Northwest Music News – 8 Jan: Manchester Punk Fest

Working For A Nuclear Free City announce new album

One of Melodic Records oldest signings, Working For A Nuclear Free City have long been dormant since 2010's Jojo Burger Tempest which, typical for the Manchester-formed group, was a constantly shape shifting genre-switching sprawl. Spread over 17 tracks, it seemed to be a fitting swan song. Producer and keyboardist Phil Kay moved to London and released a set of chirpy, kosmiche-inspired eletronica as King of the Mountain in 2013, while the group's guitarist Gary McLure relocated to the USA having released a solo debut under his own name for Edwyn Collins' AED Records in 2013 – he's currently enjoying a fair bit of attention across the pond for the lo-fi pop of his American Wrestlers project.

It's a welcome surprise then that Melodic have announced that the five-piece will be releasing a fourth album, with What Do People Do All Day? coming out on 5 Feb. A set of snapshots of various imagined people's lives, the record is likely to see the band in as idiosyncratic form as ever, if Bottlerocket below is anything to go by, jerking and jutting along through four minutes of left of centre pop. Much like contemporaries The Phantom Band, there's a definite weirdness to Working For A Nuclear Free City's songs without it going so far as to suffocate the uncanny knack for a melody that they've always seemed to possess.

Manchester Punk Festival announces 15 more bands for 2016 weekender

Manchester's biggest independent punk festival, the Manchester Punk Festival has announced another 15 bands to join its line-up, taking place at Sound Control between 21-13 Apr. Joining the already announced likes of veterans Oi Polloi and Sick On The Bus are the likes of Canadian melodic troupe The Flatliners and Liverpool scene mainstays Down and Outs, returning after a brief hiatus. They'll join more than 60 bands over the entire weekend.

Rail Cables announce latest vinyl compilation

Delayed "in keeping with the great British tradition" of train travel, so say Rail Cables (we suspect pressing plant backlogs may explain it more accurately though), the series has included work by Salford-based producer and electronic artist Negra Branca, as well as techno pairing worriedaboutsatan in their latest compilation of commissioned music using train travel as inspiration. On a ten track record – out at the end of March – that also features debut solo material from Three Trapped Tigers drumming virtuoso Adam Betts, Negra Branca has supplied a breathy, eleven minute piece of atmospheric minimalism, all lurking textures and sparse percussion. worriedaboutsatan meanwhile have made the swirling 20 minute opus The Beeching Axe, named after the infamous late chairman of the British Railways Richard Beeching, whose 1960's report saw the closure of many remote stations nationwide. Listen to the latter below.

Digital Crate Digging

Banana Frequency – BYSW Angularfish

Described as "experimental pop" by Banana Frequency on getting in touch with us, that's a tag that doesn't really do the Liverpool artist's album BYSW Angularfish justice as, on tracks like 75 second opener My First Extroverted Song Is Dedicated To You, he sounds like he's taken bits of Music In 12 Parts-era Philip Glass before chopping them down until they wriggle and squirm as hyperactive little nuggets of noise. Things are a little more serene on the likes of Girl Iteration, but there's always a fervour and breathlessness throughout this album's lo-fi glitter.

Elsewhere on The Skinny...

• There's a trio of notable new albums out from the Northwest this month: Will Fitzpatrick casts his eye over Then Thickens' Colic, Gary Kaill takes in Songs For Walter's self-titled debut and Duncan Harman reviews modular synth man Howes' first full-length. 

• January's a quiet month but there's still a handful of worthy picks in our monthly gig guide.