SINGLE: Patrick Wolf – Damaris

I can safely predict that there will be very few singles released this year titled after a first century ecclesiastical heroine.  For those who skipped RE in school, Damaris was a wealthy Athenian who converted after watching a sermon delivered by Paul of Tarsus in front of the Areopagus.  Her conversion was seen as important […]
– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – Compared to last year’s raucous festive bash, XFM’s 2009 Winter Wonderland proved to be a bit of a bland affair. The presence of three acoustic acts on the bill was definitely a contributory factor to this, as the Academy crowd struggled to get out of first gear. Local electro-rock outfit […]

LIVE: XFM WINTER WONDERLAND 2009 – 08/12/2009

LIVE: BROADCAST – 08/12/2009

– Deaf Institute, Manchester – This is my first visit to Manchester’s Deaf Institute, in the heart of studentsville, near The BBC. It’s a beautifully converted grade II listed neo gothic building with 3 floors to function as a café, bar and music hall. I walk into the full to capacity space just as the […]
– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – Dead Confederate make a mountainous racket. The Georgian quintet, resplendent in their gas pump attendant chic, stay rooted to the spot while dry ice as choking as their riffs floods the venue, the only flickers of movement on stage coming where guitars and drums meet in perfect torrents of noise, […]

LIVE: J. MASCIS & THE FOG/DEAD CONFEDERATE – 07/12/2009

EP: The Marder – Men’s Ruin

The boast on the CD is that this debut EP is produced by Steve Albini (of Pixies fame) and my immediate reaction is a cynical one. If the band is any good, why is it that the producer is the main pulling point? It makes me think that there’s a quality deficit somewhere, and that […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – It’s difficult to fight indifference, just ask This City frontman, Chris Purr, whose repeated pleas for the audience to edge closer to the stage fall on reluctant ears, and the foolproof clap-your-hand-above-your-head gambit is cruelly greeted with an audible titter. In truth, the Brighton quintet’s happy post-hardcore is ruined by […]

LIVE: ‘A’/THIS CITY – 05/12/2009

SINGLE: DEPECHE MODE – FRAGILE TENSION

I was slightly pessimistic about the prospect of Depeche Mode’s new tune. Recently there has been a mass of long-running bands releasing disappointing new music. Bands such as Muse, The Cure, and Bruce Springsteen to name a few, and I thought Fragile Tension would fall straight into this category…but it doesn’t! They have created something […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Right kids, we’ve got a problem here – I may not objective about this band. And strictly speaking I’m not to blame. If you come together as five piece with four boys and one ridiculously attractive female, I will probably come to watch, but I,m going to be distracted. That […]

LIVE: THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART – 04/12/2009

SINGLE: Paloma Faith – Do You Want The Truth or Something Beautiful

Paloma Faith produces a very contemporary, familiar sound continuing in the long line of recent soulful singer songwriters like Adele and Duffy. But what sets Paloma Faith apart and above her peers is her voice. It’s an incredible cross between Amy Winehouse, Joanna Newsom, and Beth Gibbons and sets a strongly atmospheric tone for her […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Feldspar are a one-band version of David Cameron: The Oxford Years…On A Yacht. The four polite, neatly turned out, studious gents are in all probability called Rupert, Giles, Will, and something exotic like Everest (there’s a soprano sax present, after all), yet despite being formidable musicians, their meticulously arranged, […]

LIVE: SAM ISAAC/THE XCERTS – 03/12/2009