Latest Posts
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Cardiacs
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a casual Cardiacs fan. Nobody ‘quite likes’ them. You’re either in, or you’re not and in a packed out Albert Hall tonight everyone is very much ‘in’. They are the very definition of an acquired taste. I first encountered them in 1987 when seeing a now infamous…
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Whitelands
Like Artie Fufkin from Spinal Tap, I go back with these. I first saw them in 2023 at a Sonic Cathedral event at The White Hotel where they quietly raised the roof. I bought a tape of their debut single at the merch table and chatted to the band about working with Rudy Tambala (of…
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Maria Somerville
We last saw Maria Somerville in a support slot with My Bloody Valentine last year and, in spite of playing to an enormodome filling up with punters getting their pre-gig beers in and adjusting their earplugs awaiting the loudest band in the galaxy, she managed to grab the attention of the audience – no mean…
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Happy Mondays : The Factory Singles
Long before they were famous for being tabloid newsrag and reality TV fixtures and became a nostalgic festival turn, Happy Mondays were a truly extraordinary and creative force. A raggedy bunch of genuine oddballs and misfits; not from the heavy, inner-city Manchester but from the hinterland suburbs of Salford, Wigan, and Bolton – they were…
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Shaking Hand – S/T
I’ve seen Manchester’s Shaking Hand play live a couple of times now, most recently supporting Pale Blue Eyes where I was suitably impressed with their interweaving guitars and deceptively expansive sound. They’re the kind of band that if you see them, they’ll reel you in as they start to play and before you know it…
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Stereolab
For a band who were on a 10 year ‘indefinite hiatus’ until 2019, Stereolab really seem to be making up for lost time. They’ve been touring extensively all over the globe since then and this year surprisingly released a brand new record ‘Instant Holograms on Metal Film’ which has been getting rave reviews. For my…
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Madness & Squeeze
It’s not all ‘Arsequake’, Shoegaze bands and the cutting edge of art rock on Phoning It In you know – we love a bit of Classic Pop too. I’ve always had a soft spot for Madness – their airborne sax player and nutty antics are etched in the memory along with that incredible run of…
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A Fine Bromance: The Accidental Duos of ‘Heritage Rock’
From Pete & Rog, to Mac & Will – we celebrate the enduring world of the ‘heritage act’ and explore the ‘accidental’ duos that have emerged as a consequence The Rolling Stones are still writing the unfinished book on how long an archetypal rock & roll band can go on and filling stadiums and arenas.…
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My Bloody Valentine
My Bloody Valentine are on a short tour, their first in 7 years and if I’m not mistaken this is their first time back in Manchester since 2013. Famously MBV are not known for their productivity. To put this in perspective, since they were last in town, the musically incontinent antipodean psych-rockers, King Gizzard and…
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Chameleons
Ah The Chameleons. The perennial North Manchester psychedelic misfits. Too late for the first wave of Manchester post punk with Joy Division and Magazine. By the time ‘Madchester’ was in full swing they’d already imploded. In the mid 80s Manchester hinterland they played The Big Music, got Steve Lillywhite in to produce ’em, got signed…
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Mood Swings with : Child of Prague, Teethe and Adore
Regular readers will know we’re big fans of the Mood Swings night at Yes Basement. You get 3 or 4 bands for less than a pint of lager at that overpriced, overcrowded Bingo Hall on Peter Street. Expect contrasting styles of music but all carefully curated by the promoters (Now Wave), everyone gets 30 mins…
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Hotline TNT
We’re back on a (yeah yeah) industrial estate in Salford for the 2nd time in the past week on a particularly rain-lashed mid week night. Hotline TNT are here, all the way from New York City and something tells me I’m into something good. They’re a few albums in but their new one ‘Raspberry Moon’…
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These New Puritans
It’s fair to say I was an early adopter of TNP. Initially they had some of the hallmarks of what I call Lamacq Rock ™. Evening Radio 1 friendly, signed to Domino, and with neo-post-punk sound that got them bracketed with Klaxons, LCD Soundsystem et al. The drummer was a model for brands like Dior…
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Seefeel In Dub
