LIVE: DZ DEATHRAYS / EMBERS / FAWN SPOTS – 16/05/2012

– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – When I hear word that FAWN SPOTS are coming to Manchester I cancel plans and jump at the chance to go see them.  Fawn Spots are Lee Bowden and Jonathan Meager; based in York where they are proactive in the music scene being heavily involved in truly great projects such […]
– 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 […]

LIVE: TRAILER TRASH TRACYS – 10/05/2012

Single Review: Wildeflower – Good Girl/Amazing Discovery

“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 […]
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 […]

Album Review: Beach House – Bloom

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

– 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 […]
– 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 […]

LIVE: FRIENDS / ALUNAGEORGE – 08/05/2012

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

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 […]
– 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 […]

LIVE: JAMES BLACKSHAW – 04/05/2012

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

– 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’ […]
– 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 […]

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