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 new talent 2005 - the longcut
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.The Manchester resurgence starts here. When the UK music industry comes out of a dip or trough it normally throws out a few groups that remind the London press of Manchester’s heritage and proximity. And where 2004 gave success to dull acts lolling off an NME roll-call, 2005 promises a squadron of preened, fully formed robots straight out of Chorlton. In direct contrast to this creeping sense of dread, you can feel a light shiver at the opening feedback squall of The Longcut’s Transition EP, which is so simplistic in style and delivery that it ignores any preoccupations with geography and fashion.Naturally, The Longcut are already being touted as leaders in Manchester’s latest musical upsurge, with inevitable comparisons to past masters Joy Division. Their sound does rely on the interplay of drum machines, sparse guitar shrift and incomprehensible yelping, but it seems important to remember that this is a tag foisted on them by others. “We don’t want to give anyone the impression that we’re a Manchester band, because that has a whole other meaning. The Manchester sound is entirely unintentional.” By their own admission, The Longcut sound probably originates in sustained attempts to “rip-off Sonic Youth”, coupled with a working knowledge of post-rock. You can detect the bass being more Fugazi than New Order, and the echo and lurching pulse of their instrumental numbers owes a debt to Can, Faust and Neu rather than to Durutti Column or A Certain Ratio. The three members of The Longcut met at Manchester University, bonding over an open-minded enthusiasm for esoteric music. Lee Gale, Stuart Ogilvie and Jon Fearon now write, record and build a following in a city that neither one of them can comfortably call a home town. They have no pretensions to recreate the atmosphere of early 80s Manchester, yet have somehow managed to conjure it - you can feel the light sweep of a synth wash on A Last Act Of Desperate Men revisiting Martin Hannett’s icy production. Where some publications are keen to build a scene for The Longcut, they seem at odds with being pigeonholed, especially if their music continues to surprise and flourish. 2004 witnessed too many groups emerging just to ape their idols, rather than to assimilate them. A growing interest in The Longcut could certainly make them one of the bigger acts of 2005 and, hopefully, musical freedom and spark should preserve their longevity.
James Rutledge
The Longcut – Transition EP, out now on Deltasonic.
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 akira the donnew talent 2005  tom veknew talent 2005  willy masonnew talent 2005
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