Nu Rave Brain Wave

Just got the sad word that Brighton’s very own Lyrebirds are calling it a day. Having seen them play multiple times, I feel compelled to say how sad I am. They were the one Brighton band I got to see around and one of the only ones who played frequently. I truly loved their Catalyst 7″ that came out on Chess Club and haven’t got to give their Blondhead EP too much airtime yet, but I definitely will in light of this news.

mp3 | Lyrebirds - All Your Life

Check out the below performance of new Lyrebirds‘ song ‘Shadow Boxer’ that has been played on their most recent dates in Brighton (their date at the Hope and at the Great Escape). The great news is that they’re playing a TON (shall I say, tonne?) of shows in London before going off on their first real European Tour! Break a leg, guys, you deserve it! Their debut album is being recorded, probably as we speak. Keep your eyes peeled, and I’ll do the same.

Aug 4 | HOXTON BAR & KITCHEN London, UNITED KINGDOM
Aug 6 | Proud Galleries London, UNITED KINGDOM
Aug 28 | Queen Of Hoxton London, .
Sep 9 | The Monarch London, ., UNITED KINGDOM
Sep 10 | Powers London, UNITED KINGDOM
Sep 22 | Video Gent, BELGIUM
Sep 23 | Gebaeude 9 Cologne, GERMANY
Sep 24 | Reeperbahn Festival Hamburg, GERMANY
Sep 25 | Comet Club Berlin, GERMANY
Nov 19 | Club Control Bucharest, ROMANIA

mp3 | Lyrebirds - All Your Life

Photo Courtesy of | Jacqui Sadler

Our favorite clubnight (okay, outside of Brighton’s Fish Fry) Communion (run by Mumford and Son’s Ben Lovett and Kevin Jones) are set to take over a buddy of NRBW’s venue, The Flowerpot in Camden, for a long run of shows later this month. The Flowerpot is probably the best venue in London, and only approximately 50% of the reson is because all shows are FREE! Communion Presents (the official name for this run of gigs in later July) are showcasing some of our favorite British acts including Brightonites Lyrebirds and The Agitator (they play every show together! geez!), Ojai’s Lissie and the ever fantastic great wonderful hilarious (Flowerpot owner!) Beans on Toast. These shows are not to be missed, and needless to say, roll up early – this shit’s gon’ get crowded.

The line up for Communion Presents is:

July 12:
Mt Desolation
Lissie
The Staves
James Moss

July 16:
Lyrebirds
The Agitator

July 18:
Beans On Toast
Handshake
Crowns
Hot Feet
Tom Mckean And The Emporers
Monument Valle

@

The Flower Pot
147 Kentish Town Road
London NW1 8PB

MP3 | Lyrebirds - All Your Life

THE PLAYGROUND presents
Friday 02/07/10
Time: 7pm – 1am
FREE EVENT
93 FEET EAST
150 Brick Lane London E1 6QL

Room 1:
Lyrebirds
Zebedy Rays
Subset
Volitains
Raven Beats Crow

NRBW and Brighton favorites LYREBIRDS are playing a gig in London on July 2nd at the east london venue 93 Feet East. Although I can’t make it, if you read this blog enough, you know how important is is that you see these guys. Their live show is constantly improving and their songs are ultra tight. They’re recording for an album produced by the great Stephen Street so you know what that means. Also, I keep recommending it to you and those are basically equally amazing recommendations – no? Anyway, go to this.

mp3 | Lyrebirds - All Your Life

Oh, Lyrebirds. They seem to be my one last connecting hope to LA in that they’re the best band in Brighton and I love to support them the way I support all the great bands that make the LA collective scene amazing. However, in Brighton – there’s no cohesive (or not cohesive!) scene to put my finger on the pulse of (I’d go into it in more depth, but that’s a conversation for another time. Suffice to say that the UK is one big city in musical terms, practically.) but Lyrebirds give me hope for the future of a collection of great bands here in our beautiful city.

It’s been well documented on this blog that I love this band and have supported them for some time, and have been lucky enough to catch them live four or five times in the past 8 months. So I was very pleased to see them getting a headlining spot at the Prince Albert for 13 Artists to Watch, and made sure I was there.

I have to talk a little about the atmosphere of the gig because it was the best I’ve ever experienced at a Lyrebirds gig. Now, they’re kind of like any hometown band that have strong support and consistently get people down to watch but this was great. They played the Albert which isn’t the biggest venue in Brighton and it wasn’t packed, surprisingly, but the 3/4ths full crowd were rambunctuously excited to see them. Every time I turned around people were grinning and admiring the band’s performance, and at the end of the show there was a thunderous applause that accompanied the band tromping offstage and down the stairs and it was really heartwarming to hear the band get the kind of support that they truly deserve.

