Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 17/01/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Our regular Weekend Gigs feature is back after a bit of a Christmas break. If you’re willing to brave the cold (and the snow if weather reports are to be believed), here’s what we’d recommend

Tonight’s recommendation is a new night called Night Sweats. “But Brighton Music Blog” I hear you cry, “it’s gone seven o clock, I should have made plans already”. Aha, but Night Sweats doesn’t start until 9pm. It’s a new night for people who want to stay out a bit later, and who don’t have to worry about work in the morning. It’s headlined by Elle Kaye who are onstage at 12:15. Support comes from Rosales, Saint Savanna and Classic Plastic. More info over on Facebook.

Friday night we’re recommending a gig just outside of Brighton, but it’s close enough that we’ll let them off. Derriere haven’t played a local gig for a while, so to make up for it they’re playing two sets at their gig. They’ll be raising the roof at the Ropetackle centre in Shoreham from 8pm. More info here.

Our Top Tip for Saturday is Fragile Creatures at Green Door Store, but we’ve also spotted the latest Brighton Rocks night headlined by Forestears at Sticky Mikes, and Nick Williams at the Prince Albert

Then Sunday our advice is a gig that you can’t buy a ticket for. Esben & The Witch are launching their fantastic new album “Wash The Sins Not Only The Face” (review coming soon!) at the Green Door Stoor, and the only way to get in is to pre-order the album, which is out next monday, from Resident.

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar / Day 25 / Thomas White – Electric Soft Parade – Restlesslist – British Sea Power – Milk & Biscuits – Foxes! – Do You Feel What I Feel Deer? – Fragile Creatures – Clowns

Posted on 25/12/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Merry Christmas! We’ve gone overboard today, hit the sherry too hard too soon, and crammed Nine bands into our final advent calendar post. The truth is, you can’t talk about one of of these bands without inevitably mentioning some of the others.

Let’s start with Thomas White, who released Yalla back in March. It was originally just a bunch of tunes he recorded for himself when he was bored and restless on holiday, which he was persuaded to release after he shared them with some of his friends, and is one of the finest collections of tunes that we’ve heard all year. Album closer The English Sargasso is a soporific masterpiece. We didn’t do an end of year list in 2011 because the blog had only been running a matter of weeks but to make make up for it we’ll make a mention of the Electric Soft Parade‘s “A Quick One” EP now. Lead track Lily is the kind of melodic guitar pop that most indie bands would sell their grandmother to be able to write. 2012 marked the tenth anniversary of Electric Soft Parade’s debut Holes in the Wall and the White brothers celebrated by playing the album start to finish at The Haunt, and returning to the studio to start work on their first album for five years.

Thomas White was also listed as a member of Restlesslist in the sleeve notes to their fantastic album Coral Island Girl, although he’s no longer part of their live setup. Before this year I’d heard the name but not the music so was quite looking forward to their performance at Sea Monsters. I wasn’t prepared to see so many people onstage. I wasn’t prepared for so many genres crammed into so many songs. I wasn’t expecting it to be narrated, or for that matter for the narrator to be wearing an eye patch. Most of all, I didn’t expect to enjoy it nearly as much as I did. Musically it was fantastic, but it wasn’t taking itself seriously at all. Where Thomas White earns his prime place in our Advent Calendar by doing things so much better and more effortlessly than anyone else, Restlesslist earn their place by being completely peerless.

While Thomas’ other band Brakes were taking a bit of an, erm, break in 2012, Eamon Hamilton made a return to his old band British Sea Power at one of their Krankenhaus concerts at The Haunt. Krankenhaus was more than just a concert though – The bands on the bill were more varied than you would expect, and played for longer. There were DJs inbetween the bands making for non stop entertainment. There was non-musical entertainment in the form of a ping pong table upstairs. At the one I attended, there was a stage invasion by a giant bear and a choc ice give-away! As well as their Krankenhaus gigs, British Sea Power also played at the Duke of York’s, providing a live soundtrack to a film made up of old archive footage called From The Sea To The Land Beyond.

