Articles

Morrissey – Live at Manchester Evening News Arena, 22.5.04
Close your eyes, it’s that dark. Tune the radio to a frequency mid-way between two stations and crank up the volume, the noise is that intense.

Book Review: ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’
For someone of my (unspecified) age, from a suburban upbringing, with a record collection stacked full of guitar bands of the 1980’s, and with a university education, ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ reads like a self portrait.

The Essex Green (Everything is Green L.P.)
There is the obvious British pop Vs. United States psychedelia sparring, the definite hippy against the mod rebellion; but then there are more subtle strains of country, pop and folk.

Weirdo - The Douglas, Douglas, Isle of Man
A night of sonic exhilaration from the first struck chord, to the dying embers of the final strains of feedback the audience were treated to a full force gale of audioheadfuck, and nobody was disappointed.

John Peel, 1939 - 2004
His unique wit, his utter charm, and perhaps most importantly, his insistence in standing up to champion bands that otherwise would never be entertained by mainstream radio was vital in the world of music, and my greatest fear is that there is nobody out

Clayhill - The Roadhouse, Manchester
The club has been set out with tables and chairs which itself invites a more relaxed atmosphere, and people actually listen to the songs, to the words and to the music.

The wonderstuff - Bristol Academy
It was a surprise to be greeted by the (self labelled) short fused and bad tempered Miles Hunt with the question "Can I make you lads a coffee?"

Live Review: The Concretes  -  Manchester University, 16th November 2004
They simply appear onstage, no great dramatic entrance, no fireworks, it’s as though they have been waiting patiently for us to finish what we were doing before they start.

The Wedding Present -
I have always been a music fan and I always said when I was a young kid that

Coastal: Halfway to you
The sound of your heart strings snapping, like the sound of a smile cracking, like the faint gasp of your last hopes dying, or the nervous sigh of your first love blooming...Coastal have captured it all.

The Aphrodisiacs: This is a campaign
Significant steps have obviously been taken throughout the process of conceiving, arranging and recording this record, because the results suggest more than a bunch off kids playing with circuit boards in their bedrooms.

My Teenage Stride: I am sorry - Cd Ep
If this were released fifteen years ago, it would surely have come in a photocopied sleeve, possibly with a postcard of a railway station.

Morrissey: You are the quarry
Seven years in the making, 'You Are The Quarry' has a wealth of animosity, acrimony and ill feeling to draw on. High Court Judges, Accountants, Taxmen, Reality T.V. Pop stars, Ex-Band mates and world leaders are all fair game. Infact the only person to co

Keane: Hopes and fears
Much talked about in the music press, and on the back of a nationwide tour, the Brighton three piece unleash a what could have possibly become over hyped debut on the general public at last. And over hyped it certainly is not.

Giant Loop of Sound: Demo
Think of Paul Weller singing Smiths songs whilst being backed by The Thrills and managed by Brian Wilson and you're halfway there. Throw in the 'Randall and Hopkirk Orchestra' (a couple of old timers culled from the local brass band)

Cinerama: It's Not You, It's Me
It's like a tempestuous moment mid-argument where you temporarily lose control. That split second of madness when your real feelings emerge, only to be suppressed as you wipe away the tears and grasp hold of the reins again.

Tim Booth: Bone (LP)
But give a little more thought and you'll hear the sound of a man who despite being one of the busiest men in pop has an air of calmness in everything he says and does.

Weirdo: Hey, hey, we're the weirdos EP
Intelligent, energetic, anthemic, elegiac, delicate, sophisticated, introspective, apoplectic, melodic, menacing, subtle, it's all here.

The Concretes: Licking Fingers
The Scandinavians have an element of mystery, they seem to kind of want to keep themselves to themselves - could it be that they don't trust the rest of the world, or could it be that they want to keep all the good stuff for themselves.

The Boyfriends: No Tomorrow/ I Love You
How do I convince you that the bunch of demo recordings that landed on my doormat the other week are the most refreshing, vital, invigorating recordings that I have heard in many a year? What can I say to make you believe me,

Charlotte Hatherley: Grey will fade
The overall sound is sub-Buzzcockian pop rock, with overtones of the Undertones, and whilst there is an obvious Ash feel to it all it's hard to say whether Charlotte Hatherley has influenced them, of that they have influenced her.

