April Top Ten

Posted on 03/05/2015 by brightonmusicblog

Here’s our top ten tracks that we’ve been listening to in April:

1 Sea Bed – Caves

Technically this came out last month (and we included Haunted in last month’s top ten), but their Rosso EP hasn’t left our stereo, and their debut gig at the Prince Albert supporting Them The Sky was awesome.

2 Momotaro – Roots

Momotaro’s new EP Highest actually came out yesterday which made it May, but since the band put up Roots from the EP on Soundcloud, it’s been on heavy rotation around here.

3 Fiction Aisle – Each and Every One

It was actually Each and Every One’s joint double A side that we wrote about a few weeks ago, but it was this track of the pair that really caught our attention.

4 Curxes – What You Want

Curxes debut album is out in just a few hours time! We’ve been a big fan of the band’s retro electro (or Blitz Pop as they like to call it) for ages, so can’t wait to hear the rest of the record.

5 The Go! Team – Ye Ye Yamaha

Where so many bands put out re-releases or remixes for Record Store Day, The Go! Team put out two brand new tracks. That’s how it should be done.

6 Black Honey – Spinning Wheel

Spinning Wheel is our favourite track that should have been in a Tarantino film this month and deserves to be played LOUD. We’ve not caught them live yet, so we’re hoping to get to see them at the Great Escape in a few weeks.

7 Clowwns – Idiot Bouncing

The Artful Execution of Macho Bimbo, the debut album by one of Brighton’s finest live bands Clowwns, has been in gestation since before we started the blog so we’re pleased that it’s finally getting released soon. Idiot Bouncing is the free download put up to persaude us all to buy the record.

8 Ambassadeurs – Can’t See You

Can’t See You is another track which we haven’t actually featured on the blog, having posted up other tracks from the EP, but for our top ten we had to post the release’s title track.

9 Miamigo – Hard To Love

DIY mag wrote “Bands could spend decades figuring out how to write the biggest hooks and they might not get close to this” about Hard to Love, and who are we to disagree.

10 Gazelle Twin – Love and Mercy

After doing her best to give us nightmares with last year’s Unflesh, Gazelle Twin is doing her best to gain our affections again with her cover of Brian Wilson’s Love and Mercy.

New Brighton Music

Posted on 30/04/2015 by brightonmusicblog

Here’s the last new music roundup of April. We’ve got a Brian Wilson cover, a free download, and something brand new up today in this week’s tunes.

First up is a tune from Curxes debut album due out next week. What You Want is a taster of what’s to come from Verxes, and the band’s first track as a three piece, treading a path beaten last year by La Roux – cool eighties electro pop kicked into shape for modern times. We can’t wait to hear the rest of the album. Next up is Gazelle Twin‘s Brian Wilson cover, recorded especially for the season finale of The Walking Dead. Love & Mercy doesn’t strike fear into you heart like some of the tracks from Unflesh though given the nature of the program it was recorded for maybe it just needs a bit of context, and it’s certainly a lot more ethereal that Brian Wilson’s 1988 original. The Clowwns is almost ready to be released to the world. To celebrate they’re giving away Idiot Bouncing for free over on Bandcamp. Clowwns are headlining Bleeding Hearts recordings not-actually-a-Great-Escape Great Escape show at the Rialto Theatre on Saturday 16th May, where vinyl copies of the album will be on sale. Miamigo are a new Brighton Band who haven’t even played their first gig yet (you’ll have to be at Patterns – what used to be Audio – on 15th May for that). Hard to Love is five minutes of bombastic synth led pop which is taken from their debut EP which is being released on Indian Hop Recordings on 14th June. Dancefloor Troubadours are also pretty new on the scene, but have already shared quite a few tracks on their soundcloud page, the latest of which is the acoustic, dreamy He’s Not Me, She’s Not You: Closing this week’s post is the latest installment from Normanton Street run of videos of tracks from their Much Respect EP. The video for Rakim (The 26th Year) features some familiar spots around Brighton mixed in with some vintage footage:

Brighton Music Blog End of Year Top Twenty, 4 – Gazelle Twin / Unflesh

Posted on 21/12/2014 by brightonmusicblog

As I said when I made the first post of our end of year round up anyone’s lists will always be subjective. Until everyone listens to the same music and responds to it in the same way we’ll still see lists we disagree with. Vive la difference I say. However we fully endorse the record that The Quietus have picked to top their end of year list. Unflesh by Gazelle Twin unsettled and impressed us in equal measures, it’s force multiplied by compelling live performances.

September Top Ten

Posted on 01/10/2014 by brightonmusicblog

September was yet another great month for Brighton Music. We’ve barely kept up with posting the new music that we’ve heard throughout the month, but these have been our favourites:

1 GAPS & Maya Jane Coles – In Dark In Day

GAPS collaboration EP with Maya Jane Coles was an easy choice for our number one spot this month. We were fans of GAPS before this release, and In Dark In Day made us love them even more.

