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Manchester

Manchester soul sensation, Tsana lit the ignition of self-liberation with her single, All of Me

Posted on 16 April 2024

With her standout single, All of Me, Manchester’s Tsana, rewrote the time-old tale of giving your all in a relationship and receiving only regret in return and reached the epitome of class in the process. Even though emotions run red-hot in the deep groove pockets of the authentic RnB installation, there’s no room for self-pity in the ignition of self-liberation, which feeds into her signature ‘street-soul’ style.

Knowing it is all too easy to slip into a cascade of self-doubt when someone refuses to affirm your worth, Tsana became the ultimate role model for anyone who knows how bittersweet to come away from a relationship scathed by unappreciation.

The Manchester-based soulstress, riding high in her ‘grown woman era’ following a hiatus which saw her bring new life into the world, was a firebrand before her break from the studio and stages, with her latest EP, Lovehood, she’s not just in her element, she’s setting the UK soul scene alight with her cognizant cultivated aura. By finding the ultimate equilibrium between confident sophistication and hell-hath-no-fury unreckonable energy, she’s the best Manchester has to offer in 2024.

All of Me is available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lynden. – Change: A Melodic Indie Folk Pop Embrace of Vulnerability and Hope

Posted on 17 March 2024

Evoking resonance by versing on our tendency to chase distraction to outrun negative pervasive thoughts and feelings of loneliness, Lynden.’s latest single, Change, melodically thrives on an emotive confluence of indie, pop, and folk and renders your heartstrings raw through the candour.

The deep emotional themes which traverse the trappings of anxiety and depression go beyond touching on the darkness that finds a way of leaving a shadow over all of our lives. Lynden. used the opportunity to advocate for the vulnerability of honesty and to extend hope to people who need to hear that world views are malleable. In short, If this world is just illusion, choose one that fulfils you.

Starting with simple acoustic guitar chords and evolving into an intimately all-encompassing production which echoes the appeal of Violent Femmes and The Maccabees’ more melancholic work, the Burnley-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist orchestrated a soundscape which sonically visualises the tenderness of the lyrical narrative, while injecting enough rhythmic zeal to give Change an all-too efficacious uplifting energy.

After receiving critical acclaim and over 24k streams for his last single, You, Lynden. is leaving his affectingly intimate mark on the indie landscape; we can’t think of a more worthy breakthrough artist in 2024.

Change was officially released on March 15. Stream the single on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

GETNER enriched the Manchester music scene with their expansively influenced Rock n Roll debut, White Walls

Posted on 8 March 2024

Manchester’s newest band of prodigal sons, GETNER, modernised vintage rock n roll tones with the shaking, rattling and rolling reverence in their debut single, White Walls.

With a rhythmic undercurrent reminiscent of The Undertones, an injection of Irish rock roots, garage-y blues rock nostalgia in the same vein as the Jim Jones Revue through the shimmering organ timbres and the barely tamed guitar riffs, White Walls is an expansively influenced Rock n Roll tour de force that asserts GETNER as one of the most promising Manchester bands on the scene.

By thriving on the unique sonic proclivities that each of the four members brought to the table, the band of superlatively talented artists ensured that White Walls hit the airwaves hard enough to bruise it. Feel the impact and be a part of GETNER’s inevitable ascent.

Stream the official music video for White Walls via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Leyton Thomas treaded water in the pool of pathology with the indie dream-pop etherealism in his latest single, ‘Screwcap Diet’

Posted on 7 March 2024

Leyton Thomas, with his latest single ‘Screwcap Diet‘, transcended the typical boundaries of indie dream pop. The Manchester-based solo artist skilfully merged influences from Mazzy Star to Sigur Ros, Radiohead to the Verve around his own authentically cultivated sonic signature.

The journey through the complex interplay of health, mindfulness, and the human condition stands out for its hauntingly beautiful guitar work, which weaves an ethereally melancholic narrative. The soft falsetto vocals add a layer of intimacy, making the exploration of our often-neglected appreciation for health all the more poignant. This song wrestles with the shadows of sickness, yet it’s not just about the struggle; it’s a revelation of the enlightenment found in moments of vulnerability.

Thomas’ artistic journey is marked by a fearless blending of genres, a testament to his courage and distinction as an artist. His previous work, including the hip-hop instrumental ‘I Forgot You At The Bottom of the Fridge‘, has already showcased his ability to resonate with a wide audience, amassing significant streams on Spotify. ‘Screwcap Diet’ is a continuation of this sonic exploration.

