Thu 14 Jul – Graduale Nobili

Bright Eyes is playing the Academy tonight. Hate to Oberst your bubble, but I’m not sad I’m missing that…

Tonight the University of Manchester’s Rich kids are Dracula Graduates – capes a-flap in the lukewarm wind, thumbing their noses at the sun. But we all know ‘Goth’ is an alter-ego adoption to obscure the fact you’re a bore, and a degree is little different. My taxi driver wishes he’d spent this stubbornly sunny evening fly-fishing, and despite hating the ‘sport’ no matter how maddening or simple the implement, I can relate.

The New Oxford…

Fri 6 May – Bill Callahan, Sophia Knapp

Friday night sobriety isn’t a concept I’m overly familiar with, but one with which I have to get briskly familiar when considering the ‘pissed’-logistics of a gig in a Methodist Church. The posters on the doors read something to the effect of: ‘NO ALCOHOL IS PERMITTED ON THESE PREMISES’ (continuing on a separate sheet below, as though to interject before you can let out your expletive laden frustration) ‘PLEASE RESPECT THAT’. It’s uncertain how the decision to use this venue came about, but is admittedly befitting a stop on a tour for…

Wed 26 Jan – Twin Shadow, Chad Valley, Weird Era

“…they should have put on ‘Kill Bill’ or ‘Jurassic Park’ behind them…” remarks someone from over my left shoulder. In an editorial decision more befitting their set (and it transpires, the night as a whole), Weird Era opt instead for projecting Joel Schumacher’s eternal stay-of-execution-earning: ‘The Lost Boys’ across the stage. As Kiefer Sutherland and his bemulleted, undead-brethren infest Max’s video store; the PA abates, and Weird Era undertake a semi-embarrassing last minute sound check, which is laughed-off by the drummer who defiantly punches them into their set.

Weird Era…

Thu 5 May – Psychedelic Horseshit, Ghost Outfit, Waiters, Sex hands

This pint of ‘Royal Union’ at The Pub/Zoo tastes like a longtime-loved, oft-polished shoe was floating in the barrel for the duration of its coming-to-maturity. This could mean trouble afoot…if you’ll pardon the pun.

I’m not even on the list tonight “…but I’m sure it’s alright…” says tubby home-made T-Shirt ticket-taker guy, as he writes ‘PH’ with a Sharpie on the back of my left hand.

The Deaf Institute’s auditorium has never looked more forlorn. The skylight is sneeze-inducingly bright white, instruments are seemingly arbitrarily peppered in front of…

Sun 1 May – Sounds From The Other City 2011

…Being the last entry I find in my notebook for ‘Sounds From The Other City’ last night.
After getting home I remember nothing of the two Burger-Journeys I evidently embarked upon. I awake to a tumultuous stomach, a thundercloud brow and the news of Osama Bin Laden’s perforated face.

Let’s back up…

14:37 Sunday, May 1st 2011: It’s sunny but you’re intermittently bitch-slapped with a chill-wind every so often, much to the chagrin of peanut-smugglers everywhere. As we ride the Bus through Moss Side, a ruddy, alcohol-swollen bloke sat opposite…

Fri 21 Jan – Sleigh Bells, Tennis

In the M.E.N.’s Sarah Walters’ preview of tonight’s ‘Sleigh Bells’ show at the Deaf Institute, the word ‘Punk’ is stapled to the anus of every other statement. When John Lydon asked the Winterland Ballroom “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” not only was he bringing the curtain down on The Sex Pistols’ career but renouncing Punk as a whole – expressing his disgust with his part in, what was for all intents and purposes: A Malcolm McClaren-managed boy band.

Conservatively coiffured, Camo-Jacketed axe-man and mastermind behind Sleigh Bells Derek E. Miller, has…

Sleigh Bells, Tennis, Manchester Deaf Institute 21/1/11

In the M.E.N.’s Sarah Walters’ preview of tonight’s ‘Sleigh Bells’ show at the Deaf Institute, the word ‘Punk’ is stapled to the anus of every other statement. When John Lydon asked the Winterland Ballroom “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” not only was he bringing the curtain down on The Sex Pistols’ career but renouncing Punk as a whole – expressing his disgust with his part in, what was for all intents and purposes: A Malcolm McClaren-managed boy band.

Conservatively coiffured, Camo-Jacketed axe-man and mastermind behind Sleigh Bells Derek E.…

Being the last entry I find in my notebook for ‘Sounds From The Other City’ last night.
After getting home I remember nothing of the two Burger-Journeys I evidently embarked upon. I awake to a tumultuous stomach, a thundercloud brow and the news of Osama Bin Laden’s perforated face.

Let’s back up…

14:37 Sunday, May 1st 2011: It’s sunny but you’re intermittently bitch-slapped with a chill-wind every so often, much to the chagrin of peanut-smugglers everywhere. As we ride the Bus through Moss Side, a ruddy, alcohol-swollen bloke sat opposite me flicks his albino eyes suspiciously over everyone…