EP Review: Bird – Shadows

Liverpool ‘s musical renaissance continues aplenty with the recent emergence of Stealing Sheep and a thriving local live music scene to rival Manchester. One of the latest talents to emerge is the three piece band Bird, who comprise of Adele Emmas (singer, songwriter), Sian Williams (guitar, harmonies) and Alexis Samata (drums). Their press release talks […]
– SACRED TRINITY CHURCH, SALFORD – Half a dozen weeks before the release of their third album ‘Who Needs Who’, Dark Dark Dark come to Salford for an intimate set in the cosy Sacred Trinity Church. Nancy Elizabeth is playing solo when I enter the space, I’ve no choice but to wait just outside the […]

LIVE: DARK DARK DARK – 19/08/2012

Single Review: Minus The Bear – Steel And Blood

The first time I heard Minus The Bear was on a beach and it seemed their thoughtfully composed yet totally chilled out style of music was the perfect backing to an afternoon in the sun – whether that be on the white sands of Hawaii or, in my case, the somewhat darker sands of a […]
Don Niño (in reality a French chap called Nicolas Laureau) has a voice resembling Devendra Banhart, a drum sound evoking David Bowie’s Low, acoustic guitars reminiscent of  Love’s Forever Changes, and an album title that evokes the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band’s 1968 ditty ‘Canyons Of Your Mind’. However, to suggest that this album is as good as […]

ALBUM: Don Niño – In The Backyard Of Your Mind

LIVE: BRITISH SEA POWER – 03/08/2012

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Krankenhaus Mankenhaus! British Sea Power take the fun and frivolity of their monthly Brighton residency on tour as they venture north for the first Krankenhaus to be staged outside of East Sussex. The intriguing line-up includes a DJ set from Duncan of Dutch Uncles, a ventriloquism act from locally based BBC 6 Music radio hero […]
To me, Jack Tatum’s music has always seemed contradictory. On his 2010 album, Gemini, Tatum used the stylistic devices of pop music as a stencil to aid his vision. Verses sunk into choruses perfectly, bridges obligingly followed and earworms were unearthed in their masses. As if Tatum’s song writing was akin to slotting together pieces […]

ALBUM: WILD NOTHING – NOCTURNE

ALBUM: JOHNNO CASSON – WINDOW SHOPPING

Ah, Coinstar Day. £21.47 redeemed from jean-pocket oblivion, all thanks to your charitable counting-machine friend. Know the feeling? Well, stand by: the improbable satisfaction that comes from just such little victories fills Johnno Casson’s delicate, quirky album, Window Shopping. Colchester singer-songwriter Casson, armed with previous self-releases under the name Snippet, delights a growing internet fanbase […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – It’s certainly the night for a mind-altering statement. At the very same time as one great Mancunian artist is subverting all expectations in front of a global audience, another group of them are tapping into the dark recesses of our imaginations on a far smaller scale. But whereas Danny Boyle […]

LIVE: PLANK! / HOOKWORMS – 27/07/2012

ALBUM: MOEBIUS + TIETCHENS

There comes a time when most music lovers will claim to have heard it all before. Of course, the battle against jaded apathy is constant, and must be fought on all fronts. However, unctuous press releases try hard to extol the virtues of their offering, pitching it as the Third Coming and a cure for […]
– The Deaf Institute, Manchester – The blow of missing the first two local Savages gigs this year – in a cage in a bunker in Salford and at Islington Mill in June – has been eased now that I can witness ‘everyones favourite new band’, in my favourite venue. Parma Violets are the main support, I saw them at […]

LIVE: SAVAGES – 24/07/2012