‘PAPER PLAIN’ UNVEILED BY JENNY BANAI AHEAD OF NEW ALBUM ‘COUCHWALKER’
Jenny Banai has unveiled single ‘Paper Plain’ ahead of the release of her new album ‘Couchwalker’ due for release on September 17th.She says of the song:“Writing ‘Paper Plain’ was rough, having developed feelings for someone I knew I shouldn’t. I actually discarded the song, because I didn’t like exposing my conflicted nature. Months passed, and I experienced yet another short-lived relationship, feeling quite... Read More
OCTOBER 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
ALBUM REVIEWS: DINOSAUR JR – GREEN MIND, WHERE YOU BEEN, WITHOUT A SOUND, HAND IT OVER
I’ve spent many a happy hour in a Dinosaur Jr moshpit. From Reading Festival (yes I am that old!) to Manc Academy in the 90’s, and still like to get involved in some ferocious head nodding / arms in the air kind of activity whenever I see them live these days too, although my mosh pit days are now behind me, actually listening to the band is a much better experience – you can actually hear the songs and go home without bruises! Result! Why didn’t my teenage self appreciate... Read More
LIVE: NATALIE EVANS / BONNIESONGS – 22/09/2019
Natalie Evans -THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER- There is a dreamlike start to Bonniesongs’ set. An array of ethereal layered vocals are intertwined. It is vast, especially for a singular artist on stage. It is like a Sigur Ros track, transporting you to a tundra, or mountain top but wrapping you warm in the expanse with Bonnie’s enticing, almost Kulning style voice. A strong opening that becomes more powerful still as the vocal loops are left to fend for themselves and Bonnie... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW: PIXIES – BENEATH THE EYRIE
When the Pixies reformed back in 2004 I was leaping around like a deranged idiot with excitement, the gigs were great, then after a long wait, the comeback album ‘Indie Cindy’ was surprisingly good too, so fifteen years since reforming it seems like business as usual in terms of releasing new material, although no one expected the reunion to be as long as this or even as fruitful. Three albums into their reunion (albeit now with bassist Paz Lenchantin on board instead of... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW: BELLE & SEBASTIAN – DAYS OF THE BAGNOLD SUMMER
Having recently performed in a cruise ship as part of their ‘Boaty Weekender’ festival, the ever evolving Scots band release their second film soundtrack album. Sadly I didn’t take the indie rock n’ roll cruise, but apparently there were people there for the bands (Belle and Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub and tons more) plus bizarrely enough, a lot of random tourists who were there just for the cruise around the Mediterranean, and who had no idea who Belle and Sebastian,... Read More
INTERVIEW – MOON DUO
Rejoice! Moon Duo have a new album out, ‘Stars Are The Light’ and it’s an absolute masterpiece of hypnotic melodies mixed with electronica and pulsating beats. I first fell in love with their sounds after hearing ‘Circles’ back in 2012, with its fuzzed psych guitars and entrancing melodies, many bands try to do a similar thing, but no one does it with such flair and raw rockin electro fervour as these two. All Moon Duo albums have a thread of psych hypnotic rhythms matched... Read More
LIVE: EELS – 15/09/19
Eels – ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER – “Don’t think twice ‘bout whatever keeps you itchin’. Ice water, flyswatter gonna get you through the day.” Lyrics I could not relate to anymore, after a summer of working in a pub in the middle of nowhere, getting bitten by insects daily. Flyswatter is the first of the band’s original tracks to get a response from this sold out Albert Hall on a Sunday night. It is the last date of the tour for E and his gang and they start... Read More
LIVE: MODERN NATURE – 17/09/2019
Modern Nature – YES BASEMENT, MANCHESTER – Modern Nature who take their name from the late film director Derek Jarman’s garden diaries arrive at Manchester’s Yes venue on the back of their recently released debut album ‘How to Live’. A flowing and at time meditative record which is destined to feature in many end of year critic lists. The band formed around Jack Cooper a member of former Mancunian indie favourites The Beep Seals, Mazes and more recently, the... Read More
LIVE: TANGERINECAT / SLOW KNIFE / FACTORY ACTS / TIN MOLE – 07/09/2019
Tangerinecat -GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER- Tin Mole Experimental is a label difficult to define, but it appears Deco have rummaged the attic for a few of the more warped figurines you’d be wise to inspect before touching. Dominated by menacing bass lines, Tin Mole succumb to the irresistibility of synthesisers as they purge onward, almost as though a mystic has given them the necessary formula to help them apply agitated sing-speak, Jaz Coleman-esque vocals to a Sega Dreamcast-era... Read More
