LIVE: JAWS – 22/09/2014

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – A plethora of giddy teenagers outside the venue make me feel ancient but inside I feel quite smug.  I’m quietly confident that tonight in the tiny but charming confines of the Deaf Institute will be a triumphant success for JAWS and that I will have managed to take this […]
– THE ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER – Tonight, a sold out Albert Hall plays host to Swedish sisters First Aid Kit.  I arrive at the venue shortly before the emergence of support act Jo Rose and already the room is filling up fast.  It’s not long before space becomes very limited. I enjoyed a support set […]

LIVE: FIRST AID KIT – 20/09/2014

LIVE: WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS – 20/09/2014

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I don’t know what it is, and I think it’s more than the accent, but Scottish music of late has had a signature sound. It’s influenced by their own countrymen, many of whom they have seen grow to huge international success from familiar beginnings that it has formed a […]
– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – The listing calls it Thrash Pop, which I don’t really like, and I think it’s been called Dance Metal. I read Pop Rock somewhere which I thought was the kind of stuff the Goo Goo Dolls make. I made up Avant Hard because I thought it was funny […]

LIVE: DZ DEATHRAYS – 19/09/2014

LIVE: SOHN – 17/09/2014

– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – Sohn, aka Christopher Taylor, strolls onto the dry iced stage in a sweltering Gorilla, black hoodie pulled over his head, looking every bit the mysterious, enigmatic electronic artist we see so much of today. Taking his seat at a keyboard at the front of the stage, flanked by a couple of […]
The Costellos are a young band based in the north-east and get regular airtime on BBC Radio Newcastle. All aged 20, the 4 members combine to create a smooth, easy rock sound, reminiscent of Stereophonics’ ‘Maybe Tomorrow’. The band’s output is purely internet-based for now (links below), thus their music is easy to access. Three […]

EP Review: The Costellos – Mini EP

Album Review: Wild Cub – Youth

Wild Cub present their début album in a flourish of melody-heavy and anthem driven tracks with the aptly named ‘Youth’. The Nashville based outfit, assembled around frontman/guitarist Keegan Dewitt and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Bullock, have quickly erupted across the United States and are now set on emulating such success in the United Kingdom. After recently releasing […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Nashville’s Wild Cub come to the Deaf Institute this evening for one of only two gigs in the UK this month. Support for the show comes from VYKTORIA. The four members of VYKTORIA swagger out onto stage and get stuck straight in to their opening song. Their sound, laden […]

LIVE: WILD CUB – 14/09/2014

LIVE: DAN MICHAELSON & THE COASTGUARDS – 11/09/2014

– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – Dan Michaelson has always struck me as endearingly old fashioned, in that he concerns himself with the craft of writing songs, and the subtlety of his songs on record demonstrate a becalmed, bleached and sparse beauty, where space and brevity become sumptuous and rich. In the live setting the […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – I last saw Cate Le Bon in support of St. Vincent at The Deaf Institute almost 3 years ago. Since that superb set, where she stood on stage with just a small pink practice amp and a guitar for company, she has released her finest album to date – ‘Mug Museum’, […]

LIVE: CATE LE BON – 12/09/2014