MASK OF BEES – Reft EP

Mask of Bees are an experimental band from Manchester, proudly crossing musical boundaries and caring not for any kind of genre tagging. Their overall sound blends art rock with a metallic crunch and then gives that a massive send off with huge swathes of jazz fusion. Hearing them is an intense experience, almost as if bits of The Jesus Lizard got spliced with bits of TesseracT, Soft Machine and an old John Coltrane record.

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Hit The North: Real Gone meets Paul Hanley

For most people, Paul Hanley will be best known as the drummer with The Fall during their “two drummers period” between 1980 and 1985. He is currently a member of Brix and The Extricated, a band comprising several ex-Fall members. In the last quarter of 2017, Paul’s book ‘Leave The Capital’, in which he looks at the history of various recordings made in Manchester, was published by Route Publishing. In March 2018, Paul met with Lee from Real Gone to discuss ‘Leave The Capital’ and more besides.

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RUM THIEF – Time To Make A Move EP

In the summer of 2015, singer-songwriter Jot Green (aka Rum Thief) released ‘Reach For The Weather Man‘, an EP of hard jangling tunes coupled with social commentary and an unavoidable sense of Englishness. Like a northern Frank Turner, an underground Alex Turner or perhaps a Mike Skinner with actual tunes and talent, he showed a strong ability to couple grass roots messages with a gruff but fairly timeless indie-rock backdrop. A fair while passed and nothing more was heard. Had the Rum Thief been swallowed up by his day job, or even run out of things to tell the world? It would seem so.

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RUM THIEF – Reach For The Weatherman EP

rum thiefAlthough carrying a band name, much like Badly Drawn Boy, Rum Thief represents just one man. It’s the chosen moniker for singer-songwriter Jot Green, a Manchester-based multi-instrumentalist.  He served as drummer in many local bands for over a decade, but eventually decided to strike out on his own.  The first Rum Thief EP, ‘Clouded Mind’ attracted the attention of a few ears and Green set about forming a band for live shows.  A couple of years on, the return of Rum Thief finds the performer sounding much more assured.

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Lost Atlanta announce new single

Manchester-based post hardcore band Lost Atlanta have a new single ‘Into The Grey’ coming out on December 8th. The track features a guest guitar solo from Polyphia guitarist Tim Henson. According to the band, they are “currently writing a bunch of new songs [and] ready to hit the studio in the new year, to record a brand new EP.”

They also “plan to start branching out and playing new places around the UK“.

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