Album Review: Panda Bear – Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper

Noah’s voice is somewhere up in the ether. Opener ‘Sequential Circuits’ christens the album with a languorous sweep of the arm, the choral vocal so drenched in reverb that the edges blur. Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) harmonises with himself as sustained, echoing synth plays the same trick. The beat is a damp pulse, a squidgy […]
With the 2014 albums of the year lists still fresh in the memory, early releases for the new year have the responsibility of filling us with optimism for the next 12 months. Step up – Dan Mangan + Blacksmith. The multi-instrumentalist Canadian folk popster, Dan, grew up on a diet of Nick Drake and The […]

ALBUM REVIEW: DAN MANGAN + BLACKSMITH – CLUB MEDS

ALBUM REVIEW: KLOZAPIN – KLOZAPIN

The self-titled debut album from New York based band Klozapin is an exciting and vibrant mixture of genre, sound and influence. With so much going on identifying a category in terms of genre has proven difficult, and indeed the band pride themselves in this lack of restraint in the music (with elements of psychedelia, rock, […]
An early member of Duran Duran, Stephen Duffy followed brief pop stardom in the mid-1980s with a sequence of pretty yet unheralded records. The 2009 rockumentary Memory & Desire suggested that Duffy was troubled by disappointment and dejection, so his return now is something of a relief. Re-adopting the Lilac Time name under which he […]

Single Review: The Lilac Time – No Sad Songs

LIVE: CHERRY GHOST – 21/12/2014

– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER –  Since fate conspired against me last year and made me miss Bolton’s Cherry Ghost playing a couple of Christmas-time concerts at Hallé St. Peter’s, I’m grateful for the opportunity to make up for it tonight at Band on the Wall. Billed as a ‘festive special’, hopefully a seasonal […]
– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – The traditional start to Christmas for many Mancunians these days is the first trip to the Christmas markets, sampling undercooked sausages and over-priced Gluewein.  But for the more discerning reveler the real spirit of Christmas is to be found at The Castle Hotel, where the Brown Brogues’ annual “Bro  […]

LIVE: BROWN BROGUES / ABJECTS / DIRTY HEELS – 20/12/2014

Single Review: Little Dragon – Underbart

‘Underbart’, in Swedish, means something akin to enchanting, wondrous. It’s a word which would aptly describe any number of Little Dragon’s releases to date – their latest release (‘Underbart’ for those who hadn’t guessed) perhaps not. It’s slinking, sensual, and bass heavy, indicative of a slight shift in direction on latest album Nabuma Rubberband. Compared […]
I’m starting to run out of superlatives to describe Kasabian as a live band. To many they are the best British live band around after conquering the Sunday headlining slot at this year’s Glastonbury festival. The group are sometimes criticised for their qualities on record but as a live act they really do come into […]

LIVE: KASABIAN – MANCHESTER ARENA, 12/12/2014

LIVE: BRIX & THE EXTRICATED – THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER 13/12/2014

Close your eyes, and it could be 1983. It is exactly the kind of nostalgia that Mark E Smith hates, so I did not expect to be joined by him at the Ruby Lounge for the debut performance of Brix and the Extricated. And I wasn’t, despite my dreams of the former husband and wife […]
It feels nice to be stood in Soup Kitchen this evening, a pint in hand, knowing I have the weekend ahead and not much else on the agenda apart from watching bands and drinking beer. Sadly, Soup Kitchen seems a little on the quiet side as I eagerly await tonight’s support, Nottingham outfit Kagoule. It’s […]

LIVE: THE XCERTS / KAGOULE – SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER 12/12/2014