Milk & Biscuits share a number of their members with Restlesslist, and have rightly had praised heaped upon them for their single White Noise, and their mini-LP Balcony times, which came out at the end of 2011, is worth a listen. It features the vocal talents of Jennifer Left (who we wrote about back on 14th), and Kayla Bell of Foxes! who also released an eponymous album of top indie pop earlier this year. Eleanor Whittle and Rachel Dey – who provide vocals in Restlesslist and Milk & Biscuits and have sung backing vocals for Thomas White at some of his Yalla gigs – make up Do you Feel What I Feel Deer?, and have given us a taste of their wonky folk with their lush Save My Heart single. Adam Kidd has also sung backing vocals for Thomas White and his own band Fragile Creatures put out a grower of a track called Dear Michael. The tables were turned a week ago when Thomas White provided support at their Christmas gig at the Prince Albert. The final mention goes to Clowns, a band that Thomas White played bass with for a while before admitting that he was too busy. Every time we’ve seen them live this year (at a couple of Bleeding Hearts Clubs – did we mention that it was Bleeding Hearts who put Yalla out? – and more recently at December’s Source New Music night) they’ve got better and better.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there was dozen other related bands. Here’s to finding out all about them in 2013!

Thomas White supporting Fragile Creatures at the Prince Albert

Posted on 18/12/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Back in May, Thomas White played a low key set for the Great Escape Festival at a venue called Shipwrights Yard, a hidden courtyard off Middle Street overlooked by Lout and Republic of Music’s offices. One of his backing vocalists for this gig was a certain Mr Adam Kidd, who had recently formed a band which had still yet to have recorded any music, or settled on a final line up. Fast forward seven months, and the tables have been turned, with Thomas White giving Adam’s band Fragile Creatures a leg up by playing a support slot.

Thomas White

Thomas White has spent his last gig of the year playing a fresh set of songs. He’s spent much of the past twelve months playing shows drawn from this year’s album Yalla, but now he’s looking forward. Armed with nothing but his guitar and his voice, White played a short set of covers, taking in a rare Beach Boys track and a stripped down version of Wonderful World, and rounded things off with the Twelve Days of Christmas and Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.

Fragile Creatures

Fragile Creatures didn’t play any Christmas Songs, but they did alter the titles of their tracks to give them a festive edge. Over the course of 2012 Adam Kidd has been honing his accomplished guitar pop, and last night showed a fine performance of some very polished songs. It was Adam’s backing vocals with Thomas White that first caught our attention and it was the harmonies that really shone last night and made their songs – none too shabby in the first place – really stand out. I look forward to hearing more of what Fragile Creatures have got to offer in 2013.

Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 06/12/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Fancy going to see a Brighton band this weekend? Here’s who we recommend:

brighton-rocks-23-online-18183 Our pick for Friday is Lout’s regular Brighton Rocks night. This week The Witches, Fragile Creatures, Little Shocks, and Bliss are on the bill at Sticky Mikes. The BIG gig in town is Rizzle Kicks at the Brighton Centre. Apparently that starts at 6.30, and I’m sure most of their audience probably need to get to bed early, so if you were keen you could probably get to both! 😉

riots not diets shrag

Our choice for Saturday is the Riots not Diets Christmas Party at the West Hill, headlined by Shrag. There’s support from Cosines, Bad Librarians and Fulhast, as well as a film about post-punk girl group Dolly Mixture. You can pick up a ticket for six quid from Resident.

Action Beat aren’t from Brighton, but Speak Galactic and P for Persia who are supporting them at the Prince Albert are. Also, Luke Sital Singh is on at the Hope – probably your last chance to see him anywhere so small, so don’t miss out!

