Ahhhhhhhhh! Back to the musical motherland of Manchester. . .
In the City, the industry unsigned and breaking talent showcase rolled back into its spiritual niche bringing with it 50 of the freshest bands over which the music big wigs and A&R gods would probe, pontificate … and possibly press for signatures.
Clash stepped up to the promotional plate, with our good friend Fenchurch, to present four bands of refreshingly angled inflections. Incoming!
Reader; watch your back … this quartet of artistes are taut with talent and trigger happy to boot. 2009 will be their year as they remain on alert to steam into your life before you can regurgitate turkey or even say ‘Christmas Cracker’.
My Toys Like Me:
With a scruffily svelte lead singer that’d make nuns go weak at their righteous ankles; it’s hardly a surprise this bands’ toys like. Everyone will soon love them.
Wonky, acid tinged and glitched up electronic soundscapes are populated by their distinct lead singer’s whispered admissions who tonight, dressed like a Tim Burton doll fresh from a K-hole. Like arsenic laced milkshake she haunts her stage in murmurs and burbles before increasing her presence by confidently wandering the crowd leaving a trail of lingering authority in tone with her bands stoned and hazy future funk.
My Toys Like Me will probably have to endure lazy comparisons to the likes of CSS yet I believe they have much more depth than the transient Brazilians. With dark inner city influences as broad as the Portishead, Specials, Tricky and Red Snapper – their twisted, oft skanked up and bopping acid jaunts should go far. They aren’t shy to elevate proceedings to full nightclub tilt either – and have the basslines to unwind your behind thus making them a dark and exceptionally seductive mix of dystopian delight and dancefloor destruction.
Lesser Panda:
A slightly more considered and esoteric proposition than our opener, Lesser Panda are building well and look to make the leap to mouth watering electric indie proposition soon. With a crooning singer not far of a well combed Robert Smith; their influences dot from NEU! to Depeche Mode over to Kraftwerk and back through Liquid Liquid and the Liars.
If you like laser-sharp fretting over the grooving dance beats of DFA then Lesser Panda need to be in your life. Singer Mariano Robles perhaps has a bit of work to impose himself on audiences but his vocals and lyrical sorties are perfectly in synch, tone and balance with his band members … one of London’s best kept party secrets are about to lose their underground niche as exposure calls. Who said Panda’s weren’t sexy?
Baddies:
Take note! The Baddies RULED In the City. This four piece, epic riffing, balls to the walls, snarled up and punked out sonic adventurers are going to be BIG. Very soon indeed.
Dressed in matching blue shirts their fervour was in equal parallel as the packed Studio venue responded to every infectious and confrontation thundering passage of sound.
Its incredible how with just the rudimentary four piece band aesthetic they manage to sound so new six decades after the advent of rock and roll: a near impossible task in such a crowded canon of particularly unaffected rock forms. For a new band EVERY ONE of their small clutch of songs sound like a single: ‘Open One Eye’ ‘Tiffany I’m Sorry’ and ‘Who Are You’ all mix mockery and skewed observation into heavy weight rock structures. With deadly narratives, strong arm riffing and air borne infecting choruses: – the Baddies are about flip the script and become heroes of the night.
Innercity Pirates:
Presumably this band are all former traffic wardens with such a name. But Innercity Pirates presented a much more mixed tableau of sound than the preceding Baddies. Rarely sounding the same from one song to the next they weave across dance hybrid, meandering lo-fi surf pop and shimmering melodic indie exploration.
With their lead song ‘Let’s Go DISCO’ demanding a heraldic and modern Friday night call too arms, it inescapably smacks of Simian’s ‘We Are Your Friends’ however their jambling and inviting perky pop moments pack potential for future. Inner City Pirates now look ready too heartily hijack your treasured headphones.
