Brighton Music Blog End of Year Top Twenty, 9 – IYES / Breathe

Posted on 16/12/2014 by brightonmusicblog

If your main exposure to the local music scene is through the live route, then you might assume that IYES have had a pretty quiet year – By our calculations they’ve only played in Brighton once, supporting Raleigh Ritchie a few weeks ago at the Haunt. Actually though, they’ve been pretty busy. In the spring ‘Til Infinity, which featured in out 2013 list, got a 7” release backed with their cover of Crazy in Love, and there have been numerous remixes which have appeared (including a turn for Jack Garratt, who’s hotly tipped for big things next year). More recently they’ve signed to Sony and had their track Glow feature in mobile phone ads and get scheduled for release early next year. They have had one proper single this year, the sultry, effervescent, MNEK produced Breathe:

Brighton Music Blog End of Year Top Twenty, 10 – Fickle Friends / Swim

Posted on 15/12/2014 by brightonmusicblog

Right now we’re in deepest midwinter, less than a week away from the shortest day of the year. Thankfully though, it won’t always be so – Give it a few months and it’ll be spring. The days will be getting longer and the weather will be getting better, and then out of nowhere we’ll have a day that almost feels summery, where you leave your coat at home and bask in the warmth of the sun for the first time in months. Swim by Fickle Friends sounds like that day feels.

Hip Hip, here’s some Christmas cheer

Posted on 12/12/2014 by brightonmusicblog

This particular part of BMB tends to be a bit of a Grinch this time of year and would be minded to bury any band who recorded a Christmas song deep deep deep in the cold cold snow. But this year the little cockles that warm must have reached my heart because there have been what even I consider to be some very fine seasonal offerings from the local Brighton crew. The BMB mainstay will be back to restart his best-of-the-year list shortly, but in the meantime, here’s some jingle jangle sweetness for you.

We mentioned the Random Acts of Vinyl xmas EP a few weeks ago, but it’s so good we’ll mention it again. This time we’ll feature the Delta Bell, with Kate’s beaut of a 60s Phil Spector-influenced song Hey Santa Claus!

Next up are our favourite bentcousins, with an anti-Christmas break-up song. It’s simple and endearing, perfect for this time of year really if you’re sipping brandy alone and wrapping presents for one. .

Danny Green was a longstanding Brightoner, part of the Willkommen team and a regular feature on this blog thanks to two outstanding albums until he upped and moved to London earlier this year. However, as Laish he is still one of the finest writers of songs of a Brighton persuasion and he has just released a seasonal EP, with sad confessional songs that recount a depressing stay in a freezing Berlin, inform us that we are unlikely to get a present from Danny this year, and in his annihilation of Silent Night, a reminder that the usual drunken debauchery will probably end up in fighting. I love this a lot.

Finally we have a new upcoming release from electro-pop Becky Becky, out on Monday. it’s the usual dirty disco weirdness that we enjoyed on their album this year and you’re bound to love it. Here’s taster track, Bells Ringing, which should give you a flavour of what we’ll get on Monday.

New Music – Random Acts of Vinyl, King Porter Stomp, GAPS

Posted on 02/12/2014 by brightonmusicblog

The flow of new music has slowed recently, as it always does this time of year. The blogs are otherwise occupied with end of year lists (ours will be coming soon), but there’s still a few bits and pieces out there to tell you about.

King Porter Stomp‘s new single Warning, which features the talents of reggae legend Prince Fatty came out last week on Feet Up records on 10″ and download. It’s backed with a Dub remix by dub producer Nick Manasseh.

Yesterday saw the release of GAPS new single She Bears a Flower. We posted up the video for the single back in October, so we won’t repeat ourselves. Instead what we have for you is the b-side We Are Here – the most ambient thing we’ve heard from the band so far:

Finally, now it’s December it was inevitable that there would be some Christmas music coming. Random Acts of Vinyl have put out a four track 10″ EP with their bands each penning an original festive tune. We’ve got the audio of Fire Eyes‘ O Falling Snow below and the EP also has contributions from Beat Hotel, The Delta Bell and Palm Springs. Details of how you can get hold of the EP will be in the next blog we put up later this evening.

IYES and Sam Jordan support Raleigh Ritchie at The Haunt

Posted on 01/12/2014 by brightonmusicblog

In 2013 we must have seen IYES at least half a dozen times. Things have been a bit quieter in 2014 though – despite a few singles and remixes it was only last night that they played their first hometown gig of the year, supporting Game of Thrones actor turned R&B songsmith Raleigh Ritchie. Since we last saw them they’ve signed to Sony (you’ve probably heard their track Glow on the adverts for Sony phones), and they’re sounding better than ever. Support came from local lad Sam Jordan, whose set was running late which mean that IYES had to cut a few songs from their set. Hopefully they’ll be back soon with a headline gig when Glow gets released in February. Until then here’s our shots from the last night. Click through to view large:

Pub Rock with Clowwns and Mum Dad & The Kids

Gallery

Posted on 30/11/2014 by brightonmusicblog

This gallery contains 12 photos.

Mum Dad and the Kids opened last night for the newly renamed Clowwns (extra ‘W’) at the Gladstone Arms on the Lewes Road. Tim Harbridge’s band play a brilliant high-tempo compound of power pop and glam rock, with some excellent … Continue reading →

New Music

Posted on 18/11/2014 by brightonmusicblog

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve made a New Music post – not because there hasn’t been good new music coming out, but because life’s got in the way – so we’ve got some catching up to do.

