We first wrote about Tigercub on Brighton Music Blog four years ago, and they’ve come a long way since. This year they released their debut album Abstract Figures in the Dark and showed that they’re top of the pile of Brighton’s alt-rock psych grunge scene.
Number four in our 2016 Top Ten is Tom White’s The Fiction Aisle. The Fiction Aisle issued their second album Fuchsia Days this year, showing that 2015’s gorgeous cinematic Heart Map Rubric wasn’t just a one off.
Here’s a blog post that I meant to write back at the start of December, but you’ve probably read enough excuses from me about why I’m not blogging as much as I ought to these days. As ever, it’s been a nightmare to cut things down to ten (which is why we’ve got eleven), and if you asked me tomorrow the order would no doubt change. But any further ado, here’s our end of year round-up:
10 : Tigercub / Demob Happy
Back in October Demob Happy snuck out their debut album Dream Soda, and then at the end of November Tigercub released their Repressed Semantics EP. Both releases are fantastic, and both bands have been touring hard all year. we couldn’t choose between the two:
9 : Prince Vaseline
Prince Vaseline’s first full length A Naturally Coloured Pleasure really was a pleasure for us when it came out in the middle of this year:
8 : Black Honey
Last time we saw Black Honey they were supporting fellow Brightonians The Wytches at The Haunt and they wiped the floor with them:
7 : Grasscut
We kept going back to Grasscut’s third LP Everyone Was a Bird, and everytime it sounded better and better, and then last month they gave us a video premier of The Field:
6 : The Go! Team
We thought that The Go! Team had split up for good after 2011’s Proof of Youth, so their return this year, sounding fresher than ever, with The Scene Between was some of best news we heard:
5 : IYES
IYES have kept a lower profile live this year, but put out two very strong EPs called Part One and Part Two:
4 : Clowwns
We’ve been waiting for The Artful Execution of Macho Bimbo for years here at the blog. We only wish we’d been recording when Bleeding Hearts label boss Chris explained the reasons for all the delays over a pint about a year ago, although half of it was prefaced with “this is just between us…”
3 : Sea Bed
Sea Bed were our great new find this year. Electronic music with soul who we end up evangalising about to everyone we meet. They haven’t got much music online at the moment, but there’s promises of exciting things to come this year:
2 : The Fiction Aisle
Heart Map Rubric was a thing a majestic, beautiful work of art and was arguably the finest thing that Tom White has put his name to to date:
1: GAPS
GAPS managed to top last year’s collaboration with Maya Jane Coles with In, Around The Moments, their first long player which straddled the line between electronic and acoustic while managing to sound unlike anything else which would be labelled folktronica:
Is it March already? February shot past, but there was still plenty of great music out there. Here’s our pick of the bunch, counting down from Demob Happy’s Nirvana-esque Young & Numb:
1 Demob Happy / Young & Numb
2 Mount Bank / Everything Is Glass
3 Remi Miles / Under Light Symphonies
4 IYES / Simmer (live)
5 Lionbark / Amongst The Many
6 Salt Ashes / Raided
7 The Fiction Aisle / Soon Enough The Morning Comes
8 Conrad Vingoe / Fail
9 Caveman Genius / My Ford Sierra Needs an Oil Change
10 Record/Start / Rock from Afar
We didn’t do a top ten at the end of November. It had been a quiet month, and we were gearing up for our top twenty that we posted in December. Both months had a few great tunes that are too good to pass up though, so this month’s top ten has a few tracks from the end of last year too.
1 The Go! Team / The Scene Between
The Go! Team are back! Our top spot is the lead track from the band’s new album also called The Scene Between, out in March on Memphis Industries.
2 Anneka / End of It
End of It only features Anneka’s voice, but the layers and the textures and the harmonies demand repeat listens.
3 GAPS / She Bears a Flower
GAPS latest release came out right at the end of November last year sounding like some a futuristic remix of an Elizabethan childrens folk song.
4 Ambassadeurs / Forever
Forever is the lead track from Ambassadeurs latest EP out last month. Ambassadeurs play a gig at The Green Door Store at the end of the month, supported by Foreign Skin.
