EP REVIEW: STUBBORN HEART ‘PENETRATE 12”’
Stubborn Heart – Penetrate 12″ A batch of remixes normally act as a subtle reminder that ‘THIS BAND STILL EXIST’ ahead of a more important release, and tellingly on the day Stubborn Heart’s ‘Penetrate EP’ is released, announcements have been made about the release of a new 27-track deluxe edition of their well-received debut. I am not suspicious. Deluxe editions are normally a good measure of how successful an album has been, proving that it can be re-wrapped,... Read More
LIVE: TOY – 28/10/2012
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – When Joe Jean & The Jing Jang Jong – the band more memorable for their name than their records – finally split up after a year of empty hype in 2009, you might have assumed that their members would spend their time in exile from the music industry ever after. What you wouldn’t have guessed is that three of them would resurface two years later as the best new band in the UK – for real this time.Tom Dougall, Dominic O’Dair... Read More
NEWS: EVERYTHING EVERYTHING – 2013 TOUR DATES + PRESALE LINK
Everything Everything are pleased to announce details of their full 2013 UK tour to celebrate the release of their new album Arc on January 14. The band have just celebrated their first entry into the UK top 40 with lead single Cough Cough and enjoyed a run of fully sold out dates airing new material – reactions to which have been brilliant. Up and down the country their hoards of fans were ready and willing to embrace EEs powerful musical leap forward while simultaneously... Read More
Album Review: Cody ChesnuTT – Landing On A Hundred
Soul singer and funk guitarist Cody Chesnutt is back with his second album, a decade and a few EPs separating them both. Landing On A Hundred is a neo-soul and funk album with all the musical flex of a 70s classic. The sound he’s gone for is BIG in every sense –with bold melodies, a big sound and a voice as mature as a motown soul singer. His upbeat vocal strength sounds like a sure-fire safe bet for a great live performance. Depending where your loyalties lie, you’ll either... Read More
Album Review: The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground & Nico 45th Anniversary
It’s not for nothing that Rolling Stone magazine named The Velvet Underground & Nico the most prophetic album of all time. If the hippies hoped that universal fraternity, peace and love would be the basis for some teleological, utopian future, it is Lou Reed’s vision that – however unhappily – dominates contemporary society. 60s counter culture may have played some small part in bringing the Vietnam War to an end, but the only real way to escape, “The bodies... Read More
LIVE: ROLO TOMASSI – 27/10/2012
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Rolo Tomassi are a band that have to be seen to be believed. The Sheffield based quintet have been messing with our heads since the mid-noughties, using hardcore as their base then combining it with every musical genre known to man to become one of the UK’s most eccentric exports. Tonight sees the band in the middle of a long over due headline tour, all in support of their quite brilliant third album ‘Arstera’. It is also their... Read More
LIVE: LUCY ROSE – 25/10/2012
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – ‘CDs, T-shirts, Tea, Jam, Tote Bags’ is the list of merchandise on sale at Lucy Rose’s sold out Deaf Institute gig tonight, and it’s clear it’s going to be more of a tea and jam event than it is rock n’ roll as fans file in under the giant disco ball that hangs from the ceiling. Which isn’t to say the fans filling the room aren’t excited to be here, some of them have clearly gone to extraordinary lengths to get... Read More
LIVE: PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING / CYRIL SNEAR – 27/10/2012
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Well. Soup Kitchen. It’s a pleasure to meet you at last. I stand a few yards from your doors at five-ish most nights waiting for the bus to take me home and frequently wonder what the venue within is like. And now I know. You’re ace. Bare, flakey-paint walls and all. Almost über-Northern Quarter. A bit tatty round the edges, quirky, quietly trendy and with an overwhelming sense of bonhomie.Which might be slightly at odds with the... Read More
NOVEMBER 2012
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. There are many other sites out here on the internet that have a gig guide, but how many of them can say they have actually listened to every single band/act they have listed? Well to be honest we don’t know the answer to that, but we’d guess not many, if any at all. Anyway,... Read More
REVIEW: THE UNTHANKS PRESENT SONGS FROM THE SHIPYARDS – 25/10/2012
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – I confess I don’t gravitate towards folk music on a day to day basis, but when I hear it live I’m reminded how life affirming and quite wonderful it can be. Afterwards, I’ll vow to pay it more attention in my own time, but never do. So I’m here to see The Unthanks. An ensemble who are pretty highly regarded in folk circles (and indeed beyond), enjoying critical acclaim since their beginnings in 2004, whilst winning numerous folk awards.... Read More
