SINGLE: Kyle Hall – Kaychunk/You Know What I Feel

Detroit based Kyle Hall makes his debut appearance on the mighty Hyperdub. Signed up from a remix of Darkstar’s phenomenal Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer (the original is one of my all time favourites), his remix saw a track take on a House style approach, and most importantly bring him into the Hyperdub spotlight and […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – Motionless and pudding-faced as they grub their way through a set of competent, simple indie-pop, there has surely never been a band less in need of a second guitarist as The Mandigans. The local sextet exist in a charisma vacuum, and although they aren’t even close to breaking out of […]

LIVE: GENERAL FIASCO – 08/03/2010

LIVE: CATE LE BON – 08/03/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Meeting your heroes can be a truly terrible experience or one of the happiest moments of your life. When we meet our heroes we do not expect to be disappointed, so when they turn out to be a big fat lecherous let down it can be quite a blow […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Though they hail from the beaches of blighty, with their cowboy hats, deep throat drawls and bare existentialist lyrics you could be forgiven for thinking The Miserable Rich had ridden up outside Trof on horseback directly from the dusty plains of the American wild west. The Deaf Institute is […]

LIVE: THE MISERABLE RICH – 07/03/2010

SINGLE: First Aid Kit – I Met Up With The King

First Aid Kit state on their Myspace page, “We aim for the hearts, not the charts”. A hackneyed statement definitely, but judging by the strength of this single their aim is true. This is unlikely to trouble the charts – though folk does seem to be going through something of a renaissance. And I doubt […]
I’ve developed a knack for telling how good a release is by the style of the cover artwork. The most obvious thing about the Officer Kicks single, other than the band’s stupid name, is the Libertines typeface. My guess, therefore, is that this band is a rocky Libertines rip off, all effort put into the attitude […]

SINGLE: Officer Kicks – Automatic

LIVE: THE XX – 06/03/2010

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – South West London trio, The XX, formed a few years back while at the prestigious Elliott School, and with wrap sheet including Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet, I know where I wish I’d spent my teenage years. After getting signed to Young Turks Records, they dropped the self-titled début […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – It’s fairly safe to say that Alan McGee knows a thing or two about music. Love him or loathe him, he has been the British Indie Music Scene’s leading impresario for some time now, despite disappearing off the radar slightly in recent years. His new club night at The […]

LIVE: Paper Spaceman – 06/03/2010

LIVE: THE LOUNGS / ONIONS – 06/03/2010

– FUEL CAFE, MANCHESTER – Tonight is a night for celebration; this, after all, is not just the anniversary of the popular, delightfully unpretentious Cloud Sounds Presents, it is also the launch party of The Loungs new album, a chance to see what the Onions have been hiding away for, and début performance of The […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – It’s a shame to see a long-standing music store close in Manchester, but what better to replace it with than a music venue? And what’s more, it has kept the original name. Sound Control is perfectly placed in a lively part of South Manchester between the trendy Northern Quarter and […]

LIVE: CYRIL SNEAR AND GALLOPS – 05/03/2010