Latest Gigs

Jarvis Cocker - Sunday 30th November - Academy 1 (on sale Friday 12th September)
Cage The Elephant - Friday 7th November - Club Academy
The Walkmen - Wednesday 29th October - Academy
The Music - Monday 20th October - Preston 53 Degrees (On Sale Friday 12th September)

Razorlight Tour

Razorlight are going to be announcing a 2008 UK tour, tomorrow I assume. If you go to http://razorlight.trinitystreetdirect.com and give them your details you can get tickets on the presale, 48 hours before everyone else.

Talons

This is Bloc Party's new video for 'Talons'. It's very long and quite dark. There are lots of searchlights and industrial-type scenes.

Bands With New Songs

Fionn Regan has uploaded a new acoustic demo of 'The Ballad Of The Toadeaters' at Myspace.com/fionnregan. The voice is slow and calm and the guitar is happy and plucky. It sort of sounds like it was recorded in a very tiny bathroom.

Lightspeed Champion has recorded a song with Basement Jaxx called 'My Turn', which has been uploaded at Myspace.com/basementjaxx. It's pretty much what you'd imagine a Lightspeed Champion/Basement Jaxx clash to be.

Making Waves

This week it's an In The City special, telling you which of that terribly long list of bands announced as playing In The City Unsigned yesterday, are actually any good. None of them were terrible in all honesty, but here are the top 20:

1. Run Toto Run, we've already covered. (See here: Myspace.com/_youvedonethiswrong.

2. The Jessie Rose Trip is a girl with a strong voice who knows how to use it in an individual way, with a bit of soul.
Myspace.com/thejessierosetrip.

3. Tubelord have quite a quirky, noisy sound. Go to Myspace.com/_youvedonethiswrong for a review of their double A-side with label mates, Tellison.
Myspace.com/tubelord.

4. Isosceles do fun, jerky pop songs.
Myspace.com/isoscelestheband.

5. The Fire And I are very energetic and upbeat.
Myspace.com/thefireandi.

6. Baddies do good old fashioned punk rock, with good melodies and a bit of attitude, which is lacking somewhat at the moment. Listen to 'Who Are You'.
Myspace.com/baddies.

7. Rod Thomas makes sweet folky pop music.
Myspace.com/rodthomasmusic.

8. Telegram From The Queen have heavy, old school synths that make Does It Offend You-sized riffs.
Myspace.com/telegramfromthequeen.

9. Friends Electric are, as you might have guessed, electric. Fun dancey songs.
Myspace.com/friendselectricmusic.

10. Maths Class do shouty jerk-pop.
Myspace.com/mathsclass.

11. Alphabet Backwards do pretty good acoustic stuff with synths.
Myspace.com/alphabetbackwards.

12. Hemme Fatale do lots of synths. It's just good music to dance to.
Myspace.com/hemmefatale.

13. Hold Fire make nice indie songs.
Myspace.com/weareholdfire.

14. General Fiasco are nothing spectacular, but they make for nice listening. Drunken Irish songs with lots of guitar.
Myspace.com/generalfiasco.

15. Karoshi Bros make me think of Simian Mobile Disco. You'll probably like them if you're into repetitive electro stuff.
Myspace.com/karoshibros.

16. Last Gang do indie rock'n'roll.
Myspace.com/lastganguk.

17. The Paris Riots apparently do "French Pop". I don't know about that, but they've got good riffs on dirty guitars.
Myspace.com/theparisriotsmusic.

18. Soft Toy Emergency are a bit like Late Of The Pier, but easier to follow, and with a female singer.
Myspace.com/softtoyemergency.

19. The Travelling Band make nice, bouncy, acoustic folk music.
Myspace.com/thetravellingband.

20. Twin Atlantic's singer really shows off his accent. Slightly on the emo side of indie.
Myspace.com/twinatlantic.



Almost none of these bands are actually from Manchester though, so let's chuck these guys in for good measure:

NO*TOKYO

Where?: North Manchester
What?: Indie dance, with a bit of psychedelia.
Listen to: A Sense Of Hope
They reckon: "You have to see us live to really appreciate us. We just never seem to be able to capture our real sound in the studio.
Live: "They're high energy gigs. The audience is usually buzzing and having a good rave/dance. We like to grab the audience's attention and keep them involved."
If you like NO*TOKYO, you might like: The Stone Roses and stuff.

Myspace.com/notokyo

Behind The Scenes

This is The Automatic's 'Making of Steve McQueen. We meet a man who blows up planes for a living and see lots of Welshmen-in-the-desert antics.



The Teenagers have posted a new blog at quentintheteenagers.blogspot.com: 'What Really Happened: Bestival'. It tells you what they got up to at Bestival, in pictures.

In The City Unsigned

All of the acts for In The City Unsigned have now been announced. So here they are:

6 Day Riot
Alban Dereyer
Alphabet Backwards
Arthur Delaney
Baddies
Barn Owl
Bo Pepper
Broadcast Radio
The Brute Chorus
Charlene Soraia
EJ
El Condorez
Fenech Soler
The Fire And I
Flashguns
Friends Electric
General Fiasco
The Grants
Graveyard Johnnys
Hemme Fatale
Hold Fire
Hotel de Ville
I Am Austin
Isosceles
The Jessie Rose Trip
Karoshi Bros
Kids On Bridges
Last Gang
Les Gars
Lord Auch
Maths Class
Meadow
Micachu And The Shapes
The Mood
Nomad Jones
Oscar Charlie
The Paris Riots
Rod Thomas
Run Toto Run
Silverclub
Soft Toy Emergency
Substatic
Telegram From The Queen
To The Bones
The Travelling Band
Tubelord
Twin Atlantic
Winners

Click them for Myspaces. I can't possibly listen to that many bands and tell you what they're all like I'm afraid, but check back on Wednesday for some recommendations.

Bands On The Radio

Cajun Dance Party recorded a session for Radio One, which will be played played on the Colin Murray show tonight some time between 10pm and midnight. There are three songs, recorded specially at Maida Vale, where they "hijacked some BBC Symphony string players", as well as a "pretty awkward" interview - "It was difficult to know if we were 'on air' or not."

Bloc Party's new single will be premiered on Zane Lowe's Radio One show tomorrow night, some time between 7 and 9pm. Apparently if you've bought or pre-ordered the new album already you will get it delivered as a free download after it's played on the radio. The band said: "The track is one of the last songs we recorded during the 'Intimacy' sessions and we always had it in mind to be one of the extra tracks for the CD version if it turned out well. It turned out great so we decided to make it the next single."

New Releases

Singles
Black Kids - Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo)
The Coral – Being Somebody Else
CSS – Move
The Cure – Hypnagogic States (EP)[Sat 13th Sep]
Ladyhawke – Dusk Til’ Dawn
Martina Topley Bird - Baby Blue
The Metros – Talk About It
Mogwai – Batcat (EP)
Sigur Ros - Innni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur
The Spinto Band – Summer Grof
We Are Scientists – Impatience
The Zutons – What’s Your Problem

Albums
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
Metronomy – Nights Out
Morrissey – Years Of Refusal
Sportsday Megaphone - So Many Colours/So Little Time
Yo Majesty - Futuristically Speaking Never Be Afraid


Reviews of Black Kids, Martina Topley Bird and Sportsday Megaphone at Myspace.com/_youvedonethiswrong.