Touring bands playing Brighton

Thu 15th July - Battles (myspace)

Concorde - SOLD OUT

A little like Animal Collective - but even crazier. I saw this band at Field Day last year and they are primarily a noise band live. Excellent stuff but an acquired taste.

Atlas

Mon 21st July - World / Inferno Friendship Society

Albert - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) for £7.00

Cabaret Punk from Brooklyn, this band has over the years featured members of Dexy’s Midnight Runners, The Hold Steady and a host of other bands. Performing since 1996 the band have a huge live following - I heard about this gig from a number of different people about the town who recommended them to me. Lookig like something from the Coney Island Freak Show the band feature 4 horns, 2 guitars and 2 drummers and should be an absolute riot.

Wed 23rd July - Lightspeed Champion

Concorde - Doors 8:00 - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) for £11.00 or buy now online from Ticketweb for £11.20 if you collect on the door

Solo project for Dev from the Test-Icicles, this is nothing like that, more country/folk than screamo. Sounds a lot like Bright Eyes, the album was even produced by Bright Eyes regular Mike Moggis. Saw him perform alone at The Great Escape and everyone was very impressed, with a full band (assuming he has one - he normally does) this should be umissable.

Midnight Sunrise video

Sat 16th August - Loop 2008 - 1 day festival in Victoria Gardens

Victoria Gardens - 12 to 10 - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) for £27.00, buy online from Music Glue for £27.50

This is the second ever Loop festival. Last years was a great day out with loads of bands and other digital shenanigans over in the adjacent university. The only downsides were the crowding in the tents, you have to get inside places early or they (naturally) fill up.

Artists confirmed include Four Tet, New Young Pony Club, These New Puritans, Adem, Caribou and The Shoes. Hopefully a few more will confirm nearer the time - I’ll keep you updated.

Here’s a report from last years festival feat Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip:

Thu 21st - Tue 26th August - Beachdown Festival

Devils Dyke - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) or online from the festival site for £85.00

The first ever Beachdown Festival! A new local festival on Devil’s Dyke, with camping from Thurs to Tues and music from noon on the Friday to 9PM on the Monday. Capacity is only 10,000 which should make this a nice little festival, with buses from Brighton to ensure easy access (and a quick trip home if its raining).

Artists confirmed include Magic Numbers, Reverend and the Makers, Jose Gonzalez and Maccabees as well as a few good bands such as De La Soul, Gogol Bordello, Nouvelle Vague, Alabama 3, Horace Andy, Lightspeed Champion and The Brakes. Dance acts include Hercules and Love Affair, Freak Power (Fatboy Slim’s previous name..hmm) and Mr Scruff, plus loads of local bands and DJ’s.

Get some friends and get up there, its not just about the music, it should be a great bank holiday weekend, and an excellent alternative to Reading.

Sun 24th August - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

Komedia - Doors 8:30 - Cheapest tickets from Komedia box office for £13.50, or online from The Komedia site for £14.00.

The godfather of indie plays Brighton! An association with this man is normally enough to get an instant mention in these pages, so this is obviously an unmissable gig. The founding member of Pavement and now playing with his new band Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks. Expect to hear lots from ‘Real Emotional Trash’ the ‘difficult’ new album.

Gardenia from Real Emotional Trash (fan video)

Tue 26th August - Gutter Twins

Komedia - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) for £17.00, buy online from the Komedia or pop in to their box office for £16.00

If you like heavy rock or blues you won’t want to miss this collabaration between Mark Lanegan (Screaming Tree’s and QOTSA) and Greg Dulli (lead singer of the Backbeat Band - members included Dave Grohl, Mike Mills of REM and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth). Melodic dark bluesy rock, for fans of all the aforementioned bands. It doesn’t get much cooler than this.

Idle Hands, live from the Letterman Show

Wed 10th Sept - Sun Kill Moon / Mark Kozelek

Concorde - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) for £13.00

Mark Kozelek is the front man of Sun Kill Moon and Red House Painters, an occasional actor (he was in Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky), and has worked with members of Low on his side project Retribution Gospel Choir. He’s supposed to be amazing live - one of our occasional writers Graham saw him and was very impressed.

Here’s a track from SXSW.

Fri 12th Sept - The Chap

Freebutt - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) for £7.50 or buy online from Ticketmaster for a whopping £11.20 - if you collect on the door!

The Chap are one of the tightest and most exciting live bands I have ever seen - and hardly anyones heard of them! This is good news - small venues, great value, and a band that are playing music that’s becoming more and more trendy by the day, yet they still keep the pricks at bay. Here’s a review from last time they played Brighton.

Ethnic Kids Live

Tue 16th Sept - Crystal Castles

Concorde - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) for £11.00, buy online from ticketweb for £12.25 on the door

At the recent Great Escape festival electronic duo Crystal Castles were hailed by many as one of the highlights - read our review and see footage. The singer spent most of the gig crawling over the heads of the audience and although the sound suffered slightly you won’t find a performance as involved as this from many electronic acts. The music is great too, catchy gameboy infused electro-pop. That said, some people can’t stand them and consider the to be absolute toss live, they certainly divide opinions.

