LIVE: PHOBOPHOBES – 16/03/2018
Phobophobes -EAGLE INN, SALFORD- Phobophobes are strangely fearless. As they take to the Eagle Inn tonight, they are ready to take on whatever this Friday night might throw at them, and in short order they have the Eagle Inn bouncing to their quirky, jagged indie psych nuggets. They only just about manage to squeeze their six members onto what is admittedly one of Manchester’s (ok, Salford’s) most modestly sized stages, a balancing act made only harder when it turns out that... Read More
ALBUM: YO LA TENGO – THERE’S A RIOT GOING ON
Yo La Tengo – There’s A Riot Going On The fact that Yo La Tengo have existed for over thirty years, with a consistently strong but still relatively underground appeal, could be one of the reasons behind the title of their fifteenth album. Not that Yo La Tengo are in anyway riotous, well at least not in an obvious way. Theirs is a slower, hypnotic riot, rather than a sheer onslaught. Kicking off with the gentle meandering rhythms and undulating keyboard sounds of ‘You... Read More
LIVE: FIELD MUSIC – 16/03/2018
Field Music -GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Not an awful lot has come out of Sunderland apart from my Grandpa, the fabulous Andy Dawson from the Athletico Mince podcast and St Bede, the monk. To that list we have now been able to add Field Music. Ostensibly formed of the Brewis brothers – David and Peter – by the time their numbers have swollen to encompass all corners of their live set-up, you worry someone’s going to fall off the stage at Gorilla, so little wriggle room... Read More
Silent Radio Gig Guide Mixtape 16/03/2018
PRESS PLAY… All of the bands featured are playing in Manchester this week (and are most likely on tour too!) and are the ones we reckon you should get a ticket for. The gigs, covering the week of the 18th-24th March, are lifted from our guide over at www.silentradio.co.uk – where you can see the venues and dates. The Gig Guide is compiled from musical happenings that WE recommend, this isn’t a syndicated list – it’s a lovingly put together menu of... Read More
LIVE: HOOKWORMS – 10/03/2018
Hookworms -THE WHITE HOTEL, SALFORD- Hookworms have made the best album of 2018. It’s a provocative statement, especially at the start of March, but right now I believe it to be true. Great albums often come with a backstory, their own built-in folklore, something that can be easily distilled into a short conversation that the record’s fans can tell far and wide in the hope that others will remember the album well enough to go and pick it up themselves. Hookworms’ third... Read More
PIRATE STUDIOS LAUNCH INCREDIBLE NEW TALENT COMPETITION
We chat to the studio’s co-founder to find out more. The clever swashbucklers over at Pirate Studios have recently launched a new talent competition Pirate Prodigies Programme, designed to kick-start the careers of three lucky acts. On top of the incredible prize of promising to ‘break’ each winner (in a purely music industry way of course), they’ll also receive shit-hot mentors, radio airtime, support with releases and free studio time. I caught up with Pirate Studios... Read More
TUNE-YARDS – MANCHESTER SHOW TICKETS GIVEAWAY
Tune-Yards started 2018 with a bang, that bang being the new album I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life. Thematically, the twelve new songs tackle race, politics, intersectional feminism and environmental prophecies head on but is probably Tune-Yards’ most immediate and upbeat record yet – this is music to dance to! Bandleader Merrill Garbus said this: “Yes, the world is a mess, but I’ve been attempting to look more and more inward: how do all of these... Read More
LIVE: GWENNO – 09/03/2018
Gwenno -GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER- According to the 2011 National Census, there are 577 people that name Cornish as their first language. A small number, but not so bad when you consider that as of the late 18th century, the language was officially extinct. The resurgence has been going for some decades now, and one of the leading lights of the revival movement is the poet and journalist Tim Saunders. Tonight at Gullivers, Tim’s daughter Gwenno is bringing her newly released all... Read More
Silent Radio Gig Guide Mixtape 09/03/2018
The new Mixtape has….deee-ropped. All of the bands featured are playing in Manchester this week (and are most likely on tour too!) and are the ones we reckon you should get a ticket for. The gigs, covering the week of the 12th -17th March, are lifted from our guide over at www.silentradio.co.uk – where you can see the venues and dates. The Gig Guide is compiled from musical happenings that WE recommend, this isn’t a syndicated list – it’s a lovingly... Read More
ALBUM: THE MEN – DRIFT
The Men – Drift Formed in 2008, The Men are one of those New York bands who just keep up their hard working ethic with every release, gradually gaining more admirers each time around, yet without necessarily having any massive singles. That’s not to say they don’t have amazingly catchy songs in their back catalogue as they’ve got them by the bucket load. They’re just ones of those bands that those who know about them love, and those who don’t know about them yet... Read More
