Tag Archives: Music

Hidden Trail records launch Ellie Ford’s EP

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We’ve been loving the Ellie Ford ‘Show Night In’ EP for a while, but after a couple of superb compilations the excellent Hidden Trail Records are putting it out as their first physical artiste release. It was launched last night at Brighton’s Red Roaster Cafe and we were there to enjoy a great night of some of the UK’s finest singer-songwriters.

Stevie Ray Latham

First up was Stevie Ray Latham, a young folkswinger who completely inhabits the spirit of a young Bob Dylan circa1963 but writes his own brilliant songs which he conveys with real aplomb. Songs like the excellent South Coast Blues show off his authentic style. His new album on Brighthelmstone’s At The Helm records is due out soon and is definitely going to be a cracker, and we hope to bring you more info on that in due course.

Kelly Oliver

Kelly Oliver was new to me. An out-of-towner, from Stevenage, this was her first gig in Brighton. We’re not supposed to mention the non-Brighton folk so I won’t dwell too long on just how excellent she was, but she’s played the Cambridge Folk festival and with Dave Swarbrick of Fairport Convention and judging from last night she’s going to be a big hit on the folk scene. Last night we were particularly taken by her song Grandpa was a Stoker and her cover of Beyonce’s If I were a Boy.

Ellie Ford

Headliner for the night was Brighton’s own Ellie Ford and she completely owned the small Redroaster stage, switching with ease between guitar and harp, claiming to have not played her EP for a while with typical flaky charm, then proceeding to play some magnificent soulful versions of the EP’s songs that held the packed room rapt. The songs sound even better to me live than on record, but particularly stunning in both forms was Low, which tonight was performed in a tentative heartful rendition that was quite stunning. There were also some new songs from the album-in-the-making which we really hope to hear before the year is out.

Ellie has also just released a ‘Covers project’ and show cased some of those tunes and a few others, two gorgeous Joanna Newsom songs, a Karen Dalton cover, a fantastic version of Bob Dylan’s Corrina Corrina, and ending with an unplanned encore of a beautiful interpretation of Dylan’s Buckets of Rain.

A terrific singer who is growing in confidence with every gig, Ellie is definitely one to watch.

Ellie Ford

Words and pictures were by Jon Southcoasting

Gallery – Blood Red Shoes at Concorde 2

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Last night Blood Red Shoes played a hometown gig at the Concorde and we managed to sneak a view from the front, for the first three songs, at least. The two piece rocked hard, and the crowd loved it – We can’t remember the last gig we went to at the Concorde that had that such a great atmosphere. And it was loud – my goodness it was loud. Thank goodness for the earplugs which are a must for when we’re up the front shooting.

Gallery – Moulettes at the Haunt

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On Thursday night, Moulettes played at the Haunt to promote their upcoming album Constellations. Moulettes are one of Brighton’s hardest working bands, who seem to be constantly on tour. It’s been over a year since they played in Brighton (and around eighteen months since we last caught them), and you could tell that they relished playing a hometown gig – as well as the opportunity to sleep in their own beds after play a gig! The line up has changed a little since we last saw them, and on top of the original core of members they were also joined by Eliza Jaye on guitar, vocals and violin, Emma Gattrill on harp and saxaphone, Faye Houston from The Resonators on backing vocals on one track and Kate Young on violin, who also played a support set of her own. The album features a whole host of other local musicians and midway through the gig Hannah praised the local music scene for all it’s talent. Constellations is out on June 2nd on Navigator Records. You can listen to the title track below and you can pre-order it here. Click on the images below to view them large.

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

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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:

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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.

Fear of Men Album Launch / Spectrum at the Dome Studio Theatre

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On Tuesday Fear of Men launched their new album Loom with a gig at the Dome Studio Theatre. Loom is out this monday, but if that’s too long to wait, you can buy the limited edition coloured vinyl edition as a Record Store Day exclusive tomorrow. If even that’s too long, it’s currently streaming on Pitchfork.

The launch gig was the first of a new set of regular nights at the Dome called Spectrum, put on in collaboration with Resident Support on the night came from Grace Carter, Grasshopper and Abi Wade. Here’s our pics – as usual, click to view large:

Record Store Day

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This Saturday is Record Store Day – a day to celebrate independent record shops, and a day when a whole load of records get put out on special edition vinyl. This year also happens to be Resident Records 10th Birthday, so they’re laying on even more treats than normal. A host of local bands are putting out releases – Fear of Men are releasing a coloured vinyl edition of their album (which doesn’t get a full release until the following Monday), and Metronomy have a one sided 12” of Love Letters, as remixed by Soulwax. The full list of Brighton releases is below, with the full list of everything Resident will be stocking over on their website.

