LIVE: KENDAL CALLING 2009

– LOWTHER DEER PARK, PENRITH – Now in its fourth year, Kendal Calling has grown at an unprecedented rate. When it opened its gates for the first time in 2006, the capacity was a mere 900. This weekend they have sold all six thousand tickets for its arrival in the beautiful surroundings of its new […]
The problem With It Feels So Good When I Stop is that it was recorded as an accompaniment to his novel of the same name, and though I know it would infinitely augment the quality of this review I can’t be bothered to read it. However, if I was to take a wild stab at […]

ALBUM: Joe Pernice – It Feels So Good When I Stop (Novel Soundtrack)

ALBUM: Dan Mangan – Nice, Nice, Very Nice

Gracenotes only gives you one option – Nice, Nice, Very Nice is folk it solemnly declares. But don’t let that mislead you, as it most certainly isn’t. Acoustic singer-songwriter… OK, so those are misnomers too. Whatever it is or whatever it isn’t, Dan Mangan’s got an earnest voice, wrapping his vocals around decisive lyrics – these aren’t […]
– 24:7 THEATRE HUB, MANCHESTER – As the Manchester International Festival came to an end, the 24:7 Theatre Festival held its official opening night in a small function on the ground floor of New Century House. Finding tonight’s venue was not the easiest of tasks, as it is tucked away in a corner of a […]

LIVE: BILLY CHILDISH – 19/07/2009

LIVE: OPTIONAL WALLACE – 18/07/2009

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – The usual step up from headlining your own small intimate gigs will see you generally filling the support slots for bigger names. The main change will be that you now know the audience are not there to see you and have in all honesty, probably never heard of you. Even […]
I was quite excited for the album ‘About Love’ by Plastiscines;a quartet of “super-extra-hot French girls” who promised to take us by the scruff of our necks and force-feed us French grunge. By the time I’d reached track three, my illusions of this band being a part of ‘Girl Power’ 2010 were shattered, and I was […]

ALBUM: Plastiscines – About Love

LIVE: KITSUNE MAISON PARTY WITH CHEW LIPS / AUTOKRATZ – 17/06/2009

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – To celebrate the seventh instalment of the much acclaimed Kitsune Maison compilation series, this ultra cool label have taken on a month long tour to spread the word. Starting and Paris and ending in Hamburg, it shall cover the U.K, Europe and even as far afield as Japan. Ever […]
– FUEL CAFE, MANCHESTER – Upstairs in this tiny venue, sees the opening night of a six day UK tour. In these six days there shall be no fewer than nine shows, which will include appearances in bars, charity shops and even one on a beach. As the three girls that make up Manchester’s very […]

LIVE: THE LOVELY EGGS / HOTPANTS ROMANCE – 01/06/2009

LIVE: LITTLE BOOTS – 13/05/2009

– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – At the tail end of last year, 130 of the UK’s leading music critics and broadcasters came together to compile the BBC’s Sound of 2009. The final list included many acts that you will have heard day after day over the airwaves, such as La Roux, White Lies and Lady […]
– THE NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – I am betting there are not many occasions when the P.A. system at the Night and Day Café has had church organ music piped through it. But tonight this is the case, as Reverend Ted Chippington graces the stage with his presence. It is almost three decades […]

LIVE: THE NIGHTINGALES / TED CHIPPINGTON – 27/04/2009