LIVE: Y NOT FESTIVAL – 27-30/07/2017

– PIKEHALL, DERBYSHIRE- Having recently changed ownership, this year’s Y Not Festival looked set to be an incredible weekend with strong headline performances scheduled from The Vaccines, Stereophonics and Two Door Cinema Club along with other big names filling up the bill such as Slaves, Jake Bugg, Happy Mondays, Manic Street Preachers, Frank Turner and […]
-NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER- It’s another cool Summer evening and the Night & Day Café awaits us, tonight playing host to a few of the North-West’s freshest and exciting bands. Kicking off tonight’s proceedings are The Attic Doctors, who embody a strong indie aura, with all the traits and sounds reminiscent of the many […]

LIVE: THE 99 DEGREE / GOA EXPRESS / MANALISHI / THE ATTIC DOCTORS – 05/08/2017

LIVE: FALSE ADVERTISING / PEAKS / GRACES / HAPPY ANIMAL – 04/08/2017

-CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER- No excuse is needed for Manchester’s best band to put on a show at a top venue like the Castle Hotel on a Friday night in early August. Friday nights that don’t have False Advertising gigs can only be described as a waste anyway. But on this occasion, there happens to be […]
-THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- Ok. I’m just going to put it out there. I want to be best mates with Kate Nash. Seeing her live has only cemented this and I am now convinced we could be total #squadgoals. Heading along to The Ritz for her Made of Bricks 10th anniversary show on Friday night, I […]

LIVE: KATE NASH / SKATING POLLY – 04/08/2017

ALBUM: THE WAR ON DRUGS – A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING

“We as a band went from worrying about the record to worrying about the person,” speaks The War on Drugs bassist Dave Hartley of Adam Granduciel during the making of ‘Lost In The Dream’, the band’s critic-aligning breakthrough – birthed in the grip of a mountainous, sleep-fearing depression. However, sourcing its strength from obsessive insularity, the […]
-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- It’s not often that an artist comes to town who can boast that they have performed live in six different decades: Silver Apples, AKA Simeon Coxe, is one of them. Slow Knife open proceedings, with an interesting blend of krautrock, ska and jazz ensemble. Atonal lyrics read from sheets are […]

LIVE: SILVER APPLES – 02/08/2017

LIVE: HIGH WYRE / MADA CRAM / LUKE STEINMAN – 28/07/2017

-THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER- The midsummer months are pretty barren ground for us gig-aholics, with bands spending most of their time on the festival circuit. But in the absence of the established names, this time of year provides a perfect chance to explore some of the local artists plying their trade, hoping for their lucky […]
For almost two-decades, the Toronto-hailing army-of-indie that is Broken Social Scene have been traversing their counter-cultural anxieties with visions of familial community and refreshing doses of celebratory sound-collage – ushering in some of our darkest political hours with defiant, unabashed joy. 2010’s ‘Forgiveness Rock Record’ closed with a two-minute ode to the loneliness found in […]

ALBUM: BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE – HUG OF THUNDER

LIVE: SHEER MAG / TV CRIME – 23/07/2017

-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- What’s going on here, then? It’s not even 8pm and the merch table is 4 deep with t-shirts and records flying from one side of the counter to the other at a sweatshop pace; this isn’t normal. Then again, neither are Sheer Mag. A quintet formed in upstate New York (in Purchase, […]
Sleepless, flame-out anxiety ivies the narrative of Adam Ganduciel – front-man of Philadelphia-hailing sonic-sculptors The War on Drugs. The obsessive architect has openly touched on how a sudden personal downfall – flanked by isolation and paranoia, inspired elemental crusher ‘Lost in the Dream’, but has also alluded to how he’s still figuring out what happened […]

SINGLE: THE WAR ON DRUGS – STRANGEST THING