Heliopause and Do You Feel What I Feel Deer Supporting Mice Parade at the Hope

Posted on 15/10/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Well, that was officially the loudest acoustic gig that we’ve ever been to. Acoustic very rarely means acoustic these days, and everything at The Hope last night was plugged in and turned up to eleven, even though the instruments involved were acoustic guitars, strings and an autoharp.

Heliopause

First up were Heliopause, playing their first proper gig since May. Since then, their numbers have reduced and the band now just consists of Rich Davis and his laptop (although he’s hoping to boost the numbers by the end of the year). His short but loud set – thank goodness for ear plugs – comprised mainly of songs this year’s Lumo Tape album, a little more stripped down perhaps than other outings, but not suffering for it. The opening support slot came up as a competition run by Mice Parade along with their label Fat Cat. The label tells me that it was a pretty close run thing to choose between the entries, and that their second choice was excellent as well, but that Heliopause had the edge, being a bit more appropriate for the other bands on the bill.

Do You Feel What I Feel Deer

The second Brighton band were Do You Feel What I Feel Deer, whose single Save My Heart we wrote about last month. Before the gig I was concerned that one of the things that makes them so special might get lost if they played as a duo. Thankfully, they brought along a string section with them (well, two violins and a cello), and they were able to share the beautiful arrangements which make them more than just another folk duo. Vocals were shared evenly between Rachel and Eleanor, sometimes swapping the lead line mid-song, and the songs themselves are beautiful – otherworldly folk with close harmonies and instrumentation to die for.

Mice Parade

Headliners Mice Parade aren’t from Brighton, or even from Britain, but they are signed to Brighton based label Fat Cat. They’re touring their new album Candela as an acoustic trio, and main man Adam Pierce brought along two fantastic musicians along with him, a scandinavian ukelele player, and Dan Lippel – one of the finest classical guitar players I’ve had the pleasure of seeing live. Together, the sound they made was something beautiful. Thoroughly recommended.

Do You Feel What I Feel Deer are playing tomorrow night at Bombanes, and are supporting Mary Hampton at the Hanover Centre on 10th November. Heliopause support NZCA/LINES at the Green Door Store this thursday.

Abi Wade / Heavy Heart

Posted on 14/10/2012 by brightonmusicblog

November 5th see’s the Abi Wade’s second release for the Brighton based Love Thy Neighbour label. Heavy Heart, which can be bought through the bandcamp link below is another slice of Abi’s unique combination of haunting voice, cello and drum box, and is backed with another new track, Faker.

Abi is one of Brighton’s most compelling live acts. If you haven’t seen her yet, she’s next playing on 11th December at St Mary’s Church. If you want a Brighton related gig before then, she’s supporting Brighton Music Blog favourite Woodpecker Wooliams at the Old Queen’s Head in Islington on 14th November.

New Union / Without You video

Posted on 09/10/2012 by brightonmusicblog

We wrote about the New Union single a few weeks ago, but when we did, it was a weeks before it was released, and it was before the video up. The single came out on monday, so to remind you of the fact that it’s out, here’s the video:

New Union are launching the single at a free gig at Fitzherberts on Friday Night.

Tall Ships – Everything Touching

Posted on 09/10/2012 by brightonmusicblog

A couple of months ago I bumped into the editor of one of the local magazines while I was out and about, and as I always do when I see them, asked who they had lined up for their next cover. His eyes lit up – “It’s Tall Ships” he gushed. “They’re fantastic – have you heard them?”. I said that I’d seen them earlier in the year at Sea Monsters, but added that I’d probably seen a hundred bands since. He told me that the night they headlined at One Inch Badge’s festival at the Prince Albert back in February sold out faster than any of the others, and then went on to tell me how great the album was, saving special praise for the album’s eight minute closer Murmurations.

He wasn’t wrong. Current single Gallop has been all over the radio, and to whet your appetite their record label Big Scary Monsters have put up an album stream over at The Line of Best Fit so you haven’t got any excuse not to listen to it. And if that’s not enough, you can catch them live at the Haunt this Friday.

Bizarro World (with Cousin, Speak Galactic, Black Black Hills and Negative Pegasus)

Posted on 07/10/2012 by brightonmusicblog

We’ve been wanting to go along to a Bizarro World night since they started them a few months ago, but this is the first we’ve made it along to. The premise is a simple one – four bands on the bill, each playing three or four songs by a famous act.

