Author: Sounds From Nowhere

A smoke-filled basement lit only by the haze of a handful of colourful neon light tubes, with an assortment synthwave playing over the PA in the background, Manchester’s Soup Kitchen has been transformed into a setting within a sci-fi dystopia, a dim bunker that would not look out of place within Neo-Tokyo, nestled away from…

The city of Manchester can lay claim to be the focal point of dance music’s evolution, just as much as it was the gestation point for punk, and everything that followed. It was DJs around the city that began importing ‘the sounds of the future’, music created by the increasing availability of drum machines, samplers…

Sir Paul returns to his hometown to showcase the many faces of McCartney with a three-hour extravaganza that won’t be forgotten. Walking up the Strand road towards the Echo Arena, you’re greeted by signs exclaiming “Welcome Home, Paul!”, to delight. There still has never been a bigger musical act than The Beatles, and there never…

“Let’s have some upbeat music for a Saturday night”. Malcolm Middleton was once part of the incredibly fun, cheery Falkirk pop duo Arab Strap, who had the knack of combining post-rock intricacies with spoken word passages- raw, visceral, dripping with gut-wrenching emotional honesty. If The Pogues were James Joyce for the punk generation, Arab Strap…

Two legendary names in psychedelia team up to take over the iconic venue The Deaf Institute, remoulding it in their image. The Heads have been able to build up a reputation for their bombastic live shows and highly sought-after limited edition runs of albums- often less than 100 copies created and sold, all the while…

The burgeoning psychedelic rock scene from Japan continues to make huge waves throughout the world, seemingly on the verge of breaking out as many of the key figures of the subgenre have become cult stars within the Anglosphere. Kikagaku Moyo are psychedelia in one of the more traditional terms, an east-meets-west mesh of fuzzy acid…

In the current sense, Father John Misty is an artist like no other. The songwriter with narcism, witt, romanticism and that slight hint of optamism, surely knows how to write an album or two, or four. Tonight, he’s returned to Liverpool in support of his fourth album God’s Favourite Customer, and he’s definitely on his…

The local madcap heroes Salt The Snail return to support their latest single “Lazer Quest”, in the best way possible, at an actual game of lazer quest. Pip Johnson reports. A gig in a Lazer Quest, as mental as it sounds and full of questions like “Will it sound good?” and “Where will the bands…