SINGLE: Klaxons – Echoes

Gorillaz once described winning the Mercury Music Prize as, “Like carrying a dead albatross round your neck for eternity”. With such a widely lauded and awarded debut album, when it comes to the Klaxons it’s not the Prize that will weigh them down, but the album itself, and you can substitute that albatross for a […]
– THE NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – On an evening when the England football team faces Hungary in the first match since the national side’s woeful showing at World Cup 2010, it is unsurprising that the crowd at Night & Day Café is larger than it might have been on any other Wednesday. Yes, […]

LIVE: THE DOMINO STATE – 11/08/2010

SINGLE: Cooly G – It’s Up In My Head/Phat Si

After the organ moving sub bass of “Love Dub”, and the kicked back beauty of “Weekend Fly”, Cooly G comes in strong with her next release on Hyperdub. “Up In My Head” follows in the flow of “Love Dub”. Tender synth stabs open, swiftly followed by the cushioned drums bouncing onto the track. Cooly’s vocals […]
– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – There’s a reet posh fancy tour bus outside Moho tonight because double headliners Nashville Pussy and Voivod are American and they can afford it. It begs only one question… why are all roadies fat guys in shorts??? There is no barrier in front of the stage tonight and the place […]

LIVE: NASHVILLE PUSSY/VOIVOD – 10/08/2010

LIVE: THE DWARVES – 09/08/2010

– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – It’s my first time down at Moho, and I’m pleased to see that in the apparent current trend, there is another thwacking great pole right in the view of the stage. Good times. But there’s more… there are stairs. That don’t go anywhere but up… hmmm. Anyway, first up on […]
After the brain shaking goodness of “Contact, Love, Want, Have”, the genius that is Ikonika steps forth once again with “Dckhdbtch”, the latest release in the Planet Mu series. From her first release to this latest Ikonika never fails to amaze me. The depth bestowed in her tracks both musically and in their engineering is […]

SINGLE: Ikonika – Dckhdbtch

LIVE: KENDAL CALLING 2010 – DAY 3

– LOWTHER DEER PARK, PENRITH – The last day blues that the weekend is almost is over are now upon me, but at the same time thoughts of home comforts are also crossing my mind. As I meander past the main stage Erland and the Carnival are making sure that any overnight cobwebs are blown […]
– LOWTHER DEER PARK, PENRITH – Well it’s the second day and as is to be expected I’ve had very little sleep, even though I thought that last beer before bed might help. Anyway the weather isn’t too bad and after a bite to eat and probably the worst brew I’ve ever tasted, I’m ready […]

LIVE: KENDAL CALLING 2010 – DAY 2

LIVE: KENDAL CALLING 2010 – FRIDAY

– LOWTHER DEER PARK, PENRITH – Now I’m not one for moaning unnecessarily, alright that might not be totally true, but my start to this year Kendal Calling experience is not the best, and it is the same for some of the other folk that used the shuttle bus from Penrith train station to the […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – There’s surely much been said about the irony of housing a musical venue within a former deaf institute (ad nauseam). However, upon telling someone recently that I was attending a gig at The Deaf Institute they seemed equally amazed and interested before earnestly enquiring whether the band would be […]

LIVE: GRAND ARCHIVES – 03/08/2010