LIVE: MOUNT KIMBIE – 28/10/2017

-THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- Electronic duo Dominic Maker and Kai Campos have been making music as Mount Kimbie since 2008, formed out of the awfully named ‘post-dubstep’ movement that also saw the rise of one James Blake, who went on to be quite the big deal himself. Their debut Crooks and Lovers was an instant classic, their […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- The Lovely Eggs return nearly 12 months to the day after they played one of their largest headline gigs to date at Manchester’s Gorilla. I was fortunate to be there last time as a paying punter and had jumped at the chance this time to review them on their return to the city. […]

LIVE: THE LOVELY EGGS / SEAZOO – 27/10/2017

LIVE: BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB / RESTAVRANT – 27/10/2017

-ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER- Rock royalty such as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club will always do things how they want. About to smash into their 20th year (can you believe they started in 1998?! Me neither…), the now three-piece announced a new album in September. Releasing just a couple of tracks off Wrong Creatures to whet people’s […]
-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- Ibeyi’s reputation seems to have a habit of preceding itself on account of some key, critic-friendly factors. It’s typically of interest that their father was an esteemed percussionist with a number of Cuban acts, notably Buena Vista Social Club, though they have noted that they declined his offers of music […]

LIVE: IBEYI – 20/10/2017

LIVE: ST. VINCENT – 18/10/2017

-APOLLO, MANCHESTER- Annie Clark (stage name St. Vincent) told Pitchfork earlier this month: “All human beings create their own mythologies, and I’m in the somewhat bizarre circumstance of creating a big mythology that gets shared with a lot of people. In some ways, doing the work that I do is about reinventing a value system. […]
-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- Hundred Waters are a hard band to pin down, genre wise. Made up of vocalist Nicole Miglis, electronics whizz Trayer Tyron and percussionist Zach Tetreault, they can twist from lo-fi electronic folk loveliness to full electro-pop banger to all consuming noise, sometimes within the same song, and often punctured by sections of […]

LIVE: HUNDRED WATERS – 23/10/2017

LIVE: OTHERKIN / KASHMERE – 22/10/2017

-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- As our charge towards the future shows no signs of slowing down, I expect more stories to begin this way, but as it is, tonight is the first time I’m going to see a band having been introduced to them by Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist. Back then there were two EPs available, […]
-ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER- I remember my first Wait For Me album encounter. It was in a pound shop. Kerching! In a time when my sixteen-year-old-self just wanted 2007 indie tunes banging in my lobes constantly, not the rants from my driving instructor, nor the career advice from my sixth form tutors. Just give me a […]

LIVE: THE PIGEON DETECTIVES – 19/10/2017

LIVE: LAMB – 16/10/2017

-MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL- When I listened to Lamb‘s best of album, Best Kept Secrets, in 1999 it was the musical equivalent to Tiger Balm on tired muscles after a marathon, considering I was listening to Korn and Wu-Tang Clan albums playing on rotation. Lamb opened my mind to music beyond that made by ploddy, Britpop indie […]
-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- The final night of any artist’s tour is bound to be an emotional one, so heading along to see the tiny songstress Beth Ditto at the stunning Albert Hall on Tuesday I knew I would be in for a treat – she’s wrapping up over a dozen nights across Europe in Manchester. […]

LIVE: BETH DITTO – 17/10/2017