Today's idea - WHITE MINK : BLACK COTTON. Electro Swing versus Speakeasy Jazz (and win a free CD!)

Tonight the chaps behind White Mink : Black Cotton are bringing their "electro swing versus speakeasy jazz" to Brighton's Fringe Festival. As a number of one off nights in their own right, they promise "many of the very best electro-swing bands around."

The CD that spawns this birth of the retro rebirth is made up of the Black Cotton and White Cotton disks. One totes "rare and original vinyl 78's as heard at London's legendary Black Cotton Club" and the other "the very best contemporary music influenced by 20s and 30s sounds." Dragging it into the 21st century, combined they make a brilliant album. You can have a listen to it on myspace, and find a review here.


IMPORTANTLY! we've got one copy of the album to give away! If you'd like it, send an email to boredofbrighton@gmail.com telling us so! We'll find some sort of hat to pick from.

Tonight is organised through Freerange (I assume this is the same Freerange that visits London, which makes me a big fan) and opens the Brighton Festival (perhaps unofficially). Alongside local band Swing Zazou, they bring the fantastic Correspondents, who do the best dancehall version of Jungle book's 'Be like you' I've ever heard. You can find them on MySpace and Last.fm - they've definitely worth a listen.

"We also have DJ sets from Nick Hollywood (White Mink) incorporating live VJing with sexy 1920’s black and white silent era movie clips, burlesque, display dancers and our award winning Black Cotton Club partners in crime, El Nino and Lady Kamikaze spinning original 78’s. Plus Carnivaleque DJs and Continental Drifts of Lost Vagueness fame too.
This event will bring together all the prime movers and shakers of the new Electro Swing scene in the UK for the very first time and will be a chance to catch what’s going on before it hits Glastonbury, Big Chill, Bestival etc later this year.

"As we emerge from the freeze of 2010, we have HOT music to stir the adrenalin, and when we say HOT, we mean SCORCHING! Music from the era that defined HOT.” (Tunes)

“Yes this really is a new genre, and an exciting one at last!” TimeOut"

Find more information here and you can get tickets online from brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk.

Time: 7.30pm - 2am.
At: St Peters Church Gardens
Cost: £10, £12 on door.

Today's idea - Free Screening of Hitchcock's North by Northwest

Today there's a chance to catch the Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant North by Northwest as it screens for free as part of City Reads, which has been taking place since National Book Week.

"Hapless New York advertising executive, Roger O. Thornhill, is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the States by both spies and the government while he looks for a way to survive." (Find more at imdb)

Tonight, at 6pm, it's being shown at the very shiny Jubilee Library. It's free, it's a very good film. These things make us smile.


P.S. There's a deluge of soft rock, glam and drone at "Contort Yourself" taking place at the Jazz Place tonight, which looks rather good too.

Today's idea - Wild Planet Photographer of the Year Exhibition

The sun's out! Today we recommend checking out the Wild Planet Photographer of the year. The touring exhibition features 80 of the most spectacular image taken from Wildlife photographer of the year and is spread along the promenade between the two piers. As the world's most prestigious wildlife photography competition and an international leader in providing new insights into the natural world, the photos should be brilliant.



"Displayed outside, on a large scale, the dramatic images will be available to enjoy throughout the day and will be illuminated by night for people to view while taking an evening stroll along the promenade.

Wild Planet will feature 80 of the most spectacular images taken from Wildlife Photographer of the Year – the world’s most prestigious wildlife photography competition and an international leader in providing new insights into the natural world. The special selection of past award-winning and commended competition images are captioned with the story of how they were taken, alongside insights into the species captured on film, inspiring and educating a new generation of wildlife photographers and nature enthusiasts."

Find it until 26 September between the two piers.

Today's idea - The Chocolate Festival

"The Chocolate Festival is a unique event which gives visitors a special opportunity to enjoy a wide range of chocolate related products - as well as fine truffles, bars and bonbons, you will be able to buy savory food with chocolate, chocolate cakes, pancakes, ice cream, milkshakes and more."

With free admission, the Chocolate Festival taking place today and continuing tomorrow is a good excuse to learn more about chocolate using your mouth. With a specific program you can find here including 'Taste of Chocolate: The chocolate tasting experience - how to be a chocolate connoisseur in three easy steps' it's the best sort of educational.

