Viva Brighton April 2015 Issue #26

local musicians
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Ben Bailey rounds up the Brighton music scene
ELECTROWORX
Fri 3, Hope & Ruin, 7.30pm, Free
This showcase of homegrown
electronica makes
a point of promising
much more than blokes
staring at laptops. From
the improvised ambient
synths of Champion
Fever to the reworked
trip-hop of Adolescent and Pollen’s looped
mash-ups, the night’s emphasis is a fusion of live
instrumentation and experimental electronic
sounds. Curated by Brighton’s bitbin, a composer
and performer who emerged from a decade of engineering
work with his own synthesis of twitchy
ambient beats and epic Boards Of Canada chord
changes, the line-up is interspersed by modular
synth sets by VCOADSR and topped off with live
audio-reactive visuals.
ALMIGHTY PLANETS
Fri 3, Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, 11pm
Things seemed to be going well for Almighty
Planets when they supported Young Fathers at
The Haunt for Wire’s DRILL festival back in
December. Now, without warning, they’ve decided
to call it a day. The eight-piece funk and soul band
haven’t given a reason for the split, issuing only a
‘thank you’ missive declaring a blow-out farewell
show at Sticky Mike’s. After eight years stoking up
a party wherever they went (including a previous
stint as BOY COM), the band’s demise will be a
shame for fans of fun-loving funk and hip hop,
especially after the departure of similarly spirited
Mean Poppa Lean the year before last. Let’s hope
they go out with a big bang.
BLACK SUNDAY VIII
Sun 5, Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, 2.30pm, £6.50
“A band drenched in metal, brutality and malevolence.”
That’s how Brighton thrash band King
Leviathan describe themselves in the run up to
this all-day mini metalfest. Now in its eighth year,
Black Sunday has become a calling of the banners
for South Coast headbangers – offering a mix of
death metal, industrial thrash and the fifty shades
of black in between. The full bill includes XVLTR,
They Live, Bleed Again, Last Days Of Rome,
Hawka Hurricane, Enslavement, Aperitas and
Tellurium. The headline slot goes to Eastbourne’s
Vehement whose two-part metal epic entitled
Carrion Rule and Oceans Of Rot could possibly be
inspired by their hometown.
MOK
Wed 15, Green Door Store, 7pm, £3
In the not-toodistant
future your
grandchildren will
need to be sat down
and taught about
these things we used
to call albums. Four
years in and hip hop new-wavers MOK still show
no inclination to put out a record – instead releasing
a string of video-assisted standalone singles,
each more polished and ambitious than the last.
The newest, Cutloose, sees the band return to their
house-party roots, only this time with a decidedly
dark twist on their pop sensibilities. An euphoric
coming-up chorus alternates with a manic break
suggesting anxiety attacks, random nosebleeds
and the kind of chemical disorientation that your
grandchildren will probably know only too well.
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