ALBUM REVIEW: THE MURDER CAPITAL – WHEN I HAVE FEARS
As anyone who knows me will testify, I can waffle on about my love for Sonic Youth all day long, so any band that has elements of the much missed soaring guitar sounds and otherworldly eeriness about them, is always going to grab my ears, however I wasn’t expecting this… Sometimes bands come along and you can’t help thinking where have they got such a depth of sound, a depth of raw emotion, in such a short time. Listening to The Murder Capital’s debut album is an exhilaratingly... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW: SLEATER KINNEY – THE CENTER WON’T HOLD
Watching Sleater Kinney at the Albert Hall in 2015 on their first tour since reforming, was a reminder of how much of a gap in my musical world there had been in the intervening years since they split. I was lucky enough to see them numerous times over the years, and even managed to grab an interview with them for my zine in their early days (great for me, probably not so much for them, as I handed them a previous issue of the zine, glue still not properly dry, went all over their... Read More
ALBUM REVIEWS ROUND UP – THE REST OF THE BEST NEW RELEASES FROM THE LAST MONTH
Dead Nature: Taking My Shadow EP From the ashes of the great but underrated band Spring King comes Dead Nature. I loved Spring King, a band who should’ve been massive with their brand of fuzzed up guitar melodies, and new project Dead Nature doesn’t disappoint either. It’s the work of Tarek Musa former chief songwriter and producer in Spring King, and maintains the ear-warpingly great melodies Spring King had, yet manages to make the sound more epic, with greater instrumentation... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW: COMPILATION – OPTIMISM/REJECT (PUNK AND POST PUNK)
Whatever the history of punk, it’s impossible to deny the huge impact that this short-lived, intense burst of energy, ethos and political statement had on the music scene not just in the US and UK, but across the world. The striking substance-over-style aesthetic to the music, the boundary-pushing, taboo-breaking socially unacceptable behaviour, even the fashion which went hand-in-hand with the music have endured in a way that little else has. All of these incendiary elements... Read More
AUGUST 2019
We have trawled through the forthcoming gigs in and around Manchester so you don’t have to. We believe that if we are going to recommend a gig to you, then it should be exactly that, a recommendation. Our gig guide is handpicked and every act has been listened to before making it onto the list. It has been compiled by the ears of our editors and not by any promoters, band’s management or PR’s. If we’ve missed anything please feel free to plug any gigs in the comments... Read More
EP REVIEW: JOHN MYRTLE – HERE’S JOHN MYRTLE
Bingo Records not only have one of the best record label names ever, but they also have a knack for snapping up really cool bands, Mr Ben and The Bens being a case in point. So when they say they’ve got a new EP out by someone we haven’t really covered before, well, it’s about time we put that right. Obviously I wouldn’t be writing about it if it was a pile of old you know what, but thankfully John Myrtle is an absolute musical treasure, who some of you may already know... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW: JADE IMAGINE – BASIC LOVE
Jade Imagine – Basic Love Let’s face it, if the blurb in the press release says signed to Courtney Barnett’s record label, you’re gonna take notice, well, I am anyway cos I think she’s great, and yes, I am easily swayed by this sort of thing! So, having not heard anything by these Aussies before, purely on the Courtney Barnett association, I took the plunge and immersed by eardrums into their debut album. After a few songs in, one thing is pretty clear, they sound... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW: KARINE POLWART – SCOTTISH SONGBOOK
What do you think of when you think about covers? For me, it’s the following: bad (but enthusiastic) karaoke, buskers (and the cover is almost exclusively Wonderwall) and Michael Bublé crooning away 24 hours a day seven days a week during the Christmas period. I’m not saying I don’t like them – more that when there is so much brilliant new music around, I think you probably have to work a little bit harder than usual to make a cover something that’s going to be... Read More
SEPTEMBER 2018
We have trawled through the forthcoming gigs in and around Manchester so you don’t have to. We believe that if we are going to recommend a gig to you, then it should be exactly that, a recommendation. Our gig guide is handpicked and every act has been listened to before making it onto the list. It has been compiled by the ears of our editors and not by any promoters, band’s management or PR’s. If we’ve missed anything please feel free to plug any gigs in the comments... Read More
ALBUM: IDLES – JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE
Idles – Joy As An Act Of Resistance – A Celebration of Vulnerability – The highly anticipated second album by Idles is pure vigour underneath a bunch of songs where the guts, the cries and the sing & shout still prevail from their outstanding debut Brutalism. The Bristol based outfit’s new record, Joy as an Act of Resistance, is due on Friday 31st August under the wings of Partisan Records. The death of the loved ones is, unfortunately, still present. If... Read More
