LIVE: PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS – 13/09/2018

– Gulliver’s, Manchester – Debuting the UK and Europe in a manner that can only be described as storming are Perth’s Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Selling out almost every show on a tour that is witnessing the band for the first time is a fantastic achievement but one that is worth every penny. Gulliver’s is a […]
Apparently this was going to be the last album Jason Pierce (J Spaceman) was ever going to make as Spiritualized, such was the sheer effort involved, both mentally and physically. Six long years in the making, ‘And Nothing Hurt’ is the sound of the spaceman coming to terms with life as a middle aged family […]

ALBUM: SPIRITUALIZED – AND NOTHING HURT

LIVE: ICEAGE – 09/09/2018

– Gorilla, Manchester – Let’s get this out of the way upfront: I have the biggest man crush on Iceage front man Elias Bender Rønnenfelt. He’s possibly the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen in real life, and his brooding, pouting, strong silent type stage persona (and off stage persona if his interviews are anything […]
– The Deaf Institute, Manchester – Entry number 48 in the series ‘How Much Are Young Women With Guitars Kicking Ass Right Now?’ featuring Sophie Allison aka Soccer Mommy. You may have read number 47 in this series a couple of weeks back after I went to see the brilliant Phoebe Bridgers, and I’ll probably […]

LIVE: SOCCER MOMMY – 05/09/2018

ALBUM: SAUNA YOUTH – DEATHS

Riddled with angst, Sauna Youth express their feelings in a quite British 70’s fashion, spitting South East accent vocals over a ‘The Jam’ like setup. This, a follow-up to their 2015 debut album ‘Distractions’ strikes a similar chord, but they’re still pushing the envelope. The album explores the theme of death in a very literal […]
– Soup Kitchen, Manchester – This is, hands down, one of the odder shows I’ve been to in recent times. Billed as ‘Titus Andronicus Acoustic’, ‘the band’ are playing much smaller venues than they have done on previous tours in support of their new album A Productive Cough, and the reason is immediately clear: this […]

LIVE: TITUS ANDRONICUS – 03/09/2018

LIVE: CAMP COPE – 31/08/2018

-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- Last night I went to see Spike Lee’s new film Blackkklansman, and it’s pretty brilliant. It’s very funny, and, as you might expect, it packs a hell of a social conscious punch in it. I also felt extremely uncomfortable as a white man, in a cinema full of middle class white people, […]
– A Celebration of Vulnerability – The highly anticipated second album by Idles is pure vigour underneath a bunch of songs where the guts, the cries and the sing & shout still prevail from their outstanding debut Brutalism. The Bristol based outfit’s new record, Joy as an Act of Resistance, is due on Friday 31st […]

ALBUM: IDLES – JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE

LIVE: PHOEBE BRIDGERS – 19/08/2018

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- We’re in a bit of a golden era for young women making exceptional albums with, gasp, guitars rather than synths and a vocoder, like so many of their male peers. Artists like Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy, Julien Baker, Mitski, Lucy Dacus and tonight’s star turn Phoebe Bridgers are all making brilliant, emotional, funny, […]
-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- Tonight is a night of alcohol spillage, intense joyful smiling and immense musical pleasure. The US hip hop musician gives the crowd an experience few would have predicted possible before he coolly struts on stage at quarter past 9… the chance to dance like a funky white boy and not give a […]

LIVE: DAM-FUNK – 15/08/2018