ALBUM: Musée Méchanique – Hold This Ghost

Conceived in and named after a museum of antique arcade machines, this Portland quintet have mastered the technique of transforming melancholic resignation into an art form and the result is wholly deserving of admiration. Like Home fades in with computer generated orchestration, arpeggio acoustic guitar notes, and a synth part that later morphs into something from […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Attendance is deservedly good for the first support: As I Watch You From Afar. Use of super-heavy riffs and interesting time signatures is done in a good way, not just for the sake of it, yet they do go all 4/4 and melodic from time to time. The shirtless, beefcake […]

LIVE: OCEANSIZE/VESSELS/AS I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR – 02/02/2010

LIVE: DAG FOR DAG/THAO with THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN – 02/02/2010

– Deaf Institute, Manchester – Pronounced “Dog for Dog”, Dag For Dag are a brother and sister songwriting duo originate from “San Francisco, Sweden” according to lead singer and guitarist Sarah Snavely. The Deaf Institute’s crowd is undeservedly low in numbers and the between songs conversation from the band is met with embarrassed silence. Undeterred, […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – There are some venues which can make even the most unknown acts come alive such as Manchester’s Academy; there are others which are seeped in so much history that the band are bolstered into putting on a spectacular show even if they are usually mediocre. Venues like Night and […]

LIVE: JOHNNY FOREIGNER / TALONS – 02/02/2010

LIVE: ADAM GREEN – 01/02/2010

– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – I am so excited about seeing Adam Green this evening that I turn up to the gig an hour early to grab a beverage and soak up the atmosphere before heading down to the basement. The above, could very well have been the entirety of my review of three acts, […]
Since I last heard Placebo, Brian Molko has been to the Des’Ree school of lyric writing and may have read two entire books. I find the lyrics of ‘Bright Lights’ to be nothing short of atrocious. His voice sounds like a parody of its former self, with little power or emotion, and the song relies […]

SINGLE: Placebo – Bright Lights

SINGLE: Far – Pony

If you’ve ever thought that no one could be so preposterously immature as to actually write a song like Lick My Love Pump, think again. Ginuwine wrote a song called Pony, which features the following lines (please note that these words are delivered without the slightest hint of irony): If you’re horny, Let’s do it […]
Can Marina and those flawless Diamonds make it 4 perfect single releases? The answer is actually and surprisingly no. While Hollywood has those same eccentricities that has seen the British press roll around suppliantly on its back, the basic song writing just isn’t there this time. It’s a stumble that hasn’t dampened my excitement at […]

SINGLE: Marina & The Diamonds – Hollywood

ALBUM: Corinne Bailey Rae -The Sea

One thing that struck me when watching the Brits is how much of this awful pop-pap-r&b gunk we are spoon fed is not so much sung as shouted by whatever latest overdressed, overhyped bint some major has so delightfully delivered unto us.  And then you putThe Sea into your CD player, hit play, and you realise there […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – This is unusual. A headline band in Renegades that CityLifers has never heard of, yet the Ruby Lounge is absolutely packed to its subterranean gills. Something is clearly afoot. Before our mystery guests, though, the throng is treated to Lights Go Blue, a very young, stylish and stylised duo, […]

LIVE: RENEGADES – 26/01/2010