Jeff Hemmings, Author at Brightonsfinest

Novo Amor – The Haunt, Brighton – 20th October 2018

Operating very much under the radar, with minimal radio or media exposure, Ali Lacey is a new kind of artist. One who can sell out venues such as this, embark on a global world tour, release high quality music via his own channels, and make sophisticated looking videos on the cheap. Without much need for the traditional gatekeepers, he feels like a guilty fake at times. However, that’s probably because he’s a super-sensitive sort of guy, the antithesis of the decidedly knackered old school Britpop bombast of a Noel Gallagher, who grips more and more tightly on his precarious lofty perches, dispensing ‘wisdom’ and ‘truth’. He now sounds like a very old codger, living in the past. While Novo Amor – which appropriately enough means ‘New Love’ in Portuguese – is the sort of new man who would rather speak of his accumulated wisdom, in hushed, sincere tones, almost apologetically.

Jack White – Brighton Centre – 16th October 2018

This was a gig with a difference. There would be no mobile phones allowed within the auditorium. If you wanted to come to the show, you would need to dispatch your phone within a Yondr pouch. If necessary you could then use your phone in designated areas within the centre. An interesting idea, whose time has come.

Superorganism – Interview 2018

When I first came across Superorganism, and the fact that their 'Something For Your M.I.N.D' was actually being played on mainstream radio, I was suspicious. Was this some kind of manufactured band of happy-clappy optimists, devised by a scheming Svengali? How were they managing to muscle in on the auto-tuned, pop-music-by-numbers production line that pollutes our airwaves?

Anna Calvi – All Saints Church, Hove – 5th October 2018

For someone who was lacking confidence in her voice until her early 20s, Anna Calvi displays no lack of confidence on the live stage in the here and now. Nor does she lack any confidence it seems with her inventive guitar playing, or her stage persona in general, as she more than amply demonstrated here with this stunning show.

Kurt Vile – Bottle It In

The Philadelphia rocker dropped the most successful album of his career with his last solo LP, 2015’s B’lieve I’m Goin Down. Then, last year, he released an acclaimed collaboration album with Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett, Lotta Sea Lice. Now 38 and set to release his seventh solo album, Kurt Vile is continuing on his upward trajectory, whilst documenting his fears, hopes, and dreams on this, his most personal album to date.

Beans on Toast to celebrate new album with Resident in-store

Sticking firmly to his own tradition of releasing a new album on the same date each year, 30th November, A Bird in the Hand is Beans on Toast’s tenth release in as many years. This time around Jay McAllister, aka Beans on Toast, went to Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons (who produced his first album ten years ago) and they hatched a plan. While Mumford’s were making their forthcoming album in Paul Epworth’s The Church Studios in London during any down time, Ben and Jay worked on the new BOT album.

Bella Union artists share new videos and announce Brighton date

Having featured on Lost Horizons’ Ojala album last year, Bella Union’s Liela Moss and Hilang Child will be performing together at Brighton’s Unitarian Church on 14th December. The Brighton-based label which was run and founded by Simon Raymonde, released Hilang Child’s debut album, Years, this summer and now the half-Welsh, half-Indonesian Londoner has just shared a video for 'Starlight, Tender Blue', a track described by Ed Riman (Hilang Child) as the "darkest, angriest song on the album”.