LIVE: ESTRONS / LUCIA / URF – 07/11/2018

-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- The first act tonight at Soup Kitchen is the Manchester 5 piece, URF. They have a shoegaze vibe, with sustained cries over sombre guitars and keyboards. A hypnotically doleful start to the evening. URF gradually rise, opening up towards the end of their set, letting loose over thumping rhythms. The gloom advancing […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- The Beauty Witch have compiled a treat for those in Manchester this evening, with Gorilla taking centre focus. Opening proceedings, we have local band Inland Taipan, who have a new line up which incorporates additional viola and violin. The ethereal vocals and frantic guitar notes are complimented beautifully by the strings and create […]

LIVE: KIKAGAKU MOYO / INLAND TAIPAN – 07/11/2018

LIVE: CAR SEAT HEADREST – 07/11/2018

-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- Will Toledo is a contradiction of a frontman. Arriving on stage tonight he is replete in a pair of MC Hammer style harem pants and dances like a cross between a more loose-limbed Ian Curtis and Mark Corrigan at Rainbow Rhythms. (I encourage you to seek out S2E1 of Peep Show for […]
-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- The Soup Kitchen’s minimal décor is mirrored on stage. Only a guitar, an amp and a mirror sit waiting as the crowd enters for tonight’s show. Anna B Savage is on first, going straight into the set. Her sonorous vocals remind me of Jacob Collier, without the electronic harmoniser, each syllable hitting […]

LIVE: STELLA DONNELLY / ANNA B SAVAGE – 06/11/2018

LIVE: TEENAGE FANCLUB – 05/11/2018

-ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER- With the gig sold out in a matter of minutes, it’s clear that people have waited years to see two of Teenage Fanclub’s best albums played in their entirety. Having been around for over twenty-five years, this is also the last chance to see the original three singers, as vocalist and bassist […]
-THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- Brooklyn’s Parquet Courts are an enigma; hard to pin down, hard to classify, hard to keep up with. Alongside their 5 studio albums (the debut which they only released on tape, obvs), the band have also produced another full length under the name Parkay Quarts with two band members absent, an experimental, […]

LIVE: PARQUET COURTS – 04/11/2018

LIVE: WILLIAM BASINSKI / CROWW – 24/10/2018

-THE WHITE HOTEL, SALFORD- I enter to Croww, who I know to be on label Death of Rave and for his debut, Prosthetics, highly constituted of snippets from a Slipknot sample pack. His hood is down over his cap, the hoody reads Customer. We’ve arrived to the set underway, with samples that sound like they’re […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- Mutual Benefit is the child of singer-songwriter Jordan Lee, who has been the one constant through the band’s journey, a band whose line-up has seen multiple changes with various musicians contributing to both records and live performances. Back in 2013, they received critical acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork and The Guardian, being […]

LIVE: MUTUAL BENEFIT – 31/10/2018

LIVE: ALT-J – 28/10/2018

-THE BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANCHESTER- The sirens blare. A voice comes through the speakers. This is one way to start a show. Now just for the lights to go out and they walk on stage. Or not… The sirens keep going while occasionally being interrupted by the concerning “This is an emergency, please evacuate the building.” […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- And so this is it; the conclusion of my ‘mother of all things holy how damn good are women at music at the moment’ series, which, if you’ve been following closely (OF COURSE YOU HAVE), has basically been a load of love letters to some absolutely brilliant young female musicians who have been […]

LIVE: LUCY DACUS – 27/10/2018