Speak Galactic

Posted on 17/12/2012 by brightonmusicblog

The first time we saw Owen Thomas, at the Green Door Store supporting Laetitia Sadier, it was so loud we couldn’t stay in the room. Thankfully we persevered (and bought some ear plugs), because Speak Galactic are one of the most exciting bands in Brighton. Watching them live, ideas come faster than the audience can process them – there’s a guitar there, but it’s not making guitar noises because it’s wired through a box of home made electronics which makes the most amazing sounds. There’s frenetic vocals and drums too making for an incredibly visceral performance. Cupboard Music put out the album Severed – slightly slower paced than the live performances with woozy unsettling electronica and big crunching beats building their widescreen vision. The record finished off with the spectacular Solar Sail – a glorious seventeen minute long post-ambient epic. Amazing.

Speak Galactic

Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 12/12/2012 by brightonmusicblog

So, we’ve got a veritable bonanza of weekend gigs for you this week. Last week I was musing that maybe things that might get a bit quieter in the run up to Christmas – how wrong I was.

Holy Vessels Let’s start this with Thursday – it is the start of the weekend after all. We’ll be heading down to the Concorde 2 to see Saint Etienne (with support from Scritti Politti – what a line up, eh?). Also on thursday night there’s Mr B‘s Chap Hop Christmas Ball at the Prince Albert. Holy Vessels play their album launch at the Blind Tiger, with support from Soccer96, Autumn Red, The Common Tongues and Songs For Walter. Last Orders at the Marshall Arms is out now and available from iTunes. Paul Diello plays his annual Christmas party at the Brunswick, and Alice Amelia plays the Constant Service.

Noise Night On Friday British Sea Power return with a special Christmas Krankenhaus at The Haunt. Our friends over at Brighton Noise are putting on their second night at the Green Door Store. They were turning people away from first one, so get their early to see Traams, Bitches and the fantastic Negative Pegasus. Transformer are launching their single Dragonfly at the Blind Tiger. Check out the Facebook event for more details and a look at the video. The last gig on our radar on friday is at the Coach House in Kemptown (not the pub on Middle Street), where Crayola Lectern headlines a “veritable melange of auditory delights”.

binge2poster On Saturday The Impellers hold their Office Christmas Party at The Brunswick, which is cheap to get into if you’ve got a ticket for Craig Charles later that night. If you’d like to start things a bit earlier on in the day, Beatabet kick things off at 1pm. They’ve got twelve bands playing at their Betabet Binge – P for Persia, Spacenoid, Napoleon III, Colectress, Speak Galactic, Laboratoro, Old Man Diode, Scalar Fields, Duot, Operator, Temple Decade and Burnt Toast. Phew!

art noise If you’ve still got any energy left come Sunday, then our top pick is Cate Ferris at The Neptune. There’s also an art event at the Blind Tiger called Wonderland, where Amongst The Pigeons, Them The Sky, Tiny Dragons, and the Elevators and Ribbon play in the evening. In yet another night in town with an above average number of bands on the bill, there’s also Club Criminal at Sticky Mike’s, starting from 5pm, with Trip to Dover, The Flip Flays, The Kut, Thieves by the Code, The Trophy Hearts, Childbrain and King Mews.

Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 06/12/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Fancy going to see a Brighton band this weekend? Here’s who we recommend:

brighton-rocks-23-online-18183 Our pick for Friday is Lout’s regular Brighton Rocks night. This week The Witches, Fragile Creatures, Little Shocks, and Bliss are on the bill at Sticky Mikes. The BIG gig in town is Rizzle Kicks at the Brighton Centre. Apparently that starts at 6.30, and I’m sure most of their audience probably need to get to bed early, so if you were keen you could probably get to both! 😉

riots not diets shrag

Our choice for Saturday is the Riots not Diets Christmas Party at the West Hill, headlined by Shrag. There’s support from Cosines, Bad Librarians and Fulhast, as well as a film about post-punk girl group Dolly Mixture. You can pick up a ticket for six quid from Resident.

