New Music – Fear of Men, Fujiya & Miyagi, Palm Springs, FEVRS, Mother of Billions, Bunty, Jacko Hooper, The Hundredth Anniversary, Water Canvas, Rooster Cole, Moulettes, Bentcousin, Adolescent, IYES

Posted on 16/06/2014 by brightonmusicblog

We seem to be chasing our tail with new music again – this week we’ve got absolutely loads again for you up with more from Fear of Men (who appeared in the last new music roundup we did with their French version of Luna), Bentcousin, Fujiya & Miyagi, Moulettes, Hundredth Anniversary and many, many more:

First up is the video for Fear of Men‘s new single Descent, directed by Eleanor Hardwick, who also directed the video for Dog in the Snow’s last single Factory.

Fujiya & Miyagi have put out a video for the lead track from their new album Artificial Sweeteners. The band are currently off touring the new album and have taken AK/DK along as support.

Palm Springs new single Seal My Fate is out now on Hove’s Random Acts of Vinyl label on 7″ and download, and also has this rather tasty black and white video:

FEVRS (pronounced “Fears” – the V is actually an upsidedown A) put out their debut EP on Everything is Chemical earlier this month. Here’s the first track, the ambient electronic Sirens / Control

Mother of Billions are a new London / Brighton based pop duo who are putting out their debut single Universe on 10th July. The launch party for the single takes place at The Hope on 11th July.

We’re gutted that we missed Bunty‘s single launch which took place at the Spectrum night at the Dome last Friday. The summery We Are Here is out now:

Egg Shells is the lead track from Jacko Hooper‘s upcoming For You EP, which had a very successful pledge campaign last year. The EP comes out on 30th June on One Inch Badge’s imprint:

Boon Magazine put out a 12″ Record to coincide with their last print issue. Here’s The Hundredth Anniversary‘s contribution, a slow brooding number called Stretched Lungs

Water Canvas are a new Brighton based rock band. You can grab their new At Least EP at bandcamp or take a listen to lead track Memorial Drive here:

The brand new Rooster Cole track Up To The Teeth only appeared on Soundcloud this afternoon. We don’t know much about it, but we like it!

Something else only uploaded today is the video to Moulettes new single. So It Goes is out today and is backed by an edit of Lady Vengeance which we’ve previously featured.

Bentcousin had an early demo of Dizzy up on Soundcloud last year, but that got taken down a long time ago. Since then they’ve rerecorded their ode to Brighton Summers for a full release on Team Love records on 1st July:

Adolescent have a video for another track from last month’s Golden Halls EP. The video for Hangshai is a digital animation which matches the music it accompanies:

Finally we have another remix from IYES, who have mixed up Brooklyn’s Paperwhite, making their track Magic sound much much cooler than the original

New Music – Fear of Men, Flash Bang Band, Foreign Skin, IYES, Fujiya Miyagi, Fool’s Empire, Faux Flux, Anushka

Posted on 03/06/2014 by brightonmusicblog

It’s been a frustrating week for us – our internet has been playing up and we haven’t been able to make half the posts that we wanted. As time has passed we’ve ended up with more and more to add to our regular new music post, so here we go, with more music than normal:

Fear of Men have spent the past few months supporting Pains of Being Pure at Heart on tour in America. Next week the tour moves to Europe, starting in France, so to celebrate the band have recorded a French version of their single Luna:

It’s not just Fear of Men who are off to Europe on tour next week – Flash Bang Band are too. Here’s a brand new video for Young Rogue from their album Bite Your Tongue that they’ve posted to celebrate, made up of footage from last year’s European tour.

The latest new music from Foreign Skin is a video of a live remix of Draper’s Electricity. You can catch Foreign Skin performing in the flesh at the Green Door Store on 26th June supporting Bernholz:

Sticking with remixes by Brighton acts, here’s IYES remixing 1965 by Zella Day, taking something that Lana Del Ray wouldn’t be ashamed of into electro wonderland:

This Friday we’re off to see Fujiya & Miyagi, supported by AKDK. You don’t have to wait until then to hear them in the same room though. Here’s Flaws from Fujiya & Miyagi’s new album remixed by AKDK:

Fool’s Empire release their debut EP on 16th June and have a launch party at the Green Door Store on the same day. Here’s the title track This Is Not For You:

Faux Flux put out a new single yesterday. You Know follows on from the electro pop of last year’s Come Alive and Week Long War releases:

Last, but by no means least, is the massive new tune from Anushka. Mansions is taken from the band’s upcoming album Broken Circuit. Huge wobbly bass, jittery beats and gorgeous harmonies

May Top Ten

Posted on 01/06/2014 by brightonmusicblog

May always passes too fast for us in Brighton — too many things to do and not enough time to do them all. We did get enough time to get our ears around plenty of local new music though, and here’s our pick of the bunch.

