LIVE: JOSH KUMRA – 16/04/2012

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – I have a confession to make, one that I probably shouldn’t tell, but there is a reason behind it. I am late, only about 5 minutes but that’s enough to miss the best bit of the gig. Me and my friend are running up the stairs and I hear the […]
– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – I’m not a fan of parties. On the rare occasions that I fail to worm my way out of an invite, you can pretty much guarantee than I’ll be one of the beer guardians in the kitchen or back yard, grumbling about the forced gaiety of it all. I even […]

LIVE: ANDREW WK – 13/04/2012

EP Review: Dream Continuum – Reworkz EP

Dream Continuum is the coming together of two artists, Machinedrum (aka Travis Stewart) and Om Unit, (Jim Coles), also known as Philip D. Kick. The partnership formed when the two realised they’d both been working on the same concept separartely, and so naturally put their heads together to produce this phenomenal EP. The concept in […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Having never entered the basement of the Soup Kitchen before I am pleasantly surprised! I get in very early and there is about ten people inside, which makes the room look huge. I decide to leave and come back when the bands are due to start. As I walk down […]

LIVE: TOY – 10/04/2012

LIVE: ORBITAL – 05/04/2012

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – The return of Orbital has been long overdue. They told people in 2006 that they were over and went their separate ways, but in Take That- esque fashion they rose like a phoenix out of the ashes to provide the world with their new album Wonky. It has been album […]
 – THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – So it is Easter Sunday and I am waiting. Jesus did a lot of waiting, but on Easter Sunday he spectacularly came back to Earth and most people turned around and said, “Oh… well that was worth the wait.” So you see it is good to make people wait, […]

LIVE: SLOW CLUB – 08/04/2012

LIVE: 2:54 – 04/04/2012

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – 3rd time lucky. 2:54 have a habit of playing in Manchester when I can’t be there to see them. Their 4 track Scarlet EP has racked up an obscene amount of plays in a relatively short space of time, my only hope is that this lengthy buildup isn’t met […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Tonight’s Ren Harvieu gig at the Ruby Lounge is a sell out. Her history reads like one of those true life stories you get in the middle of Closer Magazine. “A shy girl is born and raised in a gritty Northern town.  The daughter of a singer father, she discovers […]

LIVE: REN HARVIEU – 01/04/2012

ALBUM: SALIM NOURALLAH – HIT PARADE

“Listen to it once, you’ll get it.” This was the closing line of the press release to Salim Nourallah’s latest release, Hit Parade. With such an outlandish comment I was intrigued to listen to what musical delight the American singer-song writer had produced. Sadly, I didn’t get it. Not the first time anyway. But after […]
If you had asked me a week ago my thoughts on Gaelic folk music, I would have to be honest and say that it isn’t exactly my cup of tea. But this album is something a little different; Urstan is one of those collaborations that makes so much sense that you have to wonder why […]

ALBUM: ALASDAIR ROBERTS AND MAIRI MORRISON – URSTAN