Friday 30/09/05 Fleeing New York, The Research, Granby Row @ In The City, Dry Bar, Manchester

Drummers are an amazing commodity, everyone wants to be one, yet few succeed in perfecting the art. It seems they’ve been relegated to mere mechanical beat boxes or flashy eye-candy that’s barely able to sustain a sentence let alone a rhythm. Granby Row are the exception, whilst bands like The Research sport the talentless skirt on a seat look, Granby Row cultivate some neat little hooks around some smart drumming. The bands not half bad either, flitting comfortably between 90’s baggy and post-punk they're not gonna win awards for innovation, but give em a stage and a mic and they’ll happily dedicate songs (‘Try Not to Listen’) to the “knobhead promoters” who’ve given them the opportunity!…nice one lads!

The Research are a funny entity, they inhabit a land where they think they can inflict their lo-fi quirks on crowds and expect stampedes of new fans, and it just aint gonna happen. The tunes still lack direction and there seems little to attract more than fickle attention, that is until the three stop plinky-plonking and harmonise. Above the fairground tinklings they're able to briefly expose their true talents…ditch the instruments, drop the fashionable façade and take up barbershop you weirdo’s.

Thankfully, Fleeing New York are simply fantastic and are (if tonight’s performance is anything to go by) about to be propelled into the mainstream to battle and beat the dwindling dream set by the Duke Spirit. Comparisons are easily drawn between the two bands, but Emma’s voice is softer and more sensuous and when coupled with guitarist Russel’s drawl the effect of which is a debut that evokes the same passion Gigwise first felt witnessing the Duke spirit all those years ago. ‘Hollywood Bowl’ trades bluesy slides against impassioned yelps and can only be described as awesome. Imagine the Yeah Yeah Yeahs spending days writing tracks instead of minutes, or the Ravonettes replacing drone with passion and you’re someway to realising Fleeing New York.