Action Beat aren’t from Brighton, but Speak Galactic and P for Persia who are supporting them at the Prince Albert are. Also, Luke Sital Singh is on at the Hope – probably your last chance to see him anywhere so small, so don’t miss out!

Weekend gig picks

Posted on 15/11/2012 by brightonmusicblog

We thought it would be worth posting up a few of this weekend’s gigs, since there’s so many great ones going on (and so many that we won’t be able to get to, but want to make sure you know about them). Tonight, Restlesslist play a set at the Prince Albert of their first new stuff that they’ve put together since the brilliant Coral Island Girl which they’ve been playing all yeat. Over the road at the Green Door Store, Ninja Tune’s Grasscut are playing a homecoming gig, and out in Hanover, The Bobby McGees are bound to entertain at the Horse & Groom. Meanwhile, The Resonators will be playing tracks from their new album The Constant at the Blind Tiger.

Tomorrow, our friends over at Some Of It Is True are hosting Bellman at the Palmeira, and Flash Bang Band are supporting. Cupboard Music are hosting a night called Hey! Fever at the Green Door Store, with Speak Galactic and Soft Arrows on the bill, and British Sea Power are playing a live soundtrack to a new film called From The Sea To The Land Beyond at Duke of Yorks.

Then on Saturday, Catherine Ireton plays her final Treasure Tracks 4 in association with Source New Music. Who knows exactly where that’s going to be! Our final pick of the weekend is Anneka who’s supporting Plaid at the Concorde 2.

Here’s to a great weekend of live music!

Bizarro World (with Cousin, Speak Galactic, Black Black Hills and Negative Pegasus)

Posted on 07/10/2012 by brightonmusicblog

We’ve been wanting to go along to a Bizarro World night since they started them a few months ago, but this is the first we’ve made it along to. The premise is a simple one – four bands on the bill, each playing three or four songs by a famous act.

We arrived just as Cousin were tackling Pavement. We didn’t manage to get any pictures, because the night was RAMMED. The combination of a great line up, covering great bands, on a weekend, oh, and being free, obviously pulled in the crowds. It’s really encouraging to see live music being supported like this. Cousin played things with a pretty straight bat, and obviously loved their time onstage asking at the end if they had time for one more song.

Speak Galactic

Speak Galactic were up next, and tonight Matthew, they were LCD Soundsystem. The biggest surprise for me was that Speak Galactic were as bold and uncompromising as they always were, and made James Murphy’s songs their own, but at the same time if LCD Soundsystem had played them in that style, you wouldn’t have batted an eyelid. Another shock was drummer Jim Morrison taking vocals on Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, coming out from the shadows for a change. The high point of the whole evening for me was their cover of All My Friends; The slightly disorienting feel of the original being fantastic match for the woozy electronics Owen Thomas creates.

Black Black Hills

Black Black Hills came on after a short break, and each of the four members of the band were Michael Jackson, all picking their own era to dress as, which was a nice touch. Their re-imagining of their songs was fantastic – 80’s pop turned upside down to reveal a garage rock sound that not even Michael Jackson would have recognised. If their covers of Bad and Billie Jean don’t become staples of Black Black Hills’ live sets then I’ll be very disappointed.

Negative Pegasus

Finally Negative Pegasus took to the stage, fresh from playing their album launch at the Green Door Store last weekend. Negative Pegasus are Bizarro World regulars – the nights are organised by guitarist and One Inch Badge promoter Todd Jordan. Previous nights have seen them covering Creedence Clearwater Revival and Daft Punk, but this time they took on Tom Waits, calling in a bit of support from Nick Hudson on vocals. Whiskey soaked bar room drawls were swapped for a full on rock out – a great end to the night. I can’t wait for the next one, hopefully in a bigger venue so that more people can enjoy it. It’s a great concept and a real gem in Brighton’s live music scene.

