Brighton after dark: 7 January 2014

Bmusic

New year distractions

The problem with Dry January is it seems like such a good idea in December: an easily scaled challenge that will restore balance and vitality to organs that have been shrinking a little with each passing December day.

Of course, by the time you get to about now you start to think, “God, without drink I’m both bored and boring.” Or, “I’ve done a week and a week is more than I’ve done since last January which is in itself a small victory.” (Though, if you think about it, it’s a loss in every single way.)

Here at Bmusic we care about our constituents, so to put you on the right track and make you forget about the promises you are or aren’t keeping, we’re going to tell you what new acts you need to listen to RIGHT NOW. Like. NOW. Put the bottle of Advocaat DOWN.

First up are the Districts, four American boys who sound like all the alt-country you’ve ever loved. Put Tallest Man On Earth in the tear-splattered brogues Ryan Adams wore when we recorded ‘Heartbreaker’, and you’re there. Their self-titled debut EP comes out in January.

Then we come to MT (standing for many things, apparently). With a Springsteen-indebted ear for an emotive chorus and an appreciation for grouchy LCD Soundsystem introspection, they’ve got a couple of tunes that demand movement of elbows in an upwardly mobile direction. Basically, perfect pop.

We went to see Bipolar Sunshine for a commission, and really weren’t sure on him; all sub-Balearic beats and chorus’s that read like the things we used to write on our pencil cases in English. Live, though, it’s an entirely different proposition. His songs are born for festival fields, and place the spirit of olde Ibiza next to a kitchen sink in the recession. Like Ghostpoet’s younger brother who’s forgotten to neck his Ritalin.

Naked (On Drugs) – Weird, uncomfortable, the sound of really awful nightmares. You’ll love them.

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Words: David Hillier

Sade Ali rounds up her biggest 2013 club times

Well, what a year, 2013 ! Last year Brighton’s nightlife hit an all time record for success in the clubbing industry. With hundreds of celebrity performances, brand new clubs and all new weekly club events Brighton really put itself on the map. This year there are lots of exciting new nights and events not to miss. With even more music artists hitting the clubs you will have to be sure to keep your diary free.

So to take one last look at 2013 here are the 20 best club moments:
1 Rough Copy (X Factor) performing at Shooshh and then getting too drunk afterwards.
2 Seeing Duane Allen fall over the Oxygen sign! I’m sure you have all seen someone do it.
3 The closing of the Honey Club and opening of Shooshh.
4 The return of Lollipop Fridays.
5 The opening of The Bermuda Triangle.
6 A Christmas Eve at Volks to never forget!
7 A so-called professional dancer starting a dance battle and losing!
8 The photo bomber: taking a look back at my photos there is one guy that is in the background of all my pictures.
9 Hedkandi closing down.
10 Devlin getting thrown out of Shooshh.
11 LIFE closing down on NYE.
12 Seeing a girl do the ‘slut drop’ that couldn’t get back up.
13 Romina Callini taking a nose dive down the Oceana staircase.
14 Luca and Leo’s house dance-off in Boutique. And many more dance battles.
15 Ms Dynamite performing at Coalition.
16 K Koke coming to the TUBE before the grand closing.
17 Notting Hill Carnival and the Volks after party.
18 Shelley Langridge throwing up in ‘the professional dancer’s’ shoes.
19 Martha Wells-Deamer getting told off by Brighton security for getting her rack out.
20 Jade White arguing with the Buddies owner about her un-cooked egg! We’ve all had that argument! 

Happy New Year!
Follow @SadeAli

>DON’T MISS<

Pachanga
If you fancy something exotic and different to spice up your week, how about a Latino party with mojitos and a vibrant soundtrack of reggaeton, salsaton, bachata, merengue and more? The enticing names of the genres are reason enough to sample the music!
Shooshh, Tues 7 Jan, 10.30pm, £3/Free

Freak Bazaar
Treading the entertaining line between being too dark or too commercial, this experienced team of DJs play a range of psychedelic and progressive trance. The carefully constructed night features fabric decor and projections and the music steadily builds to a climactic end.
Volks, Fri 10 Jan, 11pm, £5/£7

Abandoned
Like donning black and Kiss style make up? Then head to Belushi’s Below for their weekly rock, nu-metal and alternative night. Expect all your favourite hits from bands like Alien Ant Farm, Nirvana, Thin Lizzy etc.
Belushi’s Below, Fri 10 Jan, 10pm, £3/£2

Old Yellow Bricks
Touted by Juice FM as Brighton’s official weekend hotspot, OYB is a fantastic and popular Saturday club night. Previously Conor Maynard’s official tour DJ, the talented G23 mixes R’n’B, hip-hop and garage along with recent club bangers to delight all the revellers.
Coalition, Sat 11 Jan, 11pm, £8/£5

Brighton Noise

Alastair Reid on this week’s gigs
If you’ve yet to return to work then you must be a student, retired or just damn lucky, so spare a thought for those still reeling from the shock that they can no longer wear a party hat or drink all day and expect to have an income. It feels awful. January is the devil’s month, a near constant-hell of wheezing through horizontal rain, forcing ourselves to sweat through a month long hangover just to return to the state of sorry unfitness we had attained by the end of November.

There are positives though, and 2014 promises to be a bumper year for the local music scene with a wealth of talent coming through the ranks. The unhinged grunge of The Wytches, Kins’s alt-pop, Physics House Band’s prog, TRAAMS’s kraut-punk and GAPS’s folk-tronica are all set to build on an excellent 2013 with new releases, while Sonic Anhedonic Recording Company are continuing to turn out top notch releases, the most recent of which was Eugene Quell’s debut EP, released on a name-your-price basis to download on new year’s day. Quell writes ’90s slacker rock in the mould of Pavement or Nirvana’s poppier elements and the melodies will be stuck in your head after the first listen. With more records to come from Love Among The Mannequins, Chalk and the excellent Bermuda Ern this could well be the year the label starts to break even.

The pick of this week goes to the Green Door Store’s third birthday party on Friday. Recently voted venue of the year for 2013 in our readers poll (the runners up and other categories are all listed on the website), the Green Door Store is the first choice when it comes to interesting and innovative events in Brighton. Whether they are hosting international touring bands, local all-dayers, late night jazz sessions, afternoon barbecues, magazine launches or full-blown discos, Green Door Store make it work. True, there’s no card machine and true, it’s rusty paintwork and cobbled floor can makes it a bit rough around the edges, but that’s Brighton, and that’s the charm. The line-up for this particular night has yet to be announced at the time of writing but we’ve been given the nod that it will be out by the time the magazine hits the shelves and, based on the in-house booking team’s historically immaculate taste, it should be a blinder. Don’t miss it.

Pic: EUGENE QUELL PRESS.

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