LIVE: BBC MANCHESTER INTRODUCING LIVE – 30/03/2012

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – So the premise: get unsigned acts, the undiscovered and under the radar talent to bigger audiences. The Beeb do the filtering and venues get the benefit of seeing something different to what PR types and labels might be promoting. Great! We’re in the Ruby Lounge and expecting to do […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – The Deaf Institute is the home to all things band at the moment. I find myself checking their online diary to see who is playing, and then immediately checking them out and sorting out heading to the gig. This last week I discovered Strange Boys, listened to a few […]

LIVE: THE STRANGE BOYS – 29/03/2012

LIVE: BRETON – 29/03/2012

– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – By going through these doors, we agree to let ourselves be filmed for a commercial. I was under the impression that this gig would be a little shy on punters tonight, so the scenes inside the mill come as a complete surprise. Breton‘s debut album ‘Other People’s Problems’ was released through […]
Salford’s finest festival of new music, Sounds From the Other City, returns for the 8th time on Bank Holiday Sunday 6th May with its freshest line up yet. For 2012, established Manchester promoters like Faktion (who’ve put on Demdike Stare, Blackest Ever Black label showcase), Now Wave (Sleigh Bells, the XX, Money, Alt-J) and Hey! […]

NEWS: SOUNDS FROM THE OTHER CITY – FULL 2012 LINE UP

NEWS: CITIZENS! ANNOUNCE DEBUT ALBUM

CITIZENS! have announced details of the release of their debut album. Here We Are will be released through Kitsuné onMonday May 28th 2012. The 11-track album was recorded in Scotland in the autumn of 2011 and produced by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand. The tracklisting of the album is as follows: 1.  True Romance 2.  Reptile 3.  Caroline 4.  Love You […]
Images (part of the series ‘Reflections of Debussy in the Mirror of the East’) – THE BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANCHESTER – This show is based on the theme of musical representations of the visual, as part of a wider series focussed on the works of the influential turn-of-the-(20th)-century French composer Claude Debussy, his influence by the […]

LIVE: BBC PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA – 24/03/2012

LIVE: DRIVER DRIVE FASTER – 23/03/2012

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – They arrived like a breath of fresh air, last summer. The hidden trendy rough gem of a venue Kraak Gallery played host to the launch of their debut album ‘Open House’, while a number of high profile muso’s were liberally throwing their name around the airwaves, providing enough favourable […]
Not sure what the One Trick Pony ever did to Imperial Leisure, but this sophomore album forms a riotous call to arms. That poor pony is punked. I grew up in the same part of the capital as the band and remember their early gigs in various, nefarious down-at-heel North London pubs. They’ve come a […]

ALBUM REVIEW: IMPERIAL LEISURE – DEATH TO THE ONE TRICK PONY

SINGLE REVIEW: BILLY VINCENT – BOTTLE TOP

London five-piece Billy Vincent blend folk with a touch of rock and a dash of country on this, their first single release. Just as their name fuses those of the band’s best-friend vocalists Billy Barratt and David Vincent, so the quintet’s sound brings together that of Ed Harcourt, Jeff Buckley and James Morrison. With début full-length She […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – I am underneath a kitchen. Upstairs they’re serving soup. On tonight’s menu: Kindness, the creation of London lad, Adam Bainbridge. His name has been floating about the online music atmosphere since 2009, but now in 2012 he has released his debut album, ‘World, You Need A Change Of Mind,’ produced […]

LIVE: KINDNESS – 22/03/2012