PIXX + FLIP TOP HEAD + TV ROOM + COCO AND THE LOST – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 22.3.23
‘Hidden Herd Presents’, Brighton’s monthly new music discovery night, saw the return of Pixx with a very different sound and full 5 piece band.
True to its principals, the event spotlighted emerging artists. For March it also featured three up-and-coming new bands, Brighton’s Flip Top Head (where shoegaze soundscapes meet jazz-influenced post-punk) and Coco And The Lost (with their infectious Brit-pop influenced songs) along with TV Room from London (the solo venture of Deep Tan’s drummer, Lucy Rushton).
Pixx
To say Pixx has undergone something of a rebirth, is something of an understatement. I first saw Pixx back in 2017 at the Green Door Store promoting her debut album ‘The Age Of Anxiety’. Back then Pixx was a solo project of Hannah Rodgers with an electropop sound. Fast forward to the present, Pixx is now a collaboration consisting of original singer-songwriter Hannah Rodgers and Dylan Jones. No longer a solo artist, the combination allows Hannah to explore different sounds. And she has certainly done that.
For their return, Pixx came to The Hope & Ruin with a fresh repertoire and a full band. As well as Dylan on guitar and vocals, Pixx’s 5-piece band included bass, keyboards and drums. The drummer, Danny, had appeared earlier in the evening, playing with TV Room.
Pixx’s new sound is a big departure from electropop, and is closer to country and Americana. This was clear from the opening song of the set ‘One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong’, which had a very definite Americana feel. This continued into the second song ‘Genius’, on which Hannah shared vocals with Dylan. This worked well on this and several other tracks within Pixx’s set.
‘You Can You Can’t’ had more of an indie feel, while ‘New Life’ started with a slow mellow dreamy intro and had a 60’s pop feel being a sweet-sounding song. The start of ‘Going Out’ sounded similar to Slowdive in some ways, with its dreamy vocals and soft accompanying music. Then a few bars in it became a lively pop song.
‘Don’t Stop Walking’ seemed to mix country and 60’s pop, which worked well. Hannah had to hold back the giggles on ‘Miss Wave’, but got to the end of the song without any mishaps.
Before the last song of the set, Hannah explained that Pixx were trying out new material. The old material hadn’t been discarded and would be included in future shows. That should make an interesting and varied set. Pixx closed their set with ‘Offer’ which was the most pop sounding of their set.
Pixx’s new sound obviously went down well with the audience at The Hope & Ruin, with the customary “one more song” being added at the end of the set. Hannah explained this song, with the working title ‘Tender’, was new to the other band members, but they would give it a go. This extra song had less of a country feel compared with others in Pixx’s set. It was mellower in parts, but had a very good rockier instrumental break, where the volume and tempo increased.
From their performance at The Hope & Ruin, Pixx are back, reborn with a very different sound and entertaining live set and band. Their new sound worked well and received a good reception from the audience.
Pixx:
Hannah Rodgers – vocals and guitar
Dylan Jones – guitar and vocals
Reuben – keys
Sammy – drums
George – bass
Pixx setlist:
‘One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong’
‘Genius’
‘Ralph’
‘You Can You Can’t’
‘New Life’
‘Going Out’
‘Changes’
‘Don’t Stop Walking’
‘Miss Wave’
‘Offer’
(encore)
‘Tender’ (working title)
Flip Top Head
Brighton-based Flip Top Head are a seven-piece collection of orchestral post-rock, who manage to merge shoegaze soundscapes with jazz-influenced post-punk. Flip Top Head are Bowie Bartlett, Alfie Beer, Bertie Beer, Marie Freiss, Harry Giles, Harrison Spooner and Ollie White.
Flip Top Head have recently completed their first headline tour finishing with a sold-out Brighton single launch at The Pipeline for the debut release, ‘Seventh Bell Number’, which is out now on Blitzcat Records.
Flip Top Head opened their set with ‘Intro’/’1998’, which began simply with Bowie’s haunting singing, before the music kicked in. In contrast to Bowie’s dreamy vocals Bertie came in with a more spoken word narrative vocal style.
These contrasts and apparent contradictions form the key to Flip Top Head’s sound, both vocally and musically. It adds to the unpredictable and refreshing feel of their live performances.
Their debut single, ‘Seventh Bell Number’ had a big band sound about it (not just because there were 7 of them on stage), which you get in old movies. Bowie took over lead vocals with great effect. As well as both the volume and tempo increasing, there was a refreshing Latin jazz dance feel to this track.
For the next song Bertie put down his guitar to take over lead vocals on ‘1st July 2006’. Flip Top Head aren’t a band to see an instrument go idle, so keyboard player Ollie picked up the guitar. This song reminded me of Slowdive in the way it builds. By contrast ‘Weightlifter’ started with Alfie’s trombone solo, an instrument that you don’t normally see or hear in this venue. Flip Top Head don’t just add instruments for the sake of it. Each adds to the feel of the particular track or even section within a song.
‘Jesse Paints The Houses From The Nook In His Bedroom’ began with a gentle but effective acoustic guitar and chanting by Bowie. The tempo slowed right down and saw Alfie crouched down almost hiding behind his guitar. Yet the song built to a very loud wall of sound towards the end.
The closing song of Flip Top Head’s set ‘Alfred’ was very alt-rock with the emphasis on alternative. There was the Latin jazz style helped by Alfie’s trombone part. Bowie showed another side of her vocal range taking a turn on spoken narrative. The drumming from Harry came more to the fore in this track.
