CityLife

CityLife's Manc tracks of 2008

CHAMPS: The Maple State 1 / 4 images

SO, the votes have all been counted and verified, and here, for all you nerdy lovers of top ten lists, is THE definitive low-down of Manchester's best tracks of 2008. And woah, it has not been easy choosing....

    With just SO many new bands in Manchester at the moment (erm, about two billion at the last count), the value of a great signature track is absolutely bloody priceless.

It can open up doors to a fanbase, to local media (CityLife obviously) and, in the case of three of the bands in this list, they can become the golden ticket for attracting big record label interest and future fame and riches.

   So whether these songs made you laugh, cry, rejoice or just want to get steaming drunk, they all indisputably played a massive part in making 2008 one of the greatest years ever in Manc music. We say roll on 2009....

1. THE WINNER!

'TEMPERATE LIVES' – The Maple State
Most of the tracks in CityLife's best tracks of 2008 list are included because they made us fall in love with a band for the very first time. But the one track which bagged the coveted number one position is far more about making us fall in love with a band all over again.

    When CityLife first clapped eyes on The Maple State back in 2007, it was difficult to see where they'd eventually take their strident Emo-rock noise. With their old-school US punk influences – like The Get Up Kids and Weezer – would they evolve into major Emo contenders, like a Manc equivalent to Death Cab For Cutie? Or, with their fondness for epic melodies and keening, heartfelt vocals, were they more destined for Coldplay-esque stadium rock territory?

     The Maple State may have been one of Manchester's finest guitar bands, but they entered 2008 in real need of consolidating their status and position; a band who seemed closer to being under-appreciated, than being roundly celebrated.

    Thank the heavens then, for 'Temperate Lives', the song which truly won back The Maple State a place in our affections.

Released on top-notch local label High Voltage, 'Temperate Lives' was the sort of song designed solely to jolt the senses, the nearest thing The Maple State have written to a signature anthem.

But typical of this wonderfully intelligent band, this was an anthem with plenty of steel and nuance; it began with gentle, arpeggiated verses, name-checking Jack Kerouac in its lyrics, before suddenly erupting into the greatest stadium rock chorus of the year: "We take it on the chin when they say / we don't deserve anything from anyone", sang vocalist Gregory Counsel, who by turns seemed angry, troubled but resolute.

    Yet the song's standout emotion is one of defiance; this was The Maple State's real backs-against-the-walls moment, and you could hear in their voices (and that terrace chant chorus) that they would only settle for conquering hero status. By penning the sort of chest-beating epic Bloc Party wish they'd written (if only they had hearts), The Maple State were back, and how.

    Quite simply, 'Temperate Lives' is like the song on the closing scene of the best film you haven't seen yet. And when you look at it like that, this was easily the song of the year, no contest.

Where to find it: On the band's Say, Scientist EP (High Voltage Sounds).

WINNER'S SPEECH!

Christian Counsel, The Maple State's guitarist/songwriter: "Thank you! This really is quite an incredible honour. This might sound a bit sad, but this really has made the band's year. It's the perfect Christmas present."

AND THE RUNNERS-UP...

2. 'FOXES' – Cats In Paris
Obsessed with comic books, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and computer programming code, Cats In Paris wore their geekyness like a badge of honour. But rather like Clark Kent shedding his geek specs and ripping off his white shirt, Cats In Paris were also concealing a big secret – that they were Manchester's finest pop superheroes.

     Not that Cats In Paris were ever obvious about displaying that pop side. Their live shows were often obfuscating examples of oddball musical experimentalism, the set focussed around band leader Michael Watson, a former classical music student who would perform large amounts of 'punk rock violin' on stage.

    Then there was the band's debut album Courtcase 2000, a brilliant album but one which was maybe a little too schizophrenic for most; a typical album track could veer from Muse-esque prog to twee folk indie to Madness-style pop, and all in the space of three minutes.