Here they are on Skins.

Wed 29th Oct - Lambchop

St Georges Church - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) for £17.00, or online from ticketweb from £16.50

Unmissable - one the greatest live bands in one of the best venues in the country. Lambchop front man Kurt Wagner played a superb solo gig at The Duke of Yorks recently - review here. With a full band his weathered voice is expanded with beautiful instrumentals and huge soundscapes. For fans of Americana, Calexico, Tom Waits, smoky jazz and more.

Up with people

Tue 11th Nov - Mercury Rev

Corn Exchange - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) for £17.00, or online from ticketweb from £17.65

Mercury Rev are a classic American indie band who create shimmering orchestral pop epics. I love this band, have seen them many times and never been disappointed. Although their recent albums haven’t quite compared to their early releases, they have a new one coming out that I have yet to hear and seeing them live is a no-brainer.

The Dark is Rising live

Wed 12th Nov - Okkervil River

Concorde - Tickets from Resident Records (01273 606312) for £12.50, buy online from ticketweb for £13.94 if you collect on the door.

We reviewed Okkervil River as part of the Great Escape review - “Okkervil River have been around for over a decade and are a highly respected live act in the US. Tonight was no exception, and although their music is pretty standard stuff, live they have everything down to a fine art.” Without doubt one of the highlights of the festival and definitely worth catching.

Local Bands in Brighton

Sometimes people email me requesting I list their gigs. If I think the bands sound interesting I’ll list them here; if not I won’t. I won’t be providing full listings, but these are the ones I’ve checked out and think they might be worth investigating for a taste of something local at a slightly lower price.

If you want to be considered, send me a mail kirby [at] mark [dot] gmail [dot] com.

More gigs

Download a full list of gigs from Resident Records.

Also check the full listings for The Freebutt and The Brighton Dome, as they sometimes have gigs which don’t appear in Resident’s listings.

There are two fantastic promoters who have their own sites as well, and although normally all their gigs are listed in the Resident listings they are worth checking out - The Gilded Palace of Sin for Americana and Melting Vinyl for a mixture of quality gigs.

Finally there’s Lout Promotions who put on a mix of things and of course The Brighton Centre with all the big (read: crap) gigs such as Michael Bolton, The Flaming Lips did play here once though.

Ink-d

96 North Road, Brighton (3 doors down from Bill’s Produce) - View map

Ink-d is Brighton’s most original gallery. It’s a small one, with one floor for whatever show is on, and a working studio upstairs with art for sale from previous shows. It contains work from some of the more left field local artists - recent shows included the KLF’s James Cauty’s Portslade Massif and Graham Carter’s tall trees and robots.

What’s on at Ink-d?

4th July - 2nd August 2008

Pure Evil solo show. Pure Evil is a street artist and apparently a descendant of Sir Thomas Moore who was beheaded by Henry VIII. “Using dark humour and twisting symbolism to create new forms, the new show looks at what lurks around the corner on the secret streets of London and sheds light on the things under our noses that we never take the time to notice - as we hurtle forwards into the future…” - ink_d site.

When’s Ink-d open?

Open 11am until 6pm Monday - Saturday.

Phoenix Gallery

10 - 14 Waterloo Place, Brighton (at the bottom of the level) - View Map

The Phoenix Gallery is the exhibition area of the Phoenix Arts Association, a charitable arts organisation providing studio space for local artists, and run by local artists. The exhibitions are often very experimental and feature artists from all over the world as well as local ones.

What’s on at the Phoenix Gallery?

28th June - 12th July 2008

Culture Bunker by Mike Stoakes. The gallery is going to be designed to look like a bunker for this exhibition of images focusing on Hitler and Nazi symbolism (!!!). Looks like a controversial one.

When’s the Phoenix Gallery open?

Tues - Sat 11 - 5

Crane Kalman Gallery

38 Kensington Gardens, North Laine, Brighton (opposite Snoopers Paradise) - View Map

The Crane Kalman gallery is a small photo gallery always full of interesting and often iconic images. Recent shows included an exhibition of images taken of local people by the world famous Polly Borland, a range of images of musicians including David Bowie, Kurt Cobain and Jeff Buckley from Rock Archive, and a collection of original vintage Eastern European film posters.

What’s on at the Crane Kalman Gallery

11 June 2008 - 20 July 2008

Leisure by Katherine Laval. Images of Coney Island, Brighton Pier and other ‘Leisurely’ locations by this well published photographer.

When’s the Crane Kalman Gallery open?

Mon - Sat 10am - 6pm and Sun 10.30am - 4.30pm

North Laine Photography

Above Snoopers Paradise, Kensington Gardens, North Laines, Brighton - View Map

The North Laine Photography gallery sells images of Brighton which rarely change, but also displays interesting exhibitions by local photographers on a regular basis. Highlights this year included Miss Aniela who was previously a very popular member of Flickr staging her first ever exhibition, Petrusco with his surreal images of Victorian decadence in Brighton and accompanying film, and the Dark Daze exhibition featuring original and controversial compositions.

