Reviews // Live Reviews // Interviews // Articles

I have been lucky enough to see Jeffrey Lewis live a number of times over the years (once before with Peter Stampfel), yet no two shows have ever felt exactly the same. Lewis' combination of lo-fi...

Read more

Wednesday night and a rare venture to Liverpool to finally get to see the excellent Baltic Fleet support the highly-praised Public Service Broadcasting. And what a gig it was. The venue itself, The Ka...

Read more

As soon as Ricker (the lead singer/guitarist... The others are known as Rotter and Bark, on bass and drums respectively) opens his mouth, the small, concrete, underground bar was transformed into some...

Read more

When people imagine great musicians coming out on stage, they always imagine a level of incredible ego advancing before them like a visible glow. It's almost expected, and a lot of acts use that a...

Read more

There must be something in the water in Montreal at the moment as Suuns, Dirty Beaches, Jerusalem in My Heart and the Besnard Lakes have all released albums of note in the last few months. The Besnard...

Read more

The Walkmen's latest album is called Heaven and, judging by their Live at Leeds performance, they live up to such an ostentatious name, whether they intended it to be tongue-in-cheek or not. It...

Read more

Live at Leeds is an ambitious project even by festival standards. It may only be a single day but it's the most intense day you'll have in a long while... Probably until the next Live at Leeds...

Read more

Suuns have been leaving mouths agape since releasing their sultry yet sinister debut LP Zeroes QC in 2010. They've gathered quite a besotted following in a relatively short space of time. I'll...

Read more

Dutch Uncles are ably supported by Sky Larkin tonight at the Scala (a quite cold but nicely sized, easy-to-get-to-the-front venue), who seem a bit unlikely a support group but provids an unfussy and c...

Read more

Greeting us with a piercing screech of "Thursday night Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeds!", Karen O (sounding, as my gig-wife correctly surmises, "like a chainsaw in woman form"), owns the sta...

Read more

The last time I saw Swans play was in this very venue in 2010. Back then, the band had just released their first album in over a decade, the magnificently brooding My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to...

Read more

"Expect the unexpected" is one of the single most predictable clichés in the book. Pick up any listings section and it's 99 per cent certain you'll read that phrase at least once. S...

Read more

Susanne Sundfor is one of those artists who, once you discover, you can't believe more people haven't heard of her. It is my constant pleasure to introduce her extraordinary music to people. S...

Read more

Noise-rock is having a takeover it'd, seem. Two-piece bands blending the simplicity of The White Stripes and The Hives with the riffs of QOTSA and Archie Bronson Outfit are even coming out of York...

Read more

If this were the 1950s, I would write something brief and chirpy like: "Despite their brief time on stage, the boys really rallied and gave it their all - well done, chaps!" Luckily, however...

Read more

On a dark and miserable night, the prospect of seeing a band I'd only ever heard through my poorly laptop made the rather damp journey to The Haunt somewhat more bearable. Being greeted in the foy...

Read more

Despite spending most of their time of time playing in empty rooms at practice, most people in bands will tell you that some of the toughest gigs aren't necessarily the ones in front of heaving cr...

Read more

The Brudenell Social Club is rammed full and so it should be, as tonight its Hookworms hometown album launch for their debut long-player, Pearl Mystic. From what I've heard the band themselves wer...

Read more

They're a solemn and reverential bunch, Villagers' fans that's for sure. I've been at more raucous funerals. Yet such is the dedication and heart-drenched focus with which the diminuti...

Read more

They were nervous, you could tell. Every time you looked, furtive-eyed door staff gazed on anxiously as the demonstrative Frank Carter plotted his next move. Carter, as anyone who has come into contac...

Read more

The intimate and decidedly hip space of Birthdays in Dalston is packed to the rafters with young and trendy people waiting to see the electronic-soul duo in their first sold out London gig. The antici...

Read more

Whether it's for yourself or someone else, most people tend to measure a good birthday against the quality of pleasant surprises. So on paper then, the choice of this small East London venue for a...

Read more

There are about 12,000 people in Motorpoint Arena tonight, and its doubtful more than a third of them know much of Pulp's music dating from before 1993's excellent and aptly-named Intro compil...

Read more

Shrouded in billowing pink smoke on the Brudenell stage, Boris make for pretty cool silhouettes; especially Takeshi with his signature double-necked guitar. You know from the start that Boris' liv...

Read more

From the moment the BBC clocked on to Jake Bugg's '60s-infused 'Lightning Bolt' and used it to repeatedly soundtrack any montage scene involved the human cannonball Usain Bolt, the imp...

Read more

It's a jam-packed night in the tiny Kraak art installation-cum-venue, with three supports before headliners O Children emerge. First up are the rather pompously-named Die Hexen, an electronic two-...

Read more

Of all the bands in the world, reflecting on the career of The Cribs is perhaps the most heart-warming. It is slightly odd to consider that the Jarman brothers have now been a band for over 10 years a...

Read more

Tonight's first support act, Whole Sky Monitor, make twin-guitar indie-rock that's post-punky but also rather pedestrian. Everything looks good on paper but in the flesh it's just hard to ...

Read more

Supporting Field Music are an interesting Welsh duo called Golden Fable, comprising of Tim McIver and Rebecca Palin, formerly of cult band Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band. They play a beguiling...

Read more

The Brudenell seems to be packing the back end of the year with some pretty impressive acts. We've already had mind-expanding sets from the likes of Julian Cope and Om while Boris, Moon Duo, The T...

Read more

Having vowed never to the return to the Leeds Festival after being beset by mediocre line-ups and poor facilities, and having kept that promise for 10 years, the draw of The Cure is too tempting to ma...

Read more

Moody Gowns kick off the evening's entertainment with a brilliantly energetic set. Their sound comes across like a gleefully trashy combination of Bearsuit and fellow Leeds eccentrics The Seven-In...

