FEATURE: CERAMIC ANIMAL – NEW ALBUM PRODUCED BY DAN AUERBACH OF THE BLACK KEYS

Ceramic Animal play a blues inspired rock that caught the ear of Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, who liked them so much he signed them to his own Easy Eye Sound label, and has produced their latest album ‘Sweet Unknown’. Hailing from  Pennsylvania, the band create a lush densely melodic sound, somewhere between War On […]
When you can count Iggy Pop, Johnny Marr, Jarvis Cocker as fans, you know you must be doing something right. After more than forty years of music making The Monochrome Set are back again with their sixteenth studio album.  From the opening refrains of title track ‘Allhallowtide’ the chamber pop tone for the rest of […]

ALBUM REVIEW: THE MONOCHROME SET – ALLHALLOWTIDE

LIVE REVIEW: THE CORAL – ALBERT HALLS

I can clearly remember where I was when I first heard The Coral, at home tuned into the radio in 2002, the magnificent ‘Skeleton Key’ blasted out with all its frantic rhythms and psychedelic induced melodies, and so began my musical love affair with the scouse musical magicians. They created the kind of melodies and […]
Let’s face it, the thrill of discovering new music, new bands you’ve never heard of before keeps us music fans entertained and constantly striving for the next music fix. Whether it’s digging through the vinyl and CD shelves in your local record shop, hearing something new on the radio, or in this case getting a […]

ALBUM REVIEW: CARAMBOLAGE – CARAMBOLAGE / EILZUSTELLUNG-EXPRES / BON VOYAGE

INTERVIEW: JOE MATERA – AUTHOR OF BACKSTAGE PASS, THE GRIT AND THE GLAMOUR. DETAILS HIS ENCOUNTERS WITH THE LIKES OF LEMMY, GEORGE MARTIN, DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE AND MORE

The life of a writer can be a fun but frustrating experience, there’s the endless waiting around at venues, hotels, record label offices, or waiting for the phone call to be answered, yet the rewards almost always make it worthwhile. For writers, meeting or talking to your favourite artists, discovering what’s behind their craft and […]
Combining delicate pop harmonies with Americana style guitars, La Luz are the missing link between floaty, dreamy indie and cosmic country, with plenty of vocal harmonies and reverb drenched guitar sounds throughout the album. There’s the twangy opener ‘In The Country’ then the surf rock blast of ‘The Pines’ with its gentle vocal harmonies. ‘Metal […]

ALBUM REVIEW: LA LUZ – LA LUZ

ALBUM REVIEW: THINK I’M GOING WEIRD – ORIGINAL ARTEFACTS FROM THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC SCENE 1966-1968

Ah, the sixties, a time of Beatlemania, rock n’ roll rebellion, pop dominating the charts, three tv channels, and space exploration. While the world was fascinated by what lay beyond our own planet, in the late 1960s music fans around the world were discovering other ways to get ‘far out’ and ‘go cosmic man’ thanks […]
Released on Jack White’s Third Man Records, ‘Up’ is a swirling psychedelic gothic blast of an album, originally recorded in 1987 but only getting a release now after thirty three years. Formed in Manchester in 1986, and taking their cues from The Velvet Underground, The Fall and Buzzcocks, they had a guitar driven squalling soundscape […]

ALBUM REVIEW: THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT – UP

ALBUM REVIEW: JESSE MALIN – SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD

Over the past twenty years, Jesse Malin has managed to craft some of the best americana, verging from more mainstream rock to laid back heartbreak  tunes. A sound that takes in Tom Petty, Springsteen, with a twist of Husker Du and Wilco. On his latest album, ‘Sad and Beautiful World’, he’s been inspired by the […]
The Chameleons, part of Manchester’s musical tapestry and post punk pioneers, may never have received the accolades many felt they deserved in the eighties, but since their split in 1987, followed by frontman and bassist Mark Burgess resurrecting them in various forms from 2000 onwards, their legacy has only expanded. Now touring again as The […]

ALBUM REVIEW: THE CHAMELEONS – ELEVATED LIVING:LIVE IN MANCHESTER, LONDON & SPAIN