LIVE: PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING – 16/10/2017
Public Service Broadcasting -ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER- The night opens with a public service broadcast of our own. A light-hearted message about not using your phones as “the video and sound won’t be any good anyway”. I agree, enjoy the gig and don’t stick a phone in front of any other gig-goer’s view! Although I’m up in the lofty heights of the balcony this evening, feeling very VIP, so nothing could obscure my view. Hopefully no one will notice my hypocritical... Read More
LIVE: SUNDARA KARMA – 12/10/2017
Sundara Karma -ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER- After releasing their highly anticipated debut album, Youth Is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect, at the beginning of this year, Sundara Karma – a group of four lads from Reading – have been touring pretty much non-stop. Stopping off in the UK and USA with tons of festival dates over the summer, they’ve certainly been working hard. Tonight sees their current 12 date UK tour come to an end with a beautifully intimate performance at... Read More
CASTLE FACE RECORDS ANNOUNCE CASTLEMANIA 2018 FEATURING OH SEES WITH MANCHESTER ALBERT HALL SHOW
May we present a one-two shot to the ribs from the Castle Face Records roster, a Thursday in Manchester, a Friday in London, spearheaded by those indefatigable and indispensable Oh Sees, a live force to be feared. Joined by white mages of healing and appealing frequencies Once and Future Band, underground pop wunderkind cum laude Kelley Stoltz, feedback-tipped missiles of love and boredom Flat Worms, and the fuzzed-up goth pop stylings of Male Gaze. Thur 1st March 2018 –... Read More
THE PINK DIAMOND REVUE HOPE TO SHINE WITH ‘GO GO GIRL’ – LISTEN NOW
The Pink Diamond Revue, a three piece project from outer-space via Reading, have created a mixture of heady electro and vintage blues. After perfecting their experiments across the UKs seediest basement bars, the team are now ready to release ‘Go Go Girl’ unto their unsuspecting public. Fronted by their leader Acid Dol (a model from another dimension), PDR combine beats from today with riffs, samples and vocal harmonies from the 50’s and 60’s. The band use strictly... Read More
LIVE: LOYLE CARNER – 12/10/2017
Loyle Carner -THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- It’s commonplace for fans to attend concerts dressed like their hero onstage – we’ve all done it – and the plethora of vintage football shirts in honour of South London rapper Loyle Carner is a pleasing sight. His recent guestlist-for-retro-footy-tops (international, size L) offer has made the press recently, as has his wonderful decision to remove someone from his gig for sexist behaviour. Even without hearing a note it’s... Read More
LIVE: YAK – 14/10/2017
Yak -NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER- Arriving at the wonderful Night & Day Café in the nick of time tonight, I take my place in the middle of the sizeable crowd, most of which it can be assumed have been here (or at least been out somewhere) for a few hours already. There is a crackle in the air, a frisky, prickly tension. There is a sheet of canvas obscuring the front of the stage, and from behind it comes the sound of the band taking their places. The tension rises further... Read More
BRIGHTON BLUES-ROCKERS OTHER STATES RELEASE ‘ANNABEI’ – LISTEN HERE
Other States have released ‘Annabei’, the B-side to their latest single ‘Come Back To Me’. Born from a 10 hour bus trip between Dallas and El Paso taken by writer-keyboardist Mike Lord, Other States is as much about place as it is sound, with songs weaved out of imagined tales from abandoned towns and wild landscapes, the brutal truths and unfinished business of a forgotten time. Other States Official | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Read More
ISLET MEMBER MARK DAMAN THOMAS ANNOUNCES DEBUT ALBUM PROJECT AS FARM HAND ALONGSIDE HIS NEW VIDEO FOR ‘SOLUTION’
Sparked by an interest in the craft of solo performance, Islet member Mark Daman Thomas’s latest project Farm Hand takes his musical explorations into a more solitary terrain, drawing inspiration from his homeland in the sparsely populated hills of Mid-Wales. Freewheeling and full of deep, cyclical melodies, Farm Hand’s debut LP International Dreams, due Friday 3rd November 2017 on Shape Records, was recorded in a barn studio on the working family farm of Pontvane,... Read More
LIVE: SUPERORGANISM – 14/10/2017
Superorganism -BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- Superorganism embody everything it means to be a band in the 21st century: they met online through internet forums and once their messages started to solidify into a song it wasn’t long until they were exploiting your algorithms. The eight-piece are borderless, with members from Australia, New Zealand, America, Japan and the UK, and their sound encompasses this mishmash of influences to create something unique. However, while they’ve... Read More
LOUDER THAN WORDS ANNOUNCE 2017 FESTIVAL FULL LINE-UP
Louder Than Words celebrates that essential, magical relationship between music and writing. Whether it’s Guy Garvey talking lyrics; Edwyn Collins performing his own music or Hugh Cornwell talking about life in The Stranglers, the Festival has something for anyone with a love for music, and the way words are used to inform and contribute to its melody. Taking in Q&As, panel discussions and workshops the Festival, now in its fifth year, is back at the Principal Hotel,... Read More
