Sounds from the Other City 2014

Divided by the river Irwell from Manchester, it can often be forgotten that Salford has a vibrant DIY scene of its own. Now in its tenth anniversary year, Sounds from the Other City makes the most of this ethic, working with the city’s finest independent promoters and club nights to host a celebration of new art and music along Chapel Street every May bank holiday. The result is a uniquely urban music festival sprawling into pubs, churches and, one year, Salford Central railway station, with its past graduates including Alt-J, Money, and Marina and the Diamonds.

This year saw the largest Sounds from the Other City yet, incorporating new venues such as the First Chop Brewing Arm tucked underneath a railway arch and the University of Salford’s grandiose Maxwell and Peel Halls. After collecting our wristbands from Islington Mill, the festival’s central hub, we sauntered down East Ordsall Lane for the opening act at First Chop, Babe.

The Skinny watched: Babe’s frontman Gerard Black giving us a warm-up verse or two in the car park next to the ping pong Arch; acoustic acts in the New Oxford; people dressed as giant eyeballs and space crabs in a Volkov Commanders flash mob, and Karen Gwyer’s AV rave at St Philip's Church. We emerged unscathed from the crush of ZZZs in a sweltering Old Pint Pot, and somehow still mustered the energy to walk the four miles home from the Mill at 3am. For those who trundle the Chapel Street commute, Sounds is a wonderful reminder that people are working on inspiring things closer to home.

Scroll down to see what our photographer caught of this year's festival. [Chris Ogden]

From the Archive: 

Read SFTOC director Mark Carlin on ten years of the festival