The Fairways: This is farewell
This album could quite easily, and indeed, should be the soundtrack to a movie, after all, it is already the soundtrack to the lives of The Fairways.

20-22s: 20-22s album
I love debut albums by young bands full of self belief, passion and verve. Albums by groups of kids who feel that they have to work hard at what they are doing so that the world will sit up and take notice.

The Essex Green: Everything is Green L.P. (with re-mastered bonus 'The Essex Green E.P.')
There is the obvious British pop Vs. United States psychedelia sparring, the definite hippy against the mod rebellion; but then there are more subtle strains of country, pop and folk.

Clayhill: Small Circle
It's stunning, it's mesmerising, it's hypnotic, it's enchanting, it is purely and passionately beautiful.

The Wedding Present: Interstate 5 (single)
How many times have you found yourself leaping around the room to a tune wondering how the writer managed to be so in tune with how you were feeling?

The Donnas: Gold Medal
Right from the outset, 'Gold Medal' is a lesson in strictly controlled aggression, it’s forever poised on the brink of explosion, it’s edgy and noisy, yet vibrant and melodious.

This Poison!: Magazine 1986 - 1988
This Poison! should be lauded as one of the things that remained great in a decade that was in the main destined for the dustbin.

Geezers of Nazareth: Songs on the radio
It's the closest to schizophrenia that a song could possibly be before it loses all sense of structure. It's perilously close to the edge, there is just so much going on, it's fucking brilliant.

Shumai: Tastes like summer
The whole feel of the record is that of a D.I.Y. pop adventure, of sunny days, of optimism and hope. Not so much of confidence, but definitely of self belief.

The Boyfriends: Demo Recordings
I am going to resist the urge to wax lyrical about just how brilliantly innovative, passionate, and hopefully optimistic they are.

Harry Hunks: Revolutions from pink to pale
It's simple, but convoluted, the structure is plain, but the emotive nature is twisting and turning. The cello break makes 'Lets Go to Vienna' simply to die for.

Francis Albert Machine: I love you and I dont want you to die
Francis Albert Machine sees the world in a way that not many others do so, and that in itself is thoroughly refreshing and certainly something to be cherished.

Mercury Tilt Switch / The A Forest: Split single
There is a warming aura about split singles, about musical offerings that are put out under a blanket of sheer exuberance, self belief and swaggering confidence.

The Wedding Present: I'm from further north than you
The press blurb claims that 'I'm From Further North Than You' is "far and away better than anything that The Wedding Present have released previously", a bold claim indeed, but in a way I am inclined to agree.

Amsterdam / Ricky: Split single
I would be one of them that will square up to anyone and tell them that the British underground music scene has been in fine shape for years, you just have to scratch beneath the surface.

The Boyfriends: Live at Manchester Night and Day Cafe
The crashing, opening to ‘I Love You’ is supplemented with a squeal of feedback from Richards 335 and a steely stare from Martin. The song settles quickly and those present immediately know that this is something special.

The Wedding Present: Take Fountain
Again, backing vocals boost the performance, they are simply perfect, and combined with the spine tinglingly erotic cello break we are given perhaps the most perfect song of the decade.

Weirdo: 26 Minutes
Everything of beauty must be treasured; nothing of such elegant, insistent, forceful yet effortless beauty can ever be worthless.

Doves: Some Cities
'Some Cities' is a thrillingly metronomic, hypnotic, impulsive record that casts a disparaging glare over the decimation of urban communities. It's no holds barred, hand on heart and heart on sleeve documentation of the bands time spent in and around Manc

Charlotte Hatherley: Bastardo Single
It has all the qualities, intelligent, sophisticated, textured and infectious. It’s impossible to keep from hitting the repeat button as the tag line stamps then fades so eloquently.

