Manchester band Doves are the second live band to headline the Warehouse Project this year.  The band, who recently released their greatest hits album, have been a favourite in the city since they were formed here in the early ‘90s. Doves said in a recent interview for The Daily Record that they plan to take […]

In the run up to this year’s festival, music editor Eoghan Bennett chats to the festival’s organisers to see what all the fuss is about. The Mancunion: To anybody who’s not familiar with the festival, sum up what it’s all about. In The City: In The City is a three-day music conference held in the […]

Ian Brown is a certified Mancunion musical icon. Now seven albums down since the split of the Stone Roses, he’ll be playing his second huge Manchester gig of the year. While early June’s Platt Fields Park night was fantastic, the Warehouse Project gig promises even more. With Factory favourite Mike Pickering on beforehand, as well […]

About to embark on the well trodden path to Mancunion music fame are local 5 piece Dutch Uncles. Coming up in a complete new wave of Manchester electronic/dance sound, Dutch Uncles are not mere replicas of current successes, but act as a complement to this ever growing landscape. The Night & Day Café served as […]

This year’s Warehouse Project starts with one of only a handful of nights featuring live bands rather than DJs. The club’s opening night on the Thursday of Welcome Week features headliners Maximo Park, who boast two double platinum albums to their name, as well as sell out tours in the UK and abroad. Supporting them […]

4 Stars Its 7:30pm, and outside the union a group of teenage girls are shelling out £40 each for a ticket. Bearing in mind the normal price was £9.50, it’s not surprising the touts are laughing their heads off. It’s also no surprise to find that at least of half of the crowd is underage, […]

With a supposed techno-based new album coming out later this year, SMD could be bringing a heavier sound to Warehouse than they ever have before. But still, expect plenty of analogue bleeping, and some of their Kitsuné remixes of Klaxons, Air and Muse. As SMD are in control of the whole line-up, it’s a bit […]

4 Stars It’s always heartening to see a musician enjoying a gig as much as the audience, and Josh Ritter, playing to an almost full Royal Northern College of Music last Wednesday, looked positively ecstatic. At several points he literally jumped for joy, and the rest of the time contented himself with grinning wildly, resembling […]

2 Stars The progression from frontman to solo artist is a well documented one. Morrissey, Richard Ashcroft, Sting – all have tried their hand at breaking away from the constraints of a rock band democracy to pursue their own creative interests. But the one thing that the above have in common is that their music […]

4 Stars     Given their previous associations with so-called ‘garage rock’, this new offering from Deerhunter comes as a bit of surprise. Gone are the discordant soundscapes and experimental noise sessions that denote their previous albums. Their fourth offering has an ambient, dreamy quality to it that make it softer and possibly somewhat more […]

Alex Trimble, Kevin Baird and Sam Halliday, otherwise known as Two Door Cinema Club, are sitting backstage at the Academy 2, admiring the glorious view of the building site in front of the John Rylands library. They may have just driven through the night from Glasgow, but as lead singer Alex starts talking, you can instantly tell they wouldn’t change it for the world.

3.5 Stars During the eleven months that it has taken to record his debut, Tinie Tempah’s jocular, no-frills lyrical style has taken him from relative obscurity to being one of the most talked about and promising artists in the charts, and initially, Disc-Overy seems to uphold the momentum of his previous success.   The piercing […]

4 Stars Without seeming too unsympathetic towards the millions of people across the globe who are fighting tooth and nail to ‘make it’ as musicians in the world of showbiz, the brand of ‘music’ that is espoused by men like Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh is simply the worst thing that has ever happened to […]

Recently, I found myself sat in front of a Freeview box with friends and alcohol, begrudgingly watching the worst music channels on TV (You know the ones; channels with titles like Mega Tunes TV or Hit Land). All delightfully cheesy and vaguely tolerable, until, a few beers in, the corner of the screen lit up […]