It’s a rainy Tuesday night in Manchester, and Oxford Road is quieter than usual. Perhaps this is because everyone is in the Deaf Institute, falling a little bit in love with Ane Brun. Weaving through the captivated crowd en route…
Category: Reviews
Live | Bon Iver @ Hammersmith Apollo, 24th October 2011
Okay so let’s just get this straight: there is more than just one man in Bon Iver. Everyone seems fixated on Justin Vernon, frontman and “face” of the band, but seeing them live was a real eye-opener. There were nine…
Album | Twenty-One Crows – Sons of Liberty
The oral tradition of storytelling has been with us for thousands of years. It helped strengthen communities, served as the only means of communicating important news of the day and, in its crucial role as the foundation stone of mildly…
Live | Wilco @ The Roundhouse, 28th October 2011
The Roundhouse is a wonderful venue to see any band. The acoustics generated from the Victorian railway shed that once contained a train turntable generates a rich, well-rounded sound that rivals any of its London competitors. Support act Jonathan Wilson…
Live | Bob Dylan @ Manchester MEN Arena, 10/10/2011
Bob Dylan’s been playing some of his songs for forty eight years. Forty eight. He’s a 70 year old man, and he’s been on tour since the ‘80s. Can you honestly blame him for wanting to mix things up a…
Live | Emmy the Great @ Wrexham Central Station, 06/10/11
I’ve recently had reason to move back to my childhood home, an event I regarded with no little trepidation. Aside from the obvious benefit of rent-free accommodation with meals thrown in, my teenage memories are of a musical wasteland punctuated…
Album | Loch Lomond – Little Me Will Start A Storm
The first thing that should be mentioned about Loch Lomond is that they are not the second coming of The Decemberists, no matter what some music bloggers are saying. There are three reasons why they’re saying that though. Both bands…
Live | The Leisure Society (Laura Marling support) @ Winchester Cathedral
‘This place seems nice…’ quips Leisure Society co-frontman Christian Hardy, surveying the audience settling into Winchester Cathedral’s 160m Gothic nave. Before Nick Hemming’s guitar ripples reassuringly into ‘We Were Wasted’, from the band’s debut album The Sleeper. It’s a skeleton…
Live | Gruff Rhys & Y Niwl @ Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Amongst the potted palms of the mobile lobby of Gruff Rhys’s Hotel Shampoo, support band Y Niwl emit wave after wave of their own brand of crystalline surf rock. The Peter Gunn-esque ‘Pedwar’ opens the show, followed by the standout Chwech,…
Album | Greg Hall – Run Barefoot Holler
An American-sounding Londoner, Greg Hall has built up an impressive list of film and theatre collaboration credits and now emerges blinking into the spotlight with a debut album in his own right. ‘This Ain’t Love’ and ‘Falling Rain’ – both…