1. Fujiya & Miyagi – Caucasian Sweat

Our most listened to track this month was Caucasian Sweat, taken from the bonus disc of their new album Artificial Sweeteners. That’s nowhere to be found online – it’s from the bonus disc, part of the incentive for you to put your hand in your pocket and spend some of your hard earned money on the cd – so here’s album opener Flaws instead:

2. Eagles for Hands – Glitterall

Last month Handprints topped our chart. The new Eagles for Hands double A side is still on heavy rotation at Brighton Music Blog towers and this month we’re featuring the chilled house b-side Glitterall:

3. Tigercub – Blue Blood

Number three in our chart is the new 7″ from Tigercub which comes on rather cool blue vinyl:

4. Adolescent – Golden Halls part II

Golden Halls is the new EP from Adolescent. Part One is a short piano piece with additional ambient textures, part two which we’re featuring is this fantastic effervescent electronica:

5. Us Baby Bear Bones – Old

This month Us Baby Bear Bones split up and left us with a final EP – Ursari – to remember them by. Our favourite track was the wonky r’n’b of Old:

6. IYES – Toys

In retrospect, it shouldn’t have been any great surprise that IYES latest demo was so good, after all Lighthouse (now sadly taken down from their soundcloud page) was just a demo. Anyone wondering if they can maintain their high standard should take a listen to Toys:

7. Gazelle Twin – Antibody

I don’t think I’ve been disturbed my a music video quite as much since Aphex Twin’s promo for Come To Daddy. Not for the faint hearted, but brilliant nonetheless:

8. Alice Amelia – 11:11

Alice Amelia’s 11:11 is the kind of music that you’ll want to be hearing once the sun finally comes out properly – soulful r’n’b for summer days:

9. Sam Organ – It’s cool if you don’t want to say anything, I’ll just say nothing too

Sam Organ’s latest offering is the second track in this month’s ten from KLSDCP records. They also put out the Adolescent EP, and the downtempo beats of “It’s cool if you don’t want to say anything, I’ll just say nothing too” sit perfectly alongside it:

10. Winston & Goldstein – Non omnis moriar

Finally we have Non Omnis Moriar. We joked when we wrote about this at the very end of April that we don’t often post up Latin on the blog, but we’ve also gone and featured Us Baby Bear Bones Ursari in this month’s top ten (Ursari being Bear in Latin). You can catch Winston & Goldstein live for free at the Green Door Store on 9th June, on the bill with Brighton Music Blog favourites Dog in the Snow.

April Top Ten

Posted on 04/05/2014 by brightonmusicblog

April was another great month for Brighton music with some fantastic albums being released as well as some lovely one offs for Record Store Day. May’s already shaping up nicely too but until then, here are our favourite tracks from last month:

1. Eagles for Hands – Handprints

Handprints is the sound of the party starting – lots of cowbell, housey piano and uplifting vocals. Eagles for hands are top of our list of bands to catch at the Great Escape next week – they’re at Coalition on Saturday night at 2.30am, and also at KLDSCP’s party alongside Caveman Genius and Foreign Skin and a whole host of other acts.

2. Fujiya & Miyagi – Flaws

Fujiya & Miyagi’s new album Artificial Sweeteners is out on Monday, although if you get down to Resident today they’re already selling signed copies. Flaws is the first single and is a great indicator of what to expect from the rest of the record – classic Fujiya & Miyagi with more electronics thrown into the mix. There’s still a few tickets left for their gig at the Haunt on 6th June but it will sell out, so I’d get a ticket sooner rather than later.

3. Fear of Men – Luna

Luna is the first single from Fear of Men’s brilliant new album Loom. If we didn’t love the track (which we do), it might have warranted a place in our top ten just on the basis of the utterly beautiful packaging – a fanzine written by the band and a clear flexidisc (along with download codes).