Read more

A few years ago it would have been difficult to swing a Yankees baseball bat in Brooklyn without taking out a super-hip, skinny jean wearing, Ray Ban sporting member of the latest act set to roll off ...

Read more

Support tonight comes from ex-Vibracathedral Orchestra man Mick Flower. Flower is a singularly talented guitarist and one of Leeds' most influential musicians. Tonight, Flower plays guitar to a rh...

Read more

There isn't a support act as such but before chief druid Mr Julian Cope starts his set tonight we get a member of the Black Sheep, Cope's backing band, performing a drum solo on stage while an...

Read more

Supporting Calexico tonight is Orgeonian indie-folk songstress Laura Gibson, a charming singer who sings relatively simple, intimate and delicate songs, mainly off her new album Le Grande, and who rem...

Read more

Conversion, that's what it's all about, not just in the technical sound sense, what with singer Oliver Ackerman's homemade pedals and such, but people. It's like a religion - it being ...

Read more

At this, one of a series of gigs at small venues serving as a warm-up to their appearance at the Olympic closing ceremony in Hyde Park, Blur proved themselves to be the perfect choice for closing Lond...

Read more

The gig room at the Brudenell Social Club is busier then I've seen it in ages, with good reason too. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks have, without much fuss or fanfare, become one of the finest li...

Read more

Starting with one fine Mancunian band, Milk Maid, this gig was set to be a non-misser from the off. Having changed a couple of band members here and there, Milk Maid now seem settled on a pretty solid...

Read more

The night started off with support from Electralane's Verity Susman who set an odd tone (which will, of course, later be carried on by Mr Cox) by inexplicably wearing a fake moustache. The songs t...

Read more

"It was a dark and stormy night!" shouts Anthony Kiedis at the start of the awesome funk-rock experence that is the Red Hot Chili Peppers show at Knebworth, Stevenage (an epic walk to and fr...

Read more

And so it's finally here, the weekend of the most hyped gigs ever. In the build up to these gigs, I have to confess to feeling a little bemused as to what all the fuss was about. Yes, The Stone Ro...

Read more

Mitchell really is one of the most exciting and formidable talents out there and it really is a wonder why this gig, the last on her tour, didn't sell out a while back. Still, Dingwalls is crowded...

Read more

The release of 'The Plot Against Common Sense', the third album from Welsh hellions Future of the Left, has occasioned a little bit of controversy. Frontman/agent Provocateur Andy Falkous, wel...

Read more

Wow.... There's not really a lot else to say about this gig and I have to fill a page. This Aussie band have put out a fabulous album, Beards, Wives, Denim, filled with their crazy, shambolic psyc...

Read more

Hitting Manchester's Soup Kitchen for a pre-album release tour, Japandroids attracted a fairly geeky crowd for their raucous live show. Due out on 5th June, their third release Celebration Rock se...

Read more

Watching Carletta Sue Kay is kind of like Genesis P Orridge: The Torch Song Musical. Singer Randy Walker stands in the spotlight, his face a mess of smudged make-up and five-o'clock-shadow stubble...

Read more

The 80s revival is really taking over in every genre of music. From electro-pop getting all Human League through to acts like The Black Belles embracing the goth image to go with their blues-driven ro...

Read more

Apparently on their third album, and at only one year old as well, Modern Blonde were the only act supporting the beautifully ethereal Trailer Trash Tracys. Bad choice. Despite their apparent adventur...

Read more

It can't be easy following the vocal dexterity of four Yorkshiremen singing sea shanties, yet somehow Martyn Joseph manages to upstage the locals with another passionate and polished performance, ...

Read more

After seeing the brilliant Ane Brun, this gig was further proof that the Norwegian music scene is going strong. Hanne Huckelberg, however, is quite the contrast to Ane Brun's accessible brand of f...

Read more

I didn't know anything about Natalie Duncan before going to see her at this little gig in London. She's petite, pretty and feline, and has that bluesy-boozy attitude about her. She can also re...

Read more

Yet another band which is made from another band; it's happening a lot these days. Pinkunoizu is half of Le Fiasko, taking that experimental folky sound even further into the depths of psych and s...

Read more

The stage at the Brudenell Social Club is bathed in blue light as the three musicians that make up A-Sun Amissa take to the stage. Guitarists Richard Knox and Owen Pegg, along with violinist Angela Ch...

Read more

The Mt. Sierra Trip are a quartet of pasty, floppy haired indie-waifs who sound like My Bloody Valentine most of the time, and sometimes like Yuck and all the bands they sound like. Very occasionally,...

Read more

Let's cut to the chase - female drummers are cool. No if, no buts - they ARE cool. Yet in the alpha male world of rock 'n' roll they are a rare breed indeed. However, surely if any budding...

Read more

It tends not to be a good idea, politics and world affairs combined with musical performance. Think Bono - of course, everyone does - he may be right and just but yawnesome. Jaz Coleman on the other h...

Read more

There's no doubt about it, Spector are having the time of their lives at the moment. Hot-footing it back to the capital fresh from putting Florence's crowd through their paces at a Nottingham ...

Read more

First on tonight is French speaking Canadian singer O Paon. Taking to the stage in bare feet, Genevieve Castree is softly spoken, shy even, as she introduces herself but when she starts to play you ca...

Read more

You may not be aware that Niall O'Conghaile, alias The Niallist, made one of the best party records of last year, but he did. It's called AKA and he's now offering it as a free download. T...

Read more

The queue for Lights at Scala in London is so long that it doubles back on itself. It takes a giant of a bouncer to restore order and get everyone into line properly. Lights probably couldn't have...

Read more

Leeds punk-rock heroes Broken Arm open proceedings tonight and set a high standard from the start. The first song comes on like 'Little Doll' by The Stooges via Black Flag; brutal and exhilara...

Read more

Manchester's Academy 1 was packed out from before the start of Red Fang's set, first up on this three band bill of grizzlies. A heavy stomping stoner rock act, engaging the crowd from the outs...

