Producing, for our money, one of the finest albums of last year – and on one of the Manchester arm of Drowned In Sound’s favourite labels to boot – we’re delighted to have Walls in Salford to headline our stage. Duo Sam Willis and Alessio Natalizia’s second album Coracle, released last year on Kompakt, is a masterpiece that takes hold of the cerebellum and spreads to the tendons and flesh of the body to provide an experience that live works equally well for the mid-evening gig goer or the late night reveller. Overlapping with their label’s key touch stones of working on nuance within repetition and electronic exploration – and displayed in front of a backdrop of established passions for 80s shoegaze and 90s ambient – Walls mixture of analogous and digital sounds gives the feel of a group both discovered from some murky experimental corner of the past, yet also rushing forwards unhindered into the future.

http://www.kompakt.fm/artists/walls

Though it’s true that hypnagogic influences abound in Regal Safari’s faded Technicolor electronica, to typecast them so hastily is to do a tremendous disservice to the Brighton duo. A constant forward momentum drove their debut EP ‘R G L S F R,’ filtering through under the surface of their bright blemishes of sound and refusing to let lie the gorgeous mix of live tones and sampled sources. With a set at last year’s Binnacle in London cementing their increasing presence on the blogs and wordpresses of the UK’s bedroom tastemakers – and with remix work for Kai Fish and Crystal Fighters among others – Regal Safari came into 2012 gathering pace. Promising a full visual experience to go with their panoramic soundtrack, they’re likely to be among the highlights of the festival.

http://regalsafari.bandcamp.com/

Just because a band dies there’s no reason those within it shouldn’t continue anew, not when what they had to offer still flickered with the light of progression and the sense of a story unfinished. That was certainly the case when Sian Ahern, Ben Crook and Stephen Warrington wound down the critically lauded Sian Alice Group in 2010 following two albums, among a string of other releases, as well as performances at ATPs and tours with Deerhunter and Vetiver among others. 2012 then sees the emergence of Eaux, a group that still feel their way between more avant-pop and kosmische touchstones, but who have evolved into something transcendental beyond their previous incarnation. Returning to finish their story, this trio might just be about to embark on their finest chapter yet.

http://eauxmusic.tumblr.com

When cult Leeds act This Et Al split in mid 2008, a young band grown weary beyond their years as participants in the music industry rat race, few would’ve expected their front man Neil ‘Wu’ Widdock to return with a project so striking and bold as Stalking Horse. Continuing to write songs out of compulsion and turning his attention towards experimentations with loops and motorik, Wu was coerced into recording his ideas by stalwart Leeds producer James Kenosha. Fast forward to the time of Sounds From The Other City and he’ll be gearing up for the release of his debut solo album, with a live band including former Grammatics front man Owen Brinley already showing glimpses of its ostentatious peaks.

http://stalkinghorse.co.uk

This’ll be the debut gig of Manchester’s Embers, a group who before they’ve even played a note in public have received air played on Xfm and gained sustained focus from the notoriously ADHD blog community for the three tracks currently available on their Bandcamp. If there’s a touch of end-of-days tumult in ‘Tunnel Vision,’ then the reaction to it comes in the more anthemic ‘Days Turn Into Weeks’ and ‘Without Fear Of Favour’; indeed from within the maelstrom of noise that’s so far been a signature of theirs, Embers seem to walk the tight line between hope and despair, the all-encompassing sonic front built by the group as though a self-made challenge for them to pull themselves out of. It’s going to be thrilling to see how that internal battle plays out live.

http://embersembers.bandcamp.com

Never mind Britain, barely anyone in their resident Manchester knew who scuzzy four-piece Shinies were when they appeared out of nowhere to top the NME’s first Radar Buzz Chart of the year without a live show and just one track online to their name. What a song it was though, ‘Spent Youth’s’ C86 descendant guitar pop grappling a conflict between adolescent exuberance and something more primal at play. Debuting live in late January they attracted a crowd larger than their headliners FOE, and more than satiated the suddenly snowballing anticipation; Manchester isn’t shy on promising guitar bands in 2012, but the rate that Shinies have leapt from the blocks you wouldn’t bet against them being top of the pile soon.

Spent Youth by Shinies

Bewildering and brilliant in equal measure; New Hips are a four piece math-rock outfit that produce something singularly distinctive from their fellow emerging Manchester peers. Born out of the demise of Deaf to Van Gogh’s Ear, lead vocalist Adam Stafford, and fellow members Holly Carter and Evan Wilson, have transferred the core essence of their former act and honed the dizzying melodies and intricate composition into a sound that’s wholly infectious. It’s this acute sense to detail that resonates on the band’s latest demo, ‘All Prologue’, managing to house a plethora of interlocking instrumentals yet still remaining thoroughly engaging. Along with Embers and Shinies, New Hips are another case of the burgeoning diversity that’s rich within those in the region who still wield the axe as one of their main focal points.

http://newhips.tumblr.com

It almost feels like it wouldn’t be a Drowned In Sound event if we didn’t get Gavin Miller and Tom Ragsdale involved, but then that’s the high regard we hold the pair in. Having moved to Manchester from Leeds last summer, Ghosting Season have quickly established themselves as one of the most pre-eminent electronic acts in the city, and that now looks set to stretch further beyond with a debut LP out soon Sasha’s new imprint Last Night On Earth whilst by the time of SFTOC the duo will have played three dates at Austin’s SXSW. They’ll be dropping in on the 1s and 2s towards the end of the night.

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