LIVE: WIDOWSPEAK – 27/11/2011

– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – Widowspeak‘s self titled debut album  is definitely in my top 5 for 2011. Highly regarded local indie store Piccadilly Records agree somewhat, naming it in their own top 10. The Brooklyn based trio have only been together since summer last year, can the live performance meet my high expectations? The […]
– THE NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – The legendary Night and Day Cafe is 20 years old this year and tonight Stockport trio, The Jessie Rose Trip have been invited to headline their Birthday shindig. The Jessie Rose Trip have been flying the ‘next big thing’ banner for a few years now and come […]

LIVE: THE JESSIE ROSE TRIP – 25/11/2011

LIVE: FRANK TURNER – 26/11/2010 (plus free download)

– THE APOLLO, MANCHESTER – It’s a windy, drizzly and cold November night, and quite frankly, the prospect of a going to a gig over a hot drink and bed seems unthinkable. But tonight I’ve been persuaded. It’s the turn of Frank Turner to grace the Apollo in Manchester, and after a long period of […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – I’ve fallen in love with a Mariachi band. Over the last few weeks ‘Mariachi El Bronx’ have been beeping all over the Vic radar. Guy Garvey’s played them numerous times on his 6 Music show. And in exclusive Silent Radio interviews Norwegian folkies The Captain and Me told me how […]

LIVE: MARIACHI EL BRONX – 23/11/2011

REVIEW OF LATER WITH JOOLS HOLLAND (22/11/2011)

I’m watching Jools Holland, and goodness me, it really will be a blast from the past, with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Noel Gallagher and Bjork all appearing. So what’s in store? Perhaps an lot of pallid playing from past-it performers – or perhaps some real quality from the old pros. So how does it […]
– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – The local support slot is occupied tonight by Manchester nutters Bad Taste Barbie.  If you can imagine Fuzzbox fronted by Divine then you might get the idea. They have a song that goes ‘SiegHeil, Jeremy Kyle’.  No, Really! The main support is from Girl Spit (I think) whose front man […]

LIVE: DWARVES – 22/11/2011

EP: MOUNT FABRIC – THREADS

Mount Fabric are a Manchester-based band whose lyrics walk a fine line between profound and ridiculous – “The flickering embers of a sleeping fire/The shivers descending down a grid of wires/The master pretending like he has not heard/The tectonic bending of his island world.” Admittedly, these words do at least avoid the usual clichés and […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Another sellout weekend crowd at The Deaf Institute, Now Wave bring us a couple of Canadian bands tonight, both the established, and the up and coming. The crowd are a mixture of young and older post-rock fans, it’s possible to tell which band each audience member has come here […]

LIVE: THE BESNARD LAKES – 18/11/2011

LIVE: DUM DUM GIRLS – 13/11/2011

– FAC251, MANCHESTER – I said last year that it probably wouldn’t be long before the Dum Dum Girls were playing bigger venues.  It hasn’t necessarily turned out that way.  Well, not here anyway.  But tonight’s gig at Fac 251 is certainly a lot more rammed. It’s packed out and getting pretty bleeding warm for […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Fresh from touring America, appearing on Letterman and releasing their third album ‘Strange Mercy’ through 4AD, St. Vincent are set to face a sell out crowd in Manchester’s cosy Deaf Institute. It’s difficult to move in here, there’s a buzz of real excitement and it looks as though this […]

LIVE: ST. VINCENT – 12/11/2011