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My Bloody Valentine
My Bloody Valentine 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 the…
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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…
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No Joy – with Crimewave
A double bill to thrill tonight in the bestest of basements. Montreal’s No Joy are back in town after a long 8 year gap, but first up is local artist Crimewave. There’s only one person on stage, sporting a red beret, literally a one-man Crimewave. I’m immediately struck by the trouser-flapping bass and the term…
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Milan.W and Tristanne
I first became aware of Milan W. (aka Milan Warmoeskerken) when the Flemish polymath was awarded 2024 album of the year by Manchester’s enigmatic Boomkat – an online record store that can be relied upon to sift out record releases that no algorithm on earth would put your way. They praised ‘Leave Another Day’ to…