LIVE: JESCA HOOP – 26/03/2011

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Looking like she has just arrived at Trof this evening by Gothic Express, Jesca Hoop cuts a rather striking mystical figure on stage bare footed and clad in a flowing black dress. This North Californian songstress now decamped to Manchester for the past two years after persuasion from our […]
– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – It looks like 2011 is the year that James Blake ate the pies.  I expect  the svelte foppish-haired waif that I’ve seen peer out of press photos, but the man who takes the stage alongside fellow traveller Rob McAndrews (guitar and sampler), minus Ben Assiter, who often provides […]

LIVE: JAMES BLAKE – 26/03/2011

LIVE: THE ANSWERING MACHINE – 24/03/2011

– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – Honing guitar fuzz and bright-eyed lyrics into hooky, melodic songs, The Answering Machine are a band that Manchester can be proud of. Having quietly helped restore indie pop’s good name with cuts such as ‘Obviously Cold’, ‘Animals’ and the title track of new album ‘Lifeline’, tonight’s rescheduled gig had gained […]
– THE ECHO ARENA, LIVERPOOL – Band as territory. Discuss.  I’m gonna be honest with you. Declare a vested interest, if you like. I’ve got a long standing love affair with Elbow. Wholly unrequited, but never mind. Each time their tours come round, I watch on with increasing incredulity thinking “It can’t get any bigger […]

LIVE REVIEW: Elbow – 20/03/2011

ALBUM REVIEW: Soundgarden – Live on I-5

In April 1995, I spent two weeks in Seville. I’d never watched MTV before, and I was glued. It was Grunge Weekend and ‘Black Hole Sun’ was on every five minutes. Out shopping, I spotted a Nirvana bootleg and bought it, despite already owning all of Nirvana’s official albums. My Spanish friend asked me “Why?”, […]
– CROSS STREET CHAPEL, MANCHESTER – Here’s the great thing about getting to a gig in time to see the support bands. Nine times out of ten, it’s some bunch of spotty ne’er-do-wells churning out their take on whatever the vogue is this week. No matter, you’ve only lost thirty minutes of your life to […]

LIVE: HANNAH PEEL/LOVED ONES/RACHAEL & THE RED SOCKS – 19/03/2011

LIVE: IRON & WINE – 15/03/2011

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Iron & Wine are now coming to the end of their UK tour. They have been promoting their new album ‘Kiss Each Other Clean’ from which their new single ‘Walking Far From Home’ is taken. Lyrically, this single is slightly weaker than other songs on the album, but the music […]
I was quite excited to hear J Mascis is finally releasing a solo album – although I’d always thought of his other post Dinosaur Jr. albums as mainly solo efforts. Still, the thought of a solo album is an interesting prospect, and I thought it might be not unlike his previous work with Dinosaur and […]

ALBUM REVIEW: J Mascis – Several Shades Of Why

ALBUM REVIEW: The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

The title of The Vaccines’ debut album is, perhaps, a response to the masses of hype they’ve been the subject to since releasing their début single ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’ last November.  Most of this is due, perhaps, to the online buzz that they’ve created, and their tendency to keep their cards very close to their […]
– 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 […]

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