Read more

Peggy Sue are from Brighton and possess a fairly bewitching live presence. However, their brand of riot grrrl folk-rock gets a little repetitive over several songs, despite some innovative drumming an...

Read more

At the very back of a record store in East London, behind the aisles of CDs and vinyl, a bespectacled and ordinary looking man gets on stage with a light-looking acoustic guitar. This rouses the agein...

Read more

Tonight Wolf People will help the audience at the Brudenell Social Club collectively forget that they're in the early stages of 2012. No, tonight we'll be transported to a smoky bar, sometime ...

Read more

Sunday's curators are Caribou, Canadian resident Dan Snaith and his backing band, who along with the previous days' headliners also commence proceedings with an afternoon set. Emerging dressed...

Read more

Day two's curators are Battles and their afternoon set is as math-tastic as expected, with unconventional, driving bass and drum rhythms, echo-drenched guitar and fleeting glimpses of keys. Perhap...

Read more

All Tomorrow's Parties' annual festival, A Nightmare Before Christmas, at a windswept Butlins complex in Minehead is this year curated by three North American bands of contrasting styles. Whil...

Read more

I think it's safe to say that when a frontman walks on stage half an hour late with a coat draped dramatically over his shoulders, reading a book, he is going to have to fight to convince the audi...

Read more

The Silent Bells Tour pitches three wildly varying artists from Leeds' superb Gizeh Records, on a mini UK tour of some unique venues. Tonight we are deposited in the Left Bank, a church buried on ...

Read more

Joining the terrible teens could hardly have been more fun for this much-loved, eclectic, all-encompassing record label. Celebrating the momentous occasion on the same day as the small matter of two m...

Read more

Halloween, Alaska have some interesting elements to their music. Their tightly controlled funk rhythms recall Japan's less overtly synth-pop moments, while the constant throb and ebb of organ unde...

Read more

London-based dream-poppers Novella are already strummin' away when I get to the venue. Their sound is thick, feedback-heavy and very shoegazey. Underneath the sludge, of course, are sunshiny, bitt...

Read more

It's two in the afternoon and it's a rather lovely autumnal day in Leeds. The perfect kind of day to take things easy and relax, maybe sit in the garden with an ice-tea and a copy of the Indep...

Read more

Shark Teeth (née Blood Oranges) are a ballsy indie-pop proposition. With their two geeky boys and two glamourous but tough girls, they look like they should be propping up the bar in a John Waters fi...

Read more

There's something about the prospect of seeing the Melvins live that causes a kind of barley suppressed excitement in heavy-rock fans. Most express this joy by beaming like idiots while staring ad...

Read more

Just when we thought all existing Indie bands had jumped ship into synth territory, Pete and the Pirates proved us wrong. I myself feared for the existence of simple story-telling and melancholic melo...

Read more

I wasn't sure whether Koko's recent Dubstep vs Electro night meant dubstep artists and electro artists on the same bill, or more ambitiously dubstep mixed with electro. But although the night ...

Read more

A quick word on the Worst and Greatest Show in the World. Last Wednesday I set out to see a small, fairly unknown band at the MEN just for kicks. They were called Archway Blaze or Fire at the Amusemen...

Read more

If Tom Marshallsay aka Dam Mantle has a problem playing to an near-empty room he's good at not showing it. The electro whiz, responsible for some of 2011's best music, is positively convulsing...

Read more

Flametal opened last Saturday night at La Peña with a traditional flamenco rumba that quickly spiraled into a mix of heavy metal head-banging and virtuoso guitar progressions. The band, led by lead g...

Read more

Indietracks is one of the nicer, but more musically unadventurous festivals around, populated almost entirely by twee indie-pop kids playing to other twee indie-pop kids. But everyone is well-behaved,...

Read more

Weird place for a gig. Men in suits wobble past half-cut. Women clutching champagne flutes tramp through churned-up mud in stiletto heels. It highly debatable how many people here came for the live mu...

Read more

Formerly of London but now France-based, Piano Magic have been an on/off part of my life for 15 years, particularly in the late 90s with regular radio play from avid fan John Peel, but bar one missed ...

Read more

My initial gut reaction to Yacht was one of cynicism. They just tick all the hipster-cliché boxes so heavily that I found it hard to take them seriously. Let's examine the evidence: electro-rock/...

Read more

Vivian Girls have to contend with a lacklustre atmosphere tonight. The XOYO - maybe too 'venue' for bands of this size - is packed, yet the youngish self-conscious crowd seem oddly subdued. Wh...

Read more

The gratuitously talented and monikered Avigdor Zahner-Isen brings his feted slacker-pop outfit to the Scala a year on from releasing that mind-blowingly awesome ST debut record. Putting aside for a m...

Read more

Saturday was the day the rain came, together with some of the weekend's strongest acts. The main stage, silent on Friday when the Gaymers stage hosted the day's biggest acts, came to life incl...

Read more

There's something ridiculous about Future Islands. It's not the layers of ethereal keys, the doomy bone-trembling bass, or the perpetual motion of their electronic drums: these are splendidly ...

Read more

Lovebox was ever more professional in its eighth year, with near military precision and speed at the gates, and well stocked and plentiful bars - features at times lacking as recently as four years ag...

Read more

As part of Reading's Outside: Inside Festival this summer, the organisers have managed to snare the wit and abrasive charm of Manchester's The Fall for a gig at the Sub89 club. The band have a...

Read more

This highly anticipated show started off with a set from the Seattle-based band The Head and the Heart, whose songs, while not exactly original (basically The Decemberists/Fleet Foxes-lite), were suff...

Read more

Curating arts and music performances amongst multi-coloured flowers, Tropical trees, mosaics, sculptures and the sporadic sound of exotic bird calling, with global pop stars and a food policy to only ...

Read more

First thoughts about The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are usually laden with unfair criticisms that they are insufferably twee, overly cheery, with an anorak-wielding following who carry their haircut...

