LIVE: GHOSTPOET – 09/10/2011
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Receiving a Mercury Music Prize nomination is one of the biggest and ultimate accolades a UK act can receive. Coventry-born Ghostpoet bestowed the respected roll of honour this year, for his debut album Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam. Even before the nominees were announced, GP was named as The Guardians ‘New Band of The Day’, toured every major festival across the globe and offered support slots for fellow MMP nominees... Read More
NEWS: A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN – FIRST LIVE VIDEO
Drone/modern classical duo A Winged Victory For The Sullen have released a live video, recently filmed in Brussels. This is the first live clip of the band to surface, following their self titled debut album, which was released on Erased Tapes last month. The clip is taken from the band’s first live radio session shot in former Sparklehorse and current Stars Of The Lid founder Adam Wiltzie’s present home town. The song is fittingly called ‘We Played Some Open... Read More
NEWS: A CAREFULLY PLANNED FESTIVAL – 60+ ACTS FOR £10
A Carefully Planned Festival is to bring more than 60 national and international acts to Manchester’s Northern Quarter for a weekend of live music, all for just a tenner. Spread over four intimate venues, the event will see some of the most interesting and cutting edge bands from across the UK take the stage for two all-dayers on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th October. Highlights from the line-up include the much-hyped Crash Of Rhinos, Mammal Club, Loose Talk Costs Lives,... Read More
LIVE: GRUFF RHYS – 07/10/2011
– CENTRAL METHODIST HALL, MANCHESTER – Gruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys’s, or more commonly known as Gruff Rhys, lead of Welsh rock-outfit the Super Furry Animals, brings his latest solo UK tour to Manchester’s Methodist Central Hall. People have big love for Gruff, anyone who I’ve told about this gig, has nearly murdered me for my ticket, so my expectations are pretty high. It’s a no-alcohol gig, because of the first rule of The Methodist Church club, (even the... Read More
NEWS: ZOLA JESUS – NEW VIDEO & NOVEMBER LIVE DATES
Zola Jesus releases the first video from her new album, Conatus. Directed, as always, by Jacqueline Castel and filmed in the New Mexican desert, Vessel shows Zola Jesus in dramatic form. Inspired by the Sphinx moth, who passes through metamorphosis in underground chambers and whose natural habitat is the desert, Castel explains her work: “In Vessel, science fiction, wave phenomena, and the abstracted metamorphosis of the moth life cycle are visually manifested in the surreal... Read More
LIVE: DECONSTRUCTED / CALVIN HARRIS – 09/10/2011
– THE WAREHOUSE PROJECT, MANCHESTER – First I must confess to being a Warehouse Project Virgin (WHPV). I do get a quick initiation from some lovely peeps from Telford on my approach to the underground car park venue. You came from where?! Yes my reaction too, but the WHP reputation is travelling far and wide, with the end of the year closure looming there’s only so many weekends left to pack in the partying. And what a party it is. Entering the venue under Piccadilly... Read More
LIVE: NEDRY – 05/11/2011
– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – As events unfold, for me, this night comes to embody all the reasons that I love small gigs so much. Music In Beta kindly grant free entry for anyone with a Facebook account and the ability to click a button that says ‘Like’. Though, in wanting to repay them somehow, I decide to buy plenty of “the best stout that I’ve ever tasted”. The Castle Hotel is a small, yet perfectly formed venue in the heart of... Read More
LIVE: JOHNNY MARR & THE HEALERS – 04/10/2011
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – “You’re cool!” This adoring yelp erupts mid-crowd of this packed room of the Deaf Institute. Johnny Marr carries on tuning up, having not even plucked note 1 of tonight’s set. Then he looks up and whispers into the mic: “I know.” And you know what – he is. He knows. We know he knows. He knows we know he knows. He just exudes cool – it drips like sweat from his pores, makes his shirt stick tight to his skin. ... Read More
Album Review: Male Bonding – Endless Now
With Male Bonding often being described as “noise pop”, their new release, Endless Now, seems to occupy the popular, if not the cooler, end of that sub-genre’s spectrum. The slightly rougher edges of last year’s debut, Nothing Hurts, have been ground away and the London accents smoothed out and made a little more generic. Could it be the result of an attempt to make the sound less parochial and a bit more global? Or at least pan western? To record Endless the band... Read More
Album Review: Rinse:016 – Ben UFO
What can you write when it comes to Rinse? Anyone who has ears and a half decent taste in music will have stumbled across these boys at some point. Starting out as an online radio station, Rinse FM has proved its worth dozens of times over the past couple of years, constantly evolving and keeping entertainment and interest levels high. Boasting a roster that not many mainstream stations could match and having helped bring through dozens of different artists we now love, Rinse... Read More
