LIVE: HORSEBEACH / KYOTOYA – 17/03/2017

– SACRED TRINITY CHURCH, SALFORD – It’d be easy to pigeonhole Horsebeach into the indie LA beach rock style category (there’s a lot of that knocking about now) but he’s much deeper than that. The new LP, Beauty & Sadness, continues a Horsebeach trend of combining harrowing lyrics and jangly, poppy guitars. Tonight, in Salford’s […]
– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – Moon Duo obviously realise that their time is now. Their plans for 2017 are to release two halves of a grand, conceptual project: Occult Architecture, Vols. 1 and 2, with each volume representing one half of the Taoist principle of Yin and Yang. Such is the dominance of […]

LIVE: MOON DUO – 16/03/2017

LIVE: DUTCH UNCLES – 15/03/2017

– THE DANCEHOUSE THEATRE, MANCHESTER – This year marks Dutch Uncles’ ninth as a band, which almost nestles them into the category of indie stalwarts, although they have the energy and enthusiasm of a teenage garage band just starting out and who don’t know any better. Singer Duncan Wallis’ charming and charismatic presence at centre […]
– ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER – Before the Albert Hall was one of Manchester’s best loved music venues it used to be a church, and for Laura Marling’s fourth stop on her Semper Femina tour this evening, you can feel that more than ever. Beneath the imposing stained glass church windows, which are allowing a flickering […]

LIVE: LAURA MARLING / ETHAN JONES – 12/03/2017

LIVE: WILD CHILD / MAYBE FRANK – 11/03/2017

– DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Being a relatively new Wild Child listener, I’m hoping for bouncy beats and down-to-earth prosaic lyrics about everyday life, provided by the way of good-humoured derision. The teasing nature of the singing duo of Wild Child is amusing to listen to, but live I’m not entirely sure what I’m in […]
– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – The happiness that emanates from The Wailers is astounding; from Donald Kinsey’s forever beaming smile to 86-year-old Alvin ‘Seeco’ Patterson ambling on stage with the help of a walking stick and an arm to cheers, there is so much love for this band that to not smile may mean you’re […]

LIVE: THE WAILERS / BY THE RIVERS – 10/03/2017

ALBUM: IDLES – BRUTALISM

What do Mary Berry, Mark Rothko, Benedictine monks, Bovis homes, Francis Bacon, photographer Richard Billingham and TV chef Rachel Khoo have in common? They are all victims in the equal-opportunity offence blitzkrieg from Idles frontman Joe Talbot on the Bristol band’s debut album, Brutalism. The record opens with an anonymous woman’s horrifying shriek of “NO […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – When you think of the New York City indie rock scene, you instantly recall bands like The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs surfacing in the first knockings of the new millennium. Before that Sonic Youth, The Velvet Underground and Blondie pioneered the movement in The Big Apple. […]

LIVE: HAMILTON LEITHAUSER – 10/03/2017

LIVE: MITSKI – 09/03/2017

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – New York-based musician Mitski’s first Manchester show was as recent as October last year at the Deaf Institute, but it seems she enjoyed herself as she’s back in town already. Daylight hours today were all clear-skied and spring-like, so maybe she made the most of the day with a […]
 – THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – As far as selling out your first Manchester headline show goes, it can only be a good thing. Even in a modestly sized venue such as The Castle, it’s an intimate setting to get to know your fans. Tonight, a few have travelled from Chester; the birthplace of Peaness. […]

LIVE: PEANESS – 08/03/2017