ALBUM REVIEW – BHAJAN BHOY: SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI
It is impossible to overstate the importance of cassettes to music fanatics growing up in the 1980s. For Ajay Saggar, that included recording John Peel sessions onto cassette, taping gigs onto his Walkman and putting together mixtapes. Later, his first band, the Dandelion Adventure recorded demos tapes that were sent to record labels, venues and radio stations. His next group, Donkey, had their first official release 30 years ago on cassette. Still in love with the aesthetic quality... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW: ALELA DIANE – LOOKING GLASS
As far as singer/songwriter music goes, my taste tends to skew older. I’d rather hear about raw, lived-in experiences than the broad platitudes any day of the week. Sure, the music might oftentimes be slow, relatively mundane, and lacking hooks, but intelligent construction and thoughtful writing can make up for a lot. On that note, enter Californian songwriter Alela Diane. For the most part, she’s a writer I should like a lot more than I actually do. Her stately presentation... Read More
LIVE REVIEW: PAVEMENT – 20/10/22
It’s been twenty-two years since Pavement last played Manchester, in the intervening years, social media has taken off, the way we consume music has changed, yet for many bands the two-way street of appreciation between band and audience remains as vital as ever. I was lucky enough to witness Pavement in the early years, after hearing them via a friend who managed to release one of their early singles as a free flexi disc (ask your parents), with her zine, which led on to... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – VARIOUS ARTISTS: C85
1985 was the year when I started attending gigs regularly. It was a time of fervent excitement where with teenage obsessiveness and excitability every few weeks I would be discovering a new Best Band in the World Ever! It was hard to understand why the whole world was not falling in love with the bands I was hearing on John Peel’s night-time Radio One show and seeing at Preston’s Twang Clubbe who sounded so different and more alive than the over-produced chart fodder of that... Read More
LIVE: GILLA BAND – 20/10/2022
– Canvas, Manchester – Gilla Band Irish noise masters Gilla Band (fka Girl Band) are back with Most Normal, their new, album of the year contender LP, arriving with a reputation for putting on incendiary live shows. Having just left the brand spanking new Canvas on Oxford Road (very decent, big blank Gorilla sized white box in the depths of yet another new monster development in town), my ears are just about intact (wear earplugs kids!), but the very essence of my... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – JD MEATYARD: LIVE THE LIFE
JD Meatyard’s latest album, ‘Live The Life’, sees John Donaldson resume his explorations of politics and the deeply personal with the characteristic urgency that made him a Peel favourite from Levellers 5 days onwards. The title track updates one of his previous band’s, Calvin Party, most thrilling moments, ‘Caspers Ballroom’, combining a gigantic riff, melody and chorus to celebrate his gigging life including reference to shows with Half Man Half Biscuit with whom... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – RACHAEL DADD: KALEIDOSCOPE
Rachael Dadd’s previous album, ‘Flux’, was one of 2019’s hidden gems. When I saw her perform those songs at Manchester Gullivers, it was 31st January 2020, the date on which Britain was leaving the European Union, a cause for grief on stage and amongst the audience. The atmosphere was uniquely protective, a celebration of people coming together combined with fear for the future. However, further down the news chain, details of a worrying, potentially devastating virus... Read More
LIVE: THE LEMONHEADS – 08/10/2022
Being old enough to have seen The Lemonheads plenty of times in the early 90’s, the fact they were returning to play the whole of one of my favourite albums, was a gigging opportunity which was not to be missed. Last time Evan Dando and his band toured the seminal ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’ album, I was a (slightly over-enthusiastic) teenage fanzine writer, and along with several other zine writing 90’s kids, managed to convince (or run past) any type of... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW: THE BLACK ANGELS – WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS
The Black Angels never fail to make you lose yourself in their heavy-duty riffs, calling on the spirit of Sabbath, Led Zep and even the motorik grooves of Can, On album number six, the hefty guitar lines are there in abundance for a free-spirited ride yet one infused with thought provoking lyrics on environmental destruction, society’s divisions and corrupt corporations, without ever feeling overwhelmingly full of despair. The Black Angels have too much rock n roll positivity... Read More
LIVE: LET’S EAT GRANDMA – 07/10/2022
-YES, MANCHESTER- Let’s Eat Grandma Last time I saw Let’s Eat Grandma (LEG for simplicity and word count for the rest of this piece) I was in pain. It was a Monday night in April 2018 at the Deaf Institute, and I’d just cycled over from playing 5-a-side where I’d fallen awkwardly on my wrist. It was throbbing intensely as I took a seat at the back, holding it gingerly, not really participating in applause because it was too sore. However, LEG were so utterly spellbinding... Read More
