So then, a little later than planned, but photos from Lowdown & Dirty last weeked at Sound Control with the Stanton Warriors are now up here, enjoy! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.545766862133087.1073741826.133785613331216&type=1

Any of you lot into Motorsports? A friend of mine is very into his motorsport photography and has a new website up, there's some absolutely stunning stuff on there and you should really take a look through if you're into either the sport, or just some amazing photography... http://www.richardmeftah.com/

Currently listing to this rather lovely mix while finalising the choices for uploading the Lowdown & Dirty photos from Last weekend. Kinda makes me want to go out again! https://soundcloud.com/lowdownanddirty/nick-howard-live-lowdown-4th

My second gig of the week this Thursday, and also my second Mix-Up. Another line up where I'd heard of none of the artists before going, and ending up being a fan of all three by the time I went home. First on were Deep Cabaret 3 which was very definitely folk, and with a fairly unlikely selection of instruments, the first song was two clarinets (I think) voice & shruti with the rest of the set with a mixture of hurdy gurdy, bass clarinet, flute, guitar and voice, lyrically poetic, generally subtle, ridiculously well put together and sounding consistently almost nothing like I would have expected. Very enjoyable indeed! Second up was Thomas McCarthy, a gentleman from a traveller family, singing songs handed down through generations in the traditional style. An incredible performance, at times, so funny he had the audience laughing out loud and at others so haunting that he raised the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck. Just one man, his voice and the stories of generations. Entirely different to the first band, and also entirely brilliant. Lastly, we had Hot Head Show who apparently play Maximalist Avant-Bang. I have no idea what that is.What I will say, is that they were outstandingly energetic, decidedly leftfield, utterly different to the previous two acts and so tight that you couldn't have slid a single sheet of graphene between the three of them. They have toured with Primus, and that might give you a small clue as to what to expect from some of their show, but in no way should you let that start to define them, I've now heard (and own) both of their albums and there's as much variation in there as there is brilliance. Well worth a listen, and if you get a chance to see them live, take it, they somehow manage to transfer this random nervous energy to the crowd in front of them, so much so there was a bit of a pogo going on during some of it. In the Klondyke club. In Levenshulme. Go figure... On the whole another very enjoyable, incredibly varied mix of daftly talented musicianship. Bonkers and brilliant, I will definitely be back for more!

Just a quick note, if you have my blog page bookmarked, please update your link to : http://edsprake.com/category/blog/ I've just had a bit of a re-jig on the site so that I could add my brand spanking new Instagram feed on it's own page; http://edsprake.com/category/instagram/ If you have me on RSS, that should still work just fine & dandy, you'll just get all the regular blog content and all the Instagram content delivered straight to your feed :)

Now, I don't usually promote e-petitions or anything like that on here, but you know, this one's important! http://bit.ly/17w2p8k If you have ever taken a photo and put it up online, then according to this new bill, if someone cannot find the owner of a piece it's classified as an orphan work. This can then be licensed without the consent or knowledge of the owner and creator of that piece. The person that has licensed it from the third party can then make money from that piece including sub-licencing that work and other things. All without the original creator seeing a penny of those profits. This is essentially legalising the theft of peoples' creative works and has the potential to seriously adversely affect the creative economy in this country and around the world. This is the internet after all. This is not just for pro or amateur photographers, but applies to anyone that has ever uploaded original content to the web, be that on facebook, instagram, twitter or any other site. If you could please take the time to click the link at the top of this post and share it with everyone you know that might be affected (So that's EVERYONE), we still have a slim chance of stopping this getting written into law without the consideration that it needs to have. Thanks for taking the time to read this, if you're after more info on this before making an informed decision to take action, there's more info... ...Here: http://www.stop43.org.uk/ And here: bit.ly/ZUuTXh And here: bit.ly/ZUuIv5

Three awesome bands, one Monday(!) night, £4 door tax. Where could you possibly go wrong? Fantastic gig, certainly the best Monday night out I've had for many many years! With Fat Goth, Bad Grammar & Boddickers at Wahlbar, promoted by the lovely TrojanHorse :)

Anyone up for some Stanton Warriors on Saturday at Lowdown & Dirty. Going to be an absolute blinder of a night as per usual!

Pardon I. I seem to have let a blog slip out... http://edsprake.com/pentax-28mm-wide/

Well now, these are just a little bit awesome. Much like just about everything I've seen Shirlaine do. She's very good you know...

My third album launch in two weeks and another corker of a gig in the remarkably tiny and badly lit basement of Wahlbar in Fallowfield. Saying that though, it created in an intimate little gig, which was very good indeed! Cleft opened the show, and I'd heard their recorded stuff before, but I'd not realised that they were a two piece. Guitar and drums. And very bloody good at it too, to the point where you don't notice that it's just guitar & drums, just a wall of beautiful sound. Black Market Serotonin were a damned fine second addition to the night veering from delicately plucked melodies to visceral blasts of distorted bile, nicely balanced and utterly entertaining. And to top it all off, there was the inimitable Trojan Horse with suitably up for it renditions of some old favourites, mixed with some intriguing new material from an as yet unreleased album, providing some tasters of what's to come. A damned fine end to the weekend I reckon, and all for the sum total of nada. Brilliant!

New album by Cogi with pay what you want download, or pre-order of a very limited run of cassettes with hand produced artwork by Paul 'himHallows' Hallows. Heard this at the album launch on Saturday (photos here http://on.fb.me/11wRW8Z ) and it's bloomin' gorgeous! Check it out!

With Bloodboy, LSN, Cogi & Atsubox

Cyril Snear Supported by From The Kites Of San Quentin and Cassie AT The Deaf Institute

Well up for this!

The photos from the Riot of Colour album launch by Cyril Snear at The Deaf Institute with support by From The Kites Of San Quentin and Cassie (who I can't find links for but were ace!) are now up on Echoes And Dust here: http://echoesanddust.com/live-photos/?album=1&gallery=4