LIVE: GRAND ARCHIVES – 03/08/2010

– 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 […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – So the summer is here at last, the festival season is under way and it usually means the best of the bands are off all over the world playing to sell out crowds of weekend camp stars. So you could imagine that the chance to see a quality acts […]

LIVE: SHEARWATER – 01/08/2010

SINGLE: TERROR DANJAH – BRUZIN VIP/ HYSTERIA DOK (ft. TD)

Firing another round in the seemingly unstoppable force of the Hyperdub mega-weapon, Terror Danjah steps up with two powerful stabs of sound. Bruzin VIP sets the pace with a fuel injected shuddering rework of the original. Late 90s gaming sfx hang nicely in the design. Slowly warming then springing into action, energy bursts at the […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – Sound Control’s certainly undergone a massive transformation since its previous life as a musical instruments store. I was quite flummoxed when, late one night, I saw people streaming in to what I assumed was still a guitar shop. It seems that I’d gone and taken my finger off the pulse […]

LIVE: DUM DUM GIRLS – 28/07/2010

LIVE: SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS – 19/07/2010

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Signed to the techno label Ghostly International, Dream Pop purveyors, School of Seven Bells, seem unlikely candidates to be on such a label. But look beyond the choral harmonies of sisters, Alenjdra and Claudia Deheza and you will find jangly guitars and spiky synthesizers which give their songs a […]
Baptism not Celestica was the obvious choice of début single from Crystal Castles part deux. It serves up the elements of Crystal Castles we already know and love. Namely, Alice shrieking unforgettably, Morse code verse bleeps that are as hooky as Leatherface‘s larder, and something new in the pounding trance overtones that are more  grievous bodily harm […]

SINGLE: Crystal Castles – Baptism

SINGLE: Morcheeba – Even Though Remixes

Only a robot could claim that these made-on-a-coffee-break remixes (almost certainly, with use of a laptop) are capable of arousing emotion. Exhibiting all the range of Belgian duo Mustang’s barely-there reworking to the equally Belgian Surfing Leons’ 8-bit ‘afternoon’ mix, these uninspiring cuts succeed only in the sense of being instantly forgettable. This is no […]
I’m going to get a lot of flak for this. Right, I know that Damon Albarn is a musical rainman, a rarified walking, talking lump of prodigious talent and anti-establishment cool. I realise that criticising the man is tantamount to drawing cocks on a bible. I also accept that under the guise of Gorillaz he […]

SINGLE: GORILLAZ – ON MELANCHOLY HILL

LIVE: NEVILLE SKELLY – 17/07/2010

– THE LOWRY THEATRE, SALFORD – Liverpool troubadour Neville Skelly is like a speck on the horizon as he takes to the stage of The Lowry’s Lyric Theatre. Bagging last-minute tickets to The Coral’s sell-out gig was a bonus, but it’s a bit of a strain on the old 20/20 from the back row of […]
– ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – I was having a conversation the other day with a friend about why the Church of England has lost favour. My argument was that the C of E blows in the wind too much, adapting itself too readily to modern trends thus debasing its integrity as a moral authority. […]

LIVE: LUCY ROSE/MELODICA MELODY & ME – 14/07/2010