Read more

Perhaps Martyn Joseph, in a move similar to Canadian Ron Sexsmith, should think about hiring a rock producer, documenting the results for Sundance and exposing his talent to a far wider audience. In H...

Read more

Families! Who needs them? Well, in the case of Kitty Daisy & Lewis, a whole load of music festivals this summer. And after a pounding performance in north London recently, festival-goers have a lo...

Read more

Umber makes music which is undeniably beautiful to listen to when you're lazing around in your home environment. Unfortunately, the loops, synth washes and simple melodic repetitions this unassumi...

Read more

The Young Knives may not be everyone's cup of tea. I mean, a band of three sophisticated, computer literate geeks dressed head-to-toe in tweed and a ludicrously named bass player called House of L...

Read more

Trying to find out anything about Cults before their gig at Scala on Tuesday was like trying to persuade 1990s Michael Jackson that further plastic surgery wasn't necessary - absolutely pointless....

Read more

It's an unjust quirk of Marianne Faithfull's career that it always feels as if she has to prove herself. So intertwined is her legend with that of Jagger & Richards, and the rise and fall ...

Read more

Arriving at the Old Blue Last on Thursday night to discover that I would have to queue among a rabble of Vice readers to gain entry to the already full-to-the-rafters East London pub, I have to admit ...

Read more

This Brooklyn trio created quite a buzz in 2009 with the release of their third record, concept album Hospice. A hauntingly beautiful piece, exploring the deepest emotions of the human psyche. Their s...

Read more

It's time to crack out the sunnies, apply the sunscreen and get ready for the good times at this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Every April, California plays host to a three-...

Read more

Manchester University's Academy 2 welcomes three veteran but very different US bands on a Saturday night. Asobi Seksu are up first and steal the show. Opening with the triumphant 'New Year'...

Read more

The Brudenell's packed out tonight and you can spot many people who look like this will be one of only a few gigs they attend this year. There's little doubt that word has got round about just...

Read more

The Mantles are from San Francisco, they're signed to the very cool Mexican Summer label and they make jangly, sometimes scuzzy guitar rock. So far, so 'hipster band you know you probably shou...

Read more

Manchester Cathedral and Collegiate is one of the most beautiful buildings (or complexes) in the region; the heart of the C14 Mediaeval city, neighbour to the historical Chetham's Music School, an...

Read more

Enough surf. Not enough blood. Due to traffic, and a pathological need to eat, I only saw the last song-and-a-half performed by Brighton's own Lovepark. In retrospect, this was unfortunate, as wha...

Read more

Though it's unlikely to create as much fevered controversy as Bob Dylan's decision to 'go electric' all those years ago, Sam Beam is clearly favouring the style if recent album Kiss Ea...

Read more

The back room of the Chemic is absolutely packed and stiflingly hot as Mwen, snugly tucked behind laptop, synth and keyboard on the little stage, begins her set. As the skipping rhythms and soulful pl...

Read more

It's been a while since Soundblab caught up with Trumpets of Death, or Benjamin Wetherill and the Trumpets of Death as they used to be, and they've moved a long way from the Radiohead mixed wi...

Read more

The Night & Day is a classic North West venue which has been on the wain for some time, with recent upstart Manchester establishments, such as the Deaf Institute and the Ruby Lounge, stealing its ...

Read more

And so the descent into shameless Scandinavophile territory continues apace. Having glutted upon the shoegazey shimmer of Stockholm collective Sad Day Puppets, the only acceptable progression seems to...

Read more

So those nice Nordic people at Øya Festival have hooked up a musical high-five with London's own Field Day to create a night of Scandi-Britannical musical whatnots at Shoreditch's XOYO. Oslo-...

Read more

Having heard a lot of bands in the last few years harking back to the nostalgic sounds of classic rock and experimental psych-folk, I didn't think I could get any more excited by the resurgence of...

Read more

Monday nights under Charing Cross are dominated by the gay club, Heaven. Opposite, the New Player's Theatre was, at best, half full for the final night of Alex Winston's first proper UK tour. ...

Read more

The dark, confined walls of indy club Audio were home to two of the most hotly anticipated acts for 2011 in the shape of Ghostpoet and Jamie Woon. In the end, both artists showed enough promise to sug...

Read more

Sometimes, live reviews are such a fucking chore. Take this band I'm watching tonight, MEN (fronted by Le Tigre's JD Samson). Every one of their songs sounds so pointless, so effortful. Sure, ...

Read more

After lower key gigs at Manchester venues in the last year or so British Sea Power are back at the Ritz, a decent, mid-sized venue famous for its wobbly floor and sticky carpet. First up though are su...

Read more

Tall, statuesque and dressed all in shocking pink, Joan Wasser strides on stage, fixes us with a business-like stare and asks if we're ready for tonight's gig. Of course we are. Drawing mostly...

Read more

The annual NME Awards Tour has proved a reliable springboard with extra zip for a plethora of acts since its inception in the heady days of Britpop in 1995. In recent years The Killers, Florence and t...

Read more

Everything Everything are so 2011 UK indie, from the choppy guitar riffs to the keyboard sound which is just the right side of 80s bland to the funky-angsty rhythms, that they already sound a little p...

Read more

Occationally, as a reviewer, something will land on your desk which genuinely blows the musical cobwebs away. And so it happened way back in 2007, when the Things Behind the Sun EP by Sparkadia had me...

Read more

It feels like forever ago that cheeky chappy Geordie clan Little Comets first arrived on the scene. However, they only released their debut album, In Search of Little Comets, a couple of weeks ago. Th...

Read more

They say the past is a foreign country. Heck, ask Of Montreal, and they'd even try to tell you it's a Grotesque Animal. Yet a night spent navel-inspecting to Sad Day for Puppets' Swedish p...

Read more

Galaxie 500 were active between 1987 and 1991 and released just three albums. They were astonishingly brilliant and, much like their beloved Velvet Underground, influenced all those who heard their st...