4. AK/DK – Maxwell’s Waves

AK/DK’s new album Synth + Drums + Noise + Space was one of our highlights this month. The lead track is the bleepy Maxwell’s Waves, and electronic krautrock rush. AK/DK are the support at Fujiya & Miyagi’s gig at The Haunt that we mentioned earlier.

5. Curxes – Jaws

In April, Curxes put out Precurxor – a roundup of of old tracks and demos to keep our interest while they get on with the business of recording their proper debut album. It’s definitely working for us. Our highlight is Jaws, which captures the urgency and power of their live shows.

6. Winston & Goldstein – Ode to a Massive Obsession

When we heard that Jacqueline from Kins had a new project, we didn’t envisage Winston & Goldstein, whose main influence seems to be mid-nineties alternative dance music from what we’ve heard so far. There’s a heavy hint of Leftfield in Ode to a Massive Obsession, which can only be a good thing in our book. Oh, and the video is all kinds of brilliant too.

7. Blood Red Shoes – Speech Coma

Speech Coma is the new Blood Red Shoes single. The the chorus goes “I can’t get the words out / I can’t get the words out / It’s like someone cut out my tongue”. And so does the video. Quite literally. Not for the faint hearted.

8. Cate Ferris – Gotta Do Better

We haven’t got a media link for Gotta Do Better, the latest offering from Cate Ferris. The only way to hear it is to sign up to her page on PledgeMusic, where she’s currently raising money for her new EP.

9. Cleff – Restart

Restart is on Cleff’s new Listen In EP, a lovely blend of electronic and classical music. We posted open the EP’s opening track Big Ideas earlier this month, but it was Restart which got under our skin.

10. Fickle Friends – Play

Fickle Friends have got a real knack for a catchy pop song. We loved Swim earlier this year, and they’ve done it again with Play. Fickle Friends are another band who are on our list for the Great Escape, playing at the Green Door Store on Saturday night, and at the Mesmerist on Saturday afternoon.

New Music – Fujiya & Miyagi, Blood Red Shoes, Eagles for Hands, Aashton, Fear of Men, King Porter Stomp, Cleff, Adolescent

Posted on 21/04/2014 by brightonmusicblog

We’re currently in the middle of an extra long weekend, so we thought we’d celebrate by posting up an extra long New Music Post for you all.

First up, Fujiya & Miyagi have posted a video for their new single Flaws, taken from their upcoming album Artificial Sweeteners. Tickets are selling fast for the album launch at the Haunt on 6th June:

Blood Red Shoes have also posted up another video for one of the tracks from their new album. Speech Coma is a rather bloody and dark black & white affair, probably not one to watch if you’ve just had your breakfast. The band pay a hometown gig at the Concorde this friday which we’re really excited about:

Eagles for Hands have a new single out called Handprints. They’re back to dancier territory after their collaboration with Sivu that we posted last month and we like it a lot – bright percussion, chopped up vocals and a housey piano line that ties it all together. Nice and cheap on iTunes at the moment too.

Sticking with house music, Aashton features on a new EP being put out by Sccucci Manucci next month. The Nine Bows EP will be out on double 12″ on 9th May and kicks off with Aashton’s track I Can’t Shake It:

Fear of Men have posted up a couple of tracks as a taster for their debut album which gets released tomorrow. Since we got the promo, Loom hasn’t left our stereo, and The Line of Best Fit have just given it a 9/10 review. Descent is going to be the second single from the album, but there’s no details of a release date just yet because first single Luna got held up at the press because of Record Store Day.

King Porter Stomp have a new single out, available right now as a name your price download from Bandcamp. There are two links to share in addition to the video for Still Running – There’s the link which gives you the single, the instrumental and the acapella, and there’s a remix package too.

Cleff released their debut EP last week. The six track EP is callsed Listen In and is out now via iTunes. Here’s EP opener Big Ideas:

Last, but by no means least, is a new video from Adolescent. Golden Halls Part Two is taken from his upcoming Golden Halls EP which is out on May 12th on KLDSCP, with a launch party taking place on the same day at the Green Door Store.

Fujiya & Miyagi / Artificial Sweeteners

Posted on 29/03/2014 by brightonmusicblog

On 5^th May, Fujiya & Miyagi release their fifth album Artificial Sweeteners on Yep Roc records.

