LIVE: DRIVER DRIVE FASTER – 23/03/2012

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – They arrived like a breath of fresh air, last summer. The hidden trendy rough gem of a venue Kraak Gallery played host to the launch of their debut album ‘Open House’, while a number of high profile muso’s were liberally throwing their name around the airwaves, providing enough favourable […]
Not sure what the One Trick Pony ever did to Imperial Leisure, but this sophomore album forms a riotous call to arms. That poor pony is punked. I grew up in the same part of the capital as the band and remember their early gigs in various, nefarious down-at-heel North London pubs. They’ve come a […]

ALBUM REVIEW: IMPERIAL LEISURE – DEATH TO THE ONE TRICK PONY

SINGLE REVIEW: BILLY VINCENT – BOTTLE TOP

London five-piece Billy Vincent blend folk with a touch of rock and a dash of country on this, their first single release. Just as their name fuses those of the band’s best-friend vocalists Billy Barratt and David Vincent, so the quintet’s sound brings together that of Ed Harcourt, Jeff Buckley and James Morrison. With début full-length She […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – I am underneath a kitchen. Upstairs they’re serving soup. On tonight’s menu: Kindness, the creation of London lad, Adam Bainbridge. His name has been floating about the online music atmosphere since 2009, but now in 2012 he has released his debut album, ‘World, You Need A Change Of Mind,’ produced […]

LIVE: KINDNESS – 22/03/2012

LIVE: JONNY KEARNEY & LUCY FARRELL – 18/03/2012

– THE CORNERHOUSE, MANCHESTER – I would like to think I approach most new experiences with an open mind, but I have noticed a little bit of pre-judgement creeping in where certain events loom on the horizon. Unfortunately for ‘folk nights’ this genre has fallen into my room 101 of predictable nights out. All too […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – It’s Sunday at The Academy 2 and it’s sure to be sordid. I’ve always imagined The Felice Brothers as this band of rough-as-old-boots American country boys with their tales of violence and alcoholism and impregnating peoples daughters, and despite the fact that they’re actually all fairly young and handsome fellas, […]

LIVE: THE FELICE BROTHERS – 18/03/2012

LIVE: MISSING ANDY – 15/03/2012

– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – You know how you have your preferred music venues and your jaunts, which you would like to avoid at all costs? Well, tonight is one of those nights where it takes a special band to convince me to go to Moho. I could go on a rant right now, but […]
– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – I normally like to go into gigs ‘blind’, so to speak, to have no preconceptions, but as I planned to review this one I thought I ought to do some research.  My research brought up some mellow, yet lively sounding songs sung in English that suggested they were written with […]

LIVE: THE RUMOUR SAID FIRE – 13/03/2012

NEWS: RICHARD HAWLEY – NEW ALBUM DETAILS

Following the success of his award-winning, hugely acclaimed 2009 album ‘Truelove’s Gutter’, Richard Hawley will release his sixth studio album, ‘Standing At The Sky’s Edge’ – his first for new label Parlophone – on 7th May. Recorded at Sheffield’s Yellow Arch Studio in 2011, ‘Standing At The Sky’s Edge’ marks a seismic shift in direction for Hawley. The album is a euphoric, […]
– THE CONTINENTAL, PRESTON – Boldly venturing north tonight to experience some premier psych-drone-folk direct from France. After last year’s appearance at the Tusk Festival in Newcastle (supposedly only the duo’s second gig in the UK), Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte of Natural Snow Buildings must have caught the live performance bug as they are in […]

LIVE: NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS – 08/03/2012