   But there was one song where Cats In Paris' magpie sensibilities perfectly came together to create a true indie-pop dancefloor classic – and that was their debut single, the truly incredible 'Foxes'. Released back in February on local label Akoustik Anarkhy, this was the song which made Manchester sit up, take notice and throw some sexy shapes on the indie dancefloor.

    What's most incredible about 'Foxes' is just how much they cram into its perfect four minutes – there were those incredible call-and-response girl-boy vocals, there were bubbling synths, that trademark violin, and structurally, the song goes on a journey which begins as prog power-pop and climaxes in a sort of spacey, slow-jam waltz.

    This was pop music at its most 21st Century and compellingly off-kilter – and irrefutable proof that the geeks most certainly will inherit the earth one day.   

Where to find it: On the band's single 'Foxes' and their debut album Courtcase 2000 (Akoustik Anarkhy Recordings).

Michael Watson, Cats In Paris violinist/songwriter on 'Foxes': "The song is really about having to accept the crazy beliefs of loved ones in order to get on with them. You have to sacrifice your own integrity to forge solid relationships. It's bleak! Musically, we love to present the listener with a platform, a genre, a musical idea, and then twist it on its head. We love the element of surprise, and in this song we took a standard rock riff and melody, and then took it on a little sonic adventure."

3. 'BLACK LAKE' – Eleanor Lou
She sang, she played the acoustic guitar, and she frequently bared her soul in her music. But those might just be the only notable qualities Eleanor Lou had in common with all the other (mostly predictable) female singer-songwriters on the Manchester music scene this year.

   Manchester-based, but hailing originally from Suffolk, 22-year-old Eleanor Lou was seemingly on a one-woman mission to rid popular music of identikit BRIT school divas and cloying Kate Nash-style 'confessional' songwriters. Intelligent, highly articulate and fond of namechecking esoteric books and movies, Eleanor Lou came across as our very own Patti Smith (but for the pre-menopausal generation); a songwriter who valued arty high gravitas above frilly pop ephemera. 

   Certainly a songwriter who engages with the brain, but listen to her music, and this is only lady who speaks exclusively in the vernacular of the heart. Ninety percent of Eleanor Lou's songs could be described as 'spine-tingling ballads'; but there was one song in particular which made all our hairs stand on end and had us scrambling for the box of Kleenex – and that was the awesome 'Black Lake'.

      A spooky, near-gothic minor key acoustic ballad, this was Eleanor Lou at her most stirring and heart-breaking: admonishing an ex-lover, the genius of 'Black Lake' was its brutalising, sometimes ambivalent candour, lines like "you can weave your words into the grandest claims", sounding both loving and lovelorn.   

    'Black Lake' was like the sort of song PJ Harvey should be writing in her twilight years – when in fact, it was penned by an astonishingly precocious young songwriter who's just barely begun to make her mark in the music biz.    

    After a quietly promising introduction to the Manc music scene in 2008, the next 12 months will surely belong to Eleanor Lou – and all those other female songwriters had better fear for their lives. 

Where to find it: On Eleanor Lou's MySpace page – www.myspace.com/eleanorlou

Eleanor Lou on 'Black Lake': "I wrote 'Black Lake' all in one rush. I was full of these feelings and the song just came spilling out of me. My fingers fell on the chords, and the melody and words just flowed instantly.

"To write great songs you have to get yourself into the right place, and be totally honest...You dig deep, and you'll strike oil. And doing that should be a total emotional experience; sometimes joyful, sometimes upsetting, frustrating, uplifting, sexy. Whatever it is you're writing. Otherwise you can't expect anybody listening to the song to have an emotional experience to it."

4. 'SUNNY DAYS' – Kid British
"Britain is so down on itself sometimes," declared Sean Mbaya, singer of Kid British, when CityLife first spoke to him back in February this year. Mbaya added:  "We're just here to make people smile. The best pop music can make people happy like nothing else can."

