The year’s first snow has arrived just in time for the launch of Super Hyper Giant’s debut album, Retro/Futuristic. The band have developed a unique brand of alternative pop in the vein of Everything Everything and Alt-J. The album features many contributors including former Smashing Pumpkin Nicole Fiorentino.

The six piece band that main man Jonathan Savino has assembled to bring this labour of love to the stage play with the confidence of a seasoned crew. They seem comfortable on stage and banter with the audience and each other. Most of them play more than one instrument throughout the set and three backing vocalists provide a solid foundation over which Savino is given licence to swoop and soar. Savino himself is in his pyjamas and dressing gown for National Pyjama Day. He has been entertaining preschoolers for Irish Autism Action and implores the audience to donate.

They open with ‘The Universe’ which sets the standard for the set, changing tone and tempo frequently. Such variations are the band’s hallmark, both within songs and from one to the next. Super Hyper Giant’s live show is delivered according to the rules of ‘Just A Minute’ with no repetition, hesitation, or deviation. The next tune swings from early Snow Patrol to some double bass drum action on the outro.

We get an alternative version of the recent single, ‘Always’. The songs have been adapted from the studio versions for live performance. Super Hyper Giant was born in the studio as a solo effort but grew into something more complex. The live show is the reigning in of ideas that expanded in the studio. It is more conventional than the record but still inventive and effecting.

A grungy rock 'n' soul version of ‘Sally Seems’ has some very Whitesnake lead guitar while ‘Fantastic Voyage’ blends late period Beatles with Hall And Oates, and throws in a melodic guitar solo for good measure. There is no lull or dip in quality through the set. Super Hyper Giant are consistently entertaining and involving while being effortlessly entertaining.

The sound is as questionable as ever in the Whelan's upstairs annex and it takes some manoeuvring to find a sweet spot where the mix is listenable and the vocals aren’t ear-splitting but Super Hyper Giant have no trouble overcoming the venue’s shortcomings. Having only the one album to draw from, the set is inevitably quite short but the quality of the songwriting and the assuredness of the delivery mean that it comes across like the festival setlist of an established act with three or four albums under their belts. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

A name new to me, the Australian sibling instrumental guitar and drums duo have been patchily active over the past decade with a handful of mainly split releases (including last year’s with Hey Colossus), and are joined on guitar this occasion by Raul Sanchez i Jorge (River Of Snakes et al) for four  lengthy (eight-eleven minutes) tracks.

‘Dusted Pines’ and ‘Phantamonium’, both build from subdued intros of  steady drumming (with a hint of post rock trickiness, or in the case of the latter a bit of a rolling groove ), post-metal jangle, assorted strafing drones, feedback and string scrapings  to epic psych noise conclusions. This is particularly effective on the title track which achieves a blissful union of noise, repetition, intensity and guitar scree that I would have been happy to continue for longer.     

‘Droned And Disowned Part One’ (‘Part Two’ is on the aforementioned Hey Colossus split)  is even better and expertly builds the tension through a lengthy preamble of drum rolls and feedback, before tempo shifting riffing emerges and continues to build in power, encompassing multiple breakdowns, a frustratingly brief wah-wah wig out and ending with a touch of doom metal.

Following this, the lighter toned motorik romp of ‘Entering The Lodge’ whilst enjoyable, doesn’t quite have the same levels of excitement and fervour and feels slightly anti-climatic.

In a crowded genre that is prone (at worst) to lapses into  self indulgent, soporific noodling, HWCT avoid these pitfalls and having created an absorbing and at times transcendent release, are certainly deserving of attention.

Phantamonium is available from here.

The split EP between Matilda’s Scoundrels and The Barracks sees the two Sussex seaside towns of Hastings and Eastbourne hosting a punk rock cultural exchange and discovering a mutual love of fast music, anthemic choruses and, clearly, oceans of booze. The latter a long serving part of the Sussex scene, the former a relatively recent addition, the split is an indication of what has always been a thriving punk scene lurking underneath both towns’ surfaces.

First The Barracks’ side; and, if you know the band, you’ll know what to expect. This is a crew who know exactly how to write catchy riffs, play them at breakneck speeds and throw in plenty of shout-a-long moments to get fists pumping down the front. Well-crafted melodies are soaked in cheap cider and given an edge courtesy of a crunching guitar sound and gravel-blasted vocals – to paraphrase Charles Manson, “They’re a boxcar, a jug of wine…and a straight razor, if you get too close”. Three original tracks and one Scoundrels’ cover make up their side of the split.

Heading east along the coast, through the world’s party capital Bexhill-on-Sea, and we reach Hastings and the fast-rising folk/punk boozing unit Matilda’s Scoundrels. Drawing influence from the town’s smuggling history, its punk rock pedigree and from The Pogues, they make a token gesture to a measured pace with the first 50 seconds of their half of the EP before speeding things up and getting their teeth stuck into four songs of high octane shanties brimming with drunken swagger. Already sounding much tighter than the band that recorded Beasts in Disguise, the four tracks here show a band hitting their stride and demonstrating why they’re a part of so many festival bills and gig line ups in the coming year.

These two sides should act as an eye opener, if you didn’t already know, of Sussex’s thriving punk scene – one scene stalwart and one newcomer, both killing it with their respective halves. Get hold of it, buy a bottle of whiskey for accompaniment and enjoy.

Split EP is available from iTunes and Amazon.

MindriotMT are four hard rocking lads from Mitchelstown, County Cork. More correctly, they are four men from Mitchelstown. They have been playing together since 1992 and have finally gotten around to releasing a full-length record.

Brothers is as slick and professional as you would expect from a seasoned group. The production is high quality with a heft of dirty guitar and nice fat bass. Four of the songs were released last year as an EP but the record coheres well.

MindriotMT specialise in post-grunge Americana. It's straight up hard rock with no mixer. There are shades of Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer, and even at times the sound veers dangerously close to Nickelback and Staind. Their formation in the '90s crucible really comes through. There's a real '90s vibe off the album at a time when the nostalgia for that period is strong. If you'd heard Brothers in 1996, it would have sounded apposite and sat comfortably with Silverchair and Moist. 20 years from its natural environment Brothers sounds retro and dated like classic rock radio.

Brothers is replete with some very handy drop-D grooves and stirring leads. When they get heavy like on 'Boyz Of The Tomahawk' it sounds great. MindriotMT have a ton of riffs that will rip your face off and aren't afraid to use them. 'Fire' leads off with some funk rock wah guitar and slap bass and 'My Alibi' blends Beatles melodies and harmonies seamlessly into their hard rock template. While 'Summer Breeze' genuinely makes me pine for the Summer of '96.

24 years is a long build up to a first album and MindriotMT have formed a tight unit in that time. They have proven that they have the chops to pull off a creditable debut. If they can shake off their influences and find their own individual voice then you get the feeling that they have much more to offer and Brothers could be a launchpad to a long recording career for them. Hopefully it won't be another two decades before we hear the next one.

Brothers may become available on bandcamp.