Preview: In The City 2006

2006 has seen a number of challenges to In The City’s boast of being the best new music showcase in the UK. The emergence on The Great Escape in Brighton and London Calling has challenged its mantel but after fourteen  years the Manchester event is still going strong and this year’s schedule show’s that it has not intention of slowing up in its promotion of emerging talent.

In The City is a sprawling event encompassing the official gigs and talks plus plenty of shows on the fringe involving bands hoping to get noticed as the majority of the countries music industry comes to town. In past years bands such as The Automatic and Guillemots plus solo artists like Tom Vek have made there name here.

Once again Gigwise will be there the whole weekend (and this year weekdays) bringing you reviews of the best bands, news of anything exciting happenings and a roundup once the last amp has been packed away of the biggest stars to emerge from the four days.

We have also for the second running linked with our friends at Glasswerk who have put together a five day extravaganza of new music featuring the likes of New Rhodes, Yes Boss, Dirty Circus, Soho Dolls and Brigade. Tickets are on sale now and for the small sum of £15 you can get a whole weekend pass. The full line up can be found here.

Before everything kicks off though we bring our guide to what we view as the must see bands at this year’s In The City and the one’s we feel will go on to make a name for themselves over the next twelve months.

Five From The Official Unsigned Showcases:

Bricolage – October 29 @ TBC
Glaswegians Bricolage are a perfect re-evaluation of Postcard Records era Scottish post punk bringing it up to date while retaining the trademark jangling guitars of bands like Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera.

Friendly Fires – October 30 @ Square Bar
The Nottingham/St Albans trio of Friendly Fires are like an East Midlands equivalent of The Rapture having rampant punk-funk sex with CSS while James Murphy yelps in the background. Perfect for lovers of sweaty late night dance floors, disco and sweet baselines.

The Strange Death Of Liberal England - October 30 @ Baby Grand
The south-coast, childlike cousins of iLiKETRAiNS  produce epic movements of atmospheric melody which is something akin to an elongated Arcade Fire. A band to dismiss all the identikit guitar foursomes of recent years and bring intricate instrumentation to the fore.