February has picked up a fair few gig highlights in Brighton already with Late Of The Pier, Wild Beasts and Elbow due to play, as well as the NME Tour hitting town. An amazing blend of tastes, ages, styles and clout for the circuit to showcase for Brighton’s lovely residents. Here’s a couple of fresh listings that should also be well worth making note of…
DAS POP
I cannot stand Alphabeat. Really. They’re the kind of sugar-infused pop that’s simply too sickly even in the smallest of portions. It therefore goes that I should also dislike Das Pop just as much, as there’s certainly enough of a similarity. It’s the kind of 80’s-tinged pop that takes too much from the period that’s shelved under ‘wrong’ – i.e. the Kenny Loggins, (see the song Footloose), kind of beat and glaringly obvious melodies – you know exactly where the next 16 beats are going to go. Where as the 80’s-tinged pop La Roux goes for is all Prince, Eurythmics and The Cocteau Twins – i.e. superb. However, my notice was prompted by the fact that Das Pop comes with a blessing from the likes of Justice, SebastiAn and Soulwax. Hmm. Upon further investigation they’ve grown on me. It’s less McFly and more Ladyhawke and apparently their live set is something to behold, with their swinging basslines and funked-up fun. It is with this that I point you to their mid-Feb club night in New Hero. Get drunk, step up and don’t forget to wear your dayglo leg warmers…
ACT: DAS POP
VENUE: NEW HERO, Lower Dyke Road, Brighton
COST: £ 6.00 +
DATE: 13th February 2009
WEBSITE: Myspace
HEELS CATCH FIRE
As previously pointed out to so lovingly in The Recommender 23 recently, this Brighton based 4-piece are well worth a few of your finest shillings to see live. They play very tight sets of angular, fast-paced Indie. It’s all about the guitars with these guys. You wouldn’t be too wide of the mark thinking of a kind of Maximo Park on fast forward. It’s never too heavy to or too brash to make you switch off. The songs drive along as if heading for a brick wall, only to swerve to safety at the last minute. It’s high octane, brilliant stuff. Elliot’s vocals lift the scene from the page and together this provides the melody that sits neatly on top of the guitars riffs. Set for a promising 2009, they play at Brighton’s NME club night, just a few weeks before they head off to the awesome SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. There’s no better showcase for new bands anywhere in the world than at this Texan party, so catch them now, before any triumphant return from the States.
ACT: HEELS CATCH FIRE
VENUE: COALITION, Club NME, Brighton Beach
COST: Free
DATE: 11th February 2009
WEBSITE: Myspace
Don’t allow either of the above gigs to slip under your radar in what will prove a busy month in February. At least now you can’t say that you haven’t been warned. See you there…
Mike
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