LIVE REVIEW: THE UNTHANKS – LYTHAM LOWTHER PAVILION: 04/12/24

It is a night that defines winter in a north-west coastal town: dreary, bleak and blustery, one that is far from the Hollywood picture postcard vision of crisply snowy Christmas. Visibility is so poor that is hard to locate the relevant bus stop and the entrance to Lowther Gardens is unlit and easily missed. Leafy […]
‘Sleigher’ must surely be the best title ever for a Christmas album. While it provokes mischievous ideas as to what a festive album by the thrash metal titans might sound like (try to imagine pummelling versions of ‘White Christmas’), Ben Folds’ take on the genre is more traditional but well thought through. It is a […]

ALBUM REVIEW – BEN FOLDS: SLEIGHER

ALBUM REVIEW: THE GO-BETWEENS – G STANDS FOR GO-BETWEENS: VOLUME 3 2000-2006

In a small alternative universe populated by erudite pop classicists, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are revered alongside Lennon and McCartney as songwriters of the highest order. For unfathomable reasons, the songs they wrote as The Go-Betweens never entered the public consciousness in the way that their champions anticipated. Since McLennon’s tragic sudden death in […]
Wild and ferocious, the boys from the better land carved ‘Dublin City’ into the heart of Manchester as they debuted their three-night residency. Fans venture from every inch of the map as the capacity of Aviva Studio reaches its limit. Feeding the 5,000, this crowd came with an appetite starving for a show. It’s clear […]

LIVE REVIEW: FONTAINES D.C. – MANCHESTER AVIVA STUDIOS: 29/11/24

INTERVIEW – THE KOWLOONS

“There’s something in the water, you can’t deny it.” Swimming in admiration, Stephen Ng, lead singer and backing guitarist, dives into the depths of musical inspirations. That very same Mersey water rose and poured down over the rehearsal rooms in which The Kowloons reside. His brother and drummer Anthony goes on to say, “the richness […]
If there’s one thing you know going into a Full of Hell record, it’s that the bar has been set high for extremity. As one of the most formidable extreme metal outfits out there, the band has consistently been the standard bearers for putrid, gnarly extremity for the better part of 15 years. Scraping The […]

ALBUM REVIEW – FULL OF HELL + ANDREW NOLAN: SCRAPING THE DEVINE

ALBUM REVIEW – THE BODY: THE CRYING OUT OF THINGS

The Crying Out of Things is the newest offspring of experimental metal/noise rock outfit The Body’s mammoth catalogue. It’s their eighth studio LP, though that’s not counting sixteen collaborative albums, nine EPs, four splits and two standalone singles, bringing their total number of releases to 39 since 2004. Through these releases they have toured various […]
A live album is usually a special occasion, often marking a milestone. This is what Thulcandra initially set out to do, by releasing this live album, which has been recorded in Germany in 2011 and which features the original Thulcandra lineup, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band. This ultimately did not end up […]

ALBUM REVIEW – THULCANDRA: LIVE DEMISE

ALBUM REVIEW – WHITE DENIM: 12

Five years after reports of Covid emerged from China, the pandemic is still having an impact upon a significant number of albums being released now. The twelfth long player from White Denim, appropriately enough called ‘12’, containing twelve tracks and being released in the twelfth month, has been shaped by different working conditions. As has […]
“So we gave them something to show them who WE were—Dale Coopers with our black coffees.” This is how Bill Callahan describes this December 10, 2001, Peel session. While I write this, I see the light sneaking in the horizon of Moss Side. It’s early, cold, and my coffee is not black because I always […]

EP REVIEW – THE HOLY GRAIL: BILL CALLAHAN’S “SMOG” DEC. 10, 2001 PEEL SESSION