A Monthly Review of Music for April 2007

A Monthly Review of Music for April 2007

Okay, I’m a slack reviewer. No, not really, I’ve actually been insanely busy (yes, some of us do work for a living) and I’m not sure I even have time to breathe. So I though it might be a good idea to write up everything I’ve seen this month, short sound bites, and leave it at that. Your eyes get a break.

Friday 6th April 07: MAY BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND
Jamie Rainbow (White Rhino): All Time Top 100: Cosmopolitan Bar, Kemptown Bumped into an old friend on Friday after work. He was sipping cider outside the Wagon and Horses pub, so I stopped for a pint. We were later joined by his girlfriend. This weekend they were sans their 3-year-old (“Yay! We can do drugs!”). Our friend Jez was due to be playing at the Cosmo Bar. The only Friday night I knew was ATT100. Knowing Jez’s taste in music, we fantasized about hearing hard-core German industrial mixed with some Shostakovich and Mary Poppins. Fantastic. We raced down to Cosmo, only to find that there was no Jez, there was no Jamie Rainbow, it had all been a case of mistaken identity. We stayed for a few pints and some shots of tequila, got some Grubs burgers, and then sadly went home. The reality was that we were both exhausted and I was glad to return to my bed after a long and hard week at work.

Sunday 8th April: MAY BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND ALL-DAYERS
Electric Playboys Bank Holiday Blowout: The Sick Lil’ Munkeez, Moai, Granted, Phat Pants & guests: Hector’s House + Bust the Box/Don’t Panic: Pressure Point Some argue that I’m a glutton for punishment, and after being up all night doing backbends, inhaling logfire fumes and drinking ether, I thought going to two all-dayers, back2back, would be a nice gentle way to spend May Bank Holiday Sunday. At 3pm, it was early days for both all-dayers and being a bright sunny day, most people were sunning on the grassy plains of St Peter’s Church and Grand Parade. A few hours in saw Hector’s House bouncing, with drunken dregs of the party contingency spinning around the room and motoring belly-down on skateboards across the room. The Electric Playboys all-dayer was an extension of their fun-loving party nights and Dan & Greg were a wise bunch of monkeys to set up the spectacularly loud Y-Inter Sound System for the session. I especially liked Granted & Phat Pants, who danced Bez-like to every song he put on. Meanwhile, down at the PP, Bust-a-box was moving along slightly different lines, with the Innerfields Sound System bringing in the older, slightly hardened casualties from parties of yesteryears as well as the night previous. Less my vibe, despite some really good djs doing my kind of music.

Sunday 8th April: MAY BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND
A-Skillz, Soul of Man & Plump DJs (Finger Lickin’ Records): Concorde 2 The day my heart broke. Fucking Jesus on a pogo stick. Did this show blow my brains into a million Cobain pieces or what? For the first time in three years, I went on to Ticketweb and bought a ticket in advance. Fuck the bourgeois (but hopelessly inevitable) force of tradition with the whole queuing business. Buy a ticket, jump the motherfucker. I went with K, who despite being the queen of clubland, also bought a ticket. Bank holiday weekend, no fucking around. A-Skillz did an “against the grain” set by playing house party hiphop classics, which warmed up the sizeable crowd indeed.

Justin Rushmore from Soul of Man next took the stage. He heated up the hot plates, hotted up the hot cakes, bounced the beats ‘til they were breaking, and before we knew it, both Plump DJ boys took the stage. I later heard barks from the clubbing militia that Justin played the same set the last time he played in Brighton — being virginal about the whole thing, well, I wouldn’t know that. Justin gave the Plump boys a run for their money, which is not surprising since he was one of the label’s founders. His set was more “Sukdat” than “Shake ‘Em Down”, more “Lowdowndirty” than “DirtyWaltzer”.

And then the Plump DJs, my word. Lee Rous and Andy Gardener are both very pretty boys, so I didn’t mind too much that they played a near two-hour set. Despite being crammed like a battery chicken in the main room, I got some respite from being right up on the front lines near the boys, where K and I gave it some, along with the rest of the Electric Playboys massive, an old man in a wheelchair, a dry-mouthed pill-popper, his gyrating girlfriend, and about half of Brighton. Like the flying 52 cards oft shown publicity, pick any song out of the Plump DJ deck and they probably played it that night — “Scram”, “The Push”, “Electric Disco”, “In Stereo” and everyone’s mother’s favourite, “Get Kinky”. The words “fat bass” was the holy litany, and oh was it – every tune they served up made my friends look at each other in disbelief. They had the Brighton crowd eating out of the palm of their hands. Nobody could believe it when four am rolled around. Thanks guys. If you haven’t seen the Plumps before, do it before they need hearing aids.

