Venue Review: The Haunt, Brighton

After visiting The Haunt  (a nightclub located on Brighton seafront) twice over the last couple of months- first seeing Brother & Bones and then Bear's Den, I can state with some confidence that it is my favourite venue to attend pretty intimate gigs. 

I've been to a relatively large collection of venues across London, Surrey and Brighton- ranging widely in size, but I've found The Haunt to be one of the best. Although the venue is small, on both of my visits the gigs were sold out and a full house seemed to have aided the great atmosphere. Despite two sell out gigs, I spent less than 5 minutes queuing outside  and for cloakrooms in both gigs combined.  Also, the stage and front of the crowd area has a tall ceiling  (its the main screening room of an old converted cinema), which to me prevented the venue from feeling cramped or stuffy, unlike other venues of similar sizes. The quality of sound was fantastic, much like that of larger venues such as Brighton Dome (this was probably so clearly highlighted to me by the fact that I was seeing such incredible musicians). The size of The Haunt meant that Bear's Den were able to perform one song unplugged, which is always a fantastic experience, so being a size to allow for the occasional unplugged song is great.

At the end of both shows, the artists came out to chat to fans- having the opportunity to meet an artist after a gig has always appealed to me, so knowing that its possible (as long as the artist wants to, of course) for this to occur at The Haunt is another determining factor in making it my favourite venue. 

The Haunt hosts many great events, particularly those hosted by Communion. On January it will host the Communion Live club night, featuring artists including Young Kato and Matthew and the Atlas. It's also hosting the Brighton leg on the Communion presents New Faces Tour, featuring "four of 2014′s most hotly tipped new artists" – Luke Sital Singh, Eliza and The Bear (I can confirm from my own experiences that they'll put on a great show),Farewell JR and Annie Eve. Tickets for both events are still on sale on the venue's website.


I will be returning to The Haunt in March to see Dan Croll (discussed in a previous post) and as made quite obvious from this post, I cannot wait! 

Venue Webiste: http://www.thehauntbrighton.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehauntbrighton
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HauntBrighton

My Top 10 BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge Covers

Over the years the BBC Radio 1 live lounge has provided us with some magnificent and bizarre covers, here's a run down of my top ten live lounge covers of all time: 

10. Crazy (Gnarls Barkley) – The Kooks

9. Crystallized (The XX) – Gorillaz

8. Video Games (Lana Del Ray) – Kasabian

7. Tessellate (Alt J) – Mumford & Sons

6. Earthquake (Labrinth) – Clean Bandit

5. Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis) – Mystery Jets

4. White Noise (Disclosure) - Peace

3. Hollaback Girl (Gwen Stefani) - Foals

2. Hold On, We’re Going Home (Drake) – Arctic Monkeys

1. Slide Away (Oasis) – Jake Bugg

Have you Heard?- The Dust of Men

I discovered The Dust of Men whilst browsing www.noisetrade.com, a site featured in a previous post of mine (here).  They are a five-piece alt rock band from Wisconsin over in the States. With a sound described as being "built on an aggressive foundation of alternative rock, framed with folk and roofed with revival music", the closest artists I can compare them to are the likes of Filligar, City and Colour and Matthew and the Atlas. The Dust of Men however, certainly have a sound of their own. 

The Dust of Men's debut album was recorded at Bon Iver's April Base studio and is titled "What the Morning Shows". (see end of post for download links). Fortunately for me, the band made three of the tracks from the record available for free download on NoiseTrade, in a collection titled "Three Songs from What the Morning Shows". I'm confident that like myself, the download of these tracks will lead people to seek the full album. 

If you were to visit the bands website (again, see below for links), you would find a compelling story of lead vocalist and songwriter Grant Schultz's personal journey "from darkness to light" after struggling with severe addictions and depression. Personally, I find that the sharing of some background information of an artist or band which, to some extent, explains why and how the music that you listening to has come together has a magnificent effect of deepening the power of emotion within a song or (in this case) entire album, making it all the more extraordinary to listen to. "What the Morning Shows" tells a story of revival, that without a need for bio reading, can be clearly felt throughout the record. 

Here's a track from the album, Children Come Running:

Official Website: http://thedustofmen.com/
Download "What the Morning Shows": https://itunes.apple.com/album/what-the-morning-shows/id740704362

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thedustofmen

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedustofmen/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedustofmen (@thedustofmen)

New Release: Jake Bugg- Shangri La

Today, Jake Bugg has released his second album, Shangri La, which features the singles 'What Doesn't Kill You' and 'Slumville Sunrise'. The album was named after the studio in which it was produced in Malibu, California.  

