Sea Bastard - Great Barrier Riff

So it's time for me to pimp my own shit again.  For those who don't know, Funeral Hag died out around July this year.  It was always Jon's band and he got bored of it, so that was that.  Somewhat fortunately for us, Jovian (another Brighton doom band) had split a month or two before us, which meant that the mighty Oliver Irongiant was no longer in a band.  Both Steve and I instantly thought of Oli when we decided we should find another guitarist, and thus Sea Bastard was born!

I like to think SB has the best of both worlds; the groove of Hag and the relentless slowness of Jovian, plus a little something extra!  These first 3 songs were written in about a month after starting the band and recorded live and dirty (apart from the vocals) at 284 Studios on Brighton seafront.  Be warned, this demo sounds pretty horrible.  It's meant to.

Someone made this video for YouTube if you wanna check out what we sound like.  This is our fastest and (so far) most popular song, Aqua Vitae.  It's about whiskey.

320K MP3s from Archive.org
FLAC from Archive.org
Various formats from Bandcamp

Sea Bastard on Facebook
Buy our shit!

Crypsis - Choir For The Carrion

Crypsis are a thrash metal band from Brighton, UK. I first encountered them when they played at the Brightona bike rally last year with my band Funeral Hag. Their style is pure oldschool European thrash metal, in the vein of Kreator and Sodom, though the vocals really remind me of Death! They have supported such mighty thrash bands as Gama Bomb and Death Angel (as did Funeral Hag :D).

Choir For The Carrion is their first release aside from a three track demo in 2009, and the sound on this is much more polished. You can grab the EP for free from their Bandcamp page, or there is now a CD version available for purchase. The CD launch party is taking place tonight at the Prince Albert in Brighton, so head on down for some great Brighton thrash if you can!

Various formats including 320Kbps MP3 and FLAC from Bandcamp

Crypsis on Myspace

GrooveMonsteR - Rock Was Dead

GrooveMonsteR were a comedy stoner rock band from Brighton in the UK. For a number of years they made audiences all over Brighton laugh their asses off whilst remaining completely unable to stand still and look miserable, as stoner rock fans ought to do. GrooveMonsteR supply solid rock grooves with amusing and comical lyrics about all kinds of things over the top. Such classics as Rocket Mice and Twist Your Beard always get a great crowd reaction.

Rock Was Dead is a compilation of all the tracks GrooveMonsteR ever recorded for their various demo releases. This compilation was released online as a warm-up for what was probably the
last ever GrooveMonsteR show at Hydrant in Brighton on the 22nd August 2010, with support from my band Funeral Hag. If you like them, a video of the show and a mockumentary about GrooveMonsteR are currently in production, see the GrooveMonsteR Reunion Facebook group for details. There are also live recordings of both sets which may or may not be released to the internets at some point...

Here's a video I took of them playing Drunken Master:



320Kbps MP3 via HTTP from Megaupload
WAV (CD Quality) via HTTP from Megaupload

GrooveMonsteR on Myspace
GrooveMonsteR Reunion Facebook Group

Arteriosus - Promo Demo

Arteriosus are a progressive doom band from Brighton. I saw them a few weeks back with my mates Here There Be Monsters and the mighty Blackstorm at The Prince Albert and was rather impressed. Normally not too into the buildy post-rockish type doom, but these guys managed to pull it off in a way I rather enjoyed! Tons of feedback and huge guitar and bass sounds, as you would expect from a doom band, and some rather nice melodic elements too. I swapped a demo CD of my band Funeral Hag for theirs and it is rather good. Just noticed you can download it for free, so here it is! Enjoy. I shall be going to see them this evening at The Hope , along with From Beneath It Devours who are also rather good.

??Kbps MP3 Via HTTP from Rapidshare Password – SirensSound.blogspot.com (Yes I nicked the link from someone else's blog)
128Kbps MP3 Via HTTP from Last.FM (Individual tracks)

Arteriosus on Myspace
Arteriosus on Facebook

The Hard Way - 2009 Demo

The Hard Way is a hardcore band from Brighton, England, formed in 2009. Beyond this I can't really say much as there ain't much info about them on Last.FM or Myspazz. Not normally that into my Hardcore, but these guys are pretty thrashy as hardcore goes. They rather remind me of SSS in fact! They've kindly posted their demo online for free, so check them out. If you like 'em, go see 'em at Greenhouse Effect in Brighton. I will certainly do my best to be there.

160Kbps MP3s Via HTTP from Megaupload

The Hard Way at Myspace
The Hard Way at Blogspot

Bombadeal (The Green Man) - Songs From The Wood

Time for something a little bit different! Some Brighton hip-hop with a twist; the beats are made up from sampled folk music. Discovered in my wanderings through the tangled webs that make up the internets, on the recommendation of a certain Professor Elemental, whose work I have very much enjoyed, I decided to check out the works of Tom Caruana, the man behind the beats for The Menagerie (see 19th December post). It seems his works are quite prolific, and you can find more of them on his website Tea Sea Records (see what he's done there? Clever eh). Haven't listened to much of it yet as there is much there! However, I am very much enjoying Bombadeal and the Green Men of the Mythical Forest and recommend everyone to go download it and listen in! The description from Tea Sea Records website follows:

Tom Bombadeal was conceived in 2004 while I lived in Forest Row. I started work producing new tracks sampling folk music and rapping as the merry fellow that is Bombadeal.

The story is set in a mythical land where Bombadeal and his friends live in a woodland village. All is good for the villagers until they hear word that their village has been targeted for a violent rampage for the precious crystals that lie beneath the village.

In the run up to releasing the album I have put out 'Songs From The Wood' which is free to download!!!!
It's a collection of bits n bobs I've done since 2004.

The main album has all been made in the last 2 years and features Tom Caruana as Tom Bombadeal, Sadie Jemmmett as Goldberry, Flake Brown as the Scene Setter, Longusto as Longfellow the Blacksmith, Vecks as Jack Lumber, Elemental as Papa-Quar, Dizraeli as Goo, See as Agur The Seer, Baba Brinkman, Joncept, Mole (character names unknown).

192Kbps MP3 via HTTP from Tea Sea Records

Bombadeal and the Green Men of the Mythical Forest at Myspace

The Menagerie - Wild Kingdom

The Menagerie were a Brighton based hip-hop collective who now seem to have become somewhat defunct. They released this one album, but never managed to finish off their 2nd though there are 4 tracks from the sessions on their Myspace player. The album features Nick Maxwell on the decks and the lyrical stylings of Dr Syntax and Elemental. They were joined by Koaste shortly after the recording of this album, and he also features on the newer tracks.

I discovered these guys through Elemental after stumbling across his Cup Of Brown Joy video on Youtube. I would also throughly recommend checking out Elemental and Mr Simmonds' album The Gentlemens Club which is available from Rarekind Records in Brighton, or on iTunes if you will stoop to such levels.

Anyways, the music is pretty chilled out and groovy Brighton hip-hop covering a variety of topics. Was listening to it the other day and my housemate wandered in and commented that it was a bit jazzy for me, so take from that what you will.

160Kbps MP3 via HTTP from Mediafire

The Menagerie at Myspace