"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...

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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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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,...

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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...

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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 similarly l...

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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...

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"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...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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"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...

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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...

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"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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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. ...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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....

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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'...

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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...

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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...

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