Bands/artists featured below: Louise Setara, The On-Offs, Absentee, Unkle Bob, DARTZ!, Kubichek!, Neat People, The Fratellis, Youth Of Britain, The Seal Cub Clubbing Club, Gemma Ray Ritual, ¡Forward Russia!, The Clerks, Black Bikini Alpha, Beats For Beginners, Brian Jacket Letdown, Outsider, Dead Disco, Corporation Blend (more reviews and photos still to come) Louise Setara (2.30pm, Pitcher and Piano)
 | | Dartz! (8pm, 14 Lloyd Street) |
When someone finally gets around to knitting Mariah Carey a pair of concrete socks, her loyal, mentally challenged fans need not fear, as she has a Mini-Mimi in the making. There’s no doubt that Setara has a powerful voice and an attractive face like her narcissistic idol, but the forced emotion, hand movements and head shaking to a gamut of ballads sounding like rip-offs of The Greatest Love of All and, quite bizarrely, Sailing, turned my stomach and left me not knowing whether to laugh or vomit. (Carol Hodge) The On-Offs (6.45pm, Squares) A double tight three piece that owe more to the stylings of The Jam than the most of the vanguard of the current mod aficionados, The On-Offs delivered a raucously aggressive and elegantly ramshackle collection of three minute punches that the Ordinary Boys would kill for. (Chris Long) Absentee (7.30pm, Squares) A comedy raccoon hat, braces, chunky geek glasses, roll-ups and a xylophone is enough to suggest that a band are at least going to be interesting, and Absentee more than lived up to the expectation. With a wonderfully woody voice like the booming wind in a deep forest delivered over countrified Arcade Fire-esque tunes, a big future is just round the corner for the band who were Tony Wilson’s picks of the unsigned line-up. (CL) Unkle Bob (7.45pm, Late Room)
 | | The Fratellis (8.45pm, 14 Lloyd Street) |
Unkle Bob had been billed as a marriage of Carole King and Radiohead. You’d struggle to find a more baffling description when faced with the reality, which was a simpering collection of tired Travis-y ballads, drawn out and drearied by a lack of passion, edge and anything approaching stage presence. (CL) DARTZ! (8pm, 14 Lloyd Street) Mixing math rock and punk funk with a side swipe of emo, it’s impossible not to shake yourself to Dartz! They play a frenetic set to heaving room of people that clamour for photos and whoop as their mysterious masked saxophonist lurches round the stage. If this lot aren’t one of ITC’s success stories, I’ll eat my balaclava. (Natalie Boxall) Kubichek! (8.15pm, Squares) Why craft a song when you can pull it, all spiky and barbed, straight from the field of your mind and throw it screaming at the world? Such is the opinion of Kubichek!, a wild bunch of Geordies with the bite of a dozen tigers and more angles than a dodecahedron. Add in their swift moves and tight posing and there’s little doubt that they deserve their exclamation mark. (CL) Neat People (8.30pm, Late Room) Bouncing pop with a hint of indie lashed on for good measure, Neat People convey a summer wind of sound across a meadow seeded with occasional oddness. They come out of leftfield but have enough strangeness to work, and however forced it may occasionally seem, there’s something anthemicly harmonious worth striving for beneath the layers of beautiful geekdom. (CL) The Fratellis (8.45pm, 14 Lloyd Street) According to my mate, this lot sound just like The Supernaturals, which isn’t a good thing. They’re full of energy and but their sound is that of the many other bands who are still paying homage to the glory days of The Libertines. It’s over. Leave it! (NB) Youth Of Britain (9pm, Squares) To surf the zeitgeist is one thing, but to create some awful mockney in-joke that only an idiot could love is something else. Barring the snorkel hood parka and star make-up, Youth Of Britain were quite possibly the most awful band to grace In The City Unsigned ever. Backed by visuals that went beyond pathetic and into the territory of some dreadful digital channel’s idea of ‘Yoof’ TV, they offer Parklife rewritten and rapped for the call centre generation in a way that is utterly offensive to both eyes and ears. (CL) The Seal Cub Clubbing Club (9.15pm, Late Room) With what could possibly be the best name to grace the weekend and a sideline in self-deprecation, The Seal Cub Clubbing Club could be about to step up as the next British Sea Power. While their music may differ, something in their spirit, in their use of bristly alongside the melodic and their building, infectious and intensely idiosyncratic tunes make them the perfect candidates to follow Yan, Noble and the rest into cult status. (CL) Gemma Ray Ritual (9.15pm, The Vault) Descending into a darkened basement to find a girl with Grrr stretched across the front of her guitar just about says it all when it comes to powerful blues-rock of Gemma Ray Ritual. With her sliding southern chord changes and rich rocky vocals, she certainly cut an interesting swathe across an endless sea of indie anthem bands. (Zannah Ingraham) ¡Forward Russia! (9.30pm, 14 Lloyd Street) I’ve never seen a bassist play with enough force to snap their strings but ¡Forward Russia!’s bassist does, and it’s not surprising. They hammer at their instruments and, in the case of the singer, at themselves, whilst delivering a manic mix of electro disco madness. This lot deserve their exclamation marks. (NB) The Clerks (9.30pm, The Waldorf) It's hardly surprising that this charming French combo already have a song on the soundtrack of a new French film. It may not be a Hollywood blockbuster but their clever bouncy female fronted indie rock with catchy hooks galore would sit very comfortably on the musical backdrop to the next trendy American teen flick. Since they've now made Manchester their home, there's no excuse not to catch them live before they go on to bigger and better things. (Michelle Adamson) Black Bikini Alpha (9.45pm, The Vault) If you yearn for the days when frontmen were all about arrogance, prowess and just a hint of melodrama, then Black Bikini Alpha are a band to watch out for. With their punky raunch and electric sounds, it would be possible to find a little of everyone from Duran Duran to Franz Ferdinand in their own brand of rock and roll, which oozed energy despite only a sprinkling of people finding their way down to The Vault to observe it. (ZI) Beats For Beginners (10.10pm, The Waldorf) Technical gremlins made for a stuttering start to the Beats For Beginners' set and the band seemed out of sorts from the word go. With the wind taken out of their sails and a PA that didn't really do justice to old favourites like Kill All DJs, they sped through their material and made a sharp exit barely 20 minutes after taking to the stage. Not a gig the band will be notching up as one of their best. (MA) Brian Jacket Letdown (10.15pm, 14 Lloyd Street) A curly haired fella sits at a Rhodes piano and I get excited at the thought of what they can do with it. Sadly, they churn out the kind of alt/American music that is alright, but nowt special. Shame, that. (NB) Outsider (10.30pm, The Vault) After the confidence of Black Bikini Alpha, indie trio Outsider took to the stage with unassuming style. While they were unquestionably strong in their catchy choruses and rolling vocals, it was all seemed just a little too comfortable and amongst a night of experimental sets, they ended up fading quietly into the background. (ZI) Dead Disco (10.30pm The Waldorf) This vampish quartet of ladies from Leeds certainly looked the part in spiky heels, with mini disco balls hanging from their microphones and the novel addition of a keytar. Their punkish electro toe-tappers were satisfying enough but ultimately not enough to truly set them apart from an already overcrowded scene. (MA) Corporation Blend (11.20pm, The Vault) As the witching hour approached, the masses appeared to have discovered the Hot Test Bands night in the Vault just in time for Corporation Blend to unleash their frantic electric rock upon them. Like a slightly disturbing kind of Munster rock, their devilishly dark beats are probably not to everyone’s taste but they certainly kept a handful of Satan’s minions entertained in the deepest depths of the Dry Bar. (ZI) | 
