Brighton music scene: beats beside the seaside

The south coast city boasts an impressive stable of talent, says Chris Mugan

Brighton & Hove was granted city status in 2000 and it is only since then that the likes of The Go! Team, British Sea Power and The Pipettes have put it on the rock map. This after years of influence on the British dance scene that belied its relatively small size.

Given a reputation for hedonism, it should be no surprise that in the mid-Nineties a Brighton label was instrumental in the creation of big beat. Certainly Skint Records were well placed given that Norman "Fatboy Slim" Cook had already made his home in "London by the sea".

Yet the offshoot of house label Loaded gathered a formidable roster with dark funkateers Lo-Fidelity Allstars and mischief-makers Bentley Rhythm Ace. They were instrumental in forging a genre that relied heavily on guitar riffs and samples that made as much impact on the pop charts as dancefloors.

Nowadays, Skint may not be the force it once was, though it still looks after Fatboy Slim and X-Press 2. Also of interest is electrorock outfit Goose and the label's sponsorship of Brighton & Hove Albion FC.

So the label has not been resting on its laurels, as co-owner JC Reid points out. He has taken the reins from Damian Harris, currently concentrating on his second Midfield General album. "We stopped putting out big beat records. We just call them something else now," Reid jokes as he explains the label's ethos. "We're all slackers at heart and Brighton is a great place to live."

In the wake of Skint's success, other dance labels set up shop. Marine Parade's Adam Freeland is on a hunt for breakbeat sounds while Catskills Records provides an outlet for Scandinavian electropop outfit Husky Rescue. It is for bands, though, that the city is now best known. British Sea Power came from Cumbria to make their fortune. The group have already spawned an offshoot, Brakes, that are just as compelling.

More recently, it is The Go! Team that have caused a stir with their Mercury-nominated album Thunder, Lightning, Strike. Originally the bedroom project of Ian Parton, the band morphed into a six-piece band. Parton writes the songs and comes up with the quirky samples. He recorded the debut album in his parents' basement, hardly an ideal venue now. Instead, the band have taken out a six-month lease on a studio, where they have recorded five tracks for a follow up due next year.

"It is a different way of working, though a lot of the sound is still personal to me, things like thrashy guitars and Charlie Brown or Sesame Street samples. If anything, I think the next album is going to be more extreme. We've got one song that one minute is cheeky Eighties girly rap and then launches into a My Bloody Valentine noise session."

Brought up in the Home Counties, Parton moved to the city nine years ago. During that time, he has seen its music scene move from a big beat sound to a more diverse network of bands. "Brighton has to have the densest population of bands in the country. Every night there is every kind of band playing and every time I look out of the window there's some greasy haired kid going by with a guitar on his back."

Parton is most excited about a network of what he describes as "noise" bands, a burgeoning hardcore scene led by CharlotteField, I'm Being Good and Ack, Ack, Ack. Many are supported by local indie imprint FatCat Records. Far removed from that is Bat For Lashes, a glamorous, Gothic take on acid folk by Natasha Khan. Prepare to be beguiled by her album Fur And Gold. This year, though, has been all about The Pipettes, perhaps the best act yet to breathe life and poke fun into the girl group archetype. The trio's debut album We Are The Pipettes is full of classy tunes.

It is no good having bands with nowhere to play and Brighton has improved in leaps and bounds over the past few years. Among other places, upcoming bands can choose between The Freebutt, The Hope and The Concorde 2.

Local promoters cooperate on the annual week-long gig fest Brighton Live, which this year featured 250 local acts, among them singer songwriter Mike Rosenberg, alt.country outfit Ox, Fujiya & Miyagi and Jason Pegg, frontman of Clearlake.

Brighton is now home to an international celebration of live music, The Great Escape, which provides three nights of upcoming acts from around the world, with this year's highlights led by The Feeling, The Kooks and Canada's hard-hitting Metric. The ability of this new city to attract such an event can only be down to what its music scene has achieved all by itself.