Manchester
Meet: A Conversation With Jon Kennedy
Being a music writer, I get the chance to hear and meet some pretty amazing artists. Just when I think I’ve heard it all here comes five other musicians that blow me away. Artists doing their own thing in a unique way. And not only that, but my eyes are opened to music and music …
Album Review: The Charlatans – Modern Nature
The Charlatans are an ageing Indie Holy Cow, the kind of band whose back catalogue xfm love to (very) selectively mine when they’re not heavily rotating the execrable Kasabian and the fading Kings of Leon. There are legions of fans, they’ve been around for over 25 years, and they have produced some decent tunes like ‘Just When You’re Thinking Things …
Live Review: Inspiral Carpets – Leadmill, Sheffield 6.12.14
The haircuts were considerably shorter, and maybe the clobber was a few sizes bigger than ‘back in the day’, but with the amount of Adidas trainees, Italian sportswear and sun hats been worn in the queue outside the Leadmill, it wouldn’t have taken a genius to deduce that one of the legends of the Madchester …
Live Review: Belle and Sebastian – Manchester Cathedral 28.10.2014
Manchester Cathedral is a magnificently historic, Gothic edifice. On paper at least, giving a band like Belle & Sebastian the opportunity to play its hallowed nave appears both inspired and a mite sacrilegious, in a naughty-but-nice way. Is this not the band that sings about getting a “dose of thrush from licking railings” amidst other …
Meet: Mercury Nominees GoGo Penguin interview
Its been quite a few weeks for Manchester Jazz Trio GoGo Penguin. Fired skywards by their recent Mercury Barclaycard Album of the Year nomination, they followed it up with a spot on Live on Jools Holland the other night. After a couple of years skirting around the edges of public consciousness, which saw heavy support …
LIVE: Northside. Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 17/03/14 + View from the pit gallery
‘Shall we take a trip down memory lane? … …Flashback to your days of youth. You’ve been there once, you’re living proof.’ Northside – ‘Shall we Take A Trip’ Looking around the Brudenell on Thursday night certainly was a trip down memory lane. So much terrace and baggy era retro gear on display you could …
EP Review: Eerie Glue//Joey Fourr – ‘Yr New Favourite EP’
I reckon every recording artist both signed and unsigned pre-about-2000 has at one point in their career recorded music in the Lo-fi style. The mental image of a young Rick Astley crooning into a 4-track tape recorder accompanied only by a rickety nylon-string may startle more than say, Keith Morris doing it, but I suspect …
Live Review: Megan Nicole – Manchester Academy 21.01.2014
Embarking on her European tour, Megan Nicole played her first full headlining show in the UK last night at Manchester academy. Providing a show length of 75 full minutes (which is more than a lot of gigs I’ve seen recently) Megan proved that she was the great musician and performer that her legions of UK …
Not Forgotton: Northside – Chicken Rhythms, and new spring tour dates
For me, it started with an apple. For there, in my local record emporium (the glorious Left Legged Pineapple in Loughborough) as I thumbed through Cocteau Twins, King of the Slums, Fuzztones, A.C. Marias, Blur, Diesel Park West, Lush and Bridewell Taxis records, I kept coming back to this record, with nothing more than an …
Interview: Rowetta from The Happy Mondays
The Happy Mondays are well and truly back. Playing live and rumors of a new album, we caught up with the queen of Madchester, Rowetta to see just whats going on…. BM:The Happy Monday comeback is well and truly in full swing. The gigs have been getting great reviews and you are just getting ready …