NEWS: SONIC FUSION FESTIVAL
The University of Salford is to play host to an exciting new music festival. Salford Sonic Fusion Music Festival will bring cutting-edge experimental music to Salford, showcasing a range of genres from art music and jazz, to folk and audio-visual work. Both international music stars and students will be gathering at the MediaCityUK campus to perform at the event, which will take place over the 26th-29th April. So far, taking to the stage will be legendary USA jazz bassist Jamaaladeen... Read More
LIVE: THE RUMOUR SAID FIRE – 13/03/2012
– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – I normally like to go into gigs ‘blind’, so to speak, to have no preconceptions, but as I planned to review this one I thought I ought to do some research. My research brought up some mellow, yet lively sounding songs sung in English that suggested they were written with emotion and a lot of information in Danish that I couldn’t understand. I gathered that they were a fairly new Danish indie-folk band and was interested to go... Read More
COMPUTER GAME MUSIC
I’m a fan of video games – although not quite your average video game fan. Since first playing on a NES in 1987, I’ve been a dyed-in-the wool Nintendo-head. Lately, I’ve been buying a bunch of games that I used to play when I was in my early teens – games from the NES, SNES and N64. I’ve faced up to the awkward truth and admitted to myself that “I am a retro gamer”. I still get nostalgic and over-excited when someone like Rolo Tomassi break out... Read More
NEWS: AFTERSHOCK – 10TH ANNIVERSARY
Aftershock celebrates its 10th anniversary with a stellar line-up of Nitin Sawhney, Kirk McElhinney, Sam Carter, Denis Jones, Aruba Red, Mieko, Arun Ghosh, Mathew Halsall and Clive Hunte. There is no other project like Aftershock in the world. Over the last 10 years Artistic Director Nitin Sawhney has worked with some of the best new musical talent from around the globe to create unique one off showcase events in London, Manchester, Bristol, Melbourne, Genoa and Marseille. Tonight’s... Read More
NEWS: RICHARD HAWLEY – NEW ALBUM DETAILS
Following the success of his award-winning, hugely acclaimed 2009 album ‘Truelove’s Gutter’, Richard Hawley will release his sixth studio album, ‘Standing At The Sky’s Edge’ – his first for new label Parlophone – on 7th May. Recorded at Sheffield’s Yellow Arch Studio in 2011, ‘Standing At The Sky’s Edge’ marks a seismic shift in direction for Hawley. The album is a euphoric, sonic assault on the senses, channelling elements of psychedelia,... Read More
NEWS: DUKE SPECIAL – UK TOUR DATES
From The Muppets on Sesame Tree to Mother Courage at the National Theatre. From Huckleberry Finn and silent movie stars to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. From Belfast to the British Expo in Shanghai, via live performances around the world, the career of the inimitable Duke Special has been, to say the least, a varied and unpredictable one. Duke Special will now be embarking upon a UK tour to celebrate his first “mainstream” album, entitled “Oh... Read More
LIVE: NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS – 08/03/2012
– THE CONTINENTAL, PRESTON – Boldly venturing north tonight to experience some premier psych-drone-folk direct from France. After last year’s appearance at the Tusk Festival in Newcastle (supposedly only the duo’s second gig in the UK), Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte of Natural Snow Buildings must have caught the live performance bug as they are in the UK and Ireland for a full tour – with Preston as a stop off. What they lack in gigs they make up for in... Read More
NEWS: BETH JEANS HOUGHTON & THE HOOVES OF DESTINY – NEW SINGLE ‘ATLAS’ + VIDEO
Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves of Destiny have announced details of their new single ‘Atlas’. Set for release on Mute on 23 April 2012, the single will also have a special Record Store Day release on 21 April. The brilliant, black-and-white video was directed and produced by Beth’s friend Juan Iglesias in Los Angeles, where Beth has spent much of the year. It stars actress Brenda King (and a rabbit) in a clip that’s part stop-motion animation; part film... Read More
Album Review: Performance – Red Brick Heart
Rarely do you find a band that makes you want to take the singer to the best indie disco in town for a drink and a proper chat and then dance like an idiot for the next ten hours. This is that band. By all accounts Performance have been through the wringer: record label misdemeanours, chemical implosions and love gone bad. But if all that means we get an album as strangely uplifting as Red Brick Heart, then that album is the spring that follows a dark and mean winter. These songs... Read More
INTERVIEW: DJANGO DJANGO
Django Django are a bunch of genre-flouting, clever buggers. The Django’s, Dave Maclean (drums), Vinny Neff (vocals/guitar), Tommy Grace (keys) and Jimmy Dixon (bass), have been at it since 2009, but only this January they released their debut, self-titled album ‘Django Django’. It’s been giving all the new- music aficionados out there big, fizzy knickers. The sound’s an impressive pick ‘n’ mix of electronic beats, a good old dollop of samples, part... Read More
