LIVE: TIM HECKER/ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB – 06/12/2010

– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – It’s freezing in Salford. The snow from the coldest November in years has given way to a hard layer of ice on the pavement, making the route to Islington Mill all the more treacherous yet picturesque. The ice sheet gives Salford’s tower blocks and the Mill, a remnant of the […]
– MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL, MANCHESTER – There’s something resolutely I Am Kloot about the whole thing tonight; the pink snow-bulging sky, the crisp cold air, the none-more stately venue. It’s a slightly disorienting experience for sure. The bar area is set around an imposing white marble figurine, stone memorials looming down from the walls. Spotlights occasionally pick […]

LIVE: I AM KLOOT – 03/12/2010

LIVE: BOY & BEAR – 03/12/2010

– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – Embarking on their first headline tour of the UK, Indie folk–rockers Boy & Bear originating from the much warmer shores of Sydney, Australia brave our minus temperatures and the sell out crowd of Night & Day. These guys have an impressive CV for 2009/10 having supported recent folk […]
– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – It’s bloody cold in Manchester tonight. There’s enough ice on Oxford Road to host the Winter Olympics and the security staff patrolling the door are checking tickets so slowly, you suspect they’ve begun to freeze over. Nevertheless, an army of shaggy-haired Black Rebel fans have descended on Academy 1, each […]

LIVE: BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB – 05/12/2010

LIVE: JOHNNY FLYNN/MELODICA MELODY & ME – 05/12/2010

– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – Two highly acclaimed bands from the underground music scene tonight: the London based and highly talented Melodica Melody and Me (MMMelodica), and the humble genius, with awe inspiring musical talent, Johnny Flynn, who is lyrically poetical, raw, articulated and on point. It is a sell out gig, so my ignorance […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – John and Yoko. Sonny and Cher. Er, them out of ABBA. Some of history’s best-loved music has been born from real-life couples, and you’d be forgiven for thinking this pair had been making more then just sweet music for longer than a couple of years. She is Jenny Lewis; […]

LIVE: JENNY & JOHNNY – 01/12/2010

LIVE: PICTURE BOOK – 01/12/2010

– THE NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – As Tsar Nicholas II of Russia never said, life’s a funny old game. You arrive at Night & Day Café on the evening of December 1st, snow lying all around. There’s no heating. The headlining band you’ve risked a broken limb to see haven’t even made it, […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Call it Surf Pop, Noise Pop or Garage Rock, Best Coast are currently one of the best exponents of the genre. The key ingredient separating them from the rest of their reverb soaked contemporaries being the lovelorn vocals of Bethany Cosentino. 2010 has been kind to Best Coast. Debut […]

LIVE: BEST COAST – 29/11/2010

SINGLE REVIEW: The Chanteuse & The Crippled Claw – Are You One

Throughout each month I will regularly trawl through the listings on each of the Manchester venues websites to find the great and the good that will be playing so we can pass on this info in our handpicked gig guide. Now believe it or not, we will only include something in the guide if we […]
Montreal-based Olivier Alary, the man behind Ensemble, is a self-destructive songwriter a la Thom Yorke. It’s not that Ensemble really sound anything like Radiohead, Alary sings in French for a start, it’s just that both he and Yorke pen accessible, beautiful songs and do everything they can to fuck them up, primarily through somewhat schizophrenic […]

SINGLE REVIEW: Ensemble – Envie D’Avalanches