LIVE: ORLANDO WEEKS – 12/12/2018

-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- When indie-rock mavericks The Maccabees played their final shows last summer, I did wonder if we’d hear from any of them again. But it was only a matter of months before frontman Orlando Weeks announced a project he’d been working on for quite some time, The Gritterman. Starting life from a song, […]
-NIGHT PEOPLE, MANCHESTER- More often than not, when a band attempts to surgically graft differing influences together, the difficulty in pulling it off can present a scenario of grave inconsistency. Typically, the final product emerges as a badly rearranged skeletal entity, the kind of which would be best left in some remote, poorly lit cave […]

LIVE: PURPLE HEART PARADE / BLANKETMAN – 08/12/2018

LIVE: JULIA HOLTER – 06/12/2018

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Julia Holter is incredible. The LA-based musician is just 33 years of age, and she released her fifth (5th!) astonishing album Aviary to much acclaim last month, a 90 minute magnum opus that dazzles with its range of styles from atonal experimental noise to some of the best pop songs she’s composed so […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- Axel Willner, AKA The Field, is an absolute dude. He’s probably the coolest person in Manchester at this very moment, despite the high hipster quotient currently in Yes waiting for him to come on and do his ambient, minimal techno thing. You see, Willner is Swedish, which immediately makes him cool, but now […]

LIVE: THE FIELD – 28/11/2018

LIVE: ISAAC GRACIE – 19/11/2018

-YES, MANCHESTER- YES. YES. YES. I am confused as I enter the new music venue in Manchester. I mean, I’ve been in venues where the local drunk is propping up the bar with a crowd of around 20 people. But walking into a pizzeria bar hybrid is something bizarre… After being ushered up the stairs […]
-ACADEMY, MANCHESTER- When it comes to deciding on a support band, Miles Kane couldn’t have gone for a better choice than Manchester’s own Cabbage – especially in a Mancunian venue in which their energetic, self-proclaimed ‘semi punk’ performance has the crowd on each other’s shoulders and pitting within two songs of their set. Somehow they […]

LIVE: MILES KANE / CABBAGE – 23/11/2018

LIVE: THE HOLYDRUG COUPLE / ECHO LADIES – 19/11/2018

-YES, MANCHESTER- Manchester’s YES is the hottest new venue in the North West, drawing attention with its unique 4 floor experience. It therefore comes as no surprise that its Basement room has been chosen by the promotion coalition of Band on the Wall x Grey Lantern x Manchester Psych Fest for tonight’s show. Opening are […]
-ACADEMY, MANCHESTER- A boxing ring full of black belts with the overpowering aroma of cigarettes and alcohol, it’s Saturday night and the anticipation of Slaves coming out on stage begins to spill over despite the ironic pre-gig soundtrack playing cheesy 90s pop hits. Laurie and Isaac stomp onto the stage with the intentions of making […]

LIVE: SLAVES – 17/11/2018

LIVE: OFF THE RECORD CONFERENCE – MASTERING WITH KEVIN TUFFY – 16/11/2018

-CENTRAL METHODIST HALL, MANCHESTER- Being an enthusiastic reader of the liner notes of my favourite CDs as a kid, I remember seeing the SPARS codes that some of them had. The three-letter code, where each letter is either an A for Analogue or D for Digital, would indicate the type of equipment used in i) […]
-THE APOLLO, MANCHESTER- Last year, New York indie-punk mavericks Interpol embarked on a sold out world tour to celebrate 15 years of their vital debut album, Turn On The Bright Lights. The trio returned home feeling refreshed and inspired by their past which very much informed the making of their sixth album. Coming in like a […]

LIVE: INTERPOL – 16/11/2018