Goat Girl, Lorenzo Senni and Burgundy Blood amongst those playing the Salford indie art and music festival
Salford's annual celebration of indie art and music, Sounds from the Other City, returns for its fourteenth instalment this year, having been championing the best of new and emerging talent since 2004.
Alongside music influencers across the region, the STFOC team have curated another bank holiday belter for Sunday 6 May, taking over Salford’s historic Chapel Street area with the customary blend of good music, good times and good intentions.
Acts amongst the recently-released line-up include Warp Records’ trance-inducing ‘rave voyeur’ Lorenzo Senni; BAFTA-winning actor and hip hop stalwart Burgundy Blood; multi-instrumentalist Anni Rossi; former Spacemen 3 founder Pete Kember AKA Spectrum; local boys and Marc-Riley-favourites DUDS, and MistaJam’s current hot ticket, the impressionistic soul artist XamVolo.
Manchester hip hop trailblazer Sleazy F, meanwhile, will perform a very rare outing of his full live show DRIPSET, and Rough Trade’s Goat Girl return following a successful SFTOC debut last year.
Cardiff’s Boy Azooga (“a bit like Foals doing a conga" - Q), and a full live band show from Tru Thoughts’ Werkha nestle beside box-fresh new sounds from the chilled guitar fuzz of 20-year-old Amsterdamer Pip Blom and the must-see pop of Bolton biro basher and Radio 1 favourite Chrystal (main image).
While, at the heavier end of the noise spectrum, expect psychedelic supergroup Luminous Bodies and dancing wall of sound Cattle.
This year’s festival also features a specially-commissioned world premiere of a new audio-visual collaboration between contemporary composer Laura Bowler and visual artist Rachel Goodyear, performed with a chamber ensemble of musicians from the BBC Philharmonic at the majestic Salford Cathedral.
Thanks in part to its unique promoter-led format - with tastemakers such as Now Wave, Hey! Manchester and Heavenly Recordings each curating a stage - Sounds from the Other City is renowned for sniffing out promising new talent: alumni include current Mercury Music prize-winner Sampha and BBC Sound of 2018 shortlist artist IAMDDB.
New names hosting stages this year span iconic Manchester stalwart Band on the Wall to Liverpool’s iconic Invisible Wind Factory collective, while new venues include Hotbed Press print studio and Five Four photography studio: joining local icons such as Salford Cathedral, Islington Mill, The Angel Centre and The King’s Arms.
As for after-parties, Thirsty Girls Collective bring their Simpsons themed Homerpolooza night to The Salford Arms; High Hoops will be tucking into the afters at Five Four Studios; Manchester disco-wrecking crew Night Fantasy return to shake The Pint Pot once again - this time aided by Peckham pickers FYI Chris - whilst Invisible Wind Factory promise a ‘gleeful pummelling’ of Islington Mill's ground floor.
SFTOC 2018’s visual directors have been announced as artist and Illustrator duo Stina Puotinen and David Bailey; who will be creating ‘SOUNDSTOWN’, an imaginary community layered over the very real and thriving community of Chapel Street. More info TBA.
