Between the 13th – 15th of October, Manchester plays host to the annual In the City festival. This year, it’s relocating to the Northern Quarter, and looks set to play host to it’#s most exciting line-up in years, giving both the industry professionals and the normal gig goers a chance to get involved with it’s unique mix of exciting concerts and engaging keynote speakers. Wristbands are currently priced at £29, which gets you access to some of the most exciting shows the city will see this year. If you’re not quite sure who to see yet, here’s some help:
Usually, bands that try and span genres are to be missed. However, that label is probably best reserved for wannabe friends bands who desperately attempt to ape Joy Division, Sex Pistols, Oasis and every other supposedly era-defining lad band in between. There gulf between those terrible bands you were bribed to pay £5 in a battle of the bands and the majesty of Yuck. Coming together from New Jersey, London and apparently Hiroshima, the quartet have made their name through a number of exhilarating live performances and the hundreds of fawning blog posts that followed. As well as specialising in bumbly, stumbling lo-fi rock, they know how to slow it down and turn their talents towards a something resembling a ballad, or whatever the equivalent is. Recent cassette ‘Weakend’ perhaps showed it best, with the band switching from the jittery pop of their earlier recordings to a sound more ghostly and considered, but still just as engaging.
The breadth of their influence is as wide as it is great, and when playing live is when the band apparently show that most. Drawing on the garage, shoegaze and noise pop that shaped them, they put on a show almost beyond parallel. In an era of one trick ponies, being in the presence of a band that is genuinely multi-talented with the ability to change the direction of their ouput without having to sacrifice it’s quality. Influential obviously agree – Transparent, Pharmacy and Mirror Universe have been quick to put out the band’s work, and others are bound to follow. Yuck then, are truly a special band – and because of that afro.
Yuck – Sunday [download via the fader]
Read my detailed review of ‘YUCK’ here: http://realgonerocks.blogspot.com/2011/02/yuck-yuck.html