The Lucid Dream - Actualisation

Carlisle’s favourite sons return with their magnificent fourth album, the progressive, acid house inspired Actualisation. Stuart Ralston has a listen (and a dance).

Puppet Rebellion / Room D - Manchester Band On The Wall - 13th October 2018

Even The Stars favourites Puppet Rebellion announced earlier this week that tonight’s Band On The Wall gig was to be their last. Playing their hometown to a packed crowd at their biggest headline show is as good a way as any to bow out. Playing with as much passion and enthusiasm as they always have, it didn’t have the air of a final show but a celebration. Support came from one of the most promising local bands Room D.

The Beths - Future Me Hates Me

Future Me Hates Me is the debut album from New Zealand’s The Beths. It’s a brilliantly observed record about the battle to find love both internally and externally with songs set to the sort of jangling guitars that are impossible to resist if that’s what turns you on.

TRACK OF THE DAY : The Mysterines - Hormone

There's an element of mystery about The Mysterines. With very little social media presence they're already starting to make a buzz around the North West with a number of support slots and low-key mid-afternoon festival slots and no music floating around on social media. However that's changed with their debut single Hormone.

Fuzzy Sun - Interview

Fuzzy Sun released their second EP Warm Evening / Cold Morning last week via Blossoms' Very Clever Records label. We caught up with Kyle for a chat about the tracks on the EP and their rollercoaster ride of a first year as a band.

John Bramwell / Dave Fidler - Manchester Albert Square - 7th October 2018

The final night of this year's Manchester Food And Drink Festival was billed as John Bramwell's Greatest Hits and he didn't disappoint a busy crowd as he ran through a selection of favourite I Am Kloot songs as well as a couple of tracks from his solo debut Leave Alone The Empty Spaces and a new song from its follow-up. Support came from Dave Fidler who also previewed a raft of new songs from his forthcoming second album.

Lights On Moscow - Interview

Lights On Moscow is a long-running secret collaboration between Hazel Wilde of Lanterns On The Lake and Justin Lockey of Editors that is about to finally see the light of day with the release of an EP entitled Aorta Songs - Part 1 this Friday. We caught up with the pair of them for a chat about how the project came together, their writing process and their plans for future releases.

The Slow Readers Club - Manchester Albert Square - 4th October 2018

Three years ago The Slow Readers Club played Manchester Food And Drink Festival in Albert Square as one of the attractions to draw a few people into a beer tent. Now, with a top 20 album under their belt, they've got people queuing for hours to catch a very rare full band acoustic set in the tent in front of Albert Hall ahead of their already sold out Apollo show in December.

Fuzzy Sun - Warm Evening Cold Morning EP

Warm Evening / Cold Morning is Fuzzy Sun’s second EP of the year, following up on their debut Want Love.

TRACK OF THE DAY : Berries - Discreetly

Berries return with a new track Discreetly, premiered by John Kennedy on Radio X earlier this week and one of the stand out tracks from their festival sets across the summer.

TRACK OF THE DAY : Lexytron - Blackmail

Taken from her forthcoming album Something Blue, Blackmail is the lead track from Lexytron, who describes herself as "Half Greek, half Persian and half English", and features a video set to the 1903 film The Cake-Walk Infernal by Georges Méliès.

TRACK OF THE DAY : Sit Down - Take A Seat

Take A Seat is half of the new double A-side single from Brighton's duo Sit Down, the follow-up to their sold out debut EP Cheap Luxe.

She Makes War - Brace For Impact

Brace For Impact is She Makes War's fourth album and finds Laura Kidd rocking out like she's never done before without losing her innovative approach to making her music and in the process making her most accessible and intriguing record to date.

TRACK OF THE DAY : Déjà Vega - Chasing

Déjà Vega are back with Chasing, the latest in their series of limited edition vinyl singles due for release on October 8th, and have preceded it with the reveal of a very surreal new video for the single which features them playing in a field surrounded and circled by people dressed as crows.

Liam Frost - Liam Frost Is The Latchkey Kid

Liam Frost's third album has been a long time coming. It's been ten years since his second record We Ain't Got No Money Honey, But We Got Rain and thirteen since his debut Show Me How The Spectres Dance. The album, and the associated Pledge Music campaign, has been in the pipeline for a while, but has now finally seen the light of day. And it's a record that lives up to the sky-high standards of those first two albums, allowing long-term devotees to both reminisce at their brilliance and to swoon at where his art has taken him now, and newcomers to his sound to fall in love at first listen and then discover his past.

Control Of The Going / The Cosmics / Hey Bulldog - Manchester Night People (Sonderfest) - 29th September 2018

The Friday night of Sonderfest saw bands spread out across venues in the Oxford Road area of Manchester. We went along to Night People for late sets from Hey Bulldog, The Cosmics and a valedictory performance from Control Of The Going.

TRACK OF THE DAY : James - Leviathan (acoustic)

James have released a second acoustic track from their recent top ten album Living In Extraordinary Times. Fan favourite Leviathan has been stripped down and reworked with backing vocals from Deborah Knox-Hewson who joined the band for a few months earlier this year.

TRACK BY TRACK : Ed Cottam - My Goddess The Land

Ed Cottam's My Goddess The Land is released today. It's the follow-up to his 2015 album The Twisting Vine that he released as The Gildings. Inspired by paintings, poetry and Ed's reading, it's an album whose central focus is the sorry state of the environment and how science and spirituality impact on it. Ed was kind enough to walk us through the album track-by-track to provide us with some more insight into the songwriting process and the subject matter.

