Album Review: Mercury Rev – The Light In You

Pressing play on a Mercury Rev album is like the aural equivalent of opening a volume of fairy tales. You know you’ll be in for an intense and evolving series of narratives infused with melancholy and introspection best enjoyed in its entirety as an immersive experience. For a band with a track record of creating […]
October sees the return of Shopping with their first full length since their 2013 début Consumer Complaints (difficult to find on a search engine on two counts, I know). The band have been busy of late, having supported Montreal post-punk outfit Ought on their UK tour last month, the London trio continue with a plethora […]

Album Review: Shopping – Why Choose

Album Review: Kodiak Deathbeds – Kodiak Deathbeds

I just wanna point out straight away, this music isn’t my cup of tea at all. However, I do respect its beauty and inoffensive nature, which you can’t really say a bad word about…well, except “bored shitless” maybe. Track 1, ‘Never Change’, is just a little dull to be honest. Dreary. Trying to find the […]
Right from kick off with the track ‘Radio Ghost’, Downpilot instantly remind me of so many other artists. The vocals are like a strange mix of Michael Stipe and Thom Yorke, and the music itself has that sort of R.E.M./Radiohead melancholy sound which I like a great deal. The sense of sadness in the guitar, the […]

Album Review: Downpilot – Radio Ghost

LIVE: LIVERPOOL PSYCH FEST – 25+26/09/2015

– CAMP & FURNACE, LIVERPOOL – After very much enjoying a number of smaller Psych Fest’s in Manchester, the idea of taking it to another level seemed a logical step. Just an hour’s train ride away, over 75 acts have congregated in this annual celebration of ‘music of drug-induced origin’. The truly international line-up is […]
– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – It’s a cold September night. I arrive at my destination, squeezing past two chaps busking quite literally on the door step of The Night & Day Café. It’s one way to get yourself on the bill I suppose. ‘You must be freezing,’ I say. ‘You must be mad,’ […]

LIVE: SUMMER CAMP – 28/09/2015

LIVE: RANDOLPH SWAIN AND THE RED LIGHTS – 26/09/2015

– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – I like it when the stars align the right way. I mean, is it a coincidence that Randolph Swain and The Red Lights almost sing to the latest ‘Blood Moon’? Don’t think so. I want to believe. The truth, in this case, is inside The Castle Hotel in Manchester. […]
Within the first 30 seconds of b’lieve I’m goin down… we are once again fully acquainted with the languid, finger-pickin-on-the-ranch, meandering tendencies of Philadelphia’s Kurt Vile. After a brief spell as member of The War on Drugs, he has been releasing solo albums for seven years, peaking commercially with 2011’s Smoke Ring for My Halo and […]

Album Review: Kurt Vile – b’lieve i’m goin down…

LIVE: BLANCK MASS – 24/09/2015

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Blanck Mass is in a good mood tonight. He takes to the Deaf Institute stage to the sound of the hulking main sample of ‘Loam’, the opening track of this year’s stunning album Dumb Flesh. It’s stretched out to hypnotic length, a powerful, throbbing sound that fills the room […]
– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – So, why after two years (-1 day) have I decided to dust off my writing pad and make the time to review tonight’s gig? The simple answer, Sleaford Mods have excited me more than any other band in the last twenty plus years. As it happens, tonight’s support comes from […]

LIVE: SLEAFORD MODS / STEVE IGNORANT’S SLICE OF LIFE – 23/09/2015