The Wedding Present: Terry de Castro and Simon Cleave Interview
I have always been a music fan and I always said when I was a young kid that I was going to be a rock star – I mean, I’m not one, but I never thought that I would get this far for real, so I think that I would have been very pleased if someone had told me

The Donnas: Live at Manchester Academy
Whilst reclaiming some of their integrity The Donnas still make this sound something like the soundtrack to Meatloaf’s roller disco. It’s almost becoming a pale parody of what they have committed to tape, it’s what a loner teenager would hear whilst ridin

Undercut: Live at Manchester Night and Day Cafe
I often wonder just how much I have missed, just by not being in the right place at the right time, or even in the right place for a long enough time; but Undercut I did not miss

Echelons: For Against
Far flung from either cultural centre on the east and west coasts of the nation they naturally crafted wide open soundscapes that reflect the isolation, vastness and loneliness of the heartland of a nation.

Last Nights T.V.: Letters Without Envelopes
I get the feeling that song writing is a way of purging those feelings and of exorcising those demons, and it makes me realise just how important that is.

Lovejoy: ...Everybody Hates
The whole sound is subtle and understated whilst maintaining a steady steely gaze and an unrelenting hold.

Math and Physics Club: Weekends Away e.p.
From the opening chimes of the title track the mood is set, it’s uplifting, it’s heart warming, it’s an indie kids heaven.

The Magic Numbers: Forever Lost
Utterly infectious, stupendously melodious, spine tinglingly harmonious, ‘Forever Lost’, the debut single from The Magic Numbers points the way back to how pop should be.

I Am Kloot: Gods & Monsters
It extols the virtues of shopping bags, bus stops, drizzle, wheelie bins, petrol fumes, graffiti, unemployment, mattresses dumped in canals, next doors vicious dog shitting in your garden and burnt out cars being dumped in the park.

Amsterdam: Live at The Life Cafe - Manchester
...everything is totally worthwhile, when you can recognise that life is often shit, that it is more than likely going to be a battle, but that it is a battle worth fighting and winning.

Decoration: Live at the Cuba Cafe - Manchester
here is a band that are poised on the edge of something, it can go one of many ways, it could be deserved greatness, it could be cruel obscurity, it could be simple inertia; but if you ask me I would, without exception tell you that this band should go di

Decoration: I tried it I liked it I loved it - single
You may believe that nobody is penning these songs and committing them to tape, you may be turning into your parents with the belief that 'they don't write songs with a tune that you can dance to anymore' or worse still 'it's all just a noise these days'.

Lorna: Static patterns and souvenirs - album
On the surface it all seems very basic, stripped back and skeletally fragile, but listen again and there are layers and layers of subtle, delicate orchestration going on that belie the lo-fi nature of the whole production.

Amsterdam: The Journey
The Glorious Day has the engine room going at it like a steam hammer whilst Johnny Barlow rips sonic shreds from his Les Paul before casting them casually to the breeze and watching them flutter to earth from the heavens.

I am Kloot: I Believe
A thrilling extollation of the wonders of Shameless style inner city council estates, of dumped mattresses and burnt out cars, of kids on corners in hoodies and Burberry baseball caps, of teenage mums and of discarded glue bags and used needles behind the

Undercut: To Die For
Surely it’s more important to elucidate how a track feels, what it makes you think of and how it effects how you look at the world on a day to day basis. Who gives a shit whether or not they ‘..are the next U2’, not me, that’s for sure and I would hazard

Kicker: Our Wild Mercury Years
Railing against aloof coolness, insincerity and resolute cynicism, Kicker embrace aspects of eighties pop, northern soul and the underground in equal measure, and with it they produce thrilling, inspiring and breathtaking three minute slices of real life.

Tugboat: Tugboat - album
Canada rocks, it’s official, all that maple syrup and ice hockey seems to have finally paid off. Finally, the land of the mounted policeman, the giant redwood and some kind of defiant insistence of certain occupants to remain French is giving us some good

Viva Voce: The Heat Can Melt Your Brain
The discordant bass lines and the pounding drums lain so low in the scheme of things allow the optimistic rays of piano and guitar to shine through magnificently.

Clayhill: Acoustic Album
On record they profess a certain delicate fragility that is wrapped up in a smooth, warm, all embracing intensity, in a bittersweet forcefulness that refuses to let the listener drift away.

Decoration: Escape Routine
It’s a testament to the greatness of Decoration that all three tracks here are worthy title tracks for this record, song writing of this calibre is few and far between, and when it comes along it’s got to be grabbed with both hands and cherished.

