LIVE: PAWS – 05/06/2014

– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – I love a good freebie. If it’s going free, I’m on it. I’ve always got a keen eye on Twitter, looking for whatever I can get my claws on. So I was delighted when it was announced a couple of months back that the rad Glaswegian three piece Paws […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Musicians have really had it in for technology this year; Damon Albarn conjured up a nightmarish future where everyday robots were in control, St Vincent took up the role of robot in Digital Witness singing ‘I want all of your mind’, but it was EMA who dealt the most […]

LIVE: EMA – 04/06/2014

Album Review: PAWS – Youth Culture Forever

Morrissey-baiting Glasweigan indie punk trio PAWS’ second LP Youth Culture Forever opens with something of a curveball. Erreur Humaine starts out deceptively bluesy until stabs of grunge guitar kick the record into life. It combines alternating whispers of cello and huge guitar blasts with a charming tendency to try and fit too many syllables into […]
– O2 APOLLO, MANCHESTER – By virtue of where I live, my trip to the Apollo this evening takes me past Manchester Arena. Swarming around the arena are many excited young faces. Often the popularity of pop groups irks me a little, but this evening I’m pleased. It was Little Mix that were to be […]

LIVE: THE FLAMING LIPS – 27/05/2014

LIVE: GOODTIME BOYS / GRAPPLER – 29/05/2014

– KRAAK, MANCHESTER – I’m back for another gig at Kraak Gallery tonight. My new spiritual home of sorts. Although tonight is a four band bill, I regretfully make it to the venue half way through, but I must admit it is the final two bands that I’m most eager to see, in particular tonight’s […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER –  Before we get going, I’ll admit it – I’ve not really paid attention to pop-punk-esque bands since I left Uni, and even then I’d not listened to much since College…But if a band is good, chances are they’re likely to seep through, and it’s this very seeping that lead me […]

INTERVIEW/REVIEW: DECADE / BRAWLERS – 22/05/2014

LIVE: QUILT – 28/05/2014

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – When Quilt accepted a support slot with fellow Americans The War On Drugs, it is unlikely they expected this to become the hottest show in town. Tickets were trading outside the venue for almost treble face value and demand has forced The War On Drugs to add a show at […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – I have something to confess to you, Dear Reader. Please don’t judge me for it, but it’s true: I do not like Bruce Springsteen. I know, I know, it’s kind of sacrilege, but I just don’t get him, all his music sound boring to me, and his voice really annoys […]

LIVE: THE WAR ON DRUGS – 28/05/2014

LIVE: SMOKE FAIRIES – 27/05/2014

– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – A healthy crowd welcomes the return to Manchester of the Smoke Fairies here in part to promote their new album, which is their third and is eponymous with its title Smoke Fairies. It is a tour that they nearly did not make as documented in recent press articles, which […]
– ACADEMY 2,  MANCHESTER – In a recent interview with The Quietus, Swans frontman Michael Gira confirmed an urban myth that his response to a sound engineer asking how the gig should sound was to punch him in the stomach and say “like that”. The engineer in question might feel fortunate to have only been […]

LIVE: SWANS – 22/05/2014