It’s a year to the week that Gaffa Tape Sandy played Glastonbury and as a celebration of the anniversary, they’ve kindly gifted new single ‘Meat Head’. Played extensively at their recent shows, including a slot at The Great Escape in their adopted home of Brighton, it’s a stomping track that addresses the assumption some people have over other peoples’ bodies. It’s a pointed finger at rape culture that, disappointingly, seems common parlance given alleged reports throughout Hollywood, music and society in general.

With bassist Catherine Lindley-Neilson carrying the vocals, peppered with guitarist Kim Jarvis screams and harmonies, it bounds between gentle, melodic verses and coarse, aggressive choruses. Robin Francis’s drumming ties the whole song together, matching the vocals; subtle during the verses, rousing in the breaks. With artwork as confrontational as the song itself, it can’t help but grab your attention.

It’s a track that I personally have been waiting for with baited breath, both as a big fan of the band but more as a guy fed up with a percentage of my gender assuming their power over women or any other person. It’s not right and it’s not okay. For that reason, it’s an incredibly important, noteworthy song.

With the sun looking like it’s here to stay for longer than a short few days, it’s about time to dust off that summer playlist, pull on some shorts and fire up that barbecue. A staple of my summer playlist, aptly named ‘Suns Out, Puns Out’, is the latest single from Alchopop! trio Husky Loops, ‘When I Come Home’. I’m such a fan, I recently bought a ‘Jingle For Your Pet’ as part of their crowdfunding campaign so now my cat has her own theme song.

A far step from the thrashing industrial resonance laced through their first two EPs, ‘When I Come Home’ comes with a Mediterranean, dreamy chord progression. It’s delightfully juxtaposed with lyrics about anxiety and self-confidence and pre-emptive thoughts of conversations that you can’t spit out when the time comes. It’s a track that could be blasted through the speakers of a convertible, cruising through the streets of Europe or played through headphones, sat in the corner contemplatively. Because who says summer has to be a positive time? I prefer winter.

Pros and cons of living in Brighton: pro – new bands seem to form on a near weekly basis, always bringing something new to the game. Con – seagulls. I don’t trust them. Anything with eyes that beady are up to no good. Luckily, three-piece Something Leather are an example of the former.

Their second single, ‘Disappear On Me’ has sultry vocals akin to Wolf Alice’s Ellie Roswell and the fuzzing guitar of Slaves. However, the first thing that hits you is the electric organ. I honestly can’t remember the last time I heard an electric organ in a song and didn’t instinctively turn it off. But there’s a sinister element that emanates from the organ that sucked me in. Harmonising with the guitar, it adds a layer of texture and grit that makes you feel warm and gooey inside. With the serene vocals countering the powerful drumming, it brings together a truly unique sound. It’s psychedelically bluesy in places and effortlessly punk in others. It’s an amalgamation of sounds that shouldn’t work together. But it does. Quirky, powerful, sassy. It’s so very Brighton.

ANDY JOICE