Today's idea - Mystery Jets Pop Up Gig on the Pier!

We accidentally listed this last week. It's TODAY though, so if you'd like to win two tickets for you and a friend, email boredofbrighton@gmail.com with your name! Winners will be picked by this afternoon and you'll be added to the Guestlist!

Without further ado, a description of tonight's brilliant event:

'First come first served' tonight as The Mystery Jets play a pop up show as part of the Chevrolet Spark Unscheduled Tour. The Mystery Jets pop in and around Brighton and tonight's somewhat exclusive (in grand terms) on the end of the Pier (sea-end) should be lovely. Yes yes, pop up's meant to have been done to death but this is a bit cool.

They'll be playing at Horatio;s Bar, "a traditional English pub with sea views like no other as it's at the end of the of Brighton Pier." Only 200 guests will be able to go to this and the event promises new swanky tracks from their third album. It sounds good even if solely for its pop-up novelty, and the band are rather lovely acoustically too (they did a nice stint in the Sussex Campus bar three years ago which was ace).

If you'd like to go (without entering our competition), you'll need to send off a quick 'get me in' type email here. You can find more info on Facebook and Twitter

All Free! Huzzah. Takes place at 7pm. If you want free guestlist entry on this exclusive gig, email boredofbrighton@gmail.com

Today's idea - Two Spot Gobi at Komedia

It's been a year since I last saw Two Spot Gobi play in Brighton and now they've moved up from Casablanca's to Komedia. "Fresh from recording and touring the USA with Jason Mraz, the energetic soul-pop group return to shake Komedia as part of their You Make It Easy single release tour."

Last.fm gushes their praise, praising the feel good factor they bring to shows, with a contagious energy bouncing around the stage and spilling into the audience, making people dance and smile. Yes, a bit cheesy but it sounds nice.



Have a listen on Myspace or last.fm and they bring support in the form of Frankie Young and Chukin.

You can find the even on Facebook, last.fm

Time: 7.30pm
Cost: £6
Location: Komedia
Tickets: here

Today's idea - Anagrams at the Prince Albert

Today Anagrams, a Brighton-based band with lots of lovely reviews play in town at the Prince Albert before they head off to Somerset to play the Beekstock Festival later this year. Surprisingly unsigned, they're toted as much more than a demo band already and, if they continue in this way, could really take off. (-BBC South:Live) The Source, for one, loves them, calling them ""jaw-dropping" and "mind-blowing" and they've supported The Phantom Bnad, Wooden Shjips (brilliant at The FreeButt this month), The Joy Formidable and the Antlers.

"Rather intelligent, rather good alternative English indie rock, touches of Stone Roses in there with their falling Autumn Leaves, touches of lots of things actually, mostly about good songs and refined sounds, a band with a little more depth and a touch of indie rock class to them, lot of body and soul to their guitar rock.

They’re from Brighton and this early shot is well worth your time, sounds like someone should put this out as a single, they’re a little bit more than a demo band already, Saving Up is particularly good in a brooding broken hearted tearing up Elbow kind of way." - Organ Magazine

So, very good we conclude. For a listen find them on myspace or last.fm. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter @Anagrams_band. Find a nice video of them rehearsing and dancing here.


Tonight you can catch them at the Prince Albert where they're playing with 900 Spaces.

Find tickets here.
Time: 8pm
Location: 48 Trafalgar St
Map: here

Today's idea - The Joy Formidable

The Joy Formidable last came to the somewhat stark venue of Audio last June and return again today after a year supporting the likes of Passion Pit, Temper Trap and Editors. They're now breaking out their own tour which today comes to Brighton in the run-up to their new single release.

"Melding Ritzy Bryan’s vocals to a gargantuan guitar hook and a wall of noise and melody that is rapidly becoming the band’s signature sound, 'Popinjay' comes backed by a stunning animated video."

Wonderfully animated video it is, and you can find it below or have a hop over to The Joy Formidable MySpace. Tonight the band come with the support of the Baddies, a lovely, noisy, guitar-laded and buttoned-up-shirt group, who NME and Clash have featured in their incessant list of 'next band's.

Doors at 8pm, we're missing the cost but image £5-9, and you can find the event on Last.fm.



Image via Litost on Flickr

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 - 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.

Today's idea - The Soft Pack, Freebutt

Today's suggestion: Tonight, The Soft Pack play The Freebutt.
£7.50 / Doors 7.30pm

The Soft Pack started out life in San Diego with a different name entirely: The Muslims. Perhaps predictably, this monicker generated more heat than light and, following endless publicity which focused on their name, The Soft Pack was decided upon as a more appropriate way to present themselves.

