LIVE: BEACH SLANG – 21/01/2016

 – THE STAR & GARTER, MANCHESTER –  My new favourite band, sorry Fat White Family, you’re gonna have to share a room! Looking like Angus Young was an only child, frontman James Alex, not to be confused with Brit pop cheese maker of similar name, rallies the ranks with: “Hey we’re Beach Slang from Philadelphia […]
Tindersticks has been a reassuring presence on the British music scene for over two decades, exploring the landscape of human emotions in their own unique classically restrained chamber-pop style. The band led by the sophisticated rich baritone of Stuart Staples, now has a settled line-up after a number of personnel changes following the dissolution of the […]

Album Review: Tindersticks – The Waiting Room

LIVE: THE MACCABEES – 18/01/2016

 – THE ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER – The Maccabees are an all too rare band in this world of chew-them-up-spit-them-out hype blogs; a band who have been allowed to breathe and develop over a number of years and four good to brilliant albums. I dare say such a band wouldn’t be able to exist if they […]
– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – After a huge year, Slaves return to The Ritz once again and play a stellar show to an enthusiastic Mancunian crowd. With help from cockney punk good guys Wonk Unit and the up and coming Spring King, tonight is set to be a memorable evening of great music in a […]

LIVE: SLAVES / SPRING KING / WONK UNIT – 15/01/2016

LIVE: KIRAN LEONARD – 13/01/2016

– THE EAGLE INN, SALFORD – Due to late arrival at the Eagle Inn tonight, Kiran Leonard and band have to set up and soundcheck in front of a sold out and expectant room, and it’s both telling and enlightening to see how this unfolds. The standard soundcheck process tonight is both familiar and yet […]
– THE BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANCHESTER – Judging by the merchandise for sale at the desk in the concourse outside The Bridgewater Hall’s auditorium tonight, Henry Rollins continues to live by the ‘Search and Destroy’ philosophy that adorns the T-shirts and hoodies. No doubt inspired in part by the song by The Stooges, for Rollins the […]

LIVE: HENRY ROLLINS: CHARMINGLY OBSTINATE TOUR – 12/01/2016

Album Review: Beans on Toast – Rolling up the Hill

December is a time of year when long-standing traditions are celebrated. A less heralded one, but a ritual that should be, is the annual release from Beans on Toast. The seventh album, Rolling Up the Hill, has continued the pattern of the first day of the month seeing a new album emerge. The significance of […]
Wrong Way is a new independent record label specialising in psychedelia, shoegaze, spacerock, leftfield and krautrock emerging from the depths of Cornwall. This will be the labels first release and emerges into the world on 5th February 2016. Founded in 2003, Norway’s Rancho Relaxo are known for their talent to create compelling, absorbing sound that […]

ALBUM REVIEW: RANCHO RELAXO – WHITE LIGHT FEVER

LIVE: HORSEBEACH – 17/12/2015

– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – What a difference a year makes. Or in this case two years. I remember seeing Manchester based quartet Horsebeach in 2013 play to a small crowd in Chorlton opening up for my band at the time and I remember thinking that there was definite promise in their jangly […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – It’s been two decades since Orange Goblin swept the nation with their brand of heavy metal mania. Tonight, they’re back in Manchester for what promises to be one hell of a live show. 20 years of Blood, Metal and Beers, the band’s new slogan is already slapped on every second […]

LIVE: ORANGE GOBLIN – 16/12/2015