The gig itself was the best Lyrebirds show I’ve been to – and I’m fully aware that I say that each time I see them, but that’s what really speaks for itself, doesn’t it? They get more cohesive with every passing minute. They really cut a mean figure live with the smoke machine going every few minutes, everyone clad in black looking menacing as hell (Adam Day loves his leather jackets) but somehow this wonderfully doomsday music with this hint of hope and light comes from them. The new set of tracks, the ones they’ve been playing presumably to ready for their debut album, just rule. ‘Catalyst’ and ‘Start The Car’ stand out as tracks that will make their album, and yes, I know ‘Catalyst’ is their single and you know that it’s excellent.

This gig, and every gig has been whetting my appetite for their debut album. As soon as I know more, you’ll get the details…

View the rest of my photos of Lyrebirds at the Great Escape Festival headlining the Prince Albert.

DOWNLOAD -> Lyrebirds - All Your Life

(Photos taken by me at Lyrebird’s single launch for Catalyst at the Hope in Brighton this past Monday.)

Again, I’m compelled to tell you what you probably already know, and that is that Lyrebirds are my favorite band in Brighton. For those of you in the know about the Brighton music scene, that’s probably not saying much when our best new band export is the terrible Doll and the Kicks, but it means a lot more than it appears. I was lucky to catch Lyrebirds recent single launch for their new cut, “Catalyst”, which was excellent. The song itself is a typical Lyrebirds song in that it’s big and booming and probably befits a larger stage than the one at the Hope, and it perfectly relies on the strength of Adam Day’s vocals, which I could probably riff on for ages so I’ll just sum it up and say its wonderfully compelling and evocotive. It also has this general moroseness almost (what is it with these English bands being so good at that shit?) that isn’t necessarily contrasted with the tone of the lyrics, but there’s something light and airy and hopeful as well – it’s got a lot of layers, kind of like an onion. I’ve been able to see Lyrebirds three times since I moved to Brighton and have just gotten progressively more infatuated with them. All of my friends (disregarding their love or dislike of the band) have complimented their live show – and one specific friend commented that they’d gotten a ton better since the last time we saw them in December and I have to agree. The band have gotten more cohesive and confident – again, the live show is as captivating as it is in large part due to the presence of Adam Day. I can’t figure out if he’s this incredibly confident shadow-lurker or a nervous wreck, but the brooding thing is really working. They’ve got great things ahead of them, that is one thing that I’m absolutely positive of. Don’t hesitate to see them at the Prince Albert while you can – their tunes are made for the bigger stage and I’m pretty positive they’re gonna get the chance to shine in the ‘big’ time soon.

LYREBIRDS WILL PLAY AT THE PRINCE ALBERT AT 22:10 – 22:40.

DOWNLOAD -> Lyrebirds – All Your Life

The Great Escape Festival runs in venues all over Brighton on May 13th, 14th, and 15th. Buy your tickets here.

OTHER BANDS WE RECOMMEND YOU SEE: Best Coast, King Charles, Fionn Regan, Avi Buffalo, and These New Puritans.

The Lyrebirds are setting a new tour for themselves to promote the new 7″ single they have coming out called Catalyst. You can stream the track on their myspace. I’ve had my hot little hands on this track for a while and I gotta say, they really outdid themselves. For all you Brightonites, you can catch them at the Hope w/ their good friends The Agitator on May 3rd and be sure to pick up their single after that from Resident Records.

Apr 24 2010 8:00P Lennons Southampton
Apr 28 2010 8:00P Cooler Bristol
Apr 29 2010 8:00P Flapper Birmingham
Apr 30 2010 8:00P Jericho Oxford
May 1 2010 8:00P Live @ Leeds Festival Leeds
May 3 2010 8:00P The Hope “Catalyst” Single launch w/ The Agitator & Maccabees Dj set Brighton
May 4 2010 8:00P Bodega Nottingham
May 5 2010 8:00P Barfly London

The poster doesn’t reflect this but my favorite Brighton band, LYREBIRDS are opening for new up-and-comers Chapel Club at the Hope (best small little venue in Brighton, yes!) on the 8th of February. I would be there. Currently listening to Chapel Club and not seeing what’s very special, but I will see how they are live. Be there or be square.

My favorite band of the moment are releasing their debut single at the end of the month on Chess Club Records and it’s going to be a monumetous occasion. ‘Closer’ is an epic song. Period end of story. It’s surely going to mark the beginning of a trajectory that will hit gargantuan heights, of course. The single version of the song is now up on Lyrebirds myspace and I’m sure glad it is – I’m most certainly going to be buying it. The bass is actually audible in this version and the guitar is a teeny bit more haunting. The synth sounds lovely as it ever did, but Adam Day’s voice sounds excellent on the new mix of the song. It’s really captivating and enticing in a really dark-scary-stranger kind of way. Go listen to it, or download the demo version below (beware, it’s bad quality like 96kbps or something) but FUCKING BUY THIS BANDS SINGLE. Oh and see them live below:

http://www.myspace.com/lyrebirdsmusic

November 30th – FREE SHOW at the FLOWERPOT, London
December 9th – FREE SHOW at the HOPE, Brighton

mp3 | CLOSER (DEMO) by LYREBIRDS