The band haven’t been resting since 2011’s Ventriloquizzing – we’ve had a couple of solo projects (Omega Male and I Am Ampersand), a 37 minute long running track, and a cover of New Order’s Your Silent Face for a Mojo magazine CD – but now David Best, Steve Lewis and Matt Hainsby are back with an album that might please dance music fans more than head nodding krautrock addicts. That’s not to say that Artificial Sweeteners isn’t classic Fujiya & Miyagi – There’s no escaping David Best’s deadpan swagger, although now some of the motorik grooves are more synth based and propped up with pulsating drums.

The band play at The Haunt on 6^th June before heading around the UK then Europe. Tickets are onsale now for £6.50 + booking fee from the usual outlets. You can pre-order Artificial Sweeteners digitally from iTunes, or physically from recordstore.co.uk. Two tracks – opener Flaws and the analogue acid electro number Tetrahydrofolic Acid – are streaming below.

Tracklisting:
1. Flaws
2. Acid to my Alkaline
3. Rayleigh Scattering
4. Artificial Sweeteners
5. Little Stabs at Happiness
6. Tetrahydrofolic Acid
7. Daggers
8. Vagaries of Fashion
9. A Sea Ringed with Visions

New Music – Fujiya & Miyagi, Moulettes, New Union, A Lily, Black Rooster, Black Shag, The Hundredth Anniversary, Catherine Ireton

Posted on 09/03/2014 by brightonmusicblog

It feels like weeks since we put up a new music blog post, possibly because it has been weeks, but also because we’ve got so many things to share this time around.

First up is another new track from the upcoming Fujiya & Miyagi album Artificial Sweeteners. Album opener Flaws confirms the more electronic direction of the band that we heard on Tetrahydrofolic Acid, and is available as an early download if you pre-order the album on iTunes.

Moulettes gave us the first listen of the title track of their new album this week. Constellations is out on 2nd June on Navigator records, but I reckon that you’ll be able to plenty of tracks from the new record when the band play at The Haunt on 24th April.

We already posted up the audio for the new New Union single Now, but the video went live last week, so here it is again. We were at the Now launch gig at Bermuda Traingle on Friday night and will be posting up our pics soon.

Every monday for a month, A Lily are uploading a free cover version to bandcamp which together will make up an EP called Augury. The first of these is a cover of Julia Holter’s Goddess Eyes. Keep an eye on A Lily’s facebook page for news of the next upload.

Black Rooster Black Shag‘s Run Baby Run was one of our favourite tracks of last year, so our ears pricked up when they told us they had a new track coming out. Borderline is taken from the band’s upcoming album As Far As My Lead Will Take Me.

The Hundredth Anniversary have shared a track from their upcoming release. A Daze is the second track from the Wreckers EP, which is being released on Odd Box records on 17th March.

Catherine Ireton has released an EP which takes in two of her Treasure Tracks songs (which she performed in intimate venues around Brighton in 2012) as well as a track with Belle & Sebastian offshoot God Help The Girl and two tracks with other bands she’s played with over the years. The EP is entitled Pieces of Me and can be bought from iTunes and Amazon.

February Top Ten

Posted on 02/03/2014 by brightonmusicblog

February might be the shortest month, but there was no shortage of good music. Here’s our pick of the crop from the last month:

1 – Momotaro / Warm Step

We could have put any track from Momotaro’s Second Side album at number one this month. It’s barely left the stereo since we first heard it

2 – GAPS / I Know It’s You (Foreign Skin remix)

The original version of I Know It’s You made an appearance in our January top ten, but right at the end of the month, Foreign Skin’s remix was post up, which made the track even more lush.

3 – Blood Red Shoes / An Animal

The brand new Blood Red Shoes album is out tomorrow, but if you pre-ordered it you got an early download of An Animal, which is also the single coming out on 7″ alongside the album. If you want a physical copy and tomorrow’s too long to wait I did spot that they already had it on the racks at Resident yesterday.

4 – Yumi & The Weather / Love

Yumi & The Weather gave us their Love as a Valentine’s present. We didn’t get around to posting about it (but we did retweet their link) and since then the link has gone. If you managed to grab the track – all jittery rhythms and slick vocals – then you’ll know why we’re such a fan of this.

UPDATE : Yumi & The Weather have just posted that the track is available as part of a Camels & Lions compilation which you can download for free here.

5 – Electric Soft Parade / One of Those Days

One Of Those Days was one of our favourite tracks on Idiots when it came out last year, so we’re pleased that they’ve put the track out as a single, and that we’ve got an excuse to post it up here

6 – The Wytches / Gravedweller

It’s been a great month for Brighton’s finest psychedelic rock’n’rollers. Not only have they signed to the mighty Heavenly Records, putting them on a roster alongside Toy and Charlie Boyer and the Voyeurs, but they also released their first single with the label, available on their current tour, or as a free download.

