Proletariat's comeback last year came as a bit of a surprise after they bowed out after a series of sold-out Manchester shows you could count on both hands a couple of years ago, burning out before it seemed they'd achieved much of what was expected of them. Having released a trio of singles since they announced they return and unable to return to the gig circuit because of the restrictions, they set up a live stream show from Hyde's Festival Theatre on Friday night.
There's two kinds of reformation - the big cash-in on the legacy and nostalgia culture that seems to be polluting the pool for new artists being able to make their mark and those that aim to conclude unfinished business that come about as a result of old friends getting back together to rekindle the magic of their formative days and the excitement of being in a band. The latter tend to be more rewarding and Bradford's thirty-one years later follow up to their Shouting Quietly debut sits alongside Thousand Yard Stare's Panglossian Momentum as a shining example of a record that's been made for the sake of making it.
Live music. Remember that? The thrill and excitement and adrenaline as the drums kick in, guitars roar and the bassline rumbles seductively and then the vocals come in, delivering words of wisdom, experience, loss, love or any combination of them? Close to a year after the gig scene came to a grinding halt and on the day we finally (hopefully) got a date for it to start again, The Blinders reminded us what we've been missing with a scintillating live show mixing tracks from last year's Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psychopath and their debut Columbia on a Twitch live stream from Scruff Of The Neck's Manchester offices.
Dulcimer Melody's debut album Dark Alchemy was one of our favourite random finds of 2020, following an effusive championing of the album in Facebook group to find a record we described as "a meticulously constructed set of ten songs, taut with tension, rippled through with dramatic moments and with a voice that soars, drifts and takes the listener off on a journey through its creator's detailed mind maps." With a new single Absent Friend, we got in touch with her to ask a few questions and she recorded her answers for a video interview.
Matter Of Mind's first single of 2021 demonstrates a harder edge and a vitriolic biting response to an ex who's done them wrong as the Stockport band deliver their most ambitious single to date.
Rang Dizzy is the first track to be revealed from Ryley Walker's forthcoming album Course In Fable, his first studio album of original material under his own name alone since 2018's Deafman Glance.
Sometimes the only PR that can sell you an album is the music itself. We were listening to something sent to us in one of the hundred or so emails we get every day when, away from the computer, You Tube threw a song we'd never heard before by a band we'd never heard of at us. And then when you delve more you find and album and a back catalogue.
After Loose Articles announced themselves with their Orchid Lounge EP in 2019 things went a bit quiet from them, but now their new tracks are coming along like buses. Except they don't like Buses as they tell us in their latest two-minute onslaught accompanied with an equally chaotic video.
Mother Machine is the latest single from the newly-formed Lean Logic released by the Ogenesis label. Julia Grantham waxes lyrical about the beauty of this intriguing track.
Rosellas recently released their new single Damaged and played the Music Feeds festival alongside the likes of Liam Gallagher and Blossoms, winning over a whole set of new fans in the process. We caught up with Drew and Euan to chat about their prolific songwriting, remaining true to themselves and standing out from the crowd and their plans for the rest of 2021.
Out Of Reach is the sixth single from Maidstone band The Shop Window, a track that captures the uncertainty of the times we're living in, locked in our homes and wondering what the hell is going on. Set to an addictive and catchy guitar hook that drives the song along and vocals that possess a comforting warmth and understanding to them, Out Of Reach has a genuine timeless feel to it.
The Slow Readers Club have revealed a new video for their track Everything I Own, taken from their recent album 91 Days In Isolation, written remotely during the first lockdown last year. Filmed in the imposing location of an empty Manchester Arena, the video both complements the song perfectly and gives us a reminder of exactly what we are missing out on.
Keeley return with their second single - the double A-side The Glitter And The Glue and You Never Made It That Far - an impressive follow-up to last year's stand-out debut single Last Words. In just two minutes and thirty seconds The Glitter And The Glue is a thrilling headrush of a song, whilst its partner-in-crime You Never Made It That Far shows a more experimental electronic side to a band whose intrigue grows the more you discover about them.
8 Men is Hennessey's first release of 2021 following on from their 01 EP. It's a protest song and a call to arms to redistribute half the world's wealth that resides in the hands of the 8 Men of the title. Merging post-punk spirit with electronic sounds Hennessey emerge sounding unique, fresh and vibrant - music with a message which you still want to dance to.