ALBUM: The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Blood and Fire

I try not to let a band’s image or history get in the way of the music – Bowie’s alleged Nazi salutes don’t make Changes any less of a tune – and Bono’s charity do-gooding can’t rescue anything that U2 released after 1995. However, I find it hard not to sympathise a little more with […]
You have to admire MGMT’s bloody mindedness. They release what were arguably the three finest singles of the noughties (honestly, who can resist the pop euphoria of “Kids”?), and record one of the finest albums in recent memory. A large number of their fans don’t get, skip over, or simply disregard as self-indulgent noodling most […]

ALBUM: MGMT – Congratulations

LIVE: DUKE SPECIAL – 07/05/2010

– ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – The pews are now full and the congregation are ready for tonight’s sermon. The vicar is nowhere to be seen and the raised area in the centre of this Salford church is filled to bursting with musical equipment. Above the performance area and below a huge stained glass window […]
-ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – (HOLE SUPPORT) Tiffany Page is very pretty. She has lovely hair. She has a lovely voice….lovely. Is this what we want from our singers? For them to be lovely? Some people think Cheryl Cole, and puppies peeping out of the tops of stockings are lovely…some people are morons. I’m not really […]

LIVE: TIFFANY PAGE – 07/05/2010

LIVE: HOLE – 07/05/2010

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”, says the woman who’s just released the album, ‘Nobody’s Daughter’ which includes the song ‘Never go hungry’. Contradictory? Probably. Controversial? Of course, but when you’re dealing with Courtney Love these go with the territory, and what a messily magnificent territory it is… For […]
William Fitzsimmons has a remarkable story to tell. Born the youngest son of a blind couple in Pittsburgh, he grew up to be a psychotherapist. The eventual break up of his parents’ marriage proved so traumatic that he wrote an album, the recording of which proved so difficult that Fitzsimmons’ own marriage flew off the […]

ALBUM: William Fitzsimmons – Derivatives

ALBUM: The National – High Violet

There is a weight of expectation surrounding High Violet, the fifth album from Brooklyn based band The National.  After a couple of false starts, Alligator (2005) jolted the band out of obscurity, gaining them a cult following and critical adulation. Boxer (2007) was a much grander and better produced effort, which, whilst not quite hitting the same euphoric highs as Alligator, allowed the […]
Manchester band Airship’s ‘Algebra EP’ sounds like it was made by taking the 90′s indie scene and putting it in a blender, but it’s clearly for the modern audience. It fits well alongside the new wave of Scottish bands like ‘Band of Horses’, ‘We Were Promised Jetpacks’ and ‘Twin Atlantic’ (whom Airship recently supported). ‘Algebra’ […]

ALBUM: Airship – Algebra EP

ALBUM: Curry & Coco – Sex Is Fashion EP

In terms of respectability the 80s has made something of a comeback. Throughout the nineties and noughties the decade that spawned acts such as Flock of Seagulls, Van Halen and Wham was widely maligned as a vacuous, miserable period where egos and haircuts overshadowed meaningful memorable material. Now it’s in renaissance. But as bands like […]
– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – The Young Knives are the definition of geek chic. But, behind the thick rimmed specs and bow ties is an equally original style of music. Eight months since their last gig, the band are embarking on a short tour of small intimate venues. My last encounter with them was at […]

LIVE: YOUNG KNIVES – 05/05/2010