This is Fake DIY have the new Physics House Band EP ‘Horizons/Rapture’ streaming in-full right now. If you haven’t heard it go listen because it’s brilliant. The page also lists the upcoming UK tour details, including the Brighton gig on 28th April at the Green Door Store which will be another excellent show.
We haven’t stopped listening to the new Curxes single since we downloaded it nearly a fortnight. Now the duo have put up the accompanying video. I’ll let you watch the video to see the whole story, but the tag line put out with it reads “A lone taxidermist sets out to work on his most ambitious project yet”…
If you haven’t grabbed it yet, then you can head over to www.curxes.com for the latest download link.
Back in the seventies there was a television program called the Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, built around the general premise of the main character having a mid life crisis. You could suggest that releasing your debut album when you’re in your mid-forties might be some kind of mid life crisis, but to do so would ignore Chris Anderson’s presence on the music scene in Brighton and beyond over the years. You could suggest that the title implies some kind of trip – maybe physical, maybe psychedelic – and perhaps you might be right there.
Crayola Lectern are a bit like The Beatles. But I hate it when bands are compared to the Beatles, partly because you can’t even make any sort of meaningful comparison between the band who released Please Please Me and the band who released The White Album. If you can’t even compare the band to themselves how on earth can you compare another band to them? Also the most repeated Beatles comparison of recent times has been Oasis, and Crayola Lectern are nothing like Oasis. That said, there are parts of The Fall and Rise which recall A Day in The Life or maybe Fool on the Hill. Songs from when the Beatles were at their experimental best.
Crayola Lectern at The Hope 6/3/13
You could also say that Crayola Lectern are a bit like The Durutti Column. This is another poor comparison – Vini Reilly was all about the guitar and most of the Crayola Lectern album is piano based. But there’s something about the Durutti Column’s style (which they once referred to as Avant Garde Jazz Classical) that you can hear with Crayola Lectern. Then there’s the standard of the playing, and also the wider range of influences than most music manages to encompass. Vini was never the strongest singer either, but there’s something endearing about both their deliveries which you wouldn’t want any other way.
Crayola Lectern at the Bleeding Hearts Christmas Party at the Prince Albert 3/12/12
Crayola Lectern are also a bit like Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. Actually, Crayola Lectern are probably more like the psychedelic bands of the sixties and seventies who influenced Gorky’s but at the time of my life when I was listening to Gorky’s, songs in Welsh with time signatures that changed halfway through was far out enough for me and I didn’t investigate any further. Maybe it’s time for me to invest in some Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt albums. Nevertheless The Fall and Rise’s unifying theme is the quirkiness that runs throughout, not just in some of the lyrical themes (“My goldfish died of boredom”), but also in the twists and turns that the music takes. There’s also a similarity in the gentle psychedelia which runs from start to finish, the high point of which is the album’s centrepiece Trip in D, a ten minute spiralling psychedelic epic with hypnotic guitars tuned to sound like sitars.
Crayola Lectern at the Kemptown Coach House 14/12/12
Most of all though, Crayola Lectern aren’t really like anyone else. You can pick out references here and there, but comparisons don’t really do justice to the defiantly wilful independence of ideas on The Fall and Rise. They don’t help describe the feelings that the album conjures so well, often shifting from one emotion to another mid-song, as naturally as our own mood changing. For some people the album may seem a challenge, but if it is then it’s a brilliantly rewarding one. One thing’s for certain – you won’t hear another album like this all year.
The Fall and Rise of Crayola Lectern is out on Bleeding Hearts Recordings on 15th April 2013. The album launch gig takes place at the Brunswick on Wednesday 17th April with support from Do You Feel What I Feel Deer. As a taster, Crayola Lectern are offering My Big Idea as a free download:
The Source New Music Night is the regular monthyl gig co-sponsored by Brighton Source magazine and the Dome and which features an array of excellent new local bands at a bargain entry price. Last month was psych night, and this month the event had a totally different atmosphere with tables and chairs and candlelight. It was a cool vibe, and the four acts were each different and superb.
Bella Kardasis
First up was Bella Kardasis, an act we’d never come across before but who was quietly impressive, playing some stunning atmospheric guitar tunes, with a variety of finger-picking, strumming and string-tapping style and an engaging in-between song story-telling banter.
Le Juki were a threesome comprising the previously-featured Bunty on vocals and rhythms, guitarist Lee Westwood and Jules Arthur on violin and keyboards. The Le Juki thing is a lively mix of experimental dance-oriented songs. The lyrics seemed to touch on capilleries, Star Wars, being buried alive, insects and food amongst other things. But the experimentation comes in the music, which included Bunty playing drums on an up-turned picnic box and Jules picking his violin like a guitar amongst other things. It was sonically inventive and interesting, and ended with the threesome getting their ‘name’ t-shirts in order to sing an acapella song out front of the stage.
After the break we had a solo set from Danny Green, without the rest of his band Laish. Laish are currently launching their excellent new album ‘Obituaries’ which has been garnering 4-star reviews from all and sundry. Danny opened with the brilliant song ‘Warm the Wind’ from the new album, and then played another, but the remainder of his set comprised new songs which have not yet been recorded. It’s a sign of how excellent Dan’s song-writing is, that these too sounded like long-time classics. Dan’s voice has a lovely authentic northern warmth and his lyrics are down-to-earth yet beautifully uplifting. Tonight he was on-fire with a gorgeous guitar sound that was well above the standard sing-songwriter. Laish are one of the finest bands around in Brighton and well-worth checking out.
We interviewed Danny recently and you can read his insightful thoughts on songwriting and music-making here.