New videos : Fragile Creatures, House of Hats, King Porter Stomp, and King of Cats

Posted on 22/08/2012 by brightonmusicblog

We’ve come across a few videos in the past week or so which I thought I’d share. First up is Dear Michael by Fragile Creatures, which we wrote about back in June. They’ve finally got a video to go with their debut single. Next up is House of Hats with their next single Rivers Will Run. We interviewed them about their previous animated video not long ago. Then we’ve got the video for the new King Porter Stomp single which is out on Monday. Finally, we’ve got a new offering from King of Cats. We meant to write about his cassette that came out on Reeks of Effort a little while ago, but somehow got a bit distracted:

Fragile Creatures – Dear Michael

House of Hats – Rivers Will Run

King Porter Stomp – The Shuffle

King of Cats – Swelling Up

Fragile Creatures debut single

Posted on 11/06/2012 by brightonmusicblog

After spending the last few months honing their sound, today Fragile Creatures unleash their debut single onto thje world today, released digitally through DNVMusic.

The single is a double A-side – Dear Michael is laid back, shuffling indie pop with organs, brushes on the drums and lush harmonies. She Makes Me Nervous is a more up-beat affair, and off kilter stomper which switches tempo between verse and chorus. The video for the single isn’t out there just yet, but I’ll update the blog when it is.

Fragile Creatures have just been to Normandy to record their album, which they’re hoping will be out by the end of the year. Between now and then, they’re playing at Latest on 29th June, Brighton People’s Day on 14th July, and if recent activity has been anything to go by, dozens of other dates too.

Source New Music at Brighton Festival

Posted on 17/05/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Updated! Some of the line ups have changed, and some have been improved upon, so I thought I’d update this post and bump it up to the top again.

May is a busy month in every Brightonian’s calendar, with the Festival, the Fringe, and the Great Escape all happening on top of everything else that normally happens. Source New Music are embracing this wholeheartedly, and instead of putting on one gig this month, they’re putting on loads! Instead of their usual home of the Pavilion Theatre, they’re residing in the Dome bar for the next few weeks, with gigs at lunchtimes and in the evenings every weekend throughout May. Things kicked off today with Fragile Creatures. The age range was a bit lower than their usual gigs – they had an appreciative crowd of toddlers dancing throughout their set! The full list of acts playing is below:

Fragile Creatures playing in the Dome bar for Source New Music

Sat 5 May
12:30pm Fragile Creatures
22:00 – 00:00 Wyndham Earl

Sun 6 May
Live music from 12:30 onwards with…
Kate Rose
Early Ghost
21:30 – 00:00 – African Night Fever DJ’s

Thu 17 May
8.30pm – midnight
Beatabet Collective: Scalar Fields + Tim Didymus. DJ Jules Arthur

Fri 18 May
9.30pm – midnight
Beatabet Collective: AK/DK + Bunty. DJ Jo Brahmli.

Sat 19 May
2pm – 4.30pm:
A showcase of the best local young talent including music collective Shoreham Allstars + The Basis + The Sighted and the Captured.

9.30pm – midnight:
DJ Hot Tip Hi Fi

Sun 20 May
12.30pm – 4.30pm
Live music from The Woo!worths + Sweet Sweet Lies + Monsters Build Mean Robots + Jennifer Left.

Thu 24 May
9.30pm – midnight
Beatabet Collective: O82. + “iphone Orchestra”. DJ AK/DK

Fri 25 May
9.30pm – midnight
Beatabet Collective: Bunty + AK/DK. DJ: Man Ray Sky

Sat 26 May
12.30pm – 4.30pm
Blues with Dave Beckett

9.30pm – midnight
DJ Sam Abrahams

Sun 27 May
12.30pm – 4.30pm
Jacko Hooper + Caitlin Stubbs + Abi Wade + Forestears.

February Source New Music Night at the Pavilion Theatre with Foxes!

Posted on 17/02/2012 by brightonmusicblog

After taking a month off (when quite frankly, we were all too busy with Christmas or too poor after Christmas), The Source return to the Pavilion Theatre for their regular New Music nights. I completely missed first act on the bill, Fragile Creatures, who I saw at the start of January headlining the Bleeding Hearts Club at the Albert. From what I heard, they went down an absolute storm though, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them back there higher up the bill at some point.

The night stuck to their normal format of an acoustic act in the downstairs bar to keep the music playing between bands upstairs, and this month’s turn was Daniel James, who started off with a cover of Britney’s Hit Me Baby One More Time (although perhaps sensibly, he missed out the chorus). Daniel had some good songs, knew his way around a melody, and established a bit of a rapport, and if I had one complaint, it was that he wasn’t nearly enough of a geek – because if he was, he’d know twice as many chords, and have spent far too many nights playing with all the different settings on his amp, and he’d sound so much better.

