Sounds From The Other City 2011

Where recycled concrete becomes supercool music venue, DIY checks out Salford’s Sounds From The Other City Festival.

How The Festival Works.
You grab your wristband and move round the venues - all within walking distance. Venues are run for the day by various local promoters, including Trash O Rama; Hey! Manchester; and Now Wave.

The Extras.
Sonny Smith’s 100 Records: A jukebox playing real songs by 100 fake musical artists with the album art on display. Artists include The Licks’ song Lickety Split and The King Salmon with their hit Trawlers.



The Highlights.
The Good Natured @ St Phil’s Church
A mash up of 80s La Roux meets Lauper female pop married with the darkmosphere of the twilight zone, The Good Natured make catchy music made ever the more watchable by the alluring performance of lead singer Sarah MacIntosh. Never has a Church altar seen so much excitement.

Brown Brogues @ The New Oxford
Despite resembling a pesky little Alex Turner tribute with arms tattooed like a member of Blink, looks are definitely deceiving with BB, whose sound is scuzzy, garage, pounding rock put in a pipe and smoked. The recent support act to The Kills, it’s no wonder…

The Suns @ The Salford Crescent
With influences from all the rock n roll greats under the ‘Sun’ sessions era with a bit of Jagger and Van Morrison tossed in for good measure, this delightful old-fashioned garage band from Chester has bundles of live energy, greasy spatterings of Northern humour and a good smack of Northern soul to top it off, all served up with the chance to twist. To be consumed with a pint in one hand and your blue suede shoes hangin’ from the other.

Fetch The Witches @ Islington Mill
Opening with a quivering acapella verse of Old Man River, this band had our attention from the word GO! Shame the tea time slot did nothing to promote their ghost-like gloom and dark-coloured palette. Thom Yorke can sleep easy.

Willy Mason @ Peel Hall
Not featuring any of the songs you might have heard on Zane Lowe circa 2005… no ‘Oxygen’, no ‘Live It Up’, and not even that duet with KT Tunstall, Martha’s Vineyard’s finest blends late night diary entries with his captivating vocal and acoustic charm.

The Verdict.
This is an impressive, quirky little festival, put together by people who love, live and breathe music. Very DIY, very eclectic and very fun. Salford may not NYC, but on a May bank holiday, there’s no other place in the world we’d rather be.