Album Review: The Voluntary Butler Scheme – A Million Ways to Make Gold

Ever since Rob Jones, under the moniker of his primary creative outlet The Voluntary Butler Scheme, released his 2009 début ‘At Breakfast, Dinner And Tea’, the market for quirky, catchy one-man-bands has been pretty much cornered. Demonstrating what would become the multi-instrumentalist’s typical eye for detail and knack for a catchy brass hook, ‘At Breakfast…’ […]
I love how Brooklyn’s The Hold Steady can be enjoyed on different levels. Essentially a party band, the live shows feel like gatherings of like-minded people in attendance to drink some beers and share a love of rock. There’s a real sense of community. Look deeper, though, and listeners can quickly lose themselves in the […]

Album Review: The Hold Steady – Teeth Dreams

LIVE: ELLEN & THE ESCAPADES – 15/03/2014

– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – Described on their website as a “very exclusive intimate gig”, Ellen & The Escapades come to Manchester to road test some new songs. It feels like The Castle have tried to create a dual purpose gig venue and sauna this evening. I don’t think it works too well though, […]
– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER – Gullivers is fast becoming one of my favourite Manchester venues. With its chandelier-esque light fixings, deep red walls and mustard coloured drapes, it feels like I’m in a David Lynch movie every time I go in. Today, it plays host to an all-dayer presented by Manchester based lo-fi label Cheesus Crust […]

LIVE: JOHNNY FOREIGNER – 16/03/14

Album Review: The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream

It’s worth starting this review by quoting a fairly lengthy passage from the press release: “Lost In The Dream is the third album by The War on Drugs, but in some ways, it is the first album by the Philadelphia band The War on Drugs. Ahead of and after the release of the 2011 breakthrough Slave Ambient, Adam Granduciel spent the bulk of two […]
– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – Read anything about Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and you will undoubtedly encounter the words ‘genius’ and ‘insanity’ and with good reason; Perry is credited as the catalyst of dub music, wrote and produced hits for The Wailers, The Congos and Max Romeo (amongst others) and has maintained a prominent […]

LIVE: LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY – 15/03/2014

LIVE: THE NOTWIST – 15/03/2014

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – “Ve Are Notvist” are the first words from lead singer Markus Acher, who sports glasses along with a host of other members from the German veteran band. Expectations are diverse tonight , varying from those expecting skull-crashing drums often associated with German bands, to those expecting the glacial calm […]
– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – If Metronomy’s primary lyrical concern is the closed-mindedness of the parochially trapped and entrapping, then music, their music, is the escape route. Even as the protagonists in songs like ‘The Look’ and ‘Corinne’ turn their woes over and over without resolution, the music tears off in a direction that is […]

Live: Metronomy – 16/03/2014

LIVE: WE ARE SCIENTISTS – 09/03/2014

– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – It’s Sunday night at The Ritz, and a pretty much packed house are eagerly anticipating effortlessly cool American indie rockers We Are Scientists. Then it happens. Out of the speakers blares the distinct 80’s stadium rock styling of soft rock aficionado’s REO Speedwagon, with their smash hit ‘Keep on Loving […]
 – ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – Any gig in this venue, which sparkles with beauty, takes on a certain significance but none more so than one, that is the culmination of what has been in preparation for over a year, and truly sees the launch of a debut album by a band in their home […]

LIVE: PATTERNS – 07/03/2014