Daniel James

Next came Jetglo. They had the riffs, they had the audience in the palm of their hand, and if you want a good solid rock band, then look no further. Not really my kind of thing, but the response from the crowd showed that one man’s meat is another man’s poison.

Jetglo

I’ve written about headliners Foxes! before. I wrote about the gig they played just before Christmas at the Green Door Store, and I reviewed their album when it came out earlier this year. So when I heard that Foxes! were going top the bill at a show I was planning on going to anyway, it’s fair to say I was quite pleased. The other bands on the bill had good songs and had a connection with the audience, and Foxes! had that too, but on top of that they were in a different league in terms of musicianship, and they had humour, and they drew influence from so many more places. And it’s not every day you see the drummer of a band being female and the lead singer, either. They could have been scuppered by a broken string towards the end of their set, but they carried on regardless. The only thing anyone could possibly moan about was the lack of an encore, but then all the best bands leave you wanting more, don’t they?

Foxes!

Bleeding Hearts Club

Posted on 10/01/2012 by brightonmusicblog

For those that don’t know, Bleeding Hearts is both a long-standing month night at the Prince Albert, and a local record label, run by the same people, usually promoting local folk acts. I’ll put my hands up and admit that I hadn’t been to one of their nights before, so didn’t know what to expect when I went along last night. The first thing I noticed was the tables upstairs at the Albert – most unusual, but it created a very different, much friendlier atmosphere. (The cakes on the tables may have also helped there). The format of the night is a bit different to normal too. Rather than just one or two supports, there are three supports, and they get to play just three tracks each, which leads to more variety, and adds to the impression that the time that the bands aren’t on stage is just as important as the time that they are.

First up was Paul Mosley. He plays the ukulele and has an amusing anecdote about Florence & The Machine’s harpist, which he probably tells at every gig. He says he was asked to play sad songs, but he didn’t stop smiling throughout his set. He wasn’t from Brighton though, so we’ll move swiftly on.

Paul Mosley

Next up were the Men Who Fell To Earth. From what I can tell (after wading through several thousand Google search results on David Bowie), they are from Brighton, although the lead singer had a thick Yorkshire accent. How often do you come across a native Brightonian though? I’m guessing this must have been one of their first gigs, or they’re all incredibly shy – the singer had his eyes closed throughout the gig, the drummer and the keyboard player hid in the shadows, and the bass player sat down and didn’t stop staring at his knees. There was some good songwriting underneath it all though, so let’s not pass judgement just yet.

The Men Who Fell To Earth

After another fifteen minute interval, we were treated to Hattie Cooke, who broke the ice at the start of her set with a few words about the relationship between how well her sets go, nightmares, and poo. Like the previous two acts, Hattie only had three songs, so to bring a bit of variety to her set, she played one standing with her guitar, one acapella without guitar, and one seated. Speaking to the Bleeding Hearts guys, they’re big fans of hers – it would be good hear a full set to hear her full potential.

Hattie Cooke

Headlining were Fragile Creatures, who were a bit rockier than the I was led to expect of the night. My first impression was “their look is a bit twenty years ago”. Then I thought “their sound is a bit dated too”. Then I realised that was the point – Following on from the success last year of the likes of Kisses and Washed Out, Fragile Creatures have constructed the look and sound of times gone by, but instead going down the 80s keyboard electro route they’ve ended up somewhere in Prefab Sprout or Simple Minds territory. Personally, I think this may have been better served by them being on a bill with other acts trying to do the same thing – it was only halfway through that I got it. Being headliners though, they got to play for twice as long, and by they end they had got some people dancing (although I think they may have been crazy drunk people who had filtered up from downstairs).

Fragile Creatures

One thing that struck me about the event was the love and enthusiasm of the organisers for what they were doing, and of their loyal audience too. Whether or not I write up any more of their gigs for the blog, I’ll certainly be going back for my own pleasure.