We arrived just as Cousin were tackling Pavement. We didn’t manage to get any pictures, because the night was RAMMED. The combination of a great line up, covering great bands, on a weekend, oh, and being free, obviously pulled in the crowds. It’s really encouraging to see live music being supported like this. Cousin played things with a pretty straight bat, and obviously loved their time onstage asking at the end if they had time for one more song.

Speak Galactic

Speak Galactic were up next, and tonight Matthew, they were LCD Soundsystem. The biggest surprise for me was that Speak Galactic were as bold and uncompromising as they always were, and made James Murphy’s songs their own, but at the same time if LCD Soundsystem had played them in that style, you wouldn’t have batted an eyelid. Another shock was drummer Jim Morrison taking vocals on Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, coming out from the shadows for a change. The high point of the whole evening for me was their cover of All My Friends; The slightly disorienting feel of the original being fantastic match for the woozy electronics Owen Thomas creates.

Black Black Hills

Black Black Hills came on after a short break, and each of the four members of the band were Michael Jackson, all picking their own era to dress as, which was a nice touch. Their re-imagining of their songs was fantastic – 80’s pop turned upside down to reveal a garage rock sound that not even Michael Jackson would have recognised. If their covers of Bad and Billie Jean don’t become staples of Black Black Hills’ live sets then I’ll be very disappointed.

Negative Pegasus

Finally Negative Pegasus took to the stage, fresh from playing their album launch at the Green Door Store last weekend. Negative Pegasus are Bizarro World regulars – the nights are organised by guitarist and One Inch Badge promoter Todd Jordan. Previous nights have seen them covering Creedence Clearwater Revival and Daft Punk, but this time they took on Tom Waits, calling in a bit of support from Nick Hudson on vocals. Whiskey soaked bar room drawls were swapped for a full on rock out – a great end to the night. I can’t wait for the next one, hopefully in a bigger venue so that more people can enjoy it. It’s a great concept and a real gem in Brighton’s live music scene.

Bits and Pieces

Posted on 02/10/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Here’s another blog post of a couple of assorted media that have come to our attention that we’d like to share.

First up we have the b-side to the upcoming Fear of Men single coming out on Too Pure that we wrote about a few weeks ago. Mosaic, which is already getting airplay on BBC 6Music, is out two weeks today and the flip Your Side sounds like this:

Next is a remix of one of the tracks from Cate Ferris’ Deep Breath, Ready, Get set GO EP. Condensation has been remixed by Talking Books, and doesn’t feature on the cd:

Finally we have another video for the next single from Bat For Lashes upcoming album The Haunted Man. This is the video to accompany All Your Gold, which also comes out on October 15th:

Bleeding Hearts Club October

Posted on 02/10/2012 by brightonmusicblog

The turn of a new month yesterday brought another Bleeding Hearts Club – a firm favourite in the Brighton Music Blog diary.

Ian Hannah

First on stage was Ian Hannah, who admitted before he started that he couldn’t play guitar. It was a reasonable statement – he probably knew less chords than Status Quo – but what he lacked in guitar playing skills, he made up for with surprisingly good songs. The experience was a bit like an uncle who you’ve never associated with music suddenly grabbing an instrument and initially playing to your prejudices, and then completely changing your mind with a great voice. I doubt he’ll be causing too many waves on the Brighton Music scene, but he was a joy to watch.

Hattie Cooke

Next up was Hattie Cooke, who had stepped in at the last minute having only been asked to play at 2 o clock that afternoon. She was also using a new guitar pedal and running extra effects through an iPad which led to one or two technical difficulties. Behind all that there was a great deal of potential – The songs were there, and when things were going right, the guitar playing was stellar. With more than seven hours to prepare, this could have easily been the set of the night.

Christine Cooper

The third set fell to Christine Cooper, new to Bleeding Hearts, and relatively new to Brighton. Christine used folk music as storytelling, with a powerful voice and fantastic talent on both the fiddle and the banjo. Christine made her traditional Welsh and American folk songs effortless as she used a loop pedal combined with her violin to provide the canvas to her songs.