5 The Fiction Aisle / Blue
We liked Tom White’s new band’s first proper track so much that we got it into our end of the year round up, even though it hadn’t been in one of our top ten posts. Since we’re catching up on November here it would be wrong of us to omit it.
6 David Harks / Odyssey
We loved Open Arms, also taken from David Harks’ Lomo EP but shared much earlier in the year, as soon as we heard it but Odyssey was much more of a slow burner working it’s way under our skin until we couldn’t stop listening to it.
7 Tyrannosaurus Dead – Flying Ant Day
Tyrannosaurus Dead were the first band we ever interviewed on the blog, so it’s great to see their debut album (also called Flying Ant Day) finally released.
8 Seadog / Transmitter
Seadog’s Transmitter EP was launched at the end of December, while most of us were busy being distracted. The physical release is due in the springtime, but you can grab the EP now if you head over to Bandcamp.
9 Phantom Runners / Laserbeam
Laserbeam is a free download from Phantom Runnerscover on Soundcloud. Hanging out with Huey Morgan (who’s produced their last few tracks) is obviously rubbing off – this is the most laid back thing they’ve done.
10 Man Ray Sky / Ether Song
Finishing up with the title track from an EP from December, Ether Song is four minutes of breezy guitar pop.
How is it August already? July seemed to shoot by, probably because so much of it was spent outside soaking up the sun. Here’s our pick of the top tunes we heard last month:
1 Bentcousin – Dizzy
It seems like forever since we wrote about Dizzy, Bentcousin’s ode to summer in Brighton, and it was a while ago – back in the middle of June. But it came out on 7″ on 1st July, so gets the honour of taking top spot in our July round up.
2 Eagles for Hands – Glass Heart
Conversely, Glass Heart was one of the most recent things we wrote about. There’s also now an alternate version on Spotify too.
3 Caveman Genius – Hand Drawn Paradise
The new Caveman Genius EP isn’t out yet (despite what we might have written when we first mentioned it), but if it’s all as good as Hand Drawn Paradise, then we’re prepared to wait.
4 Oslo Parks – Twin
Oslo Parks are one of a number of new electronic pop bands who have sprung up in Brighton, part of a trend that you won’t find us complaining about.
5 Fragile Creatures – Sunshine
Another sun related song in our top ten – the fantastic weather in July obviously affected us. Fragile Creatures’ new EP is due soon, and there’s word that we might get to hear another track from it before the release date.
6 Demob Happy – Suffer You
Demob Happy are a bit more melodic than usual in their latest offering Suffer You which appeared on Soundcloud last month. The band also announced details of their first headline UK tour, which concludes in Brighton on October 16th at Bleach.
7 Soph Nathan – Our Girl
Soph Nathan’s ethereal shoegazey dream pop has been getting lots of plays at Brighton Music Blog HQ
8 Steve Elston – Dear Em
Dear Em is the title track from Steve Elsom’s new EP / mini-album of lovely acoustic folk pop. It was hard to pick one track to put in our top ten since the whole EP is quite blissful.
9 Lion Bark – Come into my Arms
Come Into My Arms has been getting plays on BBC 6Music and XFM, so we’re happy to include it in our top ten
10 Thomas White – Lose That Girl
Most of what we hear about via the blog is original music, but when Tom White covered the whole of Saint Etienne’s Good Humor we paid attention, as should you.
Slightly delayed since we’ve been on holiday, here’s out top ten tunes from June:
1 Fear of Men – Descent
Descent is the second single taken from Fear of Men’s fantastic debut album Loom. The band have spent the past few months supporting Pains of Being Pure at Heart across the US and Europe. The tour’s now over, so hopefully they’re taking a well earned rest before playing a few festival dates over the summer, including Green Door Store’s 234 festival taking place over the August Bank Holiday Weekend.
2 Anushka – Mansions
Mansions is taken from Anushka’s brand new album Broken Circuit, out now on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings label. It’s good, but play it loud and it’s even better.
