Browsing Tag

Manchester Music Scene

Manchester’s Concrete Club turned the noose of neoliberalism with their indie anthem, ‘Paycheck to Paycheck’

Posted on 13 April 2025
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JdX0eWtArndCaiYIe5HH8gwZo24ItAnX

The most promising indie rock outfit Manchester has had swaggering down Oldham Street in quite some time has returned with Paycheck to Paycheck—a synth-soaked, guitar-jangled post-punk-adjacent anthem that picks up where Morrissey left off. Concrete Club turned the noose of neoliberalism into a no-nonsense working-class vignette, unflinching in its portrayal of the modern malaise of trying to keep your head above water while the elite swan-dive into tax avoidance schemes.

Built around a powerful synth lead and a tighter-than-the-welfare-budget rhythm section, Paycheck to Paycheck offers a rallying opportunity to seek refuge in the bleak comfort of shared scarcity complexes. The infectiously adrenalising reprise of “You’re not fun anymore” perfectly encapsulates the satisfaction that’s been stripped and sanitised from society; walk through any town, and you’ll witness psyches cracked by austerity and stitched up with zero-hour contracts.

The irony? Catch Concrete Club live and you’ll find the fun that’s been excised from everyday life forcibly reinstated through their Editors-esque earworms. Their sound may nod to New Order and The Killers, but this isn’t a tribute act banking on nostalgia. With lyricality that hits like a shot to the heart from a candid, politically aware soul and vocals that pull you into the feverish core of their arrangements, Concrete Club aren’t here to be a footnote. They deserve a headline slot in Manchester’s ongoing music legacy.

Paycheck to Paycheck is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Precious McKenzie – ‘Soft Skin, Screaming’: Alt-Indie Proof Romance Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Nihilistic

Posted on 9 April 2025

Manchester’s Precious McKenzie scratched their 7-year hiatus itch with the release of their single, ‘Soft Skin, Screaming’ on April 7; a precursor to their upcoming EP, which brings with it a promise of more cerebrally Machiavellian lyricality and stylistic ricochets across the alt-indie spectrum.

As an exposition of emotional addiction, hedonic excess and how the intersections between them can lead to the avenue of alienation and desperation to evade apathy, the single opts for realism over resolve, affirming how in the end, we return to dust, and yet, there’s catharsis in the emotive cataclysm which proves that romance isn’t dead, it’s just nihilistic and as dysfunctional as its perpetrators as they chase the impermanence of satisfaction in an era of dystopia.

With a chorus that delivers the visceralism we crave to abstract us from the monotony of unaltered mental states following palpitatingly taut verses of angular guitars fuelling the tension and visualising the anxiety that instils itself in the preludes of indulgence, ‘Soft Skin, Screaming’ is the sharpest blade on the alt-indie execution block in 2025.

Through chameleonic vocals that deliver poetic tender sentimentality, augment into anthemic 00s indie adrenaline, find room to inject sardonic spite and let restraint slip into ether while keeping flawless pitch like an indie crooner on the brink, Soft Skin, Screaming, is a buzzsaw through the mind, body, soul and rhythmic pulses.

Soft Skin, Screaming is now available to stream on all major platforms, including  Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

A.J Galley – Down the Drain: Manchester Has a New Voice of Melancholy

Posted on 26 January 2025
youtu.be/-XBRsQo6y5g?si=R3xZAoQowM_OjtLU

It seems Manchester’s knack for crafting bittersweet symphonies didn’t end with The Verve. A.J Galley’s standout single, Down the Drain, is a stripped-back tour de force evocative of Radiohead’s songcraft, where melancholy flows through the veins of every acoustic chord and sombre vocal harmony. With emotion taking precedence over theatrics, Galley’s voice swells and softens, allowing the momentum to ebb and flow with natural intensity.

Anyone who has ever loved and lost the battle will find swathes of resonance residing within Down the Drain which finds itself leagues away from cliche. At just 22, Galley demonstrates a maturity in his songwriting that defies his years. The track’s progressive arrangement carefully builds to an artfully agonised crescendo, underscoring his command over dynamic contrasts.

Influenced by the likes of Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, and Chris Cornell, Galley bleeds introspective confessions into raw, unfiltered power, balancing gentle verses with climactic choruses that bristle with intricate depth. With Down the Drain, Galley’s place in the city’s sonic legacy feels more than assured.

Down the Drain is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Thee Spicy Leviathan cut through the ‘Noise’ with their latest alt-rock juggernaut

Posted on 28 October 2024

The latest stoner rock-adjacent single, Noise, from Manchester’s freshly formed outfit, Thee Spicy Leviathan, borrows a few salacious leaves from Deftones’ sonic playbook, scrawling their sonic signature across the pages. Once lured by the seductive rhythmic pulse of the single, subversion sinks in as the euphonic deadpan vocals transition from crooning to screamo snarls, unveiling a vicious sense of duality in the production that mirrors the hypersonic drama reminiscent of Muse. It’s practically the stoner rock equivalent of a horror film jump scare, heightening the immersion in the technically cultivated, tumultuously ingenious track.