What was particularly unfair about the Muslims debacle, is that even when they traded under that contentious brand, it was pretty obvious, pretty early, that they had a keenly developed and sellable sound. The Soft Pack trade in a familiar but rewarding vein of compact, laidback indie rock, drawing comparisons to the Velvet Underground, The Strokes and - most tellingly - The Modern Lovers.

They play the Freebutt tonight unburdened by a contentious name, and promising a set of honed, tuneful vigour. Sample below:

Today's idea - Tuneyards at the Freebutt

It's almost as if recording an album the traditional way is no longer good enough. Ever since Bon Iver retreated to his cabin and recorded 'For Emma, Forever Ago' in starry solitude, indie rock seems to have become obsessed with recording techniques, from cut and paste collage to wilful minimalism. Merril Garbus, who is Tuneyards, has her own distinctive approach - the songs on her wild, excellent, experimental debut 'Bird Brains' were recorded live, consisting only of vocals and ukulele, onto a cheapo handheld voice recorder. Every other sound on her dense, vibrant LP, was added later using shareware software on her PC. Most of the sounds are, in fact, just that - not bits of music, but creaks and clunks, yelps and squeals. It all makes for fascinating, odd pop music, some of it sharing a spirit with the marvellous Mica Levi, of Michachu and the Shapes.

How this strange collection of demos, multi-tracked vocals and found sounds will be reassembled or re-interpreted live is, frankly, anyone's guess, so the adventurous of spirit and curious minded should prepare to brave the cold February night to head down to the Freebutt to see what strange treat Garbus cooks up. It's bound to be singular, and likely pretty impressive.



Tuneyards play tonight at the Freebutt. Tickets are £6.50.
1 Phoenix Place
BN2 2ND
Brighton, UK

Today's idea - 900 Spaces at JAM

Bored of Brighton attended, on behalf of any readers who missed Thursday's pick, an excellent gig by Sparrow last week, and it's perhaps worth mentioning that the night - the first in a new series of weekly gigs at the Providence - may be worth keeping an eye on. Every week there'll be three bands for a pound, and that has to be one of the best value gigs in town. Can't guarantee that the bands will always be worth seeing, of course, but the omens are good - not only were Sparrow excellent (as promised), but a lively, energetic set by 900 Spaces - characterised by thudding basslines, itchy guitars and waves of shimmering synths - indicated the arrival of yet another highly promising Brighton band.

The band, who formed in Chichester and are now located in Brighton, have built the sort of momentum which indicates we may be hearing more of them - they were recently played on BBC 6music, and the self-evident pleasure the band take in performing their high-tempo indie-disco is reflected in their itinery - they've a bunch of gigs coming up, and this is clearly a band who love performing. Your next chance to see them, as luck would have it, is this very evening, when they play a benefit gig for RISE, the local charity and refuge which supports victims of domestic violence.

Happily, we've got a bit of an exclusive for you here - Bored in Brighton attended the gig last week armed with a digital camera and an MD player, and captured a sample of 900 Spaces' set. All you need to do, then, is click play and make a simple decision - whether to attend or not. It goes without saying, of course, that the charitable nature of tonight's show implies strongly that a Monday night-in this week is a night-in not worth having...



900 Spaces play their vibrant, day-glo disco-pop at JAM on Middle Street, along with Kaptan Swing, The Kid Jones, Reverb and Inertia.

Tickets are £4 on the door.
9pm-12.30am & DJ ‘til 2am.

Today's idea - Creative Stitches and Hobbycraft

Today if you've got tickets to the sold out and slightly difficult to pronounce Fujiya & Miyagi come to Audio. They're a lovely band who I saw back in March last year in the tediously trendy area of London, in Shoreditch. They're very good live, and afterward I stole the set list and loitered around to get my flappy bit of paper signed by the band who I finally found backstage in something resembling a broom closet. Times have changed and they're a tad more famous now (more fool me for chucking my flappy paper) but still really rather good.

On the other hand, if you're into costumes, papercraft, jewellery making, quilting, knitting and such whatnot, the best bet's to go to the Brighton Centre. From 9:30-5pm today for £6.50, there's a mass of how-to-make demonstrations, displays, talks, and inclusive workshops. As an annual event it sounds like a good wander round for anyone interested in crafty things.

