LIVE: KELLY MORAN – 04/04/2019

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- New Yorker Kelly Moran is a woman of many talents. Producer, composer and a multi instrumentalist, she released her first album Ultraviolet for the legendary Warp label last year to much acclaim, bringing her virtuoso piano skills together with moody electronics to a wider audience that she’s been exposed to […]
-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- What a rise it has been for Idles. Just 28 months ago, they joined us in the studio for the Silent Radio radio show, with just a two-year-old EP to their name, and an advance single named ‘Well Done’ that was just beginning to get some tentative national airplay. That day, they […]

LIVE: IDLES – 03/04/2019

LIVE: DRENGE – 29/03/2019

-RITZ, MANCHESTER- Having first seen Drenge back home at Hull’s Welly Club supporting Temples, with ironically just underneath them on the bill that night the Black Delta Movement, the band I last reviewed for Silent Radio earlier last month, this was a much-anticipated gig for myself and the many others, I’m sure, who have watched […]
-ACADEMY, MANCHESTER- Last time I saw The Cinematic Orchestra was at Soundwave, Croatia in 2010, just down the coast from Zadar – which Alfred Hitchcock described as having the “most beautiful sunset in the world”. Tonight’s concert starts with the rolling, rising, boiling crescendo of ‘Lessons’ and then golden lights wash upwards over the crowd, […]

LIVE: THE CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA – 30/03/2019

LIVE: YOU ARE NOT ALONE FESTIVAL – 30/03/2019

-VARIOUS VENUES, MANCHESTER- YANA or You Are Not Alone Festival is a multi-venue event that makes its debut this year and has been organised on behalf of non-profit charity Manchester MIND. With the event selling out well in advance, it’s set to be a great day of live music. The first band I manage to […]
-THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER- A nice little two band line up has been comprised by Interior for a sold out show at The Castle tonight of two acts that have been attracting ever more attention. Opening we have Working Men’s Club, a quintet from Todmorden whose name is an ode to the only form of […]

LIVE: STRANGE CAGES / WORKING MEN’S CLUB – 29/03/2019

LIVE: OLIVIA CHANEY – 26/03/2019

-THE STOLLER HALL, MANCHESTER- Tonight is my first trip to the Stoller Hall, which only opened in 2017 and is situated sort of in the inside corner of the L-shape formed by Victoria Station and the Manchester Arena. The building is part of Chetham’s School of Music, and what a delightful place it is for […]
-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- Thomas Ragsdale Acting as a sort of appetiser, ambient/electronic/man’o’synth Thomas Ragsdale performs a set that initially seems of interest… yet rather shortly hereafter my interest sinks deep into the metaphorical puddle of ennui. Akin to countless ambient exhibitions that I personally like (Tangerine Dream’s Rubycon etc), it is a continuously flowing piece; […]

LIVE: DYLAN CARLSON / THOMAS RAGSDALE – 23/03/2019

LIVE: HOLIDAY GHOSTS / FRUIT TONES – 23/03/2019

-YES (THE BASEMENT), MANCHESTER- I was slightly disparaging about aspects of YES on account of my visit to it on its opening weekend but it’s clear that the rest of Manchester stand in firm disagreement. Walking in to the sound of Joy Division this Saturday night it’s clear that it has managed to sustain the […]
Listening to the new album it is clear Pixes are one of their main influences. The opening track Paradise Waiting has a very much late 80’s/early 90’s sound to it, with a youthful almost cliché’ chorus. It opens the album like a band starting in late teens would trying to break onto the scene. Yet […]

ALBUM REVIEW: SLEEPER – MODERN AGE