Bands/artists featured below: The Whiskey Cats, The Sound Explosion, We Start Fires, Liam Frost, DARTZ!, Kubichek!, Along Came Man, Catherine Feeny, The Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club, The Cyclones, Good Shoes, IKO, The Immediate, The KBC, The Morning After Girls, My Luminaries, Drive-By Argument, The Panda Band, Bearsuit, Keith, Stars Of The City, The Whats, Working For A Nuclear Free City, Autokat, EmDee The Whiskey Cats (2.30pm, M2)
 | | The Sound Explosion (2.45pm, Life Cafe) |
Latin drums, white funk bass and ska-crazy brass stand the Whiskey Cats in good stead to be true originals. I found it difficult to keep my tired feet still as their grand, warming sound rose and fell like a Mexican sunrise. The stilted stage banter betrayed that these Cats felt a little daunted by the cavernous M2 interior, but their relentless skirt-ripping sambaing eclipsed any minor glitches, resulting in a gleeful half-hour of sexy sounds from Chorlton’s finest. (Carol Hodge) The Sound Explosion (2.45pm, Life Café) TSE are retro as. They have an old fashioned blues rawk sound, a singer who has obviously been studying Robert Plant’s moves and their set ends with the guitarist on his knees, coaxing feedback from his guitar, with his Cuban heels poking out from under him. Bloomin’ eck. (Natalie Boxall) We Start Fires (3.30pm, Life Café) WSF get a rapturous reaction from a room of industry people, who usually barely clap never mind cheer, but it’s unsurprising as fresh from their tour with Nine Black Alps, they are slick as a rockabilly quiff and have the 50s girl group ‘ooh baby’ lyrics to match. Their fast, poppy guitar led songs are catchy and made memorable by the mental keyboards that hover menacingly over them. (NB) Liam Frost (3.30pm, Pitcher and Piano)
 | | Catherine Feeny (7.45pm, Late Room) |
The unabashed honesty of Mr Frost wooed a packed crowd this afternoon, much to my joy. Tear-jerking and fist-clenching in one breath, Frost is a living breathing beacon of rehumanising hope, with a mammoth voice, cracked with fragility one moment, roaring with hope and futility the next. Liam Frost is one of the most immediate, flawlessly brilliant singer songwriters I have ever had the pleasure of hearing and my pinkies are crossed that someone in the position to further his career was in attendance today. (CH) DARTZ! (4.15pm, Life Café) After last night’s triumphant show, DARTZ! start off well today with the jerky Prego Triangulos - a slice of math rock with handclaps and a spaghetti western guitar line that only the daring could dance to. A broken cymbal half way through grinds things to a halt, but they manage to bring it back with the infectious Teaching Me To Dance and let out their frustrations at their shortened by roaring, "it’s not a crime to have opinions". Indeed lads, indeed. (NB) Kubichek! (5pm, Life Café) Opening with your biggest song could be a foolhardy choice for most bands, but with the swoon-inducing ‘Night Joy’ out of the way, Kubichek! manage to top it. Like WSF, they manage to make a roomful of normally nonchalant industry folk scrabble to get to the front and moving like no ones watching. Keeping an upbeat pace throughout, they finish with a track that starts off fragile and segues into a crescendo of full on guitars and military drumming. Just beautiful. (NB) Along Came Man (7.15pm, Squares)
 | | Good Shoes (7.45pm, Late Room) |
Along Came Man have one of the most energetic, frenetic, desperately bouncy bassists you are ever likely to see, so much so that the poor bloke looked caged on Squares’ tiny stage. He did manage to deflect most of the attention away from the power trio’s textbook A-without-keyboards emo, which, particularly in the vocal harmonies, needs work. If they are going to get anywhere, they need to find someone who will believe in them as much as that bass player. (Chris Long) Catherine Feeny (7.45pm, Late Room) Given that the showcase at the Late Room was part of the official In The City Unsigned events, how did Catherine Feeny, an artist with a tune on the soundtrack for the new Gwyneth Paltrow film, Running With Scissors, deserve a spot? That said, the Paltrow link also tells you everything you need to know about this Sarah McLachlan/Natalie Merchant clone, who, despite having the first accordion of the weekend in attendance, failed to be anything above dreary. (CL) The Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club (8pm, The Roadhouse) This lot both scare and excite me, with their unflinching zombie stares, as they churn out cold electro pop that is part Human League, part Ladytron. They look magnificent and sound even better, and bring a bit of glamour to the roadhouse. What more could you want? (NB) The Cyclones (8pm, Squares)
 | | Victorian English Gentlemens Club (8pm, Roadhouse) |
They may have nicked the better half of Supergrass’ Lemmy for their opening tune, but the Cyclones are a band hell-bent on chasing The Subways’ formula to success. There were attempts to update a Sonic Youth sound, with bass lines and attitudes reminiscent of that great band, but the echoes weren’t enough to make this three piece stop sounding tired by the end of their set. (CL) Good Shoes (8.30pm, Late Room) Packed room? Check. Skinny tie? Check. Polo shirt? Check. Tight jeans? Check. Side-parting? Check! With all the statutory boxes ticked, there was little doubt that Good Shoes were one of the weekend’s ‘buzz’ bands, and inevitably, their music is cut from the same prickly punk pop that has been successful for The Futureheads and The Rakes. There’s little doubt that they’re good at what they do, but if they don’t get on the gravy train soon, the trend will have moved on and they’ll miss out. (CL) IKO (8.45pm, Squares) According to the ITC booklet, this was IKO’s first live show, but it’s hard to believe it when you bask in the glory of their accomplished sound. Their image is sorted, their stage is set with fairy lights, and the light and shade of their delicate indie, all smothered in orchestration and as crafted and sparkling as a Faberge egg, has all the hallmarks of third album togetherness. Make a date in your diary for gig number two… (CL) The Immediate (9pm, The Roadhouse)