Thomas’ musical evolution is a narrative of constant reinvention. From his early days in London to his current place in the Manchester scene, his exposure to a diverse range of music has profoundly influenced his sound.

Leyton Thomas Said

“This release is – after a period of digital experimentation – a return to the melodic guitar music that I grew up with. Lyrically, it reflects a feeling that arguably every single human being experiences – that when you are ill, be it seriously ill or plagued with a common cold, everything superficial seems insignificant, and all you wish for is your health. It poses the question, who are we when we are left with just our mind and tired body?”

After being recorded in Leyton Thomas’ home studio and mixed by Will Levison, Screwcap Diet hit all major streaming platforms on February 27th.

Stream Screwcap Diet on Spotify.

Follow Leyton Thomas on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Get high on the dystopic delirium in Heavy Salad’s tropic psych rock cocktail, Weirdest of the Weird Shit

Posted on 26 January 2024

Even though you probably don’t need a track to affirm that we’re living in an era as twisted as Shaun Ryder’s melons, there’s no understating the vindicating catharsis in Heavy Salad’s tropic psych rock cocktail, Weirdest of the Weird Shit.

The track transcends sonics to deliver a mind-melting invitation to get high on the dystopic delirium as part of a collective experience and let the hallucinogenic waves within the ebbing and flowing guitars crash over you and brighten the psyche’s palette. The multi-layered harmonies play an even more crucial role in embodying and imparting vividly hazy hues as they alchemise with a synergy that Heavy Salad has meticulously honed since their 2019 debut release.

With mantras to live by flowing throughout lyrical surrealism in the beachy Lynchian fever dream, you’re free to explore brighter corridors of perception, safe in the knowledge that logic has become an extinction event and the only thing you can really change is the way you engage with our shared illusion.

Weirdest of the Weird Shit is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Follow Heavy Salad on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Manchester gutter punks The Battery Farm thrashed out against the indignity of modernity in ‘House of Pain’

Posted on 14 October 2023

From the offset of their career, The Battery Farm have launched aural assaults to elucidate the filth that lies in the stitches of our Tory sleaze-slicked social tapestry. Their most recent single, House of Pain, is no exception as it brings forth a new brand of furore while leaving the snarky antagonism by the wayside to deliver a necessitated depiction of the brutality endured by the working classes.

The protestive volition within the vocal delivery couldn’t make it clearer that the last straw has been drawn in response to the indignity of modern survival; it finds a feral way of communicating that shame shouldn’t be carried by the people doing what they need to get by; it should rot the souls of the late-stage capitalists forcing the masses into degrading subjugation.

With thrash punk drum fills hammering the discontent into House of Pain and Dominic Corry’s guitars carrying their signature kaleidoscopic with industrial dissonance effects to visualise the foreboding and unforgiving climate, the visceralism within the stark reflection of post-Brexit reality couldn’t be more affectingly astute.

If you needed any more convincing that the Manchester-based gutter punks have moved into their Motorhead era, the B-side single, Time of Peace, should suffice. The exposition of living in a time of perpetual crisis is all the more impactful with the atrocities of the conflict in Gaza playing out before our powerless eyes as even the Labour party leader condones the international war crimes.

Stream House of Pain on Spotify or watch the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Manchester-based producer Tao Mitsu liberated his listeners with his transcendent mix, Just Let Go.

Posted on 20 August 2023

With textures and melodic progressions that go beyond immersive to offer aural escapism, when you’re enmeshed with the pulsating rhythms in the latest instrumental mix, Just Let Go, from the Manchester-based producer Tao Mitsu, space and time may as well cease to exist.

By starting with emotional impulses and constructing musical landscapes around them, each creation of Tao Mitsu is an evocative trip tinged with the full spectrum of human emotion rather than just riding euphoric waves. The fragments of melancholy within the groove and bass-driven ambient techno beats in Just Let Go capture the bittersweetness of loneliness, encompassing the primal pain of heartbreak and the first teasings of hope that appear on the periphery.

Just Let Go may not carry the definitive Manchester sound, but with the cover art depicting one of the cosy corners of the iconic Night & Day Café, Tao Mitsu succeeded in paying homage to the vibrant and eclectic music scene via his nostalgia-driven, transcendently liberating leftfield electronica anthem.

Just Let Go reached the airwaves on August 13th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lynden. accentuated the sweetness in his bitter-sweet indie symphony, You

Posted on 9 August 2023

Jumping off raw emotion as a precipice, the Manchester-based Indie singer-songwriter, Lynden. delved deep when orchestrating and writing his love song, You.