There's

"Lots of experts demonstrating including popular Textile Artist Kim Thittichai. Also at the show are the Beadworkers Guild, Quilters Guild of British Isles, Guild of Machine Knitters, Knitting & Crochet Guild, Lacemakers Circle and Ring of Tatters."

Ignoring the somewhat scarily titled 'guilds' it sounds like a genuinely fantastic how-to, and whilst there's "Handmade Brighton" taking place tomorrow, this is more of a how-to learning than solely focused around buying.

It continues until Sunday at 5:30 and there's more info on the main site here.

Today's idea - Sparrow, at the Providence

There are some really terrific bands in Brighton. Many are established, their growing fanbase the reward for years of hard-work and hundreds of great gigs. There are others springing fully formed from nowhere, who have created a sound and a suite of songs from scratch and perfected what they do before allowing scarcely a note to be played in public. One such example is Sparrow, a band formed by four friends from Brighton and Cambridge who "craft sad, beautiful, thoughtful pop music". Their music is unforced and delicate, combining sparse, measured arrangements with beautiful harmonies. Thus far, they have only played a handful of pretty remarkable gigs, and are slowly building up to the release of their eponymous debut album, which will be landing in March.

Tonight represents the last time to see them before the LP arrives, as the band are up first at the first night of Lowlife, the sister club to The Cable Club which is starting up at Western Rd's faintly wretched Providence Pub. Venue aside, this promises to be really excellent- it's only a quid to get in, and the band are on early, at 8.45. Make sure you make it along to catch them.

Here's their myspace page.

Sparrow, at Lowlife,
Thursday, 04 February 2010
20:00 - 23:00
The Providence, 130 Western Rd, Hove, Brighton, BN3 1DA

Today's idea - These New Puritans/Trailer Trash Tracys at Audio

Resident's gig of the week is These New Puritans/Trailer Trash Tracys at Audio. After altercations with the site, I've found a place to buy tickets. If you're an Indie fiend this is probably your thing - and the first video by These New Puritans features a rather nice mask, so this may in some way influence your decision if you are a hat fan.

Find them on the map here. It all starts at 7pm.

Today's idea - Erland & The Carnival live (and free) at Resident

For those of you trundling home (or out with purpose) Resident's having an in-store event. Erland & The Carnival are holding an acoustic set at 6pm. It's in support of their new "highly anticipated" album, and the Orkney Island chaps will be popping in to make music. "They make a pastoral, psychadelic sound, described by tong as "pentangle meets ennio morricone meets love meets 13th floor elevators meets joe meek". We believe they're going to be rather big in 2010, and they like wearing funny masks. It's free we believe, so go (and hope they get incredibly famous so you can brag about the super intimate gig of theirs you attended).

Today's idea - Marble Valley at the Freebutt

There exists an incredible amount of goodwill towards the various, until recently scattered, members of 90s slacker-icons Pavement, something evident not just in people’s continued faith in the waspish, detached figure of their mercurial talent, Stephen Malkmus (who continues to make his claim as the finest indie rock guitarist on the planet), but also in the love people continue to express for his bandmates. Scott Kannberg, once again trading as Spiral Stairs, has recently made his own return to form ahead of Pavement’s reunion, and the band’s two percussionists, Bob Nastonovich and Steve West have brought their wilful sense of mischief and dubious timekeeping qualities to bear on various projects, most notably David Berman’s recently wound-up Silver Jews.

With excitement building for the Pavement reunion, the opportunity to see West’s anarchic, shambolic Marble Valley outfit at the Freebutt tonight is one that should not be missed. MV’s records are hit and miss to say the least – bumping along somewhere between the psychedelic pop of Super Furry Animals and Pavement at their most chaotic, but their spirit is the draw here – expect a set of deeply enthusiastic, half-coherent underground rock, with high fives all round.

Today's idea - Go to Melting Vinyl's VIVE LA FRANCE at The Basement

Melting Vinyl evenings at The Basement are a little bit well known for good, and just a little bit hip, evenings (namely as "the region’s leading purveyor of innovative and experimental performance"). Tonight is the second year of Melting Vinyl's (who we've written about before) annual showcase of talent from France called 'VIVE LA FRANCE" and it all sounds genuinely fantastic. I am quite excited.

Bigger than last year's the festival showcases contemporary emerging French musical talent from the country’s innovative labels, and also celebrates Brighton based French performers, ‘The French Connection’. The event is produced by music promoters Melting Vinyl, in association with France's London music office: ‘Bureau Export’ and the largest French Cultural magazine: ‘Les Inrockuptible’s. All wonderful, and Lisa Li-Lund looks lovely, so we must go.