We reported from Seefeel’s spellbinding in peformance in Manchester last year (read all about it here) and since then there has been more activity, not least a stunning reissue of their early EPs collected along with the legendary Aphex Twin remixes as ‘Pure Impure’ which means their incredible back catalogue is pretty much all ‘back…
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Cabaret Voltaire
Just outside the city limits of Sheffield, Forge is a relatively new music venue. It is reached by crossing the Tinsley Canal, ducking under a railway arch, passing still functioning industries, the twinkling lights of the city in the distance until you reach the converted Victorian steel forge – it’s an almost too perfect setting…
Gig Reviews
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Cardiacs
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a casual Cardiacs fan. Nobody ‘quite likes’ them. You’re either in, or you’re not and in a packed out Albert Hall tonight everyone is very much ‘in’. They are the very definition of an acquired taste. I first encountered them in 1987 when seeing a now infamous…
-
Whitelands
Like Artie Fufkin from Spinal Tap, I go back with these. I first saw them in 2023 at a Sonic Cathedral event at The White Hotel where they quietly raised the roof. I bought a tape of their debut single at the merch table and chatted to the band about working with Rudy Tambala (of…
-
Maria Somerville
We last saw Maria Somerville in a support slot with My Bloody Valentine last year and, in spite of playing to an enormodome filling up with punters getting their pre-gig beers in and adjusting their earplugs awaiting the loudest band in the galaxy, she managed to grab the attention of the audience – no mean…
-
Stereolab
For a band who were on a 10 year ‘indefinite hiatus’ until 2019, Stereolab really seem to be making up for lost time. They’ve been touring extensively all over the globe since then and this year surprisingly released a brand new record ‘Instant Holograms on Metal Film’ which has been getting rave reviews. For my…
-
Madness & Squeeze
It’s not all ‘Arsequake’, Shoegaze bands and the cutting edge of art rock on Phoning It In you know – we love a bit of Classic Pop too. I’ve always had a soft spot for Madness – their airborne sax player and nutty antics are etched in the memory along with that incredible run of…
-
My Bloody Valentine
My Bloody Valentine are on a short tour, their first in 7 years and if I’m not mistaken this is their first time back in Manchester since 2013. Famously MBV are not known for their productivity. To put this in perspective, since they were last in town, the musically incontinent antipodean psych-rockers, King Gizzard and…
-
Chameleons
Ah The Chameleons. The perennial North Manchester psychedelic misfits. Too late for the first wave of Manchester post punk with Joy Division and Magazine. By the time ‘Madchester’ was in full swing they’d already imploded. In the mid 80s Manchester hinterland they played The Big Music, got Steve Lillywhite in to produce ’em, got signed…
-
Mood Swings with : Child of Prague, Teethe and Adore
Regular readers will know we’re big fans of the Mood Swings night at Yes Basement. You get 3 or 4 bands for less than a pint of lager at that overpriced, overcrowded Bingo Hall on Peter Street. Expect contrasting styles of music but all carefully curated by the promoters (Now Wave), everyone gets 30 mins…
-
Hotline TNT
We’re back on a (yeah yeah) industrial estate in Salford for the 2nd time in the past week on a particularly rain-lashed mid week night. Hotline TNT are here, all the way from New York City and something tells me I’m into something good. They’re a few albums in but their new one ‘Raspberry Moon’…
-
These New Puritans
It’s fair to say I was an early adopter of TNP. Initially they had some of the hallmarks of what I call Lamacq Rock ™. Evening Radio 1 friendly, signed to Domino, and with neo-post-punk sound that got them bracketed with Klaxons, LCD Soundsystem et al. The drummer was a model for brands like Dior…
Instagram posts
Occasional little mini reviews and promotional flange appears here:
Features
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A Fine Bromance: The Accidental Duos of ‘Heritage Rock’
From Pete & Rog, to Mac & Will – we celebrate the enduring world of the ‘heritage act’ and explore the ‘accidental’ duos that have emerged as a consequence The Rolling Stones are still writing the unfinished book on how long an archetypal rock & roll band can go on and filling stadiums and arenas.…
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Don’t Cut the Crap
Why the NOW! Yearbook series is preserving the good AND bad taste of our times – and all the better for it To paraphrase something Simon Bates may well have said if 1980 was the ‘Golden Hour’ on his Radio 1 “mid-morning matters” style show – “It was the year we lost John Lennon, but…
Recommended Listening
Hear some of the stuff we’re listening to on Bandcamp :
https://bandcamp.com/Drvolume/playlist/pii-autumnwinter-2025
