LIVE: YO LA TENGO – 30/04/2018

-ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER- The songs that have escaped New Jersey trio Yo La Tengo’s three-decades of eclectic experimentation spin in slow-motion in the form of little silver discs above the stage of Manchester’s Academy 2, and the evening aims to honour the dichotomy between unclouded atmosphere and razor-wire feedback that hangs above them as they […]
Tranquility Base was a name given to the section of the moon where in 1969 the Apollo 11 astronauts landed, and the idea of a hotel and casino on the exact spot on the moon, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked, is as bonkers as the rest of this album! The sixth Arctic Monkeys […]

ALBUM: ARCTIC MONKEYS – TRANQUILITY BASE HOTEL & CASINO

LIVE: STELLA DONNELLY – 07/05/2018

-THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER- Tonight is an exciting night for me for two reasons. Firstly, I have patronised the Castle Hotel on a few evenings, but have never ventured past the cosy piano room. Tonight I get to visit door number 2, joyfully adding another Manchester music venue to my ever growing list. Upon entering, […]
-RITZ, MANCHESTER- Out of that mid noughties indie disco scene, there haven’t been many bands that have stood their ground and kept going in the same way that We Are Scientists have. Keith and Chris have just released their sixth long player Megaplex, which sees the band take a more electronically infused tone to their indie […]

LIVE: WE ARE SCIENTISTS – 09/05/2018

LIVE: SOUNDS FROM THE OTHER CITY 2018 – 06/05/2018

-VARIOUS, SALFORD- Once a year the incredible people behind Sounds From The Other City (SFTOC) turn a section of Chapel Street and the surrounding area into an oasis of the best new music in the country that’s like a playground to explore and discover your next favourite band. Over 130 acts play across 20 odd […]
-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner tells us that she and her fellow American bandmates started their day in London, completing a radio session at a BBC studio for Lauren Laverne’s 6 Music show. Departing for Manchester in the van at around 2pm, for reasons of Bank Holiday traffic it was only by the […]

LIVE: WYE OAK – 04/05/2018

ALBUM: DMA’S – FOR NOW

Let’s face it, Australian bands have a knack for a great melody. From The Go Betweens to The Hummingbirds , bands down under know how to jangle a guitar or two, and current kings of the pop guitar jangle seem to be The DMAs. Now on their second album, they’ve taken the indie guitar sounds […]
Frank Turner has now been releasing solo albums for over ten years, yet it only seems like yesterday since he launched his first sonic blast of social commentary and personal poetry into an unsuspecting musical scene. He’s had his fair share of criticism though, mostly stemming from the fact that he went to Eton, and […]

ALBUM: FRANK TURNER – BE MORE KIND

LIVE: KAZE – 27/04/2018

-THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER- A projectile courgette carves a path, like Gravity’s Rainbow, from the stage into the audience. This is music with menaces and only one of many signs that tonight is not the usual gig fare. When an artist is able to weaponise vegetables, you know they’re on to something. Kaze are the […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- My only live experience of Sheffield-based Drenge prior to tonight was in a television studio in Kent, the band performing a couple of songs to promote its self-titled début album in 2013. At the time, Drenge was very much just youthful brothers Rory (drums) and Eoin (vocals and guitar). Watching them perform, one […]

LIVE: DRENGE – 02/05/2018