LIVE: DEBT RECORDS SHOWCASE IN AID OF NORDOFF ROBBINS – 13/03/2011

– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – Debt Records is a creative co-operative that ‘swaps favours, trades skills and shares round the good fortune of our individual members.’  By birthright, the in-effect music label is the love child of three members of ‘Louis Barabas & the Bedlam Six ’ (Who were also one of the […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Academy 3 Manchester is in alcohol slicked high spirits, though the sort that could end in a drunken sing-song with a ephemeral best friend or spirited scrap outside the men’s toilets, depending entirely on whether somebody steps on your shoes or not. And they’re not sure what to make of […]

LIVE: CAITLIN ROSE – 12/03/2011

LIVE: THE DECEMBERISTS – 11/03/2011

  – THE ACADEMY, LEEDS – Few bands are quite so deeply unfashionable and misconstrued as The Decemberists. Though the NME grudgingly (and correctly) conceded that their charm permeated out as: “They transposed wordy Victorian melodrama onto folky sea shanties. But at least once they had a snappy poetic sensibility and an admirable interest in […]
New York Dolls are back on fantastic creative form with their wonderful new album, ‘Walking Backward In High Heels’, which was recorded and mixed in sunny Newcastle – miles from their home in New York City. Just shows you what you can achieve when you are taken from the clean streets of NY to the […]

ALBUM: New York Dolls – Dancing Backward In High Heels

LIVE: THE NAKED AND FAMOUS – 08/03/2011

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Bam! £25 gone just like that for a ticket from a tout that costs £7 at face value. And now for the key question that I will be asking myself for the rest of the night: does this make me a fuck wit?! I’m quite used to weaseling my way […]
– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – The Castle Hotel is a perfect example of how Manchester’s Northern Quarter has always been an interesting place. I’m not referring to the last decade or so since a few overpriced clothes shops, bars and apartments appeared; I’m talking about since its inception over two and a half centuries […]

LIVE: FICTION/FILMS – 04/03/2011

LIVE: FUJIYA & MIYAGI – 03/03/2011

– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – Listening to ‘Transparent Things’ by Fujiya and Miyagi reminds me of a fabulously misguided time when I bought a one- way ticket to Barcelona, and having no firm plans once I got there it was the perfect soundtrack to an adventure I didn’t know how would end. However, because of […]
It’s quite hard, when listening to Kurt Vile, to reconcile the sound of the music with the name of its creator (though, it could very well be his real name…(but, probably not…(but then, it might be…))). You’d probably be expecting something quite raucous.  However, not finding that, you probably won’t be too disappointed either. Even […]

ALBUM: Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo

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