– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Everytime the Manchester music scene seems to be escaping the shackles of its past, a new club or indie night seems to raise it’s head offering the same kind of generic, pedestrian music and putting on bland ‘landfill indie’ acts. Thank goodness then for nights like Now Wave, who, […]
– CLUB NIRVANA, WIGAN – Approaching Club Nirvana, I feel somewhat apprehensive, wondering what a Wednesday night in Wigan could possibly offer, a feeling which increases as I enter the half empty venue – or is that half full? A tiered, all standing venue, I manage to nab the best spot in the house, right […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Alan Sparhawk has had a relatively long and distinguished career as guitarist and frontman for Low. His more recent side project Retribution Gospel choir offer a very different musical proposition to the one he made his name with. While Lows trademark sound is slow, sombre and delicate with beautiful […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – Motionless and pudding-faced as they grub their way through a set of competent, simple indie-pop, there has surely never been a band less in need of a second guitarist as The Mandigans. The local sextet exist in a charisma vacuum, and although they aren’t even close to breaking out of […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Meeting your heroes can be a truly terrible experience or one of the happiest moments of your life. When we meet our heroes we do not expect to be disappointed, so when they turn out to be a big fat lecherous let down it can be quite a blow […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Though they hail from the beaches of blighty, with their cowboy hats, deep throat drawls and bare existentialist lyrics you could be forgiven for thinking The Miserable Rich had ridden up outside Trof on horseback directly from the dusty plains of the American wild west. The Deaf Institute is […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – South West London trio, The XX, formed a few years back while at the prestigious Elliott School, and with wrap sheet including Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet, I know where I wish I’d spent my teenage years. After getting signed to Young Turks Records, they dropped the self-titled début […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – It’s fairly safe to say that Alan McGee knows a thing or two about music. Love him or loathe him, he has been the British Indie Music Scene’s leading impresario for some time now, despite disappearing off the radar slightly in recent years. His new club night at The […]
– FUEL CAFE, MANCHESTER – Tonight is a night for celebration; this, after all, is not just the anniversary of the popular, delightfully unpretentious Cloud Sounds Presents, it is also the launch party of The Loungs new album, a chance to see what the Onions have been hiding away for, and début performance of The […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – It’s a shame to see a long-standing music store close in Manchester, but what better to replace it with than a music venue? And what’s more, it has kept the original name. Sound Control is perfectly placed in a lively part of South Manchester between the trendy Northern Quarter and […]










