Err, we might as well get this out straight off the bat – Stuart McCallum’s set-up at St Phil’s Church probably isn’t going to be as lavish as the one in this video, but it’s likely to be just as deeply affecting and beautiful. Hey! Manchester are responsible for convincing him to come up to Salford, for which we will forever be grateful.
One of the bands to watch out for this year according to NME magazine, anyone who took the time to keep an eye (or an ear, at least) on them last year will hav eheard one of the most impressive debut EPs in recent memory – crystalline and fragile, yet strangely confident. The video for stand-out track Tender Mercy reflects that – they’re playing the Now Wave stage at Islington Mill, where it’s unlikely they’ll be running through snow. Fingers crossed, though.
For anyone who saw the band playing on the street at Sounds from the Other City two years ago, this slowed down track might come as a bit of a surprise. but that’s Frazer King – they like to surprise, I guess, whether that’s with a set on some steps, or with a ballad. Anyway, they’re playing The Angel Centre for Paradox – go check if they’re in a melancholic or restless mood on that day.
When you’re 15, you dream of going to the kind of party that only ever existed on the first 2 series of Skins. when you’re a little bit older, you dream of going to the kind of party where Shigeto turns up and does a 3am set. Mind on Fire/This City is ours make your post-teenage dreams come true (although at a little bit earlier than 3am) at The Old Pint Pot this year.
Recently released on flexi-disc (remember them?) through the ever-hyped Italian Beach Babes records, the self styled ‘two hateful dicks’ seemed to really find their stride with Anyone But You. One of them goes ‘ooooh’, the other says ‘yeah yeah yeah yeah’, and everyone always goes mad at all of their shows. They recently played SXSW, but – between you and I – they’re much more excited to be playing upstairs at The Kings Arms for Comfortable on a Tightrope.
2010 seems like a foreign country now that we’re in the hyper-real surrounds of 2012, but thankfully well Wisher spent a few minutes with a then-fetal Manchester Scenewipe to record this lovely session, including some freestyle dancing at the beginning. See them play Soundtracks from the Other City for Bad Uncle and Hear Here, so that one day in the distant future you can look back and remember it, just like we have done today with this video.
You’ll know whether you like New Hips within the first 20 seconds of this video, which is a good thing in an age where most bands do all they can to stay as bland as they can in order to please everyone they can. Chances are you’ll either switch off because they’re a little bit complicated, or go utterly wild because they’re technically proficient geniuses. See them upstairs at the Black Lion for Grey Lantern / Drowned in Sound.
If you had to be a super-villain who inevitably gets killed at the end of some terrible action movie, you’d at least hope that Base Ventura are the band that they’d play as your kind-of theme music – dubbed over montages of you beating up the innocent, laying waste to villages, all with a smile on your face. Everytime anyone has seen one of their (very few) shows in Manchester, they’ve been blown away, and their Salford debut should be the same. Trash-o-Rama, Rovers Return, don’t miss it.
A slightly more eerie, less psych track from Dead Sea Apes, first unearthed towards the back end of last year. The video is a mesh of cut-up images and found footage, but it’s so terrifying as to be affecting. See them live/get a little scared at The Crescent, where they’ll be playing the Fat Out ’til You Pass Out stage.
Recently announced to be playing the Now Wave / Off with their Heads stage, Maria Minerva released one of the best albums of last year, all post-chillwave brilliance and glacial majesty. It is going to be great, check Ruff Trade for proof.