What’s on at North Laine Photography

No special exhibitions right now.

When’s North Laine Photoraphy open?

10 - 17.00 Mon - Fri, 11 - 15.00 Sun.

Fabrica

Holy Trinity Church, Duke Street/Ship Street, Brighton (opposite the old post office/former market in South Lanes) - View Map

Fabrica is a visual arts centre in a former church which uses its space to stage impressive and innovative installations. 4 major works are displayed each year along with smaller exhibitions.

What’s on at Fabrica?

5th July 2008 - 25th August 2008

France based sculptor Vincent Mauger will be creating a futuristic sci-fi landscape inside the church using everyday materials from building sites and hardware stores. Sounds intriguing! Keep in touch with progress on his blog.

University of Brighton Gallery

University of Brighton Gallery, Grand Parade, Brighton (opposite the Pavillion and Dome, on the road to the Pier) - View Map

The University of Brighton gallery shows some real heavy-weight stuff, often staging retrospectives of world famous artists, which show alongside occasional shows from the students themselves.

What’s on at the University of Brighton Gallery?

4th July 2008 to 26th July 2008 and 8th August 2008 to 3rd September 2008

“3RD Dimension” - An exhibition of Graffiti sculpture. This looks very interesting, graffiti style tags and artwork, represented in sculpture instead of the usual paint on the wall.

When’s the University of Brighton Gallery open?

Monday - Saturday 10am - 5pm

Calico Gallery

Dyke Rd Mews, Entrance on Dyke Rd/Bath Street, Seven Dials, Brighton (a little bit along the road to the train station from Seven Dials roundabout) - View Map

Its small and out of the town center, but well worth a visit if your in the area or fancy combining a walk with some art. Shows will not be constant, so check here or their site for details first.

What’s on at the Calico Gallery?

Sunday 6th July 2008 – Sunday 20th July 2008

Keith Hardwick - An exhibition of original and interesting paintings and photography.

When’s Calico Gallery open?

10am-6pm Tuesday to Sunday

O Contemporary

80 Trafalgar Street, Brighton (down from the train station, just past The Prince Albert) - View Map

O Contemporary is the mainstream alternative - a gallery to rival any in London, albeit a bit smaller. This has displayed work from Tracy Emin, Damien Hirst, Banksy and D*Face. The most recent show of Brazilian art is one of the most colourful and interesting I have seen in a long time, with the entire walls of the gallery graffitied. You can buy the art with an interest free loan from the Arts Council.

What’s on at O Contemporary?

O Contemporary is closing down for good this summer when it relocates to London. In the meantime they are displaying a range of works from the last 2 years, catch it while you can.

When’s O Contemporary open?

Tues to Fri 10am to 5.30pm, Sat 10am to 6pm and Sun 12am to 5pm.

Sydney St Gallery

27 Sydney St, North Laine, Brighton (opposite the chinese supermarket) - View Map

The Sydney St Gallery has recently opened and looks just like a framing shop or photography studio. Inside the shop however there are a number of pieces of art for sale which are apparently going to change on a regular basis, making this a worthwhile place to stop off at. Primarily photographs and prints.

Currently showing - Pre/Post New York - a series of images and artworks representing the city of New York.

She Said Gallery

13 Ship Street Gardens, The Lanes, Brighton (the tiny alley leading down from The Coach House) - View Map

The She Said Gallery opened in June 2008 and is an extension of the She Said erotic boutique next door. This small 2 floor gallery is filled with erotic images and should form the location for a series of exhibitions over the coming months.

Whats on at She Said?

Gallery currently closed.

In order to keep the site updated regularly during this busier period (which could well go on for some time) we are going to need more writers so any interested parties should email kirby [dot] mark [at] gmail [dot] com and get involved! There is just two of us at the moment and we make no money from this so it sometimes has to fall lower in the list of priorities.

In the meantime art and music listings will resume as of this week - we’ll make time from now on for those.

who are Fleet Foxes?

One of the most talked about acts of this year’s South by Southwest, Fleet Foxes are a Seattle five-piece whose debut album – belatedly released in the UK on the day of this gig – has won gushing reviews from almost every quarter. The Guardian called the self-titled disc “a landmark in American music, an instant classic”, and it looks set to make Metacritic’s top fifteen of the year. Still, I hadn’t heard any of their tunes before turning up, and the comparisons were so diverse I didn’t know quite what to expect.

the music

Most often likened to Fairport Convention, Crosby, Stills, & Nash and the like, owing nothing to the sound that made their home town famous when the band were at school. Song titles like “Blue Ridge Mountains” and “White Winter Hymnal” are about right for music that evokes a rural idyll far from the Starbucks city. The band’s chief claim to fame rests on their vocal harmonies, led by 22 year old songwriter Robin Pecknold, who as a teen was obsessed with Brian Wilson. A varying selection of guitars and keyboards creates an intricate, atmospheric sound.