Speak Galactic / Severed album launch / review

Posted on 17/09/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Severed begins slowly and quietly. Opening track Capsule uses the same trick that Boards of Canada use – woozy out of phase ambience, familiar yet disorientating. Sounds echo from left to right almost lazily, lulling you into a false sense of security for what’s to come.

Things step up with recent single Precautionary Measures – wonky arpeggios, clattering drums, yelping vocals. Hyss starts off with more crazy stereo effects and builds into something that sounds like it could be a prog epic from the seventies with layered vocals and deliberately primitive keyboards. Pigments lays off the stereo but brings back the out of phase wooziness against krautrock beats with a crazy breakdown midway through.

Lux and Lost Ones bring some of the menace that comes with the wall of sound created at Speak Galactic’s live shows, thick slabs of electronic noise which fall away and blend seamlessly into the album’s masterpiece, Solar Sail.

Clocking in at a mere seventeen minutes, Solar Sail is a piece of ambient beauty. Twinkling analogue electronics start things off before swiftly moving into a seventies sci fi soundtrack that never was. Around seven minutes in you think it might be all over – there’s nothing except something which sounds a bit like tinnitus and some ambient noise. Xylophones threaten something more and background noises start to rumble. And then the sound of running water, and some simple chords which take you away to a beautiful place. Without you realising some distorted noise creeps in underneath, but it doesn’t matter because you’re still in the higher plane you’ve been taken to. The white noise increases, but there’s a beautiful majesty to it, and then out of the noise steps the final slow motion melody, towering like a giant over the rest of the record leaving you feeling exalted. It’s fantastic. It’s like Stereolab and Spiritualized at their most experimental jamming with each other. That good.

Severed is an ambitious, uncompromising, experimental record which isn’t for the faint hearted. It laughs in the face of genres and convention, but rewards you for taking up the challenge it offers.

Speak Galactic had a launch party for the album at Fitzherberts last saturday night. Support came ambient out of towners Plurals and Brighton Music Blog favourites Us Baby Bear Bones. Last time we saw them live was at The Great Escape, and since then they’ve been off in the studio recording material for an upcoming EP. They’ve obviously learned a trick or two while they’ve been away because their sound now is even bigger than before. The magic is still there and the songs sound better than ever. I can’t wait to hear them on record.

Us Baby Bear Bones

Speak Galactic live are a much noisier prospect than on record, and one that’s even more impressive, mainly because all of the sound (save for some live drums) is created by Owen Thomas. Everything is created onstage with a microphone, a guitar, a keyboard and a handful of effects pedals. There’s so much energy, and you can see the ideas and the talent fighting to get out, channelling itself through his fingers and voice. Visuals have been a recent addition to the live sets, and these complement the performance well – another assault on the sense with repeated patterns morphing with the music.

Music needs pioneers, people who are willing to push the boundaries to see what happens, and in Speak Galactic, Brighton’s got one they can be proud of.

Speak Galactic

Speak Galactic is released on on clear vinyl on September 24th by Cupboard Music.

http://cupboardmusic.bigcartel.com/product/speak-galactic-severed-limited-heavyweight-frosted-clear-vinyl-lp-pre-order

Speak Galactic / Precautionary Measures

Posted on 19/08/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Back in February at Sea Monsters, Speak Galactic were one of the bands that really stood out for us – the intensity and the amount of ideas all fighting to be heard in their music are what all bands should strive for.

Nearly six months after they first caught our attention, Cupboard Music are releasing a new single and album by the band. The single, Precautionary Measures, is out on download right now, available to buy through Cupboard Music’s bandcamp page.

Things start off with woozy space age pop, but before long this is joined by arpeggiated keyboards, clattering drums, thick bass and multi tracked vocals. After a rather frenetic first half, things calm down for a bit before everything comes together again for the rather intense last minute.

