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ICFTHS/THEN
Sea at the Edge of Town:
The Hanbury Ballroom 2003-2004
Once upon a time (14/02/03), D.A.I.S.Y. the deejay peecee (assisted by wannabe artists and puny human slaves Nikon Driver & kicking_k) launched It Came from the Sea, an experimental disco that spliced arthouse visuals with a slavishly fashionable dancefloor agenda. Cue 2 years of: dogbowls full of sweets, skull-and-crossbones balloons, underwater movies, a bubble machine, a smoke machine, masses of artificial flowers, computer-generated cartoons, indoor graffiti, amateur paparazzi, and a room full of self-confessed pretentious freaks. On a good night, it was somewhere between an artschool happening and the decline & fall of the Roman Empire. On a bad night, it was EVEN WORSE.
The music policy started as: ‘experimental D.I.S.C.O. feat. electro pop crossover hip-hop lo-fi sleaze mp3s cut + paste fashion hype blah blah blah rock ACTION’ – later downsized and streamlined to the more manageable ‘hip-hop fashion pop electro sleaze rock action’ – though they’ve continued sending exploratory tentacles into various genres as they emerge – from grime to reggaeton – anything goes so long as it’s song-based and makes you move whether you know the words or not. The one given is that the boyz strive for the fastest-evolving dancefloor in town – not only is most of the music played at the club unreleased on the night, but they routinely premiere a third new material each month.
During this period, they filled support slots for Chaos Rocks at the C2, Pink Grease at the Po-na-na, a free tour of Brighton’s pubs, and a residency at the Electric Sessions (a monthly live electronic music showcase), as well as an invasion of swanky superclub Audio (reinforced by hundreds of plastic soldiers skirmishing around the venue). Elsewhere, their avant-garde social club, Lo-Res provided a monthly celebration of DIY culture, involving free zines, multiple artworks, local bands, and exclusive film screenings – culminating in the Post-Everything exhibition at the Permanent Gallery, Aug/Sept ’04 (‘A discourse on our inability to find a viable name for the era in which we live, this exhibition…is the mother of all hangovers’ – The Guardian). In August 2004, It Came from the Sea rocked the Ballroom for the last time, putting the fun back in funeral with hundreds of glowsticks and a goodbye speech from D.A.I.S.Y. the deejay peecee.
Sea City Central:
The Sussex Arts Club 2005-2006
It returned from exile at the Sussex Arts Club, with a complete revamp, the first weekend of February 2005 – and has sold out (and then some) every month since. Adding a smoke machine to an arsenal of heavenly lights, the ballroom increasingly took on the mantle of a psychedelic event (so much so that they have been known to set off the Hotel’s fire alarm in their enthusiasm). Green Day attended the relaunch, surreally and there are reports a ‘contemporary dance spectacular’ was staged (and filmed) somewhere on the premises.It returned from exile at the Sussex Arts Club, with a complete revamp, the first weekend of February 2005 – and has sold out (and then some) every month since. Adding a smoke machine to an arsenal of heavenly lights, the ballroom increasingly took on the mantle of a psychedelic event (so much so that they have been known to set off the Hotel’s fire alarm in their enthusiasm).
As a way of doing things a bit differently, and paying back to the scene besides, they dropped the arthouse films in favour of commissioning original work from photographers, painters, wordsmiths etc. The work is then made into slides that play above the dance floor haze, is promoted in emails and on the site.
Easily the most-hyped night on the Brighton scene in 2005, It Came from the Sea combined critical and popular success with sickening nonchalance. The buzz around the Arts Club was palpable by the time doors opened, and soon enough a flash queue of DIY stars snaked down Ship Street – the place was often sold out by eleven, and they regularly, regretfully turned away droves.
Committed to keeping things interesting, the night experimented with various ways to make more use of the bigger space the venue offered. And so, there was the civilised alternative of a piano bar for those who wanted to slow down and circulate away from the full-on disco inferno raging in the main room. Across the hall, the Voodoo Lily Nursery offered a quiet space where a second childhood is provided free of charge via colouring-in books, boardgames and jigsaws.
Meanwhile over at the main event, the multi-media experience was pushed still further by a scrolling LED screen suggesting topics of conversation, providing sociopathic subtitles and propagandistic prose poems set to self-destruct.