 | | The Immediate (9pm, The Roadhouse) |
According to my mate, this lot use their guitars in a very creative way. I’d say they use everything in a creative way, and get double points for all playing every instrument during their set, which is ambitious without being pretentious. They’re 20 minutes of spaced-out riffing with Moog noises darting in and out ends with their ginger haired member going falsetto whilst thrusting his crotch into the faces of the front row. (NB) The KBC (9.15pm, Late Room) Preston’s The KBC have been loitering around Manchester for quite a while now and it’s easy to see why they’ve been getting so much interest. With a rich voice in their tones of Tim Booth at their head (not least when they utilise a megaphone), they come on like a homegrown Rapture, less in sound and more in their ability to distil down the best of the last thirty years of British music and come out with an original disco-punk excellence all of their own. (CL) The Morning After Girls (9.15pm, Life Café) Defying the current Brit-rock tendency to rush in at full pace, the first up at Australia In The City opened in true tension building style. All searing atmosphere and echoing chords, they built their perfectly polished rock into a finely tuned frenzy throughout an obviously well planned set. Ardent professionals all through, it's hard not to be impressed by a band who ooze this much cool. (Zannah Ingraham) My Luminaries (9.30pm, Cellar Vie) Having identical twins in identical suits on bass and lead guitar makes any band worth watching for gimmick value alone, but My Luminaries are worth much more than that. They make the kind of three-part harmonised, humour-tinged, bounce-friendly, devil-may-care rock and roll that gets you to the top of many a festival bill and, if the girl going crazy down the front at Cellar Vie is to be believed, it won’t be long until they take such a spot. (CL) Drive-By Argument (10pm, 14 Lloyd Street, downstairs) From Scotland, with a twist of Stoke on lead vocals, Drive-By Argument make vibrant, building, burning, furious music, due in no small part to having the offspring of the Muppets’ Animal and Moon the Loon battering the skins at the back. Whether it’s sellable is another matter but if you want it loud and bristly, you get everything the name suggests from this lot. (CL) The Panda Band (10.00pm, Life Café) All vocal drama and pounding bass, the Panda Band started the set as they meant to go on. But while their bourbon infused vocals were undoubtedly rich, as quickly as they came they were gone, in a set which was brief to say the least and which ultimately just didn't live up to the hype. (ZI) Bearsuit (10pm, The Roadhouse) Only someone with no soul could fail to be taken in by Bearsuit. Pure joy emanates from the stage, and when you look around, the audience, who are jumping, grinning and singing along, look like they’re having the best time in the world too. And, just as you think you’ve got their sound figured out, it changes, with flutes, trumpets and crazy four part yelping harmonies thrown into the mix. My favourite band of the weekend. (NB) Keith (10pm, The Gardens Hotel) The majority of Keith's set was made up of deep grooves and rhythm, silky vocals with subtle guitars just doing enough to polish and complete the sound. Similar to early Verve but with the added keyboard feature, which did have a resounding effect on the overall sound. Keith are a band who've steadily built up a reputation in Manchester over the past year and on tonight's showing there's no reason why that can't expand even further. (CN) Stars Of The City (10.15pm, 14 Lloyd Street, upstairs) Snuggled up towards the end of an Irish music scene showcase, Stars Of The City shone from a lofty perch in 14 Lloyd Street. Their driven tunes came complete with fascinatingly gorgeous dual vocal harmonies and while not every song in their set absolutely worked, there was enough beauty in what did to suggest they could easily find a home in the Radio 2 schedules. (CL) The Whats (10.30pm, Life Café) As Brisbane two piece the Whats took to the stage, it was easy to find yourself asking, well where's the rest of the band? But with just drums and a single guitar to rub together, it soon became clear that these guys don't need anyone else’s help when it comes to their own brand of staccato rock. Though they swelled with enough heavily punctuated punk to keep any angst-ridden teenager happy, it has to be said that they did teeter precariously close to repetitive towards the end. (ZI) Working For A Nuclear Free City (10.45pm, 14 Lloyd Street, upstairs) There can be little doubt from the name that this four piece are from Manchester (take a ride into the city centre from several directions and you’ll see the signs), but thankfully their music rolls away from the usual checklist that such connections produce. Theirs are not songs, but Engineers style soundscapes that tower and fall with changing moods, swimming a hypnotic effect across the assembled that makes up for their lack of stage presence. (CL) Autokat (11pm, The Gardens Hotel) This was a gig on home soil for Akoustik Anarkhy faves Autokat and they certainly put on a great show for the ridiculously large crowd considering the size of the venue. The band are able to seamlessly skip from one genre to another without losing any of their power and raw enthusiasm, encapsulated in The Driver, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Autokat are at the minute, one of the best kept secrets in Manchester however they are surely on the verge of something great. (CN) EmDee (11.15pm, Life Café) When an act pitches up with a rack of four didgeridoos and enough drums to field a cavalry, you can’t help but be intrigued. From the moment they hit the stage with their unique brand of didgeridoo drum and bass, they caused more than a stir with what had up until then been a mouse-quiet crowd. At 240 beats a minute, it’s safe to say that EmDee will leave you breathless. Without doubt one of the most exciting acts to hit the City this weekend. Awesome. (ZI) | 
