LIVE: PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING – 16/10/2017

-ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER- The night opens with a public service broadcast of our own. A light-hearted message about not using your phones as “the video and sound won’t be any good anyway”. I agree, enjoy the gig and don’t stick a phone in front of any other gig-goer’s view! Although I’m up in the lofty […]
-ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER- After releasing their highly anticipated debut album, Youth Is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect, at the beginning of this year, Sundara Karma – a group of four lads from Reading – have been touring pretty much non-stop. Stopping off in the UK and USA with tons of festival dates over the summer, they’ve […]

LIVE: SUNDARA KARMA – 12/10/2017

LIVE: LOYLE CARNER – 12/10/2017

-THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- It’s commonplace for fans to attend concerts dressed like their hero onstage – we’ve all done it – and the plethora of vintage football shirts in honour of South London rapper Loyle Carner is a pleasing sight. His recent guestlist-for-retro-footy-tops (international, size L) offer has made the press recently, as has his […]
-NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER- Arriving at the wonderful Night & Day Café in the nick of time tonight, I take my place in the middle of the sizeable crowd, most of which it can be assumed have been here (or at least been out somewhere) for a few hours already. There is a crackle […]

LIVE: YAK – 14/10/2017

LIVE: SUPERORGANISM – 14/10/2017

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- Superorganism embody everything it means to be a band in the 21st century: they met online through internet forums and once their messages started to solidify into a song it wasn’t long until they were exploiting your algorithms. The eight-piece are borderless, with members from Australia, New Zealand, America, Japan […]
-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- Placebo were due to play the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool until worries about the venue’s roof meant it was forced to close. Due to some last minute changes of plan, the closest similarly sized venue was the Albert Hall in Manchester. It might not be that close (proximity-wise) to Blackpool but it’s […]

LIVE: PLACEBO – 11/10/2017

LIVE: SLOWDIVE / BLANCK MASS – 10/10/2017

-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- Slowdive formed way back in 1989 and released their first album Just a Day in 1991. Two subsequent albums shortly followed before various members departed, going on to work on various projects including the band Mojave 3. Their last record was released a whole 22 years ago, yet unlike many other bands […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER-  Back from a tour of Europe, Reading’s Ulrika Spacek are back in Manchester with a second album under their belts, Modern English Decoration. A more polished article than their first album – guitars are beautifully woven together with gentle vocals, similar to Deerhunter, with gritty guitars and relentlessly addictive beats. White […]

LIVE: ULRIKA SPACEK – 10/10/2017

LIVE: ANDY McKEE – 03/10/2017

-ST. ANNE’S CHURCH, MANCHESTER- Tonight, I’m seeing Andy McKee for the second time in Manchester. The first being at Gorilla late last year, in which Andy advised he may not be back for a while in order to work on a new album. I’m glad that plan seems to have changed and I’m able to […]
-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- I remember really getting into math and post rock in 2008 which was when Leeds outfit Vessels released their debut album. It was a perfect marriage of the two sub-genres and naturally I thought it was ace. Fast forward a few years and I went to see the quintet at a festival, […]

LIVE: VESSELS – 05/10/2017