The harmonies were lovely, but as someone new to this band I was impressed not overwhelmed. And those with more musical knowledge than myself detected clear similarities to various contemporaries – most notably My Morning Jacket.

3/5

banter and stage presence

The band seemed relaxed and happy to have such an appreciative audience. When they spoke it was usually to joke about the rapturous cheering of the crowd. Jesus-lookalike Pecknold is the star of the show, and was captivating in his solo performance of the melancholic “Oliver James”. So it seemed at bit odd that he spent most of the show kneeling at the front of the low stage, out of sight of all but the first couple of rows.

3/5

the audience

This was an over-16s event, and at twenty-seven I was rather flattered to have my ID checked at the door. But it seems that melodic folk-rock doesn’t really cut it with the kids, as my age can’t have been too far from the average. Many in the crowd must have downloaded the album pre-release; they knew the songs and were ardent fans. Applause was enthusiastic throughout.

4/5

the venue and sound

Audio – an intimate, subterranean venue – is a favourite of mine, the only drawback being the low stage, which restricts viewing for all but the nearest and tallest. The sound tonight for Fleet Foxes was excellent (though sadly the same can’t be said for co-headliners Beach House).

4/5

overall

An enjoyable gig by an interesting band, though perhaps not as unusual as I’d been led to expect. I suspect more familiarity with the music is needed to appreciate its subtleties, and I may still get the album (if only for the Brueghel artwork, which illustrates such wise proverbs as “don’t be a chicken feeler”). I can see these harmonious Seattleites winning a large fan base over coming months.

3.5/5

more Fleet Foxes

The band’s MySpace has a few songs to listen to plus listings for their multi-country tour, which goes on till September.

Heartbeat Detector is a drama about the inner workings of a German multi-national based in France. It doesn’t sound like it could get get that dark, but it certainly does and turned out to be one the most intense and harrowing films of the past few years.

I was expecting an American style thriller, in the vein of Tell No One (which is still better than most American films). This was more in keeping plot wise with Michael Haneke’s Hidden, and stylistically was reminiscent of a Bertolucci. The fact it was unexpected increased the impact of the well covered subject matter (I’m not going to spoil things by revealing the actual topic), and prompted me to think about things from a different angle.

Heartbeat Detector contains a number of surprisingly surreal sequences, which some will love and others might find more than a little confusing. It is very unclear who some of the characters are and what their role in the film is, particularly the women in the lead characters life. There a lot of scenes where I had no idea what was going on, although that seemed intentional. Dreams appeared to merge in with reality and the lines between truth and fiction became blurred, and obviously the film itself is all fiction, which made for a rather existential experience.

Two main sub themes worth touching on were running throughout the film; smoking and music.

Its unusual to see smoking in films these days, but the lead character chain smokes throughout this film with the camera often lingering on the cigarettes for quite some time. Smoking is often mentioned and discussed. Why is this so prominent?

There are also 2 almost full length musical performances in the film as well, very unusual. A traditional Flamenco song (where one man sings without accompaniment rather than the dancing type) and a live electro track performed at a rave. Both last for almost 5 minutes, and are starkly different in style. I have never seen this kind of thing in a film before.

I have no idea if these elements are supposed to be metaphors but you could certainly get some traction from wondering.

In summary you will likely either get this film or not. Nothing is explained, and if you don’t like working at your films you will likely feel alienated and deeply unsatisfied by Heartbeat Detector. If you prefer your metaphors to be a little less obvious than Hollywood’s, and are in the mood for concentration and something very unusual then this will provide a unique and memorable experience.

Heartbeat Detector Trailer

Watch Heartbeat Detector

If you’re in Brighton you can see Heartbeat Detector at the Duke of Yorks cinema until Thursday 29th May, screenings in London should be found until June.

I moved to Brighton about 2 and a half years go with my band, ‘Flange’, thinking Brighton would be the next centre of music. It seemed ripe for it. Loads of local bands, heaps of live venues and 2 dedicated music colleges within close proximity.

As a band we have tried to form collectives with other bands to gig with and promote each other, but these have generally fallen though. The scene in this town should be original, unselfish and free from heavy commercial influence. In fact it should be the influence (Please tell me I’m not dreaming). As a result we created ‘Snake in the grass’, a fortnightly live music night at Belushi’s downstairs (next to pool valley coach station). I know this seems to have turned into a commercial plug (which it is), but I am amped about what this night could become.

This bank holiday Sunday marks the 3rd installment and should be an absolute ball tearer. Headliners of the 4 bands will be Regular John (from Hastings), who are anything but regular. Kyuss meets Sabbath, right up my alley! Cheap drinks and only £2 entry (7:30pm doors, live music till 12, DJ’s until 2am) and you don’t have to get up for work Monday, ha!

We record and video each band’s set and provide merch tables so the bands get something out of the night other than to play a kickarse gig and be part of history. The name ‘Snake in the grass’ will become synonymous with the awesome blood sweat and tears rock ‘n roll scene this town wants, nay, deserves.

I can smell a change in the air already. Playing with bands that I would pay to go and see myself is a fucking joy, and people seem genuinely excited to be there. Long live ‘Snake in the grass’!

