LIVE: DELOREAN – 07/12/2010

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Stepping into the Ruby Lounge, hearing the pulsating Screamadelica style rhythms of Humanizer you might think you’d entered a time machine and gone back to the Madchester days of the 90’s. Slurred vocals reel their way from the lead singer’s mouth like a modern day Shaun Ryder, without his […]
Taken from this year’s Outlaster album, ‘You Can Take Your Time’ sounds so much like a variant on ‘Keep Me Warm’ by Ida Maria that it’s unreal. Essentially the tunes are identical, but it’s the little details that make or break a song. The devil is, as always, in the details. ‘Keep Me Warm’ is essentially […]

SINGLE REVIEW – Nina Nastasia – You Can Take Your Time

LIVE: THE DRUMS – 06/12/2010

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – “Genius” they said “One of the great hopes of 2010”. Admittedly, it doesn’t take a lot these days to be plastered onto the front cover of the NME and heralded as the saviors of modern music, but lately it feels as if there’d be something afoot if The Drums hadn’t […]
– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – It’s freezing in Salford. The snow from the coldest November in years has given way to a hard layer of ice on the pavement, making the route to Islington Mill all the more treacherous yet picturesque. The ice sheet gives Salford’s tower blocks and the Mill, a remnant of the […]

LIVE: TIM HECKER/ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB – 06/12/2010

LIVE: I AM KLOOT – 03/12/2010

– MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL, MANCHESTER – There’s something resolutely I Am Kloot about the whole thing tonight; the pink snow-bulging sky, the crisp cold air, the none-more stately venue. It’s a slightly disorienting experience for sure. The bar area is set around an imposing white marble figurine, stone memorials looming down from the walls. Spotlights occasionally pick […]
– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – Embarking on their first headline tour of the UK, Indie folk–rockers Boy & Bear originating from the much warmer shores of Sydney, Australia brave our minus temperatures and the sell out crowd of Night & Day. These guys have an impressive CV for 2009/10 having supported recent folk […]

LIVE: BOY & BEAR – 03/12/2010

LIVE: BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB – 05/12/2010

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – It’s bloody cold in Manchester tonight. There’s enough ice on Oxford Road to host the Winter Olympics and the security staff patrolling the door are checking tickets so slowly, you suspect they’ve begun to freeze over. Nevertheless, an army of shaggy-haired Black Rebel fans have descended on Academy 1, each […]
– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – Two highly acclaimed bands from the underground music scene tonight: the London based and highly talented Melodica Melody and Me (MMMelodica), and the humble genius, with awe inspiring musical talent, Johnny Flynn, who is lyrically poetical, raw, articulated and on point. It is a sell out gig, so my ignorance […]

LIVE: JOHNNY FLYNN/MELODICA MELODY & ME – 05/12/2010

LIVE: JENNY & JOHNNY – 01/12/2010

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – John and Yoko. Sonny and Cher. Er, them out of ABBA. Some of history’s best-loved music has been born from real-life couples, and you’d be forgiven for thinking this pair had been making more then just sweet music for longer than a couple of years. She is Jenny Lewis; […]
– THE NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – As Tsar Nicholas II of Russia never said, life’s a funny old game. You arrive at Night & Day Café on the evening of December 1st, snow lying all around. There’s no heating. The headlining band you’ve risked a broken limb to see haven’t even made it, […]

LIVE: PICTURE BOOK – 01/12/2010