FRIDAY 24TH MAY – SUNDAY 26TH MAY BANK HOLIDAY
AT THE DRUIDS ARMS, DITCHLING ROAD
FREE ENTRY ALL WEEKEND
POST ROCK / MATH ROCK / SHOEGAZE / SOUNDSCAPE / ELECTRONICA / POST HARDCORE
AS PART OF BRIGHTON FRINGE FESTIVAL 2013
LIVE MUSIC 6PM – 11PM EVERY NIGHT
POST ROCK DJ’s TIL LATE
| SHRINE |
10.30 – 11pm
PROGRESSIVE MATH ROCK
Shrine are a progressive heavy rock band from Brighton, UK.
Formed in July 2012, Shrine are a four piece collective who combine the technical wizardry of bands like
Mastodon, The Mars Volta and Dillinger escape plan with progressive soundscapes of bands like Oceansize
and Devin Townsend to create a sound which is fresh, honest and unique.
Facebook | Bandcamp
| POLYMATH |
9.45 – 10.15pm
PROGRESSIVE VOLTA ESQUE MATH SUPERGROUP
Brighton’s newest and most exciting Mathematical Progressive Rock band featuring members of Last Days of
Lorca, 900 Spaces, Doll & The Kicks and Monsters Build Mean Robots….
Facebook | Soundcloud
| LOST IN THE RIOTS |
9 – 9.30pm
INSTRUMENTAL POST ROCK
Lost in the Riots are a four-piece post rock outfit fighting their way out of Watford, UK since 2010. Taking a different approach to the town’s hardcore roots, the quartet serve up an energetic, guitar-driven mammoth of quiet-loud dynamics.
“When you find a ‘Stranger In The Alps’, you treasure it, because albums like this don’t come along
every day of the week. 9/10″
– Shout4Music
“With Stranger in the Alps, Lost in the Riots have delivered a really confident, well-crafted
debut”
– Echoes & Dust
Facebook | Bandcamp
| CROOKED MOUNTAIN CROOKED SEA |
8.15 – 8.45pm
POST HARDCORE / POST ROCK
Brighton favourites return for their 2 year split up anniversary reunion….
Bandcamp
| BROKER |
7.30 – 8pm
POST HARDCORE / PUNK
| MONSTERS BUILD MEAN ROBOTS |
10.20 – 11pm
POST ROCK / AMBIENT SINGALONG POP
Brighton’s MBMR return for their 5th year at NWfA…I wonder why. Pretty Post Rock with group chants, crowd
singalongs and possibly even some strings….
“Echoes of Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky” – Artrocker 4/5
“Fantastically textured and beautifully envisioned” – Silentballet.com
“A thing of utter, unashamed beauty” – CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE
“From glorious pop/post-rock crossover to an all out mesmerising, almost spell binding, emotional
betrayal of what has come before…” – BEARDED MAGAZINE
Facebook | Bandcamp
| CODES IN THE CLOUDS |
9.20 – 10pm
http://www.facebook.com/codesintheclouds
http://codesintheclouds.bandcamp.com/
SHOEGAZE / INSTRUMENTAL POST ROCK ON ERASED TAPES
Codes In The Clouds, the quintet of Ciaran Morahan, Stephen Peeling, Jack Major, Joe Power and Oliver Glosby hail from Dartford, England – a town not known for much besides giving birth to The Rolling Stones. Since 2007 they have dedicated themselves to producing heartfelt music to rival their peers and firmly place CITC as ‘Ones To Watch’ in a vastly growing instrumental rock scene. A perfect fit then for cinematic music label Erased Tapes, with writers such as Wyndham Wallace musing that the likes of Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and Berlin pianist Nils Frahm ‘sit comfortably alongside the rowdy post-rock of Codes In The Clouds’. Their much anticipated second studio album As The Spirit Wanes will see the light of day in January 2011.
