LIVE: ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT – 19/05/2014

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – I’ve been doing some calculating and can confirm that its been 10 years since I’d fallen for the fuzzy blues rock stylings of Archie Bronson Outfit. I first saw them in Wolverhampton, as an impressionable 15 year old supporting The Black Keys. Oh how time flies! So I’m definitely […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Donning a well-worn Caterpillar hat, Hiss Golden Messenger takes the stage with deck-chair strung aside as the one man band looms threateningly in-front of us. The first song of the night is ‘Daylight’, a song off the masterful yet unfortunate Bad Debt album, which was originally destroyed in the Sony Warehouse […]

LIVE: HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER – 18/05/2014

LIVE: BO NINGEN – 12/05/2014

– DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I’m late getting to the venue tonight – yet another title winners celebration in central Manchester – and only catch the end of the opening set by The Scenes.  First impressions are, there are a lot of them: A six piece crammed on the stage, leaving little room for manoeuvre for […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – “It’s kind of weird but stranger things have happened”, quips Brett Sparks, the bearded half of the critically acclaimed husband and wife duo the Handsome Family. He’s not wrong; in the world of this delightful, yet dark and twisted Alt County band – anything is possible. With his lady Rennie Sparks, […]

LIVE: THE HANDSOME FAMILY – 09/05/2014

INTERVIEW/REVIEW: PHANTOGRAM – 10/05/2014

Saturday turned out to be a typical day for Mancunians; grey and wet and one in which you’re much happier being indoors. But I was off to meet incredibly hip two piece Phantogram, so I braved the weather. Manchester did its best at welcoming the duo from Upstate New York by ensuring it was raining […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – Since their inception in 1991, New York based Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (or JSBX as their moniker is often shortened) have long since dispensed with traditional set lists. They are touring the 2012 release Meat and Bone, their first studio album since Damage in 2004.  JSBX’s  high energy punk blues, firmly […]

LIVE: JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION – 10/05/2014

REVIEW: LIVERPOOL SOUND CITY 2014

It’s been about a week since Liverpool Sound City 2014 came and went, but the three-day festival is still fresh in my mind. If you haven’t heard of it, Sound City is the largest metropolitan music and arts festival in the UK. It originally started as a showcase of the UK’s Northwest acts at the […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – Albert Hammond Jr. – Seemingly the happiest man in music today. The question is, who can blame him? Having kicked the drug habit, the latter months of 2013 saw him marry the gorgeous Justyna Sroka, as well as put out his third release as a solo artist – the superb five […]

LIVE: ALBERT HAMMOND JR. – 07/05/2014

EP REVIEW: FIGHT LIKE APES – THE WHIGFIELD SEX TAPE

Fight Like Apes, or simply FLApes if you prefer, will release their first record since 2011 on Monday (May 12).  Hailing from Dublin, the band have already released two albums.  Both were nominated for the Choice Music Prize, the Irish equivalent of the Mercury Music Prize, awarded for album of the year.  They launched a […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – The Hold Steady, a five-piece band based in Brooklyn, has brought its rock and roll show to Academy 3 tonight. When tickets first went on sale, I decided to head down to the student union the next working day to pick some up. Mistake. The gig was sold out by […]

LIVE: THE HOLD STEADY – 07/05/2014