Someone physically makes almost everything.' Salford's DeFelice & Co talk to Northern Soul about their hand-crafted bag ...

The late Irish singer, songwriter and activist Sinéad O’Connor was, and remains, a heroine to many, not least to this show’s director and choreographer, Sonya Tayeh. O’Connor was loved (and loathed by ...

Whether they know it or not, Manchester-based readers of Northern Soul are already likely to be familiar with the work of Brian Fell. Serving as the gateway to Trafford Park, his Skyhooks – an ...

The Floral Pavilion sits out on the edge of New Brighton, facing the Mersey with Liverpool’s docks looming across the water. Around it, the place holds that familiar seaside mix: arcades, food stalls, ...

Talking to Anna Appleby, the creative force behind Norrisette, is a giddy delight. Arguably Manchester’s most distinctive electronic pop artist, her conversational synapses trigger firework ...

As we approach the end of 2025, we’re looking back at the things that have brought us immense comfort during the year. For the team at Northern Soul, books were once again a source of great joy, and ...

It’s been 20 years since BBC Three debuted Ideal, the left-field sitcom written by Graham Duff. Made at the Beeb’s (now gone) studios on Manchester’s Oxford Road, for seven series it starred Johnny ...

When Bonnie Raitt was a young girl, she was enthralled by the power and charisma of such blues and folk greats as John Lee Hooker and Sippie Wallace, modelling her own music and guitar-playing on them ...

‘In folk horror, the soil beneath our feet is seismically unstable’, writes Hollie Starling in her introduction to Bog People: A Working-Class Anthology of Folk Horror. What a prescient collection ...

In a world brimming with artificial intelligence, the internet is awash with claims that 2026 is the year of ‘going analogue’. But what’s the evidence? Well, sales of physical media have surged (for ...

For anyone wondering whether there is any humanity left in this troubled world, I am delighted to confirm that there is – I have just found it in the form of Flapjack Press’s new release, The First ...

One of the chief disadvantages of being dead is that you’re in no position to feel gratified by the kindnesses garlanded on you to rose-tint your memory. The UMIST campus, its prognosis far from ...