The London-formed foursome are no strangers when it comes to performing live – preparatory to their biggest headline show to date, ISLAND jumped back in the tour van, taking in shows across Europe and the UK. Fortunately for us, we were able to catch them in the intimate and atmospheric venue that is, Nottingham’s Bodega.
It takes a particular power for musicians to capture the mood outside on a sensuous summer evening and bring it in with them – but Jess Kemp and Dave Gorman, co-headlining Manchester’s Deaf Institute, with guest Thea Brooks, managed just that on Friday 18th May.
This May, Liverpool’s Sound City returned for an early Bank Holiday weekend of live music and arts-based action. Experiencing a creative and cultural rebirth, the festival moved its operations to the Baltic Triangle: an area renowned for its modernist takeover of the historic part of town. Spread across two days, the event gave attendees an […]
Oh Leeds, you charmer you. A city that weaves and unwinds like an immense tapestry, revealing a thousand hidden gems, a thousand nooks and crannies, a minefield of cultural brilliance waiting to explode from under you at any given moment. And there is no better day to exemplify those most tantalising of features better than […]
Returning with a fresh and invigorating events programme, Liverpool’s three-day extravaganza of live performance and music industry panels continues over this coming May bank holiday weekend (4th/ 5th/ 6th May). Opening the weekend will be a day of insight and discussion as the Sound City+ conference brings a host of industry professionals to Liverpool’s historic […]
On a night which offers little to the imagination, Manchester’s gig calendar kindly bestows a pearl of contrast. The inspired alliance of Dream Wife and the Vaccines is one of those must-see moments that arrive oh so rarely – and in this case, ever so timely. Taking residence in the city’s largest Academy building, the […]
With the impending return of one of the region’s finest metropolitan festivals, we decided to throw out a few names for you to narrow down your journey through a frankly baffling array of artists. So with that in mind, here’s your super fast, low-calorie, one stop revision-cram-session-cheat-sheet to give you the lowdown, the hidden gems, […]
Camden lies at the heart of any music lovers quest for melodious enlightenment, chocked full of venues and bars in which to see great live bands any day of the week, it truly is a sanctuary. Personally, the Lock Tavern is most certainly at the top of the list of venues/bars/places to lose your inhibitions, […]
With as yet no music released online from recently formed Talkboy, going to their debut gig – supporting Public Access T.V. at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club, I didn’t really know what to expect.
The word “weird” was thrown around a fair bit the night that ambient pop collective Cigarettes After Sex cast their spell of incredible stillness over Leeds University. “Surely they have a support band – it’d be weird not to,” said the barmaid, only to be proved wrong. Maybe this was because a support band would […]
PEAKES are a Leeds-based trio made up of Molly Puckering (vocals), Maxwell Shirley (keyboards & backing vocals) and Peter Redshaw (percussion). Bringing together a wide range of musical influences, their alternative electronic sound is well thought out and incredibly self-assured even in its most vulnerable moments.
As the home of an ever-growing crowd of misfits, art school dropouts and hip millennial urbanites, Hackney cries out to the youth as a safe haven for the now conventional nuances of ‘abnormality’. The area is the cultural equivalent of a toddler throwing their toys out of a pram, rallying against London norms in true […]
The day dawned to a sprinkling of snow on Friday 17th November, as if providing a blank canvas before the array of events ahead at M for Montreal.
Off The Record is the result of a collaboration between independent festivals Sound City, Kendal Calling, Bluedot and music blog Louder Than War. After a sellout first year, expectations were high with ticket holders travelling from all across the UK for the Manchester music conference and festival, but luckily it did not disappoint.
More from Montreal…
I’m sure M for Montreal ranks up there as one of the friendliest music and culture festivals out there. A matter of hours in and I’ve fist-bumped the founder himself, gone ‘exploring’ the city with a music producer and radio host from LA, eaten breakfast with John Robb and been told that my accent is […]
Julien Baker’s set at the Brudenell Social Club, unsurprisingly, proved itself to be one of the most intimate and powerful performances of recent times. Her new album ‘Turn Out the Lights’ is sparse in terms of its instrumentation and arrangements (mostly just Baker on guitar, vocals and keyboards) but densely powerful, and this is what […]
Off the Record is back in Manchester on Friday 10th of November after its sell-out debut in 2016. The multi venue live music conference brings with it a host of industry experts from; Agents, Label and publishing A&R, Tech start ups, Bloggers, and Promoters to inform and inspire independent musicians of all instruments, genres and […]
It’s always incredibly exciting getting to see a band who are on the cusp of stardom. They’ve already reached greatness, and it’s plainly obvious that they’re bound for bigger stages, playing to bigger audiences.
Ever miss school discos? The weird exuberant atmosphere you can only get from a mix of too much squash and cupcakes and Saturday Night by Whigfield blasting at a pleasant volume, just make sure you’re home and tucked in by 10pm.