LIVE: CRYSTAL CASTLES – 22/10/2010

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Waking up the next morning, all I can hear is a constant ringing in my left year, which reminds me of an article I read recently about a man committing suicide because of chronic tinnitus. Everything peripheral sounds like the dull roar of the sea, and I am pretty certain […]
– ROSI’S, BERLIN – Hiding behind a sofa from the robotic horrors of Berlin’s Dalek of a techno-electronica obsessed club scene, Germany’s indie loving musicians too rarely peak out to make themselves seen. Rosi’s on Revaler Strasse then, is an ample opportunity for them to make themselves known. All cracked brick walls and marker pen […]

LIVE: DIEGO – 22/10/2010

LIVE: BIZARRE BALL – 22/10/2010

– THE RITZ BALLROOM, MANCHESTER – Monday nights at the Ritz used to be a festival of freaks and weirdos, set to a soundtrack of rock and metal. It was great for a youngster, and there’s nothing in Manchester nowadays that really draws the same crowd on a regular basis. I miss it, but fortunately […]
– MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL, MANCHESTER – I love the Mystery Jets. I’d currently put them in my top ten bands. However, this gig at Manchester Cathedral is let down by the venue. It’s not usual for groups to do gigs in churches but this one is too big, its huge, cavernous expanse sucking the life out […]

LIVE: MYSTERY JETS – 22/10/2010

LIVE: Warpaint – 24/10/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – It’s not quite Halloween yet, but that’s not stopping the lighting crew at the Deaf Institute from making the stage look like London Fog, Jack the Ripper era. Warpaint casually take the stage engulfed by dry ice and sombre green ‘mood’ lighting, prompting singer Emily Kokal to rightfully ask […]
– ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC, MANCHESTER – ‘Silent Sigh’ is one of the most beautiful songs written in the last 20 years and I am giddy with excitement as Damon Gough, AKA Badly Drawn Boy, sits down at the piano to play those first celestial notes. The mood is tempered, somewhat, by the fact […]

LIVE: BADLY DRAWN BOY – 21/10/2010

LIVE: YEASAYER – 20/10/2010

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – How can you tell if a band is on the edge of commercial success? Have they been invited back to Later with Jools Holland? Check. Has BBC 6 Music played one or more of their songs to the point of exhaustion? Check. Has Drowned in Sound gone cold on them […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Signed to the Frenchkiss record label and with their album ‘Wild Smile’ on release, Suckers have managed to join the pool of New York art pop bands that are currently enjoying much attention. Renowned for their psychedelic pop skirmishes, animated sounds and eccentric audibles, they have gained a reputation for […]

LIVE: SUCKERS – 20/10/2010

LIVE: MELT BANANA/THE EX – 20/10/2010

– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – Tonight’s bill boasts a fine selection of avant-garde rock acts which has enticed a suitably weird and wonderful crowd to Islington Mill this evening. Underground multi-media act Jackdaw With Crowbar kick proceedings off. This current incarnation sees the band performing as a three piece, featuring dual vocalists and a heavily […]
– THE DANCEHOUSE THEATRE, MANCHESTER – Inside the Art Deco interiors of the surreptitiously situated Dancehouse Theatre, something pretty odd is happening. Onstage Alabaster Deplume appears to be having some sort of nervous breakdown/aneurism/? Having moved from a paranoid blaze of gentle strumming on his acoustic guitar, to an old fashioned typewriter where he repeats […]

LIVE: DEBT AT THE DANCEHOUSE – 16/10/2010