2 Gazelle Twin – Belly of the Beast

Live show of the month had to be Gazelle Twin’s headline post at last week’s Spectrum night at the Dome Studio Theatre. The tracksuit and obscured face was the perfect visual representation of her leftfield claustrophobic electronica. We could have chosen any track from her new album Unflesh, but we’ve gone for Belly of the Beast.

3 Cate Ferris – Giants

Giants has been a staple of Cate’s live sets for quite a while, so we were pleased to hear it get released on her new EP Disappear. It’s even better live – if you’re about this weekend get down to the Level where Cate is headlining the Lantern Fayre around 8-8.30ish on saturday night.

4 Dog in the Snow – Africa

Helen Ganya Brown’s latest single is another great slice of art pop which, too, has been a staple of her live sets over the last year.

5 Momotaro – Kite

If we could have, we’d have put the Deep Blast & Ricco Remix of Kite into our top ten tunes for you to listen to this month, but since it’s not streaming anywhere online, here’s the standard single version

6 Fear of Men – Tephra

2014 has been a good year for Fear of Men – support slots with Pains of Being Pure at Heart across the US and Europe, an album with great reviews across the board, a headline UK tour of their own, and to top it all their latest video premiered on the NME website.

7 Oslo Parks – Twin

As debut singles go, you couldn’t ask for better than Twin. We’re looking forward to heading down to the Green Door Store for the launch tomorrow night (Thursday 2nd October).

8 Heliopause – I seem too cold (Faulty Remix)

Heliopause’s latest offering is a beautiful, blissed out, exotic rework of an older track, put out to celebrate Brighton Digital Festival.

9 Troves – Afterthought

Afterthought is another debut single from another new Brighton band, and coincidentally, Troves are the support to Oslo Park’s gig on thursday.

10 Phantom Runners – On The Run

Finally, we have On The Run, the new Huey Morgan produced single from Phantom Runners, with it’s video filmed partly at Brighton Arts Club.

Gazelle Twin at Spectrum at the Dome Studio Theatre

Posted on 29/09/2014 by brightonmusicblog

Friday night was the latest Spectrum event held at the Dome Studio Theatre, organised in collaboration between the Dome and Resident records. This month’s even was an Anti Ghost Moon Ray showcase, headlined by the jaw dropping Gazelle Twin, in support of her new album Unflesh. Also on the bill here her label mates Great Pagans and Bernholz, whose album How Things Are Made is also out now.

Here’s our pics. As usual, click to view large:

Gigs of the Week

Posted on 22/09/2014 by brightonmusicblog

There’s an excellent week of gigs ahead in Brighton with some of the best local bands gracing some of our stages, and we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t give you a heads up about them.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) Cate Ferris launches her new EP at Latest Music Bar. Disappear was crowdfunded (with pledgers already having received their downloads), and now the EP is getting a full release. Support comes from Moughrabi and Bird.

Dog in the Snow’s new single Africa is out today, but the launch party is at the Green Door Store on Wednesday. Also on the bill are Brighton Music Blog favourites Momotaro and Winston & Goldstein.

Fear of Men kick off their first headline tour this week with a hometown gig at The Hope on Thursday. To mark they event, the band have put up a new cover onto Soundcloud, of Ty Segall’s Sleeper. Get there early and you can also catch The Hundredth Anniversary who are opening the evening’s proceedings.

Friday night is the next Spectrum event, run as a partnership between Brighton Dome and Resident. This month’s night is headlined by Gazelle Twin, whose new album Unflesh is released today. The whole night is being billed as an Anti Ghost Moon Ray showcase and Gazelle twin is being joined by her labelmates Bernholz and Great Pagans.

Finally, on Saturday Lutine play a show at St Laurence Church in Falmer village. Lutine’s debut album White Flowers was recorded at the church and is released on Monday 29th September. Support comes from Bela Emerson.

New Music

Posted on 18/09/2014 by brightonmusicblog

It’s ten days since our last new music post, and the music has been flooding in.

First up is the new single from Fickle Friends. For You is currently Hype Machine’s most blogged about track, so we’re a few days behind the curve with this one. That’s what happens if you take ten days between new music posts I guess. For You is another fantastic 80s influenced pop tune, following on from their previous singles Swim and Play.

J Tropic are Fickle Friends’ labelmates but Love Up is more r’n’b than pop. J Tropic’s three track debut EP is out on Duly Noted records on 27th October.

Human Touch by Gazelle Twin got a premier on The Line of Best Fit last week, and is taken from her upcoming album Unflesh, out next Monday. Gazelle Twin headline the next Spectrum Music Night at the Dome Studio Theatre next Friday night. The whole evening is a showcase for Gazelle Twin’s label Anti Ghost Moon Ray, and also has Benholz and Great Pagans on the bill.