Anushka / Distorted Air EP 12″
Mark Chadwick / Red Sky 7″
Cuz / Tametebako LP
Natasha Khan + Jon Hopkins / Garden’s Heart 7″
Fear of Men / Loom LP
The Levellers / Carry Me 12″
Metronomy / Love Letters (Soulwax remix) 12″
Luke Sital Singh / Greatest Lovers 7″
The Wedding Present / EP4 Can 10″

AK/DK – Synths + Drums + Noise + Space

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On the 19th May AK/DK release their debut album Synths + Drums + Noise + Space. It’s already getting a fantastic reception in the press – both NME and The Line of Best Fit have given it 8/10 reviews. Anyone who’s been to one of their incredible live shows will know what to expect – semi-improvised pulsating analogue synth lines, BIG drums and a cheeky sense of humour, like Stereolab if they’d grown up smoking cigarettes round the back of the bike sheds instead of focussing on their French and Politics lessons. It’s not all big bleeps though – tracks like closer Seq and Ye Shall Find and Morning Dragpipe show a hitherto unseen ambient side to the group.

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The album launch is taking place next Friday (18th) at the Green Door Store, with support from Hypnotized, and the band will be joining fellow Brightonians Fujiya & Miyagi on their tour in June where they play The Haunt on the 6th. A limited edition clear vinyl edition of the album will be available at the live dates. Until then, you can whet your appetite by listening to Maxwell’s Waves:

Curxes – Precurxor

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Last week Curxes made a few announcements about some new and old material. On the new material front they have a new single due to land next month, with videos and remixes promised. They’ve also indicated that they have a whole album’s worth of material written and that they’ve also started work on more new songs.

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Slightly more concrete was the news about their older material. On April 10th the band are releasing a 7 track mini-album featuring their early singles plus some unreleased demos from 2010-2011. Precurxor will be offered as a digital download or a limited edition cd via their bandcamp and preorders will be able to download two of the tracks from the mini-album immediately.

March Top Ten

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Here’s the pick of our favourite tracks we’ve been listening to this month, just in case you missed them first time around

1 – Bentcousin with LL & the D’s / You Make Me Feel So Young

OK, so maybe we’re a bit biased here because Bentcousin gave us our first exclusive track that we’ve posted on the blog, but nevertheless it’s still a great catchy tune

2 – Dog in the Snow / Factory

Dog in the Snow’s latest single is a more electronic affair than their earlier work, and their best yet in our opinion.

3 – The New Union / Now

The NME have just caught onto the New Union’s new single Now. We first posted about it back in February.

4 – IYES / Breathe

IYES ascendancy continues apace with their new single Breathe which ropes in production dues from MNEK.

5 – Phantom Runners / Chase the Feeling

Another Brighton band who’ve roped in a name producer are Phantom Runners, whose new single has the guiding hand of the Fun Lovin Criminals’ Huey Morgan.

6 – Them The Sky / Fall (Finjin remix)

The original of Fall was a more guitar based post rock affair, but in it’s remixed form is much more blissed out.

7 – A Lily / A House is not a Motel

Over the course of March, A Lily put out an EP of four cover versions called Augury. Their version of Love’s A House is not a Motel is our pick.

8 – Eagles for Hands / Appalachia (feat Sivu)

Eagles for Hands latest soundcloud upload is a collaboration with Sivu, which shows a completely different side to both artists work.

9 – Black Rooster Black Shag / Borderline

The new video from Black Rooster Black Shag is another teaser for the band’s debut album which gets released on 1st May, which we’ll be telling you more about very soon.

10 – Hypnotized / Hylia

Hylia is the track with the strongest Eastern flavour from Hypnotized’s new Telesto EP, marrying sitars with rolling beats.

New Music – Fickle Friends, The Delta Bell, Winston & Goldstein, Dark Horses, Royal Blood

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Another batch of new Brighton music for you all, including three singles that are out today:

The first of today’s new singles is PLAY by Fickle Friends, the follow up to Swim – the first new track of 2014 that we posted. PLAY is another slice of fantastic sunshine pop. The band are launching the single with a gig at the Shacklewell arms on 9th April before they head on tour in April / May, playing a hometown gig as part of the Great Escape at the Green Door Store on 9th May.

Wasted by The Delta Bell is the new country tinged 7″ released today on Random Acts of Vinyl. Kate Gerrard’s band play at the Hope tomorrow night supporting Flooding Rivers, and you can buy the single now from the Random Acts of Vinyl website.

You probably wouldn’t guess that the ice-cool electro of Ode to a Massive Obsession was made by an ex-member of Kins, but Winston & Goldstein is the new project by Jacqueline who in a previous musical life was responsible for keyboards and guitars. The track is the first video from the forthcoming album In The Eyes of the Other, due later this year.

Dark Horses are back with Live on Hunger, the first track from their second album. Hail Lucid State has been produced by Death in Vegas mainman Richard Fearless (who also produced their debut Black Music), and the album will be out later this year on Last Gang Records.

Finally, we have the new single from Royal Blood, also released today. Little Monster is packed with riffis and is available on download or limited 7″.