Headliners tonight were another Source favourite Jennifer Left, the band fronted by northern chanteuse Jennifer Dalby. Starting out a little nervously for their first song, Jenn then decided to kick her shoes off and from then on the band came alive and played a set of cabaret-infused pop-folk full of great songs, including their singles Black Dog and Diggory, and their stunning interpretation of New Order’s Temptation.
So, four bands for four pounds and another great night of inspiring local music.
Next month we’ll be into a noisier selection of bands, and I doubt there will be candles. But it will no doubt be great all the same. Check their facebook page for more info.
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Words and photographs by Jon Southcoasting
The White brothers are back! Not that they were ever really away, with Thomas’ Yalla being one of our favourite albums of last year, and Alex’s Interlocutor side project having played a few gigs recently, and both of them adding their helping hands to dozens of local bands. The last Electric Soft Parade album was back in 2006 though, so news that a new album – Idiots – is due in June is very welcome. The album will feature Lily which first appeared on 7″ at the tail end of 2011, which we loved. We’ve only just picked up on new single Brother, You Must Walk Your Path Alone, but it’s as gorgeous as anything they’ve done – melodic harmonies, a hint of country twang to the guitars, and a sparkling of their magic that distracts you from anything else your doing to make you lose yourself in the song. Lovely.
Brother, You Must Walk Your Path Alone is out now for download on Helium Records (or will be available on iTunes on April 16th)
Normally our weekend gig picks have events from Thursday night onwards, but with the weekend starting a day earlier this week thanks to Easter, let’s kick things off from today.
Tonight Rizzle Kicks headline the Dome in a charity fundraiser for Audio Active. We wrote about the opportunity for a local act to support them – congratulations to Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn who won that honour. Alternatively, at the Green Door Store Abi Wade is support at the launch of Charley Bickers album Our Frail Hearts.
On Thursday, it’s the monthly Source New Music night with Jennifer Left, Laish and Le Juki. This month, rather than being at the Dome Studio Theatre, it’s at Church Street Bar, which will offer cabaret style seating. Our other pick for Thursday Night is The Beautiful Word, who are playing a hometown show midway through their national tour which is hosted by Communion.
We’ve also got two picks for Friday Night. The first is Les Enfants Terrible – a new monthly night being held at the Blind Tiger bringing you new Brighton talent. Bands on for their first night are We Spies, Lion Bark, Animal Language and Girlfriend. Our second pick takes us up to the Green Door Store, for their regular Pelirocco Platters night. New Street Adventure, Tiny Dragons and The Chances are on the bill.
Saturday sees Fragile Creatures at the Blind Tiger, supported by Garden Heart and Land of Youth, and on Sunday we’d recommend heading up to the Green Door Store where House of Hats and Jacko Hooper are supporting Tom Staniford, or over to the Blind Tiger where Sweet Sweet Lies are supporting Louis Barabbas.
I would love to say that we had a stream of the new British Sea Power album on Brighton Music Blog. The bad news is that we don’t have that much clout. The good news is that The Guardian do. Click on this link to hear the new album in full before it’s released next Monday!
Today Curxes release their new single Further Still, a free download currently available via soundcloud. Further Still is more delicate and complex than their previous releases, kicking off with an warped operatic vinyl sample which fades away to what initially appears to be a heartfelt ballad but reveals itself to be a thumping disco number by the end:
The announcement of the track was made on the 405 earlier today, and they promised some remixes. No sign of them yet, but we’ll update you when they surface. In the meantime, here’s the Curxes remix of Chvrches single Recover, which gets a digital release today. As mentioned a few posts ago, Recover is getting a vinyl release for Record Store Day on 20th April.
It’s been a while since we’ve done a round up of some of the latest videos we’ve spotted, so here’s a few to watch on this chilly Sunday night.
First up is Nimmo and the Gauntletts new single Change. The video was directed by Agyness Deyn, more well known for being in front of the camera than behind it. Agyness played the track on 6Music, and the band tweeted her asking her to appear their next video. She went one better and directed the video for them!
Then we have The Beautiful Word, who’ve just headed out on tour. They’re playing Brighton on Thursday night at The Hope. This is the animated video for their track May Not Be Love, which will be on their album Particles which is coming out later this year.
Here’s the video for Debbie Does Drugs by The Bobby McGees. This is one of the tracks from their upcoming album Je Vien Rechcher Mes, and is an opportunity to see Jimmy McGee without his trademark beard!
Next up Monsters Build Mean Robots with the video for their new track A Town Called Tourettes:
Professor Elemental‘s new single is called This is My Horse (show me yours). You can buy it over on his bandcamp page, and watch the video here:
British Sea Power‘s new album Machineries of Joy is out a week tomorrow (1st April). Before that they’re playing a sold out show at the Old Market, and have released a video for the title track:
Finally, here’s a video from the Nordic Giants gig at the Pavilion Theatre last month. This is Glass Skinned Girl, which is the b-side to the band’s new single Speed The Crow’s nest. Nordic Giants are playing up in London next month, and there’s still one or two tickets for the early show (which you can buy here).
Records Store Day is less than a month away, and this week the list of exclusive records available was announced. There are six shops taking part in Record Store Day on April 20th – Resident, Borderline, Rarekind, Cult Hero, One Stop Records and RK Bass – each of whom will be getting a selection of this year’s releases in. The bigger shops will have more stock, but they’ll also have bigger queues.
We’ve spotted a few Brighton bands amongst the exclusives. So far we’ve seen from Bat For Lashes (a 7″ with different versions of Laura an Marilyn), British Sea Power (The Facts are Right on 7″), and Curxes (who remix Chvrches ‘Recover’), but the list isn’t final yet – There’ll be even more bands added over the next three weeks.