Codes In The Clouds weave guitar melodies that have an alluring and versatile combination of qualities: melancholic yet uplifting, polished yet unhinged, delicate yet powerful. Through relentless touring and determination this young band have steadily gained recognition since signing to Erased Tapes in 2007.
| THEM THE SKY |
8.30 – 9pm
http://www.facebook.com/ThemTheSky
http://youtube.com/themthesky
POST ROCK / EXPERIMENTAL
Them The Sky are a collective of close friends who all share a passion for music. They have developed their sound drawing upon influences as far-field as musique concrete to contemporary, shoegaze and ambient, which they utilise to create something unique among Brighton’s eclectic music scene. Many of the band members have a strong musical background, from classical guitar to advanced music technology studies, allowing their sound to take influence from a range of genres. They use an array of instruments and techniques to create a style of music that combines catchy ambience, classical inspired melodies and driving drum beats.
| FOX IN THE CITY |
7.40 – 8.10pm
http://www.facebook.com/FoxintheCityuk
http://foxinthecity.bandcamp.com/
POST ROCK / AMBIENT PROGRESSIVE INSTRUMENTAL ROCK
“They create sonic sound-scapes that are dynamic, uplifting, thought-provoking and with an innate ear for
melody.”
– Brighton Noise
“Fox in the city brings instrumental music to an entirely different meaning. This five piece band create
an ambience so powerful that drugs become worthless. The beautiful thing about these guys is that, where
every song creates a story, they leave it up to your imagination to decipher what it is. Truly
incredible artists.”
– Hush Hush, Brighton
| THEO |
7 – 7.30pm
https://www.facebook.com/loopsofdeath
http://loopsofdeath.bandcamp.com/
ONE MAN POST MATH LOOP
Theo’s 3rd spell at NWfA, and rightly so. His one man band of math guitar loops and post hardcore drums (with the occasional toy keyboard thrown in for good fun) had everyone in silence both 2011 and 2012. And now he’s back….
“There’s a lot of people out there who’ve learnt that, in lieu of fellow musicians, a few hundred quid
will buy them a handy box which will record what they play and loop it, and then they can play another
loop on top of that, and so on. Most start by gentling tapping on their wooden acoustic guitar, before
adding perhaps a plucked bass line and a few twiddly motifs to accompany it, before singing about trees
or something. They are, almost without exception, completely boring and shit. Theo’s found a way round
this however – turns out that you can actually start out with an INCREDIBLE RIFF, and then add ANOTHER
INCREDIBLE RIFF, and then pile on about another ten loops to create a ridiculously dense weave of
mind-melting interlocked guitars. But he doesn’t stop there – oh no. Motherfucker jumps on a drumkit and
starts pounding the shit out of it over the top, in a place that makes you question what the hell you
thought you’d heard before. And then he stops to add another riff. And then gets back to drumming again.
Most times we’ve seen him play he’s done this, non-stop, for longer than really ought to be humanly
possible. We love him.”
Drunken Werewolf Magazine review.
| THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY |
10.20 – 11pm
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Hundredth-Anniversary/206985939397584
http://www.thehundredthanniversary.com/
SHOEGAZE SOUNDSCAPE
One of Brighton’s best up and coming bands, this 4 piece create slow build shoegaze soundpop to glorious effect…the perfect hangover cure and end to NWfA2013| MENDER |
9.20 – 10pm
http://www.facebook.com/Mender.band
http://www.mender.bandcamp.com/
LIVE ELECTRONICA 3 PIECE
Ash West-Mullen (ALRIGHT THE CAPTAIN) has been writing and recording under the name of Mender for 4
years now. Recently 2 more members have been added and the project has evolved into a live band mixing
vocals, guitar, bass and electronics…subtle, chiller pop tunes with electronic elements.
“…both hoods-up cool and melancholy at the same time” – ninehertz
| SPACENOID |
8.30 – 9pm
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SPACENOID/111519150851
LAYERED LOOPING / AMBIENT SOUNDSCAPE 3 PIECE
Take the studio trickery and electronic experimentations of artists such as Four Tet and Flying Lotus
and merge it with the dynamics of a live band and you have SPACENOID. The three-piece project from
Brighton use the sample-based approach of modern DJ/ electro culture and then morph it into an exciting,
visceral live experience.
| LUO |
7.40 – 8.10pm
http://www.facebook.com/herebeluo
www.soundcloud.com/luomusic
www.luomusic.bandcamp.com
ELECTRONICA / POST ROCK / SOUNDSCAPE
‘Luo are a talented three-piece who showcase the sort of bedroom-electro that too often gets slated. Solo
producer Josh directs their exciting manipulation of electronica, using loops and controls to ambush the
clashy guitar chords chopping away in the background. It takes a while to understand what they’re doing,
but when we do we realise it’s brilliant – and inventive.’
