INTERVIEW: CO-PILOT (JIM NOIR AND LEONORE WHEATLEY)
Manchester’s Jim Noir and Leonore Wheatley have joined forces as Co-Pilot, creating a debut album bursting with intriguing electronica. It manages to combine synth riffs with disco, funk and pop for an album which is mesmersingly enjoyable. From their studio in ‘the least gentrified area of Manchester’ they tell us about their love of disco, sampling ice cream vans, and why Co-Pilot’s debut album ‘Rotate ‘ is a new adventure for them both I’ve... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW: SPELLLING: SPELLLING & THE MYSTERY SCHOOL
SPELLLING’s ‘The Turning Wheel’ was one of 2021’s happiest musical surprises. A record that was astonishing in its scope, a cosmic soul, alt-pop delight brimming with melodrama and personnel (31 collaborating musicians). It represented a huge leap from Chrystia Cabral’s (who performs under the orthographically challenged name of SPELLLING) previous two smaller scale albums, 2017’s ‘Pantheon of Me’ and 2019’s synth driven ‘Mazy Fly’. Having subsequently developed... Read More
NEWS: SUFJAN STEVENS ANNOUNCES OCTOBER RELEASE OF NEW ALBUM
Asthmatic Kitty Records will be hurling a new Sufjan Stevens album, ‘Javelin’, into the world on 6th October 2023. It will be his first solo release since 2020’s ‘The Ascension’ and the first in full singer-songwriter mode since 2015’s ‘Carrie & Lowell’. The ten songs are promised to encapsulate the entire experience of Stevens’ 25-year career brought to bear in four-minute bursts of choral, orchestral, and electric wonder. Lead single ‘So You Are Tired’... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – SUPAKARMA: SUPAKARMA
In the latter half of the 1990s, four musicians from Milton Keynes were at the nadir of their career as part of experimental rock outfit Supakarma: recording their debut album at the Great Linford Manor studio (which had previously welcomed artists like PJ Harvey and the Charlatans) following a successful run of shows on the London music circuit. Despite the seemingly insurmountable position Supakarma found themselves in, their time recording together was, as with the 20th century,... Read More
PREVIEWS: AUGUST GIGS NOT TO MISS
Swans: Albert Halls: 12th August Legendary US noise rockers make a triumphant return to Manchester in support of brilliant new album ‘The Beggar’. The NYC guitar band first formed in 1982 and were part of the explosion of experimental guitar bands from NY which included Sonic Youth, Suicide and The Bush Tetras. Mannequin Death Squad – 12th August, The Castle Australian rock duo bring their melodic grunge infused tunes to these shores. They make such a colossal... Read More
ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 11 AUGUST 2023
Probably the quietest week in terms of volume since early January but there are some tasty releases nevertheless. Candy Claws Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time Tenth anniversary reissue that warranted a fanfare first time round. Candy Claws craft traces of Broadcast, The Left Banke, Blonde Redhead and Tropicalia into an eye-popping sound while the album follows the journey of a girl and a seal through the Mesozoic era. My Ugly Clementine ... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – THE SHERLOCKS: PEOPLE LIKE ME & YOU
Hooking vocals and guitar riffs that’ll have you on the edge of your seat make The Sherlocks new album ‘People Like Me And You’ a must listen. All thirteen tracks are unique but still ideal to make a gig crowd go wild. A sharper more edgy track ‘Sirens’ was a standout from the album. Beginning already fast paced the song gets ecstatic when the electric guitar quickly begins. The volcanic chorus feels like a classic rock song with fierce vocals accompanied by stimulating... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – CHELA: DIAGONAL DRIFT
Side projects offer the ideal space for artists to reveal previously unseen aspects of their musical fascinations. The band Bo Ningen is associated with brutal slabs of heavy psychedelic guitar assaults but the first release from Chela allows their guitar mangler and synth wrangler Kohhei Matsuda to reveal a more experimental side. On ’Diagonal Drift’ he teams up with Ajay Saggar whose Bhajan Bhoy solo project showed him to be at ease working with a host of collaborators.... Read More
FEATURE: WHO ARE YA? – MANCHESTER’S INDIE ALT-POP QUARTET – SOUTH BY ZERO – FACE THE SILENT RADIO SPOTLIGHT
Taking their cues from the likes of Sam Fender and Fleetwood Mac amongst others, indie-pop four piece South By Zero have been steadily gaining a following in Manchester and beyond, thanks to a stunning debut EP and recently released single ‘Open Arms’. The band play The Deaf Institute Lodge on 7th October 2023. Who are you? South by Zero Who’s in the band and what do they play? The band’s made up of four people. We have me (Matt Bawtree – lead guitarist and... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – DUN RINGILL: 150-WHERE THE OLD GODS PLAY ACT 1
Sometimes, you listen to a band and imagine that one Tuesday, sitting at the kitchen table two retired parents watch their middle-aged child emerge from his basement bedroom, long hair flowing, leather jacket shining in the midday light, carrying his spiky guitar off to band practice and they just look at one another as if to say “Well, at least he’s found an outlet”… This is not one of those times. This is one of those times when you just have to doff your hat to the... Read More
