LIVE: DUM DUM GIRLS / PINS – 03/05/2014

– THE ROADHOUSE, MANCHESTER – “Are you waiting for us? I didn’t get the memo.”  The opening words as PINS begin their co-headline show with Dum Dum Girls at the Roadhouse.  The room is packed, so much so that it is difficult to see the band on stage from only a few rows back. The […]
– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – I’ve been waiting to see Factory Floor for a while now having missed their last Manchester gig due to being stuck on a train for 7 hours after a wedding in December. So when I found out they were putting on a night at the brilliant Islington Mill, I made […]

LIVE: FACTORY FLOOR – 03/05/2014

LIVE: BLOOD RED SHOES – 28/04/2014

– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – Having given their most recent album a few spins, and hearing who had been lined up as the support for their UK Tour, I’m really looking forward to this gig. Support comes in the way of DZ Deathrays (who I miss, sadly) and Slaves, who I’m very fortunate to catch. […]
 – THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – The mothership has landed, mo fo’s. Yep, George Clinton – one of the originators of funk music and general interstellar space oddity – is back on the road, taking his message of funk to believers across the lands. From the 1960s, Clinton has created some of low-down seediest and irresistible […]

LIVE: GEORGE CLINTON & P-FUNK – 17/04/2014

LIVE: BRODY DALLE – 22/04/2014

 – ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Manchester’s Academy 2 welcomes with some anticipation the return of former Distillers and Spinerette anchor Brody Dalle as part of her short promotional tour to mark the release of her first solo album Dipoid Love (release date 28/04/14) The album has been a long time in the making, some 4 years since […]
– THE CORNERHOUSE, MANCHESTER – Tonight, it feels like we’re sat in a conservatory, beams run threateningly over our heads, and as Laura Stevenson sits at her stool plucking her first string, it feels like an invasion of privacy. She wears a tame blue polka dot dress and it feels like we are intruding on […]

LIVE: LAURA STEVENSON – 18/04/2014

LIVE: AUGUSTINES – 16/04/2014

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Arriving at Academy 2 it is packed, with a slightly older crowd. It’s exciting to see an American band playing live as they always seem to contribute a slightly different energy on stage. When the band starts, the smoky tones of Billy echo through the building. They are also accompanied […]
As what would have been Gil Scott-Heron’s 65th birthday this past April 1st, Record Store Day is gifted with a magical posthumous release by the legend. Widely considered as a hugely influential figure in hip-hop and jazz, his unique style of spoken word poetry garnered worldwide acclaim. After a huge back-catalogue of 13 albums from […]

Album Review: Gil Scott-Heron – Nothing New

LIVE: CARLTON MELTON – 17/04/2014

– KRAAK,  MANCHESTER – Tie-dye enthusiasts rejoice: Psychedelia is back. Truth is, it never really went away and follows the same ebbs and flows of popularity as any genre. The key difference now is that the movement is celebrated. Since the first Austin Psych Fest in May 2008, music inspired (directly or indirectly) by mind-altering […]
– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – Let’s get this out of the way right now: I am a Cut Copy fanboy. I’ve seen them about 5 times live already in various sized venues across the country and beyond; they are a band that hold a very special place in my heart. Their music is one of […]

LIVE: CUT COPY – 15/04/2014