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Chapterhouse
Now that Shoegaze is regarded as a genre rather than a perjorative term and Slowdive have gone from pariahs of the 90s music press to headlining enormodomes you might be forgiven for wondering whatever happened to their old pals Chapterhouse – not least because the two were always lumped together back in the early 90s.…
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Soft Machine
Soft Machine are a strange proposition. They were at the epicentre of the Canterbury scene, which looks ever more unfathomable and strange the further we hurtle away from the late 1960s. At the start in 1966 the Softs were defined by very charismatic and singular talents – Robert Wyatt, Daevid Allen and Kevin Ayers who…
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Goon + Holly Head
Back in my favourite cellarful of noise and seeing as headliners, Goon, have swapped LA for Manchester rain it would be rude not to check them out wouldn’t it? Sadly, the billed support act, the wonderfully C86-tastic Autocamper are out of action due to injury. In their place at very short notice we’re in for…
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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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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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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…