His husky-with-melancholy vocal harmonies make his porously impassioned lyrical proclamations even sweeter to fall into as they ring as assuredly as the gentle acoustic guitar chords against the angular guitar fretwork.

The Cigarettes After Sex inspiration is easily legible within the euphonic atmosphere, but Lynden. stopped at wearing the inspiration on his sleeve instead of assimilating the whole outfit in his quintessentially authentic hit that you’ll need to prise from my playlists from my cold, dead hands.

With John Davis (Blur, Jamie T, The Kooks, Inhaler) in charge of mastering, there was little chance of You falling flat. I always keep my ear to the ground for fresh original acts in my home city; Lynden. was the first artist in a long time that made me prick them up.

You will be available to stream You on all major platforms, including SoundCloud, from August 9th.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bay Bryan’s debut LP is a reverie of ubiquitous art-folk revelation

Posted on 9 June 2023

Life often imitates art, but LPs which emphasise realism and naturalism to such a vivid degree that you find yourself open to the purity and vastness of reality on this 1,000-mph spinning rock are a little harder to find, making the debut album, The Meadow, from Bay Bryan a ubiquitous revelation.

With vocals as diaphanous as the quiescent folk motifs, the omnipresent grace of the 10-track release becomes a paradox in its freeing yet arrestive proclivities. With sounds of the forestland flourishing in the same vein as Cosmo Sheldrake’s nature-sampled work in the opening singles before the LP embraces some folk traditionalism and elevates it through tantalisingly minimalist guile, The Meadow unravels as a release you should consume whole so that the euphonic album can return the favour.

There may be a lot to lament in this Anthropocene. Yet, as euphonically alluded by the Colorado-born, Manchester, UK-based artist, beauty still exists in the totality of our existence. Allowing the release to spill the solace of resonance; around the brushstrokes of pure rapture are conjurings of pensiveness, which give the LP as much soul as the euphoric dream-like layers.

The concept album may portray the tale of a protagonist trapped in an endless daydream, but with the infectious flower child celestiality, you may just find the inspiration to forego reality too, if only for the duration of The Meadow.

The singer-songwriter is often gratifyingly guilty of bringing their theatre-making talents into their imaginatively cinematic soundscapes, which have garnered rave reviews and airplay from BBC Radio 3. In an era when there is so much hate and fear, artists able to implant us in the sanctity of a daydream away from the waking terror are worth their weight in gold; Bay Bryan may just be the richest artist in the UK.

“I want you to stop. I want you to breathe. And for the next 30min I hope that you let yourself go —immerse yourself in world of the meadow —and get lost with me in it’s golden hue. The adventure is yours for the taking.” ~ Bay Bryan

Stream The Meadow via Spotify

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Emissaries of Anxious Angst, The Empty Page, Have New Resonance in Their Arsenal with the Release of Big Nasty Palpitations

Posted on 26 May 2023

After hearing a preview of The Empty Page’s latest single, Big Nasty Palpitations, during their support slot for BERRIES at Gullivers in March and witnessing the visceral fire that has been lit under the Manchester-based emissaries of anxious angst, all it took was the impetus of the angular guitars and subversive anthemics to convince me that it would be the quintessential indie pop hit of the summer.

It may not be your archetypal boy meets girl before releasing a ‘better off without you’ single in the Autumn. The 80s industrial augmented hit is a testament to where society will stand this summer, with conflict scattering rubble like confetti and blowing equally sizeable holes in our assurance that the world is a safe place where your liberty can’t be stripped away at the whim of a sadistically malignant narcissist.

For the anxious, feel your palpitating heart catch in your tight throat under the duress of buzzsaw riffs that are now definitively back in trend. For anyone privileged enough to not know what it feels like to go under when it appears fabric of tangible reality has been pulled from beneath you, grab a snapshot of the dissent into consternation.

Kel said: “Everyone I know has paper-thin mental health at the moment. The world is run by terrifying people who have little regard for us powerless humans who are just trying to get on with our lives. I woke up one too many times with the fear and reached for a pen at 3am to get those grim feelings out of my system. We’ve always been a socially aware band, and the new album definitely has a glittery, dystopian thread running through it that I think is very apparent on this track.”

Big Nasty Palpitations, produced by Morton Kong at Eve Studios, Stockport, hit the airwaves on May 26 ahead of their sophomore LP, which is set to drop later this year.

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Review by Amelia Vandergast