LIVE: SOUNDS FROM THE OTHER CITY FESTIVAL – 05/05/2019

-REGENTS TRADING ESTATE, SALFORD- This is Sounds from the Other City’s birthday and to celebrate they’re throwing a quindecennial party. To save you a trip to your pocket e-dictionary, that means they’re fifteen years old, a hell of an achievement for an annual one-day music festival. For this one-off occasion, they’re throwing their usual format […]
-THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- If you’ve had any interest in guitar music over the past eighteen months, you’ll have heard their name, they’ve made it sure as hell that everybody who needs to know, knows. The Blinders have been of interest to many, especially this past year, after the release of their debut album, Columbia, to great praise […]

LIVE: THE BLINDERS – 27/04/2019

ALBUM REVIEW: KING PRAWN – THE FABULOUS NEW SOUNDS OF

When the Silent Radio reviews editor offered me the chance to review a King Prawn release, I assumed it would be a best-of or a re-issue – I didn’t even realise they had re-formed in 2012 – but here I am, listening to a brand new album ‘The Fabulous New Sounds of…’, which does a […]
If you were born anywhere before or around 2003, you’ll probably remember the transformation Taylor Swift went through when she converted from country queen to modern pop phenomenon. Not to in anyway compare how I feel about Taylor to Kim Churchill, the example of her moving on to a different genre is the only thing […]

EP REVIEW: KIM CHURCHILL – I AM

LIVE: BC CAMPLIGHT – SOLO SHOW & Q&A – 30/04/2019

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- Tonight is special for BC Camplight. He’s too cool ever to say so, but it is clear. After everything he’s been through over the last decade, to have an intimate solo show like this in the city that has become his home and has offered him the opportunities that he […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- After listening to Cabbage over the past couple of years or so, I knew there was something I was personally missing. Certain music press were raving about them being the band we needed, pushing a political mess into people’s faces. For myself, just hearing their recordings, I wasn’t completely on board the “Cabbage […]

LIVE: CABBAGE – 25/04/2019

ALBUM: CRAIG FINN – I NEED A NEW WAR

To use one of Craig Finn’s favourite lyrical phrases, much of the music world considered The Hold Steady singer-songwriter’s last solo album to be “pretty sweet”, especially the spoken-word track ‘God in Chicago’, which got buried by avalanches of praise from all angles and tells a tale of two people making a return road trip […]
In the late 70’s and early 80’s it seems most cities had one or two indie labels, releasing a mixture of punk, new wave and what would be termed “indie” in years to come.  In Liverpool’s case, this was Inevitable Records. They captured the sound of Liverpool during this period, and this three CD boxset […]

ALBUM REVIEW: COMPILATION: BIRTH OF A NATION – INEVITABLE RECORDS – AN INDEPENDENT LIVERPOOL 1979-1986

ALBUM REVIEW: C DUNCAN – HEALTH

Having supported the likes of Elbow in the past, C Duncan returns – this time with his debut album ‘Health’. One of the reasons why this little gem of the music industry has not yet been fully discovered, is perhaps because Elbow’s demographic is maybe people who are above the teenage/twenties group. C Duncan is […]
-THE DANCEHOUSE THEATRE, MANCHESTER- Of the many venues that an indie-folk band could play, one that doesn’t immediately come to mind is the Dancehouse. Plain and simple, it’s a theatre, but perhaps the setting of the gig reveals intention – to bring something different, to celebrate the album in question by placing it in the […]

LIVE: THE ANTLERS – 20/04/2019