ALBUM REVIEW: DISCHARGE – PROTEST AND SURVIVE – THE ANTHOLOGY

What? Forty years since Discharge first released ‘Realities of War’? For a few generations, the idea that there was a time before punk rock seems devoid of logic. The household commodities that the first wave produced, are known worldwide and celebrated in their various meanings from politics, society and economic structure. But, to me, Discharge […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- Currently I am getting in to running as I am going through a period of unemployment. It helps stave off boredom and generally helps my mental health. Fundamental to my runs is: music. That’s where Jacques Greene comes in. The Canadian, signed to the Lucky Me label, has teamed up with his label […]

LIVE: JACQUES GREENE – 30/01/2020

ALBUM REVIEW: NADA SURF – NEVER NOT TOGETHER

Talking to sheep whilst making your ninth album, probably never crossed the mind of Nada Surf’s guitarist and vocalist Matthew Caws when he started writing the demos, yet for this quintessential U.S. indie band apparently that’s what he did on country walks during recording at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and the serene farmyard surroundings appear […]
As Vukovi’s guitarist Hamish Reilly says “There’s not a lot of atonal stuff on our record. I guess I’d call what we do melodic heavy pop-rock.” Personally, I’d go one further and start any description of Fall Better with “pop”, given how strongly front-and-centre Janine Shilstone’s vocals are, and how pure breathy-bubblegum-pop her sound is. […]

ALBUM REVIEW: VUKOVI – FALL BETTER

LIVE: CARAVAN PALACE – 31/01/2020

-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- While waiting in line for a drink, I overhear several conversations about the dramatic turn that Caravan Palace have made with their most recent album Chronologic. These conversations were not ecstatic at the departure from the electro swing of old. I have to say, I share their apprehension as to whether the […]
-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- The post-punk revival is raging, fuelled by the B word and the government and the utter bollocks we wake up to on the news every day. John (or John (timestwo) for internet purposes) are a duo of John’s from Crystal Palace – ‘I’m John, he’s John, we’re John’ they announce, one John […]

LIVE: JOHN – 29/01/2020

ALBUM REVIEW: BLOSSOMS – FOOLISH LOVING SPACES

Blossoms are back! The five piece band from Stockport who made it big with their self-titled debut in 2016 with an unashamedly pop driven and anthemic album that captured people’s attention. 2018’s follow up ‘Cool Like You’ delivered much of the same with added synths. Now comes this, their third album titled ‘Foolish Loving Spaces’. […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- John Myrtle opens the show tonight with songs about, in his own words, “sadness and paranoia”. The tunes themselves are a much more cheerful affair than this may make them sound and the moments of lyrical levity in songs like ‘Cyril the Slug’ merge easily with the more sombre themes of ‘Get Her […]

LIVE: H. HAWKLINE – 31/01/2020

LIVE: FAMOUS / POSA – 30/01/2020

-WILDERNESS RECORD STORE, MANCHESTER- POSA The formats of convention such as verse-chorus-verse appear to be marked absent today as the presumed acronym-named support act display a structure in a form one would deem free. Essentially, the sonic pentagon Tago Mago their way through a man-made steppe involving a clarinet, inaudible vocals (techniques vary), synthesisers (both […]
-NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER- The Night and Day Café is full tonight, and the crowd is full of love for the Chicago based smooth electro pop duo Drama. Drama is a collaboration between vocalist Viva Rosa and producer Na’el Shelade. They blend soulful R&B vocals over tightly crafted electro beats. Straight away their sound […]

LIVE: DRAMA – 29/01/2020