Back in February we wrote about a new release by Emiliana Torrini, put out on a 7″ only label called Speedy Wunderland. They’re obviously doing something right over there because they’ve given us cause to write about them again.
Their new release is a track called The Bride, a collaboration between Natasha Khan and Toy. We’re not quite sure what distinguishes Bat For Lashes from Natasha Khan, but the piano line, and the vocals are instantly recognisable. You can take a listen to the track on soundcloud below, and the record is available to pre-order from Resident.
Last night, Us Baby Bear Bones launched their debut EP at the Green Door Store. We were there to enjoy the fun and catch Alphabets Heaven, Speak Galactic and Us Baby Bear Bones live sets. As with our other galleries, click on the images to view large.
The opening song from the new Electric Soft Parade album sneaks in the line “And now it’s back to work / as if I never left”, but while it’s been seven years since No Need To Be Downhearted came out the White brothers never quite got around to leaving. Since then there’s been three Brakes albums, three solo albums from Thomas, and guest spots from both brothers in numerous bands. There’s been plenty of live dates too, most notably supporting Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds on their world tour in 2011, and playing a gig at the Haunt last year for the 10th Anniversary of Holes in the Wall.
At the end of 2011 a French label put out Lily on 7″, which we described as “the kind of melodic guitar pop that most indie bands would sell their grandmother to be able to write”, and then the band spent all of 2012 assembling an album full of tracks of the same high standard. Earlier this year they released the country tinged Brother You Must Walk Your Path Alone, which has barely left our stereo.
Next Monday sees the release of Idiots, Electric Soft Parade’s fourth long player. The thing that strikes you on first listen is that any of the album’s ten tracks could be singles; not only is Idiots very much a pop album but there isn’t a duff track on it. It’s a classic guitar pop sound that’s been sorely missing from the charts of late, which have been cluttered up with the likes of Kasabian’s testosterone soaked riffs or Ed Sheeran’s overly sensitive acoustic drivel. Where are the tunes? Where are the choruses you can sing along to?
Well, here they are. Summertime In My Heart is the optimism of the season distilled into song form. The Corner of Highdown and Montefiore is a brooding, reflective ballad with lush strings that you lose yourself in before you realise it’s got a bit epic. Title track Idiots draws on the lush seventies pop of ELO or Wings, and the infectiously catchy Mr Mitchell could have been penned by Ray Davies. One of Those Days makes me swoon with it’s gorgeousness, shuffling rhythms and close harmonies, and Welcome To The Weirdness has the best guitar solo that Brian May never wrote. Never again calms things down to finish with, the sweetest song about hangovers that’s ever been written.
Idiots is a fantastic album. It’s rammed with brilliant, sunny guitar pop tunes, and is a great comeback for the White brothers. It’s out on Monday 17th on Helium Records, and the launch is being put on by Melting Vinyl at the Green Door Store that day.
The Fall and Rise of Crayola Lectern has been one of our favourite albums of the year so far, sounding unlike anyone else out there in Brighton right now. We decided to catch up with Chris Anderson to find out a bit about Crayola Lectern.
We’re inundated with new music coming into Brighton Music Blog HQ at the moment, so time to share some more of it with you all.
The newest thing that’s come onto our radar is a brand new video from The Electric Soft Parade. Summertime In My Heart is taken from the White brothers upcoming album Idiots, which is out on 17th June. We’ve got our hands on a preview of it, and it’s the best thing we’ve heard all year. Our full review will be posted at some point in the next week but until then here’s the video:
The next video we have is Tornado by Time for T, taken from their Mongrel EP. Time for T are one of our weekend gig picks this week, with their gig at St Luke’s Church tomorrow night:
Next up is Exhale by The Mojo Fins, which sees the band taking a bit of a different direction to their previous material. If you’re reading this the day it’s posted, you can catch the Mojo Fins later tonight at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar:
Next we have Tigercub with their track Centrefold, another great stomper. It’s up on youtube, but it’s just audio:
Finally, we don’t know much about Fevrs, but we do know that we like the glitchy soulful electronica of Break:
Here’s our round of up this weekend’s gig picks. There’s some great gigs on, the weather’s going to be fantastic, it’s just past payday so there’s no excuse for not getting out there and seeing some live music.
On Thursday night, The Mojo Fins headline Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar. There’s some great support slots too – Curxes are supporting Chapel Club at The Haunt, and Negative Pegasus are supporting Holland at Green Door Store.
Friday night see’s Time for T playing at St Luke’s Church on Old Shoreham Road. This is one of the first gigs we’ve heard of taking place at St Lukes, so could be interesting. Ourother Friday Night gig pick is also in a church – Abi Wade is supporting Olof Arnalds in the Unitarian Church.
At the Brunswick on Saturday Night House of Hats host this month’s Harvest Sessions, with support from Emily Baker and Cordelia Gartside. If you fancy an all dayer on saturday then head over to the Green Door Store for Cupboard Music’s second annual Hey! Fever gig. There’s ten bands on over the course of the day, with Negative Pegasus and Black Black Hills topping the bill.
