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

– 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 […]
– 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 […]

LIVE: THE ANTLERS – 20/05/2010

LIVE: DEAD MEADOW – 27/05/2010

– 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. […]
Morcheeba’s latest single, “Even Though”, sees the original three back together with Skye Edwards joining Paul & Ross Godfrey for their seventh studio album “Blood Like Lemon”. This latest single stands as a prelude to the album which is out on the 7th June. In my eyes, seeing these three back together is a return […]

SINGLE: Morcheeba – Even Though

LIVE: THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE – 17/05/2010

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Anyone who has seen the documentary ‘Dig!’, which follows the relationship between The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols, will know a BJM gig has the potential to implode. I saw them a couple of years ago at this very same venue. They played to a half full crowd […]
The knock-out stages are ready to begin. The rules are simple – I think most of these tunes are the musical equivalent of those horrible world cup flavoured crisps, so I don’t want to listen to them any more than I have to. It’s a simple contest – two songs play, the best one goes […]

Fast Forward – The World Cup Goes Indie [Round of 16]

Fast Forward: The World Cup Goes Indie

Fast Forward: An Indie Music Companion To World Cup 2010 [The Group Stages] Yes folks – now is the time – the time to be excited about the World Cup. Now is the time for hope, before the inevitability of England bowing out (on penalties) in the Quarter Finals, and Brazil narrowly overcoming Spain and […]
‘They don’t feel,’ Exit Calm’s Nicky Smith calls out at the emotional climax of their eponymous debut album’s ‘Hearts and Minds’ — something that could never be said about his band. Indeed, their soaring first full-length is a work of undeniable majesty. It’s best to get mention of the overtones of The Verve out of […]

ALBUM: Exit Calm – Exit Calm

LIVE: COLD CAVE – 10/05/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Silently ambling around the stage, the carefully choreographed theatrics of their set up builds a tense anticipation. Meditatively laying out their various keyboards, fastidiously arranging synths and thoughtfully plugging in effects pedals – Cold Cave set a sombre mood, taking what feels like hours orchestrating their various electronic instruments. […]
Eric Clapton, BB King, Peter Green, even Seasick Steve . . . there is a hint of all these blues legends in Sandi Thom’s third album, Merchants and Thieves. The harsh truth is that if a man had made this album it would have been instantly derided as a rip-off, yet Sandi’s undoubted feminine charms […]

ALBUM: Sandi Thom –Merchants and Thieves