LIVE: THE LOUNGS / ONIONS – 06/03/2010
– FUEL CAFE, MANCHESTER – Tonight is a night for celebration; this, after all, is not just the anniversary of the popular, delightfully unpretentious Cloud Sounds Presents, it is also the launch party of The Loungs new album, a chance to see what the Onions have been hiding away for, and début performance of The Bong Squad. Generally, if you enjoy Cloud Sounds’ shows, you will love his gig nights. His dictatorial method of band selection means he only brings us... Read More
LIVE: CYRIL SNEAR AND GALLOPS – 05/03/2010
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – It’s a shame to see a long-standing music store close in Manchester, but what better to replace it with than a music venue? And what’s more, it has kept the original name. Sound Control is perfectly placed in a lively part of South Manchester between the trendy Northern Quarter and the more expensive designer bars of Deansgate. The ground floor has pool tables, the basement is a club space and upstairs there’s a wooden floored hall... Read More
LIVE: THE HORNBLOWER BROTHERS – 05/03/2010
The Hornblower Brothers – ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – It was a normal weekday evening back in November of last year. I’d returned home from work and was listening to Marc Riley’s show on BBC 6 Music. As always there were some great tunes played as is expected, but on this particular night I was stood at the kitchen sink washing the pots, when a certain song started and my ears virtually span backwards on the sides of head in the direction of the speaker on the top... Read More
SINGLE: Sound of Guns – Alcatraz
Sound of Guns have been touring with Adam Green prior to the release of their new single, Alcatraz. Though they were talented musicians when they visited Club Academy in Manchester last month, they never got the crowd going in the way Green did. This was because, unlike Green, they couldn’t help but take themselves too seriously, and looked as though they were sulking throughout. Looking at the information which accompanies their single one wonders if their management... Read More
ALBUM: Boe Weaver – Boe Weaver
Boe Weaver – Boe Weaver Boe Weaver is the physical manifestation of one of Stuart Maconie’s wet dreams. It’s as if they make sounds specifically for the Freak Zone (and let me take this opportunity to say save BBC 6 Music). This stuff is so far left of leftfield; it’s off the field, outside the stadium, and taking tea in the monkey house with the neighbouring baboons. Fittingly The Weaver wear furry, prosthetic animal heads when they play live – quel surprise!The... Read More
ALBUM: Dag For Dag – Boo
Dag for Dag, who have just released their debut album ‘BOO’, are a Swedish-American brother and sister combination. Over the years, Swedish and American genes have combined to produce such visual delights as Kim Bassinger, Uma Thurman and Scarlet Johansson; such high-fliers as Charles Lindeburg and Buzz Aldrin; and every politician in Minnesota. In addition to genetic engineering, Swedish-American automotive engineering created a modern classic in 2005 – and answered... Read More
ALBUM: Liars – Sisterworld
I’m going to stick my neck out here and say that opening track ‘Scissor’ from Liars latest release ‘Sisterworld’ is nothing short of genius. In fact I could probably write a review of this track alone but I’ll try to keep it as brief as possible, this is an album review after all.The track opens with eerie barbershop quartet backing vocals whilst lead singer Angus Andrew leads us through a dark murder ballad narrative. It’s the kind of tale that would make Nick... Read More
ALBUM: Broken Bells – Broken Bells
Too many collaborations sound like a match made in heaven, but end up in purgatory. They disappoint because the individual musician owes more to his band than he or she (or we) might think, and they have to compromise their own artistic vision to fit in with someone else’s leading to a product that is half as good as it should be. Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle, to name but a few, all looked good on paper, but... Read More
ALBUM: Lemar – The Hits
Along with loss and love, unrequited love has long been one of the great themes of literature and music. Unrequited love lacks any of the beauty or purity of real love. It is dark, obsessive and can destroy those who dwell in it. In music, however, many songs about this love are often poignantly beautiful in their raw honesty and expression. Ignoring the dreadful drones of James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful, many of Aretha Franklin’s best ballads were about unrequited... Read More
ALBUM: New Young Pony Club – The Optimist
New Young Pony Club, who play Manchester’s Mojo Live on Saturday 20th March as part of a tour of several Euopean countries, have just released their second album – the optimistically-titled ‘The Optimist’.When you live in the middle of a recession in a United Kingdom whose Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have not spoken to each other in years; when you live in a United Kingdom whose once-proud Armed Forces are being anhihalated by bearded peasants who... Read More