Tim Keegan

Last night’s final act was something of a rarity at Bleeding Hearts – someone who I’d bought music by, completely independently of any Brighton connections. Back in 2002, Tim Keegan headed up a band called Departure Lounge, and their Kid Loco produced album Too Late to Die Young was hailed in many quarters as one of the records of the year. In the last decade Tim has relocated to Brighton and quietly kept on making music under his own name, and last night we were treated to a short set of this. Departure Lounge’s big strength was Tim’s songwriting, so it was no surprise to hear beautifully crafted stripped back acoustic guitar pop. Joined onstage by another guitarist from his band, intricate guitar melodies were interwoven as naturally as if the instruments were extensions of their bodies. Once again, another amazing end to another Bleeding Hearts Club.

Jennifer Left / Diggory

Posted on 29/09/2012 by brightonmusicblog

In case you haven’t seen it, the video for the new Jennifer Left single has landed. Diggory is the second release to come from her forthcoming album Hushabye, which has been produced by Tim Bidwell, and the video has been made by Thom Undrell, who also put together the fantastic video for Black Dog earlier this year. Diggory hits the shelves on 5th November, and Jennifer is having a launch party at the Blind Tiger on the 8th November. See you there!

Faulty Sound Art AV night

Posted on 28/09/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Calling your event Faulty is tempting fate really, especially where there’s home made electronics involved. Due to a run of bad luck that not even a trip to London for replacement parts could help, it came to pass that the “interactive” element of last night’s Brighton Digital Festival event wasn’t working. Apparently all was well at last weekend’s Makers Faire, but since then things haven’t been right.

Three Brighton acts were on the bill : Krill & Captain Kelp, Maf the ROM and Lumo.

Krill & Captain Kelp

Last time we saw Krill, he was acting solo, hiding behind a laptop at Brighton Electric. Now he’s got a partner in crime, in the shape of Captain Kelp. The music is still predominantly lush ambient electronica, but now live vocals, acoustic guitar and drums are added to the mix, and sampled and looped in real time, proving to the audience that they aren’t just checking their emails.

Maff the ROM

By his own admission, things got a bit stranger when Maff the ROM took to the stage. Maff operates on the very edge of music – not for him are the likes of melodies, or intros or fade outs. Tracks stop unexpectedly, and the sounds coming from the speakers was made up snatched samples from films, footsteps. It was a challenging set, but I reckon that’s just the way that Maff wanted it.

Lumo

The last Brighton band on the bill was Richard Davis, who we’ve written about in glowing terms before on the blog about his Heliopause guise. Last night he was going under the name Lumo. The name of this years Heliopause album was The Lumo Tape and featured material originally written under his Lumo moniker before being beefed up to the full band setup. Tonight, using a heavily reverbed mic, an acoustic guitar and additional keyboards, Lumo plyed on layers on top of pre-programmed material. For each new Lumo experience, we’re told, new songs are written, which means that tonight’s performance was a little rough around the edges, but no less charming for it.

Cave Painting / Votive Life

Posted on 27/09/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Once upon a time, there was a Brighton band called Rob The Rich. They were really good – they even got Single of the Week in the Guardian for their debut release. Comparisons were made with Vampire Weekend, and their future seemed bright, but in the Rob The Rich camp it was felt that something special was lacking, so they went to ground and emerged as Cave Painting.

Things were going fantastically for Cave Painting when they first started – they got themselves a major label record deal after their first couple of gigs. But life on Mercury Records didn’t suit Cave Painting, so they took a step back and ended up signing with Third Rock Recordings, set up by the guy who originally signed them to Mercury. Debut single Gator dropped in May, and now the band have truly arrived with the release of their album Votive Life.

Widescreen epic guitar soundscapes seem to be a bit of a theme for 2012 (see also Brighton Mercury Nominees The Maccabees), and Cave Painting don’t disappoint. Right from the off things sound epic, but they make their own mark and stand out by sprinkling lilting guitar lines over the top. The album never gets too frenetic, instead layering on the atmospherics. Adam Kane’s vocals soar over each track, as much a part of the instrumentation as the are a vehicle to deliver lyrics.

Votive Life is a rich, assured debut album, another record to make Brighton proud of the music that it makes.

Cave Painting play the Green Door Store on 9th October.