LIVE: DECONSTRUCTED / CALVIN HARRIS – 09/10/2011

– THE WAREHOUSE PROJECT, MANCHESTER – First I must confess to being a Warehouse Project Virgin (WHPV). I do get a quick initiation from some lovely peeps from Telford on my approach to the underground car park venue. You came from where?! Yes my reaction too, but the WHP reputation is travelling far and wide, […]
– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – As events unfold, for me, this night comes to embody all the reasons that I love small gigs so much. Music In Beta kindly grant free entry for anyone with a Facebook account and the ability to click a button that says ‘Like’. Though, in wanting to repay them […]

LIVE: NEDRY – 05/11/2011

LIVE: JOHNNY MARR & THE HEALERS – 04/10/2011

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – “You’re cool!” This adoring yelp erupts mid-crowd of this packed room of the Deaf Institute. Johnny Marr carries on tuning up, having not even plucked note 1 of tonight’s set.  Then he looks up and whispers into the mic: “I know.” And you know what – he is.  He […]
With Male Bonding often being described as “noise pop”, their new release, Endless Now, seems to occupy the popular, if not the cooler, end of that sub-genre’s spectrum.  The slightly rougher edges of last year’s debut, Nothing Hurts, have been ground away and the London accents smoothed out and made a little more generic.  Could […]

Album Review: Male Bonding – Endless Now

Album Review: Rinse:016 – Ben UFO

What can you write when it comes to Rinse? Anyone who has ears and a half decent taste in music will have stumbled across these boys at some point. Starting out as an online radio station, Rinse FM has proved its worth dozens of times over the past couple of years, constantly evolving and keeping […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – On a typical early autumn evening (28 degrees, hello?) I wait for my sister outside Sand Bar enjoying a cold pint, almost dreading the prospect of a static folk gig in a warm, crowded club. I know little about Stealing Sheep and Beth Jean Houghton so that is the […]

LIVE: BETH JEANS HOUGHTON/STEALING SHEEP – 01/10/2011

SINGLE: Pritch & Trim – Stereotype/Kiss My Arse

The man of many names and countless brilliant tracks, Mark Pritchard, takes to the studio with one of Grime best-est, MC Trim. The single comes with two tracks from the pair and instrumentals to boot. Mark lays down a swaggering, light-hearted beat on ‘Stereotype’ with hooks redolent of a soundtrack to a 1970s comedy skit. […]
Numbers For Street Names, the second EP from the Manchester based foursome, reeks of nostalgic alternative rock, familiar with the likes of Oasis, Nine Black Alps and Joy Division – all great bands to emerge from the depths of the northern city. The record oozes light anthemic rock with complex layerings of rustic vocals, fiery […]

EP Review: City Reign – Numbers For Street Names

LIVE: SUBMOTION ORCHESTRA – 03/10/2011

– HMV RITZ, MANCHESTER – With night organisers Hit & Run proclaiming that they refuse to be “pigeon-holed and categorised”, tonight’s headliners Submotion Orchestra offer a diverse enough spectrum of influences to uphold their ethos. The Monday ‘Quality Bass Music’ night, now in it’s 5th year, has moved on from it’s Mint Lounge residency to spend […]
– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – Sssshhhhh! It’s Get Cape Wear Cape Fly! Apart from hearing like Jack and Vera’s cheeky little son, Sam Duckworth aka Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly also manages to mix it across a million genres indie/emo/ folk/ electronic/ techno, dancy dance, with a touch of rave, the lot.  A little birdie […]

LIVE: GET CAPE WEAR CAPE FLY – 30/09/2011