It’s that time again where we give a shout out to the bands we’ve loved over the last year. As always it’s worth flagging that it’s a subjective thing, and also that huge swathes of music passes me by – which is to get my apology in early for anything and everything that isn’t in here. The local music scene feels like it’s in rude health at the moment, despite being knocked sideways a bit over lockdown and social media becoming less and less effective. But anyway, onto the music…

Firstly a shoutout to what I like to think of as the Old Guard. Fatboy Slim DJed at the Prince Albert when it felt like it was under threat from a planning application. The Go! Team proved they’re as sharp as ever with their album Get Up Sequences Part two, Electric Soft Parade surprised everyone with their release of Avenue Dot which nobody was expecting (and Thomas White also played his first solo gig in ten years), and Steve Mason dropped his fifth solo album Brothers & Sisters (which he showcased with a gig in Worthing last week).

There’s also a number of acts who have been in the music industry for a while but are releasing under new names. Electralane’s Verity Susman has teamed up with Wire’s Matthew Simms to form Memorials, whose double album Music for Film showed their skills to be far more expansive than either of their other bands work. It’s still not too late to catch them live this year – they’ll be playing at Lewes Con Club this coming Sunday. Penelope Trappes and Agnes Haus are/were members of on-hiatus The Golden Filter, now also putting out releases (Heavenly Spheres and Sequel respectively) the show a dimension that goes well beyond what they initially became known for. Penelope Trappes’ Heavenly Spheres was released on Nite Hives, her new experimental cassette based label run by and for women and gender nonconforming artists, who have just announced their second release. Both Penelope Trappes and Agnes Haus are on the bill for A Séance for the Solstice at the Rosehill on 22nd December, being put on by Dem Papademetrie and Saint Etienne’s Pete Wiggs who produce the weekly Séance radio show.

Brighton has long welcomed people from outside it’s borders – those who claim that you’re not a proper Brightonian if you weren’t born here could do well to remember that Brighton was just a small fishing village with a population of less than 2,000 before the Prince Regent turned up and had the Pavilion built, so very few of these people can claim to have families dating back more than a couple of generations. Which leads me to possibly Brighton’s brightest star at the moment – CMAT has just played four nights in a row in Dublin, but kicked off her tour with a hometown gig at Chalk, with banter between songs about Lewes Road, and Penelope Isles Jack Wolter / Cubzoa on guitar. Now’s also a good time to give a shout out to ĠENN (originally from Malta), Ciel (Netherlands and Spain), and Wax Machine (Brazil via Italy) who are all making the place even more special.

Lambrini Girls have had a very good year – their own EP release, a guest vocal with Iggy Pop covering Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus for Trevor Horn’s covers album, and sticking it to TERFs in a Kerrang interview telling them to to “have fun on the wrong side of history”. In a parallel universe that only exists in my head it could easily have been the likes of CLT DRP making those comments.

At the completely opposite end of the music spectrum to Lambrini Girls, there’s a couple of ambient albums that have soothed my ears this year. Ironically, the first is from the sister of Lambrini Girls’ lead singer – Eva Lunny’s Sonics & Meditations, equal parts harp and electronica, came out in the spring on Bella Union’s Private Pressings imprint and is still on heavy rotation in these parts. There was also Guided by Horses by Sam Organ (sometimes seen as a third of Physics House Band), a lovely pastoral work inspired by the South Downs.

My current enthusiasm for the local music scene comes from by being at gigs recently and recognising so many people from other bands in the audience, seeing how they support each other – collaborating on each other’s releases, playing support slots, and just showing up to watch them play – all of which makes a big difference. Most recently, at last weekend’s Ideal Living gig at the Green Door Store I spotted members of Fliptop Head, The New Eves, Van Zon and Hutch in the crowd. There were probably more I didn’t spot too. All of these bands would be worth seeing independently, regardless of who they were friends with, but regularly spotting people supporting each other feels quite life affirming. I imagine most of them will be back at the Green Door Store this Sunday for Mumfest where a lot of other associated acts are on the bill.

I also wanted to give a shoutout to a bunch of other great bands I’ve loved this year ARXX and their album Ride or Die (who are have one last gig of the year on 15th December at Water Bear), Trip Westerns and their self titled EP (who you can catch at Acid Box’s 10th birthday celebrations this weekend), Dark Horses and their album While We Were Sleeping, Egyptian Blue who released their debut A Living Commodity this year, and Soft Walls who made a return with their first album in four years, True Love. It’s been a very good year for Brighton bands.

Last, but definitely by no means least, I wanted to call out the two  bands who I reckon will be HUGE in 2024. Lime Garden release their debut album One More Thing in February, and I can’t see how they can possibly go wrong on the basis of everything they’ve put out so far. Rest assured we’ll be in the front row for their gig at Chalk in March. Another band not putting a foot wrong in our book is Hutch. there’s no news of an album just yet, but they’re playing bigger and bigger gigs, and surely it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world catches on.