We haven’t been slow off the mark with all of the tracks we’re posting – Champion Fever‘s latest offering is hot off the fresh, only appearing online this afternoon – VolcaNO is four minutes of uplifting electronica

Next week, Cate Ferris launches her new EP. Disappear is already available for people who supported her pledge campaign, but is getting a full launch at Latest Music Bar on Tuesday. Here’s the title track:

We posted about the upcoming Levellers album a few weeks back and shared the collaboration they had made with Billy Bragg. They’ve now shared another of the new collaborations of their old tracks which feature on their new best of, this time working with Imelda May on a new version of Beautiful Day:

Dark Train are a new Brighton duo who make dark brooding synth pop. Here’s their latest track Sing To You. If you like what you hear, Dark Train are supporting Return To The Sun at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar next thursday:

Transformer have a new three track EP out entitled Feel The Beast. XLR8R offered a free download of the track Deepak from the EP, but here’s the title track:

We hadn’t rushed to write anything about the new Salt Ashes single If You Let Me Go because the PR email we got told us that it wasn’t out until October. However, a few clicks around the internet has told us that the single is actually out already on iTunes, and has been for a couple of weeks. Oops:

The last track we’re featuring today is something guitar based, from the debut EP Empiricism from Brighton based alternative rock band Rory Indiana. The EP comes out on September 26th. So far the only track out there from the EP is Sanctuary, which you can hear below:

Gazelle Twin – Antibody / Live at the Green Door Store supported by Eva Bowan

Posted on 26/05/2014 by brightonmusicblog

Gazelle Twin releases her new Antibody EP digitally on Anti-Ghost Moon Ray today, followed a physical release on limited blue 12″ on 16th June. Antibody comes backed with remixes from Wrangler and I Speak Machine as well as new b-side Phobia, and can be pre-ordered from iTunes here.. Antibody will appear on Gazelle Twin’s upcoming album Unflesh, due later this year.

To celebrate the launch Gazelle Twin played a gig at the Green Door Store last thursday, supported by Eva Bowan, and we were there to capture it:

(click on images to view large)

New Music – Kins, Gazelle Twin, Cate Ferris

Posted on 15/07/2013 by brightonmusicblog

I was going to put up this blog post over the weekend, but I figured with the weather like it was you wouldn’t be in reading the internet, you’d be out in the sun.

Out of nowhere, Kins eponymous debut album appeared last week. Already picked out by many local commentators as an interesting live prospect, their first excursion on full length long player doesn’t disappoint. Sounding something like a more sonically experimental Foals, you can take a listen on the soundcloud below, and buy on iTunes here. We’ll be reporting from the album launch at the Green Door store next monday.

Following on from Gazelle Twin‘s Mammal EP from earlier this year, last week she released a split EP with I Speak Machine of Ultravox / John Foxx covers. The EP is entitled Exponentialism and is out now on Metamatic Records, and is available from the all good music retailers (including Resident). Here’s the video for Gazelle Twin’s version of Never Let Me Go from the EP:

Cate Ferris has a new 7″ out now on local label Roots Garden. Blaze Bright is a gorgeous piece of dub reggae co-written and produced by legendary producer Manasseh, which is ideal listening for these temperate days. You can pick up the 7″ from Roots Garden on eBay here, or you can buy it digitally from Juno here.

We’ve already written about GAPS new single Keep You / Cascade which is out today on Sexbeat. They’re holding the launch tonight at the Green Door Store. Support comes from Eagles for Hands and Hundredth Anniversary.

New music

Posted on 12/01/2013 by brightonmusicblog

I was thinking that January might be a bit of a quiet month for the blog, but I’ve found myself inundated with new music to share. In this post we’ve got stuff from new bands including Iyes, who have yet to release anything but are causing a bit of a storm with the first demo that they’ve put out there, to bands who’ve been around for a bit longer, like The Go! Team:

Iyes managed to get a mention on The Line of Best Fit on the strength of Lighthouse. A fantastic start which will hopefully translate into bigger things. Here’s the track in question along with a few remixes of it which are doing the rounds. We like this A LOT.

Next up is a new track from Verity Susman, formerly of krautrockers Electrelane, still sticking with the lock grooves, but more synth based and aimed at the dancefloor. It doesn’t sound a million miles away from Ladytron to our ears, and that’s no bad thing at all. There’s no info on a release date for this, but we’ll definitely be keeping you updated.

Then we have Gazelle Twin, covering The Wire’s Heartbeat. It’s a haunting dark ethereal track and it will appear on Gazelle Twin’s new Mammal EP, which is due to hit the shops on 28th January alongside a whole bunch of remixes.

The Go! Team have remixed Justin Velor’s track Galliano Rocks. No embedded Soundcloud available for this unfortunately, but you can give it a listen if you click here. It’s got a great classic Go! Team sound – relentless energy, lo fi guitars and bundles of joy.

Tyrannosaurus Dead are previewing Sadie, from their forthcoming 6 track “Pure // Apart” EP, coming out on Odd Box Records later this year. Keep your eyes on the blog tomorrow night for some more Tyrannosaurus Dead related news.

Finally, here’s Nick Williams with his new EP Anniversaries. If you like the sound of this, his band are headlining the Prince Albert next saturday (19th January)