Single Review: Jessie Ware – Night Light

After the success of ‘Wildest Moments’ earlier this year, now comes Jessie Ware’s fourth single of the year, ‘Night Light’. This song is from her album, Devotion, which made it to number five in the UK charts upon its release in August and has now been nominated for a Mercury Prize. It starts as a promising, […]
– NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – “The best thing about this band, is we turn up”, growls frontman Robert Lloyd in the opening number. He has no reason to be so self-deprecating – cutting an intimidating sight on stage: A tall, suit-wearing, static figure looming over the audience with a leer veering between nonchalant and menacing. […]

LIVE: THE NIGHTINGALES – 15/10/2012

LIVE: BO NINGEN – 17/10/2012

Some gigs are difficult to write about. The band turn up, they fly through their set sounding exactly as they do on the album, and then they walk off and do it again somewhere else. Bo Ningen are not like that at all. ‘Psychedelic Japanese rock band’ is another genre that I can now happily […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – The nights are drawing in, the students have taken control of the city, and we are back in the full swing of the live music season. Each night of the week, there is an exciting variety of bands and artists offering their services, and tonight a healthy number have […]

LIVE: THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART – 15/10/2012

LIVE: TAMARYN – 14/10/2012

– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – A Tamaryn press release featuring ‘I’m Gone’ from the forthcoming new album ‘Tender New Signs’ made an instant impression on me. Some bands just press all the right buttons, 5 seconds worth of listening could be all that’s needed to make you aware that a certain band is about to feature heavily on […]
– ?????, MANCHESTER – “Secret gig” How much do these two words excite me? Am I actually going to be taken to Narnia? Am I going to see Tumnus jam with Morrissey under the Printworks, for a stripped-down version of ‘The Queen Is Dead’? I have no idea where I’m going or what I’m seeing. […]

LIVE: RED DEER CLUB SECRET SESSION – 14/10/2012

LIVE: NADA SURF – 14/10/2012

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – It’s a mostly 30+ crowd in for the opening night of Nada Surf’s European tour, but old habits die hard, and half the early birds are still sat splayed across the Academy 3’s tacky floor by time Ezra Furman makes an appearance. He stands alone at 45º to the mic with just […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I’m standing at the back (or the back of the standing area, in front of the steps/seating area) but am drawn to the front when Leeds based FOSSIL COLLECTIVE begin by a strong urge to check out a rather intriguing bass instrument.  It looks, is played and also sounds […]

LIVE: FOSSIL COLLECTIVE – 13/10/2012

Album Review: Tamaryn – Tender New Signs

American dream-pop, shoegaze combo Tamaryn are named after New Zealand-born Tamaryn, who provides soft girlish vocals, and guitarist Rex John Shelverton (Vue, Portraits of Past), who does the instrumentation and plays the role of producer. Tender New Signs is the follow up to their first full length album, The Waves, and in making this album […]
I look forward to Fruits de Mer records coming through my door. In some ways it seems strange that nobody else on the Silent Radio team seems to get jealous that I end up reviewing a good chunk of them – but it does make sense, because what Fruits de Mer (FdM) do is not […]

Single Reviews: Fruits de Mer Records – October Releases