Last November, the Brighton & Hove News Music Team attended last year’s ‘Mutations Festival’ and thoroughly enjoyed it. It had the feeling of a mini ‘Great Escape‘ festival, but just like that festival, there were many concert clashes, whereby bands would be playing at the same time in different venues and so we had to choose which was logistically possible to get from one venue to another in time in order to catch the full performances. On Sunday 7th November 2021, we had a big dilemma from 2:20pm to 3:50pm, whereby there were no less than six acts playing live during that period. Some had to be missed. One of those that we weren’t able to cover was London based Regressive Left and have been regretting it ever since. We also unfortunately missed their 14th May 2022 Great Escape performances at Revenge and The Hope & Ruin.
However, we are now wholly intending to rectify this, as Regressive Left will shortly be heading out on their 10-date UK tour in support of their debut ‘On The Wrong Side Of History’ EP.
The tour begins in Sheffield on 24th September and runs through until 20th October, when they conclude their tour in London. Date seven is the one of serious interest for us as they will be playing live in Brighton on Tuesday 4th October courtesy of Love Thy Neighbour promoters – Hooray! They will be joined by Waterbaby as support and both bands will be at The Prince Albert (48 Trafalgar Street) from 8pm to 11pm. Regressive Left had also appeared at The Prince Albert on 12th March this year and we were already covering five other gigs that night!
Purchase your 4th October concert tickets HERE and HERE.
So let’s check out both band’s biogs…..
Regressive Left:
In dark, troubling times, maybe the most instantly gratifying solace one can seek is a wittily barbed diagnosis of the situation. “The fox has his den. The bee has his hive. The stoat … his stoat-hole,” Stewart Lee once remarked: “But only man chooses to make his nest in an investment opportunity.” Caustic retorts like this are what fuel the debut EP by dance-punk outfit Regressive Left, ‘On The Wrong Side of History’. For pervading through their dynamic and glitching music is a duty to report unflinchingly society’s ills. They are a staunchly political group, but far from your average po-faced by-numbers punk band. There is a gristly social commentary at the band’s core, but the songs themselves are characterised by a need to have fun, to find some kind of solace and escapism from the inevitable rapture.
Recorded over an intense 5-day spell with in-demand producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, MIA, Amyl And The Sniffers) in Sheffield, Regressive Left’s debut EP ‘On The Wrong Side of History’ was immortalised over a handful of 11am-1am sessions in his studio. In many ways it is a time capsule of the maelstrom of ideas that got the group to this point in the first place – the infuriating, bleak political climate, and the urge to find escapism from it – consigned to vinyl in one herculean effort. Taking influence from the booming post-punk, funk and disco scenes of New York, Regressive Left’s sound is stark and danceable. Angular guitar scratches meet dirty synth basslines, whilst Simon Tyrie’s Edwyn Collins croon is chased around by effervescent drums. The banal horror of life in Tory Britain expressed with sharp and dry wit, and then set to truly barnstorming and infectious dance music
Released on July 15th on Bad Vibrations Records, the new EP arrived following a trio of acclaimed singles (‘Eternal Returns’, ‘Take the Hit’, ‘Cream Militia’), tours with the likes of Bodega and Folly Group, festival appearances at End of the Road, Latitude and Wide Awake, and a sold-out headline at The Windmill.
Check out Regressive Left on their Bandcamp page HERE.
Waterbaby:
Martha and Jessica Kilpatrick (aka Waterbaby) have been quiet, mystical forces in the underground London scene for the past few years, emerging in and out of the sanctuary of their studio to perform their hypnotic live show with artists as varied as Kedr Livansky, audiobooks, and Dorian Electra. Much like the entirety of their output, their public performances are non-conforming, audiovisual experiences composed of punchy electronic soundscapes, siren-esque vocals, and hallucinogenic video projections.
Waterbaby’s insular and feminine sonic world showcases inventive song structures backed by dizzying layers of production – all crafted on their stash of lost and found analogue gear. In a world where the analogue and the digital seem to be in constant headlock, Waterbaby effortlessly solve the equation. The music operates in a space where a Cocteau Twins-esque anachronism meets the sharper edge of Oneohtrix Point Never or Laurel Halo’s contemporary experimental electronica.
“A cocktail of kosmische synths, lilting vocals, and fluid, barely-there percussion, owing as much to contemporary avant-garde music like James Ferraro and Oneohtrix Point Never as Harmonia, Vangelis, or Enya.” – Dazed
