#730: Catching Up With...ist ist

Manchester, as far as cities go, has always been in a state of flux. From the boom of the industrial revolution, to its post-war decline, the slum clearances that pushed Mancunians out to the city’s periphery while expanding its boundaries, to the rejuvenation of the 1990s onwards following the IRA bombing.

This review was originally written for LouderThanWar. Click here to read in full.

#729: Los Campesinos! Islington Assembly Hall, London

It’s interesting to see just how important to their fans Los Campesinos! have become in recent years. While much of their early contemporaries have either faded into obscurity or gone to top charts and headline festivals, LC! have entrenched themselves in the hearts and minds of their fans old and new, while flying almost under the radar of everyone else.

This review was originally written for LouderThanWar. Click here to read in full.

#728: The Menzingers, Albert Hall, Manchester

With 2019’s Hello Exile cementing Philadelphia four-piece The Menzingers as the kings of melodic punk, it seems that tonight’s show has been a long time coming. Following the band’s triumphant headline-of-sorts at last year’s Slam Dunk Festival, this writer in particular has been clamouring for the band to make a return.

This review was originally written for LouderThanWar. Click here to read in full.

#727: False Heads - Fall Around

As a music writer, you soon realise that there are bands you’ll come across in the early stages of their career that wholly resonate with you, whose music speaks to you in such a way that you find it entirely impossible not to write about them.

This review was originally written for LouderThanWar. Click here to read in full.

#726: The Menzingers - Hello Exile

With their first two albums, Pennsylvania four piece The Menzingers established themselves as a tour-de-force of scrappy youthfulness and raw emotion. It was their second three however, On the Impossible Past, Rented World and 2017’s After the Party that asserted the band as major players on the melodic punk scene.

This review was originally written for LouderThanWar. Click here to read in full.

#725: Slam Dunk 2019: North - Festival Coverage

Though clearly showing my age here, there was a time (and not too long ago) when festivals still felt alternative (though rarely subversive), when arriving on site felt somewhat like a homecoming and when subcultures mixed alongside the heady aroma of cheap weed, cheaper cider and a distinct lack of personal hygiene. Now it seems, at least for those more corporate events, that homogenisation is the key to black bank balances, and that playing it safe with rehashed line-ups is much preferable to taking risks on anything exciting.

This review was originally written for LouderThanWar. Click here to read in full.

#724: False Heads - Slease

Having enjoyed a 2018 that saw them release their acclaimed Less Is Better EP, undertake a mammoth tour of the UK and Europe in support of said record, all while still finding the time to be pissed off at just about everything (and justifiably so) going on in the world, it’s understandable that London’s False Heads have started 2019 fairly innocuously.

This review was originally written for LouderThanWar. Click here to read in full.

#723: Speilbergs - This Is Not The End

While there’s certainly some truth in the age-old adage ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’, it’s a phrase that harbours negative connotations, even when they’re not warranted. Case in point being Spielbergs, an Oslo-based trio that bridge the gap between indie-pop and contemporary punk effortlessly.

This review was originally written for LouderThanWar. Click here to read in full.

#722: Dashboard Confessional, Manchester, Academy 2

15 years ago, Dashboard Confessional were scheduled to play a show at Academy 2. At the time the band were at the height of their popularity, as was emo, the sub-culture of which frontman Chris Carraba was arguably the poster boy. The show never happened and its listing on the Academy website remained as ‘postponed’ for what felt like years before disappearing entirely.

This review was originally written for LouderThanWar. Click here to read in full.

#721: MJ Cole - Madrugada

Eschewing the claustrophobic confines are warehouse raves, for his latest album globally renowned producer MJ Cole instead draws his influence from something fleeting, fragile and ultimately much more elegant.

This review was originally for Clash Magazine. Click here to read in full.

#720: Studio Ghibli's Use Of Sound Remains Inspirational

While many of us in the Western world grow up on a diet of Disney from a very young age. From 1985 however, those of my generation nearly 6,000 miles away in Japan, and indeed across Asia, were getting the fix of magic, princesses and pirates from an equally enthralling, though much less American, studio a little closer to home.

This review was originally written for Clash Magazine. Click here to read in full.

#719: October Drift - Forever/Whatever

For many, the prospect of counting down the days to an album’s release is an exciting and familiar one, pouring over scraps of news and teased tracks, eagerly devouring anything and everything relating to the release. The flip side of this is, the risk one runs with such anticipation means that we’re often disappointed; a very real worry I had, when faced with the prospect of 'Forever Whatever', the debut album from Taunton’s October Drift.

This review was originally written for Clash Magazine. Click here to read in full.

#718: Chastity Belt - Self-Titled

Though self-titled albums can sometimes feel lacking in imagination, with Chastity Belt’s fourth album, it feels like an aphorism, a statement of intent. And well it might. Earmarking the end of a brief hiatus, it’s mellower, more introspective than previous offerings, while at the same time feeling as poignantly ‘Chastity Belt’ as anything that’s come before it.

This review was originally written for Clash Magazine. Click here to read in full.

#717: The Pixies - Beneath The Eyrie

It’s difficult to pin down the inherent appeal of PIXIES. They’re abrasive and idiosyncratic, off kilter and uncompromising, with Black Francis’ lyricism a veritable rabbit warren of psychedelic imagery that takes years of listening to unravel, their catalogue doesn’t even have an easy place for the uninitiated to start.

This review was originally written for Clash Magazine. Click here to read in full.