LIVE: CLOUD NOTHINGS/VERONICA FALLS – 09/11/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Cloud Nothings seem to have been rather busy bees lately, supporting the likes of Real Estate and Woods and even the ever popular Best Coast; they seem to be enjoying some good shows but I admit that I hadn’t heard of them till tonight. They perform a tight show, […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Divine Comedy is Neil Hannon is Divine Comedy. It’s a Badly Drawn Boy /Damon Gough dynamic which means there will never be different line-ups… unless Neil plans on major schizophrenic schisms. Hannon does sometimes play with a band but tonight it’s only Neil, armed only with a grand piano, acoustic […]

LIVE: DIVINE COMEDY – 09/11/2010

LIVE: Wild Nothing / Milk Maid / The ABC Club – 08/10/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – The ABC Club come on stage in a haze of pyrotechnics, clad in leopard skin leotards and beckon to the crowd ‘Are you ready to motherfucking rock Manchester?’ Well, actually they don’t at all, but its Monday night in cold, wet and windy Manchester and I need a wakeup […]
– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – Krautrock: has there ever been a more casually racist moniker for a music genre? In this day and age, with the musical landscape awash with weird and wonderful sub-genres -Math Rock, Aquacrunk, Witch House etc- the term “Krautrock”, coined by the British press in the 1970s as an umbrella term […]

LIVE: DIETER MOBIUS/QA’AA/GNOD – 07/11/2010

LIVE: YOUNGBLOOD BRASS BAND – 04/11/2010

– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – Hullah Bazoo! If these guys were feline they’d wear flat caps and blue suede shoes! The crowd are full o’ beans, beans and the ravenous sexual thirst for the Young Blood Brass Band; a 9 piece group whose last album, ‘is that a riot?’ was released on their […]
– THE RITZ BALLROOM, MANCHESTER – From the first song of hers I heard, ‘I Am Not a Robot’ I think, Marina seemed stratosphere-bound. Noting on her growing success she says: “This is my first proper tour. A lot of people say I didn’t expect to be here, but I did, because I wanted it”. […]

LIVE: MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS – 31/10/2010

LIVE: GRINDERMAN – 29/09/2010

– THE ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – This is Grinderman’s first outing to Manchester as a separate entity from their ‘Bad Seeds’ line up. Promoting only their second album to date; ‘Grinderman 2’, the place is packed with young ‘emo’ kids and old punks alike, highlighting Grinderman’s versatility and transcendence against the restrictions of age and fashion. […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – The Strange Death Of Liberal England brought out their debut album ‘Forward March’, almost 3 years ago and made their mark for being an experimental pop/folk band. Having taken themselves out of view for a good 18 months they have been busy recording their new album, ‘Drown your Hearts […]

LIVE: THE STRANGE DEATH OF LIBERAL ENGLAND – 28/10/2010

LIVE: I BLAME COCO – 26/10/2010

– THE ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – Nepotism. Sounds like your little brothers’ favourite Goth-metal band, but the official line is ‘patronage bestowed on the basis of family relationship’. It’s a theory that’s been banded about a fair bit with tonight’s headliners, but when your dad is Sting, it’d be hard not to grab hold of a […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – I’ll confess, having not heard of this band before I’d asked a few friends if they’d heard of them, to which I was surprised to find they’ve actually released 2 albums to date and have been the Guardian’s ‘Band of the Day’ back in April. ‘You’ll like them Steph, […]

LIVE: TWEAK BIRD – 26/10/2010