Jake will be streaming his 90 minute gig live from Copenhagen tonight online via the telegraph here at 8pm.

 

Below is a preview of the tracks from Shangri La, but you'd be better off buying it here (where there are also vinals and merch bundles available) or downloading it from iTunes or Google Play. 

Jake Bugg is one of my all time favourite artists, and since he released his first self titled album last October, I have been lucky enough to see him perform live twice, once at Brighton Dome and once at Reading Festival. I was unable to get hold of tickets for his February gig at London's Royal Albert Hall, which seemed to sell out within minutes, so am extremely jealous of any ticket holders as I have no doubt that he'll sound magnificent. Jake's raw talent when it comes to live performances can be seen through his performance of A Song About Love on Later.. With Jools Hollands.  

After a few listens of Shangri La, it seems to be a progression of the style of his first album, but continues to perfect the fuse of retro folk with rock riffs. I'm sure that any Jake Bugg fan will be left completely satisfied with the album, and hope that those not so sure about his first album will be won over by the second. 

Cover - Wayward Daughter -- All I Want

This beautiful cover by Wayward Daughter popped up on my subscription feed recently, and I was not surprised in the slightest when I was once again taken aback by Lydia McAllister and Becky East by their take on the Kodaline hit - All I Want.

I have been a fan of the duo from London for a while. They began by uploading covers on YouTube two years ago, and soon became very popular, they then started to write original songs and to play small venues, which lead them to support McFly on their Easter tour.  An EP is on the horizon - "How Long Will You Wander?", I personally am very excited to see what they have come up with, and excited to see their further successes in the future.

I highly recommend checking out their YouTube channel for more fab covers: http://m.youtube.com/user/LydiaEvangeline
Website: www.waywarddaughterband.com
Original Songs:www.waywarddaughterband.com

Enjoy!

Have You Heard?- Bite The Buffalo

Brothers Stos and Miti Goneos grew up in Zambia and recently moved back to the UK to grace us with their fresh stomp rock 'n roll tunes and released their debut album 'Blue Lips' in February of this year. The band have spent this year touring the US and UK, and have and upcoming gig for over 18s at Notting Hills Arts Club in London on Wednesday 27th November with free entry until 11pm (and then only £3). 

I was introduced to Bite The Buffalo by a friend only a few months ago, but ever since have been listening to their album religiously. The album has a slightly ragged sound, fueled by bluesy riffs from Stos on guitar and vocals, and is also a dream for any avid foot stompers (such as myself) thanks to Miti's magic on drums and backing vocals. I can only see 2014 bringing great things for this duo. 

Here is the video for the title track to the album, Blue Lips.

Site: http://www.bitethebuffalo.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BiteTheBuffalo
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bitethbuffalo (@BiteTheBuffalo)
Yotube: http://www.youtube.com/bitethebuffalo

Website Recommendation: NoiseTrade

Artists on NoiseTrade upload an EP, album, single or live recording for NoiseTrade users to download for free. 

All that is required to download and album or track is to enter your email address and postal code, which is then sent on to the artist. There is also the option to tip the artists anywhere between $1 and $100, but this is a voluntary donation. 

The site is easy to use, and separates artists and uploads by genre. You can also search for locations and artists, as well as artists you like that don't use NoiseTrade and receive suggestions for similar artists using the "For Fans Of" feature. 





I discovered NoiseTrade through the acoustic artist James Bay (currently on tour with Kodaline), who is giving away his "The Dark Of The  Morning EP" on NoiseTrade, an EP that I would recommend to anyone into chilled acoustic. 






NoiseTrade is also used by larger artists, for example in the past both Fun. and The Lumineers have uploaded bonus material and b-sides to give away for free.

Current relatively well known artists sharing music via NoiseTrade include The Lighthouse and the Whaler and Young the Giant. My favourite discoveries on NoiseTrade have been Elephant Stone's album Acid Killed My Rock'n'Rock: An Introduction to Elephant Stone (psychedelic), Filligar's album Hexagon (alternative rock) and Wild Child's folk rock album Pillow Talk. 

NoiseTrade is great way to discover new music, and download albums and EP without breaking the law or your bank balance.