This Is The Kit

LIVE: THIS IS THE KIT – 11/11/2021

Comparisons are odious but given that I went to two gigs in two days I think I can be forgiven for drawing them. On Wednesday night it was Self Esteem at Gorilla and on Thursday it was This is the Kit at RNCM. Both intelligent female-led music, but that’s where the comparisons end. RNCM is […]
– RNCM, Manchester – Let’s get it out of the way up front. Yes, this is my first ‘proper’ post-covid-restrictions gig back in a full capacity venue (Squid at a sparsely populated, socially distanced Stoller Hall in Summer does not count), and yes it feels absolutely thrilling to be sharing a communal experience with actual […]
Rival Consoles

LIVE: RIVAL CONSOLES – 10/10/2021

LIVE: WHYTE HORSES / FRANCIS LUNG – 18/01/2020

-ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC, MANCHESTER- Francis Lung Discomforted by the balcony’s design flaws, I watch the support wither through a set I can only describe as somewhat square. Lacking any discernible rhythm as they dispense with mundane topics about ‘being too real’ and feeling invisible (eyes remained open), the opener’s minimalist tone hinders rather […]
-RNCM, MANCHESTER- Richard Dawson should really be a national treasure by now. The Newcastle born troubadour has released two of the best albums of the 2010s in 2017’s Peasant, a concept album set in medieval Northern England (stay with me here folks) that reflected our (then) current troubles (he introduces ‘Hob’ from the album tonight […]

LIVE: RICHARD DAWSON – 21/11/2019

LIVE: MARK KOZELEK – 12/10/2018

-RNCM, MANCHESTER- Either in his own name or as Sun Kil Moon, I count that Mark Kozelek has released ten albums since 2015’s Universal Themes, although I’m not here tonight because I have listened to any of them. Before the release of …Themes I wrote a review of the previewed song ‘Ali/Spinks 2’ in which […]
Currently on a solo tour of the UK, I Am Kloot’s songwriter and frontman, John Bramwell, has announced the release of his first studio solo album Leave Alone The Empty Spaces, and will be released on Friday 2nd February 2018. The first single from the album ‘Who Is Anybody?’ is out now. Leave Alone The […]

JOHN BRAMWELL ON TOUR NOW ANNOUNCES NEW FEBRUARY 2018 SOLO ALBUM – LISTEN TO FIRST SINGLE ‘WHO IS ANYBODY?’ NOW

LIVE: THE HANDSOME FAMILY / COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS – 22/02/2017

– RNCM, MANCHESTER – Last week, this picture popped up on my Facebook feed. In short, it recycles an old and often repeated claim about what the very highest level of musical taste is – that is, to like “everything except rap and country”. I’m going to have to leave that extremely dodgy sweeping generalisation […]
– RNCM, MANCHESTER – The impressive Royal Northern College Of Music plays host tonight, to John Bramwell who has taken time out from recording a new album to road test his new songs and play a number of songs from his back catalogue. It’s a bigger venue than on his recent string of solo dates […]

LIVE: JOHN BRAMWELL – 10/11/2016

LIVE: SAM BEAM AND JESCA HOOP – 31/08/2016

– RNCM, MANCHESTER – It’s like stepping through an upper-middle-class portal tonight, as the Royal Northern College of Music’s or RNCM for short, has its patrons ushered and halted and directed through doors and hallways. Holding wine in their hands, the RNCMs patrons, no more than utter a whisper throughout the performance, as Sam Beam […]
 – RNCM, MANCHESTER – For those of you who know Tiger Lillies, they need no introduction. For those who don’t, well – how long have you got? For starters, there’s the painted faces, the vintage costumes and the unusual instruments (tonight including accordion, theramin, Jew’s harp and musical saw). Then there’s the falsetto singing, which, […]

LIVE: THE TIGER LILLIES – 27/10/2015