LIVE: HUNGRY PIGEON Pt1 – 29/05/2010

– NORTHERN QUARTER, MANCHESTER – “Yeeehaaaa,” I yelp, as The Travelling Band stop teasing the packed Band on the Wall audience and bursts into the chorus of their latest single, Sundial. It’s a wholly unexpected reaction, triggered as the full force of the Manchester band’s four-part harmonies reach a crescendo and the specially-assembled strings and […]
– THE SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Career transitions in the music industry will often get you in trouble and a move from the shadows can see you scuttling from front and centre to back stage right, tail firmly between your legs. For every Dave Grohl, there are a dozen Cass Brownes (exactly). So when Manchester’s […]

LIVE: SILVERCLUB – 27/05/2010

LIVE: HEAVY TRASH/BLOODSHOT BILL – 26/05/2010

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Thank god for the internet and green lights all the way into Manchester tonight. If it weren’t for these minor miracles we wouldn’t be any the wiser about Bloodshot Bill or able to get into the city in time to catch his set. Bloodshot Bill, the self proclaimed ‘one man […]
I can’t contain it, the excitement is reaching fever-pitch: I am going to a music festival on a Mediterranean beach in July. On an unrelated and much less exciting note, I am also going to find out which one of 32 plinky little indie tunes I dislike the least. But to make it interesting, and […]

Fast-Forward – The World Cup Goes Indie – Final Knock-out Stages

LIVE: GANGLIANS – 24/05/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Floating into the ether on the same cloud (i.e. Pitchfork) that brought us The Fresh & Onlys, Real Estate and Woods, Ganglians pedal a very ‘now’ sound – scuzzy yet sparse guitars, a little bit surf-y, a little bit Pavement-y, with generous overtones of psychedelia. There is however, something […]
Debt Records are stirring up some serious shit – that was my conclusion from their open night a few months back. An exciting label I had only seen peripherally, took centre stage (literally and metaphorically) with a stalk and a walk that left an indelible impression on my psyche. But these guys are performance artists, […]

SINGLE: Moulettes – Horses For Hearses

SINGLE: Run Toto Run – Hater

I picked this CD out as the one that was likely to be the worst single release this week. Any band tipped as one of XFM’s top 20 artists to watch in 2010 is likely to be shit. Just check out their list of the greatest songs of all time. Here are the top 5 as voted […]
– ABODE, MANCHESTER – Chorlton has a fairly rich musical heritage – the Bee Gees grew up here, the Stone Roses were formed here, and previous and past residents include Badly Drawn Boy and Shaun Ryder. There has been a music scene here for years, with the Beech Road Festival, Big Green Festival and venues […]

LIVE: DENIS JONES/TO SOPHIA – 21/05/2010

LIVE: THE ANTLERS – 20/05/2010

– ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – St Philips church Salford provides a stunning backdrop for tonight’s gig with the sun shining through the stain glass window behind the altar/stage and the instruments adorned with flowers. Everything is perfectly set for Brooklyn based act the Antlers to perform the moving and poignant tracks about love, loss […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – This Led Zeppelin/Neil Young sounding rock band with stoner vocals are incredibly laidback unless launching into an epic instrumental. Unfortunately, a lot of their fans are too laidback to even turn up tonight. Academy 3 is disappointingly less than half empty. GNOD are onstage when I walk in the hall. […]

LIVE: DEAD MEADOW – 27/05/2010