After work with a cider and a bag of crisps,

Mandy Musta

who is James LeRouge?

James started out in bands in Bournemouth with people who went on to form The Klaxxons and Art Brut. He instead decided to go down the classical route and became a pianist and composer. He previously played the Brighton Fringe 2006 and has performed in Japan, at the Lost Vagueness Festival in London and has performed numerous private and public performances in Brighton.

music

James is a pianist, so all tonight’s pieces were pure piano numbers, performed on a beautiful grand piano in the church. He played a number of pieces based on existing compositions, mostly from films. This worked well as it meant there were plenty of ‘big hits’ - pieces we all recognised. Each of these had been altered slightly - James claims he listens to pieces, tries to remember them, and then in attempting to play them by ear adds his own twist on things. If this is the case, he’s doing well. I have to say though, nice as these were, the highlight tonight was a piece that was purely his own composition - the closing number. Superb ending.

4/5

banter

There was a surprisingly large amount of chat tonight but this wasn’t an entirely good thing. The five min introduction by James’ brother was a bit too long - this isn’t This Is Your Life! Then halfway through after an unnecessary interval there was a Q & A in which James explained the rationale behind his remixing of well known pieces. This was followed by an additional chat at the end. Any mystery he may have held at the start had been damaged and the impact of the performance very undermined by all this chatter. I would have preferred it if James had just played the music; it speaks for itself.

3/5

venue and sound

The venue was the lovely chapel royal, the sound was perfect also. Sadly the billed candlelight setting was ruined by the lights being kept on full. Apparently this is because the gig was being filmed - a bit of a shame, when people pay for a gig they should get the best environment possible; if you film something do it on your own time!

3/5

audience

The gig was a sell out so the place was packed but despite this everyone managed to stay quiet and the performance went undisturbed. There was clearly something for everyone in James’ performance as there was a wide range of age groups in attendance. People asked some good questions during the Q & A such as ‘Do you speak French?’, a reference to the large amount of French references throughout the songs. ‘No but my brother does’ was the rather amusing response.

4/5

overall

A superb performance let down slightly by too much light and too much explanation. Given the strength of his own composition I’d like to hear more of his own stuff next time too.

4/5

more James LeRouge

You can hear some compositions on the James LeRouge myspace.

Here’s a video:

We also have a review of day one, and a review of day two.

19:15 School of Language @ The Old Market

I actually liked School of Language before this gig, but this really put me off them. The songs sounded nothing like they do on record, they managed to turn some intricate angular and very clever music into a dull tuneless dirge. They resembled a bad indie boy band rather than a group of quality musicians (this a spin off from the rather well respected Field Music). Perhaps the problem is they are a new live band, and they simply don’t have enough people on stage to replicate the album, perhaps the sound was wrong, or perhaps they are just crap. Either way, a huge disappointment and all I spoke to agreed.

www.myspace.com/schooloflanguage

20:15 Lightspeed Champion @ The Old Market

Next up thankfully was Lightspeed Champion. Just like School of Language, he too created a totally different sound to the album. Whereas that features violins and acoustic guitar along with a host of other instruments to create a Bright Eyes-like masterpiece, tonight he played dirty fast and heavy versions of all his songs on one electric guitar with the effects pedal set to hard rock.

All the songs were played without a pause as one continuous set, and he ended with a cover of Weezer, almost as if he were afraid that there would be no applause for him on his own. There was no problem; I found the performance to be perfect, unlike School of Language the difference to the album was sufficient to make us feel we were getting an exclusive rare performance rather than being something simply played badly. Not everyone agreed though, people who didn’t know the album were underwhelmed and I imagine there will have been some disappointment.

This was one of 2 gigs Lightspeed Champion played tonight, I’d be interested to hear if the other one was set up any differently - comment if you were there.

Here’s a video from tonight’s gig:

(Lightspeed Champion - Tell Me What It’s Worth live at Old Market, Hove)

www.myspace.com/lightspeedchampion

21:20 Shortwave Set @ The Providence

I had fully expected to watch Fujiya and Miyagi and Black Mountain over at the Old Market after Lightspeed Champion, but during the gig I bumped into someone I hadn’t seen in around 4 years who was heading over the road to catch The Shortwave Set. I’m a fan of theirs, I’ve seen them about 4 times over the years and knowing the new album was produced by Dangermouse of Gnarls Barkley I popped over to see where this new direction had taken them.

Pop seems to be the order of the day now - a little less weird and original than their last album, more mainstream and probably catchier. Not sure if this is a good thing, but it certainly captivated the crowd, even the locals in the pub who paid a pound for entry generally kept quiet and seemed to tolerate the band if not get into them fully. Note also the unusual costume worn by the bass player, I’m sure he was wearing trousers last time I saw them.

www.myspace.com/theshortwaveset

22:15 Little Barrie @ The Providence

After The Shortwave Set we dashed back to the Old Market to catch the prog rock 70’s throwback outfit Black Mountain. Unfortunately on arrival the queue was 60 strong and the band had started so we headed back to The Providence to catch a band I first saw about 5 years ago at my uni. We really shouldn’t have bothered, I would have preffered to queue. Rob disliked them so much he was physically sick (might have been the packet(!??!) of Cockles he ate earlier though), hence no photos of this one. Appalling dull cod-rock, but - and this is key - they seemed to have a lot of fans in the crowd who were all loving it, so each to their own I suppose.

www.myspace.com/littlebarrie

23:00 What to do next?