First up is the first music put online from the White brothers new project The Fiction Aisle. They’ve played a couple of gigs at the Prince Albert (with the next in their residency being on 26th November) but Blue is the first most people would have heard of the new band. Where Electric Soft Parade were all about a guitar based sound, The Fiction Aisle present beautiful shimmering pop:

Next up is a new tune from Ambassadeurs written while on tour recently in the States. From You is four minutes of effortless electronica.

BentCousin post up far more tracks than we get a chance to but their latest effort, Hid, is rather lovely, a simple string backed song with Amelia taking on the bulk of vocal duties.

Great Pagans launched their album Cupid In Error at the Green Door Store on 6th November at and haven’t rested on their laurels since then, sharing a remix of So Pure by fellow Brighton act Acquaintance.

Fickle Friends have breathed some new life into some of their old singles in the past few weeks, with a few remixes popping up and now a Vevo featured video of For You:

Time for T launch their self titled EP next Monday (24th November). They’re holding a London launch on the day, but the Brighton party isn’t until 13th December. As a taster, they’ve shared EP track Long Day Home

Last but by no means least is New Year’s Prayer, the lead track from Night House‘s upcoming debut EP, which is also self titled:

The Miserable Rich live album

Posted on 16/11/2014 by brightonmusicblog

The Miserable Rich were one of the finest bands ever to have emerged from Brighton, and we don’t say that lightly. After three superb albums all of which received excellent reviews and an awful lot of touring, but very little commercial success, the band sadly called it a day at the end of 2012.

However, a live album has now emerged, along with a collection of the band’s formidable array of covers. The recording comes from Germany, where they had a small but dedicated following, and from the band’s final year so they are very much at the top of their game. The concert is from one of those small intimate venues so the crowd feels mostly invisible except when the drinking songs take over and we get a gorgeous warm-hearted sing-along on the chorus of Pisshead!., What we have here is like a greatest hits collection of alternative versions of some really excellent songs, beautifully played and sung, as they always are.

If you haven’t heard the Miserable Rich you should listen to this. if you have you will want to own it. We really hope the band recoups its energy, reforms and starts creating more music of such high calibre.

IYES – Glow

Posted on 04/11/2014 by brightonmusicblog

First time we heard Glow was a while back, in demo form on Soundcloud, the second demo IYES had put up after getting the whole of the internet’s attention with Lighthouse. Both tracks have long disappeared from Soundcloud and IYES have been pretty quiet in 2014, save for a few remixes, but then a couple of months ago Glow came back into our lives, soundtracking an ad for the new Sony Smartphone.

News came in earlier today letting us know that the single – sounding even better than ever in it’s newly re-recorded state – comes out on 22nd December on Love by Mistake, a new imprint of Sony records run by the band. The debut album is due in Spring next year and if you want to catch the band live they’re playing at the Hoxton Square bar and kitchen on 3rd December.

October Top Ten

Posted on 02/11/2014 by brightonmusicblog

We probably posted more new music in October than we had in any month in the three years we’ve been writing (we turned three on Friday!). Here’s our top picks from what we’ve heard:

1. Fujiya & Miyagi – Daggers (Stephen Morris remix)

When we’re not listening to bands from Brighton, there’s a good chance that New Order ends up on the stereo, so when we read last week that one of our favourite Brighton bands had been remixed by a member of New Order it was almost inevitable that we’d love it.

2. Native Roses – Shadows (Ambassadeurs remix)

More Ambassadeurs than Native Roses, this remix of lush textured electronica didn’t bear a great resemblance to the original, but it’s beauty won us over.

3. Great Pagans – Tangled up in Chemistry

Great Pagans album Cupid in Error was one of the highlights of the month. We could have picked any of the tracks – it’s all good – be we chose Tangled Up in Chemistry

4. Normanton Street – This Wolf

We gave Normanton Street’s Much Respect EP a post of it’s own a day before it’s release last week, and deservedly so. The track we’ve chosen for our top ten is the beautiful stripped down This Wolf.

5. Heliopause – City of Glass

Heliopause have popped up quite frequently on the blog over the years, as folk, then nudging post rock, and most recently as more straightforward indie. It suits them.

6. The DuBarrys – Undress Your Soul

The DuBarrys had a self titled EP out this month, and lead track Undress Your Soul is a beautiful folk-pop classic in the making.

7. Fire Eyes – Hide Out

Random Acts of Vinyl’s latest 7″ release by Fire Eyes is a great track on it’s own, but it confirmed it’s place in our top ten with remixes by the Bad Seeds’ Barry Adamson and AK/DK.

8. Eva Bowan – Lacerta XI

Eva Bowan’s latest EP Hyperspectacle has been released by local label KLDCP and is possibly her most accessible, most cohesive work yet. We loved EP opener Lacerta XI.

9. Dog in the Snow – Concrete Wall

Technically, Concrete Wall came out last month, being released as the B-side to Dog in the Snow’s Africa single, but it only got posted up to Soundcloud this month, and it’s still getting a lot of plays around these parts.

10. Nightkites – Drones

We got the heads up about Nightkites’ future garage from GAPS who posted up a link to the music on their facebook page. The EP is named after the paranoid yet slightly hopeful standout track Drones.