There was some lively dancing in the audience during Flip Top Head’s set, who showed their appreciation of the band’s set. Flip Top Head’s performance delivered fetching melodies and harmony through various layers of instruments and vocal styles. Each of the seven band members contributed collectively to a diverse lively and enjoyable performance.
You can catch the band playing live at Patterns in Brighton on Friday 2nd June, when they will be supporting Opus Kink – Grab your tickets HERE.
Flip Top Head:
Bowie Bartlett – vocals and guitar
Bertie Beer – vocals and guitar
Alfie Beer – acoustic guitar and trombone
Marie Friess – bass
Harry Giles – drums
Harrison Spooner – guitar
Ollie White – guitar and synth
Flip Top Head setlist:
‘Intro’/’1998’
‘Seventh Bell Number’
‘1st July 2006’
“Weightlifter”
“Jesse Paints The Houses From The Nook In His Bedroom”
‘Alfred’
TV Room
TV Room is the solo alter ego of Deep Tan’s drummer Lucy Rushton. TV Room allows London-based multi-instrumentalist Lucy to venture into an intimate world of storytelling as a means of confession and an expression of vulnerability. Musically, TV Room’s sound blends aspects of Americana with indie rock.
For tonight’s performance Lucy was joined by a keyboard player and drummer. Lucy mentioned that there’s usually a bass in TV Room’s live line up.
TV Room opened their set with ‘Stacey’, their latest single release via Sad Club Records. ‘Stacey’ has a somewhat folk music start becoming more indie dream pop. It has a tenderness and delicate honesty and it addresses ego and vanity and the damage caused in a relationship rather than somebody resolving their own shortcomings.
‘Quickly’ also had that indie dreamy feel with quality vocals, which were very soft in places. ‘Slinky’ had a soft, almost delicate feel to it. Unfortunately, this meant that Lucy was competing with the chatter in the audience, on this and other songs in her set.
‘Pretend’, TV Room’s single released last year, started with just Lucy with her guitar. The spartan start was broadened by drums, and keyboards later in the song. ‘Pretend’ is about the feeling of loneliness within a relationship, then slowly realising that it isn’t what you’d expected. Lucy has explained “This song is about being strung along in a relationship, … going through all the familiar motions with that person – holding them, kissing them, having them tell you that they love you – and knowing that they don’t mean it.”
‘Balcony’, TV Room’s debut single, was delivered with a heartfelt narrative and a catchy indie guitar sound. The closing song to TV Room’s set was more up-tempo and poppier than other songs within the set.
There were similarities in the music and singing to the likes of English Teacher and Honeyglaze, as well as Soccer Mommy. It was a very good performance by TV Room, which admittedly needed some concertation to hear above the audience’s chatter. It was worth the effort given the quality of TV Room.
TV Room setlist:
‘Stacey’ (a 2023 single release)
‘Quickly’
‘Slinky’
‘Pretend’ (a 2022 single release)
‘Balcony’ (a 2021 single release)
‘How It Works’
‘Drive Thru’
Coco And The Lost
Opening March’s ‘Hidden Herd presents’ was local band Coco And The Lost, created by Brighton-based Ella Flannery. Coco And The Lost’s influences include the lyrical insight of Phoebe Bridgers and Mitski; Pulp’s wit; Wolf Alice’s sonic attack and the otherworldly charisma of Kate Bush and Florence + The Machine. It was the Britpop influences that came across strongly and to good effect in their set.
For the live show, Ella was joined by Charlie on keyboards and guitar and Connor on drums. They opened the show with their latest single, ‘What’s Your Take On It’, released a few days after the show on Friday 24th March. It was a very catchy song with strong Britpop influences, but very fresh sounding. Their second song ‘Everything Is Fine’ had a rockier feel. At times on this song, Ella’s vocals had hints of Toyah on’ Thunder In The Mountains’.
Right from the outset, Ella was fully engaging the audience, often singing at the very edge of the stage. She gave a very confident and assured performance throughout the set.
On ‘Crying In The Bathroom’ the quality of Ella’s singing shone especially on the long notes. Charlie shared vocals with Ella on this track, which had a Bloc Party feel to its guitar sound.
‘Hold You Now’ was more of a ballad. It had an 80s keyboard intro, with softer vocals and a melancholy feel. By contrast ‘Oh What A Curse’ was more of a rock song. During this number, Ella paced across the stage and had a more menacing tone to her voice.
Ella introduced ‘One Last Thing’ as a new song. With its storytelling narrative, this showcased Ella’s spoken word delivery. The final song of the set was ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ from their debut EP of the same name. This had a very danceable bassline and was a lively up-tempo number to close a very varied and entertaining set.
After the set Ella explained to me how she likes to put a lot of variety into their 30 minute sets, especially when they’re the support act. Coco And The Lost certainly did that opening March’s “Hidden Herd presents” event. It was a very impressive opening set, and showcased them as a band to look out for in the future.
Although they haven’t got any dates in Brighton in the diary, they are supporting Love Joy on their sold-out London shows. I would imagine that several of those who got there early to catch Coco And The Lost, will be looking forward to their next Brighton live shows.
Coco And The Lost:
Ella Flannery – vocals
Charlie – guitar and keyboards
Connor – drums
Coco And The Lost setlist:
‘What’s Your Take On It’ (a 2023 single release)
‘Everything Is Fine’ (from 2023 ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ EP)
‘Somethings Going On Here’ (from 2023 ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ EP)
‘Crying In The Bathroom’ (a 2021 single release)
‘Hold You Now’ (from 2023 ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ EP)
‘Oh What A Curse’
‘One Last Thing’
‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ (from 2023 ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ EP)
