A Carefully Planned Festival - Day 2 - TVAM / Annabel Allum / The Sisters / A Sudden Burst Of Colour / The Hipshakes / Blooms / LIINES / The Orielles

Day 2 of A Carefully Planned Festival and we're heading around Manchester's Northern Quarter without much of a plan (we lost our guide sheet twice and hadn't done our research) but the beauty of such a diverse, well thought out festival is that you'll always find something you weren't expecting to blow you away. We caught eight very different bands across five venues.

Pete Greenwood - Interview

Pete Greenwood released his second album Beauceron last week, seven years after his debut Sirens. We caught up with Pete to find a little more about what he's been up to and about some of the songs on the album and his plans for the future.

John Bramwell / Dave Fidler - Hebden Bridge Trades Club - 16th October 2015

This is John's seventh appearance at the Trades Club in two years and it's where he recorded his live solo album Live At The Trades, but it's clear from the welcome he gets as he comes onto stage that the love is mutual. He cracks a quip that all his jokes will be old to everyone, although he laughs to himself at one point he's trying out new material as it's the first night of the tour, but misses the point as to why people keep coming back to these shows. Beautifully intimate, no two Bramwell shows approach being the same. He doesn't have a setlist, just a list of songs and takes suggestions from the audience and allows himself to be distracted by whatever comes into his head between songs. Support came from Dave Fidler.

She Drew The Gun - Manchester Academy 2 - 17th October 2015

Since we first featured She Drew The Gun's debut single If You Could See back in January, things have started to happen for Louisa and her band. Second single Since You Were Not Mine won her a whole legion of new fans and with Steve Lamacq debuting new song Where I End And You Begin and them securing a huge support slot on Fink's European tour, the future looks promising. We caught their opening set at Manchester Academy 2 on Saturday night.

A Carefully Planned Festival Day 1 - Manchester - 17th October - Jess Bryant / Emma Kupa / Mammoth Penguins / Embers / Mayors Of Miyazaki / The Spook School

A Carefully Planned Festival takes over most of the Northern Quarter's venues for a weekend every October with an eclectic mix of emerging bands from all over the country, many of which we've never heard of let alone heard. We caught six acts on day one, ranging from the solo Jess Bryant playing her first Manchester show for several years, through Emma Kupa playing two sets as herself and leading Mammoth Penguins, Manchester favourites Embers to the full on rock of the magnificently titled Mayors Of Miyazaki and The Spook School.

Ride - Liverpool O2 Academy - 15th October 2015

After a series of jubilant triumphant shows in early summer, Ride announced an October tour and speculation was rife whether they would use the tour to revisit their debut album Nowhere, celebrating twenty five years to the day since its release in full. Very late in the day, they announced the shows would feature two sets, the first a mix of songs from across their career and the second the album in full. As there was no Manchester show, us and half the audience got the train over to relive one of the defining indie albums of the early 1990s.

Pete Greenwood - Beauceron

It's been seven years since Pete Greenwood's debut album Sirens was released on Heavenly Records and you'd be forgiven for thinking he'd given up the music business. However he's back with a self-released album Beauceron and it's a record of simple understated beauty.

David Ford / Jess Morgan - Salford Kings Arms - 12th October 2015

Everyone's doing the classic album thing these days. It's almost a cast iron guarantee of trebling your audience at the drop of a hat. But as ever David Ford doesn't play by the rules. He's won a dedicated band of followers over the last ten years and him deciding to play his debut album I Sincerely Apologise For All The Trouble I've Caused isn't a commercial act designed to make him rich for twelve months, but a celebration of a very special album that defined a time and place for a small group of people, himself included.

Black Honey - Manchester Soup Kitchen - 13th October 2015

For a band with only a self-released EP and single to date, it's astonishing to see Soup Kitchen practically sold out for a band generating a buzz by word of mouth on the back of some scintillating live performances. Black Honey are a band on a mission though and the gig ends in a huge stage invasion and a room full of love going their way.

Broken Hands - Turbulence

The resurgence of psychedelic rock continues with Broken Hands releasing their majestic, ambitious debut LP, Turbulence.

Reverend And The Makers - Manchester HMV - 10th October 2015

To support the release of their fifth album Mirrors, Reverend And The Makers are doing a short tour of UK record shops to play a short acoustic set and sign copies of the album. We caught them play five songs at Manchester HMV and get up close and personal with the Rev.

David Ford - I Sincerely Apologise For All The Trouble I've Caused

To celebrate the ten year anniversary of his debut album I Sincerely Apologise For All The Trouble I've Caused, David Ford is playing a series of commemorative shows. Even The Stars goes back in time to reminisce how low-fi homemade demos and videos and a series of intense live shows turned him from the front man of a dropped post-Britpop outfit to one of the hottest unsigned properties in the business for a few short months in 2005.

Delamere / Vynce / James Christy Band / Control Of The Going - Manchester Academy 3 - 10th October 2015

Four very different bands make up the line-up of Scruff Of The Neck's latest showcase of the North West's best emerging talent at Manchester Academy 3. Headliners Delamere are launching their new single Heart, whilst Vynce, James Christy Band and Control Of The Going seek to make the most of the opportunity of the big stage to showcase their talents and win over new fans.

Minute Taker - Manchester Royal Exchange - 9th October 2015

Manchester's Royal Exchange hosts one of the city's best kept musical secrets. Most Fridays at 5.30 there's a free show in the Great Hall. This week we were treated to a set by Minute Taker, aka Ben McCarthy, playing a mix of intelligently composed and structured songs and instrumental pieces to an appreciative audience.

Ist Ist - Manchester Sound Control - 9th October 2015

It's been a few months since we last saw Ist Ist and they've been growing horns whilst we've been away. Louder, more direct than ever before with new songs that reveal a burgeoning diversity of sound and mode of attack.

