LIVE: SPECIAL INTEREST – 10/03/2020

– Yes Basement, Manchester – Humint: The opening act helps to congregate the room without windows with the post-punk-post-hardcore approach of being a mechanism that doesn’t quite work yet still works, the reverse stutter that is the drumming being the pedestal that makes this band the more rhythmically interesting of the 2 performers. Chordal descents […]
– Bridgewater Hall, Manchester – Don’t mention it Don’t mention it Don’t mention it Don’t mention it Don’t mention it There are empty seats due to the coronavirus. There, I’ve addressed it. Some people don’t feel comfortable enough to come to a concert hall full of people who potentially have a world wide pandemic virus, […]

LIVE: JON HOPKINS – 13/03/2020

ALBUM REVIEW: BODYCOUNT – CARNIVORE

There are two major factors about Body Count you may already know. If not, then I will enlighten you and draw your interest. Body Count are fronted by legendary rapper Ice-T and on their debut release, their infamy was born with a song called ‘Cop killer’. Though they’ve been in existence for three decades, they’ve […]
To write a review on a new Today Is the Day album, will require preparation. You cannot dive in without knowing what could come your way! That is a danger your mind can do without. When you can spend the depths of the earth’s darkest holes explaining this band, localising it to a space is […]

ALBUM REVIEW: TODAY IS THE DAY – NO GOOD TO ANYONE

LIVE: THE ORIELLES – 05/03/2020

– The Ritz, Manchester – This is being billed as a homecoming gig of sorts for The Orielles. By ‘homecoming’, I think people mean ‘big gig up north’, as the band hail from Halifax on the wrong side of the Pennines to Manchester, but we’ll let that slide; the excitement amongst a near to sellout […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- First on stage tonight at Gorilla are Nottingham-based four piece Do Nothing, a post-punk band utilising the talk-singing style that is quickly rising back into fashion within the indie scene. Singer Chris Bailey’s live rambling talk/shout vocal style, along with easy comparisons of Talk Show and Dry Cleaning, reminds me of a mix between […]

LIVE: MARIKA HACKMAN / DO NOTHING – 24/02/2020

LIVE: JULIAN COPE / KEELEY FORSYTH – 21/02/2020

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Keeley Forsyth It appears minimalism by spook is an effective strategy for the achievement of crowd bamboozlement; the ageing gig-goer prevalent around no doubt expecting a forgettable dilute-Copeian derivative hell bent on attaining das capital, yet not so. Aided only by the wheezing of what probably is a faux-accordion, the vocal adopts the […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- Adam Bainbridge is here for a good time. Entering the Yes stage in pearls, leather chaps and sparkling disco pants clutching a bunch of flowers, they saunter onto to a brilliant disco throb which melds into the stone cold classic ‘Young Hearts Fun Free’, and we all instantly know this is going to […]

LIVE: KINDNESS – 20/02/2020

LIVE: CAGE THE ELEPHANT – 19/02/2020

-VICTORIA WAREHOUSE, MANCHESTER- Before heading to see Cage the Elephant at the Victoria Warehouse, I was told: “if they aren’t in your top five live bands after tonight, I’ll be shocked”. I took this with a pinch of salt, but boy, have I been proven wrong – and I couldn’t be happier for it. Off […]
Stirring the spirit of Captain Beefheart into a Gang Of Four and Pavement cocktail, it’s the Leeds four piece Mush, pour in a hefty dose of social commentary and you get close to the heart of their debut album ‘3D Routine’. Tracks like ‘Eat The Etiquette’ have guitar lines firing off in all directions threatening […]

ALBUM REVIEW: MUSH – 3D ROUTINE