LIVE: METRONOMY – 19/01/2011

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Tonight is the first night of Metronomy’s tour and downstairs bar at The Deaf Institute is jam packed with people from an hour before the gig. Upstairs the first support act, Get People, are filled with good intentions. Their poppy tropical disco songs are full of drum fills that […]
– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – The Raconteurs, Audioslave, the Good, the Bad and the Queen – supergroups are generally looked upon with a critical eye. This is because listeners suspect, sometimes rightly, that the artists involved are stuck for cash, trying to sell something we’ve all seen before in different packaging. It’s like being handed […]

LIVE: THE BURNS UNIT – 19/01/2011

LIVE: THE WALKMEN – 20/01/2011

– CENTRAL METHODIST HALL, MANCHESTER – Many consider a visit to Manchester as a musically religious experience. The Walkmen must have that feeling too but for a different reason. The last time I saw them was in St. Philips Church in November. The old, ornate spiritual venue had made no special dispensation for housing a […]
The UK has a long, illustrious line of gently psychedelic guitar pop bands going right back to the likes of The Moody Blues (you better believe it), through XTC, Shack and The Coral, proponents all of sweet, sweet melodies and lush, pastoral arrangements. The Chemistry Set can – and should – count themselves as part […]

ALBUM: The Chemistry Set – This Day Will Never Happen Again

LIVE: MY JERUSALEM – 17/01/2011

– THE NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – An amusing game to play before any gig at the city’s smaller venues is to try to guess which individuals in the crowd are members of the headlining band. When, for example, post-rock is on offer, this can present hours of fun. With his distinctly un-Mancunian drawl […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – First off, props to the Ruby Lounge, celebrating their relaunch tonight – the whiff of fresh paint and newness is heavy in the air. Nice job too, guys – that über quirky ambience is all present and correct, but the removal of those pillars down the side of the […]

LIVE: THE CORAL (ACOUSTIC) – 15/01/2011

LIVE: HEDGE – 15/01/2011

FEAT. SAM CARTER/LIAM BAILEY/NANCY ELIZABETH/AIDAN SMITH/CORTINA DELUXX – BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – Being quite a newbie to Manchester I’d heard of the folk night Hedge, but never had the pleasure of experiencing it.  Tonight Hedge in collaboration with Humble Soul Records returns to the Manchester scene after a fairly long break with a […]
With its crisply crafted songwriting – reminiscent of Leonard Cohen and The Lilac Time – sophisticatedly interspersed with lush orchestration, and lashings of distortion, Excerpts impresses immediately. The resulting (and desired) effect of such interplay is of an album amorphously going in and out of focus. The title, Excerpts, and track 2’s name, ‘Things I Forgot’, […]

ALBUM: Ensemble – Excerpts

ALBUM: Hannah Peel – The Broken Wave

I like “wonky”. I like “folk”. Man, truth be told, I even like “pop”. So Hannah Peel’s description of her style as Wonky Folk Pop right away pitches her 100% centre-stage on my radar. Hannah’s star is definitely on the rise, with reviewers blanketing pretty much everything she turns her hand to with praise (and that […]
Hats off to any band who call their own debut album The Decline of British Sea Power – although you’d imagine they were really referring to the waterborne capability of our nation, rather than their own musical fortunes. Which brings us to 2011.  Somehow strange to realise that Valhalla Dancehall is the band’s fifth long player; they seem somehow fresh […]

ALBUM: British Sea Power – Valhalla Dancehall