INTERVIEW: FRIENDS

Brookyln-based Friends are making some pretty darn good impressions round these parts. Even without an album release, Zane Lowe’s already cottoned on and named their 3rd single release ‘Mind Control’ the ‘Hottest Record in the World’. Plus they bagged a shortlist honour on the BBC’s Sounds of 2012. Since E4 canned the Friends repeats I’m […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Disco. It’s a dirty word. People are scared to be associated with it, and I often find myself breaking down the locked doors of people’s closets, and saying, “you don’t have to hide!” Now is the best time for disco, it is a burst of decadence without the calories or […]

LIVE: FRIENDS / ALUNAGEORGE – 08/05/2012

LIVE: WE ARE AUGUSTINES / MY GOODNESS – 02/05/2012

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – In less than two months since a shimmering set in the Night & Day Cafe, We Are Augustines have returned home from their first European tour, galvanised neutrals at South By Southwest and Coachella, delivered headline sets from Hollywood to native New York, and released their debut album, Rise Ye […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – I have a confession to make, one that I probably shouldn’t tell, but there is a reason behind it. I am late, only about 5 minutes but that’s enough to miss the best bit of the gig. Me and my friend are running up the stairs and I hear the […]

LIVE: JOSH KUMRA – 16/04/2012

NEWS: THE BIG PINK – 4AD SESSION VIDEO + NEW ALBUM DETAILS & TOUR DATES

Coinciding with today’s release of The Big Pink’s second album ‘Future This’, the eleventh instalment of the 4AD Sessions is now available. Directed by long-term 4AD collaborators Iain and Jane, Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell are joined by live band members, Victoria Smith and Zan Lyons to help bring to life the immersive feel of […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Academy 3 Manchester is in alcohol slicked high spirits, though the sort that could end in a drunken sing-song with a ephemeral best friend or spirited scrap outside the men’s toilets, depending entirely on whether somebody steps on your shoes or not. And they’re not sure what to make of […]

LIVE: CAITLIN ROSE – 12/03/2011

LIVE: DEAD MEADOW – 27/05/2010

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – This Led Zeppelin/Neil Young sounding rock band with stoner vocals are incredibly laidback unless launching into an epic instrumental. Unfortunately, a lot of their fans are too laidback to even turn up tonight. Academy 3 is disappointingly less than half empty. GNOD are onstage when I walk in the hall. […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Javelin’s bizarre intro – which I can only describe as ‘cosmic’ – segues straight into the main body of their set, which is stuck somewhere between very chilled and very dancy – with fat beats, floaty synths and falsetto vocals. The slightly everyday-sounding, yet ambitious lyrics mark this apart from […]

LIVE: YEASAYER/JAVELIN – 21/02/2010

LIVE: ‘A’/THIS CITY – 05/12/2009

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – It’s difficult to fight indifference, just ask This City frontman, Chris Purr, whose repeated pleas for the audience to edge closer to the stage fall on reluctant ears, and the foolproof clap-your-hand-above-your-head gambit is cruelly greeted with an audible titter. In truth, the Brighton quintet’s happy post-hardcore is ruined by […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – It’s an intriguing experience going to see a band you’ve never heard of. You’re worried you might hate it, and as a reviewer, you’re duty bound to stay for the whole thing. Well it turns out I had heard of The Answering Machine, I just didn’t know it and I […]

LIVE: THE ANSWERING MACHINE – 26/11/2009