LIVE: HENGE – 19/10/2019
Henge -ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER- It’s cold. Save for one brief run and the odd cursory hands over my eyes glance at the news, I’ve spent almost all day reading under a blanket. It gets to early evening and my housemates are making bread from scratch. Our home is just one pumpkin spiced beverage away from wholesome autumnal perfection. ‘This hasn’t got anything to do with music,’ I hear you cry. Patience, dear reader. Patience. Back to my kitchen. Dough is rising on the... Read More
LIVE: SELF ESTEEM – 18/10/2019
Self Esteem -BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- What an absolute triumph this show is. Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor to her mum) returns to Manchester after playing Yes earlier in the year for what is a kind of a victory lap for her brilliant debut album Compliments Please, and absolutely slays it. The packed out Friday night crowd are eager in anticipation for her return, and straight off the bat she does not disappoint (I’m pretty sure it’s not in her nature to do so), wearing... Read More
LIVE: RISING UP! PETERLOO 2019 – 17/10/2019
Rising Up! Peterloo 2019 -HOME, MANCHESTER- When the line-up for this year’s Manchester Folk Festival was announced, tonight’s show at HOME was the one I was most looking forward to. 2019 is the 200-year anniversary of the Peterloo massacre that took place at St. Peter’s Fields, a few minutes on foot from where I am now sat. Following on from last year’s Mike Leigh film and the recent unveiling of Jeremy Deller’s Peterloo Memorial, it felt important that the music and... Read More
LIVE: DECO RECORDS ALL-DAYER AT RETRO – 28/09/2019
Deco Records All-Dayer -RETRO BAR, MANCHESTER- Akin to all alldayers of old, Deco pick and mix from an eclectic inventory of bands that vary in sonic and, unfortunately, qualitative terms. Allowing inexperienced bands to share the bill early on is admirable, affording them an opportunity to hone their craft and test their metaphoric mettle; yet as a spectator it makes for a start that veers into the lukewarm. The singular entity of Geisterhaus commence the event, and through observation... Read More
THE LOUDER THAN WORDS FESTIVAL LINE UP ADDITIONS: THE LOVELY EGGS AND EVIL BLIZZARD
The Lovely Eggs The Louder Than Words Festival of music and writing grows louder each year. Now in its seventh edition, this remains the only festival that interrogates that enduring love affair between music and the written word. There are some significant names still to be confirmed, but much of the programme is already secured. Festival highlights include legendary musicians such as Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, and Eva Prinz of the Ecstatic Peace Library in conversation,... Read More
LIVE: CHASTITY BELT – 16/10/2019
Chastity Belt -YES, MANCHESTER- Dear readers, I have recently returned from Poland’s absolutely unbelievable electronic music festival Unsound, and it’s fair to say my brain is slightly addled. Five days of 5am finishes, dancing the night away in a disused brutalist hotel in the middle of Krakow to some of the most exciting, cutting edge electronic music around has taken its toll, and I am in need of some serious TLC. I do not want to leave my sofa this evening to make the... Read More
LIVE: BLACK MOUNTAIN / MASS DATURA – 15/10/2019
Black Mountain -SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- Mass Datura Suspect incense aside, the support act is the numerical equivalent of a half-dozen; they possess the standard line-up of bassist, drummer and guitarist; but to pad out the sound they have a synthe…sist, violinist and a handler of lap steel. The venue’s sound fails to properly accommodate the band’s ‘busy’ style, sounding akin to an independent label production of a record, with the added inconvenience of a woollen... Read More
INTERVIEW: FRANCIS LUNG
Francis Lung There’s epic sounding records out there, and then there’s the kind of Brian Wilson meets Phil Spector mountain of sound that Francis Lung has emerged with on his debut album. Meet the former Wu Lyf member who has released one of the most melodic and lush sounding records you’ll ever hear. When hotly tipped Mancunians Wu Lyf imploded in 2012 after one astounding album, no one was entirely sure which way the members were going to go next, including their bass... Read More
LIVE: FOCUS – 08/10/2019
Focus -BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- Upon discovering that a 50 year old prog band with only half the original line up was coming to Manchester, I metaphorically crashed through a fence to get the opportunity: to see something so far removed from punk it might as well have been a harp troupe specialising in Indonesian folk music. Generously, they don’t bother with an opening act; they play two sets with an interval presumably to give the audience (few under 60) an extended offering... Read More
LIVE: NEIGHBOURHOOD FESTIVAL 2019 – 12/10/2019
Neighbourhood Festival 2019 -VARIOUS VENUES, MANCHESTER- It’s the morning after my best mate’s 21st birthday and believe you me, my body is feeling it. The beautiful sight of a sunny Manchester (which is rare these days) is slowly curing my soul, and the inevitably incredible Neighbourhood Festival is the light at the end of the tunnel. The day starts in the beautifully welcoming Gorilla venue, and the act to kick us into action is The Magic Gang. It’s no secret that... Read More