Read more

The perfect way to start an evening is of course to change the venue of a gig. On the day, making the doors open an hour earlier. No surprise then that when the doors did open there were only a handfu...

Read more

This is not what I expected. Having listened to and quite enjoyed Miss Qunicy's rumbustious debut, Your Mama Don't Like Me, soaking in the authentically down-home, bluegrass atmosphere she cap...

Read more

The Pavilion Theatre in Brighton provided Esben and the Witch with an intimate atmosphere in which to craft their beguiling brew of paranoia, distorted frenzy and melodic desparation for an eager crow...

Read more

The most exquisite export ever to sally forth from the inauspicious loins of the University of Leeds, Gang of Four have always been, are and always will be, all about the groove. Never in any danger o...

Read more

It's always difficult to tell whether a band that's used to playing large venues really enjoys going back to the smaller ones. Whether their diva-sized egos can take a step back from their gid...

Read more

It's beards and lumberjack flannel night at the Leeds O2 Academy tonight, in fact, it's quite surprising this reviewer gained access without having either of these style musts. There are no bi...

Read more

Not a bad old way to kickstart the weekend! Hip, underground hangout in an ultra-arty London neighbourhood, three fast-rising acts, free drinks courtesy of Mr Topman and lads about town and all-round ...

Read more

The Brudenell Social Club was packed out for Jeffrey Lewis; he's played Leeds quite a lot over the years and gained a reputation for being a pretty unique and entertaining live act. Before Jeff an...

Read more

There was no build up or grand entry. After Krar player Temesegen Tareken, singer Genet Astatke and drummer Amare walked in and assembled themselves from left to right in front of their respective ins...

Read more

Sandwiched in between swimming and crazy golf activities on the Sunday afternoon is a rare appearance for the folky whimsy of elder stateswoman Vashti Bunyan. With the backing of guitar, violin, keys ...

Read more

It's an early start on the Saturday for Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan's delicate balance of breathy dulcet tones and gravelly, wistful deep-throated vocals, but Saturday's highlight is ...

Read more

Another chilly December trip to the seaside is had with the Belle & Sebastian curated Bowlie 2 shindig at Butlins in Minehead. It's promoted by All Tomorrow's Parties aka ATP, which for on...

Read more

One cannot really sing the praises of Karnivool highly enough. Even though they hail from my home country of Aus, there is really no patriotic bias involved in my interest in this band. As a live act ...

Read more

Tonight's line-up for cult indie-punk label Damaged Goods at the legendary and sadly endangered 100 Club was a mixed bag, featuring the primal punk of Thee Spivs and Hardskin, alongside the more b...

Read more

It's not like this is a new foray into the world of music for Stoltz, he's been around quite some time now, with his first album The Past was Faster coming out in 1999, and seven more since th...

Read more

After the departure of bassist Carlos Dengler, many fans were apprehensive of what the future held for Interpol; while the frustrated, gothic mantis helped in writing and performing on the self-titled...

Read more

I've always loved mixing up a bit of goth with the girl group thing, clothes, music, whatever. Frankie Rose has obviously totally stolen the idea. After a few stints in both West Coast (Dum Dum Gi...

Read more

Violens could well follow fellow New Yorkers The Drums into indie big league status if they play their cards right and no doubt this has been pointed out to them. However, their music contains more tw...

Read more

Wailing guitar harmonies, soaring vocal melodies, heavy fuzzy bass and thudding jazz-like drum timings are all the ingredients of a great psych-rock band. Probably along with a swaying guitarist, a po...

Read more

The first band on for this very eagerly anticipated sold out gig were the Portland band Menomena. Now, seeing as it's only The blimmin National you would at least expect the support to be half-way...

Read more

Those brave or foolish enough to venture out to The Hope in sub-zero temperatures were rewarded with an intimate performance by Canadian five-piece You Say Party (YSP). Local openers 900 Spaces were e...

Read more

Welcome to the camp ballet that is The Drums live. Showing up at the Forum like the silk/denim camp re-imagining of the The Breakfast Club brats, and possibly being the only band since the Andrews Sis...

Read more

"We expected something, something better than before. We expected something more," Matt Berninger sings as "Start a War" opens the band's encore; this coming even after the qu...

Read more

It's the last night of Les Savy Fav's tour with Sky Larkin and Cloud Nothing, and lead singer Tim Harrington is feeling tired. Dressed in blue and white stripped pyjamas, he lies down for a qu...

Read more

It's not often I see a band based solely on word-of-mouth, but the theatrics of The Irrepressibles has enticed me into Moho Live on a grim Tuesday evening along with around a decent number of like...

Read more

It must be either very unnerving or an absolute honour for The Gaslight Anthem to be on tour with one of their idols. To have Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan as their direct support must no doubt be...

Read more

Francis Dunnery has forged a massive reputation as a leading guitarist and soloist since his days as the lead singer of 80s Cumbrian rockers It Bites, and takes this to the Band on the Wall. After two...

Read more

There aren't really many words that can do adequate justice to a Les Savy Fav gig; singer Tim Harrington remarked on the jubilant Komedia crowd reeking of "stinky, feculent life", and by...

Read more

Arriving relatively early to catch support act The Crookes, it came as a bit of a shock to find a further two bands were on the bill at The Leadmill. So it became something of a marathon wait to catch...

Read more

The crowd here tonight is definitely not made up of regular gig goers. That much will become obvious when they start dropping like over-emotional flies. In fact, the first one goes mere minutes into C...

Read more

Heading to the Academy 2 on a chilly wintery Mancunian night was quite apt for my first foray into the World of Stornoway. They're a bunch of simple straightforward outdoor loving lads, along the ...

Read more

Arriving at Heaven was more like descending into hell, what with uncommunicative bouncers and a 20 minute wait in the London cold, despite the fact the venue was meant to have opened half an hour earl...

Read more

Witnessing The Dillinger Escape Plan take the stage is a site for any metal fan's saw eyes. The group, hailing from Morris Plains, New Jersey, are one of those bands that have managed to amass a t...

