ALBUM REVIEW: COURTNEY BARNETT – THINGS TAKE TIME, TAKE TIME

Following ‘Tell Me How You Really Feel’, an album that found itself on numerous best of 2018 lists, including most improbably Barack Obama’s, was always going to be a difficult task. With ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’, Courtney Barnett has adopted a subtler musical palette and has set to sketching smaller details alongside honest emotions […]
This Is The Kit

LIVE: THIS IS THE KIT – 11/11/2021

Comparisons are odious but given that I went to two gigs in two days I think I can be forgiven for drawing them. On Wednesday night it was Self Esteem at Gorilla and on Thursday it was This is the Kit at RNCM. Both intelligent female-led music, but that’s where the comparisons end. RNCM is […]

GIG GUIDE

Our gig guide is handpicked and every act has been listened to before making it onto the list.

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Cassandra Jenkins

LIVE: CASSANDRA JENKINS – 14/11/2021

– YES, Manchester – Reader, a confession: I am very hungover. I have been in London for the weekend visiting friends and taking a trip to the Oval Space to see Tirzah and Koreless as part of the Pitchfork London festival (really very good, would go again). I’m trying to be enthusiastic about mustering the […]
black midi

LIVE: BLACK MIDI – 08/11/2021

Is black midi performance art now? Halfway through this absolutely ferocious gig, keyboardist ‘Shank’ sneaks up behind the extraordinary saxophonist ‘Cassanova’ with a plastic pirate cutlass, and proceeds to ‘slash’ his neck. But lo! Casanova rises (through ‘the power of love’, we are told by vocalist and guitarist Geordie Greep, who is narrating the pantomime […]
Good Morning - Barnyard

ALBUM REVIEW: GOOD MORNING – BARNYARD

Good Morning is a two piece band from Melbourne, who are part of the indie rock revival movement occuring with other bands like Boy Pablo, Crumb and Yellow Days just to name a few. Their latest release ‘Barnyard’ is a laidback album, which feels as if you are listening to an intimate live session instead […]

A QUICK CATCH UP WITH HUNNYBEES

Non-Ferrous Types of Metal Titles… of Quality

ALBUM REVIEW: LA LUZ – LA LUZ

Combining delicate pop harmonies with Americana style guitars, La Luz are the missing link between floaty, dreamy indie and cosmic country, with plenty of vocal harmonies and reverb drenched guitar sounds throughout the album. There’s the twangy opener ‘In The Country’ then the surf rock blast of ‘The Pines’ with its gentle vocal harmonies. ‘Metal […]

ALBUM REVIEW: THINK I’M GOING WEIRD – ORIGINAL ARTEFACTS FROM THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC SCENE 1966-1968

Ah, the sixties, a time of Beatlemania, rock n’ roll rebellion, pop dominating the charts, three tv channels, and space exploration. While the world was fascinated by what lay beyond our own planet, in the late 1960s music fans around the world were discovering other ways to get ‘far out’ and ‘go cosmic man’ thanks […]

INTERVIEW: THE TELESCOPES

LOUDER THAN WORDS FESTIVAL RETURNS TO MANCHESTER FOR 2021

LISSIE IS ON A VOYAGE OF REDISCOVERY SHARING THE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED SONG ‘ALL BE OKAY’

CHET FAKER GETS THE ROLLER BLADES OUT ON HIS LATEST SINGLE’S VIDEO TO MAKE PEOPLE ‘FEEL GOOD’

NICK WILSON PREVIEWS FORTHCOMING ‘NOW I’M FALLING’ ALBUM WITH LATEST SINGLE ‘YOURS TO TAKE’

Sprints

LIVE: SPRINTS – 28/10/2021

– Castle Hotel, Manchester – It’s a later than expected start tonight, scheduled support act Loose Articles are sadly unable to perform, here’s wishing a speedy recovery. It means I arrive barely ten minutes before the main event, just in time to hear Black Flag then Black Sabbath playing as background music, as though the […]

THE SHADRACKS UNVEIL NEW SINGLE ‘YOU CAN’T LOSE’

HARTLEPOOL INDIE-POP TRIO MT. MISERY SHARE VIDEO FOR ‘TAKEN BY THE TIDE’

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING ANNOUNCE THEIR NEW ALBUM BRIGHT MAGIC AND SHARE NEW SINGLE/VIDEO ‘PEOPLE, LET’S DANCE’ FT. EERA

HOLLY HUMBERSTONE ANNOUNCES MANCHESTER YES HEADLINE FOR OCTOBER AND RELEASES ‘THE WALLS ARE WAY TOO THIN’

Lyra Pramuk

LIVE: LYRA PRAMUK – 26/10/2021

– Soup, Manchester – Spoiler: this is, hands down, the most extraordinary vocal performance I’ve witnessed live. Lyra Pramuk, the American producer and composer, constructs songs from just her vocals in the most remarkable way. Her debut album ‘Fountain’, released in 2020, sounds like little else released last year (or since, tbf), and when you […]
Just Mustard

LIVE: JUST MUSTARD – 25/10/2021

– Castle Hotel, Manchester – I’d forgotten, after all this time, just how intimate the back room at The Castle is, and what a wonderfully evocative room it is too. It’s like being in someone’s front room, albeit a front room with a stage. It also has a slight vicarage vibe about it, with its […]

“Psychedelic” Titles That Happen To Be Of Quality

RED RIBBON REVEALS NEWLY RELEASED ALBUM TITLE TRACK ‘PLANET X’

LONDON QUINTET SILVERTWIN RETURN WITH NEW TRACK ‘SAVIOUR’

DAS BEAT RELEASE FINAL SINGLE FROM DEBUT EP

‘PEAK BLEAK’ FOR LEEDS ART-ROCK OUTFIT MUSH WHO PURCHASE £100 EBOW TO RECORD THEIR LATEST TRACK

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