LIVE: THIS IS THE KIT – 03/06/2016

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – What strikes me most about Kate Stables of This Is The Kit, is just how charismatic she is. Every person in The Deaf Institute here would love to be her friend. I want to be her friend. She effortlessly chats between songs. Tells jokes while tuning up. Bad ones, […]
When I saw Yak a few months ago at Gulliver’s, they were good but at the time, the support acts were much more interesting to me. However, with their debut album Alas Salvation, Yak produce some dirty, distorted rock ‘n’ roll with surprising worth and impact on a bland musical scene. Opening track ‘Victorious (The […]

ALBUM REVIEW: YAK – ALAS SALVATION

LIVE: DOT TO DOT 2016 – 27/05/2016

– VARIOUS VENUES, MANCHESTER – Manchester is host to a different kind of marathon tonight although it has similar traits to that of a running marathon; it will be extensive, exhausting, and sweaty. It will raise our heartbeats, make us search out water at some point, we’ll probably get lost, and eventually we’ll be stumbling […]
– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – The atmosphere is sparse and restrained in the copper snake-pit of The Islington Mill – bound by bare brick and lamp-light. In a moment, I went from feeling evening sun on my back to being buried 4-feet below the surface, and now, unable to make out nothing more than the shape […]

LIVE: FÖLLAKZOID – 26/05/2016

LIVE: GIGANTIC INDIE ALL DAYER VOLUME III – 28/05/2016

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – The idea is a simple one, take a number of bands that emerged in the same era and build a festival around them. Although, this is not merely a nostalgia trip, as all the bands on show have reformed with new material to perform alongside their fan favourites. This is […]
– BRAMLEY-MOORE DOCK, LIVERPOOL – The Merseyside festival is back and it seems to have cemented itself a place as one of the more popular smaller festivals – just a year after its relocation to Bramley-Moore dock.  Last year’s festival saw three days of talent whereas this year saw just the two days of live […]

LIVE: LIVERPOOL SOUND CITY – 28-29/05/2016

LIVE: MOTHERS – 25/05/2016

– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER – Mothers are a difficult band to pin down. Hailing from Athens in Georgia (home to such indie alumni as REM and B-52s), it started out as a personal project for Kristine Leschper before she recruited a full band to record their excellent debut album When You Walk A Distance Way You […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Haunting. Marissa Nadler is haunting Soup Kitchen tonight. She cuts a lonely figure in the dark basement of the shabby-indie-chic bar that is Soup Kitchen. When she first appears, she provides the sense of loss we have come to know from her, it is so wholly felt throughout the underground […]

LIVE: MARISSA NADLER – 26/05/2016

ALBUM REVIEW: THE SILVER LAKE CHORUS – THE SILVER LAKE CHORUS

The Silver Lake Chorus do not just have any Glee factor, they are THE Glee factor. Their debut provides an original, fresh, choral perspective of songs provided and written for them by a number of well-known songwriters, including Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie, and Postal Service, Wayne Coyne […]
– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – Before I talk of my disappointment with Doomsquad, hailing from Canada, I firstly want to give a quick mention about support act The Six. If these were supporting anyone else, I’d probably hit the bar and wait for them to fuck off stage before shuffling back into the […]

LIVE: DOOMSQUAD – 25/05/2016