LIVE: 15TH CAREFULLY PLANNED ALL-DAYER – 12/01/2013

– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – After a quiet few weeks for gig goers, the Manchester based live music promoters Carefully Planned helped wreck our New Years resolutions of a sober January by hosting the 15th CP All Dayer at Oldham Street institution, The Castle Hotel. I’m eager to see what the day has in […]
– THURSDAY 10/01/2013 – Day 2 – Let’s see what we stumble across So as a Dutch resident myself, I’ve been bombarded with dozens of great sounding Belgian bands that make it across the border and invade our radio playlists. Therefore, whenever there is a Belgian neighbour, whose music is described to be inspired by The […]

OUTSIDE BROADCAST: EUROSONIC 2013 – DAY 2

OUTSIDE BROADCAST: EUROSONIC 2013 – DAY 1

– WEDNESDAY 09/01/2013 –  DAY 1 – Less is more and more is better Kicking off with a quick visit to the European Border Breakers Awards, which culminates in French DJ quartet C2C pick up the ‘EBBA Public Choice Award’, we are off into the cold northern night to crawl our way from venue to […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – My boss insists that I need to go and see a band called The Chameleons (I have to admit I have never heard of them) as part of my essential musical education.  A reformed 80’sManchesterband.  I am surprised that when we arrive at Sound Control at around 9pm a tout […]

LIVE: CHAMELEONS VOX – 15/12/2012

LIVE: THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS – 08/12/2012

– THE WAREHOUSE PROJECT, MANCHESTER – For those of you unfamiliar to the vast, maze-like cavern that is Manchester’s Warehouse Project circa 2012, it’s essentially 3 brutally undecorated rooms linked together by a series of equally bleak corridors. Throw in some monstrous sound systems, a mind blowing lighting rig and a few thousand (very) wide-eyed […]
– The Ruby Lounge – Scroobius Pip (Scroob) ventures from his long time contender Dan le sac for his first spoken word tour, accompanied by the long anticipated re-release of his 2006 album No commercial breaks, of which only a 1000 copies were produced. Descending into The Ruby lounge, I’m struck with the feeling that left with me the […]

LIVE: Scroobius Pip, Kate Tempest and Polar Bear (ft. Thick Richard) – 04/12/2012

LIVE: YEASAYER – 03/12/2012

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Waves of hype often place bands at their crest and leave them floundering in the shallows once they die down. Such is the case with the Brooklyn-itis that thrust those such as the Dirty Projectors, MGMT and Das Racist into the spotlight in recent years, the latter having announced their split this week. The propensity for the more […]
– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – Southampton based trio Band of Skulls sure have come a long way since their formation back in 2004. They created quite an underground buzz with their 2009 debut ‘Baby Darling Doll Face Honey’ in all its sassy rock ‘n’ roll glory, touring up and down the country quietly building an […]

LIVE: BAND OF SKULLS – 05/12/2012

LIVE: LUKE ABBOTT – 30/11/2012

– KRAAK, MANCHESTER – Occupying Manchester’s rapiest looking venue tonight is Border Community signee Luke Abbott. After maneuvering through a dirty ginnel and up a set of grimy looking stairs, a battered wooden door opens up to a warm and relatively lush room filled with hulking rhythms pounded out by Manchester locals, Ghosting Season. With […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – As the rain howls down outside of The Deaf Institute, the need for some heartfelt Scottish warmth intensifies. Having seen Admiral Fallow upstage many a band earlier in the year as part of the Dot to Dot festival, my expectations are pretty dam high. The 6 piece band from […]

LIVE: ADMIRAL FALLOW / OLYMPIC SWIMMERS – 03/12/2012