Read more

Oxford five-piece Foals took to the stage as an air of anticipation swept through Rock City and with a confidence and swagger set about entertaining a packed crowd. After the success of 2008 debut alb...

Read more

Hailing from New York, American indie outfit The Walkmen were here tonight at Brixton to support The Black Keys. And even though they were the support, they had the presence and musicianship of a head...

Read more

I had the pleasure of checking out South Hampton's Garage rock finest, Band of Skulls. Having been likened to The Dead Weather, I'm sure supporting that band earlier in the year along with an ...

Read more

It's all in the name really: Casiotone - melancholy keyboard music - for the Painfully Alone; simple, bedroom-made songs full of love, longing and life as a shy and retiring individual. After 13 y...

Read more

If there is one positive about gigs in student bars then it's how prompt the bands are. There is no bloated interval to stand through and as soon as you're through the door the first support a...

Read more

This evening provides a very rare chance to catch legendary indiepop trio Milky Wimpshake from Newcastle. Of course, 'legendary' has a specific meaning in indiepop circles. It means that a tin...

Read more

Pifco (one girl, one boy, one unmanned synth) are very inspired by The Fall. Actually, that's putting it mildly. If you've ever heard an early Fall track, you know exactly what Pifco sound lik...

Read more

It was Halloween yet no-one in the building was dressed for the occasion (including me). It could have been something to do with 80 per cent of the audience, who had come to see The Duke & the Kin...

Read more

Following the sudden and tragic death of drummer Jerry Fuchs in November 2009, !!! pulled it together and released Strange Weather, Isn't it?, one of their strongest efforts to date. So it's g...

Read more

Day three and first up are Easter at Band on The Wall. Like with many of this years In the City artists, the 80s are the main reference point. Easter are particularly focused on the vocals of Ian McCu...

Read more

Day two and a trek is made first to Noho for The Car is On Fire. With the band dressed in matching red and white football shorts and socks and spouting fake moustaches, this Polish group rather than f...

Read more

Annual conference/live event In the City returns, this time focused on Manchester's vibrant Northern Quarter. Along with conference events, discussions and video previews, the main focus is the li...

Read more

"I am free, I will begin again." Swans: Eden Prison It's no exaggeration to say that my whole year had been building up to seeing Swans live- a newly invigorated and reformed band playin...

Read more

If you've ever fancied a bit of a classy drink in Pentonville (and aren't a guest of Her Majesty), you've probably spent more than one night of the last four years up in Big Chill's No...

Read more

It's often said you only remember the good times. So a year after leaving Manchester, following a six-year stint immersing myself in the local gig scene, I was intrigued to see if one of the Rainy...

Read more

Hailing from New Jersey are power trio Screaming Females. This is their first ever London gig and the Luminaire is a more than adequate venue that fits snugly round their fuzzy guitar sound. Ably supp...

Read more

Though its a crown they've taken almost by default, Bearsuit are worthy of their position as Norwich's premier art-rock-disco-indie ensemble. Unlike the overwhelming majority of their counterp...

Read more

Ben from The Lodger apologises for the unexplained absence of his band-mates and rather sweetly says he hopes we don't mind him playing a solo set. To be fair to Ben, it takes guts to play on your...

Read more

"I've been working on who I am for 15 years; maybe I need another 15 before the next record." And with that, Darwin Deez kept the audience guessing at Digital on Friday night, delighting...

Read more

Brothers Caleb (guitars) and Ashton (drums) Bird sure do make a racket. And with their mate on sax throwing in yet another layer of noise, the Tweak Bird sound becomes even more furious and raucous li...

Read more

Here's a question: can you roll a decent bowling score while enjoying a Zola Jesus show? Brooklyn Bowl might be the only place on earth to find out. It's an unlikely venue for the incarnation ...

Read more

Forming in 2008, after leaving an early incarnation of The Dum Dum Girls, San Diego duo Crocdiles released their debut album Summer of Hate with Fat Possum Records. We caught their headline slot at Co...

Read more

John Peel had one rule: no saxophones. In his autobiography, Margrave of the Marshes, he made it abundantly clear that no demo tape featuring a sax would make it into his list to listen to. But for al...

Read more

Dean Whitmore is the axis around which The Unnatural Helpers spin. He is the focal point on stage behind his spartan drumkit, singing gruffly about all sorts of misanthropic situations that the archet...

Read more

So I eventually got to see Little Comets live at Manchester Academy. They were supporting New York's own Darwin Deez. After a short delay, which I filled by going to quench my thirst at the bar an...

Read more

Leeds, I love you but you're bringing me down. The crowd who've turned out for the God-awesome Teeth tonight are a little pitiful. It's not just that there aren't many people, but thos...

Read more

Local festivals are many splendored things, and nowhere near enough praise can ever be heaped upon the shoulders of the fine men and women who organise such events. It's always a great idea to vis...

Read more

A Thursday night and a last minute change of venue and city for Brooklyn's The Depreciation Guild. Relocating for a free gig to a small rock pub, the Parish, in Huddersfield, the venue is a small ...

Read more

It was certainly appropriate that The Airborne Toxic Event gang treated a sold out Union Chapel crowd to a reverential performance in Islington - for the first half of their two-hour set anyway. After...

Read more

Taking to the stage on a rainy Wednesday night at the Lexington in Kings Cross are Violens, a bunch of New Yorkers pitched as a psychedelic version of The Shins. Before they even utter a note, I am im...

Read more

There's not much to choose between support bands Downdime and Runaround Kids. Both play driving, riff-happy indie rock in the style of early Ash but without the youthful effervescence, and neither...

Read more

Engineers' Mark Peters has said that the title of third album In Praise of More (taken from a Erasmus essay, no less) is a reflection of the band's continued creative drive in the face of vari...

