LIVE: MOON DUO – 10/12/2010

– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – Eric Johnson on vocals and guitar places himself to the right hand side of the stage leaving Sanae Yamada to the centre front with her keyboard. The projection on the wall flits about and they both create shadows on the back wall merging with the changing images. I must admit […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Ever since Laura Marling started helping out those Whale and Mumford boys, people seem to have decided folk is now fashionable, so I’ve been wondering when people are going to start paying attention to Moulettes and their theatrical antics. Three lovely ladies and a couple of not too shabby […]

LIVE: MOULETTES – 10/12/2010

LIVE: CHAPEL CLUB/DAVID’S LYRE – 09/12/2010

– ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – Hell. You wait all this time to go a gig in a church, then two come along at once. After I Am Kloot’s hometown lap of honour at the Cathedral last week, here come Chapel Club for a one-off Christmas special. You wonder what bands are hoping for by […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Starting with Former Bullies; a scruffy sounding band consisting of two guitars and drummer, they play a swift set of songs, all using prolonged feedback and driving guitar rhythms. I think their whole dismissiveness of perfection adds to their set as you see the singer mouthing, “what are you […]

LIVE: TY SEGALL – 09/12/2010

LIVE: DELOREAN – 07/12/2010

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Stepping into the Ruby Lounge, hearing the pulsating Screamadelica style rhythms of Humanizer you might think you’d entered a time machine and gone back to the Madchester days of the 90’s. Slurred vocals reel their way from the lead singer’s mouth like a modern day Shaun Ryder, without his […]
Taken from this year’s Outlaster album, ‘You Can Take Your Time’ sounds so much like a variant on ‘Keep Me Warm’ by Ida Maria that it’s unreal. Essentially the tunes are identical, but it’s the little details that make or break a song. The devil is, as always, in the details. ‘Keep Me Warm’ is essentially […]

SINGLE REVIEW – Nina Nastasia – You Can Take Your Time

LIVE: THE DRUMS – 06/12/2010

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – “Genius” they said “One of the great hopes of 2010”. Admittedly, it doesn’t take a lot these days to be plastered onto the front cover of the NME and heralded as the saviors of modern music, but lately it feels as if there’d be something afoot if The Drums hadn’t […]
– 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 […]

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

LIVE: I AM KLOOT – 03/12/2010

– 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 […]
– 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 […]

LIVE: BOY & BEAR – 03/12/2010