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to say that Manchester harbours a new, truly prodigious outfit, but no one can deny the powerhouse is cutting through the nostalgic banality of the scene, blazing a similar trail to Dirty Laces, Deja Vega, and The Virginmarys.

As they gear up for their debut album launch later this year, Thee Spicy Leviathan is poised to ignite the alt-rock genre with their explosive, primal energy.

The official music video for Noise premiered on October 2nd; stream it on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lovers in Sepia: The Hearse Paid Homage to Bygone Eras with ‘AS HOPELESS ROMANTICS DO’

Posted on 30 August 2024

After forming in June 2024, The Hearse is gearing up to gain reverence as one of Manchester’s hottest breakthrough new wave indie rock acts. Filtered through a dreamy, sepia-tinged lens of nostalgia, their sophomore release, featuring the single, AS HOPELESS ROMANTICS DO, melodically strips away the decades which stand between the present epoch and the soul of the 60s and 70s.

With guitar chords which sweep through echoes of Joni Mitchell, vocals which capture the quintessence of dreamy diehard romanticism, authentically orchestrated crescendos of euphonic bliss, and hints of western indie folk breezing through the progressions, AS HOPELESS ROMANTICS DO is a route to the past never taken before.

If their sound is this sweet on record, the live experience will be enough to give you an aural sugar rush.

AS HOPELESS ROMANTICS DO will be officially released on August 30th with the B-side single, I’D LOVE TO BE YOUR GIRL. Stream the single on SoundCloud and connect with the Hearse on TikTok and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

IST IST dominated the Manchester post-punk pantheon with their latest single, Repercussions

Posted on 14 June 2024
IST IST

Look at Manchester as a landscape and you’ll be confused by the claim that we do things differently here; the proverb only materialises through the mettle of sonic architects in the same trailblazing vein as IST IST.

Since their debut single, IST IST has been an unreckonable authentic force that has easily earned its place in the post-punk pantheon. With their latest single, Repercussions, taken from their fourth LP, Light a Bigger Fire, they emerge once again as an unextinguishable paragon of eminence.

From the first angular note that leads you into a neon-lit hedonic tour de force, you’re hooked into an exhilarant earworm that delivers scintillation and kinetic rhythmic propulsion by the smorgasbord.

By extrapolating the brooding vocal presence of Sisters of Mercy, the cerebral intensity of Magazine, the coruscating synths of Arcade Fire, and the menacingly pulse-pounding beats of Depeche Mode, and synthesising them into a cocktail that could only be stirred by their own hand, IST IST delivered a broodingly expansive testament to their cultivated fortitude.

Producer Joe Cross (Courteeners, Hurts) ensured that the single, which unravels as an exposition of how insidious thoughts can spill from the psyche into reality, becomes an invitation to liberate yourself from your introspective vexation – if only for the duration of the emancipating hit that surpasses ear candy and becomes an elixir for oppressive reflections.

Stream Repercussions on all major platforms, including Spotify, from June 6th.

Follow the band on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Prepare for a post-punk power surge when LIINES unleashes their kinetic comeback track, Holding On

Posted on 5 June 2024
LIINES

The emotional underpinnings of longing in Holding On capture exactly how LIINES fans have felt while waiting for the new material to surface. It’s been almost three years since the last fix from Manchester’s post-punk revolutionists, now that it’s here, prepare to be overpowered by propulsively kinetic earworm.

From the first lashing of the seething with distortion guitar strings, you know you’ve hit play on a track capable of tearing your soul in two and stitching it back together with threads of adrenaline, desperation and hope. Intensity reaches every aural atom in the light-handed production that allows Zoe McVeigh (vox, guitar, bass) and Leila O’Sullivan to exhibit the raw magnetism of their creative synergy.

Charged with hauntingly emotional potency and driven by a frenetic rhythmic pulse, Holding On unravels with the same catchy lyrical reprises projected through the signature songwriting structure that has allowed LIINES to be a continuation of Manchester’s post-punk legacy, not just a mere mediocre facsimile.

Yet, notably, there’s a heightened sense of vulnerability within Zoe’s stridently pitched searing vocals, ensuring Holding On hits every feasible raw nerve before tearing you away from the articulated agony through the liberation within the exhilarant progressions.

From the release of their 2018 debut LP, LIINES has pushed post-punk into unchartered waters, With their renewed cultivated edge carved by the Sleater Kinney influence that reverberates through the single until the haunting Pixies-esque middle eight that allows the vox to drift from the basslines as they prowl under the optimism searching harmonies, their distinctive volition met freshly honed prowess.

Holding On will be available to stream on all major platforms from June 7th; pre-save the single here, and follow LIINES on Facebook to stay up to date with news of the upcoming EP, due for release in Autumn 2024.

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

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

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