LIVE: DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE – 04/07/2011

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – Okay, I’ll be honest. When I got the message I’d been called up to review Death Cab For Cutie’s Manchester gig at Academy 1 at four hours’ notice, I could only have told you the name of one of their songs and probably hummed you the chorus if I tried. […]
This is Washington based singer songwriter Mark Charles Heidinger’s 3rd album in 4 years. Clocking up an impressive 450+ gigs in the process, and a few EP’s, he would appear a busy man. But his music sounds anything but hectic and urgent. He’s like a confident and empowered Damien Rice… a vocally deeper version of […]

ALBUM: VANDAVEER – DIG DOWN DEEP

LIVE: TV ON THE RADIO – 27/06/2011

– ACADEMY2, MANCHESTER – From their debut album, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, to their recent release, Nine Types Of Light, there is something deeply unsatisfying about much of TV On The Radio’s mercurial, recorded output. They are, at times, ludicrously experimental. There are few genres that they do not try to incorporate into their template, […]
MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL – CAMPFIELD MARKET HALL (MOSI), MANCHESTER – The festival that promises nothing but original work continues to draw an impressive list of international a-list artists, inspired by the concept. Maybe it’s the creative freedom that they are entrusted with that beckons these already world famous names to step out of their comfort zones […]

LIVE: BJORK – BIOPHILIA 27/06/2011

SINGLE: THE MISERABLE RICH – ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE

Dubbed as ‘the world’s foremost purveyors of bar room chamber music‘, ‘Anything’s Possible’ is the first release taken from The Miserable Rich’s upcoming third album ‘Miss You in The Days’, a swift follow up to last year’s ‘Flight of Fancy’. I’ve been listening to the track on and off for almost a week now, and […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – There’s something very ’Ian Brown’ about the way Brad Hargettt, lead singer of Crystal Stilts, approaches the microphone. Though he sings like Jim Morrison on downers. The huge impact made when they start their set can partly be accredited to a support band. Dirtblonde are playing early when I arrive. […]

LIVE: CRYSTAL STILTS – 24/06/2011

EP REVIEW: DOK – West Coast

No stranger to the wax, DOK’s first EP outing on Hyperdub sees him team up with long time partner and some say evil twin (or is that eviler twin?) Terror Danjah for this filthy, funk fuelled slice of east coast, west coast grime goodness.   ‘West Coast’ is a hard hitting, grimey, filthy, low-riding roller. […]
– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – Well, it was always going to be a weird gig. I’m standing in a dimly lit, smoky room with about fifty other people as hip-hop blares through the speakers , and the only real indicator I’m here to see an a capella group and not a heavy metal band is […]

LIVE: THE BLANKS 23/06/2011

LIVE: THE HORRORS – 16/06/2011

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – The Horrors were unfairly labelled a novelty act by the music press when they burst onto the live scene in 2005. With their birds-nest hair, black eyeliner and tighter than tight jeans, many thought it was all just style over substance; a Cramps tribute band with a singer who looks […]
When the Manchester Evening News relaunched CityLife a few years back – not long before the axe was plunged through its privates – Neil Sowerby, the then editor, personally warned me not to request the Bon Iver gig because everyone wanted it (and presumably I was not CityLife´s star critic). Fine, I was completely unaware […]

Album Review: Bon Iver – Bon Iver