Brighton Culture

Swans live review

Adam Bambury — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:32:58 +0000

Gig review of Swans, who played the Concorde 2 in Brighton, April 2nd 2013. Michael Gira stands with arms aloft, gleefully murmuring low incantations. Eyes half closed and staring into the distance, he sways as the rest of Swans lay out a thick textured drone. In the audience a drunken man flings himself around, oblivious [...]

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Brighton Festival

Mark Kirby — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:57:06 +0000

The Brighton Festival programme has been launched, full of events selected with the help of this years Guest Director, world renowned children’s poet and Michel Roux lookalike Michael Rosen. The festival also coincides with the now enormous Brighton Fringe and The Great Escape to create a mammoth month of live events for Brighton in May. Our free highlights of this years [...]

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Converge live review

philmason — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:32:23 +0000

Gig review of Converge, the original US hardcore band who played the Concorde 2 in Brighton, December 2012. This month will see the close of what could possibly be the loudest year in the history of Brighton. Earth, Sunn O)))), Melvins, Acid Mother’s Temple… in 2012, if you wanted something a bit more extreme, this [...]

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sunn O))) live review

Graham — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 19:50:55 +0000

It's minutes before Sunn are due to take the stage, and the anticipation in the air is so thick you could cut it with some kind of spiky ceremonial dagger...

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GIG REVIEW: Arbouretum, Luke Roberts, Hush Arbors @ The Latest Music Bar, 1/5/12

Graham — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:53:45 +0000

The last time I saw bearded Baltimore folk-fuzz-rockers Arbouretum I’d heard nothing by them. I was going by the sporadic but emphatic buzz emanating from certain lantern-toting music buffs in the know who treated the band with the hushed reverence only attained by masters of their craft. The hairy hermits were right. I left stunned [...]

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GIG REVIEW: Pelican, The Haunt, 12/4/12

Graham — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:45:57 +0000

Pelican have been plying their particular instrumental furrow for some time now. As furrows go, it’s a fertile if relatively unchanging one, with something for everyone from the beer swilling metal maniac to the socially awkward post-rock aficionado. Though they touch on many genres, they have an unmistakeable warm, swaggering, chugging sound of their own. [...]

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GIG REVIEW: Soccer96, Green Door Store, 24/3/12

Graham — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:01:31 +0000

An enthralled home-town crowd are packed into the Green Door Store to witness local boys Soccer96 release their self-titled new album into the wild. On one level the band are easy to describe: there’s two of them, one on synths the other on drums. But the musical and avenues they travel are many and varied, [...]

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ART: Dreams of Here, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery

Graham — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:17:33 +0000

Three artists with close links to Sussex have been drawn together for an exhibition in which sense of place and exploration of consciousness emerge as central themes. Three artists, three rooms, a video interview with the artist in the corner of each. Dreams of Here is an exhibition that invites you to compare working methods and ideas of space, figure and memory.

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FILM/MUSIC: Vampyr – Steve Severin event, 29/01/12

Graham — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:06:39 +0000

Walking into a packed foyer, it was nice to see I wasn’t the only one excited by the prospect of Steve Severin, founder member of Siouxsie and the Banshees, performing a soundtrack for ‘Vampyr’ by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. It didn’t matter whether the majority of people were there as fans of the Severin, Dreyer or, like me, both.

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ART: Robert Goff: An Etcher in the Wake of Whistler, Brighton Museum

mark — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:52:44 +0000

Invoking a big name like Whistler might help us find a pathway into the work of a lesser known artist, but it won't help if that pathway is misleading. I’ve struggled to see much similarity between Robert Goff (1837-1922) the Hove based etcher and James Whistler (1834-1903), the painter whose splashy canvases and book The Gentle Art of Making Enemies outraged the art establishment of the time.

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ART: Where to buy artist-made Christmas gifts in Brighton

Graham — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:32:22 +0000

Still struggling with the seasonal shopping? It doesn't all have to be trawling through Amazon or fighting the crowds at Churchill Square. Christmas is the perfect opportunity to support the arts and buy something truly special. Here are three of the best places in Brighton to buy creative Christmas gifts.

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GIG REVIEW: The Besnard Lakes at Brighton Ballroom, 23/11/11

Graham — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 11:17:50 +0000

The Besnard Lakes probably have an amazing record collection. Shelves of 70s soft-rock rarities, obscure progressive concept albums and original copies of out of press early 90s shoegaze classics.

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GIG REVIEW: Cautionhorses / Ragweed / Toe, the Cowley Club, 22/10/11

Graham — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:19:17 +0000

The gig started with Toe. But before they came on we were subjected to choral, opera and 20s music, which was a pleasant change from the sort of nonsense you often get between bands.

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PREVIEW: Hand Baked Arcade, Blind Tiger (previously Hector’s House), 9/10/11

Graham — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 14:44:17 +0000

If you’ve ever longed to return to the video gaming simplicity of previous years, or just yearn to beat someone to a pulp on Street Fighter 2 like you used to do to your brother after school, then start practising your special moves - the Handbaked Arcade is coming to Brighton.

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Timber Timbre gig review, Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, Brighton, 01/09/2011

Graham — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:58:32 +0000

"I don't believe in ghosts, but I have seen the demon host." With lyrics like these, who needs harrowing music to convey a sense of the impending apocalypse? But then with instruments sounding this lush, you wouldn't want Timber Timbre to go acapella...

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Soundwaves Festival, Brighton, 14–17/7/2011

Graham — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:33:45 +0000

From beer to beards, Brighton seems to have a festival of some description every weekend over the summer. Unlike many of them, Soundwaves isn’t an excuse to flog you expensive yet enticing food and drink while a dodgy funk band plays in the background. A registered charity dedicated to experimental sound, it’s supported by local institutions like Brighton University as well as the Arts Council and that bastion of the musical avant-garde, Wire magazine [...]

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Six Organs of Admittance gig review, Komedia, 11/6/2011

Graham — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:20:16 +0000

Six Organs of Admittance at Komedia, Brighton 11/6/2011 by Adam Bambury Last time Ben Chasny visited Brighton he had a full band in tow. They blasted the audience with electrified squalls of noisy distortion, focusing on the frequent dissonance that pulses through his extensive oeuvre rather than the equally common moments of sun-dappled beauty. Tonight [...]

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Sufjan Stevens gig review, Brighton Dome, 14/05/2011

Graham — Sun, 15 May 2011 17:41:50 +0000

Sufjan Stevens mesmerised the Brighton Dome last night. There were dancers, balloons, confetti, angel wings and a fluorescent stage show. Behind the band, outsider art-inspired video projections that attempted to send us to a different mental cosmos. The setlist was mainly sourced from his latest album Age of Adz. But there were a few songs from the All Delighted People E.P. as well as older material from Illinois. The night kicked off with a bang when Seven Swans reached its rousing crescendo.

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Barn Owl gig review, The Hope, 2/5/2011

Graham — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:24:35 +0000

For a couple of bearded guitarists specializing in droning instrumental soundscapes, Barn Owl have a pretty high profile. Previous releases have been put out by likes of hip noiseniks Not Not Fun. Their most recent release, the brooding and revelatory Ancestral Star, came out on Thrill Jockey.

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Skindred gig review, Concorde 2, 26/04/2011

Graham — Sun, 01 May 2011 11:55:27 +0000

A swirling cacophony of noise engulfed a sold out Concorde 2 as Skindred kicked off their 2011 tour in fine style. Their unique kaleidoscope of genres (is there a word to describe the combination of punk, heavy rock and reggae!?!) fused together to create an exhausting night of pogo bouncing, old fashioned moshing and even the retro robot.

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