Things turned out OK in the end. After deciding to walk out of Little Barrie we tried to get back into the Old Market. There was no queue and people kept leaving but frustratingly the management had decided to effectively close the venue and not allow anyone else in, despite there being 20 mins left of The Black Mountain performance. If you ask me, this is a bad attitude to take, and the Old Market has gone way down in my estimations. Perhaps they did it to get rid of the queue and keep the noise down, I don’t know. They certainly didn’t want us to wait for our friends outside the venue, but seconds later the friends emerged so all was well again.

We headed for the Barfly to see Crystal Castles but the queue there was several hundred strong. The band weren’t even on til 2 and I didn’t think much of the support The Rascals. We tried the Spiegeltent, but that was empty and seemed to be closing down. Finally we settled on The Pressure Point and waited at the front of a 45 min queue, always the way with that place.

00:45 Flykkiller @ The Pressure Point

Flykkiller were described as sounding like early Massive Attack and got a 5/5 album review in Mixmag. This sounded promising, and whilst they weren’t a 5/5 they were certainly pretty pumping. Live dance music, a bit like Pendulum and indeed Massive Attack is how I would describe them.

The female lead singer seems to have taken some fashion tips from Alison Goldfrapp and made the look her own, she cuts an imposing and very powerful figure on stage. She sounds more like Tricky vocalist and solo artist Martina Topley Bird.

The music didn’t really get me til the last song sadly, but when it did it was a great feeling and took me back to the early 00’s DJ scene. I feel dance music is making a come back but in a strictly live format.

www.myspace.com/flykkiler

Sadly, this gig was so loud it deafened me, must buy earplugs. Still I soldiered on.

01:30 Times New Viking @ The Pressure Point

I had never heard of the next band, Times New Viking, but a huge number of people from some great areas of the Brighton music scene showed up. These included the guys from Resident Records and the lead singer of another festival band 4 or 5 Magicians who said they were the best thing on all weekend (except his band of course) - ‘like the best parts of Moldy Peaches, Sonic Youth, Pavement and The Beatles’ apparently. Perhaps you have to know the songs. I liked what I heard - a punky cachophany of noise peppered with unintelligible female lyrics - but I couldn’t make much out. Legends it would seem, but perhaps a little impenetrable to the casual listener.

www.myspace.com/timesnewviking

02:10 Crystal Castles @ The Barfly

Toronto band Crystal Castles have a huge amount of hype surrounding them right now. They make digital music, with Game Boy-sounding effects, and people either love them or despise them. I had to queue for 20 mins to see the second half of their set, and in that time a lot of people tried to get in, but very few came out. When I got inside I discovered why - they are the most enthusiastic live band I’ve ever seen. Well, Alice Glass the singer is anyway, her partner and the drummer seem to hide away at the back.

As you will see from this video I took, Alice spent the night performing on top of the crowd, who were going crazy, writhing back and forth like a giant human snake being ridden by this tiny insane woman. Strobes were constant and the whole thing looked like some demented music video. The music suffered a little though, vocals weren’t especially clear and were often entirely abandoned, but if you could see, this was an unmissable experience.

(Crystal Castles live at the Brighton Barfly)

A perfect end to a great festival.

www.myspace.com/crystalcastles

If you haven’t already don’t forget to check out our review of day one for reviews of Bon Iver and Okkervil River amongst others and the review of day two with Yeasayer, Broken Records and the Future Folk night at the Duke of York’s.

who are MGMT?

If you have missed them somehow, MGMT (which could be pronounced management depending on who you speak to - that was certainly what the band was called before the abbreviation) are a 2 piece trendy indie/electro band from Brooklyn indie-haven Williamsburg, the most fashionable town on the planet.

The band consists of college friends Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, and their recent album ‘Oracular Spectacular’ was produced by Dave Fridmann, also responsible for albums by The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev, 2 bands MGMT closely resemble at times. They recently became hugely popular, and will either burn out fast or become a headline act.

MGMT played tonight with 3 additional touring members, so on stage we had a live drummer, bass, 2 lead guitars and the keyboards and drum machines.

the music

I know the album pretty well, it sounds like a number of different bands at different points including the aforementioned Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips, as well as Sleepy Jackson (almost exactly in fact right down to the vocals), T-Rex, ELO and a wide range of other bands. This makes for a fun and varied but very familiar album and performance.

For the first few songs I couldn’t really get into things. The band seemed to be playing the hits, in a very straightforward manner. Once those were out of the way they spent the rest of the gig relaxing and almost messing around, playing some songs I hadn’t heard on the album. There were a couple of really great moments, when everything came together, but I couldn’t quite lose myself.