Wednesday 11th April: Live Music: Western Front, Western Road (Churchill Square)
Going to a live music night is a turn up for the books for me. This is a weekly thing upstairs run by a friend of a friend so I went along for a taster. Hear new music in an intimate venue. Shame some obnoxious skinhead was jabbering loudly in Polish in the front of the room — I duly shouted at him to go home and watch tv. Sounds like: Stereolab, Paul Weller.

Saturday 14th April: All Time Top 100 4th Birthday Party Part 1 with Kissy Sell Out, South Central, Bust the Box, The Kleptones, Dynamite Sal, Christ Almighty: Concorde 2
Dragged my housemate Rob and his friend Guwaine, a music producer and discerning music snob with specific left-field tastes. Guwaine, who just moved to Brighton from Barcelona, insisted he would hate the night. “I don’t like anything. I went to a night at the Concorde a few weeks ago and it was awful.” Lots of well-dressed, posturing folks, with girls who want to be Debbie Gibson in their finest fake pearls and boys who just want to be pretty. The three of us sampled a band in the main room then bopped in the bar area. The guys doing the visuals were sweethearts, and I was especially pleased when the djs put on Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” at special request. I did the jiggy with a guy in cornrows, the funky chicken with Jarvis Cocker’s younger cousin, Christ Almighty (especially charming in his polyester brown suit) and some Tuaca-inspired body pops with the boys. Guwaine texted later to say he had a splendid night. There. Sounds like: Miami Sound Machine without the bass.

Monday 16th April: Live music: Lord Nelson pub, Trafalgar Street
Something different. I like the Lord Nelson because they have real cider on tap (Stowford Press, I think) as well as Westons Organic in bottle. A small PA is set up in the backroom. Live music from solo artists and smaller duos and trios. Sounds like: Alanis Morissette grown up, Fugazi without the straight-edge.

Saturday 21st April: General Midi, Cursor Miner, Symmetrik, DirtPop: Slackers Convention: Concorde 2
I love all these guys, but I’ll keep this short since I help Slackers on the night, and boy was it a long night! For this month, the boys decided to try a new layout since the introduction of the bass heavy Y-Inter Sound System in the bar meant you got sound clash every time the double doors swung open. Not good. So they moved things around, with the dj booth at the front of the bar, big sound in the main room and another set up in the smaller back room. Though I’m a big Midi fan, my favourite of the night was dancing in the backroom, where the dj comp winners played out their sets on the Funkollectif Soundsystem along with DJ Bluefeet and Boaj (Weird Q). Nice ones to Cecil D, who stomped the backroom, and to Chloe, who ‘80’ed up the front bar. Dirtpop’s Jamie and Chris were especially fat that night as well. The place was packed, everyone was messy and the night carried on well into the next day as per normal.

Tuesday 24th April: Money Mark + guests: Audio
End of the month, and my exhaustion from work and fun was starting to show. Went with K. A pretty chilled evening, starting with two warm up acts. Missed the first one, but caught Silent Jim playing lonesome cowboy-spangled blues. Money Mark, formerly of Beastie Boys fame, came on stage with a glass of red wine and wearing sunglasses and sat on the keyboards. He was accompanied by a backing band (tight drummer) and played from his newest album “Brand New by Tomorrow” which came out earlier this year, as well as past albums “Mark’s Keyboard Repairs”, “Push the Button” and others. They say: Jack Johnson’s label, low-fi, laidback.

Friday 27th April: All Time Top 100 4th Birthday Party Part 2 with Phil Hartnol (Orbital): Cosmopolitan Bar, Kemptown
Last but not least, the night where all my friends developed ADD in one fell swoop. Phil Hartnoll played a fun old school set with loads of early 80s electro, ragga, hiphop and even a few Orbital tunes to keep the drunk fans happy. Quality. And yes, it was packed.

Final note: It’s May and it’s the Brighton Festival and I am NOT leaving my house.

Words: Amy the Film Maker