Real Life Missives - April 2026

“In an attempt to place a little more emphasis on things that happen in ‘real life’, rather than in the seemingly perpetual online world we all seem to spend so much time in, I’ve decided to write this short monthly roundup. The idea for this is to be a record of musical experiences and adventures, as well as exciting discoveries and recommendations, mostly from outside my work as a mastering engineer, but not exclusively so as the line definitely blurs frequently!”

This month, I was lucky to have caught San Francisco’s WORLD PEACE at the Star & Garter in Manchester. I was absolutely floored by their total commitment to their (very, very) short but extremely potent set, from the uncompromising set length to the custom lighting and instrumentation which included two bass players playing exactly the same super fast and complex lines as each other with an amazing combination of aggression and precision. There were a few disgruntled murmurs that perhaps 10 minutes was a little unsatisfying to be considered a headline set, but I feel that was somewhat missing the point. I hugely admired their decision to play for exactly the amount of time they felt was suitable for the kind of music they played, and I’d rather a perfect ten minutes than an hour of filler any day of the week.

A week or so later I headed to Night and Day cafe in Manchester to watch Burned As Witches play on their first ever tour! I had the honour of mastering the debut Burned As Witches album, and to hear the songs played live at a hoofing volume was properly ace. Burned As Witches is Rick McMurray from Ash’s solo project, and instead of the punky power-pop of his main band, this solo project is hugely indebted to things like Black Sabbath, Kyuss and early Soundgarden. It was a really fun show, and really lovely to see a musician doing something a little outside their usual comfort zone and having a great time doing it.

The 18th April brought the annual Record Store Day, a thing I have very mixed feelings about (well, not that mixed if I’m honest), but it did give me the chance to witness the awesome Peach play at Rough Trade in Liverpool as part of the RSD events. Such a great band, really well executed noisy rock fronted by the absolutely incredible Ellie Godwin, also of No Violet (whom I worked with on the mastering of their debut album on the Totality label). Super powerful band, really great songs sung by an insanely gifted singer. What’s not to like?

I also managed to make it down to Quarry (Liverpool’s best venue - fact) to catch a live set by Hyperdub’s DJ Haram. It was such a great show, a quite kalaidascopic blending of live hardware electronics, DJing and sound design with no sections seemingly lasting more than a couple of minutes before pivoting into something else. She played some choice tracks from her brilliant ‘Beside Myself’ album as well as some bits from the 700 Bliss album ‘Nothing To Declare’, her collaboration with the amazing Moor Mother, but it was hard to really see it a a selection of ‘songs’, more just a dense collage of inspired ideas from a super exploratory and creative artist.

In a completely different vibe altogether, I also headed over to Manchester Metropolitan University’s School Of Digital Arts (SODA) this month to deliver a guest lecture about all things mastering to students on the Music and Sound Design course, which is something I’ve done for a few years running now. It’s always really lovely to talk to students about what mastering is (and isn’t!) and talk about it as a unique discipline and why it’s important to see it as such, and this year’s group were just as receptive and full of interesting questions as always. I don’t offer unsolicited advice or tuition about mastering through YouTube or social media, so to be asked directly to share some knowledge is always something I’m more than happy to do, not least because it keeps me on my toes and reminds me to keep practising!

April was soundtracked by: Irked, Portrayal of Guilt, Wednesday, and that new Paul McCartney documentary.

Real Life Missives - March 2026

In an attempt to place a little more emphasis on things that happen in ‘real life’, rather than in the seemingly perpetual online world we all seem to spend so much time in, I’ve decided to start this short monthly roundup. The idea for this to be a record of musical experiences and adventures, as well as exciting discoveries and recommendations, mostly from outside my work as a mastering engineer, but not exclusively so as the line definitely blurs frequently!

This month I had the fortune to witness the incredible return to the live stage of Cardiacs, a band I have adored for well over half of my life. I admit to feeling a little apprehensive beforehand, I hadn’t seen Cardiacs play since 2007 and had avoided the various ‘Sing To Tim’ shows and the like over the years, simply because the sadness I felt for what befell Cardiacs’ mastermind Tim Smith, and I struggled with the idea of him not being present in his position as the band’s mischievous, genius ringleader.

Cardiacs, 2026

The show at Manchester’s Albert Hall was little short of an absolute triumph however. An eight strong band comprised of both previous Cardiacs’ members (Bob Leith, Kavus Torabi and of course Tim’s brother Jim at front and centre) and close knit allies who rose to the not inconsiderable challenge (including Oceansize / Biffy Clyro’s Mike Vennart in an absolute star turn) played a genuinely life-affirming two hour set, peppered with big hitters, deep cuts and ‘new’ songs, and I can’t conceive a way it could have been any better. Massive kudos to everyone involved for pulling off something so many people thought they’d never experience again.

I made the trip along the M62 from Liverpool to Manchester again a week or so later, this time to see rap visionary Danny Brown at the Ritz. I think it’d only been a year or so since his last show there, which I was also at, and the set up was again very minimal - just stalwart DJ Skywlkr behind him, and a tight hour of career spanning bangers delivered without missing a single word. The biggest cheer of the night was reserved for when Danny announced the third anniversary of his sobriety, but every song seemed to be greeted like a classic from the devoted, and noticably diverse, crowd.

Photo credit: Anya Williams

I love Danny Brown’s music not only because it’s brilliant and unique in itself, but he’s also incredibly good at drawing attention to other, lesser known artists, either through his sampling of super obscure stuff that very few rappers would even consider attempting to rhyme over (I’m not sure I’ve ever heard This Heat being sampled by anyone else), or his consistently surprising collaborations and guest spots (I have him to thank for introducing me to Underscores for example, whose incredible ‘Wallsocket’ album has become a firm favourite). It’s always so inspiring to see an artist so far into their career still making unexpected turns and pushing their creativity in different directions.

March was soundtracked by - Converge, Neurosis, Kate Bush, Super Furry Animals, Eftus Spectun.