Viva Brighton Issue #45 November 2016

LOCAL MUSICIANS
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Ben Bailey rounds up the Brighton music scene
THE WYTCHES
Fri 4, Concorde2, 7pm, £10
Puncturing the pressure
of expectations that had
been building since their
wildly successful 2014
debut, The Wytches put
out an EP earlier this year that was recorded in a
garage and released on cassette. Did this mean that
album number two - arriving a few months later in
September - was able to stand on its own merits?
Well, yes and no. Kristian Bell’s anguished vocal
howls and surf guitar lines are no longer the focus,
and they’ve got a keyboard player onboard, but
the new material hasn’t shifted gear quite enough
to offset the angsty image that the band always
claimed was misleading. For some, this will be a
relief. Though most of The Wytches have now
relocated back to Peterborough, there’s bound to be
a riotous homecoming vibe to the Brighton leg of
their UK tour.
NORMANTON STREET
Fri 11, Concorde2, 11pm, £8
A lot of local bands seem
to disappear when their
music finds an audience
elsewhere, but despite having
upcoming dates in Paris
and New York, Normanton Street are keen to keep
their roots grounded in their adopted hometown
of Brighton. This one-off club gig sees the soulful
and stylish quartet inviting their likeminded musical
friends to join them on stage for a late-night party.
Donuts, the DJs responsible for the ever-popular
Tuesday hip-hop night at the Green Door Store,
are on the bill alongside Tru Thoughts’ J-Felix - a
singer, musician and DJ whose contribution reflects
the funk and soul side of Normanton Street’s fusion
of styles.
KUDU BLUE
Thurs 17, Hope & Ruin, 8pm, £5
Having landed
support slots with
Hiatus Kaiyote and
Bipolar Sunshine,
local five-piece Kudu
Blue are now benefitting
from some decent airplay on national radio.
Their laidback and soulful electronica echoes
both 90s trip hop and the garage sounds that came
afterwards, which is probably part of the reason for
the band’s success. Another factor is that they’re
slick with it, too. Formerly of Brighton indie band
Forestears, the primary school friends at the core
of the group made a name for themselves as remixers
before their current project started in earnest
a few years ago. That background is evident in
the shades of different styles present in the band’s
songwriting and the subtle layering that goes into
their recordings.
SEALINGS
Fri 25, Green Door Store, 7pm, £4
Few bands have much success when describing
their own music, but Sealings’ album-blurb
reference to ‘misery offset by melody’ would seem
pretty apt if the phrase itself didn’t have such a
nice ring to it. There’s nothing nice about the
music made by this anonymous Brighton trio
- after all, the album in question is called I’m A
Bastard. The stark drum machines and eerie synths
might tempt a casual listener to peg them as some
kind of industrial band, but it’d be closer to the
mark to think of Sealings as wayward art rockers
intent on out-noising My Bloody Valentine and/or
Jesus and Mary Chain. The only thing that stops it
getting too dark is the fact the aural clatter makes
it impossible to work out what the sinister singer
is on about.
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