Read more

Support act Haight-Ashbury are kind of what you'd expect from a band named after the (now thoroughly gentrified) 60s counterculture epicentre. A three-piece with no dedicated drummer (the lead sin...

Read more

Some people might say that Black Mountain are, along with other acts whose sound is led by classic rock and psychedelic sentiments, clichéd and unimaginative - members lurking about a semi-dark sta...

Read more

"Gigs, diddles, dancing and refreshments" was how Skinny Lister's Grand Union Boat Tour was billed. An ambitious plan from the eccentric folk fivesome saw Skinny Lister boarding a narrow...

Read more

Hebden Bridge, hippy centre of the north, full of beautiful cottages, carefree kids and a plethora of super-cool musicians making happy-go-lucky music. That's where you'll usually find Jayn Ha...

Read more

Having seen Chapel Club last year, on a bill with bands who were quite different to them, I wasn't sure whether it was them I didn't like, or the event itself. Eyes (and ears) wide open and re...

Read more

Lovebox Weekender 2010 was bigger than ever before, definitely more efficient (at the ticket gate and bars) with even more stages and commercial stands such as a makeshift HMV. However, in no way did ...

Read more

With a crowd space twice as wide as it is deep, Proud Camden is the Venus Fly Trap of London venues. It allows the greatest number of fans to be as close to the stage as possible while giving the band...

Read more

God knows what ridiculous, mod-worshipping hole The Long March have crawled out off with their Weller haircuts and shirts buttoned all the way to the neck, but they should return there forthwith befor...

Read more

It was a hen night, multiplied by 15, and surrounded by expensively dressed, expensively drunk dickheads. Other than that, Proud was like any Camden venue. It's a pity the main DJ couldn't mix...

Read more

Indietracks is possibly the most unique festival you'll find on the British Isles these summer months. Combining indie-pop music with steam trains seems like an unusual combination but actually wo...

Read more

From sumptuous, alcohol-laden riders to travelling to far flung corners of the world for free, it goes without saying being in a band has its perks and last night Brooklyn indie scamps The Pains of Be...

Read more

Two Thousand Trees has only been going four years but for a fledgling festival it's certainly found its feet very fast. It was set up as a reaction against the high-priced mainstream festivals and...

Read more

Despite some pre-gig dinner timing issues involving an amphetamine-deranged waitress and my inability to walk away from half-finished Italian food, we made Cloud Control's Luminaire set just in th...

Read more

It's a fair Monday night and a really early start for last-minute substitution support band, The Steals, who replaced the food-poisoning stricken Active Child at the eleventh hour. So early that a...

Read more

Just a quick word before we get down to the nitty Tokyo gritty: Flashguns. Awash with pubescent artlessness and yet optimally evolved in every other way, they turn out an eloquent support set which re...

Read more

In-stores can go either way - hordes of screaming teenage girls crushing forward to see the latest overly-made up emo band or the sleek new pop performer, or about 40 too-cool-for-school Brick Lane ty...

Read more

There was no diva-ish behaviour or rock n roll arrogance to the legendary Patti Smith's entrance as she arrived promptly at 8.30 to an excited and respectful crowd dressed in a jacket, boots and r...

Read more

With over a two hour delay on the line-up bill, guitarist and singer Mike Lindsay walks on stage sporting a rather dodgy turban, a glazed expression and an understandably pissed off scowl. From not-so...

Read more

I first saw Seth Lakeman play at the Shepherd's Bush Empire to a packed-out crowd of salivating women and young couples. I was struck then by the incongruity of such an audience for a folk artist,...

Read more

Great venue - check. Great line-up - check. Free tickets - check. As music festivals go, iTunes' month-long residency at Camden Roundhouse certainly takes some beating - as the impossibly youthful...

Read more

Ever since Oasis' acrimonious split following Noel and Liam's bitter tête-à-tête in Paris last year, there's been a Gallagher-shaped hole waiting to be filled by a band with simil...

Read more

The name of ex-The Specials keyboardist Jerry Dammers' Spatial A.K.A. Orchestra is a deliberate play on words; a reference to his old band (who were also known as The Special A.K.A.), and to the e...

Read more

"This is a great day for American-Scottish relations," a perky Ezra Koening beams at the last night main stage crowd. Err, well it's no musical Entente Cordiale, but if transatlantic con...

Read more

Having never before experienced The Maccabees' live, but been deeply impressed by armchair-bound transmissions of previous festival showings, their closing day set on the main stage is must on my ...

Read more

Taking on the baton in the Clash 'Sunday Best' arena from what bizarrely turned out to be one of the largest crowd-draws of the weekend - Kevin 'Scottish Comedian of the Year' Bridges ...

Read more

"Hello Manchester United" Clearly connecting the nation's music and football capital in one, California's Avi Buffalo arrived at Manchester's delightful Deaf Institute ready to t...

Read more

Soooo whaddaya know? The prodigal sons of New York have returned. Kill the fatted calf. Or hedge your bets until the fervour of four years' anticipation, and polite enquiries about the whereabouts...

Read more

"Welcome to my garden!" With the barbecue smoke billowing, the temperature rising, and the beer flowing steadily into the (mostly) heavy guts of tattooed Yorkshire folk, this pub garden gig ...

Read more

I'm hella nervous. Shouldn't be - I've been here before. But that was two summers ago at Latitude, when Dirty Harry and her man minions were playing under canvas and my buddy was conductin...

Read more

The last time I saw Friendly Fires was at Leeds Fest two summers ago in one of the more modest sized tents in the arena- you know, the ones where you fire up a cigarette, security spots you, makes you...

Read more

DAY ONE: FRIDAY Having chewed up and spat out a good 400 miles of tarmac (Nottingham to Inverness = one tank of fuel, boom!) we rolled into the summer's largest north-of-the-border knees-up - Rock...

Read more

I'm surprised a bunch of clipboard-grasping scientists haven't scrutinised water samples from the 1960s and early 1970s in the Greater Manchester area for a devilish record label exec hoping t...

