LIVE: PHOBOPHOBES – 16/03/2018

-EAGLE INN, SALFORD- Phobophobes are strangely fearless. As they take to the Eagle Inn tonight, they are ready to take on whatever this Friday night might throw at them, and in short order they have the Eagle Inn bouncing to their quirky, jagged indie psych nuggets. They only just about manage to squeeze their six […]
The fact that Yo La Tengo have existed for over thirty years, with a consistently strong but still relatively underground appeal, could be one of the reasons behind the title of their fifteenth  album. Not that Yo La Tengo are in anyway riotous, well at least not in an obvious way. Theirs is a slower, […]

ALBUM: YO LA TENGO – THERE’S A RIOT GOING ON

LIVE: FIELD MUSIC – 16/03/2018

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Not an awful lot has come out of Sunderland apart from my Grandpa, the fabulous Andy Dawson from the Athletico Mince podcast and St Bede, the monk. To that list we have now been able to add Field Music. Ostensibly formed of the Brewis brothers – David and Peter – by the time […]
-THE WHITE HOTEL, SALFORD- Hookworms have made the best album of 2018. It’s a provocative statement, especially at the start of March, but right now I believe it to be true. Great albums often come with a backstory, their own built-in folklore, something that can be easily distilled into a short conversation that the record’s […]

LIVE: HOOKWORMS – 10/03/2018

LIVE: GWENNO – 09/03/2018

-GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER- According to the 2011 National Census, there are 577 people that name Cornish as their first language. A small number, but not so bad when you consider that as of the late 18th century, the language was officially extinct. The resurgence has been going for some decades now, and one of the leading […]
Formed in 2008, The Men are one of those New York bands who just keep up their hard working ethic with every release, gradually gaining more admirers each time around, yet without necessarily having any massive singles. That’s not to say they don’t have amazingly catchy songs in their back catalogue as they’ve got them […]

ALBUM: THE MEN – DRIFT

ALBUM: INSECURE MEN – INSECURE MEN

Formed out of dark times, but with melodies to lift the heaviest of hearts, welcome to the bizarre world of the Insecure Men. They’re another band comprising members of the Fat White Family, either current or ex members (it’s often hard to tell with that lot, who’s in and who’s out!), but all maintaining the […]
-MANCHESTER ARENA- It’s not often that support bands appeal so accurately to the main act’s crowd, but many have made the extra effort to get in early tonight to see John Grant. It’s easy to see why he appeals to Elbow fans, as his songs have a certain depth to them; whether it’s the slow […]

LIVE: ELBOW / JOHN GRANT – 04/03/2018

LIVE: SOCCER MOMMY – 04/03/2018

-THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER- Soccer Mommy is the alias for 20-year-old musician and singer-songwriter Sophie Allison from Nashville, Tennessee. After having released two records in the last 2 years, one of which was produced in her very own bedroom, March 2018 has seen the release of her debut full-length studio album, Clean. A few months […]
-THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- I wasn’t sure I’d ever see this to be honest. Paul Draper, former lead singer of britpop heroes Mansun, on stage, not only armed with some solo material but also ready to deploy the entirety of Mansun’s debut album Attack of the Grey Lantern (AOTGL) for the first time after a it […]

LIVE: PAUL DRAPER – 01/03/2018