SINGLE REVIEW: To The Chase – When You Believed/The Return

Hackney’s To The Chase are billed as genre blending indie/soul pioneers – a bold boast which they don’t quiet deliver on – but what they do offer is perfectly catchy and wholly inoffensive indie pop . ‘When you believed’ is an exuberant single that zips along nicely and is blessed with an infectiously catchy chorus. […]
– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – The hardest working rock n roll band in the UK  are back in Manchester tonight, and the plaudits and column inches that they have been garnering have attracted a sizable crowd in the Club Academy. I think in some ways the name, or rather the ‘Revue’ part is a misconception, […]

LIVE REVIEW: THE JIM JONES REVUE – 17/04/2011

LIVE: STEVE MASON – 12/04/2011

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Wow. Good evening from The Deaf Institute – the venue that laughs in the face of health and safety. The venue that scoffs at the idea of personal space. The venue that puts the ‘mmmm’ in intimate. Seriously, there’ll be no cat-swinging here tonight, so tightly jammed in are […]
– ST. PHILIPS CHURCH, SALFORD – Where better to see a prog goth band than in a church? The interior of St. Philips may be too well kept to be the perfect backdrop for tonight, some of Salford’s industrial abandoned and rain soaked buildings could offer Esben and The Witch possible music video locations, but […]

LIVE: ESBEN & THE WITCH – 08/04/2011

ALBUM REVIEW: Seun Anikulapo Kuti & Egypt 80 – From Africa With Fury: Rise

When Fela, Seun’s father, died of AIDS in 1997, you can bet that the Nigerian authorities could not believe their luck. For decades, Fela Kuti was an outspoken and fearless critic of his native government – Nigeria is (according to Forbes) the world’s 18th most corrupt country. His self-given middle name Anikulapo, adopted by his […]
– THE RITZ BALLROOM, MANCHESTER – Smith Westerns produced one of my favourite albums of last year with the excellent ‘Dye It Blonde’, so to say that I am really looking forward to this gig is an understatement. The gig sold out well in advance, due to being headlined by the current darlings of indie […]

LIVE: SMITH WESTERNS – 03/04/2011

LIVE: KILLING JOKE – 31/03/2011

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Punk rock is supposed to be unpredictable, theatrical and ball-bustingly energetic, and if there is one band encompassing those elements with every fiber of their being, it is Killing Joke. Not only is their fourteenth and most recent album, Absolute Dissent, every bit as liable to strip paint from studio […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER –  I didn’t come to the Deaf Institute tonight to review  the support band for Dum Dum Girls, but the music of Mazes is so good I feel compelled to let you know about them. All the songs feel ‘killer, no filler’.  They play with boundless energy and come across […]

LIVE: DUM DUM GIRLS – 31/03/2011

LIVE: DUCKTAILS – 31/03/2011

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – I’m not overly fond of the Ruby Lounge as a venue at the best of times- it might be that it’s dark and dingy, or the strange design, I can’t put my finger on it, but when I walk in and see about six people in the crowd my […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER –  The band are ready, lead singer Bradford Cox talks over the Foals tune that can still be heard and amusingly comments on the audiences startling red faces. The result of heavy backlighting. Technical difficulties allow him to break the ice with his natural wit as he urges the crowd to […]

LIVE: DEERHUNTER – 30/03/2011