Manchester In The City 2009 coverage Manchester In The City 2009 - use the Twitter hashtag #itcmanchester

Local talent: The Answering Machine

The Answering Machine are a local Manchester band I’ve been a big fan of since their early days. I think the first time I saw them live was during July 2006 – at an Akoustik Anarkhy night at the Manchester Rampant Lion and a few days later at Salford Islington Mill.

Since those humble Fallowfield beginnings, the band have:

The Answering Machine released their excellent debut album Another City, Another Sorry back in June this year ("perfect pop songs… a fantastic debut" NME 8/10). Annoyingly the only Answering Machine tracks on Spotify are the two from their 2007 lo-fi single ‘Lightbulbs’, but if you like the sound of the YouTube videos from their recent Manchester Ruby Lounge gig (posted today), you can pick up the album from Amazon.co.uk – or even better, go and see them live next month!

The Answering Machine embark on a UK tour in October:

The Answering Machine - October 2009 tour flyer

09.10.2009 – Carlisle Brickyard ( buy tickets )
10.10.2009 – Crewe Box ( SeeTickets )
12.10.2009 – York Fibbers ( buy tickets )
14.10.2009 – Bristol Louisiana ( buy tickets )
15.10.2009 – Nottingham Bodega ( buy tickets )
16.10.2009 – London Borderline ( buy tickets )
17.10.2009 – Leeds Cockpit ( SeeTickets )
20.10.2009 – Glasgow King Tuts ( buy tickets )

(Apparently the band are in the process of organizing a Manchester date)

» click to show all Answering Machine concerts and find tickets
or try this search on SeeTickets.com


The Answering Machine Discography

I love the band’s sleeve artwork… the logo, typeface and layout are wonderful but what really stands out are the beautiful images of Manchester by talented photographer Nicola Chipman

Another City, Another Sorry Cliffer Obviously Cold Oklahoma Silent Hotels


The Answering Machine links:

http://www.theansweringmachine.co.uk/
http://theansweringmachineband.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/theansweringmachine
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Answering-Machine/51995562210?ref=ts
http://twitter.com/Team_Machine
http://www.youtube.com/user/AnsweringMachineBand
http://flickr.com/photos/tags/theansweringmachine/
http://www.heistorhitrecords.com/

Video of Beat The Radar live at Manchester Deaf Institute (12th June 2009)

Back in those hazy summer days of June, Beat The Radar supported The Longcut at the Manchester Deaf Institute. You can check out below a few video clips I shot from the audience (NB: the HD 720p videos below might play smoother if you click on the direct YouTube links)

Find out more about this upcoming local Manchester band via Beat The Radar’s official MySpace or official Facebook group. They play live at the Manchester Roadhouse tomorrow night (Fri 18th Sept) supporting Optional Wallace [buy tickets here] (Facebook event page), and the Carefully Planned all-dayer at Cafe Saki in Rusholme on Saturday 3rd Oct 2009 [buy tickets here] (Facebook event page)


Beat The Radar – Misunderstood What You Said

Video length: 2m25 | [ YouTube LQ | YouTube 720p ]

View the rest of the videos after the jump:
Read the rest of this blog post »

Alessi’s Ark at Hard Rock Calling festival, London Hyde Park (27th June 2009)

I first found out about Alessi’s Ark through Adam and Joe’s 6Music show and their repeated plays of the magical single ‘Over The Hill‘. I missed the opportunity to catch Alessi live in Manchester back in May, so I was happy to spot her on the line-up for Hard Rock Calling in London’s Hyde Park (alongside Neil Young, Fleet Foxes, Seasick Steve, Magic Numbers, Johnny Flynn, Priscilla Ahn, The Pretenders). Whilst the other artists were scheduled for the ‘Main’ and ‘Pepsi Max’ stages, Alessi’s Ark played on the much more intimate Bandstand stage.

Alessi and her band played 8 tunes and I videoed 7 of them for you:

Alessi’s Ark – Hard Rock Calling setlist:
1. The Robot
2. Over The Hill
3. The Dog
4. Dancing Feet
5. Asteroids Collide [not videoed]
6. The Horse
7. Neighbour’s Birds
8. Glendora

I’m particularly fond of the beautiful lyrics to ‘Dancing Feet’, and the whig-out jam towards the end of ‘Glendora’ :)

The video was shot on a handheld camera (Panasonic Lumix TZ7) – apparently in HD (1280×720), although the quality isn’t that great…


Alessi’s Ark – The Robot (live at Hyde Park 27th June 2009) [1/8] 3m07 YouTube

View the rest of the videos after the jump:
Read the rest of this blog post »

Watch Air Cav live on Channel M

Air Cav played a gig at the Manchester Night & Day a few weeks ago (Saturday 10th May 2008), and the Channel M cameras were there to record the show. The gig was broadcast on the channel over the Bank Holiday weekend (Mon 26th May @ 10pm) – but if you missed it you can check it out below:

The songs aired were:

‘A Call to Arms’
‘Friendly Fire’
‘Alliance’
‘Branches’
‘Embers’

You can catch Air Cav live at the Wychwood Festival in Gloucestershire on Friday 30th May, and at Manchester Fuel on Saturday June 7th

The band release their new single ‘Embers/Picking at the Bones’ on 7th July 2008 and plan to hold a party to celebrate the release of the record on Saturday 5th July

Air Cav Links:
- Air Cav Official Site
- Air Cav MySpace

Tim and Sam band music used on new Co-operative Bank advert

The very wonderful Manchester-based The Tim and Sam band (and their tune ‘Put Your Slippers On’) have been used by the Co-operative bank in an advert to “celebrate the Co-Op’s 15th anniversary of their unique customer-led Ethical Policy”

IndieMusicBlog were lucky enough to catch the band (billed as Tim And Sam’s Tim And Sam Band With Tim And Sam) live last month at Blowout in Chorlton, and we’re definitely new converts.

We’ve been obsessed with San Diego’s The Album Leaf for the best part of a year, so we were delighted to discover a homegrown band that plucked similar heartstrings

The band are currently recording their debut album, and have a few Manchester dates coming up in the next month – check their MySpace for details

You can watch the advert on Youtube or check it out below:

Tim And Sam Band – Put Your Slippers On

The 2-minute animated feature has been created by matteblackfilms / Aaran Brady

If you like the sound of that, then you can also watch/listen to the beautiful ‘Join The Dots’ on Youtube or listen to 5 songs on the Tim And Sam Band’s MySpace

Tim And Sam Band – Join The Dots

Page 2 of 121234510..12