Tag Archives: Launch

GAPS single launch at the Green Door Store

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Last night GAPS rounded off a mini tour to promote their debut 7” with a hometown gig at the Green Door Store.

The first support came from The Hundredth Anniversary, who were more together yet more relaxed than I’ve ever seen them. It’s still shoegaze, of sorts, but the angular drumming and tight rhythm section elevate them above the competition. The second support took things in a completely different direction – Laurie James Ross, better known as Eagles For Hands, played a set of House music using a table full of electronics controlling different channels and vocal samples. Sometimes things went a little bit garage and on some tracks the direction went a little bit deeper, but throughout the whole continuous set the Green Door Store sounded fantastic. Definitely one to watch.

The evening belonged to GAPS though. Their single Keep You / Cascade was released yesterday, and the duo were celebrating with a local gig. Ed was on the left on synths, drum pads and two microphones and Rachel filled the rest of the stage with guitars, more drums and more microphones. Their music has been described as folktronica, which probably fits with what they do on paper but doesn’t truly do justice to their sound. The best known examples of the genre seem to be electronica with a bit of folk added to make things more interesting or vice versa, but what we heard last night was a much more equal union of the two. AA side Cascade, with its long quiet seagull laden intro before the beats kick in, was dropped into the set early on, with flip side Keep You saved until the penultimate track. Discounting the gremlins before the end of the set GAPS played a great gig, making a sound that’s familiar, but unlike anyone else in town.

GAPS single launch gallery (click on the pics to view large):

GAPS
GAPS
GAPS
GAPS
GAPS
GAPS
GAPS
GAPS
GAPS
GAPS
The Hundredth Anniversary
The Hundredth Anniversary
The Hundredth Anniversary
Eagles for Hands
Eagles for Hands
Eagles for Hands

GAPS – Keep You / Cascade 7” is out now on Sexbeat

GAPS next play live at 234 at the Green Door Store on the weekend of 3rd and 4th August.

Cousin – Alternate Tunings For Regular People EP

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Next Monday sees the release of Cousin’s Alternate Tunings for Regular People EP, coming out on Fcking The Night on hand finished fabric sleeved 12″ and download. Cousin’s instrumental math-rock is a lot more accessible and melodic than a lot of other bands in the genre, but that doesn’t come at the expense of big rock hooks. Here’s the video for for the song three on the six track release, Fourth Floor Balcony Fight:

The EP is being launched at the band’s gig at Fitzherberts tonight, where they play alongside Nature Channel, Mystrys and Daskinsey4.

The full tracklisting is as follows:

  1. Caught Short In Krakow
  2. Coffee Malts
  3. Fourth Floor Balcony Fight
  4. Cold Sweats In A Thermal Jacket
  5. Post Relationship Feedback Form
  6. Fussball Politics

Champione – Home EP

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Tucked in at the end of this week’s gigs picks was an artist who we hadn’t written about before on the blog. Champione are playing a late gig at Sticky Mike’s to support the launch of their new EP which came out yesterday.

Champione

The Home EP features an incredibly generous eight tracks of Electro House. Opener MshMshMsh has a fizzy, effervescent introduction, before bubbling into a French House banger. The next couple of tracks, Unicorns and Bear vs Bear, follow suit with a ravey electro house that would sit nicely alongside MSTRKRFTS finest. The View brings female vocals into the equation, sounding a bit like Katy B produced by Justice. Things go a bit dubstep on title track Home, which features vocals by Danny McGurn, and The End uses elements from each of the preceding five tracks to make something new. The EP also has two remixes of The View by Burenze and Dirty Purity.

Home is available through iTunes and Champione’s Bandcamp page, and the launch night is at Sticky Mike’s from 11pm-3am on Saturday night.

Time for T EP Launch

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Brighton is so alive with great music right now. Last night we went to Time for T’s EP launch in the unusual venue of their local church, St Luke’s near Seven Dials and all three acts could have been headliners.

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First up was a name we have not come across before, Ellie Ford (above). She plays beautiful songs on harp and guitar with an angelic voice and tone, reminiscent in style of Laura Marling and seemingly for this short set just as good. She noted at one point a lot of her songs seemed to involve God, perhaps fittingly for the setting, although it didn’t seem to show. One to watch – she is currently recording.