     In an incredible 12 months, Kid British certainly lived up those early promises – for no other band make us grin from ear to ear like these young pop scallywags did. After just six gigs on the Manc local scene, Kid British were already arousing serious interest on the strength of a live set which resembled a veritable jukebox of classic British pop music – The Specials, Blur, Madness, The Streets – but allied to a fantastically sunny disposition and cool Manc streetwise swagger.

   But the one song which attracted the most attention was the brilliant 'Sunny Days' – the band's signature anthem, and the one song which convinced almost every record label in the UK (there were nine labels interested at one stage) to reach for their chequebooks and try to sign Kid British.

'Sunny Days' was the song which made Manchester fall in love with Kid British, and it's dead certain to open even bigger doors for the band in 2009. Having been re-recorded for their debut album (the band are now signed to major label Mercury), the song will no doubt be ubiquitous in the next 12 months; you'll hear it in indie discos, you'll hear it on goal-scoring montages on Match of the Day, and you'll no doubt hear it on Radio 1, when it becomes the band's first number one single (get down to the bookies pronto, we suggest).

     A group of young men to restore pride, joy and aspiration in the national identity? What Gordon Brown would do to have Kid British in his cabinet.

Where to find it: On Kid British's debut album, as yet untitled, due for release in Spring 2009.

Kid British on 'Sunny Days': The group's vocalist Sean Mbaya explains. "'Sunny Days' is the song which completely changed the future for this band. Before we wrote that, we'd mostly been making hip-hop music.

"But 'Sunny Days' was like our first out-and-out pop song. No-one in the band was sure what to make of it first. But we stuck at it, and it became a real favourite – it feels like a real Britpop anthem, something everyone can just sing along to straight away. It's catchy as hell. Without that song, I'm not sure we would have gotten so much attention so early on. We had A&R people from big record labels who discovered us purely cos they'd heard mp3s of that song. So we are immensely proud of it and how it changed our lives."

5. 'WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES' – Daniel Land & The Modern Painters A shoegaze revivalist band. Fronted by an openly gay singer. Who are based in a secluded cottage in Northenden. Suffice to day, Daniel Land & The Modern Painters are not the type of guitar band who crop up regularly on the Manc music scene. 

    But what impressed most about DLATMP was their spirit of no-compromise. Here was a band who simply weren't prepared to conform to the capricious demands of the music biz; based at their secluded base in Northenden, the group were more than happy to live in a self-contained bubble and follow their own blissful, lugubrious muse.

    Befitting their name, DLATMP constructed their musical art with bold brushstrokes – ones filled with flourish, idiosyncracy and widescreen wonderment.  The band's debut single 'Within The Boundaries' was a perfect example of this; the sort of song which taxes your brain to begin with, but after repeated listens, it rapidly begins to sooth and envelop your heart.    

    The band might be self-proclaimed "shoegazer obsessives" – referencing the likes of Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3 – but what's most impressive about 'Within The Boundaries' is how it manages to sound instinctive and visceral, as opposed to derivative and retro. Indeed, the song's opening four minutes are purely all instrumental; building from quiet murmur towards intoxicating pastoral psyche-folk soundscape, and it's only at the end, in the final thirty seconds, do we hear the voice of singer Daniel Land, emerging triumphant yet strangely enigmatic.

    If this Picasso of a song doesn't turn you to jelly, then you clearly need your pulse checking.

Where to find it: On the band's double A-side single 'Within The Boundaries'/'Benjamin's Room' (Sonic Cathedral Recordings).

Daniel Land, the group's singer/guitarist/songwriter on 'Within The Boundaries': "I often think of music in terms of landscapes, and I had a very clear idea of what I wanted for the structure of 'Within The Boundaries', the contour of it, the rise and fall. Which makes it quite surprising and gratifying that it has been nominated as a song for the year, because the vocals are only part of the song for about thirty seconds, near the end of it.

"That was quite deliberate, it's a real confidence trick – one always thinks of it as a vocal song, even though it's far from it. It makes it a great opening song for concerts, one that people really respond to. I think we've only ever done one gig where it wasn't the opening song."

