As a number of you may already know, ManchesterMusic.co.uk has been really good to me over the years whether it be them reviewing my music, my live shows or inviting me to appear at their excellent acoustic events.
Although I personally won't be playing at this particular event, I'll be there watching and hope some of you who read this may come down to show some support for both the acts which are playing AND the folks behind ManchesterMusic.co.uk too who have put so much into the local music scene for all of us.
I hope you can make it,
Adrian
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Sunday, 13 September 2009
19:00 - 23:30
The Roadhouse
Newton Street
Manchester
ManchesterMusic.co.uk is ten years old! And to celebrate, we'll be running a series of gigs this autumn, mostly at The Roadhouse, featuring some of our favourite local artists. It all kicks off on Sunday 13th September with a very special instalment of unELECTRIC Circus, our popular strand of quieter, acoustic and semi-acoustic live sessions. We've still got a couple of rather exciting acts to fully confirm, but so far the line-up's looking pretty excellent anyway...
Starless & Bible Black
Alexis McLean
Butler Williams
Jo Rose
Danny Saul
Danny Mahon
FREE ENTRY but donations to the MM fighting fund are welcomed: help keep us afloat and ad-free for another ten years!
Here are some things MM's Jon and Cath have written about these fine acts; check out manchestermusic.co.uk to read the full reviews or visit the bands on Myspace on the links below...
STARLESS & BIBLE BLACK
Hélène Gautier and Peter Philipson have been familiar names to ManchesterMusic for almost as long as we’ve been going, serving their scene forging days as the driving force behind Ithaca. Gautier and Philipson subsequently teamed up with Raz Ullah, completing the core of the Starless & Bible Black team, garnering some impressive plaudits. Over the past few years they’ve been instrumental in building the local new folk / acoustic loop scene, leading from the front, but latterly eschewing their own successful imprint (Timbreland) after achieving much wider critical acclaim and a deal with Static Caravan to release their second album. Hélène’s vocal is on its best form ever, crystal clear, infectious, intoxicating. The songs themselves seem to be the result of a distillation of everything that Starless & Bible Black have experienced, combined, stirred and filtered into the eight tracks featured. This may seem like a frugal song count, but with such quality and rich, sometimes epic numbers, you’ll definitely get your fill. From the opening “Say Donny Say”, a magnificently understated upbeat jangling pop driven rock song, to their slower but equally powerful “Your Majesty Man” and “Hanging On The Vine” , there are harmonies and expansive guitar / synth sounds galore. “Radio Blues” will blow you away as the multi-layered vocals and guitar collide, build and then explode in what is a prog rock climax...
http://www.myspace.com/starlessbibleblack
ALEXIS MCLEAN
Already recognised as one of the City’s leading purveyors of a hybrid of Nashville and Northern Folk, the songs are beautiful and soulful, but all the same quite traditional too. So you get the best of all worlds captured and re-imagined by her wonderful voice. She dances over the various Americana treats with true abandon - it’s a sound with massive appeal, whether it be lovers on the streets of Nashville, line dancing bars or kids sat around in basement clubs.
http://www.myspace.com/alexismcleanmusic
BUTLER WILLIAMS
Sometimes with acoustic duos - even more than solo artists - you're left thinking maybe they couldn't get anyone to complete the band; not here. Eschewing some of the more wayward instruments they've been known to pull out in favour of two exquisitely played guitars, they're content to fill the Roadhouse with the sort of warm friendly tunes Badly Drawn Boy used to write. Chris Butler and Noel Williams place gentle, life affirming vocals to the careful pick of acoustic guitar, the splash of some subtle electro loops and the causal sway of simple melodic ideas. As a result, their songs move from the realms of considered folk to ambling countrified narrations. There’s always a faint touch of something affected by indie musings and it’s hard not to sense that just a little bit of both Manchester own sounds and Britain's folk heritage seep through. When BW slow things down, they obtain a sound that’s even more captivating and memorable, as their songs flutter amongst echoes and vivid painted dreams. Live, this duo actually sound even better and special, so what better recommendation ?
http://www.myspace.com/chrisbutlernoelwilliams
JO ROSE
Formerly of Fear of Music, Manchester's brightest hopes of 04/05, Jo Rose seems to have found a place of his own - and it's a very long way from frenzied indie-punk-metal. It's a very similar place to where Neil Halstead's at these days; folky indie country with a sense of fragility. Some of it's actually not a million miles from solo Johnny (I Am Kloot) Bramwell; and there's one very upbeat country-pop tune in the middle. A Gram Parsons cover exemplifies Rose's major influence and he sounds like he was born to play music like this.
http://www.myspace.com/joroseandthehardhearts
DANNY SAUL
Often regarded as one of the best guitarists in Manchester, Saul is a truly amazing talent with vision to match. There are post-rock glacial soundscapes, peals of intricate melodies that echo Vini Reilly, looped multitracking; sometimes separately, sometimes superimposed on each other and finished off with his thoughtful vocals. He covers, bizarrely, a tune by local girly uber-popsters Hotpants Romance and makes it sound like a gorgeously melancholy Durutti Column. This should, by rights, not be possible. To watch his fingers flickering deftly across the fretboard is mesmerising. The short set ends with "Cannonball", pulling Eastern and folk influences into the tapestry.
http://www.myspace.com/dannysaul
DANNY MAHON
A mighty Mancunian observer and social protester. You could listen to “Council Estate Love” from now until the end of your life and never really get tired of its painted lyrics and anthemic hooklines. The best thing about Mr Mahon is that there’s no novelty or caricatures. This is good honest musical poetry with a tempered gusto and a rather fine voice too.