Brighton streets already know the ICFTHS Mobile Disco was called in to help the Ocean Rooms score a new audience. It didn’t work, but the collaboration harvested a handful of hot shows in the shape of Optimo, Adult. and JoJo de Freq. They were likewise enlisted to guide the All Time Top 100’s New Year Special into 2006 as well as working like mules in support slots with LCD Soundsystem, Lady Sovereign, Hot Chip, Kano, and various other lucky stiffs.
ICFHTS/NOW
The Sea Underground:
B’Lo Summer Holiday 2006
After the most successful year in their history, It Came from the Sea deejays Nikon Driver & kicking_k were metaphorically gutted to announce that the April 1 show would be their last at the Sussex Arts Club – no fooling. Progressive difficulties with the sound system forced a move despite genuine love and respect for venue and staff – all the atmospherics in the world couldn’t disguise the fact that the volume was dipping close to being background music.
The temporary solution: the ICFTHS home for the summer months (May thru September) will be everyone’s favourite seaside batcave, B’Lo. We heart the SSX Arts, and would’ve loved to stay but in the end it was all about the limiter – people (that’s YOU) were forever asking us to turn it up and we couldn’t – it was seriously no fun.
So, for those who’ve been along to ICFTHS any time in the last few months and been underwhelmed by music levels not unlike a distant wake, a car stereo – three – cars – down – this is yr chance to get re-acquainted with the kick/nik soundsystem maxxxing out the volume and giving you music you can feel (like, in yr bones and hollow cavities). Gimmicks are madd fun, but here be the long-awaited, much-requested return to the high-intensity experience the club was famous for before as it exploits the B’Lo’s basement scene to go hardcore on the dancefloor. Furthermore: from May onward, we’re opening and closing later (11-3 instead of 10-2) to better suit Brighton’s post-licensing lawless wilderness.
Dogbowls full of sweets? Check. Slides by artists somewhere over the dancefloor? Yes. LED with troubling sub-textual messages? Affirmative. Masses of artificial flowers to turn the deejay booth into a window box (complete with dancing gnomes)? You know it. And, ‘cause we want to mark the change and make the venue our own, we can giddily announce we’ve also invested in eBay crime scene tape and a REALLY BIG STROBE. Stop-motion disco GO!
As for content, continuing their commitment to new music has seen new genres embraced and ASSIMILATED as they emerge - from baile funk to electrohouse and (more recently) neu-rave, glitchy DIY dance, Baltimore and the ADD mash rock of Test Icicles and their ilk. We don’t stand still – so you’ve got no excuse.
Meanwhile, voodoolily.co.uk continues to grow, with an all-new section devoted to downloads from wallpaper to mp3 mixes, and expect even more interactive elements to go live soon – from in-club pix to an online forum that will form a virtual counterpart to the club space itself and allow a realtime interface between It Came from the Sea and Those Who Just Go There (sometimes).
ICFTHS/WHEN
Sea to Smoke:
Bardens Boudoir 2006-
It Came from the Sea has kept its host town of Brighton in happy subjugation for three years now, and every whim of its tyrannical masters – deejay auteurs kicking_k & Nikon Driver – redefines the scene in Britain’s most painfully, self-consciously hip city.
But now, on a (possibly evil) whim, the ICFTHS overlords grow hungry for more, and are finally set to EXTEND A TENTACLE into the fetid waters of the metropolis. From Saturday 15 July (and thence once monthly on the third Sat) It Came from the Sea will commence their infection of the capital via an orgiastic five-hour ritual of APPALLING DEPRAVITY likely to hook those lost souls who attend forever, CRUSHING THEIR SPIRITS like so much human litter. The place is Bardens Boudoir, the countdown starts here.
Furthermore, the boyz will be joined by a third deejay for this capital franchise, a shadowy figure known only as cas cool across the high score screens of London’s seediest arcades.
Next Stage Sea:
Komedia 2006-
And come October, It Came from the Sea: Brighton will take up a fresh residency in an all-new mothership – the biggest, most central and dramatic venue they’ve occupied in their history, ladies and gentlemen, make an orderly queue for the Komedia and what’s sure to be Next Gen Biz and then some.
For fresh updates and things to look forward to, click to the news.
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