This was a real long-haul, eight hours solid of Brighton Noise’s best picks from across the city. They were plagued by last-minute cancellations and replacements, but they didn’t disappoint: most of the attendees only showed for a few hours, but any who went the whole nine yards and stayed longer were amply rewarded with riches from Brighton’s unsigned scene.

It started to heat up at around 4pm with a lively set from Mooncups. Their second ever concert, the inexperience showed, but the chaotic nature of their performance may have worked in their favour. Their under-rehearsed sound and occasional mistakes, as well as their clear indifference to them, only added to the sense of boisterous enjoyment that gave their punky, sometimes invective performance character.

It’s indicative of the broad spectrum of styles at the event, that Mooncups were followed by Drill Folly, an industrial producer with a very heavy future-tech and glitchy tone. She live-manufactured cataclysmic noises for half an hour of the kind that early heavy metal bands might have made if they’d had access to music production software. Her music would have been much better suited to a 5am than pm slot, but it was a refreshing style nonetheless.

Next up were Red Deer People, who marked a step up in the performance standard. Very raw and very confident, they easily held the stage with their guitar-heavy sound. Their lead guitar actually had a novel technique allowing him to constantly whammy. They played a hot and heavy set that drew all the stragglers from the bar.

They were the beginning of a frenzied two-parter, the second part of which were the Emperors of Ice Cream. They were another emergency replacement band, but they brought the goods. To put it simply, they’re maniacs: their music pretty much doesn’t give a shit, it’s bassline-led with very few lyrics, mostly refrains shouted over and over again instead. They obviously mostly play to have a good time, which is no bad thing. The fun they were having was reflected in the crowd.

Afterwards, Clowwns more or less took the room by storm. By now it was 8pm, and the venue was starting to get full, and more than a bit sweaty. They made this problem far worse, playing a raucous set underpinned by great musicianship and natural showmanship, that drew the loudest crowd reaction so far.

Inwards followed, and mixed it up again, moving away from the distortion of the earlier bands to a clean, deep tech sound. Another live producer, he fiddled with his massively complicated rig creating a freeform and trippy downtempo electronica – not very danceable but captivating listening. Props to Brighton Noise for being able to find such high quality performers from such diverse backgrounds.

As great as most of the acts had been to this point, they didn’t have a chance against the final group, The Fiction Aisle. How could they, when this band numbers ten members, including three guitars, a trumpet, keys and a clarinet? You just don’t see that every day. They played mesmerising and distinctly neo-classical music, with intelligent and elegantly flowing song structures. Their atmospheric builds were masterful, and the occasional solos were blinding.

On the whole Brighton Noise put together a great lineup. It was a great event to take in a bit of Brighton’s variety and get a spread of some unknown acts who’ll surely move on up if they keep at it. It also had a nice qualitative build, ensuring it ended in a climax. Day IV should be very interesting indeed.
Ben Noble