Northwest Music News — 12 March | Red Deer Clubs Turns 10, New Hartheim + More

Feature by Simon Jay Catling | 12 Mar 2015
Red Deer Club Turns 10

Starting out as a semi-regular live evening in the upstairs of intimate Withington vegetarian cafe-cum-live space Fuel, Red Deer Club has quietly gone about capturing some of Manchester's most thoughtfully melodic songwriters both on stage and on record, counting early releases by Liverpudlian kaleidoscopic pop trio Stealing Sheep, cult Mancunian post-punk foursome Young British Artists and winding storyteller Songs For Walter among its canon. Outlasting many peers thanks to a stubborn refusal to be swayed by trends or fads, relying only on his own instinct, RDC founder Duncan Sime is now able to reflect on ten years of the label, recently announcing a series of events to mark the occasion. He's also picked five of his favourite tracks from the past decade just for The Skinny.    

Ivarr James — Nomad

"Not strictly a release on RDC (as yet?!?!) but we love this track, Ivarr James is one of the best songwriters we've seen in years."

Jonnie Common — Figurehead (Wet)

"This guy means so much to me, my gateway drug into Fence Records under his Down The Tiny Steps pseudonym — we had the pleasure of releasing his debut solo album, go check his second album on Song By Toad."

Jamie Harrison — Cindy

"Jamie Harrison at his finest pop moment, taken from his album Honesty! Fraternity! Night-vision!"

Jess Bryant — Cutting

"Jess Bryant is one a million, the instrumentation and her amazing vocals make this a great introduction to her album Silvern."

Songs For Walter — Nick's Song

"The most prolific man in Manchester music scene, Laurie Hulme aka Songs For Walter."

Forthcoming Red Deer Club 10th Anniversary Shows:

Sat 18 Apr
Sara Lowes, Ivarr James + Foxtails
Fuel Cafe, Withington, Manchester

Sun 3 May
Red Deer Club presents'The Battle Of Bexley Square' — featuring 10 selected artists playing a special piece of commissioned music
Sounds From the Other City, Bexley Square, Chapel Street, Salford

Sat 30 May
Daylight Music with Jess Bryant, John Stammers + special guests
Union Chapel, Islington, London.

More details on all shows here.

Hartheim announce new single and biggest headline show to-date

Described by our own Gary Kaill as "uncommonly eloquent, astutely politicised, uncompromisingly combative" in his piece on the collective late last year, dark pop outfit Hartheim have returned with new single When Did Your Last Rose Die? A panoramic, sprawling tussle of a song that flickers between hope and loss throughout each breath taking wave of chiming guitar dissonance, vocalist Mike Emerson's words lacerate in their delivery as they strain against the tide. On the whole though, this is a measured track, the sound of a band starting to find their own identity away from the Sways-led art-rock world that birthed them. 

In addition to this, the group have announced a forthcoming headline show and their largest hometown show to-date, at Soup Kitchen on Wed 8 Apr.

New Outfit on the way

If Outfit had sold as many copies of their debut record Performance as they'd received comments on it being 'underrated' they'd probably be mooting a Duran Duran-style yacht rock video to launch Genderless, the first preview of their forthcoming second album Slowness. Like regular tour mates Dutch Uncles, there's a sense of retro-futurism in the way the five-pice feel at one connected to the off-kilter pop of the 80's, and yet pull forward influences such as Talk Talk and OMD into the present day. Whereas their peers are impatient to fill their canvas, Outfit are becoming elegant masters at learning what to do in the space between the paint brushes. Slowness is released on 15 Jun.

Claw The Thin Ice release new record

Formerly a moniker for local songwriter Ian Breen's electronically-minded meditations away from various pop punk projects, Claw The Thin Ice has evolved to become a hivemind in coping with personal loss and celebrating the strong bonds that we forge in life, with Claw now bumped up to a four-piece. Emotional catharsis wasn't necessarily the intention, but it's wound up irrevocably shaping both the Manchester group's previous LP Pony Walker and newest offering Exercise. Treading a familiar, though never tiresome, path through early 90s American alt. rock and post-Millennial punk influences, Exercise is a record that always retains a sense of warmth even through its bleakest moments. It's out on Monday.

Elsewhere on The Skinny
Got any gig news or upcoming releases from the northwest you'd like us to chew on? E-mail simon@theskinny.co.uk and dave@theskinny.co.uk.