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The Common Tongues released their new EP Tether & Twine a couple of months ago at the Blind Tiger and Time for T offered support there, so this time around the Common Tongues returned the favour. They’re a popular band and rightly so, as they have a big powerful folk-rock sound, reminiscent of the Mumfords but (to my ears) better songs and tunes. Songs like ‘Something’s Got to Give’ and ‘Praying to God’ sound more powerful live than on the EP, and the latter song being particularly memorable.Image

However, tonuight was all about Time for T, half a dozen young guys from various parts of the Uk and the continent who all share a house just over the road from tonight’s venue and you get the impression it might be something like an episode from the Monkies. They’re a fun band but one with a lot of musical chops and serious intent. They should be out playing the festival circuit but as it was had the whole church dancing or tapping their feet. Sometimes pop with touches of reggae and funk subtly slipped in, sometimes coming across like a big multi-styled band like Santana, we’re big fans. The band’s charm is partly captured by Tiago announcing his mum had come over from Portugal for this gig and then launching straight into their song referencing Phone Sex (rather surprisingly, a great singalong number) from their first EP.

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All three songs from their new (second) EP ‘Mongrel’ have been on heavy rotation in our house, and they sounded strong played live tonight. Tornado with its chorus of “You’re like a Tornado, …when you go you take the House and the car away”, and the beautiful spiritual song “Great Grandma” is a particular favourite. The final song ‘Vegetables’ is a great way to end the night, and gets the whole joint jumping. An ode to sloth, it is anything but. Listen below.

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Photographs by Jon Southcoasting

Us Baby Bear Bones – what starts with a U ends with an I

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Us Baby Bear Bones EP Cover

Next Monday finally sees the release of “what starts with a U ends with an I”, the debut release from Us Baby Bear Bones, which we’ve been looking forward to for what seems like ages. The original announcement about the EP was made back in April last year, and we’re pleased to say that it’s been worth the wait.

The five tracks on the EP will be familiar to anyone who’s seen Us Baby Bear Bones live (and if you haven’t seen them live, then our advice is to remedy that as soon as possible – more information on that below), and two of them have videos up on YouTube which you might have seen. There’s also a re-recording of Rain which first appeared on last year’s Sea Monsters compilation.

The Dream-Pop tag gets used far too much these days, presumably by people stay away from cheese in the evenings and don’t remember what happened in the land of nod once they’ve woken up. Happily though Us Baby Bear Bones fit the genre like a glove, with dreamy textures, ethereal vocals, arpeggiated keyboards and crunching beats. The closest comparison is probably sometime Bjork collaborator Leila whose records are similarly brimming with influences but retain a pop sensibility.

The highlight for us the triumphant EP closer Swamp, which starts off with a drone note and builds and builds into glorious alternative electro pop. If this is what Puff Gandolfo, Daisy Warne and Luke Philips have achieved with their first release then the future is very bright indeed for Us Baby Bear Bones.

The full EP is available to stream over at This is Fake DIY now, and the launch party is Tuesday 11th June at Green Door Store. The EP is released on CD, limited to 216 copies whose combined covers make up a giant piece of artwork by Puff Gandolfo, which will be available to buy at the launch, or from bandcamp,

Amy Hill – Place of Mind album launch

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Last Thursday Amy Hill invited us along to the launch of her debut album Place of Mind. On the door as we arrived everyone was given a copy of the album, and I was hoping this write up would be a review of both the album and the night. Unfortunately, every time I put the cd into my computer iTunes freezes up, which is why this blog post is both a little delayed, and a little incomplete in terms of what I was hoping it would include.

We arrived at The Brunswick a bit too late to see Jacko Hooper, but did catch most of Choice’s folky set, which involved a multi-instrumentalist using looping pedals alongside a live drummer. By this point, it was good to see that the venue was already full.

