CityLife

Manc music glitterati's 2009 tips

NU NEW ORDER?: Delphic 1 / 5 images

Clint Boon's top three:

Jessie Rose Trip
FRONTED by a 21-year old from Stockport, Jessie, who has a real bluesy and jazzy quality about her. She’s surrounded by this fantastic band who are great live.
Because they’re not going to be part of the indie scene, the band has this appeal which will cross genres, young and old. The band aren’t going to be big in Manchester either, they’re going to be worldwide stars.
www.thejessierosetrip.com

Frazer King
FRAZER King are these six real Manc lads who look like real ruffians. They have these amazing harmonies, a bit like the Beach Boys and write music that wants to make you cry.
I’ve never seen a band that look like such a contradiction in what they do. On stage they are totally shambolic, it’s absolute chaos, but what they sing and how they sing it is really beautiful.
www.myspace.com/frazerking

Karima Francis
KARIMA has the sort of appeal that will make her a worldwide star. She’s very humble and an absolutely lovely person.
Blackpool-born but now based in Manchester, Karima writes incredible songs and is a fantastic live performer - full of character.
For a 21-year-old she writes uncompromising and heartfelt songs.
www.myspace.com/karimafrancis

Clint Boon was a founding member of Madchester band Inspiral Carpets and now presents the drive time show on Xfm Manchester 97.7fm, between 4pm and 7pm.

Gerry McLaughlin's top three:

Delphic
IT seems like a fever has struck Manchester’s media types and that fever is called Delphic. I was good pals with the boys in Snow Fight In The City Centre and a big fan of their sound and no one was more disappointed when they broke up than me. However from the ashes Delphic has emerged, riding the electric wave started by Joy Division and recently returned to Mancunia by The Whip and causing a talent scout stampede in the process. In fact key-broadest Rick, mentioned to me that at one point he thought about 90 per cent of their audience were industry spotters. With top management and a great deal in place, 2009 has got Delphic written all over it.
www.myspace.com/delphic 

Twisted Wheel
YOU could argue that 2008 has already been the year that Twisted Wheel made their mark on the UK music scene. But I that the band’s TV performances, reviews and Oasis tour supports were just the beginning for this talented and hard-edged Oldham trio. There’s something raw about Twisted Wheel that seems to scratch the itch of the jaded music fan. I really believe that 2009 will be the year that sees them become household names.
www.myspace.com/thetwistedwheel

Official Secrets Act
THIS mostly northern four-piece are now based in London following a good 2008. Their single, The Girl From The BBC, got them noticed (I did ask them to write a track called The Chap From Channel M but they didn’t seem too keen). Their second single, So Tomorrow, was one of Zane Lowe’s singles of the week back in December so it looks like, official or not, they won’t be a secret much longer (I wonder how many equally imaginative journalists will use that line?)
www.myspace.com/officialsecretsact

Gerry McLaughlin is the presenter of Channel M Music. Watch him on Sky channel 203

Liam Fray's top three:

Delphic
I RECKON Delphic are going to be massive this year. They're the closest thing to New Order that Manchester has had since, well, New Order. A couple of them used to be in Snowfight In The City Centre who were a great band who we played one of our first ever gigs with, down at The Roadhouse. Delphic are completely different to Snowfight though, it’s much more electro and epic. They’ve got this jaw-droppingly good tune called Counterpoint – it’s superb.
www.myspace.com/delphic

Kid British
GREAT band. They played with us at Manchester Apollo and Shepherds Bush Empire and were superb – a great bunch of lads too. Really liked their limited edition single Elizabeth. They sound a bit like The Specials meets Blur, a really interesting melting pot of influences. They look great too.
www.myspace.com/kidbritishmusic

It’s A Buffalo
BUFFALO have played with us at on our last few tours and they just get better and better. They've got an album coming out on Akoustik Anarkhy in February and I’ve been hooked on it for the last few months – their song Marbles is a real future Manchester classic. They all live together and you can tell how close they all are when you see you how they interact on stage – they always look like they’re having a completely class time. They’ve been together for a couple of years now and their reputation keeps building. I’d love to see them get the recognition they truly deserve this year.
www.myspace.com/itsabuffalo

Liam Fray is the frontman of The Courteeners. The band’s debut album St Jude is in shops now.

Gary Ryan's top three:

Little Boots
HEADING the female-fronted synth goldrush of 2009, Little Boots is Blackpool’s Victoria Hesketh, who comes one like a one-woman Hotter Chip. Having previously fronted Leeds trio Dead Disco, she’s now producing inventive, sonically-exciting pop songs that you can imagine being played everywhere, from hipster parties to weddings. Stuck On Repeat is her calling card: an eight-minute Donna Summer-shaped italo-disco epic. Yet other tracks are just as special. Magical pilfers the melody from Anita Ward’s My Bell, while Mathematics – based on a Sylvia Plaith poem – is so joyous that, if the wordsmith heard it, I can imagine she’d remove her head from the oven put on her best party frock.
www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic

Silverclub
PREVIOUSLY called This Year’s Model, Silverclub  is a collaboration between techno knob-twiddlers Marc Ashken, Tommy Walker III and Duncan Edwad Jones of DNCN. Last year, they released the brilliant single Crash The Car, a slice of futuro-soul that grips a dancefloor by the (glitter) balls. There’s enough askew, naggingly addictive gems on their MySpace to suggest something special is brewing. Plus, Lois Winstone occasionally provides guest vocals for them, so I’m frightened that if I don’t big them up, her father Ray will beat me up. Or make me watch his movies (only kidding).
www.myspace.com/silverclubuk

Daggers
MANCHESTER bands can often have all the giddy pop cheer of a Swiss Euthanasia Centre, but Daggers are like a Technicolor pop-missile aimed directly at the part of the brain responsible for dancing. Their previous singles, After Midnight (released under their previous name of Bureau) and Money have possessed arms-aloft choruses the size of small nation states. Having worked with Richard X and had songs written for them by Spice Girls producer Biff Stannard, 2009 could well be theirs for the taking.
www.myspace.com/daggersuk

Gary Ryan is a music journalist for CityLife.

Who are your tips for this year? Have your say.