel What I Feel Deer? are all on the bill at the Prince Albert on Wednesday night for the launch of Octopuses new single Sarcastic. At the Blind Tiger you can see Faux Flux, Luo and Spacenoid, and you can see The Beautiful Word at Northern Lights.
Skipping to Friday Night, Eliza Jaye holds her album launch at the Ranelagh, and at the Blind Tiger there’s this month’s Les Enfants Terribles, featuring Bad for Lazarus, Fox in the City and The Frenzied Anaesthetist. Unfortunately Fear of Men supporting Youth Lagoon has been rescheduled so if you were hoping to see them you’ll have to wait until October.
We’ve already mentioned Saturday night RSPB Fundraiser at Saint Luke’s Church with Mary Hampton and Do You Feel What I Feel Deer? Saturday is also this month’s Source New Music at the Dome Studio Theatre – Flash Bang Band headline, with support from 900 Spaces, Hundredth Anniversary and The Victory Dolls. Meanwhile, at the Green Door Store Gnarwolves host the launch party for their new EP Funemployed.
On Friday Night The Levellers played a one-off sell out gig at Brighton Dome to celebrate twenty five years as a band. Support came from two other acts who’ve collaborated with The Levellers over the years – Electric Soft Parade, who played a set taken from their new album Idiots, and McDermott’s Two Hours who were originally a band who inspired The Levellers but who the Levellers went on to produce. We took our camera along to capture a permanent record of a timeless night.
The weekend is almost upon us so it’s time for our weekly round up of the best local talent that you can see live this weekend.
We’ve spotted two great gigs on Thursday night – Tiny Dragons are playing at Club Criminal at Latest Music Bar, with support from Fools Knowledge, Dead Whisky and Dress Theque. Round the corner at the Blind Tiger The Resonators headline Dub Organiser.
On Friday there are a crazy number of local bands playing live in Brighton. The biggest show is at the Dome, where the Levellers play Brighton for the first time in ages to celebrate their twenty fifth year as a band. Support comes from Electric Soft Parade. Friday night also has two gigs by Brighton bands at the Blind Tiger. Early doors Standard Lamps and Calico are on the bill, and later on from 10pm The Impellers play their own gig. Meanwhile The Meow Meows are holding a launch party for their album at The Gladstone, and Emberhoney, Mishkin Fitzgerald and Simonne (without her Dark Stars) play at the Komedia. Just a few miles out of town, British Sea Power play at the Gentlemen of the Road Festival in Lewes.
The rest of the weekend we think you should be out enjoying the sun, stopping only at the end of the weekend when Brighton Folk hold their regular night at the Brunswick with Dave Blackwell topping the line up.
Last night GAPS rounded off a mini tour to promote their debut 7” with a hometown gig at the Green Door Store.
The first support came from The Hundredth Anniversary, who were more together yet more relaxed than I’ve ever seen them. It’s still shoegaze, of sorts, but the angular drumming and tight rhythm section elevate them above the competition. The second support took things in a completely different direction – Laurie James Ross, better known as Eagles For Hands, played a set of House music using a table full of electronics controlling different channels and vocal samples. Sometimes things went a little bit garage and on some tracks the direction went a little bit deeper, but throughout the whole continuous set the Green Door Store sounded fantastic. Definitely one to watch.
The evening belonged to GAPS though. Their single Keep You / Cascade was released yesterday, and the duo were celebrating with a local gig. Ed was on the left on synths, drum pads and two microphones and Rachel filled the rest of the stage with guitars, more drums and more microphones. Their music has been described as folktronica, which probably fits with what they do on paper but doesn’t truly do justice to their sound. The best known examples of the genre seem to be electronica with a bit of folk added to make things more interesting or vice versa, but what we heard last night was a much more equal union of the two. AA side Cascade, with its long quiet seagull laden intro before the beats kick in, was dropped into the set early on, with flip side Keep You saved until the penultimate track. Discounting the gremlins before the end of the set GAPS played a great gig, making a sound that’s familiar, but unlike anyone else in town.
GAPS single launch gallery (click on the pics to view large):
Normally most of our gig previews are posted up a couple of days before the weekend they occur, giving you all a few day’s notice of what’s coming up. Occasionally, if something catches our eye we might make an exception and point it out a bit earlier, and that’s just what we’re doing here.
On Saturday 27th July, The Hollow Tree Fundraiser takes place at Saint Luke’s Church, in aid of the RSPB. Three local acts are playing – The wonderful Mary Hampton, anti-folk heroes 21 Crows, and Brighton Music Blog favourites Do You Feel What I Feel Deer?. There also promises to be a raffle, giant games, and the opportunity to build a habitat on your head. There’s more information on Facebook.
This also gives us the opportunity to post up the video for the Mary Hampton Cotillion’s latest release Gold Hat, which appeared online last week:
