LIVE: SNAPPED ANKLES / CHARLOTTE CANNON – 06/03/2019

-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- Charlotte Cannon Deciding early on to remain seated in the school gymnasium-type ‘bench zone’ gives me a chance to observe the rather theatrical lightning setup, in conjunction with the gaudy, oversized disco ball looming over the growing audience (imagine the impact). It actually provides a rather fitting backdrop for the opening act; […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Bas is a New York-raised rapper and disciple of the Dreamville hip-hop troupe, and his fellow teammate J.I.D recently said that collectively, they are striving to go toe-to-toe with Top Dawg Entertainment, the front-running label in the genre this decade. The statement makes sense, especially considering how well the match-ups align: Dreamville head […]

LIVE: BAS / AUDIO PUSH / LUTE – 06/03/2019

LIVE: SHE PWR (ILL / WITCH FEVER / JULIA BARDO) – 08/03/2019

-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- For the celebration of International Women’s Day, Gorilla and The Deaf Institute have come together for SHE PWR, an event to celebrate women artists of every kind: visual arts, spoken word and music. The Deaf Institute welcomes four bands/artists on stage tonight: ILL, WITCH FEVER, Current Mood Girl (who I missed, unfortunately) […]
-NIGHT PEOPLE, MANCHESTER- So when I rock up at Night People, Manchester, a venue filled with character, I find myself mildly disappointed by trying-too-hard-to-be-angsty, slightly pretentious, Radiohead wannabe support band Sugarstone, (who, I strongly believe are clinging onto the ‘moody band who haven’t slept in years’ bandwagon just for the trend of it) showing no […]

LIVE: CALVA LOUISE / KID KAPICHI – 06/03/2019

LIVE: SUGAR / SPENGLER / HAHA SICK / CYNTHIA’S PERISCOPE – 07/03/2019

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- Free Vibes is a (who would have guessed!) free-entry event at Band On The Wall that seeks to introduce new and emerging artists a few times every month. For this week’s edition, Band On The Wall teamed up with Shell Zenner from Amazing Radio to bring Sugar, Spengler, Haha Sick, […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Sweet baby Jesus, The Twilight Sad (TTS) are an astonishingly good live band. Scrap that; they’re just an astonishingly good band full stop. Here to support their ridiculously great new album IT WON/T BE LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME (which, annoying punctuation and capitals aside, is their best effort since their peerless debut […]

LIVE: THE TWILIGHT SAD – 27/02/2019

LIVE: MOTHERS / BLANKETMAN / CHEW MAGNA – 22/02/2019

-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- Chew Magna The first to grace the Soup Kitchen ‘stage’ consists of a band whose central methodology involves making their guitarists clash against one another’s grain, stout basslines whose texture can’t quite pierce the evident sound mixing issues and drums (loose cymbals sink beats) that serve their purpose, perhaps content in their […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- I’ve comprised a theory that Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice and Nick Valensi of The Strokes secretly had four children. They’re stood right in front of me, being blinded by the projector showing images of a trippy nature; disturbing to some viewers but hypnotising to most. They might’ve thrown in some of Ross […]

LIVE: WILLIE J. HEALEY / EGYPTIAN BLUE – 20/02/2019

LIVE: THE LEMON TWIGS – 21/02/2019

-RITZ, MANCHESTER- Popular cultural habits have always loved making their return to our society, with things such as record players, musical influences and even some questionable fashion decisions which you’d think had been buried in the past, somehow making a revisit to the 21st century. Some of these things make their return with a great […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- Gong Gong Gong Probably the first foreign (not that it matters really) music act I have reviewed, this duo of but bass and guitar invoke deliberate repetition in their playing style; unusual I suppose. The vocals, adequate in their delivery as the set progresses, are sung in Cantonese lyrics; while I am fond […]

LIVE: BODEGA / GONG GONG GONG – 17/02/2019