Here is some quoted goodness about them each individually:

Lisa Li-Lund

Not only member and sister of Herman Dune, Lisa Li-Lund has worked with the likes of Jeff Lewis and Zombie Zombie alongside a highly successful career as a solo artist. Come in from the cold and embrace the heart-warming and playful indie-folk indie-folk sounds of one of Paris' most creative artists - namely, Lisa Li-Lund, Hugh Coltman & Hamilton Yarns.

Hugh Coltman

Critically acclaimed in France, charismatic singer-songwriter Hugh Coltman was recently nominated for ' La Prix Constantin' (France's equivalent of The Mercury Music Prize). Having inhabited the same circles as Coco Rosie, and compared to Andrew Bird, this intimate performance will be very special indeed.

Hamilton Yarns
 (with a fabulous name)
Brighton's Hamilton Yarns are made up of members from both sides of channel. One if this festival’s French Connections and one of Willkomen Records' own, they make "music through the looking-glass, mapping in sound odd fragments of a parallel universe" - The Wire.

No reserved tickets, it's first-come-first-served - and FREE (as we always joyfully exclaim over these things). We reckon this is definitely one of the better things going on this month - and a little bit different from all the others. It starts at 8pm, and we plan not to be late.

The Basement is located at 24 Kensington street.

And here is a man, a violin and a horse. Have a lovely Friday evening.

Today's idea - Take the kids to 'Music for Aadvarks'

One for the kids today. Most people are won over by animals such as Gruffalos and Aardvarks, and so if I was small (well, 6 months - 5 years) I would much like to go to this. It's a musical cacophony of 'fun musical activities' including singing, dancing, musical story-telling and instrumental jam sessions run by UK Aardvarks. It's quite Brighton-esque (depending on your view of the brighton-esque of course) focusing on musical influences of rock, pop, indie, folk and blues.

Class locations vary - today's class is in Hove with varying times from 10am-1:45pm, and other classes are held in Hove (wednesday), Patcham (Thursdays) and Brighton (Fridays). Find the list on the UK Aardvarks site.

Each class is 45 minutes and costs £4.40 for a drop in - and half-price for attending siblings over 6 months, or free for the under 6 month child variety. If you want to attend email emily@uk-aardvarks.co.uk or phone 07886 927081.

Alternatively if singing isn't your thing take the family T-Shirt making at the Brighton Museum.

See the Paddingtons live at The Freebutt

Img via flickr

I have to admit before writing this that my forays with The Paddingtons come mostly from what's playing via their myspace at the moment, but it seems most necessary to prescribe this gig out of their history and fan base (and also the fact that what myspace is playing me is pretty good).

With an astounding amount of live shows under their belt including Reading and Leeds, they're famous by wikipedia standards for energetic live gigs and a willingness to play anywhere - which includes the Freebutt today. In the same league as The Cribs and Dirty Pretty things, having played with both, and Pete Doherty also rates them. I'm not sure if that last one helps, hinders, or matters at all though.

You can find them over on Twitter where they describe themselves as "Sex, drugs and Oakenfold". The current tour is promoting second album 'No Mundane Options' and if you're lucky they'll do a live cover of a Clash song.

If you like your good old noisy, somewhat traditional indie music then catch it at the Freebutt tonight. Arrive at 7:30pm and bring £7 with yourself for entry.

See Slaraffenland play at the Freebutt

At the risk of being repetitive, today's recommendation (like yesterday's) is another gig at Brighton's excellent Freebutt venue, where another excellent Brighton band support a highly rated Scandinavian act. This time both are well worthy of your attention.

Denmark's Slaraffenland, who headline, play an uplifting brand of intriguing, delicately nuanced indie-rock with nods to prog, folk and jazz, using chamber instruments as well as the more usual guitar, bass and drums. Their songs have a lovely, wintery, hypnotic quality which marks them out as a perfect fit for this time of year. Do the Freebutt serve mulled wine? They should do.

Their support act, Crowns On The Rats Orchestra, share an affection for orchestral compositions and imaginative time-signatures. Rather less accessible - their virtuosity means they can rarely resist an opportunity to spin a song into a new direction - they are one of Brighton's best and most consistent live acts, on the occasions where they can find a venue with a big enough stage to fit them all on. Here's a sample.



Freebutt, doors open at 7.30. No info on pricing, I'm afraid, but I'd expect it to be around £5-7.