LIVE: CASS McCOMBS – 23/01/2017

– DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – It’s Monday night and the Deaf Institute is heaving. In fact, the audience must be double the one that came to see Cass McCombs’ last Deaf Institute show. ‘Mangy Love’, Cass’ most recent record, is a large reason for this swell in the audience. His most concise record to date, […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – Before us is an outfit of matching suits, and in the air a requisite bass riff with some dandy horns. The back wall of Gorilla is newly decked out, so says my plus one. It’s a nearly all-white family providing the instrumentals – The Expressions – with a DJ occasionally poking […]

LIVE: LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS – 13/01/2017

LIVE: HALFNOISE – 11/01/2017

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – It’s always a nice feeling when a project that you’ve been following for a good few years finally makes it to your city. I was entranced by the debut EP from HalfNoise back in 2012, thanks to both the silky smooth vocals of its leader Zac Farro, and the […]
– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – It is fair to say that 2016 hasn’t been a vintage year. Without getting too morose its one that’s best forgotten. That said, there have been some shining lights in amongst the gloom. Anything involving The Wonder Stuff, for one, has been cause to forget all else that’s going on. […]

LIVE: THE WONDER STUFF – 21/12/2016

LIVE: THE UNDERGROUND YOUTH – 17/12/2016

– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Tonight in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, something special is unfolding in the Soup Kitchen. A three band bill compiled by the venue itself is about to unfold and if the faces in the room are anything to go by, we are certain to be entertained. Opening tonight we have Rongorongo, a […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Known as being one of Cate Le Bon’s favourite venues, tonight she returns for the second night in a row to a packed Deaf Institute. “I wish I could play Manchester every night”. Her latest album ‘Crab Day’ somehow managed to upstage her superb 2013 album, ‘Mug Museum’, and so […]

LIVE: CATE LE BON – 14/12/2016

LIVE: MARISSA NADLER – 08/12/2016

– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – The smothering pill of harpist Mary Lattimore’s semi-improvised, semi-digital dialogue dissolves in the pool of Manchester’s Night & Day Café – forming clouds of glittering movement and swallowing, memory-landscape. As Lattimore’s moon-music pushes and pulls, red velvet swims up behind the audience – leading a band of cowboy-coloured […]
– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER –  Idles certainly put on a fantastic show and they are living up to the ‘antics’ name the venue has labelled the club-night.  They are a volatile bunch from the start. Between bursts of ferocious diatribe, with singer Joe Talbot driving each angry line through gritted teeth, he is […]

LIVE: IDLES – 10/12/2016

LIVE: THE BURNING HELL – 05/12/2016

– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER – I’m at Gullivers tonight to watch Canadian band The Burning Hell, hot off the release of their latest album, The Public Library. This is the 7th album and possibly their best work yet. I’m in a vibrant mood waiting for the showcasing of as many a variety of tracks as they […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I may be entering the Deaf Institute alone tonight but I’m met by a strong sense of collective energy.  The venue has sold out for the Glaswegian duo Honeyblood and there is a fire kindling with excited anticipation for the night ahead.  I’m near the back but have a […]

LIVE: HONEYBLOOD – 02/12/2016