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Amy Hill has been hosting the monthly Brighton Folk night for years. Every month she plays a song or two inbetween acts, solo and acoustic, but it’s a rare treat to see her playing a full set. On Thursday some songs were stripped back to just Amy and her guitar, but others were played with a full band who included Phil and Beth from The Galleons – regulars at Brighton Folk. This extra dimension shows an added depth that you wouldn’t see at one of her regular nights and is a welcome addition, elevating her sound above folky singer songwriter fare to something somewhere between Beth Orton and Sheryl Crow. Amy sung about life’s simple pleasures – friends, music, nature – and it’s safe to say that everyone in the room was sharing in that pleasure. At the end of the gig, after she had performed all of the tracks on the album, Amy was called back on stage an encore where she played a b-side from an earlier EP. Apparently it was her first ever encore, and it was obviously a very special moment – a fitting end to a great night.

Amy Hill

The next Brighton Folk takes place this Sunday night at the Brunswick and features Mike Newsham, Donna Fullman and Sam Green.

Tiny Dragons / Come Alive

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About a year ago, we went along to see Tiny Dragons launching a single at the Prince Albert. So we were a bit confused by their press people sending us an email about their upcoming “debut single”. It turns out that this is their first single being run through the industry machine rather than being a home baked DIY affair. No matter – Come Alive is great. A bit more rock and a bit less funk than last time we saw them, but still as tight as they come.

It’s been a great year since we first spotted them. In that time they’ve supported Bastille, The Blockheads and the Fun Loving Criminals, and there’s a Stranglers support slot coming up too.  They’re launching the EP this friday at Latest Music Bar. Tiny Dragons are a fantastic live band – it should be a great gig!

Dark Horses / Black Music

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Last Monday, Dark Horses released their debut album Black Music. We’d have written about it sooner, but we were waiting to tie it in with the launch party on halloween, and we’ve been shellshocked ever since.

Black Music, put simply, is the most powerful album to be released by any Brighton Band this year. It’s sleazy rock’n’roll. It’s filthy electro. It’s teutonic Krautrock. It’s the soundtrack to the film that Quentin Tarantino hasn’t made with David Lynch. It’s the smell of oil, leather, sweat and blood. It’s amazing. By about now, you should have stopped reading and opened up another browser window to order the album (try here).

Dark Horses got Death In Vegas main man Richard Fearless in to produce the album, and he’s the perfect choice. Black Music recalls some of the best bits from The Contino Sessions or Scorpio Rising. Around two thirds of the way through the album, the pace drops and things quieten with  a few cover versions, the first being a song called Sanningen Om Dig by singer Lisa Elle’s Swedish compatriot Tomas Andersson, and the second a surprisingly delicate take on Talking Head’s Road To Nowhere, featuring harp and a doo-wop backing.

Dark Horses

Live, Dark Horses were as fearsome a prospect as the album, playing up to the myth with each band member dressed in black,, minimal lighting and dry ice filling the stage, and Lisa Elle adding to the mystique by talking in Swedish between the tracks. It was also daunting for me to take photos of the band – Dark Horses are one of the first acts I’ve come across who’ve given their photographer equal credit alongside each band member. They also manage to transcend the feeling that we were watching a local act – driven by their stage presence primarily, but also the following the band have, not coming to see them because they’re local, or because they’re friends with one of the members, but for what a great band they are.

Dark Horses

http://www.darkhorsesmusic.com/news/

Fear of Men Mosaic Single Launch

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Yesterday Fear of Men played the Brighton launch of their new single Mosaic at the Green Door Store, at an event put on by Be Nothing called HappyFest. It was an all dayer, and loads of other bands played – The Hundredth Anniversary, Feature, Wild Cat Strike, Flamingods, Furrow, Lovepark, Female Band, and Shudder Pulps. We could only make it for the end of end of the night and caught Boston’s Female Band and the headliners. Fear of Men make a point of not playing too frequently, making their live gigs more of an event, but have broken cover for their new single – which you can buy on 7″ from Resident here. I could tell you how much I enjoyed them live, how great the performance was, how their collection of releases so far sound like a really sold set of songs, how I can’t wait to hear the new stuff that they’ve been holed away writing this year, but rather than all that, here’s a few shots from their set (click on the pics to view large):