LIVE REVIEW – THE DARKNESS: MANCHESTER APOLLO – 31/03/2025

Smoke machines. The neon ‘The Darkness’ logo above the stage. Stage lights that will blind you temporarily. The dramatic entrance accompanied by ‘Rock and Roll Party Cowboy’ can only send shivers and excitement into the onlookers as The Darkness show the audience how a rock n roll entrance is made. The intro to ‘Growing on […]
Love is and has never been linear. It’s a complicated obstacle course, some moments will thrill you with intense, fascinating sensations. But other times, it can drown you in its complicated, existential drawl, leeching away at you until it’s feasted on your very soul. …ok that was dramatic. Trust me when I say, love isn’t, […]

ALBUM REVIEW – GIRLPUPPY: SWEETNESS

LIVE REVIEW – SPIRITUALIZED – APOLLO 24/03/2025

Having just moved from Manchester to London in 1995, excited but terrified at the same time, embarking on an new adventure working in for an independent record label, little did I know then that one band, more than any other would come to define my time in the capital. ‘Pure Phase’ released in March 1995, […]
If you’re someone like me, you miss Boygenius. I miss Boygenius. So, when the news broke that Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers were going to feature for backing vocals on Forever is a Feeling the fourth studio album from Lucy Dacus, you hit the roof with excitement. The album cover is that of a painted […]

ALBUM REVIEW – LUCY DACUS: FOREVER IS A FEELING

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 28 MARCH 2025

A tumultuous week for new releases. ‘Spoilt for choice’ describes it nicely. Here is our selection. Destroyer        Dan’s Boogie Spectacle-laden pop epics, personal piano ballads, and smouldering works of mood that blur the lines between song and novel and cinema. Great, Grandpa           Patience, Moonbeam             Their new album contains signature elements – their nontraditional song structures, […]
Listening to ‘Glory’, the seventh album from Perfume Genius, it becomes apparent why Mike Hadreas’ performance moniker is so appropriate. There is a subtlety to the music and especially his voice that lingers. Initially seeming wispy and fragile, there is more substance than originally seems apparent. It is the equivalent of a scent that strikes […]

ALBUM REVIEW – PERFUME GENIUS: GLORY

EP REVIEW – PUBLIC ORDER: HELLO

Capturing the familiar sentiment that comes with your teenage years alongside the heartbreak and relationship struggles that are also a part of youth, Public Order’s ‘Hello’ is a detailed journey through love, nostalgia and vulnerability. The group’s sun-soaked debut single ‘Feels like summer’ has quickly launched the band onto introducing playlists and festival lineups even […]
There is a nursery rhyme like quality to CocoRosie’s music. It starts from a place of apparent simplicity and charm but underneath there are darker aspects. It would be easy to be swept along by the bricolage of sounds, a veritable junkyard of cheap keyboards and dismiss it as playground pop. Yet in reality, they […]

ALBUM REVIEW – COCOROSIE: LITTLE DEATH WISHES

LIVE REVIEW – ANTHONY SZMIEREK: ALBERT HALL – 21/03/2025

Unlike comedian Louis CK (CK for “Székely”), Anthony Szmierek has the chutzpah to stick with his given name, and also the confidence to almost single-handedly bring back the faded-in perm and banging ‘tache combo. It shouldn’t really work, but boy does it. Just like an English teacher from Hyde mixing spoken word delivery with phat […]
“It’s just rock ‘n’ roll, you won’t die!” If there’s one thing The Dare, also known as Harrison Smith, knows how to do, it’s open a show. On the night of his 29th birthday, Smith walks out onto the stage with snippets of ‘Open Up’ ringing out through the venue, he’s greeted with screams and […]

LIVE REVIEW – THE DARE: NEW CENTURY HALL – 19/03/2025