Memorials / Memorial Waterslides album launch tour at Alphabet

Posted on 25/10/2024 by brightonmusicblog

Earlier this month Memorials released their debut album Memorial Waterslides on Fire Records (last year’s Music for Film didn’t count as a debut because it was soundtracks, apparently). The duo have just completed a UK tour to support the release, starting in Scotland a couple of weeks ago and culminating in a hometown gig at Alphabet last night, supported by Emma Gattrill. A personal highlight for us was the extended version of the album’s centrepiece Memorial Waterslide II (if you’re wondering about part one, that was released on their Centre Pompidou EP earlier this year), which brought to mind some of Stereolab’s extended psychedelic tracks – indeed both bands share a manager and Laetitia Sadier was spotted in the audience at the gig (Graham Sowerby from AK/DK – playing at Alphabet next week – and David Best from Fujiya & Miyagi were also in attendance). The gig ended early without an encore which gave me the time to enjoy a drink at Alphabet’s gorgeous new bar downstairs, which feels like a sophisticated secret drinking den and might well be Brighton’s best kept secret.

Memorial Waterslides is out now at record shops, streaming sites and at bandcamp:

Lime Garden play a sold out Chalk

Posted on 10/03/2024 by brightonmusicblog

Hot on the heels of the release of their top twenty debut album One More Thing, Lime Garden closed their UK tour on Friday night with a sold out gig at Chalk. Support came from Ladylike (who are locals so also feature in the gallery below) and Ugly.

There was a shoutout to Chloe’s mum up in the balcony when they played Mother, quips about seeing the four coolest women on International Women’s Day, one of the friendliest mosh pits I’ve seen in a while, and, by all accounts, massive queues at the Green Door Store after they announced that’s where the afterparty would be.

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Projector / Now When We Talk It’s Violence album launch at Green Door Store

Posted on 24/02/2024 by brightonmusicblog

This week Brighton Music Blog favourites Projector hit the road to promote their new album Now When We Talk it’s Violence. There’s a whole bunch of other tour dates (go check their website), but obviously the only one that really matters is their hometown gig, which took place at Green Door Store last night. It was everything you’d hope for and more – the album played through larger and louder than you’d have heard it at home, a mosh pit, band members removing layers of clothing, a Pixies cover, and fantastic support sets from Ideal living and Vincent Vocoder Voice. Go stream the album (or better still, buy it) today

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Von Zon at Green Door Store

Posted on 13/01/2024 by brightonmusicblog

HAPPY NEW YEAR! When we first saw Van Zon supporting Flip Top Head last year we knew it wouldn’t be long before they were headlining gigs, and last night they did, playing their first bill topping gig at Green Door Store. If you missed it, they’ve got a whole bunch more shows coming up – check their instagram for details. Support came from Moon Idle, playing their modern take on trip hop, and Nina Kohout, whose layered vocal tracks definitely pushed our buttons. As usual, click through to view large

The Return of Nanocluster

Posted on 22/09/2023 by brightonmusicblog

It’s been a bit quiet on the blog over the summer, as the local scene always gets quiet in festival season (although there has been a few gigs where we haven’t taken so many photos, which just ended up on our Insta feed). Gigs are firmly back now though, and last night saw the return of Nanocluster – Immersion‘s live night where they invite guests to collaborate for a week culminating in a performances at the Rosehill. As noted last night, it’s been four years since the last local Nanocluster (although they took the event to SXSW festival earlier this year), and it was a joy to see the event return. Last night’s guest was Cubzoa AKA Jack from Penelope Isles, who brought psychedelic guitar squalls to Immersion’s kraut based electronica, all accompanied by visuals that I assume were put together by Malka Spiegel, judging by the output of her personal Instagram feed, which featured emotive views of Brighton and beyond. There’s no word yet on when the next one will be, but hopefully it won’t be in another four years!

Thomas White at the Pipeline gallery

Posted on 30/07/2023 by brightonmusicblog

Apparently it’s been ten years since Thomas White last played a solo gig. It’s not like he hasn’t been busy since – In that time there’s been a couple of Electric Soft Parade albums, the formation and retirement of The Fiction Aisle, unexpected ambient side project Queer Drone Freedom Ensemble, and drumming duties with Rose Elinor Dougall (and more recently with The Waeve). For much of the latter years of that period though, as he explained onstage last night, he was beset with writers block, which only lifted when his father passed away. He’s back writing songs again now, with a new EP on it’s way shortly, and this was intimate gig was the first opportunity to play some of those songs, as well as highlights from his extensive back catalogue and the odd cover.

Support came from M. Butterfly, Unholy Jo (who was responsible for encouraging Thomas to play live again) and 3D Jesus.

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Projector at Patterns photo gallery

Posted on 01/10/2022 by brightonmusicblog

Projector have just hit the road to play their new single NON (and a whole load of other songs) the country. The band played a hometown gig at Patterns to kick off the tour, and we were there with our camera. Hit their socials to find details of the rest of the tour dates:

Sairie – The Cinder Sheet EP launch

Posted on 23/09/2022 by brightonmusicblog

On Wednesday night we paid a visit to the Folklore Rooms for a gig to celebrate the launch of Sairie‘s new EP The Cinder Sheet. The EP was conceived over lockdown, when Emma and Jon from the band started playing around with covers from film soundtracks. Now expanded to a eight track EP and shared with everyone, the release leaps from French New Wave to Sci Fi to Morricone, all remade in Sairie’s psych-folk style.

Support at the gig from Alex Painter (from Great Pagans) and Maria Marzaioli (from Slum of Legs) new project YOU&TH, who pushed the folk window out to embrace jazz, loops, traditional Italian songs, and field recordings.

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Great Escape First Fifty at Chalk, featuring Heights and Isabelle Brown

Posted on 23/11/2021 by brightonmusicblog

Let’s talk about the Great Escape. And let’s not mess about, it is probably the single most important event in Brighton’s musical calendar (alongside it’s sister event the Alt Escape). We missed it last year and we missed it this year, but the festival have just announced their first batch of artists for the 2022 festival taking place 11-14 May. They call this release their “First Fifty” and to make a bit more noise about it they put a couple of gigs – one in London (where Brighton was represented by Lime Garden), and another at Chalk where local newcomers Heights and Isabelle Brown supported Sam Ryder. They invited us along, we brought our camera, and you can see our pics below (click through to view large)

The full Great Escape line up can be found here

AK/DK supported by Genn at Chalk : gallery post

Posted on 18/10/2021 by brightonmusicblog

Last Friday AK/DK headlined at Chalk – a gig we had been looking forward to for a LONG time. It was an AK/DK gig that was one of the first cancellations due to Covid, when they had originally been booked in to play Brighton Electric in April last year. It’s been pretty much an eighteen month wait to see them, but they didn’t disappoint, showing that they’re still one of Brighton’s best live bands. Support came from one of our new fave bands Genn. Click through the pics to view large: