LIVE: NOMEANSNO – 22/05/2013

– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – There aren’t many bands that have been playing to mosh pits around the world for longer than I’ve been alive, but NoMeansNo are one of that distinguished few. Having formed in 1979, and released their first record in 1980, NoMeansNo have been a dark undercurrent in the world of rock […]
After a European tour and a string of festival dates last year, Ghostpoet’s UK ‘More Light’ tour kicked off last week, after this month’s release of second album ‘Some Say I So I Say Light’. This follow-up to his Mercury nominated debut album is another creative blend of experimental electronic sounds, acoustic ideas and Ghostpoet’s […]

INTERVIEW: GHOSTPOET

LIVE: LORD HURON – 23/05/2013

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – The punters inside the city’s most opulent venue tonight are at the more mature end of the gig-going spectrum, and they’re stood in rapt silence at Nataly Dawn. Her short blonde hair is swept forward from left-to-right while she flicks at a decrepit looking guitar which could have been […]
 – SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER –  I think we’re all starting to lose count of the number of bands like Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs who have emerged in the last 2 or 3 years. You know the ones – bands in a perpetual haze of smoke, with brightly coloured imaginations and great swathes of static […]

LIVE: CHARLIE BOYER AND THE VOYEURS – 21/05/2013

LIVE: THE POSTAL SERVICE – 18/05/2013

 – ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – This year, electronic pop gods, The Postal Service celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their 2003 release Give Up, the band’s only album. Tonight’s gig at Manchester Academy is the first of only 3 UK gigs on this special tour to mark a decade’s hiatus from the much revered state-side duo. […]
Early reports of The National’s long-awaited follow-up to 2010’s acclaimed High Violet talk of new directions, fresh diversions. Indeed, singer Matt Berninger himself talks of these songs as more “immediate and visceral” than those of previous albums. I have to say, I don’t see it, nor I do it hear it. For me, the songs that start […]

Album Review: The National – Trouble Will Find Me

Album Review: Just Handshakes – Say It

The Leeds-based quartet Just Handshakes formed at university over a shared love of the C86 music scene. After a series of low-key singles and DIY cassette releases, which have finely honed their sound, they have now, via the Californian based label Bleeding Gold, delivered their debut album, Say It, which sees them drop a little […]
Book of Hours is the debut LP from Cloud Boat. This London based duo already has quite the buzz building up around them and their forthcoming release. If you are a fan of The XX, Bon Iver, James Blake, Zero 7, Alt-J or any other group that emulate pure magic on record, then read on. This […]

Album Review: Cloud Boat – Book of Hours

LIVE: THE SPECIALS – 15/05/2013

– THE APOLLO, MANCHESTER –  So picture this. Mass unemployment, disappearing high streets, strikes and burning effigies of Margaret Thatcher alight in crumbling pit villages. No, it’s not 1980. It’s 2013, and The Specials have never felt more relevant.  Given the political tension of the last few months, there’s a sense of adrenaline throughout the venue. […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER –  Over ten mock TVs are set up around the stage of Sound Control tonight, each hidden beneath vintage drapery, giving away any and all clues that this gig is going to be so much more than just an audio experience. Surfacing the unearthed propaganda material of the yesteryears, Public Service […]

LIVE: PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING – 14/05/2013