Album Review: Beans on Toast – Rolling up the Hill

December is a time of year when long-standing traditions are celebrated. A less heralded one, but a ritual that should be, is the annual release from Beans on Toast. The seventh album, Rolling Up the Hill, has continued the pattern of the first day of the month seeing a new album emerge. The significance of […]
Wrong Way is a new independent record label specialising in psychedelia, shoegaze, spacerock, leftfield and krautrock emerging from the depths of Cornwall. This will be the labels first release and emerges into the world on 5th February 2016. Founded in 2003, Norway’s Rancho Relaxo are known for their talent to create compelling, absorbing sound that […]

ALBUM REVIEW: RANCHO RELAXO – WHITE LIGHT FEVER

LIVE: HORSEBEACH – 17/12/2015

– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – What a difference a year makes. Or in this case two years. I remember seeing Manchester based quartet Horsebeach in 2013 play to a small crowd in Chorlton opening up for my band at the time and I remember thinking that there was definite promise in their jangly […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – It’s been two decades since Orange Goblin swept the nation with their brand of heavy metal mania. Tonight, they’re back in Manchester for what promises to be one hell of a live show. 20 years of Blood, Metal and Beers, the band’s new slogan is already slapped on every second […]

LIVE: ORANGE GOBLIN – 16/12/2015

LIVE: A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN – 14/12/2015

 – ST PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – A Winged Victory For The Sullen (AWVFTS) are described as many things; an ambient/drone/modern classical duo made up of former (or is it dormant?) Stars of the Lid member Adam Wiltzie and pianist/composer Dustin O’Halloran. The music they make is ripe for words like ‘majestic’, ‘gorgeous’, ‘beautiful’, ‘soaring’, ‘wondrous’ and […]
 – GULLIVER’S, MANCHESTER – A nearly annual event now, this night is a chance for former Wu Lyf man Francis Lung and others, selected by him, to come together to show us their individual musical gifts just in time for Christmas. Tonight’s feast is far better than your average Christmas dinner though, with indie rock […]
Francis Lung

LIVE: A FRANCIS LUNG CHRISTMAS – 13/12/2015

LIVE: JEFFREY LEWIS AND LOS BOLTS – 09/12/2015

 – THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Cult hero Jeffrey Lewis returns to Manchester on a bitterly cold and wet night. The disposition he brings with him from across the pond is a warm and welcoming one, just what is needed for what is a restless, majorly male orientated crowd in attendance at The Deaf this […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – What a treat this week for Manchester fans of The Bronx! Not only is the punk band from LA playing at The Ruby Lounge tomorrow, but we also get to see a performance tonight, at the same venue, by its alter-ego, mariachi band Mariachi El Bronx. Gig-goers could either […]

LIVE: MARIACHI EL BRONX – 10/12/2015

LIVE: THE TWILIGHT SAD – 10/12/2015

– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – The Twilight Sad do not have a new album to flog, with Nobody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave coming out back in 2014. Still, they are doing a few dates in the UK because, well they can, and with no new LP in tow it means they […]
 – THE ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER – I saw (and reviewed) Django Django live in Manchester earlier this year at the Manchester Cathedral and the risk of repeating myself is high, so I’ll make a conscious effort to avoid that. The ‘problem’ is that they are simply brilliant, and at The Albert Hall – if possible […]

LIVE: DJANGO DJANGO – 06/12/2015