Electric Soft Parade

ESP 'do' PSB / Cakes

02/06/08 So, a brand new cover version of the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Jealousy’ is up right now. Go to the ESP Myspace to hear the sounds of the 1st of July 2008. It is very sweet indeed, we-thinks. It is also available for yr delectation at the Buffetlibre site along with the rest of the compilation. Enjoy!

In other news – Restlesslist (myspace) The debut LP, ‘The Rise And Fall Of The Curtain Club’ is out now in all good grocer’s.

In yet other news, Stuart Flynn’s Dirty Cakes (myspace) have been booked for the ‘At Home By The Sea’ Festival, which is being held at The Concorde II, Brighton, on the 8th and 9th of August. They will open Friday’s (8th) proceedings in the main room, ‘bout 7. The event will also feature sets from such new and exciting groups as Chrome Hoof, Restlesslist, Brakes, Camera Obscura and Shout Out Louds. Banzai!!! TX

P.S. I should just give a lil’ mention to the new Cottonmouth Rocks 7” single, ‘Witch Doctor’. It’ll be out on the 14th of July, on the ‘fast becoming extremely reliable’ Drift Records (possibly just the website – I dunno, innit) ...anyway, it’s bound to be lushatronic, so check the bad-boy out y’all!!!

Sorry for delay in posting (webmaster had no net access)

I Dream Of Black out now

The Thomas White debut LP “I Dream Of Black” is out now nationwide and to the world via all good download sites. Available from the Drift Shop ships worldwide for £10 – delicious digipack (whilst stocks last!) Also at iTunes

Stream album track Starry Nite #2 at NME.com’s Media Page

Preview tracks on Thomas’s Myspace Info: Drift Blog — Drift Website

Q Mag August 2008: I Dream Of Black (Drift, **** Q Recommends) recalls the psychedelic-rock splendour of Spiritualized at their peak.

“Largely experimental, slighly mental, ‘I Dream Of Black’ may very well be the best thing Thomas White has ever produced” – Culture Deluxe

“He seems to be in possession of some sort of magic quality music elixir, one that’s capable of stretching out genre boundaries while never losing sight of the qualities of a good tune… Chalk another one up in his credit column” – Sweeping The Nation

“Overall proceedings are versatile, essentially original and engaging. Moreover ‘I Dream Of Black’ is a somewhat unusual album, in that it is as much of itself while simultaneously sounding like some distant album soundtracking a lost, forgotten 60’s film” – Subba-Culture

“It’s delightful and you can’t but marvel” – Clash

“In a word, brilliant. A striking slab of old-school lo-fi indie, if you like early Domino or Drag City stuff then you’ll lap this up. It’s out on Drift Records who are fast becoming one of the best UK indie’s ever” – Is This Music

“...a lo-fi record, likened by the man himself to what ESP’s songs often sound like in their embryonic form. ‘I Dream Of Black’ contains snippets, slightly unformed songs, which befit the scratchy home recording style of the whole. It’s rewarding, not least the incendiary, swirling My Bloody Valentine-esque ‘The Runaround’, which is possibly the most impressive and innovative thing on offer and makes you wonder how White would get on with the kind of time and money Kevin Shields had to record ‘Loveless’. As it is, we can enjoy another album from a prolific artist showing an admirable do-it-yourself ethos” – CMU Daily

Read the latest album reviews here (updated 30th June) Win a signed album from Drift in their Anagram Competition – use as many of the letters as you can for extra points (closes a week from 20th June) Entries to – info@driftrecords.co.uk

Most suitable anagrams please of: “drift presents thomas white I dream of black”

The Dirty Cakes at Water Rats

Blog 16/06/07: Just a quick one. On the 26th of this month, Brighton based psycho-cabaret-metal-showtune band The Dirty Cakes (as seen on BBC9’s ‘Come Dyke With Me’) will be performing at The Water Rats in London’s Kings Cross. The show will feature a revolving line-up of some of Brighton (and London)‘s top bods, including:

Stuart Flynn (Vocals)
Max Earl (Keys/Bass)
Alex White (Drums/Keys)
Thomas White (Guitar/Drums)
Matthew Twaites (Bass/Keys)
Damo Waters (Drums)
Monster Bobby (Keys/Noise)
Marc Beatty (Bass/Keys)

BRING IT ON x More info and Tickets

Latest Blog + reviews

Album reviews Updated 24th June with the Culture Deluxe review.

