LIVE: GABRIEL MINNIKIN/BLIND ATLAS/JO ROSE – 16/02/2010

– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – Cold, empty, unfriendly, not at all accomodating…but enough about me – on to my first experience of Sound Control. Unfortunately it’s not a good one, for much the same reasons. First up, Jo Rose fails to impress. Having seen his gentle, Niel Young-esque performances before, though, I can vouch for […]
– Academy 3, Manchester – It’s a satisfactory feeling, walking into a gig when the band has just started. A large crowd has gathered early to catch the support, White Rabbits, whose media profile suggests that they could be on a successful tour of their own. The stage is busy, 3 guitarists, keys, drummer, and […]

LIVE: SPOON/WHITE RABBITS – 15/02/2010

LIVE: LIAM FROST – 11/02/2010

– Moho, Manchester – I descend the stairs at Moho, another blacked out Manchester basement venue. The crowd appears to typically represent the city’s indie population of trendy students and fun loving locals as it immediately becomes apparent that this will be a very Mancunian affair. The Reveres, a swaggering and intimidating version of The […]
– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – There is something wonderfully mysterious about attending a gig at the Islington Mill. Everyone has heard of it before but no one is sure if it still exists or if it does where exactly it is. Every taxi I clamber in to I am faced with a driver who dithers […]

LIVE: BEACH HOUSE / LAWRENCE ARABIA – 11/02/2010

SINGLE: Creed – Rain

Although I pencilled in: ’2pm, listen to rubbish cheesy AOR [Adult Oriented Rock] song; 2:05pm write scathing review’, I’ll be darned if I don’t like this song from start to finish. On first listen it’s energetic, fresh sounding and easy on the ear. Lead singer Scott Stapp has the ‘Eddie Vedder vocal cheesifier’ turned up […]
This track so nearly passed me by. I don’t listen to the radio much, I barely watch TV (which ignoring The World Service both so rarely broadcast something of interest), but luckily the night staff at my day job left a music channel running and I happened upon Velvet. You may already know the arrogant […]

SINGLE: The Big Pink – Velvet

LIVE: SHOCKWAVES NME AWARD TOUR – 07/02/2010

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – I’ve never been too sure whether to love or hate the NME. On the one hand the NME is frequently guilty of touting substandard bands, hyping them to the hills’ highest hillbillies, only to stab them in the back when they realise that no one actually likes them. The hype […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – Oh the sound, the sound of The Drums. When I heard seven days ago I was going to see them, I got so excited I began practicing my dance moves and planning what to wear to a night I thought would be monumental. This was the act which I thought […]

LIVE: THE DRUMS – 06/02/2010

LIVE: THE MALADIES OF BELLAFONTAINE / S.R. GENTS / SAM & THE PLANETS – 06/02/2010

– FUEL CAFE, MANCHESTER – It is the first night of the year for Ted Harris as having finished his hundred-and-fifty-first essay he is ready to party and the crowd are ready to join him. Though do note this is a Cloud Sounds Presents night so if you do want to party you had better […]
It is ten years now since Kathryn Williams’s second album Little Black Numbers garnered a Mercury Prize nomination. For a select few, including the likes of Dizzy Rascal – touted as Britain’s answer to the likes of Jay-Z but in reality rather more like our answer to MC Hammer – Mercury recognition has been the […]

ALBUM: Kathryn Williams – The Quickening