LIVE: THE DIVINE COMEDY – 28/11/2017

-RITZ, MANCHESTER- Northern Ireland’s The Divine Comedy have to come to be affectionately known as an orchestral pop band. Formed in 1989 and fronted by the ever enigmatic Neil Hannon, the band has seen an ever evolving line up with constant changes in personnel. Having an impressive 11 studio albums under their name, they arguably […]
-APOLLO, MANCHESTER- Listen to records by Fleet Foxes and I’m transported to a captivating realm of spectacular hills, meandering valleys, orchards, oceans and quivering forests. The characters who roam these settings might cross paths with Bob Dylan’s sanctuary-seeking wanderer in ‘Shelter from the Storm’ or The Band’s nomad heading back north in ‘Acadian Driftwood’. It’s […]

LIVE: FLEET FOXES – 23/11/2017

LIVE: THUNDERCAT – 15/11/2017

-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- Acting as a bridge between Suicidal Tendencies and Kamasi Washington, blur-limbed transformer Thundercat, born Stephen Bruner, has been colouring inside the lines of the visions of others – casting tempo-shuffling psych-jazz spells on-cue and indelibly shaping some of the most important works of the decade. However, influenced by the encouragement of twin […]
– DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – She is buoyant, rolling her shoulders in a red cotton shirt. The stage is pouring with energy, the kind you rarely get – not mad, or athletic, but the feel of an afterglow dance at a house party, when everyone has left the living room and Fleetwood Mac has arrived […]

LIVE: TOPS – 18/11/2017

LIVE: ALDOUS HARDING – 19/11/2017

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Recently crowned as having made the best album of the year by Rough Trade, New Zealand’s Aldous Harding is at a sold out Gorilla tonight for a victory lap of that very fine album, Party. It’s her second full length effort, and is appearing left, right and centre across other early album of […]
-APOLLO, MANCHESTER- “I know what it is, and I ride it out,” speaks Adam Granduciel, who records as The War on Drugs, of the slow-exploding anxiety that eventually led an already obsessive relationship with sound into an all-consuming crutch. Spear-headed by self-masochism, Granduciel’s wide-scope vision avoids preying on nostalgia – shamelessly pulling the past into […]

LIVE: THE WAR ON DRUGS – 12/11/2017

LIVE: BLONDIE – 11/11/2017

-APOLLO, MANCHESTER- Around forty years after they originally emerged, Blondie return with their latest album since 2014’s Ghost of Download; the all new Pollinator. Featuring tracks with guest vocals and co-writing from the likes of The Strokes’ Nick Valensi, Johnny Marr, Charlie XCX and many others, Blondie give the illusion that they have never aged. As someone […]
-THE PRINCIPAL HOTEL, MANCHESTER- Recent years have brought changes to the top of Oxford Road. The Cornerhouse is now a university building and The Palace hotel has become The Principal. As I pass the legendary former cinema en route to this weekend’s Louder Than Words festival just across the road, on the strange alternate-reality scale […]

LIVE: LOUDER THAN WORDS: ROBERT FORSTER IN CONVERSATION – 12/11/2017

LIVE: THE LEMON TWIGS – 10/11/2017

-THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- The Lemon Twigs couldn’t care less about what you think is cool. The objectionably young brothers Michael and Brian D’Addario have evidently been force fed the uber-melodic AOR 70s rock of ELO, Supertramp, Todd Rundgren and Wings since the dawn of their ability to absorb sound, and have been churning it over […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- It’s hard to believe Julia Jacklin is from the Blue Mountains in Australia; it’s much easier to believe that she’s from Nashville or Austin, or anywhere in the deep South of America. You see, Jacklin is a bit of an alt-country superstar, and when she sings she sounds for all the money in […]

LIVE: JULIA JACKLIN – 07/11/2017