ALBUM: The Dark Sky Singers – Like No English
Unusually in these times saturated with the minutiae of celebrity life, there is no superlative press release issued with this EP and little information available on the internet. This paucity of background detail is a predicament faced by those reviewing this EP before me, if the scant online critiques are anything to go by. However, from what I can glean via a Holmesian trawl through their official website and others, The Dark Sky Singers are a folk collective based in South... Read More
ALBUM: Broken Records – Let Me Come Home
Refined via demo sessions at an old distillery grain store in the Scottish Highlands, Let Me Come Home has a sound that evokes its gestation – expansive, isolated, desolate and beautiful.Broken Records themselves have the sound of a folk band that gradually augmented into something louder and wider, and indeed these songs began acoustically, written in singer Jamie Sutherland’s kitchen. From here, further instrumentation has been added with care, forming small parts of... Read More
ALBUM: Cloud Nothings – Turning On
There’s such a buzz behind Cloud Nothings at the moment that it’s easy to imagine that they could be the next American alternative act to break through big, which makes the release of their debut album Turning Onrather timely. With that in mind, ‘Can’t Stay Awake’ is a fantastic way to open proceedings, very much a mission statement declaring what it is the band are about – superlative guitar work married to anthemic vocals, with an inevitable screeching guitar solo... Read More
LIVE: HOMECUT – 13/10/2010
– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – In the depths of the basement at The University of Manchester’s Union, a night called Biko Live rumbles and shakes. Previously having held the phenomenal Melodica, Melody & Me, Indian Bangra dancers, a clothes swap shop, it continues to house things fantastic and eclectic – this time it includes various insane art installations and workshops. The line up does not disappoint: Bangra! the University’s jazz orchestra, Extra Curricular,... Read More
LIVE: IN THE CITY 2010 – DAY ONE – 14/10/2010
– VARIOUS VENUES, MANCHESTER – The early knockings of In The City are usually underwhelming, mostly empty affairs, so it’s great to see Common so packed for the opening band of this year’s festivities, Advances In Mathematics, that if you squeezed a few extra delegates into the room everyone would be vaporised under the sheer pressure. No bad thing, you’ll doubtless agree, especially to the woman who appears to be wearing a pinny-cum-dress with a cupcake patch... Read More
ALBUM: John Fairhurst – Band
In popular music time is nearly always against you. Most genres lend themselves to younger musicians. The apolitical/anti-political sentiments of the punk movement would have sounded lame and childish if they’d been sung by OAPs (though The Sex Pistol’s are immature regardless), and Westlife would never count legions of screaming, braindead female fans (and Wayne Rooney) if they were older – surely even they know that their music isn’t up to much. Time also gives too much... Read More
LIVE: BLACK ANGELS – 10/10/2010
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – I like rumours; they make good rock ‘n’ roll stories. I don’t care whether there’s any truth in them if they add to the mythology of a band. I heard one about Black Angels the other day. It goes like this, after getting a slating for their new album ‘Phosphene Dream’ it being compared to the smell of rotting fish, journalists at the NME were sent some dead fish in the mail. It reminds me of the time when Killing Joke vocalist,... Read More
SINGLE REVIEW: Morcheeba – Blood Like Lemonade
Marking the return of honey-toned singer Skye Edwards, who left in 2003 following those pesky ‘musical differences’ that eat at every band at some point, ‘Blood Like Lemonade’ is the title track from Morcheeba’s seventh album. It’s also the name of a cocktail apparently, the ingredients of which are listed on the back of the single, and it looks like a fine mix of flavours that will do lovely things to your brain. Unlike the song itself. You may need to neck... Read More
SINGLE REVIEW: LV Ft. OKMALUMKOOLKAT – Boomslang
The forty fourth release on Hyperdub sees South Africa & South London come together as LV hooks up with South African Kwaito artist Smiso Zwane (aka Okmalumkoolkat). Fusing their own unique styles, the pair’s meeting makes for a highly infectious set of sounds. ‘Boomslang’ kicks out a UK funky beat fired up by Kool Kat’s slurred South African vocals. Since first passing this track, it’s been spinning round my head constantly; this is by far one of the hottest releases... Read More
LIVE: MICE PARADE – 08/10/2010
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Mice Parade made Manchester magical, kicking up a mystical musical storm in the heads of the hundred or so who attended, shifting between chaos and clarity to conjure up ethereal spirits which brightened Tuesday city darkness and drove us halfway to the madness we crave. Brainchild and anagrammatical namesake of Adam Pierce, Mice Parade are on tour following the release of their latest album ‘What It Means To Be Left-Handed,’ out... Read More