LIVE: TRAILER TRASH TRACYS – 10/05/2012

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I haven’t been upstairs at the Deaf Institute before and I’m struck by the glamour of the place.  For some reason it’s really unexpected and I like it!  It’s got big steps going up at the back for sitting on that creates a theatre kind of feel and a […]
“Good Girl” is the debut single from Wildeflower, a six piece folk-rock band from Englefield Green. This single release offers a modern folk style with close three-part harmonies as well as coupling rich layered instrumentation with lo-fi production. Led by Max Kinghorn-Mills, the psychedelic folk group marries influences from rivals/progressives Nick Drake, Bert Jansch and […]

Single Review: Wildeflower – Good Girl/Amazing Discovery

Album Review: Beach House – Bloom

The Wire, widely regarded as the best TV series of all time, is particulalry celebrated for its complex story lines, slowly coiling plot, use of authentic slang (only understandable via subtitles), and the way it mercilessly dissects a self-annhilating society from the bottom, with its petty drug dealers and tenement tower blocks, all the way […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – The buzz of a full-bodied Deaf Institute is never anything less than thrilling, but tonight is special. We are blessed with a venerable safe pair of hands to open proceedings – Cate Le Bon is such an established and cherished figure in the national music scene that she actually […]

LIVE: PERFUME GENIUS / CATE LE BON – 09/05/2012

LIVE: FRIENDS / ALUNAGEORGE – 08/05/2012

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Disco. It’s a dirty word. People are scared to be associated with it, and I often find myself breaking down the locked doors of people’s closets, and saying, “you don’t have to hide!” Now is the best time for disco, it is a burst of decadence without the calories or […]
Here We Go Magic have released the video for their new single ‘How Do I Know’ ahead of the band’s first UK shows in two years (full details below). Directed by Sean Pecknold (Fleet Foxes, Beach House, Grizzly Bear) the video stars Janet Pants as a happy-go-lucky dancing robot who is being returned to the factory by her owner. Pecknold […]

NEWS: HERE WE GO MAGIC – LATEST SINGLE AND VIDEO ‘HOW DO I KNOW’

LIVE: JAMES BLACKSHAW – 04/05/2012

– SACRED TRINITY, SALFORD – There are two possible reactions to the suggestion of spending a Friday night in a small Salford church watching a prodigious, virtuoso acoustic guitarist perform a number of solo, instrumental pieces. Sure, it may sound a little on the arduous side to some. Indeed, more often than not, it would […]
– ST. MARGARET’S CHURCH, MANCHESTER – I read an article on The Guardian website this week about a venue in London called Cafe Oto which puts on experimental music, free-jazz etc. There was the option to comment after the article and there were lots of disparaging remarks about this kind of place being for ‘hipsters’ […]

LIVE: NHAM QUARTET / HELMUT LEMKE / BRIDGET HAYDEN – 04/05/2012

LIVE: WE ARE AUGUSTINES / MY GOODNESS – 02/05/2012

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – In less than two months since a shimmering set in the Night & Day Cafe, We Are Augustines have returned home from their first European tour, galvanised neutrals at South By Southwest and Coachella, delivered headline sets from Hollywood to native New York, and released their debut album, Rise Ye […]
Following a rousing Coachella performance and US shows with St Vincent, Keep Shelly In Athens are about to embark on their first extensive UK/EU tour this week. Starting in Paris (3rd May), the enigmatic Grecian electronic duo headline new London venue Birthdays on the 7th May as well as appearing at Camden Crawl, Sounds From […]

NEWS: KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS – UK LIVE DATES + MARIBEL REMIX