-Source
| LOST HARBOURS |
6.40 – 7.10pm
http://www.facebook.com/LostHarbours
http://lostharbours.blogspot.com/
http://lostharbours.bandcamp.com/
DARK AMBIENT FOLK SOUNDSCAPES
Lost Harbours hail from Southend-on-Sea and have been performing since 2007 around the UK; they play with an eclectic collection of influences, but mainly draw upon the dark, mysterious and occasional beautiful elements of nature and the human condition. Their music has been described as psych-folk, strange and forbidding, sorrowful and “present day avant-garde blend of post-modern orchestration and Gregorian chant.”
| KARHIDE |
6 – 6.30pm
http://www.facebook.com/karhide
http://www.karhide.co.uk/
http://karhide.bandcamp.com/
NOISY ELECTRONICA INFUSED POST ROCK
Field Records’ own one man looping band Karhide return for their 2nd spell at NWfA…load, in your face guitars power of backdrops of glitchy industrial electronica and layers of balls out instrumental rock will burst those hungover little eardrums you’ve been nursing all weekend. WAKE UP! We’re not done yet!
| NOW I SEE BEES I WON |
5.10 – 5.40pm
http://www.facebook.com/nowiseebeesiwon
www.now-i-see-bees-i-won.bandcamp.com
An extremely eclectic mix of Math Folk Acoustic Jazz Post Rock Ambient loveliness…YOU HEARD EM HERE FIRST!
THE STRANGE DEATH OF LIBERAL ENGLAND / SHAPES / SILENT FRONT / A GENUINE FREAKSHOW / ORDERS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE / MONSTERS BUILD MEAN ROBOTS / NORDIC GIANTS / EVI VINE / JUFFAGE / CROOKED MOUNTAIN, CROOKED SEA / THEO / SLEEP CENTRE / STUART WARWICK / DELTA SLEEP / CROWNS ON THE RATS ORCHESTRA / THE SLOW REVOLT / SPEAK GALACTIC / DARK DARK HORSE / KARHIDE / SOREBONES / LAISH / KARL-JOHAN NILSON
“The first day of the free Nice Weather for Air strikes Festival was a synthesis of sweat, angst and noise, but this audience of post-rockers at The Druids Arms over last May bank holiday weekend wouldn’t have had it any other way. The Druids Arms’ modest capacity offers an intimacy that is often missing in larger venues. Crooked Mountain Crooked Sea set the tone for the night, and indeed the festival; playing each song as if it were their last. In fact there are rumours of the band splitting up despite the release of their new album, ‘What’s There To Write About?’. But there was no time for discussion as the four-piece bounced in and out of songs with fluidity and conviction. The opening song, ‘Drawing Details’ prompted a flurry of people towards the entrance and by their last, ‘Johnny Forger’, there was a respectable crowd to give the band a hearty reception.
As Orders of the British Empire took the stage, the sun was retreating and the bar overflowing. The
fusion of sinister guitar effects and vaporous backing tracks was rewarded with the first signs of head
banging from sections of the crowd. Their style of instrumental post-rock has been trialed and tested by
many, notably 65 Days of Static, but it is difficult to match the zeal that OBE bring to their live
performances. Tonight was no exception, and in the absence of a stand out front-man, the band put on a
united front and unified the crowd in the process.
Silent Front took the support slot a little after 10pm, upping the intensity and sweat levels with a
ferocious set. The band have a bunch of UK shows lined up over the next few weeks, and set a high
precedent for themselves to live up to. With eyes rolled back and feet turned inwards, lead singer Phil
Mann was mesmerizing and to some extent stole the show. The band stormed through their set with gusto,
and were subsequently rewarded with the loudest cheer of the night so far.
The headline act, Shapes, had their work cut out following such an energetic set, but after the briefest
of breathers, the crowd had piled back inside to close the night with a bang. And Shapes didn’t
disappoint. Drawing in the largest crowd of the night, The Druid Arms was bursting at the seams until
close. With their raw progressive post-rock mash up of a set, Shapes proved why they were headliners.
The crowd were evidently grateful the band made Brighton their last stop before a European tour.
Unassuming as it may be, The Druid Arms is slowly becoming an important asset to Brighton’s live music
scene.”
WORDS BY STUART MATSON for BRIGHTON SOURCE
http://www.brightonsource.co.uk/reviews/55-reviews/1933-nice-weather-for-airstrikes-festival