Album Review: Levellers – Static on the Airwaves

Grab your fiddles and dust off your digeridoos, folk-rock veterans Levellers are back with their tenth studio album Static on the Airwaves – their most polished but traditional album to date. Opening with white noise reminiscent of our very own Silent Radio, and an electro sequence Gary Numan would envy, you could be forgiven for […]
What’s not to like about the crazy kids* at Fruits de Mer records? They are a small, independent UK label; they only release on limited edition vinyl; they have a sister label called ‘Regal Crabomophone’ (whatever that’s supposed to mean); they even send their press releases on shiny silver 200gsm paper… Fruits de Mer are […]

Single Review: The Lucid Dream – Hits Me Like I’m Stoned

NEWS: BLOOD DIAMONDS – HEAR NEW SINGLE ‘PHONE SEX’ FEATURING GRIMES

Blood Diamonds, aka Michael Tucker, is a Los Angeles-based pop artist best known for his luxurious dreamscapes and infectious, sun-dipped production. What will be his debut 4AD record, the much-talked about ‘Phone Sex’ track is finally getting released on July 16th. Featuring close friend Grimes (Claire Boucher), ‘Phone Sex’ is a track they made together […]
Jennifer Left has a story to tell you. This young songbird originally from Newcastle but now the seaside town of Brighton is inspired by the songs that raised her, she sings about the stories she writes. Delivering a two-song single of smoky vocals and pitch-dark lyrical subject matter, opening song, Black Dog is an English […]

NEWS: JENNIFER LEFT – HEAR THE NEW EP ‘BLACK DOG’ IN FULL

Album Review: Smoke Fairies – Blood Speaks

The signs of Smoke Fairies’ newfound maturity are there from the very start of second album, Blood Speaks. As muscular drum crackles join moody guitar, the trademark dual vocals of Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies announce their presence with a heavy confidence: “You got the power to bring me down, but I’ve got some sense, […]
– VARIOUS VENUES, MANCHESTER – Back for its third year in Manchester, Dot to Dot has come along tremendously since it started in Nottingham in 2005. Ever since then they have continuously created compelling line-ups, bringing some of the best new and upcoming talent to an exciting inner-city environment. This year’s line-up is certainly no […]

LIVE: DOT TO DOT FESTIVAL – 04/06/2012

LIVE: CURSIVE – 04/06/2012

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – While the rest of the nation is bopping away to the legends of pop strutting their stuff outside the Queen’s gaff, we’re in town’s most luxurious subterranean pit for something altogether less bombastic. “Hey, I’m Kevin Devine from New York…” the slender troubadour onstage announces, “did you guys revel […]
With the 90’s dance music scene very much making a comeback, the likes of Squarepusher have the perfect opportunity to show the young pretenders how it’s done. Another of  Warp’s electronical wizards, Tom Jenkinson, has been producing mind-bending sounds since 1994, along with label mates and veterans Aphex Twin and Autechre. ‘4001’ kicks things off […]

ALBUM: SQUAREPUSHER – ‘UFABULUM’

LIVE: SAVAGES / HIGH PLACES / DIE HEXEN – 30/05/2012

– ISLINGTON MILL. SALFORD – I’m not usually one for forward planning but I felt quite gutted that I couldn’t go to the SAVAGES gig at the beginning of the month due to it being sold out (how does a few months old, pretty unknown, four piece all female band sell out in a city […]
– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – After discovering the latest release of The Melvins EP ‘The Bulls and the Bees’ (a free download by the way) I was on the hunt to find the tour that follows, and to my delight they were coming to Manchester’s Moho Live, four long years since their last visit to […]

LIVE: THE MELVINS – 30/05/2012