MDS

Rarely is it that you discover a band who encompass everything that is good about music – exceptional ability, intelligent writing, thoughtful lyrics and that magical sense of time travel, the new and the old combined.  And excitement, pure excitement when you listen....

So Seattle's (almost) supergroup have arrived in Manchester relatively un-noticed. That's not our label for them, we pinched that from someone else's article. They're a superb group as far as we're concerned. A superb duo, in actual fact, made up of Barre...

With a plethora of art exhibitions, installations and venues across (lower) Salford taking part, SFTOC 2012 has been another day-long venture of discovery and delight. I've picked out the musical highlights of our whistle-stop tour.   Nashville is generally home to...

  Blasting out of Brooklyn, A Place To Bury Strangers have been near deafening fans with their super-noisy gothy rock since 2003. Latest release 'Onwards To The Wall' E.P. is a stepping stone between phases of writing for them with the five tracks chosen from co...

Never was there a more apt name for a band – Earth – creating deep, moaning sounds like trees growing, ethereal noise like the wind in the grass and every night-time sound you've never imagined... Labelled as 'doom' they hardly fit into the same abras...

There have been a string of Aussie acts who've 'made it' in the UK, from pop purveyors Kylie and Jason to rock acts like The Vines and Wolfmother, and rather shyly singer Hayley Mary didn't think that her Sydney based band fell into that clutch. Well what a b...

John Rylands Library, music, a handful of Manchster's greatest purveryors of such a thing – count us in. What a mind-blowing building to be visiting, and for the first ever gig in the space, what an honour. And an honour to be at the first gig from the fabulous Tok...

Secret Chiefs 3 were founded by the rather unexpectedly hippy-ish Trey Spruance, most commercially known for his work with Faith No More (King For A Day 1995) and Mr Bungle, with fellow Mr. Bungle members Trevor Dunn (bass) and Danny Heifetz (drums). Spruance...

A year or so ago everyone was asking “Who is Janice Graham?” – the confusion around Manchester’s very own ska reggae outfit, and what, or who, they were seemed to be endless. Now it’s all cleared up, we know who they are and what they look lik...

You're never sure what to exepect from a night sprinkled with stars previously heard of in other incarnations; are they going to be all glam and steal the limelight from their new bandmates, will they be rough and ready and rock 'n' roll, or just get on with it...

Hype is an annoying thing, be it in politics, music, or whatever.  Do you believe it, or not, as Public Enemy once said...?  Sometimes it's worthy hype, sometimes misleading, and sometimes utterly made up by PR spin-doctor types. Seems to me Little Barrie a...

It's rather sweet when you call up a band, who you thought had forgotten about the interview appointment, to receive a flood of apologies (they had to go for Lambrini supplies) and your name in song.  Somehow this song is how The Heartbreaks' drummer, Joe, has...

Much hype revolved around this show tonight, and it wasn't because of the appearance of Ben Ottewell, ex-Gomez fella. Sorry Ben, but you've been around a while, and there's new blood in town. Namely, Ren Harvieu it seems, and she's been causing quite a sti...

You don’t really know what to expect from a band who’s name is Surfer Blood – it sounds a bit of a messy situation really.  Are they going to be sinister, something along the lines of a doom rock band, dark and slightly evil, or is it going to be lik...

Well what an exciting night. I think Lemmy has invented, as well as one of the most recogniseable pieces of facial hair in rock, a time machine. A time machine that transports everyone at every Motörhead gig back to the 80s and the grimy, sweaty height of their hit-ma...

Shrinebuilder, a kind of underground super-group, if that’s not a contradiction in terms. The doom-rock band, made up of four hairy musician’s all belonging to other bands of a similar ilk like Neurosis, Om, The Hidden Hand, Melvins and even some more commercia...