Edgar "Jones" Jones and the Joneses - Manchester Academy 3

Edgar and his Jonses were on blistering form, racing through a set that encompassed Northern Soul, Ska, big band swing and 60's inspired beat tunes. Although the Joneses obviously don't take themselves too seriously, they are serious about the authenticity of their sound and are dedicated to keeping the true spirit of RnB alive (as defined here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R&B, rather than the definition that includes Usher and P Diddy).

The set came dangerously close to pastiche on a couple of occasions but Edgar steered things just the right side of embarrassment.

Some of the older readers of this blog may remember Edgar from Liverpool Stones/Pretty Things copyists The Stairs who once troubled my turntable with his Weed Bus 45 back in the early 90's.

Holy Fuck - Manchester Night and Day 2/4/08

Holy Fuck were apparently one of the highlights of Glastonbury 2007. These guys play analogue electronica but with a pretty serious rock attitude supplied by a tight drummer (sometimes HF play with two drummers) and bassist.

Over the course of a 50min set the band built up a trance-like, psych rock collage of bleeps and buzzes but never at the expense of the melody. I'm not sure who the band officially cite as influences, but to my ears Neu, Spacemen 3, Add N to X, some early Big Beat records, the BBC radiophonic workshop and perhaps even Space Ritual era Hawkwind (obviously minus Michael Moorcock's space poetry and Nik Turner's unrelenting yelping sax ) were all in the mix somewhere.

I will definitely be checking out their album as soon as possible, but I can't help but think that their choice of name might inhibit chances of pop stardom.