ALBUM: John Fairhurst – Band

In popular music time is nearly always against you. Most genres lend themselves to younger musicians. The apolitical/anti-political sentiments of the punk movement would have sounded lame and childish if they’d been sung by OAPs (though The Sex Pistol’s are immature regardless), and Westlife would never count legions of screaming, braindead female fans (and Wayne […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – I like rumours; they make good rock ‘n’ roll stories. I don’t care whether there’s any truth in them if they add to the mythology of a band. I heard one about Black Angels the other day. It goes like this, after getting a slating for their new album […]

LIVE: BLACK ANGELS – 10/10/2010

SINGLE REVIEW: Morcheeba – Blood Like Lemonade

Marking the return of honey-toned singer Skye Edwards, who left in 2003 following those pesky ‘musical differences’ that eat at every band at some point, ‘Blood Like Lemonade’ is the title track from Morcheeba’s seventh album.   It’s also the name of a cocktail apparently, the ingredients of which are listed on the back of the […]
The forty fourth release on Hyperdub sees South Africa & South London come together as LV hooks up with South African Kwaito artist Smiso Zwane (aka Okmalumkoolkat). Fusing their own unique styles, the pair’s meeting makes for a highly infectious set of sounds. ‘Boomslang’ kicks out a UK funky beat fired up by Kool Kat’s […]

SINGLE REVIEW: LV Ft. OKMALUMKOOLKAT – Boomslang

LIVE: MICE PARADE – 08/10/2010

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Mice Parade made Manchester magical, kicking up a mystical musical storm in the heads of the hundred or so who attended, shifting between chaos and clarity to conjure up ethereal spirits which brightened Tuesday city darkness and drove us halfway to the madness we crave. Brainchild and anagrammatical namesake […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – In a city that sets its watch by the academic season and where fads come and go with the next uni term, it’s hard for all but the most stalwart bands to hold a place in Manchester’s psyche. That’s why, to some extent, it’s quite a feat that Delays, whose […]

LIVE: DELAYS – 08/10/2010

LIVE: JUNIP – 07/10/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – For those of you who don’t already know, Junip is the new / old band of Jose Gonzalez. Originally formed in 2000 with Tobias Winterkorn (Moog and Keys) and Elias Araya (Drums), however, Junip’s plans for world domination got firmly put on the backburner when Gonzalez’s solo career took […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Do the over-25′s save up all their energy to release in controlled bursts? Although this is an old crowd, they are keen – half of them are wearing the t-shirts they bought in 1997 – and everyone is going crazy: screaming, pogoing, skanking and chucking pints. I bump in to […]

LIVE: SUBLIME WITH ROME – 07/10/2010

LIVE: OF MONTREAL – 05/10/2010

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – Who shot streams of sparkle and strangeness through the Tuesday night sky? Who bastardised performance art with camp disco flamboyance, only to nurture this bastard child and let it grow into a fabulous monster? Of Montreal did, oh yes, and nanas would cry out in terror or thrill at the […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – San Diego residents, Crocodiles, visit the Deaf Institute in support of their second album ‘Sleep Forever’ which was released over here on September 10th. They’re a band who clearly wear their influences on their collective sleeves. Jesus and Mary Chain, Spacemen 3 and Echo and The Bunnymen are all […]

LIVE: CROCODILES – 04/10/2010