LIVE: DAN DEACON – 28/09/2012

– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – Here in this intimate Salford venue, with a tangled mess of wires and boxes on the table in front of him and two live drummers either side of him, stands the husky frame of Dan Deacon, a man, who from behind his jam jar glasses, seems to have a permanent […]
– THE ROADHOUSE, MANCHESTER – It’s the typical Mancunian night. The rain is unremitting and miserly, the drains are kicking up a stink outside One Piccadilly, and to make matters worse, we’re off to The Roadhouse. It’s slipped down the pecking order of the city’s gig venues, and thanks to the rise of the Ruby […]

LIVE: NOW NOW – 30/09/2012

LIVE: THOMAS TRUAX / SONGS FOR WALTER / SILVER – 28/09/2012

– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – I’m not really sure what support would be fitting for a Thomas Truax gig when I think about it, but for some reason I am quite surprised to see this shy, sad seeming girl with purple hair and a red top playing some sort of ultra reverb guitar with […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – “You can hear a pin drop…….” Joshua Radin is a talented man. That’s a fact. In times gone by he made his way as an artist, a teacher and a screenwriter. Then he picked up a guitar and began to write songs that capture the mind, body and soul. If […]

LIVE: JOSHUA RADIN – 27/09/2012

LIVE: VENETIAN SNARES – 25/09/2012

– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – If you see the name Venetian Snares in print somewhere, you usually won’t have to look very far before you start seeing words like ‘God’ and ‘Legend’ being thrown about. Aaron Funk’s long standing commitment to putting out records and his dedication to experimenting with his sound has garnered him […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – With a name like Frightened Rabbit, you could be mistaken that this bunch of Glaswegians are all about the self-indulgent, emo vibes; the type you have a good old cry to when your parents don’t understand you or your homework’s dead hard. Frightened Rabbit are helping to fly the flag […]

LIVE: FRIGHTENED RABBIT – 19/09/2012

IN-DEPTH REVIEW: FESTIVAL NO. 6

Well it’s after lunch time on Friday and we’ve just arrived at Porthmadog Football Club, as this is the nearest parking for the park and ride facility for getting to the festival. It would appear that we have arrived at roughly the same time as many others and there is a healthy queue of eager […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – “This album was a cycle that I had to go through.” That, explains Jens Lekman before the final song of an emotionally resonant night, is the most satisfying way to describe this confusing point in his career. Having built up a passionate following from his first two albums proper, […]

LIVE: JENS LEKMAN – 19/09/2012

NEWS: THE LOVELY EGGS – NEW ALBUM ‘WILDLIFE’ + LIVE DATES

The Lovely Eggs return with their third album ‘WILDLIFE’ after a year and a half touring their critically acclaimed second album ‘COB DOMINOS’. This time the Eggs return with an album that encapsulates the isolation of extensive touring and brief time back in their home town Lancaster. The two piece raucous noise pop duo combine […]
Before you head out to a live show you check your pockets for your ID, your drawers for your gig ticket and your purse to see if you have enough pounds to buy a drink. It’s the routine we all know so well. The last thing you’d expect to be doing alongside the scramble for […]

INTERVIEW: BETH JEANS HOUGHTON