LIVE: MACCABEES – 05/08/2015

– FOPP, MANCHESTER – Finding beauty amongst the daily grind is no easy task, yet Southern London’s guys Maccabees have managed to do so. Their brand new album, Marks To Prove It, seems an urban ode to their beloved London’s area Elephant and Castle. Some kind of crazy London’s B Side, I guess. They’ve chosen […]
– THE OAST HOUSE, MANCHESTER – You’d be forgiven for not realising that Stealing Sheep were playing at The Oast House in Spinningfields tonight. Yes, there’s a stage set up but that’s been there for a few weeks now without any obvious action. There are no posters, there’s been no promotion. Google is coming up […]

LIVE: STEALING SHEEP – 05/08/2015

Single Review: Kurt Vile – Pretty Pimpin

Misissippi psych stomper ‘Pretty Pimpin’ is the lead track from the b’lieve I’m going down… album, Vile’s hotly anticipated fifth. It catches him in fine form but also in contemplative mood, and in the midst of an identity crisis. The whole ensemble reads like the rueful dregs of a drunken weekend, swilling at the bottom of […]
The Maccabees in my opinion have always been an underrated outfit. When you’ve got groups like Kasabian and Kaiser Chiefs pissing around the industry like headless chickens desperately trying to reinvent themselves, it’s nice to see a band come along with a positive correlation rather than a disjointed ‘progression’ in accordance with fashion trends in […]

ALBUM REVIEW: THE MACCABEES ‘MARKS TO PROVE IT’

LIVE: THE DANDY WARHOLS – 31/07/2015

– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – For some reason, now seems the right time to catch The Dandy Warhols live. Since being a fan of theirs when they were arguably at their peak, around the turn of the century, they have always remained in my thoughts largely due to the The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Ironically, The Dandy’s […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – The Hipshakes are like those kids you see hanging around the hallway in High School at the beginning of a John Hughes movie. They don’t figure in the main plot, but they’re far more interesting. They ain’t nerds and they aren’t jocks, they are the music obsessive vinyl collectors […]

LIVE: THE GORIES / THE HIPSHAKES – 29/07/2015

ALBUM REVIEW: FLY GOLDEN EAGLE – QUARTZ BIJOU

ATO Records’ press release states that this album is “Nashville Psych-Rock for fans of Pond, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, T Rex, The Doors”. I would argue that they’re not really too much like any of those bands at all, but still, they’re right, if you like those bands you’ll probably like Fly Golden Eagle. They’re brash, bold, and […]
In my review of its parent album, No Sad Songs, I referred to ‘Prussian Blue’ as a “blissful summer lullaby”. A single release in July is therefore not wholly wrong. However, whether it is the kind of song to grab the attention of distracted radio listeners is another matter. The bouncier ‘Babylon Revisited’ would arguably have […]

EP Review: The Lilac Time – Prussian Blue

ALBUM REVIEW: GWENNO – Y DYDD OLAF

Can an album sound retro, contemporary and futuristic at the same time? Y Dydd Olaf certainly succeeds in doing so. This is a beautiful album of contrasts from start to finish, and is one that demands close attention. As a non-Welsh (or Cornish) speaker (the featured languages for Y Dydd Olaf), it would be easy […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – “Holy shit, I’m in Manchester!” exclaims Kawehi as she takes to the stage in front of an initially quiet crowd at The Deaf Institute. The tiny American, who hails from Hawaii but is now based in Kansas, already seems quite comfortable addressing the room and gets a rowdy cheer […]

LIVE: KAWEHI – 28/07/2015