Last Friday Glasshouse Red Spider Mite played their first headline show, promoting their debut single Erstwhile, which came out on 20th March (which you’d have spotted if Instagram showed you our story on release day). Support came Van Zon, who we can’t get enough of these days, and out of towners Plainmoor. If you missed the gig and want to hear more from the band, you can catch them (and Van Zon) at Homegrown festival on Saturday 13th April
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We don’t get out to nearly enough gigs (if there weren’t other priorities we might be at the Hope & Ruin watching Arxx right now), and we certainly don’t get to enough gigs armed with a camera, but we did make it along to the launch of Projector‘s new single Go Ahead at the Rialto last Friday. Here’s our pics, click through to view large Continue reading
Royal Blood have announced details of their debut album and put out a video for the single that precedes it. The eponymously titled Royal Blood is out on 25th August, a week after Figure it Out is released on 7″ and download. You can watch the video for Figure it Out below. Pre-ordering the album through iTunes gives you an instant download of Figure it Out. If you’re after something a bit more physical it’s also coming out on vinyl, with the first 500 copies sold through Rough Trade being pressed on white vinyl.
News has just come in of IYES follow up to last year’s debut single Til Infinity. Breathe has been released today on Duly Noted Records, produced by the band with additional production duties from MNEK. As with most of their songs, Josh and Melis share vocal duties, and the additional production gives Breathe more of an urban edge than some of their earlier material. Breathe is out now and available to buy through iTunes.
“Breathe is our sexiest song,” says Josh. “We wrote it with an image in mind of a naked lady, in a jungle, with a snake wrapped around her. The beat came first – we wanted a tribal sound featuring lots of percussive elements. Melis’ voice is often quiet and cute. It’s always beautiful, but I thought it would be great to get some sass out of her. Hence the no clothes and the python idea.”
“Josh showed me clips on YouTube with wild animals – lions, snakes, tigers – all in slow motion, looking very sensual and dangerous” says Melis. “The track’s demo title was Jungle Sex. I loved the concept but when he started mentioning video ideas with naked women, I told him he’d best get another girl.”
March the 3rd sees the debut single from Brighton Music Blog Favourite Dog in the Snow. Factory will be the second release on London’s Tidal Wave records, and has been produced by Dubstar’s Steve Hillier. Factory follows in the vein of Dog in the Snow’s previous art pop offerings, this time around offering a more synth led sound. If you’ve been to see Dog in the snow live, this is the song they play where Helen Ganya Brown swaps her guitar for a hand held sampler. A video and more information on pre ordering the single are due soon, but until then you can hear the track on Tidal Wave’s Soundcloud page:
We’ve got a bumper New Music post this week, with seven new tracks to share. First up is Lion Bark with a video for their track Longhorns, which originally appeared on Soundcloud back in November:
We mentioned Foreign Skin’s remix of the new GAPS single I Know It’s You last week, but that was just a preview (which we updated when the full remix got posted), and we like it so much that we thought we’d give it another mention:
Fickle Friends are having a launch party for their debut single Swim tonight at the Green Door Store. In advance of that they’ve posted up a remix of the track – Soundcloud describes it as the Paperwhite remix, but we’re not sure if that’s just a name that they’ve given it or whether paperwhite is an act without any presence on the internet as yet:
Lonesome Heights new single is out on 8th February. It’s nearly four minutes of fresh indie guitar pop and it’s called Come out Swinging. The band will be supporting Wave Pictures at the Green Door Store, which happens to coincide with the release date:
Half Hour Hotel have put up a new song onto Soundcloud. The anthemic indie track is called Warcry and you can grab it as a free download via the band’s facebook page. Half Hour Hotel will be supporting The Boxer Rebellion at Coalition on 4th February.
Last year we wrote about Alexandra King’s band Limbic System. She’s now got a new project called Cleff and you can see their first video Restart here:
Finally we have the video for Bodies, the new single by Woodland Blue, which you can buy on iTunes here.
Since the end of last year, anyone whose asked us about the Brighton music scene has probably had their ear bent by me telling them that the best new band around were IYES. And now, about a year after we were knocked off our feet by the stunning Lighthouse, their debut single ‘Til Infinity has landed.
Sparse and simple for the first minute with just tribal drums, handclaps and Melis’ vocals, the track then explodes into life with a pop chorus that’s simultaneously both breathy and vulnerable, and powerful with its swirling chiming guitars, and clashing cymbals. Midway through the track IYES’ other half Josh gets a vocal turn adding a bit more colour to proceedings, and later there’s a bridge that drops everything to almost nothing, before one last triumphant chorus, and then at just three minutes everything’s over and done with – as all great pop songs should be.
Best of all, they’ve used an apostrophe and one ‘l’, which this pedant secretly very happy.
IYES is on sale now via iTunes on Duly Noted records.
Kins eponymous album has been out since July, but until now there hasn’t been a single released from it. All this changes when they release Aimless on 18th November. The band are heading out on a national tour starting later this week culminating in a hometown gig at The Hope on the 21st of November.
update : we’ve just seen that there’s a video for Aimless up on the Vice website, but it’s not one that we can embed into the blog for now.
Thurs 31st Oct Reading, Oakford Social Club
Mon 11th Nov Southampton, Joiners
Tues 12th Nov Manchester, Gullivers
Wed 13th Nov Glasgow, Broadcast
Thurs 14th Nov Liverpool, Shipping Forecast
Fri 15th Nov Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
Sat 16th Nov Bristol, Start The Bus
Mon 18th Nov London, Birthdays
Thurs 21st Nov Brighton, The Hope
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 – 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.
Today sees releases from two of our favourite bands at Brighton Music Blog. We’ve featured videos from both releases on the blog before, but these have appeared online so far before the release date that it’s worth reminding people about these again now that you can go and actually buy them.
The first is The New Union EP, by The New Union, on Two Sisters Records. The EP features four tracks – Staying Friends, Rushing Thoughts, Where Do You Think You’re Going Wrong and Forget Again – and is out now on iTunes, or on 12″ from the likes of Resident Records. The band are holding the single launch at the Book Club in London on Thursday for this release, but you’ll be able to catch them in Brighton again soon supporting IYES on 24th July at The Hope. Get your tickets early for this gig, because with a line up like that, it WILL sell out. Hopefully we’ll have an interview with the band to share with you before then.
Today’s other release is Hairstyles by Milk & Biscuits. Hairstyles is released on Big Salad Records, and is download only, available through iTunes (and probably some other places, although when this was written details weren’t confirmed). Milk & Biscuits play next Brighton gig is on 22nd June at the West Hill Centre.
Brighton Music Blog 