LIVE: ALDOUS HARDING – 21/05/2019

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- I arrive at the sold out Gorilla venue awaiting Aldous Harding to take to the stage. It’s so hot, and the extremely large fans are churning out mildly cold air, whilst making noises as loud as the current Manchester road works. I think about Aldous’ music style and how these fans might interfere […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- “REEE-DERS! REEE-DERS! REEE-DERS” Between songs, this low-lung call rings out around the walls of Gorilla like a football chant, like Utd fans singing “Roo-ney” back in the day. A quick scan of the crowd and it’s a real stew… some grey beards (perhaps surprisingly for a band of this relative youth) but up […]

LIVE: THE SLOW READERS CLUB / LIAM FROST – 11/04/2019

LIVE: BAS / AUDIO PUSH / LUTE – 06/03/2019

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Bas is a New York-raised rapper and disciple of the Dreamville hip-hop troupe, and his fellow teammate J.I.D recently said that collectively, they are striving to go toe-to-toe with Top Dawg Entertainment, the front-running label in the genre this decade. The statement makes sense, especially considering how well the match-ups align: Dreamville head […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Sweet baby Jesus, The Twilight Sad (TTS) are an astonishingly good live band. Scrap that; they’re just an astonishingly good band full stop. Here to support their ridiculously great new album IT WON/T BE LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME (which, annoying punctuation and capitals aside, is their best effort since their peerless debut […]

LIVE: THE TWILIGHT SAD – 27/02/2019

LIVE: JIMOTHY – 10/02/2019

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Inadvertently on a mission to prove you don’t have to be a lyrical miracle to be a rap god, London’s number one alternative son Jimothy is setting the scene alight. Recently announcing on the Romesh Ranganathan podcast ‘Hip Hop Saved My Life’ that he was ditching the Lacoste section of his quirky pseudonym, […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- I came here to review a critically-acclaimed US group who rose to fame in the 1970’s, who appeared in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV, who released over forty albums, nearly as many compilations and created dozens of multimedia projects. What I am seeing, at a packed, sold out Gorilla, is […]

LIVE: THE RESIDENTS – 05/02/2019

LIVE: UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS / BLOOD CEREMONY – 22/01/2019

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- For the first time ever when walking into Gorilla, I head straight upstairs to watch a gig with the risk of getting a elbow to the face in a mosh pit. Catching the majority of the opening band’s set, I wasn’t getting the feeling that I was ready to watch Uncle Acid and […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Julia Holter is incredible. The LA-based musician is just 33 years of age, and she released her fifth (5th!) astonishing album Aviary to much acclaim last month, a 90 minute magnum opus that dazzles with its range of styles from atonal experimental noise to some of the best pop songs she’s composed so […]

LIVE: JULIA HOLTER – 06/12/2018

LIVE: KIKAGAKU MOYO / INLAND TAIPAN – 07/11/2018

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- The Beauty Witch have compiled a treat for those in Manchester this evening, with Gorilla taking centre focus. Opening proceedings, we have local band Inland Taipan, who have a new line up which incorporates additional viola and violin. The ethereal vocals and frantic guitar notes are complimented beautifully by the strings and create […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- A slightly subdued start to the evening at Gorilla this evening – Swedish rockers Birthday Girl don’t have the same following as the headliner tonight so the venue isn’t filling up right away but as soon as the first chord hits people are round from the bar, surging forward and paying attention. The […]

LIVE: GLASVEGAS / BIRTHDAY GIRL – 22/10/2018