ALBUM: Ensemble – Excerpts

With its crisply crafted songwriting – reminiscent of Leonard Cohen and The Lilac Time – sophisticatedly interspersed with lush orchestration, and lashings of distortion, Excerpts impresses immediately. The resulting (and desired) effect of such interplay is of an album amorphously going in and out of focus. The title, Excerpts, and track 2’s name, ‘Things I Forgot’, […]
I like “wonky”. I like “folk”. Man, truth be told, I even like “pop”. So Hannah Peel’s description of her style as Wonky Folk Pop right away pitches her 100% centre-stage on my radar. Hannah’s star is definitely on the rise, with reviewers blanketing pretty much everything she turns her hand to with praise (and that […]

ALBUM: Hannah Peel – The Broken Wave

ALBUM: British Sea Power – Valhalla Dancehall

Hats off to any band who call their own debut album The Decline of British Sea Power – although you’d imagine they were really referring to the waterborne capability of our nation, rather than their own musical fortunes. Which brings us to 2011.  Somehow strange to realise that Valhalla Dancehall is the band’s fifth long player; they seem somehow fresh […]
– THE APOLLO THEATRE, MANCHESTER – There are not many rules surrounding Christmas songs but there are a few. Namely that Christmas songs (and we’re talking Slade, Mariah Carey and stuff with sleigh bells basically – Low and Sufjan are a grey area) should not be played until, at most, one week before Christmas. Until […]

LIVE: THE POGUES – 17/12/2010

LIVE: ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN – 12/12/2010

– THE OLYMPIA, LIVERPOOL – As I write this, on the eve of my birthday, it’s a time for reflection. I’m not talking about some hideous navel gazing, but more on what a great day it’s been. Today I saw my football team win, at home, with only ten men. Tonight in Liverpool Echo and […]
– THE WAREHOUSE PROJECT, MANCHESTER – Why does the Warehouse Project hate me? I don’t know what I’ve done to offend them, unless giving them lots of money is offensive, and judging by the crowd tonight, and the crowds it has attracted over the last few years, it has certainly raked in its fair share […]

LIVE: MODERAT/HUDSON MOHAWKE/JOY ORBISON/BEN KLOCK/MARCEL BETTMAN – 11/12/2010

SINGLE REVIEW: The Jolly Boys – Perfect Day

Does anyone who covers ‘Perfect Day’ actually know it’s about heroin? I sometimes wonder. Getting the BBC to adopt this seminal song could be seen as a bizarrely subversive moment. But considering it was used to express the diversity of BBC coverage, and the song’s complex exploration of romantic expression, drug abuse, suppressed homosexuality and […]
You call your band Plain White T’s, you’re asking for trouble. I mean, it’s almost like sticking your head above the parapet and saying, “We’re bland. Bland, bland, bland.” They’ve been around a deceptively long time though – here come Plain White T’s, the band that gave the world the Grammy nominated frat-party anthem ‘Hey […]

ALBUM: Plain White T’s – Wonders of the Younger

LIVE: THE WEDDING PRESENT – 10/12/2010

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – The Wedding Present are the latest in a line of classic bands indulging in the late fad for performing their albums in their entirety. Their album of choice is their second: Bizarro, in celebration of its 21st year. The set seems to begin with an encore, starting with ‘Heather’ from […]
– 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 […]

LIVE: MOON DUO – 10/12/2010