The House Of Love - The House Of Love (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

Just before The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays dominated the late 80s, a band from London were the darlings of the scene, John Peel favourites, live favourites and the Creation label's brightest hopes. Their debut album from 1988 receives the reissue treatment - a mightily impressive eighty-five tracks fill five discs in this new 30th Anniversary edition. Stuart Ralston revisits his youth and reports back.

TRACK OF THE DAY : Charlie Steel - Staying In, Going Out

Staying In, Going Out is the debut single from London singer-songwriter Charlie Steel. Having spent two years in his bedroom perfecting his craft and saving up for equipment to produce music that wasn't "naff." He's succeeded and then some on this first public offering.

TRACK OF THE DAY / INTERVIEW - Rory Wynne - D'ya Wanna Do It Again?

Rory Wynne releases D'ya Wanna Do It Again? today, a new single via Very Clever Records, just a few short months after the release of his self-titled debut album. As he prepares for a show at Neighbourhood Festival in a couple of weeks, we caught up with Rory for a frank and honest chat about the music business, playing live and to talk about the single.

TRACK OF THE DAY : Ed Cottam - The Night Has No End

Having previously released music under the pseudonym The Gildings, Ed Cottam has reverted back to his own name for the release of his new album My Goddess The Land this Friday. The Night Has No End is one of the standout tracks and we're delighted to exclusively reveal its accompanying video.

Black Honey - Manchester HMV - 23rd September 2018

Black Honey are on a whistlestop tour of UK record stores to promote their self-titled debut album released last Friday. Included on the tour was an early afternoon stripped down set at Manchester’s HMV where they performed a seven-song set before sitting down to sign everything and anything.

SKIES / Loners / Kata Rayna - Leeds The Library - 22nd September 2018

SKIES' short UK headline tour called into The Lending Room at Leeds on Saturday night with a very varied line up of bands on the bill before Alie and Jericho took to the stage and delivered a raucous upbeat thirteen song set. Support came from Loners and Kata Rayna.

Suede - Leeds Brudenell Social Club - 22nd September 2018

Suede took to the stage at the intimate legendary Brudenell Social Club in Leeds on Saturday night for two sets to help celebrate the release of their latest album The Blue Hour. We caught the first of the two sets that focused solely on material from that record and those since they went back into the studio after reforming.

TRACK OF THE DAY : James - Many Faces

To celebrate International Peace Day, James have released a video to their new single Many Faces, recorded during their Better Than That tour in May at Halifax's Victoria Theatre. The song features on their fifteenth studio album Living In Extraordinary Times that hit the top ten in August and was at the time of the performance unreleased and only being played live for the fourth time, which makes the audience reaction to it even more special.

Purple Heart Parade - Lonestar EP

Even The Stars favourites Purple Heart Parade return with a stunning four track EP on an equally stunning slab of white and purple vinyl. Stuart Ralston relishes reviewing a record on his favoured four-track EP format, and what an EP it is.

Jack Oliver Monty - Manchester Gullivers - 20th September 2018

Gullivers was the scene for Jack Oliver Monty's single launch for his debut The Garden and it saw his five-piece band take to the stage with him for the first time in a half-hour set, rich in songwriting craft, emotional intelligence and variety.

The Blinders - Columbia

Many a band have had the albatross of saviours of rock and roll hung around their neck until it choked them. The latest young band to have that accolade circling them is The Blinders as they prepare to release their debut album Columbia. Are they the real deal or the Northern equivalent of SMASH for these Brexit times?

TRACK OF THE DAY : Celestial North - The Land, The Sea, The Human Race

The Land, The Sea, The Human Race is the fourth single in six months from the mysterious Celestial North.

TRACK OF THE DAY : Emma Ruth Rundle - Light Song

Light Song is the latest track to be taken from Emma Ruth Rundle's new album On Dark Horses, her fourth solo record which was released last Friday. The single features vocals by Evan Patterson of Jaye Jayle.

TRACK OF THE DAY : Marquis Drive - Movin' On

Movin' On is the new single from Cannock six-piece Marquis Drive, a driving anthemic track that manages to blend influences from the music they grew up listening to with their own personalities stamped across both the song and the accompanying video.

The Bluetones / Giant Rooks / Mano McLaughlin / Razz / Liam Frost And The Latchkey Kids / FTK / Jess Kemp / Deco - Head For The Hills Festival - 15th September 2018

 

 

Day two of Head For The Hills festival in Ramsbottom saw a full program of music across the day from established national headliners like The Bluetones to local heroes like Liam Frost, Mano McLaughlin, Jess Kemp and FTK as well as up and coming bands from further afield in Deco and two German bands Razz and second stage headliners Giant Rooks. The weather held off and allowed the crowd to take in not just the music but the multiple other attractions dotted around the cricket pitch.

TRACK OF THE DAY : The Maitlands - Daunting From Derker

The Maitlands' latest single Daunting From Derker is something of a departure in style from the band that changes its line up more often than there's delays on the Rochdale branch of Manchester's Metrolink which coincidentally is the setting for this new track.

The Slow Readers Club / Emily Capell / Urban Theory / LIINES - Head For The Hills Festival - 14th September 2018

It wouldn't be September without the annual pilgrimage to Ramsbottom for Head For The Hills Festival, a mix of established national bands and those on the cusp from both the North West and further beyond. Friday night was a homecoming of sorts for late stand-in headliners The Slow Readers Club, having headlined the second stage here in 2016, whilst local bands Urban Theory and LIINES showcased the festival's policy of supporting emerging talent and Emily Capell seduced a main stage crowd with her West London wit and charm.