LIVE: C DUNCAN – 22/07/2015

– THE EAGLE INN, MANCHESTER – C Duncan’s career has been transformed in the past few weeks. He released his debut album Architect and has had his lead single ‘Garden’ played a number of times on BBC6Music – and it’s probably playing now. This increased exposure, explains why there are just six tickets left on […]
Omar Souleyman’s own promoters have labelled Bahdeni Nami as his “second proper studio effort”, but this does little to convey the man’s career. Performing since 1994, Souleyman has made over 500 recordings, the majority of which were released as cassettes of his performances at wedding ceremonies in his native Syria, the resale of which has […]

ALBUM REVIEW: OMAR SOULEYMAN – BAHDENI NAMI

LIVE: THE SONICS – 24/07/2015

– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – The Sonics wrote, arguably, four of the greatest 60’s garage punk songs ever, Cinderella, Psycho, Strichnine and The Witch.  They wrote and covered a bunch of other fantastic songs during their short recording career in the mid-sixties and the influence of those songs and that band cannot be overstated.  The […]
FROM PUBLIC ENEMY TO PUSSY RIOT: DISPATCHES FROM MUSICAL FRONTLINES Check the shelves and you’ll find all sorts of books that contain ‘Dispatches’ from some place of other.  Christ, even I’ve written one.  My particular Dispatches were ‘From The Wrong Side’ but of course I, in turn, picked up that meme from some now forgotten […]

BOOK: MATTHEW COLLIN ‘POP GRENADE’

Album Review: Sleaford Mods – Key Markets

“Wonderful Cunts. That is all.” That’s ideally what I’d like to have published however, due to the restrictions of word count and “professionalism” more of an explanation as to why I love this band is required. But hey it’s Sleaford fucking Mods so I couldn’t give a fuck! Key Markets sees the boys from Nottingham, Jason […]
– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – After a wonderful intro from Positive Force, bandleader Femi Kuti tells the audience that he is going to take us on a tour of afrobeat (or a crash course for the uninitiated) from the early music of his father Fela Kuti, through the present and into the future. […]

LIVE: FEMI KUTI AND POSITIVE FORCE – 16/17/2015

LIVE: TESS PARKS & ANTON NEWCOMBE 13/07/2015

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe and London-based Canadian songwriter Tess Parks released a collaborative album I Declare Nothing earlier this month and have coupled the release with some live dates. Out on Newcombe’s own label, A Recordings, it has been causing rather a stir in the psychedelic minded community. […]
– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – As I’m walking towards The Castle, I blame the atmospheric pressure and this thick humidity for feeling so worn out, but as soon as I enter the tiny room for gigs of this cosy pub all the (environ)mental haze goes away at a stroke. “From the bowels of Scotland”, Thee […]

LIVE: BONES SHAKE – 11/07/2015

LIVE: THE BLOCKHEADS – 10/07/2015

– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – “Stay alive!” Astonishing bass (and showman) Norman Watt-Roy gives us a hint to understand the enduring success of this legendary band, The Blockheads. This one and only funky band have been alive and kicking since 1977, and they have honourably survived several split ups, deaths and some other twists […]
– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – Tonight’s Modest Mouse show at The Ritz has effectively been delayed by two years. All of us who were due to attend their Summer 2013 show at the Academy had our tickets refunded, with the band explaining at the time that, rather than tour, they wanted to focus instead on […]

LIVE: MODEST MOUSE – 07/07/2015