Today sees releases from two of our favourite bands at Brighton Music Blog. We’ve featured videos from both releases on the blog before, but these have appeared online so far before the release date that it’s worth reminding people about these again now that you can go and actually buy them.
The first is The New Union EP, by The New Union, on Two Sisters Records. The EP features four tracks – Staying Friends, Rushing Thoughts, Where Do You Think You’re Going Wrong and Forget Again – and is out now on iTunes, or on 12″ from the likes of Resident Records. The band are holding the single launch at the Book Club in London on Thursday for this release, but you’ll be able to catch them in Brighton again soon supporting IYES on 24th July at The Hope. Get your tickets early for this gig, because with a line up like that, it WILL sell out. Hopefully we’ll have an interview with the band to share with you before then.
Today’s other release is Hairstyles by Milk & Biscuits. Hairstyles is released on Big Salad Records, and is download only, available through iTunes (and probably some other places, although when this was written details weren’t confirmed). Milk & Biscuits play next Brighton gig is on 22nd June at the West Hill Centre.
Welcome to our second monthly Top Ten feature. It’s officially regular, now that we’ve made it two months in a row! As with last month, it’s loosely based on what Last.fm has told me I’ve listened to, although this month it seemed to bear no relation to what iTunes was recording for the play counts. Also one of the tracks is just a YouTube video, so that didn’t appear on iTunes or Last.fm. So without further ado, here’s what we’ve been loving this month:
1) Watching Her Dance / DA-10
Watching Her Dance appeared on our radar roughly at the same time as we heard about DA-10’s The Shape of Space EP, but it was the EP which was getting the attention and the PR push. Several weeks later it’s this mode dancefloor friendly free download which is still on heavy rotation.
2) Battersea / AK/DK
Battersea is the lead track from AK/DK’s new cassette only release Dispatch #3, and we love it’s crazy squelchiness
3) Rio / Cave Painting
The video for Rio surfaced online a few months ago, but the EP finally hit the shops on 29th April. The packaging is every bit as gorgeous as you’d expect from Cave Painting, as is the quality of the music. There’s only a hundred of these out there, so good luck hunting one out
4) Daddy / IYES
This track was a bit of a surprise after the vocal pop of Lighthouse and Glow, but Daddy showed that IYES are just as assured at Balearic house
5) Goddess of War / Phantom Runners
Phantom Runners were one of our discoveries in the run up to the Great Escape. We didn’t manage to catch their set (although hopefully we’ll be there when they play at the Blind Tiger at the next Les Enfants Terribles night on 28th June), but we think their debut single as a great slice of indie pop
6) Anneka / Deliver
Not a single, or even a physical or digital release, but just a Youtube video, Deliver was still one of the best tracks out of Brighton we heard this month
7) Abraxical Solapse / Physics House Band
The Physics House Band’s Horizons / Rapture mini LP came out in April, and while it’s not as accessible as some of the poppier acts on the list, it’s certainly just as rewarding. You probably won’t be whistling any of the songs in the shower, but you will keep going back to them over and over
8) Hold On / Luo
Luo seem to be growing more and more with every new track we hear from them, and Hold on is no exception. In a few releases they’ve expanded their range from glitchy chill out and currently sound like a more electronic Physics House Band. Give them a few months and the sky’s the limit
9) Fallback / Catherine Ireton
A little while back, our friends over at the Some Of It Is True blog started up a record label called Hidden Trail. We got a bit distracted and haven’t got around to writing about the label’s first release yet – a compilation of some of their favourite tracks they’ve come across – but our favourite track from what we’ve listened to so far is Catherine Ireton’s Fallback
10) Goldfish Song / Crayola Lectern
We’re still listening to The Fall and Rise of Crayola Lectern at Brighton Music Blog HQ, and have grown rather fond of The Goldfish Song, a tune about suicidal pets sounding not a million miles away from The Beatle’s Day In The Life
Here’s a few new singles which have hit our radar recently.
First up is Shrine, who headlined Friday night at the Nice Weather For Airstrikes festival on friday night last week. Their new single is called Kursk. Here’s the video, and the soundcloud which has a free download option:
Next up is The Wytches. Beehive Queen is out on Hate Hate Hate records next monday, limited to 300 7″s, and the launch is at The Hope this saturday.
Cartagena by Two Jackals is out on Seven Dials Records on 1st June and was produced by Joel Cadbury and Pablo Clements from UNKLE.
Finally, we’ve got a remix of Further Still by Curxes. When we first posted about the track back in March we mentioned that there was a remix due, so here it is, with Avec Sans on the knobs, complete with a link to a free download:
Earlier this year, Esben and the Witch released their new album Wash The Sins Not Only The Face, and this week have released an accompanying album of remixes for free. The cast of remixers spreads wide, with Maps, David Andrew Sitek (from TV on the Radio), Lumbers, Klad Hest (from BEAK>), Teeth of the Sea and Brighton’s own Woodpecker Wooliams.
Some sites I’ve seen have managed to embed the fancy widget they’ve got online to stream and download the tracks, but after spending most of the night trying, I’m giving up and will just direct you to this link instead!