7 – Physics House Band / Titan (Ital Tek remix)

This month also saw Physics House Band put out an album of remixes of last month’s Horizons / Rapture Ep. Our pick is Ital Tek’s remix of Titan, which wrestles the original into something altogether more dancefloor friendly.

8 – Fujiya & Miyagi / Tetrahydrofolic Acid

Tetrahydrofolic Acid is the first new track released by the band since 2011’s Ventriloquizzing, and shows them heading in a much more electronic direction. To these ears it sounds like To Rococo Rot on a night out with Underworld.

9 – Milk & Biscuits / Hairstyles

Yes, we wrote about Hairstyles before, but that was when it was released as an mp3 download, and this month it’s the lead track on the first cassette released by newly founded Lick Music, who wanted a distraction from making frozen yoghurt.

10 – Michael A Grammar / The Day I Come Alive

It feels like ages since we first wrote about Michael A Grammar’s Random Vision EP, but it finally came out this month. Lead track The Day I Come Alive sounds like dreamy early period Blur.

New Music – Fujiya & Miyagi, Electric Soft Parade, Hypnotized, The Hundredth Anniversary

Posted on 19/02/2014 by brightonmusicblog

We’ve got an interesting New Music post for you this week – new tracks from some of our city’s biggest bands as well as some exciting stuff from some of Brighton’s younger home grown talent.

Fujiya & Miyagi‘s last album (excluding solo projects Omega Male and I am Ampersand) was back in 2011. The band are back now with an album due in the spring, the first taster of which is Tetrahydrofolic Acid – much more electronic and a lot less krautrock than before:

Electric Soft Parade have put up a video for another track from last year’s Idiots. One of Those Days comes out to coincide with a Spanish tour that the White brothers kick off tomorrow:

Love Thy Neighbour, home to Abi Wade, Us Baby Bear Bones and A Lily have just signed Hypnotized. Their first release for the label will be Telesto – a five track EP coming out on 24th March. There’s a launch party at the Green Door Store on 10th March, and you can hear the title track from the EP here:

Last, but by no means least, The Hundredth Anniversary announced news of their new five track EP Wreckers this week, which is released on 17th March. Only a hundred copies are being pressed and if you can pre order it from the Odd Box bandcamp page. you get an early download of It Becomes Us from the EP:

Brighton Music Blog Advent Calendar / Day 23 / Fujiya & Miyagi – I Am Ampersand – Omega Male

Posted on 23/12/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Our first proper blog post of 2012 was about Fujiya & Miyagi. They had recorded a version of Your Silent Face for a cd of New Order covers given out with the February edition of Mojo magazine. While it might look like we’re spending all our time writing about Brighton music, secretly we’re huge New Order fans on the side, so the chance to slip some New Order into the blog was most welcome.

In February we spotted Matt Hainsby swapping his bass for an acoustic guitar onstage at the Bleeding Hearts Club under the name I Am Ampersand. He was the third member to join the band and “Fujiya” and “Miyagi” had already been grabbed, so he was left with the “&”. A few weeks later the ultra-limited but utterly brilliant 20 Seas 4 Oceans 7″ came out on the legendary Great Pop Supplement label. It came with a hand-made wood print. It’s got lyrics about a mer-man. The intro sounds a bit like an unplugged version of Spirit In The Sky. What more could you possibly want? Another great 7″ followed in the summer and a few weeks ago he rounded off the year with Grave Goods, an album of quirky psychedelic folk songs that you wouldn’t have expected from a member of Fujiya & Miyagi a year ago.

Matt Hainsby isn’t the only member of Fujiya & Miyagi who’s been involved with extra-curricular activities this year. David Best has teamed up with Sammy Rubin from Project Jenny Project Jan to form Omega Male, who also put out their album in November. Where Grave Goods wasn’t immediately recognisable as an album put out by a member of Fujiya & Miyagi, there’s no mistaking Best’s inescapable vocal style on Omega Male. Tucked at the end of the album was one of our favourite tracks this year – the incredibly gorgeous Buildings Like Symphonies, which combined with I Am Ampersand’s 20 Seas 4 Oceans, was the clincher for placing them so high in our list.