Album Review: Fawn Spots – From Safer Place

From Safer Place, the début album from York-based punk trio Fawn Spots, rests on a tipping point: written, recorded and self-produced at the bands own rehearsal space, it captures them in ferocious form, a band at the threshold of the familiar and about to slash and burn their way into unknown territory. Having built a fearsome […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – I don’t know if they’ve put something in the water down there, but there seems to have recently been a big influx of exciting new indie bands coming out of Birmingham and smashing it. From big tours to big record deals, big riffs to big hooks, it’s all been going […]

LIVE: JAWS – 06/03/2015

LIVE: VIKESH KAPOOR – 03/03/2015

– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER – “I dream away my morning”, Vikesh Kapoor sings on ‘I Dreamt Blues’ conjuring up an image of Alan Sillitoe’s protagonist from Saturday Night & Sunday Morning, Arthur Seaton slaving over his lathe at a bicycle factory dreaming of plotting an escape from his small town drudgery. In fact, this is what […]
–  ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – St. Philip’s church in Salford, through vicar Andy Salmon, has been the location of various performances in the past few years. A 2011 M.E.N. interview with the vicar reveals that the programming has also included, interestingly, a regular ‘Goth, Metal, 80s and Punk club night’. Despite the conventional religious […]

LIVE: JOHN SMITH 27/02/2015

LIVE: LONELADY – 26/02/2015

– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – There was huge disappointment for me, almost 5 years ago – Manchester’s own Julie Ann Campbell, aka LoneLady, withdrew from a support slot for Chris Cunningham due to illness. Her superb debut album ‘Nerve Up’, released on Warp in 2010, had piqued my interest enough to leave me wanting more. It’s been a long wait. […]
– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – The NME awards tour has seen some huge names over the years. From Coldpay to Arctic Monkeys, they’ve had them all. It’s a tour that guarantees a great headliner and some brilliant up and coming bands. However this year, I feel that the NME have divulged into the punk direction […]

LIVE: THE NME AWARDS TOUR – 26/02/2015

LIVE: THE CRIBS – 25/02/2015

– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – When I look back on my teen years and the bands I use to adore, it makes me sad to think that those bands are now defunct or still clinging on to fame by releasing the same records. The Cribs are one of the few bands from this period who […]
– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER –  I first heard about Krill thanks to the founder of their former UK label Blood and Biscuits writing a genuinely honest description of how great Krill are and how great their album Lucky Leaves is. So as a fan of the label, I obliged, and subsequently fell in love with this Boston based […]

LIVE: KRILL – 23/02/2015

Album Review: Public Service Broadcasting – The Race for Space

Public Service Broadcasting is a band that ought not to be able to release more than one album. The formula of putting music to samples of archive footage is something at first arresting; it’s the sort of simple-but-effective idea you can’t believe nobody has exploited properly before. However, having heard the band’s fascinating debut record […]
– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER – Lydia Ainsworth looks elegant tonight, bedecked in a sweeping knee-length white coat with a brooch hanging from her neck. Manchester’s turn out is paltry in comparison, as the small numbers make Gullivers’ normally throbbing wooden floor seem empty, helping it to feel more like a heartless conference hall rather than one […]

LIVE: LYDIA AINSWORTH – 19/02/2015