The music was much more guitar driven than I would have expected - there were 2 guitars and a bass along with the drummer and keyboard player. There was also quite a lot of poor quality Black Mountain-style experimentation which didn’t seem especially needed. The end of the gig before the encore was also rather weak; they are still very much a half hour set band, yet they stretched that into over an hour.

3/5

banter and stage presence

The lead singer seemed to be wearing night clothes for some reason, with a psychedelic dressing gown and a night cap. Although the band didn’t interact with the crowd too much, there was a sense after the halfway point that they were relaxed and that rubbed off on the crowd. Me certainly. They appeared confident and comfortable and went about as far as needed, but they didn’t seem to be pushing themselves. There was some discussion at the end about going to the beach which was a bit odd - this seemed to be more a private chat amongst the band though than interaction with the crowd.

3/5

the audience

One of the worst I’ve seen at a gig in a long time. Many people seemed to be just there to see the most popular song, and retired to the bar straight after. There was also an regrettably large number of people pushing past, shouting out randomly and generally being aggressive and miserable. In many ways just like being at the V Festival, there seemed to be quite a few people who don’t really like music there tonight.

Of course, not everyone fell into that category, and when the people who weren’t really interested in being there in the first place headed for the bar after the Radio One single there was plenty more room and a much better atmosphere.

3/5

the venue

This is a dreadful place to see a band. The odd shape with all its corners means lots of people can’t see, combine that with the pillars and you have a recipe for a bad night.

There also seemed to be a need for bouncers and band members to have to climb over the barriers at the front to get onto the stage which is ridiculous.

The venue must count the side bar and the top bar in its capacity because it was way too full, there’s no room to move and if you need the toilet or to get out, you’re stuck. Saying that, at £4.50 a bottle of beer you’re not likely to need the toilet in a hurry.

Finally, and they should be ashamed of this, the venue keeps pumping dry ice out into the middle of the crowd. What is this? Top of the Pops 1974?

This is a club, not a venue - stop pretending to be all things to all people. Oh yes, and the roof was leaking.

1/5

the support

Support came from the dreadful Florence and the Machine. Like Kate Nash on a very very bad day, this three piece is fronted by Florence Welch surely the most annoying woman to ever take to a stage. They even did a Cold War Kids cover… Cold War Kids! - a mediocre Christian rock band with one good song; they are OK, but there is no reason to ever cover them. They also made several mistakes and generally sounded like they had never played live as a band. At one point they declared they hadn’t even rehearsed a song - ‘perhaps don’t play it then’ I shouted out, in my mind.

According to their myspace, they are managed by the Queens Of Noize which explains a lot. Apparently Lightspeed Champion has worked with them too - he’s let himself down, badly.

1/5 - they were at least enthusiastic

overall

A poor venue, crowd and support let MGMT down. Their performance was OK though and despite a few shortcomings they made the most out of what they had.

Please Digital - stop putting on gigs; Florence and the Machine - stop performing; and people who like a band for one song - go to V next time and save your money.

3/5

watch a complete MGMT gig

Here’s a full length gig courtesy of the amazing Fabchannel from earlier this year. It’s much the same as the Brighton performance.

more MGMT

The garish and hard to read MGMT myspace lets you preview the album, check dates on the immense current tour and do the usual.

The even more oddly designed official MGMT website is like being inside a nightmare and is incredibly slow plus doesn’t contain much of interest.

19:30 Broken Records @ The Pressure Point

Having decided to see Yeasayer and missed out last night we wanted to ensure there were no problems this time so got to The Pressure Point in plenty of time and were lucky enough to come across Broken Records. Broken Records are a Scottish folk band, who blend indie with gypsy jazz. At times they resemble Nick Cave, SIgur Ros, Hope of the States, Gogol Bordello, Coldplay with strings and Hawk and a Hacksaw. There are plenty of strings, with both violin and cello in use along with several other instruments, producing a very rich sound.

They do sound an awful lot like their influences, the vocals in particular seemed to change for every song, at times sounding like Nick Cave, Jeff Buckley and Chris Martin, but never sounding too individual.

Derivative or not, the band works very well live and despite both guitars breaking there was so much going on I didn’t really miss them. The band seemed very friendly as well, perhaps a little too polite and lacking in confidence to make it on the trendy scene, but that’s probably a good thing. This is a band I’d happily enjoy a few times at smaller festivals in the sunshine.

Find out more on the Broken Records Myspace and watch this video to ‘Wolves’:

20:00 The long wait

Annoyingly, the next band at the Pressure Point had cancelled, and rather than let everyone wait inside we all had to leave and prepare to queue again. This resulted in another hour long wait to see Yeasayer, which could be added to two hours that friends of mine had waited outside the Barfly the previous evening. It was a shame to miss out on some gig time, but the wait wasn’t too bad, and we had queued far less than many this weekend due to our stick with where you are policy.

