LIVE: SOCCER MOMMY – 05/09/2018

– The Deaf Institute, Manchester – Entry number 48 in the series ‘How Much Are Young Women With Guitars Kicking Ass Right Now?’ featuring Sophie Allison aka Soccer Mommy. You may have read number 47 in this series a couple of weeks back after I went to see the brilliant Phoebe Bridgers, and I’ll probably […]
Riddled with angst, Sauna Youth express their feelings in a quite British 70’s fashion, spitting South East accent vocals over a ‘The Jam’ like setup. This, a follow-up to their 2015 debut album ‘Distractions’ strikes a similar chord, but they’re still pushing the envelope. The album explores the theme of death in a very literal […]

ALBUM: SAUNA YOUTH – DEATHS

LIVE: TITUS ANDRONICUS – 03/09/2018

– Soup Kitchen, Manchester – This is, hands down, one of the odder shows I’ve been to in recent times. Billed as ‘Titus Andronicus Acoustic’, ‘the band’ are playing much smaller venues than they have done on previous tours in support of their new album A Productive Cough, and the reason is immediately clear: this […]
-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- Last night I went to see Spike Lee’s new film Blackkklansman, and it’s pretty brilliant. It’s very funny, and, as you might expect, it packs a hell of a social conscious punch in it. I also felt extremely uncomfortable as a white man, in a cinema full of middle class white people, […]

LIVE: CAMP COPE – 31/08/2018

ALBUM: IDLES – JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE

– A Celebration of Vulnerability – The highly anticipated second album by Idles is pure vigour underneath a bunch of songs where the guts, the cries and the sing & shout still prevail from their outstanding debut Brutalism. The Bristol based outfit’s new record, Joy as an Act of Resistance, is due on Friday 31st […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- We’re in a bit of a golden era for young women making exceptional albums with, gasp, guitars rather than synths and a vocoder, like so many of their male peers. Artists like Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy, Julien Baker, Mitski, Lucy Dacus and tonight’s star turn Phoebe Bridgers are all making brilliant, emotional, funny, […]

LIVE: PHOEBE BRIDGERS – 19/08/2018

LIVE: DAM-FUNK – 15/08/2018

-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- Tonight is a night of alcohol spillage, intense joyful smiling and immense musical pleasure. The US hip hop musician gives the crowd an experience few would have predicted possible before he coolly struts on stage at quarter past 9… the chance to dance like a funky white boy and not give a […]
Charging in like a psych rock rollercoaster, the latest Oh Sees album finds frontman and record label owner John Dwyer expanding into new territory. Following a slight name change (dropping from Thee Oh Sees to simply Oh Sees) for last release ‘Orc’ in 2017, Dwyer and co have once again combined their ferocious guitar tunes […]

ALBUM: OH SEES – SMOTE REVERSER

LIVE: THE SCHIZOPHONICS / SKY VALLEY MISTRESS / RIVAL BONES / SHALLOW WATERS – 09/08/2018

-NIGHT PEOPLE, MANCHESTER- This Thursday, something a little raucous is going down at Manchester’s hottest new venue Night People, with an explosive line up compiled by Psymmetry Collective and Fuzz Thursday. Opening are Wigan based stoner rock trio Shallow Waters. The band, whose influences include political movements and social realism, let their lyrics reflect this […]
-JODRELL BANK OBSERVATORY, CHESHIRE- [The final of our three-part Bluedot Festival 2018 review, one for each day.] The press office is a dark-walled structure by an ice cream van. It is inauspicious; you peer into the café when you walk up the path, at the cups, buffet and cheap tables. Within it, however, I splutter […]

LIVE: BLUEDOT FESTIVAL 2018 – SUNDAY