6. 'SUNDIAL' – The Travelling Band
The winners of this year's Glastonbury New Talent competition, Manchester's very own Travelling Band proved themselves real architects of sun-flecked harmony country pop. Yet their finest song, the incredible 'Sundial', was the one song which broke their tried and tested country-pop mould and ventured into more experimental waters – a stirring, baroque psyche-pop classic which was the equal of anything on the last Arcade Fire album.

Where to find it: Best to start on YouTube, where you'll find live recordings of the song from their triumphant Glastonbury performance.

 7. 'IT'S JUST SOUL' – The Jessie Rose Trip

Jessie Rose couldn't have timed her arrival in 2008's pop world any better – young, impeccably styled and possessed of an impressively gutsy soul voice, the 20-year-old soul songstress from Heaton Mersey tapped perfectly into the soul diva zeitgeist as cemented by the likes of Winehouse, Duffy and Adele.

But one listen to songs like 'It's Just Soul', proved that Jessie Rose was no short term pop facsimile: this was one performer with obvious designs on 'classic soul' status. Her signature song 'It's Just Soul' perfectly summed up her bolshy mission statement: authentic, visceral, laden with pop hooks, and oozing the sort of North-West soul sensibility you simply don't find in BRIT school muppets or identikit TV talent show winners. Jarvis Cocker is already a huge fan, and come the end of 2009, the rest of the British public will have fallen head-over-heels for this precocious soul siren too. 

Where to find it: On Jessie Rose's MySpace page – www.myspace.com/thejessierosetrip

8. 'NOTHING IS REAL' – El Condorez
With Oasis rediscovering their mojo, and the likes of The Courteeners taking over the world, it seemed Mancunian machismo was firmly back on the pop agenda in 2008. Nowhere was this more apparent than with guitar-rock trio El Condorez, less of a band, and more of an advert for old-school alpha male values.

Dressed in regulation black leathers and fond of travelling everywhere on big Honda motorcycles, El Condorez were the band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club wished they were. The band's self-released debut single 'Nothing Is Real', was the sound of such testosterone put to awesome music; the sort of song which gives classic rock a good name, nodding to bands like Pearl Jam, Led Zep and Wolf Mother, but bringing a real melodic steelyness to the tried-and-tested bloke-rock idiom. Hard rock, but most definitely with a soft centre. 

Where to find it: On the band's debut single, available to purchase from the band's MySpace page – www.myspace.com/elcondorez

9. 'COUNTERPOINT' – Delphic

If the best songs of the year are all about capturing the best parties of the year, then Delphic definitely wrote large portions of the soundtrack. The Manc indie-dance four-piece – whose intention is to "make the city dance again" – constructed their dancefloor manifesto most rigidly. There was the cold electro pulse of New Order, the indie-rave melodies of Klaxons, and most important, there was the goggle-eyed euphoria of a typical Hacienda dancefloor circa 1988. Their most immediate song, the brilliant 'Counterpoint', captured all those elements and was pivotal in Delphic's swift ascent – the standout track at their early 'illegal rave' gigs (in Night and Day's downstairs basement), before falling into the hands of major label Polydor and scooping the band a megabucks record deal. Delphic made Manchester dance in 2008, and they'll turn the rest of the music world into one mass hedonistic dancefloor in 2009.

Where to find it: On the band's debut single for Polydor, due for release in February 2009.

10. 'SHARKIES BONE SYMPHONY' – To The Bones
The single which produced the most X-rated pop video of the year (bloodshed, torture, scantily clad girls – see for yourselves on YouTube); but To The Bones were equally capable of corrupting the ears as well as the eyes. The heavy-rock quartet from Bolton were the band who put the fear factor back into rock music, and 'Sharkies Bone Symphony' was their very own answer to the death march: a malevolent power-chord stomper which sounded like In Utero-era Nirvana fronted by Lemmy and produced by Queens of the Stone Age. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Where to find it: On the band's debut album Duke Type A (Medici Records).

What have been your favourites Manc tracks of 08? Have your say.