LIVE: THE ORIELLES – 05/03/2020

– The Ritz, Manchester – This is being billed as a homecoming gig of sorts for The Orielles. By ‘homecoming’, I think people mean ‘big gig up north’, as the band hail from Halifax on the wrong side of the Pennines to Manchester, but we’ll let that slide; the excitement amongst a near to sellout […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- First on stage tonight at Gorilla are Nottingham-based four piece Do Nothing, a post-punk band utilising the talk-singing style that is quickly rising back into fashion within the indie scene. Singer Chris Bailey’s live rambling talk/shout vocal style, along with easy comparisons of Talk Show and Dry Cleaning, reminds me of a mix between […]

LIVE: MARIKA HACKMAN / DO NOTHING – 24/02/2020

LIVE: JULIAN COPE / KEELEY FORSYTH – 21/02/2020

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Keeley Forsyth It appears minimalism by spook is an effective strategy for the achievement of crowd bamboozlement; the ageing gig-goer prevalent around no doubt expecting a forgettable dilute-Copeian derivative hell bent on attaining das capital, yet not so. Aided only by the wheezing of what probably is a faux-accordion, the vocal adopts the […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- Adam Bainbridge is here for a good time. Entering the Yes stage in pearls, leather chaps and sparkling disco pants clutching a bunch of flowers, they saunter onto to a brilliant disco throb which melds into the stone cold classic ‘Young Hearts Fun Free’, and we all instantly know this is going to […]

LIVE: KINDNESS – 20/02/2020

LIVE: CAGE THE ELEPHANT – 19/02/2020

-VICTORIA WAREHOUSE, MANCHESTER- Before heading to see Cage the Elephant at the Victoria Warehouse, I was told: “if they aren’t in your top five live bands after tonight, I’ll be shocked”. I took this with a pinch of salt, but boy, have I been proven wrong – and I couldn’t be happier for it. Off […]
Stirring the spirit of Captain Beefheart into a Gang Of Four and Pavement cocktail, it’s the Leeds four piece Mush, pour in a hefty dose of social commentary and you get close to the heart of their debut album ‘3D Routine’. Tracks like ‘Eat The Etiquette’ have guitar lines firing off in all directions threatening […]

ALBUM REVIEW: MUSH – 3D ROUTINE

LIVE: U-BAHN – 19/02/2020

-YES, MANCHESTER- For a band, travelling across the globe to new countries to play music can often be a daunting experience, however if bands did this with the confidence of Melbourne’s U-Bahn, no band would have to worry about anything again. Yet another rendition of Victoria’s seemingly endless supply of talent made itself heard in […]
There are many old sayings about perseverance – ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try try again’, ‘everyone loves a trier’ – at least one of these must have been lodged in the head of Rob Marshall. guitarist and songwriter for Humanist. After being in Exit Calm for nine years, when they disbanded in […]

ALBUM REVIEW: HUMANIST – HUMANIST (FEAT. MARK LANEGAN, DAVE GAHAN, JOHN ROBB AND MORE)

LIVE: DRY CLEANING / POZI – 12/02/2020

-GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER- For a band that as yet have only put out a handful of tracks across 2 EPs, Dry Cleaning have accrued a monstrous number of fans. Arriving early at the upstairs room of Gullivers, I am shocked that already I can barely get through the door. Manchester is the first stop on their […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- THREADS Replacing a support act on short notice, the quartet whose name almost rhymes with the breakfast cereal shreddies brings forth something you can distinguish with interesting guitar nuances and changes in tempo that you can almost spot prior. They play tracks from a recent EP (neat artwork) and alternate between duo vocalists […]

LIVE: DAMO SUZUKI / THREADS – 13/02/2020