ALBUM REVIEW: ALELA DIANE – LOOKING GLASS

As far as singer/songwriter music goes, my taste tends to skew older. I’d rather hear about raw, lived-in experiences than the broad platitudes any day of the week. Sure, the music might oftentimes be slow, relatively mundane, and lacking hooks, but intelligent construction and thoughtful writing can make up for a lot. On that note, […]
It’s been twenty-two years since Pavement last played Manchester, in the intervening years, social media has taken off, the way we consume music has changed, yet for many bands the two-way street of appreciation between band and audience remains as vital as ever. I was lucky enough to witness Pavement in the early years, after […]

LIVE REVIEW: PAVEMENT – 20/10/22

ALBUM REVIEW – VARIOUS ARTISTS: C85

1985 was the year when I started attending gigs regularly. It was a time of fervent excitement where with teenage obsessiveness and excitability every few weeks I would be discovering a new Best Band in the World Ever! It was hard to understand why the whole world was not falling in love with the bands […]
– Canvas, Manchester – Irish noise masters Gilla Band (fka Girl Band) are back with Most Normal, their new, album of the year contender LP, arriving with a reputation for putting on incendiary live shows. Having just left the brand spanking new Canvas on Oxford Road (very decent, big blank Gorilla sized white box in […]
Gilla Band

LIVE: GILLA BAND – 20/10/2022

ALBUM REVIEW – JD MEATYARD: LIVE THE LIFE

JD Meatyard’s latest album, ‘Live The Life’, sees John Donaldson resume his explorations of politics and the deeply personal with the characteristic urgency that made him a Peel favourite from Levellers 5 days onwards. The title track updates one of his previous band’s, Calvin Party, most thrilling moments, ‘Caspers Ballroom’, combining a gigantic riff, melody […]
Rachael Dadd’s previous album, ‘Flux’, was one of 2019’s hidden gems. When I saw her perform those songs at Manchester Gullivers, it was 31st January 2020, the date on which Britain was leaving the European Union, a cause for grief on stage and amongst the audience.  The atmosphere was uniquely protective, a celebration of people […]

ALBUM REVIEW – RACHAEL DADD: KALEIDOSCOPE

LIVE: THE LEMONHEADS – 08/10/2022

Being old enough to have seen The Lemonheads plenty of times in the early 90’s, the fact they were returning to play the whole of one of my favourite albums, was a gigging opportunity which was not to be missed. Last time Evan Dando and his band toured the seminal ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’ […]
The Black Angels never fail to make you lose yourself in their heavy-duty riffs, calling on the spirit of Sabbath, Led Zep and even the motorik grooves of Can, On album number six, the hefty guitar lines are there in abundance for a free-spirited ride yet one infused with thought provoking lyrics on environmental destruction, […]

ALBUM REVIEW: THE BLACK ANGELS – WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS

Let's Eat Grandma

LIVE: LET’S EAT GRANDMA – 07/10/2022

-YES, MANCHESTER- Last time I saw Let’s Eat Grandma (LEG for simplicity and word count for the rest of this piece) I was in pain. It was a Monday night in April 2018 at the Deaf Institute, and I’d just cycled over from playing 5-a-side where I’d fallen awkwardly on my wrist. It was throbbing […]
One of the saddest musical losses of 2022 was the death of former Microdisney and Fatima Mansions frontman, Cathal Coughlan on 18th May. He enjoyed a prolific late period with 2021’s solo album, ‘Song of Co-Aklan’, and two full-length collaborations with producer Jacknife Lee under the guise of Telefis, ‘a hAon’ and the posthumously released […]

ALBUM REVIEW – TELEFIS: A DO