Read more

Hotpants Romance are a fucking shambles in the best possible way. If you're the kind of person who thinks just because a band have been together for a few years they should be able to play their i...

Read more

The guitarist from Hookworms is unpleasant to watch. He spends most of the group's set tonight crouched at the crowd's feet, twisting and contorting, rubbing his body against his guitar while ...

Read more

We all remember where we were when we heard the news. I was travelling back from Ealing after having a pre-Christmas meal with the family. Then it was announced on the radio. Rage Against the Machine ...

Read more

Californian four-piece Dum Dum Girls have been making waves ever since their first single on Sub Pop last year. 'Jail La La' was an intoxicating compound of lo-fi fuzz and 60s girl-group glamo...

Read more

Despite scheduled headliner DJ Silkie pulling out, and a 12-midnight rather than 3am close, the remaining line up at Big Chill House did not let down the crowd with a series of sets encompassing a mix...

Read more

With my most recent 24-hour intensive festival experience being the Camden Crawl 5 years ago (slept in a beer garden followed by the tube station. Oof) I am practically a born again one-dayer virgin. ...

Read more

The Middle East have got something brewing. Their only release to date has been The Recordings of The Middle East, a five track EP. Yet in tonight's hour-long set the Australians from Townsville p...

Read more

The Deaf Institute has three floors. The floor that you immediately face when you walk through the expansive Church-like doors is the groundfloor cafe bar - a relaxed and cosy but trendy place. Above ...

Read more

Sex, quiffs, swamp'n'roll - no other sobriquet really fits The Brute Chorus, who in this multi-leveled bar up in King's Cross launched their latest single, 'Could This Be Love?'. B...

Read more

Indie-loving cattle; that's what we were. Crammed into Manchester Academy 2, the Fannies' fans delighted when they took to the stage on the first night of their Shadows tour, although I couldn...

Read more

Fresh from recording a session at the BBC studios for Marc Riley - a required stop along the path to acceptance into the indie-folk-pop canon - Stornoway played their second Manchester date this year ...

Read more

The first clear thought I had watching Yeasyer at Shunt last week, slightly skewed on Peroni and slightly weirded out by essentially being inside a dungeon, was "how ridiculously talented is this...

Read more

The O2 Academy in Newcastle smacks of Northern Soul with its mirror ball and expansive wobble-board dance floor that has you buoyantly riding a crest of zeal as a few hundred indie boys and girls bop ...

Read more

Copies of Le Figaro, French rock mag Les Inrockuptibles and the appearance of Alsace beers on the specials board set the scene for music label Record Makers tenth anniversary London bash, part of Pure...

Read more

The last time I was at the Regal, I hid in the toilet with a friend for half an hour because we were being chased by a drunken, topless idiot dressed as a smurf. So it was with a head held high that I...

Read more

Crikey, Deerhunter fans are miserable sods. As Soundblab wanders into the less-than-salubrious surroundings of Leeds' Cockpit, the only things visible through the gloom are a stage empty but for s...

Read more

The Pipettes have been away so long you'd be forgiven for forgetting what they look like. Actually, it wouldn't matter if you really had forgotten, since the line up of girls who provide both ...

Read more

There's an inauspicious start to the night when the words "You're not on the list" are casually muttered by the young lady tempering the doorway. Her eyes drearily inspect a crude sh...

Read more

This is Happening, LCD Soundsystem's soon-come third album is apparently their last. It follows, then, that this will probably be LCD Soundsystem's last UK tour. Of course, we all know how tod...

Read more

Returning to Manchester University 'basement' venue Club Academy for the first time since my ears were pulverised by the fine band Isis last year, the signs are ominous for a repeat of tinnitu...

Read more

The appallingly named Juffage has a clever trick. He plays everything himself. And he does it right there in front of you. He's got one of those loop peddles which have been a godsend for control ...

Read more

Here we are, Sunday evening in The Brude, the best music venue in Leeds. I forgot to bring any money so I am on the council pop. Good start. First up we have Hookworms. This young set-up are riding on...

Read more

As the band takes the stage at The Book Club in Shoreditch, Rodney 'Roots Manuva' Smith prepares the audience: "This is an experimentation in dub manipulation....are you ready to go banan...

Read more

I've never seen such as long queue outside Queen Elizabeth Hall. Clearly their appropriately named 'Friday Tonic' gig series has been a success. Taking place in the Front Room at 5.30pm on...

Read more

It's not a particularly big stage that awaits These New Puritans tonight. It's certainly not big enough for them to recreate the earth-shatteringly fearsome and diverse noises they produced on...

Read more

One of the good things about Royal Park Cellars is that, as a gig venue, it gets full up pretty quickly, which makes a band feel they're playing to a larger audience than they actually are, while ...

Read more

It's Friday night and it's a debut trip to Manchester's Nexus Art Cafe, a strange place in the basement of a city centre building. The room is adorned with sofas, random lamps, odd artwork...

Read more

Teeth sound like the gawky synthpop of early Duran Duran mashed up and reconstituted by electronica boffins Autechre with added vocals from the Yoko Ono-via-Teletubbies lead singer of Deerhoof. That i...

Read more

Two bands that have been hotly tipped for greatness for some time on the same bill, yet bar this and their relative youth, there is very little crossover between them that could fit on a Venn diagram....

Read more

Great duos in pop music? The White Stripes, that's one. Simon & Garfunkel? Pet Shop Boys? Er, Chas & Dave? There's something refreshing about watching a band with only two members. Perhaps it'...

Read more

Cymbals Eat Guitars/This Many Boyfriends @ The Cockpit, Leeds, Monday 22/02/10 Hotly tipped New York four piece Cymbals Eat Guitars set out on their first European tour earlier this month, and now the...

Read more

It's often difficult to pinpoint that moment when a band passes from cultdom into the indie mainstream; to judge by this sold out gig, Beach House seem to have crossed that particular threshold. Where...

Read more