Math and Physics Club: Movie Ending Romance
I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but I do know this: life without the Math and Physics Club would be a much duller place.

Shout Out Louds: Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
There isn’t too much too technical with this record, at no point does it even get near disappearing up it’s own arse. There is no pretention, no posturing or posing, none whatsoever, it’s simple, pure, valid pop music.

Decoration: Decoration - Don't Disappoint Me Now – Album
Like a broken heart, or a first drunken kiss in the rain, like a sudden death or the first spark of romance across a midnight dance floor in a provincial nightclub, like a motorway pile up or an unexpected declaration of love; we never expect these things

Money Can't Buy Music: Money Cant Buy Music - We Will All Asphyxiate – Single
The role of songwriter is obviously important, either that or he just has an unfettered natural ability to create stunningly effective, often heart warming, sometimes desperate lyrical slices of life set to a backdrop of always appropriate musical soundsc

The Research: The Research - The Way We Used to Smile - Single
It’s hip and it’s pop and you cannot fail to shift your feet to the infectious hooks of The Research then you must be residing somewhere between tone deaf, lifeless and listless.

The Wedding Present: The Wedding Present - Ringway to SeaTac - Single
Just as the big bang was his birth, this is the story David Gedge’s life imploding and falling in on itself as the romance that he thought would last forever crumbles to dust.

The Aphrodisiacs: The Aphrodisiacs - In the Name of the Father - Single
The three songs collated here all offer something different from the last, that’s true in many ways, but there is always, running right through the set that feeling of freshness, of youthful exuberance, of a semi cock sure swagger tempered with suggestion

The Crimea: The Crimea - Tragedy Rocks - Album
With a verve and a nerve, with swing and swagger, with melody and passion The Crimea show with this record that gritty drama need not be swathed in the cod stadium rock pomposity of their peers.

The One Who Flew: The One Who Flew - Corporate Love Songs - Album
This soothes, this sways, it glides and sashays into the room like a black and white Hepburn retreating to her trailer to sink gin and allow a fleeting moment of despair before putting on the familiar Hollywood face for the cameras.

Decoration: Decoration - Pine - Single
With a verve and a thrust and an uncompromising swagger they have presented us with perhaps the most exciting, invigorating and fresh sounding record of the year and the recognition is slowly starting to stand up and be counted, be sure, this is a band of

I am Kloot: I am Kloot - Maybe I Should - Single
It’s frighteningly exhilarating and purposely short, it’s over before you know it, with a flash and a bang and sure fire intent. It leaves you, as all the best songs do, desperate for more, gagging and foaming at the mouth.

The Chemistry Experiment: The Chemistry Experiment - Interstellar Autumn E.P.
It is in a way a more sensitive angle on the New Order songbook, but the driving percussion and synthesisation is all there in ample measure, and it’s a thrill from start to finish.

John Parkes: John Parkes - Faithlessnessless - Album
Music meets art and comes off all the better, I only wish that this was the soundtrack to a film, it deserves to be, it’s a must.

Cannonball Jane: Cannonball Jane - Street Vernacular - Album
This is what kids can do in their own bedrooms now and it has more balls, style and skill than those age old rockers who are doing whatever it is they do in stadiums all around the world this weekend.

Celestial: Celestial - E.P. One - Single
It’s very C-86-ish and would sit well in a record collection built around the early days of Creation and Sarah Records, Bobby Wratten would kill for this.

Nightmare of You: Nightmare of You - The Days Go By Oh So Slow - Single
It’s a long time since something has sounded so fresh, so invigorating, so, simply exciting and left me wanting so much, so soon.

The One Who Flew: The One Who Flew - Kingston Bridge - Album
I know that the warming arms or reassurance will collect all my hopes and fears into their tight embrace and put right all that is wrong, I know this, I know it well.

The Lucksmiths: The Lucksmiths - A Hiccup in your Happiness - Single
The title track opens delicately and swiftly metamorphoses into a stomping dizzy romp of three parts pop, two parts northern soul all thrown together with a shot of tequila to drown the sorrows.

Decoration: Decoration - Candidate/Job in London - Single
...it breaks and falters, it sidesteps and sways, and ultimately prettiness is swept aside by the raw out and out power and passion of music that quite rightly steals the show.