For 2013 I’ve got a grand plan to speak to a lot more of the people that we write about on the blog, to try and shift the balance away from opinion so much. If you don’t agree with us, that’s fair enough, but we still want to post up things that you might want to read. To kick this all off we caught up with Robert Fidora and Macaulay Hopwood, better known as Curxes, who not only featured in our Advent Calendar / end-of-year-list substitute, but also popped up in the Blog Sound of 2013 longlist, as well as the BBC / Hype Machine 2012 Zeitgeist list.
It’s quite rare for us to make more than one post in a day. It’s even rarer for us to post about the same band twice in one day. But that’s what we’re doing right now. This morning we made Curxes band of the day in our Advent Calendar – this has obviously put them in the Christmas spirit, and they’ve put out a festive tune for us all to enjoy (via our friends over at Breaking More Waves). It’s a bit quieter and calmer than their usual fare, showing a side to them that they’ve been hiding from us until now. They shouldn’t have been so coy – this is rather lovely.
Day four is Curxes. Glorious industrial electro-pop. This year they gave us a couple of fantastic singles – Spectre and Haunted Gold – and a some memorable live shows with awesome visuals. They’re also our local contender in the Blog Sound of 2013 poll, which had it’s longlist published yesterday.
Curxes next live date in Brighton is supporting Polly Scattergood at The Haunt on 10th December.
Here’s four videos to keep you entertained. Two for new songs, two for some not so new songs. Jennifer Left and Abi Wade released their new singles yesterday (and Jennifer Left is having a launch party for hers at the Blind Tiger on Thursday). Mosaic by Fear of Men and Spectre by Curxes both came out earlier in the year, but the videos have only just appeared:
It was a good night for Brighton Bands last night. Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster made their live return at the Concorde in the biggest local gig in town, but we were showing our support for Nordic Giants and Curxes at the Green Door Store.
You wait all year for a Curxes gig, and then two come along in less than a fortnight. While they stole the show at the Source New Music Oxjam night, the Green Door felt much more suitable for them, with it’s exposed brickwork and stark decor. And while it probably wasn’t any louder than the Dome Studio Theatre, it felt a lot louder and less refined. The much lower stage gave Roberta the opportunity to get in amongst the crowd to try and get them dancing – Sadly they weren’t having any of it – It was a rainy Tuesday night, don’t you know! The crowd were wrong though – Curxes industrial electro pop should have got everyone in the room moving.
Curxes
The other support was a London act Jake Emlyn, which means I don’t have to write about them. I wasn’t so sure about them to be honest – in some respects androgyny has been a key aspect of pop over the years, from David Bowie through to Suede, but where they had an air of mystery about them, Jake Emlyn just had confusion. And two odd shoes isn’t a good look on anyone.
Jake Emlyn
Most of the crowd last night were there for Nordic Giants, playing we think might have been their longest set in Brighton this year. We haven’t seen too much of them round these parts in 2012, and their sets at Great Escape and more recently Sound Screen were shortened at the expense of a wider bill. With more time, Nordic Giants are bigger, better, and more expansive than ever before. They got to play their full repertoire. Let’s not forget that as established as they feel when you go to see them, they’ve only released one EP and one single, and both of those were based around the fantastic Shine featuring Cate Ferris. Despite only being a duo, the Green Door Store stage almost felt too small for them. Nordic Giants are epic, and have the staging, the lighting and the music just right for a stage that’s bigger than the one under the arches near the station.
Nordic Giants
The Next Danger De Mort is on November 20th at Green Door Store, and features Death Rattle, Dark Bells, My New Favourite Tribe and Heliopause.
We mentioned last week that yesterday saw the Oxjam Brighton Takeover taking place across town. As promised we went to report from the newly renamed Brighton Dome Studio Theatre.
Minor Sounds
It was a bit of a quiet start for Minor Sounds. Who knows whether this was a reflection on the weather, the fact that there’s so much on, the Sunday night effect, or the fact that we’re spoiled in Brighton by so many free gigs, but it would have been nice to have seen a bit more support. It’s a real shame because Minor Sounds set was quite a joy to hear. The band make a kind of amplified folk, and played a set mostly from The Humming – their album which came out earlier this year – as well as a few new songs, which pointed to a more experimental direction for the band, with a lot more atmospherics going on.
Curxes
As much as I enjoyed the headliners, it was second band Curxes who stole the show for me. We’ve featured their two singles Spectre and Gold this year on the blog, which they opened and closed their set with. In between we were treated to a confident set of industrial electro pop, sounding like a female fronted mid-period Depeche Mode. I’ve managed to miss Curxes every time they’ve played this year before now, and didn’t disappoint when I finally did see them. They’re back on stage again next week, supporting Nordic Giants at their “Danger De Mort” gig at the Green Door Store, where you’ll get another chance to hear the band and see what Roberta described as her “Nan on acid” dancing.
P for Persia
It seems like only a few weeks since P For Persia were onstage at a Source New Music night. That’s mainly because it has only been a few weeks – when P for Persia played on the Beatabet hosted night back in September. They were great then, and they were great last night, playing angular wonky synth punk, combined with with some of Beatabet’s cartoon visual projections. Daniel McNally is one of Brighton’s most compelling frontmen, and I challenge anyone not to enjoy themselves at a P for Persia gig.
Source New Music is back again this Thursday, headlined by the brilliant Restlesslist, who will be performing their album Coral Island Girl in full. Support comes from Phoria, Them The Sky and Oliver Welby.
Curxes new single Spectre is out this week, and it’s brilliant. A fantastic slice of dark, soaring electro pop. If you don’t believe me, then click on the soundcloud link below. And then once that’s convinced you, go and buy it on iTunes. It comes with a remix by Strangers which makes it even more industrial and angular.
If you want the record on vinyl, you can buy it through their website or you can pop over to Southsea, where it’s being sold in a Pie shop. Obviously.
It seems like only a week ago I was posting a bunch of new singles from Brighton bands. Maybe that’s because it was only a week ago, but it must be the season for new releases, because here’s a bunch more:
First up is High Rankin, with his new track Fuck You Virtual DJ. It’s very immature, it’s got some filthy bass, a cartoon video, and childish swearing. What more could you want? A free download, you say? Well, as it happens…
Haunted Gold by Curxes is released today on iTunes. If you’re not such a fan of digital downloads, apparently some vinyl is coming soon!. The video is the result of weeks of painstaking scanner and glitter work. Take a look here:
Next we have Wild Cat Strike, with their debut EP Shout at Satan, which was recorded just up the road a Yellowfish Studio near Lewes. Not quite as dark or metallic as the name might suggest, the EP is three tracks of good old fashioned guitar indie. The band also make their debut performance at the Prince Albert on Saturday 28th April
Sticking with debuts, Soft Arrows release their debut single Spirit Animal Bones today. The two piece played a great minimal shoe gaze set a few months ago at Sea Monsters at the Prince Albert and have released their single as a free download in advance of their forthcoming album All Through The Sinew.
Heliopause (who also played at Sea Monsters) are putting out their next release on limited cassette. Don’t worry though – there’ll be a digital download included. They’re playing a launch gig at Brighton Electric Studios on 5th May, and have put a couple of tracks up on Bandcamp as a taster:
Finally, here’s Kellar’s new EP Smokescreen. Kellar make what they call Improvisional Texture Rock. It’s big slabs of extreme psychadelic noise, devoid of such mainstream constraints like tunes or time signatures. Heavy stuff indeed.
Brighton Music Blog 