LIVE: FALLS / THE HYENA KILL – 16/08/2014
The Hyena Kill – THE STAR & GARTER, MANCHESTER – I’m still unsure about gigs at The Star & Garter. To me, that venue is The Smiths Disco. First Friday of the month, a gang of folk young and old gather upstairs in the (let’s be honest) grotty venue to sing and dance along to classic Smiths/Morrissey tunes. It’s not to say I’m against the idea of gigs here, but it does feel strange coming here sober to see a band, rather than being off my head, merrily... Read More
NEWS: BASS DRUM OF DEATH – HEAR NEW TRACK ‘LEFT FOR DEAD’
Bass Drum of Death John Barrett returns with his second full length for LA label Innovative Leisure as Bass Drum of Death. Elevating Bass Drum of Death from the scrapheap of garage rock challengers fighting for attention, Rip This is BDoD’s most impressive record yet, combining the best elements of the American rock underground with a raw approach that’s original and exciting. Bass Drum of Death’s appeal has always transcended the band’s roots in the local Oxford, Mississippi... Read More
NEWS: MAZES – HEAR NEW TRACK ‘SALFORD’
Mazes Mazes have never been ones for hanging around. When they have songs, they get them out there. If they should find themselves snowed in and unable to get to the studio, they’d grab a shovel and dig a pathway through. It’s precisely what the trio had to do during a recent trip to upstate New York for the creation of Wooden Aquarium, the band’s brand new album. “The studio was completely isolated; an idyllic place to make a record. Green, remote, backwatery, fewer distractions…... Read More
Album Review: Sex Hands – Pleh
When you talk about slackers, the glamorous, Americanised image is of beautiful surfer dudes smoking lots of weed and making lovely, reverb-heavy music about being sad. Best Coast, basically. The British equivalent isn’t nearly as cool. With a climate like ours, it’s nicer to sit in and watch telly all day and eat biscuits and ignore the washing up. Manchester DIY stalwarts Sex Hands have at least four songs about watching Friends on Pleh. As harrowing as that sounds,... Read More
16/08/2014
Our radio show goes out live every Saturday 3-5 on Fab Radio International. TRACK LISTING Flamingods – Quesso (feat Dustin Wong) / Tiny Ruins – Carriages / Vancouver Sleep Clinic – Collapse / Mazes – Salford / Holy Esque – Silences / The John Steel Singers – State Of Unrest / Elvis Presley – Are You Lonsome Tonight (laughing version) / Protomartyr – Scum, Rise! / Bass Drum Of Death – Left For Dead / Slaves... Read More
LIVE: BEIRUT – 14/08/2014
– ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER – Back in 2006, one Zach Condon started his own solo musical project which soon expanded into a band, now known as Beirut. Fast forward to the present, the American band has three studio albums under their name and a massive fan base with their multi-elemental indie folk rock music. The venue tonight is Albert Hall, an old chapel building that has been restored and transformed into an achingly beautiful music hall, restaurant and bar. Bless... Read More
EP Review: Baby Brave – King Horse
King Horse presents a very different Baby Brave to their clumsily titled 2012 debut EP (deep breath) The Hornet’s Nest of Unrequited Ambition That Was 1960s Vogue. They’ve since lost a singer and the suffix “…and the Love Bites” but gained an affection for some noisier influences. That’s not to say there’s none of the Camera Obscura-style swoon pop of their previous record on King Horse, it’s just swathed in fuzzy feedback. Lead... Read More
LIVE: PISSED JEANS – 14/08/2014
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – Possibly the best band currently signed to Sub Pop, although that might depend on your preference for angular, heavy, noisy, punk rock or Fleet Foxes. Pissed Jeans seem able to create sonic landscapes, themes and soundtracks to the irritations of life and the minutiae of the daily grind. They create an aural document to a mind on the slide, a bitter and resentful Peter Bagge-like character, an ordinary Joe on the verge of bugging out, big... Read More
NEWS: DAVE HASLAM (IN CONVERSATION) WITH PUNK LEGEND JOHN LYDON
John Lydon One of the great icons of popular music, John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) is to appear at the historic Albert Hall in Manchester to launch his autobiography Anger is an Energy: My Life Uncensored. John Lydon will be taking part in an exclusive no-holds-barred live onstage interview, discussing his turbulent life and his compelling career in music with DJ/writer Dave Haslam. He’ll also be signing copies of his autobiography (the book will be on sale at the venue on the... Read More
LIVE: EASY STAR ALL-STARS – 07/08/2014
– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is one of the best-selling albums of all time, and it is said that at any given moment, someone, somewhere is listening to the album. The purveyors of this fact haven’t mentioned whether any of these people are under the age of fifty, but that’s by the by. For da yout’, the reggae cover band has become somewhat de rigeur nowadays, and the phenomenon has become one of the third... Read More
