LIVE: THE HANDSOME FAMILY / TINY RUINS – 24/05/2012

– ST.CLEMENT’S CHURCH, MANCHESTER – It’s such a beautiful, warm evening (I don’t even need a jacket, hooray!) and I’m stood in the grounds of St Clements church surrounded by trees and greenery forgetting that I’m in a city.  I’m here on the recommendation of a friend and considering the facts: a husband and wife […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – England are playing a pointless friendly in Norway and the Eurovision circus is on the hypnotic light box, making my journey to see an Australian psychedelic rock band in a sweaty basement all the more satisfying. The Soup Kitchen is, as always, pretty busy. The extended, repetitive soundcheck gives a […]

LIVE: POND – 26/05/2012

LIVE: JAPANDROIDS – 23/05/2012

– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Rewind to November 2009, and a certain SR scribe is cursing his luck after only catching the vinegar strokes of Japandroids’ début Manchester show at Moho Live, so he makes a solemn oath that night that he’ll definitely, 100%, without any shadow of doubt catch them on their headline tour […]
Here is something new from Planet Mu with this latest EP from Protect-U, the brainchild of Mike Petillo and Aaron Leitko, two of the “new breed of dance music producers” presently emerging from Washington DC. ‘Motorbike’ opens with a half drunken metallic coated bassline pulsing its way through the track, kept in check by the […]

EP Review: Protect-U – Motorbike

Album Review: Tenacious D – Rize of the Fenix

Kyle Gass, half of the core duo behind Tenacious D, has gone on record to argue Rize of the Fenix, third longer player from this most awesome of rock acts is “much like Nirvana’s first album Bleach or the Beatles first album Help. Rough and yet a masterpiece.” And how could a humble music reviewer […]
Sure, it is easy to look at The Graveltones and quickly compare them to The Black Keys. Both bands compose of two men playing drums and guitar, both bands play fuzzy modern blues, and both bands draw their influences from the great rock legends of John Lee Hooker and Led Zeppelin. But unlike The Black […]

SINGLE: THE GRAVELTONES – ‘I WANT YOUR LOVE’

LIVE: MICHAEL KIWANUKA – 15/05/2012

– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – Heading to The Ritz on a damp Tuesday night makes me wonder if strappy wedges and a gust sensitive skirt are a good combo. The weather isn’t dampening the spirits of folks up for a piece of the recently touted Michael Kiwanuka appearing tonight. This one is an eagerly anticipated […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – At twenty to ten it seems like an age since the support act went off.  The Axl Rose complex finally shows signs of lifting when people we assume to be in the band appear on stage one at a time.  Something’s happening as a couple of notes emerge on […]

LIVE: GAZ COOMBES – 17/05/2012

ALBUM REVIEW: Lettie – Good Fortune, Bad Weather

The weather over the past few weeks has been fairly bad, but stumbling upon the latest release from Lettie will certainly give you good fortune. The London singer-songwriter’s new offering, Good Fortune, Bad Weather, is an album with the potential for plenty of hits with its great electro-pop sound and sublime songwriting. Lettie is a […]
– QUAY HOUSE, MANCHESTER – As part of the annual audio/visual festival Future Everything, Now Wave have brought us to a disused office block situated next door to The Opera House, to see no fewer than six (that’s 6) bands. We’ve become accustomed to dirty industrial warehouses and basement venues in Manchester, so this is […]

LIVE: ∆ (ALT-J) – 18/05/2012