LIVE: GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS & HOWE GELB – 10/10/2014

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- Going from gig to gig around Britain with a guitar and a suitcase, a young Paul Simon once sat on a Cheshire railway station platform and wrote a lonely song about missing a home far, far away. Tonight, almost 50 years later, two other great American troubadours are in north-west […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Arc lights pick out silhouettes as Woman’s Hour take the stage, pick out the edges of the pyramids that front the album, angular, scattered around the stage, pick out the softer edges of Fiona James, who fronts the band. It’s a look that mirrors the pared back, silhouette sound […]

LIVE: WOMAN’S HOUR – 27/09/2014

LIVE: JAWS – 22/09/2014

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – A plethora of giddy teenagers outside the venue make me feel ancient but inside I feel quite smug.  I’m quietly confident that tonight in the tiny but charming confines of the Deaf Institute will be a triumphant success for JAWS and that I will have managed to take this […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I don’t know what it is, and I think it’s more than the accent, but Scottish music of late has had a signature sound. It’s influenced by their own countrymen, many of whom they have seen grow to huge international success from familiar beginnings that it has formed a […]

LIVE: WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS – 20/09/2014

LIVE: WILD CUB – 14/09/2014

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Nashville’s Wild Cub come to the Deaf Institute this evening for one of only two gigs in the UK this month. Support for the show comes from VYKTORIA. The four members of VYKTORIA swagger out onto stage and get stuck straight in to their opening song. Their sound, laden […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – So I’ve just spent the weekend traipsing around a field in Bristol for ArcTanGent festival, geeking out over riffs, reverb pedals and weird time signatures; that’s right, ArcTanGent is the UK’s only math/post rock festival. I’ve been pretty much on a post rock binge since returning back to reality, […]

LIVE: THIS WILL DESTROY YOU – 02/09/2014

LIVE: PERFECT PUSSY / JOANNA GRUESOME – 01/08/2014

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – The rumour that Joanna Gruesome were forged in the midst of anger management classes may or may not be true, but it seems a fitting beginning based on their performance tonight.  Careering from gleeful pop to controlled aggression across an 8 song set, they appear simultaneously self-deprecating yet certain, with a […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – It’s a funny notion that as I grow older, I much prefer watching something loud and noisy than something more hushed and acoustic – you’d think it’d be the other way around. But tonight is an exception, mainly because I’ve spent my day seeing how long I can stay in bed […]

LIVE: KEVIN DEVINE – 02/08/2014

LIVE: OWEN PALLETT – 15/07/2014

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – This evening seems somewhat of an exciting evening to be an Owen Pallett fan as he’s playing the first date of a long over due UK tour and today he just been shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, which is Canada’s equivalent of the Mercury. The Ontario based songwriter/ […]
– DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I’m late getting to the venue tonight – yet another title winners celebration in central Manchester – and only catch the end of the opening set by The Scenes.  First impressions are, there are a lot of them: A six piece crammed on the stage, leaving little room for manoeuvre for […]

LIVE: BO NINGEN – 12/05/2014