Fast Forward – The World Cup Goes Indie [Round of 16]

The knock-out stages are ready to begin. The rules are simple – I think most of these tunes are the musical equivalent of those horrible world cup flavoured crisps, so I don’t want to listen to them any more than I have to. It’s a simple contest – two songs play, the best one goes […]
Fast Forward: An Indie Music Companion To World Cup 2010 [The Group Stages] Yes folks – now is the time – the time to be excited about the World Cup. Now is the time for hope, before the inevitability of England bowing out (on penalties) in the Quarter Finals, and Brazil narrowly overcoming Spain and […]

Fast Forward: The World Cup Goes Indie

ALBUM: Exit Calm – Exit Calm

‘They don’t feel,’ Exit Calm’s Nicky Smith calls out at the emotional climax of their eponymous debut album’s ‘Hearts and Minds’ — something that could never be said about his band. Indeed, their soaring first full-length is a work of undeniable majesty. It’s best to get mention of the overtones of The Verve out of […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Silently ambling around the stage, the carefully choreographed theatrics of their set up builds a tense anticipation. Meditatively laying out their various keyboards, fastidiously arranging synths and thoughtfully plugging in effects pedals – Cold Cave set a sombre mood, taking what feels like hours orchestrating their various electronic instruments. […]

LIVE: COLD CAVE – 10/05/2010

ALBUM: Sandi Thom –Merchants and Thieves

Eric Clapton, BB King, Peter Green, even Seasick Steve . . . there is a hint of all these blues legends in Sandi Thom’s third album, Merchants and Thieves. The harsh truth is that if a man had made this album it would have been instantly derided as a rip-off, yet Sandi’s undoubted feminine charms […]
Utilising the attributes of the genre and applying the fundamentals of the latest main stream trends, Lethal Bizzle’s last album showed a clever approach to Grime. The success of tracks like “Look What You Done” featuring Kate Nash & “Boy” featuring Babyshambles, proved his formula, and more importantly that Maxwell Ansah aka Lethal Bizzle, wasn’t […]

SINGLE: Lethal Bizzle – Go Go Go

LIVE: SURFER BLOOD – 08/05/2010

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – It’s Saturday night in Manchester but you wouldn’t know it. The Northern Quarter is bustling with people but the energy doesn’t seem to be there. Maybe the hangovers from the previous bank holiday weekends revelry are still lingering. Maybe it’s the predictably cold and grey weather hovering over our heads, despite it officially […]
I try not to let a band’s image or history get in the way of the music – Bowie’s alleged Nazi salutes don’t make Changes any less of a tune – and Bono’s charity do-gooding can’t rescue anything that U2 released after 1995. However, I find it hard not to sympathise a little more with […]

ALBUM: The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Blood and Fire

ALBUM: MGMT – Congratulations

You have to admire MGMT’s bloody mindedness. They release what were arguably the three finest singles of the noughties (honestly, who can resist the pop euphoria of “Kids”?), and record one of the finest albums in recent memory. A large number of their fans don’t get, skip over, or simply disregard as self-indulgent noodling most […]
– ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – The pews are now full and the congregation are ready for tonight’s sermon. The vicar is nowhere to be seen and the raised area in the centre of this Salford church is filled to bursting with musical equipment. Above the performance area and below a huge stained glass window […]

LIVE: DUKE SPECIAL – 07/05/2010