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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Writing a pop song is more difficult than it looks. Compressing the poetic with the melodic in phrases memorable enough to catch the rhythm of the heart, its surface sheen of simplicity is the glamour ...

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 ...

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 ...

There’s an episode of the 90s hit comedy Father Ted where the lads on Craggy Island are visited by Father Damian Lennon, a young Dublin priest and pound-shop Liam Gallagher, who you know is rebellious ...

In the run-up to Christmas 2023, Molly McGuinness came down with tonsillitis. Before long, she was rushed to hospital with chest pains. The infection had developed into a rare case of Lemierre’s ...

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, ...

‘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 ...