Viva Brighton Issue #60 February 2018

MUSIC
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Ben Bailey rounds up the local music scene
Photo by Annick Wolfers
TOM
Tue 6, Bom-Bane’s, 8pm, £15/5
A band that’s impossible to Google comprises two
guys, neither of whom is called Tom. Whatever the
reason for the misleading name, at least the music
made by this acoustic duo is accessible and upfront.
Sussex songwriters Colin and Lance mix comedy
ditties about politics and vegetables with rambling
banter and the odd melancholic folk ballad. There
are echoes of Dylan in the stripped-back guitar style,
but it’s the gentle humour of the doubled-up vocals
that make Tom’s tunes worth a listen. After playing
in far-flung places like Peacehaven and Piddinghoe
the guys are celebrating their first anniversary in a
Kemptown restaurant. The £15 ticket includes a meal
prepared by everyone’s favourite chef, singer and
novelty hat-maker Jane Bom-Bane.
THE GO! TEAM
Sun 11, Concorde
2, 7pm, £16
The Go! Team are
back in the ring.
Last month saw the
release of their fifth
album, Semicircle, and it’s their most compelling for
a while. The result of a wildly inventive collision of
sounds and styles, the album sees original vocalist
Ninja return to the fold to lay down some urgent
and old-school rap over the top of songwriter Ian
Parton’s meticulously layered samples. The band
are currently touring as an eight-piece, which
suggests the shows will be as energetic and diverse
as ever. Parton enlisted a Detroit youth choir for the
album, alongside what sounds like a wayward and
hyperactive marching band. How they’ll pull that
off on stage is anyone’s guess, but that’s possibly part
of the appeal.
Photo by Mayumi Hirata
BRITISH SEA POWER
Tue 20, Concorde 2, 7.30pm, £16
Like many bands
that put out records
last year, British Sea
Power’s latest material
was informed by a definite
sense of political
unease. While the lyrics on Let the Dancers Inherit
the Party may have been inspired by the era of dread
inaugurated by the ‘bare-faced liar in the White
House’, the musical tone of their crowd-funded
album took a strangely upbeat turn. After a four-year
hiatus and a slew of sombre film soundtracks, the
band returned in rude health, issuing a positive
affirmation in the face of uncertainty and fear.
This Brighton date, which ends a month-long UK
tour, will be a glorious get-together for those lucky
enough to bag a ticket.
SQUID
Fri 23, Green Door Store, 7pm, £3
Atmospheric post-rock jams don’t usually get much
traction on the radio, but Squid’s single Liquid Light
nevertheless found its way onto BBC Introducing and
Tom Robinson’s 6 Music show last year. The song
has a motorik pulse compelling enough to carry the
swirling krautrock soundscape; it’s also about half
the length of the band’s other tracks, which surely
helped. The Brighton five-piece, who met and
started playing while at university here, channel the
hypnotic sounds of My Bloody Valentine and Stereolab,
but probably owe more to modern torchbearers
like Flamingods and Floating Points. If you get
there early you’ll also hear the lo-fi saxophone songs
of Leatherhead, some shoegazing post-punk from
Red Deer People and a set of ‘sadcore alt-country’
courtesy of M Butterfly.
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