Thomas White Tour News Updated 16th June with a Louisiana review.

Blog 14.6.08: Good gig/album launch/dress-up last night with Restlesslist Despite The Hope kinda suckin’ as a venue, Vile Imbeciles properly ripped it up (they’re at Belushi’s in Brighton tomorrow if you missed last night), and I guess we had an ok show too. Well, it was rammed at least. Good on the Shindig! folks for having a third consecutive corker!!

In other recent news, ESP had a fucking storming night with Sparks at the conclusion of their 20 nights of insanity at the Islington Academy. We did the Hello Young Lovers show, and I have to say, the audience were particularly accommodating and lovely, considering the obvious number of total die-hards in attendance, and the fact that we hadn’t actually played together since April. Lush evening (Photos by Kirstie in the Gallery)

In yet other news, I just finished my debut solo tour. A strange and brilliant experience – too many stories to tell, so I won’t. I’ll just say what a pleasure it was hanging with The T-T, and getting to air some of my tunes before the record comes out. The release date is now set for July 14th, with a digital single, ‘The Runaround’, out a couple of weeks before. Drift have done an admirable job on the sleeve, and nice wee reviews are starting to come in, so I’m happy! TW x

CMU Daily – Thomas White – I Dream of Black LP (Drift Records)

As if Thomas White didn’t have enough going on with Electric Soft Parade, Brakes, Restlesslist and the rest of the Brighton scene, he has now joined the Devon-based Drift Collective and is set to release this, his debut solo album. Recorded at home on a four track tape machine, with White playing all the instruments himself, this is a lo-fi record described by the man himself as an idea of what ESP’s demos might sound like. ‘I Dream Of Black’ contains several snippets, slightly unformed songs which befit the scratchy home recording style of the whole. It’s rewarding in parts, not least the incendiary, swirling My Bloody Valentine-esque ‘The Runaround’, which is possibly the most impressive and innovative thing on offer and makes you wonder how White would get on with the kind of time and money Kevin Shields had to record ‘Loveless’. As it is we can enjoy another album from a prolific artist showing an admirable do-it-yourself ethos.

Restlesslist Album Launch + ESP Sparks support

Restlesslist Album out now: See their Myspace Blog for the latest. They have a launch party at the Hope, Queens Rd, Brighton, Friday 13th June 9pm – 2am, the band will be playing live and they have a fancy dress theme of Seaside Horror.

Electric Soft Parade supported Sparks on the 11th June at Islington Academy, this was also streamed live at CD PULSE There’s audio at Brothers Electric Stuart Flynn finished the set and sounded out of this world even on the MP3.

Read TW’s latest Blog: Bullet Train/Tour/Sparks/Brakes Thanks to all the folk who’ve been at the shows so far. We’ve had a great time, I feel like my singing’s really going somewhere exciting… TW Myspace

TinternetRadio Sun 8th June: Read TW’s quotes here You’ll notice he says in no uncertain terms he turned down the invitation to play at Truck Festival so therefore this date has been removed from the website. Apologies for posting incorrect information – there has obviously been some misunderstanding…

TinternetRadio: He talks about his new record “I Dream Of Black” out soon, touring with Chris T-T, also Alex and The Pipettes: Transcript

Restlesslist on BBC6 Music: Transcript New single Butlin Breaks is out now. More info and where to buy: Myspace – iTunes – Recordstore offer

Marc Riley: Butlin Breaks has got to be one of the records of the year, when it comes through to Christmas and we’re putting that programme together with all the best records, I can guarantee that that will be in there…

ESP in Paris April 2008: Visual Music Review and Interview

Thanks to Ghostchild. Photos by Stéphane Lazreg in the Gallery