Brighton after dark: 12 August 2014

BEN BAILEY
House parties and record labels

If DZ Deathrays (Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, Tues 19 Aug) sound like two excitable lads making a racket at a house party, it’s probably cos that’s how they started. The Australian thrash pop duo have come quite a way from their origins in Brisbane’s suburbs: their new album, Black Rats, is released in the UK this month on Infectious Records, which makes them labelmates with the likes of Drenge, Alt-J and These New Puritans. Rumour has it the new songs are more mature, but that wouldn’t be hard given the all-or-nothing vitriolic tantrum of their debut. After all, that was a record which Pitchfork, with usual restraint, deemed “more than worth going deaf to”. Situated on the edge of indie, with one foot in the metal camp and one on the dancefloor, DZ Deathrays are sure to win over even more ears this time round.

Jordan Lee of Mutual Benefit (Proud Cabaret, Sun 17 Aug) was going to put out his latest album as a limited edition cassette-only self release, until his friends offered to start a label and put it out properly. Turned out their idea of ‘properly’ was a limited edition vinyl-only release on a Brooklyn micro-label. Nobody quite realised how it would take off, but luckily the label associated with the legendary East Village record store Other Music was on hand to help out with the rapid demand. On the face of it, the story is nothing novel – an itinerant twenty-something works out his troubles in a room with a guitar – but the record in question, Love’s Crushing Diamond, is a majestic gem of an album. Fans of Mercury Rev or Sufjan Stevens might well find themselves hooked in by Lee’s understated guitar style and gorgeous singing voice; both of which are complimented by liberal layers of lovingly assembled field recordings.

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Brighton Noise
James McLarnon on the week’s best gigs

It’s a compliment of the highest order to be credited with helping to invent a musical genre, like Slint (Old Market, Tues) are with post-rock. Their Spiderland record of 1991, along with Talk Talk’s 1988 classic Spirit Of Eden are widely acknowledged as the sparks that helped create a genre that expanded to include better known outfits such as Mogwai, Sigur Ros and Explosions In The Sky. The band split before the world had time to acknowledge them, but have periodically reformed since 2005. Long sold out, if you haven’t got a ticket then do what you got to do to get one, we won’t judge you.

Culture (Concorde, Fri) are stone cold reggae legends. Formed in 1976, their monstrously important debut album Two Sevens Clash is one of the landmarks of politically-charged Rastafarian militant music, up there with Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey and Black Uhuru’s Sinsimilla. Widely credited with uniting the punk and reggae crowd’s through John Peel’s patronage, lead singer Joseph Hill died in 2006 but his spirit lives on through his son Kenyatta, who will front this show.

Legends of recorded music not your thing? It’s a tough crowd this week. Hookworms (The Haunt, Fri) are about as up-to-the-minute-hot as you can get. A modern psychedelic outfit, they are known for their explosive live performances, which are not a million miles away from Spiritualized at their most bombastic. Get there early as The Soft Walls are opening the show and they are a favourite act of ours at the moment.

“Nah, I wanna get really heavy” I hear you say? Well, American noise-rockers Pissed Jeans are for those who think that The Jesus Lizard were pussies. Unrelentingly vicious live performances and records saw them picked up by Nirvana’s old label Sub Pop in 2007. Most recent album Honeys is more precision scalpel rather than sledgehammer; it’s also their best.

Reserve yourself a free ticket for Amen Dunes (Sticky Mike’s, Thurs) via seetickets. He’s received rave reviews for his Bon Iver gone Syd Barrett-isms of new album Love, and was excellent supporting Mac Demarco back in May.

Last but not least, Brighton Noise are hosting a night of goodies headlined by Man Ray Sky (Green Door Store, Fri), with support provided by Saturday Sun and extremely promising Nick Cave/Captain Beefheart disciple Rooster Cole. Come along and say hello, we won’t bite!

Follow: @BrightonNoise