Precautionary Measures demands to be listened on headphones or a stereo with decent separation: the tracks in each channel are just slightly different, as though they’re different takes of the same recording and background sounds bounce around from left to right. This doesn’t detract from the track though, and if anything makes it more engaging, making you listen to it closer to work out just what it is that’s drawing you in.

Precautionary Measures precedes the album Severed, which comes out on 24th September, on limited frosted 180gm heavyweight vinyl and slighly less limited download. The band are having a launch party at Fitzherberts on 15th September, supported by Us Baby Bear Bones and Plurals.

Brighton bands at the Great Escape

Posted on 15/05/2012 by brightonmusicblog

If you hadn’t noticed, it’s just been The Great Escape Festival around town. What a weekend! Officially I was taking photos for the festival themselves, which I’ve done for the last few years. Unofficially, I made it my mission to get around as many Brighton bands as I could. Over the course of the weekend, I saw Abi Wade at Unitarian Church, Dear Prudence at Above Audio, Us Baby Bear Bones at Green Door Store, Abi Wade (again) at Latest, Catherine Ireton at Latest, Fear of Men at Queens Hotel, Nordic Giants at Komedia, Speak Galactic at Latest, Thomas White at Shipwrights yard, Us Baby Bear Bones (again) at Latest, Woodpecker Wooliams at the Fishbowl and Kinnie The Explorer at The Haunt. Phew!

(click through to the pics to view them larger)

Rob’s Sea Monsters Diary part 5, 27th January 2012

Posted on 27/01/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Sea monsters just keeps getting better and better. Tonight’s gig was amazing. Quite possibly – and I know it’s very early to start using these words – gig of the year. Strong words, I know.

First up were DA-10.DA-10 stood out because they were the first band I’ve seen so far (except Robert Stillman) not to rely on guitars at all, and the only band on the whole bill of Sea Monsters to make dance music. Picture a slightly more chilled out Daft Punk, with the bottom end of their sound enlightened by the kind of filthy noises made since the advent of dubstep and fidget house.

DA-10

Next up was Speak Galactic. Our paths had crossed briefly several weeks ago, when they supported Laetitia Sadier at the Green Door Store. They were incredibly loud though, and I was meeting a friend, so I stayed in the bar. I should have gone and investigated though, because it turns out that Speak Galactic were one of the most interesting bands on the Sea Monsters bill so far. Owen Thomas, who effectively is Speak Galactic (there’s a drummer too, but you can see all the amazing ideas are coming from Owen), played on tuesday night as part of Cinemascopes, and I noted that it was him who elevated them above a normal band. On his own, the ideas are flying out everywhere – songs skip around genres and technology is pushed to the limit. I was incredibly impressed. If this guy isn’t a superstar in the next twelve months, then there’s something wrong with the world.

Speak Galactic

Then came Nullifier, whose lead singer was Speak Galactic’s drummer. One of their keyboard players was playing last night in Negative Pegasus. In fact, all of the band members seemed have been playing in other gigs in Sea Monsters. There were seven members in Nullifier, which proved (for them at least) to be too many to fit onto the stage. So the singer, a bassist, and the guitarist performed out in the audience (leaving two keyboard players, a drummer and another bassist onstage). Which made the photography challenging to say the least.

Nullifier

And last of all was Restlesslist, who were an absolute triumph. Where other bands came and played sets, Restlesslist transformed the Prince Albert into another world. And while they might have been headlining a night a Sea Monsters, they would have been equally at ease headlining a stage at Glastonbury. The band – all six of them – were accompanied on stage by an eye patch wearing Mark Campbell, who between songs narrated a psychedelic story involving dogs in hats, shapeshifting beauties, and volcanic eruptions. Between his words Restlesslist effortlessly skipped around pretty much every genre in the textbook – Rock, pop, musical, krautrock, calypso, you name it. If any other band over the next two days managed to beat this performance, then I’ll be amazed.

Restlesslist