Just over a week after Brighton SOURCE announced their departure from the world of free print magazines I find myself heading to Brighton Unsigned Magazine's triumphant relaunch show at The Hope. It's a testament to the vibrancy of Brighton's cultural life that we'll always find room for this sort of local oriented press and it's nice to see the return of a magazine that is dedicated to music and the unsigned circuit in particular. The magazine had gone out of print when Brighton Unsigned found it difficult to continue covering the costs but they've found themselves some help in the form of Access To Music and Mark Stack's Zooberon. Tonight a packed out crowd were treated to an eclectic mix of four local acts, causing spectacles to fog and sweat to drip from the walls despite the freezing January date.
First up were The Munroe, a young group with a penchant for vintage sounds and stylings, right down to the singer’s old school microphone. I caught their last few numbers and found them to be extremely tight with songs influenced by 50’s blues and rock'n'roll only played with a much tougher edge. It was a pleasure to hear a young guitarist playing blues solos so proficiently and with a fair amount of soul. I didn't hear any overly memorable songs, but it’s early days for this four piece and there’s plenty of potential, definitely ones to keep an eye on.

Next up were Fresh Like Dexie, an incredibly slick band, even tighter than The Munroe but with a completely different palette. Taking their chops from funk, disco, hip hop and rare groove. Dual female vocals backed by smooth keys, a superb bassist, a guitarist and synth player, drums and percussion. They are exceptionally talented musicians with plenty on offer in their songs but I found the longwinded arrangements a little hard to swallow for a first time listener. They sounded like a prog Basement Jaxx playing some of the more obscure Prince material, going off on strange tangents which created, for me, a bit of a disconnect between the hookier passages. They strike me as the sort of band who could grow on you over several listens.

Kitten and The Hip’s set seemed a little incongruous here, sandwiched between two bands with plenty of layers of live instrumentation. In contrast this two-piece sang to a backing track with the occasional addition of live trombone. Although they were arguably the most commercial act on display I have to confess I am not a big fan of electro-swing. It is unfortunate the band were missing their drummer, as I think the extra oomph added by a live kit might have done more to keep my attention. It wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea I could tell there was a lot of love for the group as they were very well received and certainly put on a very charismatic performance.

Topping the bill were The Meow Meows, a 9-piece Ska’n’Soul powerhouse. I loved their single ‘Siberian Soup’ from last years Somehow We Met album, so I’d been waiting for a good chance to check the band out live. I was really impressed, I’m a big fan of ska and reggae infused music, but I do find it can be easy to slip into cliché’s with such clearly defined genres, but The Meow Meows avoided this with ease. Another band full of fine musicians they boasted fantastic guitar, bass and drums who formed a solid backbone for a superb keyboard player and horn section. Unusually they have two female lead vocals who often take it in turns to sing verses before coming together for choruses. I wondered if it was just my own obsession, or the political content of some of their songs (the London riots and Pussy Riot), that reminded me of The Clash in reggae mode; but then I noticed their trumpet player was wearing a Clash t-shirt so perhaps it was subliminal! Make no mistake though, The Meow Meows are first and foremost a party band and before long I found myself drawn into the throng at the front for a bit of skanking. Favourite tunes on the night include the aforementioned ‘Siberian Soup’ and the excellent ‘Bad Man’.

Adam Kidd

Kitten & The Hip ‘Whos Gonna Pay For That’:

Fresh Like Dexie ‘Antiques’

The Munroe ‘Worth The Wait’