3 Jacko Hooper – Egg Shells
Because we’ve been away we missed the launch party for Jacko Hooper’s new For You EP, which took place last week at the Green Door Store. The EP is out now on One Inch Badge’s record label.
4 Palm Springs – Seal My Fate
Seal My Fate is one of those slow burners which has got under our skin a little bit more every time we’ve played it. It’s out now on 7″ on Random Acts of Vinyl
5 Alex Banks – All You Can Do
The whole of Alex Banks’ new album Illuminate but we’ve decided to put the Gazelle Twin collaboration All You Can Do into our top ten.
6 Moulettes – So It Goes
To promote their new album Constellations, Moulettes put out a double A-side single, with Lady Vengeance backed with So It Goes which we’ve featured.
7 Bunty – We Are Here
We Are Here is the new single from the ever-creative Bunty, launched at last month’s Spectrum night at the Dome Studio Theatre.
8 Black Honey – Sleep Forever
Black Honey are the latest band to have a single put out by Duly Noted Records, which have put out previous releases by IYES and Fickle Friends. In a change of style for the label, Sleep Forever’s backing isn’t electronica but lush reverb drenched guitars.
9 The Mojo Fins – Longwave Reach
Longwave Reach is the latest single from The Mojo Fins brand new album Circa, which has been getting plenty of plays at Brighton Music Blog towers.
10 Faux Flux – You Know
Fuax Flux came out with another new track in June, the summery You Know.
May always passes too fast for us in Brighton — too many things to do and not enough time to do them all. We did get enough time to get our ears around plenty of local new music though, and here’s our pick of the bunch.
1. Fujiya & Miyagi – Caucasian Sweat
Our most listened to track this month was Caucasian Sweat, taken from the bonus disc of their new album Artificial Sweeteners. That’s nowhere to be found online – it’s from the bonus disc, part of the incentive for you to put your hand in your pocket and spend some of your hard earned money on the cd – so here’s album opener Flaws instead:
2. Eagles for Hands – Glitterall
Last month Handprints topped our chart. The new Eagles for Hands double A side is still on heavy rotation at Brighton Music Blog towers and this month we’re featuring the chilled house b-side Glitterall:
3. Tigercub – Blue Blood
Number three in our chart is the new 7″ from Tigercub which comes on rather cool blue vinyl:
4. Adolescent – Golden Halls part II
Golden Halls is the new EP from Adolescent. Part One is a short piano piece with additional ambient textures, part two which we’re featuring is this fantastic effervescent electronica:
5. Us Baby Bear Bones – Old
This month Us Baby Bear Bones split up and left us with a final EP – Ursari – to remember them by. Our favourite track was the wonky r’n’b of Old:
6. IYES – Toys
In retrospect, it shouldn’t have been any great surprise that IYES latest demo was so good, after all Lighthouse (now sadly taken down from their soundcloud page) was just a demo. Anyone wondering if they can maintain their high standard should take a listen to Toys:
7. Gazelle Twin – Antibody
I don’t think I’ve been disturbed my a music video quite as much since Aphex Twin’s promo for Come To Daddy. Not for the faint hearted, but brilliant nonetheless:
8. Alice Amelia – 11:11
Alice Amelia’s 11:11 is the kind of music that you’ll want to be hearing once the sun finally comes out properly – soulful r’n’b for summer days:
9. Sam Organ – It’s cool if you don’t want to say anything, I’ll just say nothing too
Sam Organ’s latest offering is the second track in this month’s ten from KLSDCP records. They also put out the Adolescent EP, and the downtempo beats of “It’s cool if you don’t want to say anything, I’ll just say nothing too” sit perfectly alongside it:
10. Winston & Goldstein – Non omnis moriar
Finally we have Non Omnis Moriar. We joked when we wrote about this at the very end of April that we don’t often post up Latin on the blog, but we’ve also gone and featured Us Baby Bear Bones Ursari in this month’s top ten (Ursari being Bear in Latin). You can catch Winston & Goldstein live for free at the Green Door Store on 9th June, on the bill with Brighton Music Blog favourites Dog in the Snow.
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