The Queens Of The Stoneage frontman has once again put together a fine band of musicians for his Desert Sessions project – from ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, to Matt Berry, Stella Mogzawa from Warpaint to Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters. What started off as Josh Homme having a few days away at the Rancho […]
– Albert Hall, Manchester – Upon entry, I walk upstairs through a building that could pass as a mental idealisation of a natural history museum; the high ceilings and dated decorum compliment the main hall which itself could easily house a selection of skeletal theropods; reinforcing my abstract visualisation. The seated area has a vague […]
– Soup Kitchen, Manchester – It’s Monday night and after touring for nearly a week, Everyone You Know have arrived in Manchester. The band, consisting of two half-brothers, has recently released their second EP ‘Look After Your Pennies’ and started their first proper headline tour on 22nd October. I haven’t seen a gig at Soup […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Binge With the headline act billed as one of Japan’s most interesting ‘noise’ bands, it’s not a particular surprise that this opening act is also a two-piece, with a technical heaviness that places the 4/4 convention into a dustbin and promptly kicked down an escalator, never to return. With but a guitar and […]
-VICTORIA WAREHOUSE, MANCHESTER- Somehow I’ve never managed to see Hot Chip live, despite them being one of my all time favourite bands. I was, like many, caught hook, line and sinker by the majestic ‘Over & Over’, that monkey with its miniature cymbal burrowing its way into my brain like the world’s most potent ear […]
-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- A lot can happen to a band in just over a year and for Perth’s Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, to use the term bumper would be a huge understatement. Returning to Manchester for the fourth time in thirteen months, the band, somewhat unsurprisingly, have sold out yet another venue and continue […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- I don’t even know where to start with this. Part of the ridiculously brilliant Speedy Wunderground crew (including black midi and Black Country, New Road), Squid are making weird, wild, unpredictable, fascinating music seemingly with no boundaries or conventions, just doing what the fuck they like and seeing what happens. Tonight in Yes’ […]
-NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER- New Yorker Frankie Cosmos (or Greta Kline, to give her her given name), is nothing if not prolific. Since 2014 she’s released four albums and two EPs, with two of those albums and one of those EPs coming within the last year. It’s not just the volume of albums either; […]
What would you get if you crossed the husky deep vocals of a rock bluesman with dark synth pop, the answer is the new Mark Lanegan album ‘Somebody’s Knocking’. Lanegan stated on the press release that he’s been into Joy Division, New Order and electronic music all his life, even before his days in seminal […]
Despite the word ‘dream’ being closely associated with the music of Sir Was, the opening track of ‘Holding on to a Dream’ begins with a sense of urgency; the pop element of his ‘Dream Pop’ being most apparent. The pop that Sir Was does purvey isn’t annoying and has the right amount of reflection too, […]