It sits under the notion that "Chocolate is made of cocoa beans, which are the natural fruit of the cocoa tree, it is full of anti-oxidants and nutrients, and when is not processed with lots of sugar and fat, it is actually very good for you!" although notably doesn't stipulate that all chocolate at Chocolate Festival will be of such. There might be some weight gain.

Find it at New Road, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 - Opposite Royal Pavilion.

Today's idea - Cream12 at the Crane Kalman Gallery

If you've recently wandered down Kensington Gardens past the Crane Kalman Gallery, a place that looks suspiciously too much like an expensive photography store than a gallery to warrant a visit, you may have noticed a change in display. Until the 4th of April the gallery will be displaying a Showcase of Graduate Photography Talent, titled Cream12. It follows last year's display with BA photography graduates of 2008, and they seem keen and excited to feature more interesting, diverse, and people-pulling photographs on their mass of white walls.

"The exhibition includes graduates from the most prestigious universities and colleges the length and breadth of the country from Westminster to Glasgow; Derby to Newport" with work from Tigran Asatrjans, Laura Ruutel-Ball, Leah Bartczak, Berenice Bassett, William Edward Head, Shiho Kito, Yngvild Mehren, Arthur Molyneux, Ceridwen Olofson, Josh Pollen, Carole Suety, and Jayne Taylor.

From a short walk past, the picture in the windows, as all good window pictures should be, looks intriguing and lovely and the free area definitely worth a pop into, fulfilling an arty category during a stroll into town.

The gallery's open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, and Sun 10.30am-4.30pm.

Today's idea - Thomas White in-store at Resident

Another in-store gig from Resident is on with Thomas White tonight. Described as a Brighton-based multi-talented artist, this doesn't honestly set him aside from the crowd but you're likely to recognise him as the man behind the formation of the Electric Soft Parade and Brakes, or for work as a 'hired hand' musician for british Sea Power, Patrick Wolf, and Sparks. He's been about a bit.

Today's a promotion for his forthcoming second album, "a blaze of kaleidoscopic, yes finely nuances, psych-pop, from Syd Barrett-style haunted whimsy to 70s soft rock and heavier riffing."

It's at 6pm, and you can have a listen on his MySpace. As Resident says: "It's free, just turn up."

Today's idea - Husky Rescue instore at Resident Records

Today Husky Rescue are playing a lovely live set in Resident Records. The tiny store tends to fill quite politely with Brightonians, all peering down the aisles straight into the faces of the playing bands. It's very nice.

You can listen to the band on Myspace. Tonight's ticket-less and free although their sold out gig shortly after is popular, so best to be on time if you want nice standing places. Be there for 6pm.

"This will be a stripped back, intimate acoustic set from the Finns. We are big fans of the band & love their Scandi-dream-pop – perfect to draw in the Spring. Come & see for yourself………"

Today's idea - Field Music at Resident Records

Newcastle's Field Music ploughed, in the mid 2000s, a line of beautifully executed art-pop and split, without fanfare, after 2007's splendid 'Tones Of Town'. Their main constituent parts, the brothers David and Peter Brewis, went on doing exactly what they were doing before - crafting elegant, deliciously inventive songs - under different names (David's School of Language made a fine, noisy record in 2008, which was matched by Peter's clever, Paul Auster referencing concept record as The Week That Was the same year). Then, in late 2009, they reconvened as Field Music and have just released their new LP, 'Measure' - which is tremendous news.

Initially criticised for being a touch bookish and distant as a live proposition, these days the polite, undemonstrative brothers are a failsafe bet for a night out (any band with a drummer as good as David is worth seeing, unless they're in U2 or something). Tonight they play a short, completely free set at Brighton's matchless Resident Records, in the North Laine. They're on at 6pm and will hopefully delve into their wonderful back-catalogue as well as playing some new songs. No need to get tickets, but you'd be well advised to get their early.

Their sound - which you can check out in the video below - is intensely musical; gorgeous Geordie harmonies, abrupt tempo-changes and unusual time signatures, with orchestration which varies from lush and pastoral to aggressive and loose.