LIVE: JAMES BLAKE – 26/02/2011

– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – A few months ago, I bought a couple of James Blake’s dubstep EP’s, ‘Klavierwerke’ and ‘CMYK’. LastFM said I would like him as I like Burial and Mount Kimbie… they were right. Then he started singing and Radio 1 shot him into space. Band On The Wall has […]
– THE APOLLO THEATRE, MANCHESTER – I heard Ben Folds’ Five’s ‘Underground’ on Mark Radcliffe’s Radio1 show back in 1995, but I’ve heard virtually nothing in the interim – during which Folds has ditched the Five, and worked with a variety of musicians, including Regina Spektor, Elton John and Rufus Wainwright. This tour showcases his […]

LIVE: BEN FOLDS – 24/02/2011

LIVE: LES SAVY FAV – 24/02/2011

– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – How does one even begin to describe a Les Savy Fav gig? Tonight will be the fourth time I’ve seen the Brooklyn quintet in less than three years and each time I’ve been left astounded, amazed and bewildered. Lead singer Tim Harrington is like the devil’s own instrument of chaos […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I’m delusional.  I haven’t reached the stage where I’m walking out in front of buses saying “it’s ok, I’m Jesus, I can reverse time”, or some such jive, but I’m beginning to do and say things that are almost as bad.  Before tonight’s gig at the Deaf Institute, I […]

LIVE: GLASSER/SAMPHA – 21/02/2011

SINGLE REVIEW: Funkystepz – Fuller/Hurricane Riddim

The aptly named Funkystepz gives us two slices of unforgiving UK Funky, and more goodness from Hyperdub. Funkystepz is a collective of five North Londoners creatively named Stimpy, Renay, Scrufizzer, Twitch and DJ, and with a strong following on their Rinse FM show and a string of self released tracks, this forty-ninth Hyperdub offering sees […]
– THE ROADHOUSE, MANCHESTER – Before going out to see Toddla T on Saturday night I am reading a newspaper article about the rise in the number of fried chicken shops in Britain and the causes for this seemingly unstoppable growth in popularity for a few sinewy pieces of deep- fried meat. One of the […]

LIVE: TODDLA T – 19/02/2011

ALBUM: Port-Royal – 2000-2010: The Golden Age of Consumerism

Truly great music, be it critically acclaimed, commercially successful or both, has to fit a certain purpose at a certain time or be the best at what it does. As Port-Royal are not (to my knowledge) a fresh-faced young boy band like One Direction filling the void left in the teenage dreamboat demographic, we can  […]
Jeff Beck rocks. We all presumed that to be self-evident but now it’s palpably true. He rolls as well – although that may be more to do with the passing of years. This album is a celebration of the life, career and music of Les Paul.  It’s incredible to think that the man who built and put his […]

ALBUM: Jeff Beck – Rock ‘n’ Roll Party, Honouring Les Paul

ALBUM: Dustin O’Halloran – Lumiere

The church was the driving force behind the development of early classical music; nowadays, it’s the film industry and (unfortunately) advertising which pay the classical composer’s way. Modern ‘popular classical’ music has taken on a dance-music character, with shorter chord progressions, less of a tendency towards quirky melody lines, and an avoidance of the highly-emphasised, […]
Am I alone in this? In, when news breaks of a new Radiohead release, not crossing fingers behind my back that it’s a return to “OK Computer Radiohead”? I like ‘Kid A’. I love ‘Hail To The Thief’. Whisper it quietly, ‘In Rainbows’ is probably my favourite Radiohead album. So, when news broke earlier this week, that Radiohead’s new […]

ALBUM: Radiohead – The King of Limbs