Track Of The Day : The Lottery Winners - I Know

After what seems like an eternity of waiting, The Lottery Winners have finally released a new single I Know. A live favourite already it has all the traits that have won them an ever-growing following - big chorus, upbeat guitar riffs and the most fantastic vocal harmonies.

Jane Weaver / The Sundowners - Manchester Gorilla - 8th September 2015

Tonight feels like a celebration, a moment taken aside to celebrate the unexpected success of Jane Weaver's The Silver Globe album, a record that was perfect for its time on release last year and which still resonates with the five hundred people crammed into Gorilla. She's supported by The Sundowners, a band that hasn't yet got the recognition they deserve for both their debut album and the thrill of their live shows.

Introducing - Delamere

Delamere play their biggest headline show this weekend headlining Manchester Club Academy. The gig represents the launch of their new single Heart, which has been gathering rave reviews, and is a taster for their debut album which they hope to record and release in early 2016. We caught up with them for a chat ahead of the show.

The Lemonheads - Manchester Ritz - 7th October 2015

Tonight's Ritz show is the penultimate of The Lemonheads' first UK tour for three years. Led by the charismatic Evan Dando, who doesn't look like he's aged a day in the last two decades, they mix twenty-six songs from their back catalogue as well as some judiciously selected covers and Evan Dando solo tracks leaving the Manchester audience suitably impressed.

Track Of The Day : Billy Bibby - Hideaway

Billy Bibby has been building a following of his own with a series of acoustic gigs and low-key releases of songs on the internet ahead of launching his new band. Hideaway is the latest of these and is an impressive classic-sounding acoustic tale of a broken relationship.

Reverend And The Makers - Mirrors

Mirrors is Reverend And The Makers' fifth album and a marked departure from the bass-heavy dancefloor oriented @Reverend_Makers and Thirty Two. It's a concept album of sorts, recorded in part in Jamaica, where they filmed a DVD to accompany the album. It only last thirty four minutes for fourteen songs, but it takes the listener on a memorable musical journey. Unlike so many concept album, it hits the spot every time and is their best album yet.

Track Of The Day : Slowcoach - In Limbo

Slowcoach is the solo project of Melbourne's Dean Valentino who plays all instruments on In Limbo other than drums. It's the b-side for his recent single Beneath The Board and we slightly prefer it of the two as its jangly guitars and surf rhythms are impossible not to fall for.

Northern Uproar - Hey Samurai!

Stockport veterans return with their fifth album Hey Samurai! Stuart Ralston discovers a band he missed back in the day and finds them in fine form.

Monica Heldal - Manchester Castle Hotel - 5th October 2015

Monica Heldal hails from Bergen, Norway. Already well known in her homeland following the release of her debut album The Boy From The North which finally gets a UK release this week, she has been over playing shows here for the first time. We caught her debut Manchester show and were impressed not just by her songwriting craft, her soft seductive voice, but also her ability to extract both delicate and detailed sounds from her guitar.

Track Of The Day : Zuzu - Where'd You Go?

Where'd You Go? is the first track revealed by Liverpool band Zuzu in live demo format. We'd been tipped off to them by a London friend (where they're based) who was overwhelmed by them supporting Kid Wave and demanded we check them out. This is the only song we could find but it's one we felt compelled to share.

Hidden Charms - Middleton Carsons Bar - 3rd October 2015

On the back of the recent release of their single Dreaming Of Another Girl, Hidden Charms are on what feels like a never ending tour of the country's small venues and building themselves a burgeoning reputation as a ferocious live band. We caught them for the second time at Carsons Bar in Middleton as they more than justify the growing hype.

Track Of The Day : Rory Wynne - Post Party Confusion

Post-Party Confusion is the new single from Stockport's Rory Wynne. Already a live favourite, it's a hell-for-leather blast through hazy drunken memories of last night's party. Booze, throwing up in a sink, a fight over a girl, waking up with two black eyes, it's a tale of a typical teenage party set to a siren blast of guitar that you won't be able to get out of your head.

Trampolene - Pocket Album Three

The third in the series of Trampolene's Pocket Albums is set to expand their fanbase with its lead track It's Not Rock And Roll already having secured them radio play, but it's the diversity of the material that makes them stand out (as it did with the previous pocket albums - or EPs as those of us old enough to remember called them).

Kid Wave - Manchester Gullivers - 1st October 2015

It's been a big year for Kid Wave with the release of their debut album Wonderlust and they're topping it off with a big UK headline tour after a number of prestigious support slots. We caught up them at Gullivers in Manchester and witnessed a band spreading its wings and taking the songs to a new level.

Introducing - Mayflower

There are a number of bands emerging from Manchester at the moment with a true understanding and love of the art of songwriting. Whilst nodding to the past and the eras of classic guitar-driven alternative pop, they're creating something that also feels completely contemporary. One of our more recent discoveries are four-piece Mayflower who've just revealed their fourth song Sienna and who headline the Night And Day on Saturday. We had a chat to find out more.

Jenn Grant / David O'Dowda - Manchester Gullivers Lounge - 30th September 2015

Canadian Jenn Grant has been released five albums to date, but it's only with her latest release Compostela that she's ventured to the UK and toured. Tonight is her second show in Manchester in the intimate surroundings of Gullivers' Lounge and she charms us with her beautiful delicate acoustic songs and her infectious between song talk. Support was from local composer David O'Dowda.

The Lake Poets - The Lake Poets

The Lake Poets debut album is a record that explores the darkest parts of the human psyche. Love, loss, domestic violence and reminiscing on a lost childhood and those departed are set against a spindly desolate musical accompaniment to create one of the most intense pieces of music you're ever likely to hear.