LIVE: LIAM FROST – 4/10/2013

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – OK, cards on the table… I am a Liam Frost fan.   A huge Liam Frost fan.  As huge as he once himself, was, when I saw him play at the opening of the 235 Casino…. Many moons, and many drained bank accounts past.  What he has lost in weight […]
– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – It’s a rarity within the contemporary music scene that one can actually escape the world of fashion bands and “rich kid” gigs and actually have the chance to see a band that are genuinely engaging and passionate. Everything Everything are the band to watch when it comes to live music. […]

LIVE: EVERYTHING EVERYTHING – 11/10/2013

LIVE: DRENGE – 15/10/2013

– THE ROADHOUSE,  MANCHESTER – Let’s not ‘fuckabout’…Drenge totally, completely, 100 percent rule tonight. The Loveless brothers (amazing name) from Castleton tear through their debut album, imaginatively titled Drenge, with all the exuberance that youth brings at The Roadhouse, a fitting venue for their down and dirty music. The room is packed to the rafters, […]
The Growlers are one of those rare bands that just don’t give a shit; they play the kind of music they want to play and do it in their own way. Any band that has a record called Greatest Shits and a single named ‘Gay Thoughts’ is destined for stardom in my eyes. Made up […]

EP Review: The Growlers – Not. Psych!

Album Review: Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip – Repent, Replenish, Repeat

For those of you who don’t know, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip (or dlsvsSP, as I will incorrectly refer to them) are a pair of lads from Essex, who collaborate to make some form of urban. The ignorance at the end of the last sentence is only partly feigned, though there is enough spoken […]
– THE ROADHOUSE, MANCHESTER – During the opening dramatic instrumental which shakes yet innocently chimes around The Roadhouse, it is clear what the audience are thinking; “Any minute now those green-tracksuit clad, roller-skating guys are going to dash enthusiastically on stage.” A thought which takes on deeper significance when ‘The Heat’ begins to jive around […]

LIVE: JUNGLE – 10/10/2013

LIVE: NO AGE – 10/10/2013

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I am prepared for a No Age show. Or at least I think I am. I have heard about their ferocious live reputation, Dean Spunt and Randy Randall melting the eardrums of everyone in attendance with their incredibly loud drums /guitar combo, sending punters home covered in sweat and […]
– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – Promoting his new album Country Mile, Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit return to Manchester after a two year interlude from, where he has been delving into the delights of theatre. Support was provided by the delectable Marika Hackman and Cosmo Sheldrake. Manchester’s Club Academy; that drab, slimy host, the Uncle who […]

LIVE: JOHNNY FLYNN & THE SUSSEX WIT – 7/10/2013

LIVE: CAVFEST – 21/09/13

– CAVENDISH PRIMARY SCHOOL, MANCHESTER – Now normally when primary schools have fundraisers, the most exotic it gets is throwing soggy sponges at the headmaster in the playing fields outside.  However, this is Manchester and at Cavendish Primary in Didsbury, they do things a little differently.  The school site manager was once a guitarist in […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER –  Many things were lost in the noise of Britpop and grunge – bands that otherwise would have stood out as special were overlooked in the search for the next Oasis, the next Nirvana. Spacehog are a band who straddled the Atlantic with a toe in each of these scenes, […]

LIVE: SPACEHOG – 6/10/2013