21:20 Yeasayer @ The Pressure Point

After letting us in early and completing the soundcheck early, Yeasayer decided to play 2 extra songs and kick things off ten minutes early. We felt better about missing them yesterday already. Yeasayer are another Brooklyn band and there is a lot of hype surrounding them right now. They play psychedelic electronic music influenced by Afrobeat and world music.

The venue was packed, and the band didn’t disappoint. They played almost their entire new album and the upbeat nature of the music meant it was easy for everyone to have a bit of a dance. Visually there was plenty going on, their front man is constantly lurching around on stage, perhaps to make up for the lack of their usual visuals. As well as playing a storming 40 min set, they gave in to the audience’s demands for an encore (something which isn’t usually allowed at a festival with timed slots) and as the last band at the venue they came back on for an extra track. This had to be a better gig than last night, and they themselves said the crowd tonight was much better and less drunk. Bravo!

Here’s an amazing video from tonights performance - well done Rob, its just like being there!

(Yeasayer - Wait For The Wintertime, live at Pressure Point)

Find out more on the Yeasayer myspace.

22:30 Tom Baxter @ Parlure Spiegeltent

There was just time to pop into the Spiegeltent on the way to the Duke of York’s to catch Tom Baxter, a singer songwriter backed by an impressive band including double bass and violin. Tom has proven very popular on Radio 2 over the last few years and also has a song featured in the Simon Pegg film Run Fat Boy Run, which he played this evening.

Initially besieged by sound problems, Tom managed to overcome these quickly and played a set of what could perhaps be best described as pleasant lounge music. The Spiegeltent with its red velvet domed ceiling and mirrored walls is a lovely setting for any band, and this one seemed ideal. Although they aren’t pushing any boundaries, they are certainly very lovely and just the sort of thing you would expect to find on Jools Holland. Not unlike a slightly less interesting Tom McRae or much less interesting Rufus Wainwright, borderline jazz.

Check out his myspace for more.

23:00 Future Folk at the Duke of York’s

After last night’s dashing around, a sit down at the Duke of York’s seemed like a good plan for the afterparty.

The Duke of Yorks laid on 3 bands for us tonight, each folk of a slightly different kind.

23:20 Melodica, Melody and Me @ the Duke of York’s

Melodica, Melody and Me were first up, a very young and earnest band apparently from London. I say this because many people at the gig seemed to know them, which would suggest a more local band. Either way they were ever so polite and did quite a lot of awkward dancing, which was rather sweet. Debbie, who was one of our group, said they were her favourite band that day and this was all down to their niceness and naive charm.

Musically the band were jolly good as well, lots of those keyboards you blow through, a ukulele and an accordion were among the instruments this sextet used to create gypsy-style folk, not unlike a younger version of the earlier band Broken Records. S Club Juniors to their S Club 7 if you will. It would seem this band are doing the festival circuit this summer so if you get a chance and want to forget all your troubles and feel young again make sure you catch them.

www.myspace.com/mmmelodic

00:20 Eamon Hamilton (Brakes) @ the Duke of York’s

Eamon Hamilton was once in British Sea Power and now heads up the country-style three piece Brakes. Tonight he performed solo, but all the songs were Brakes numbers, so it could be considered a Brakes acoustic set. I’m a big fan of Brakes’ first album, although I found the second a bit weak with too many ballads. Tonight we got a range of songs off both albums so I was happy.

Derek, another one of our little party, really didn’t like the set at all as he found the guitar too samey throughout - he got quite angry actually and rather disrupted things. Not as much as the people in front though, who kept shouting random things out. Everyone else we were with had a good time, with Eamon’s witty lyrics and catchy tunes winning the day.

People were clearly quite drunk (or more) by this point of the evening including Eamon himself whose random comments and unusual demeanour suggested he was a little the worse for wear. You couldn’t tell from the songs though, apart from forgetting the odd line.

Here’s a video taken from tonights performance:

(Eamon Hamilton - If I should die tonight, live from Brighton Duke of York’s)

http://www.myspace.com/brakesband

00:50 Devon Sproule @ the Duke of York’s

Devon Sproule ended the evening, and those in the audience still awake got to witness some intelligent and unusual country music from this American singer songwriter. Devon has a voice that sounds just like classic country and western singers like Loretta Lynn used to. Her voice may be typical country but her lyrics and style are not, and this made a nice change.

Like the rest of us, Devon seemed pretty wasted tonight, she even declared this at the beginning. Her banter was rather rambling, one story started off explaining how she was married, hence on Eastern time, although she wasn’t because she’d been in England a week. That kind of thing. When she introduced her band who were from Coventry, she did a little gorilla dance - not too sure why. A great performance though; despite it being so late and the kind of music that might just send everyone to sleep, most people seemed to stay up for it.

Here’s a video from tonights performance:

http://www.myspace.com/devonsproule

If you haven’t already don’t forget to check out our review of day one for reviews of Bon Iver (there’s an amazing video of their acoustic mid crowd encore) and Okkervil River amongst others and the review of day three with reviews videos and photos of Crystal Castles, Lightspeed Champion, The Shortwave Set and more.