LIVE: STRFKR – 17/11/2013

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – STRFKR and I go way, way back – to my college days, to be exact. ‘Julius’ was one of the many anthems blasting through my car speakers at half six in the morning and four in the evening. The electronic band hails from Portland, Oregon and started off as […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Radical Face is the pseudonym of musical act Ben Cooper, who hails from Jacksonville, Florida. I’d been listening to him since his 2007 release Ghost, which contains a song (‘Welcome Home, Son’) that most of you have undoubtedly heard while watching a Nikon advert either in the cinema or at […]

LIVE: RADICAL FACE – 10/11/2013

LIVE: GHOSTPOET – 19/10/2013

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – There are three types of gigs: those you wish you hadn’t been to; those that are exactly the same as listening to the album in your front room; and those that blast away your expectations. Ghostpoet at Deaf Institute most definitely falls into the latter category. Speaking of categories, […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER –  On a dark October evening as Manchester slides into winter, who wouldn’t want to take one last chance to reflect in a Californian sunbeam before it’s too late? There’s a storm warning on the radio, the clocks turn back tonight, and yet all that fills the Deaf Institute air […]

LIVE: THE GROWLERS – 26/10/2013

LIVE: BILL RYDER-JONES – 22/10/2013

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Taking to the stage with a four-man band, who Bill branded as “the most under-rehearsed band on the planet” on his Twitter page just hours before the concert in an unashamed honest use of social media, with no view to ticket sales. This unashamed honesty was soon reflected in […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – My introduction to Lanterns On The Lake was a few weeks back, when I reviewed their latest album, Until The Colours Run. I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the tracks and made a mental note to catch them when they play Manchester. So naturally, I was pretty stoked to […]

LIVE: LANTERNS ON THE LAKE – 15/10/2013

LIVE: DEPTFORD GOTH – 17/10/2013

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Daniel Woolhouse aka Deptford Goth, is a downbeat kinda guy. Cut from the same cloth as Active Child, How To Dress Well and Perfume Genius, he makes what I’ve come to term as ‘mopey RnB’. And lord knows, I like me a bit of mopey RnB. I saw him […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – OK, cards on the table… I am a Liam Frost fan.   A huge Liam Frost fan.  As huge as he once himself, was, when I saw him play at the opening of the 235 Casino…. Many moons, and many drained bank accounts past.  What he has lost in weight […]

LIVE: LIAM FROST – 4/10/2013

LIVE: NO AGE – 10/10/2013

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I am prepared for a No Age show. Or at least I think I am. I have heard about their ferocious live reputation, Dean Spunt and Randy Randall melting the eardrums of everyone in attendance with their incredibly loud drums /guitar combo, sending punters home covered in sweat and […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER –  Many things were lost in the noise of Britpop and grunge – bands that otherwise would have stood out as special were overlooked in the search for the next Oasis, the next Nirvana. Spacehog are a band who straddled the Atlantic with a toe in each of these scenes, […]

LIVE: SPACEHOG – 6/10/2013