LIVE: KRILL – 23/02/2015

– 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 […]
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 […]

Album Review: Public Service Broadcasting – The Race for Space

LIVE: LYDIA AINSWORTH – 19/02/2015

– 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 […]
– ANTWERP MANSION, MANCHESTER – There’s a palpable sense of excitement in the line for Antwerp Mansion. Down an unlikely sidestreet, off Rusholme’s cumin-flavoured neon strip, I wait with the gaggle in the rain. I’m waiting for the paper-street grandeur of Antwerp Mansion, where ornate ballustrades rub shoulders with mysterious graffiti and flaking paintwork. It’s […]

LIVE: GEORGE THE POET – 20/02/2015

LIVE: THE WAVE PICTURES – 20/02/2015

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – It’s Friday night and what better way to start the weekend than visiting a sold-out Deaf Institute for some live music? Tonight’s visitors are The Wave Pictures, touring on the back of new album release Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon. The album was co-written and produced by Billy Childish. […]
– THE ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER – No, not the ill-considered government policy, but rather the band from Philly, back for their second sold out gig at Manchester’s gorgeous Albert Hall. (And who needs that pale London imitation, right? Our Albert Hall bleeds royal blood.) If the support seem a bit, well, shit – kind of […]

LIVE: THE WAR ON DRUGS – 19/02/2015

LIVE: GIRLPOOL – 18/02/2015

– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Soup Kitchen is heaving tonight. That’s because we are about to watch Girlpool, the surprise package of 2015 who have inspired support from nearly every blog and quarter going, despite comprising of just two women with two guitars. This hype may seem perplexing to many, as unlike the breakthrough acts […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – Talented is a word we often use when describing musicians, and rightly so. It is only right that we shine a light on the ability of those who put themselves out there for our entertainment. Anyone who has ever performed, or has even been around performers will testify that it takes […]

LIVE: GALLERY CIRCUS – 14/02/2015

LIVE – NISENNENMONDAI – 17/02/2015

– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER –  This is my 100th Silent Radio review, and I’ve still no idea what I’m doing. It’s only appropriate that I’m, typically, at an intimate gig for a band that I’d not heard of 2 weeks ago, until recommended by editor Simon Poole. Soup Kitchen is filling up nicely, as you’d […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – It’s probable the name John Evans means nothing to you, but he has an extraordinary story which was given a new lease of life by Gruff Rhys. Via his album American Interior with accompanying book, documentary and mobile app, the former Super Furry Animals frontman details Evans later life as […]

LIVE: GRUFF RHYS – 13/02/2015