This week’s featured artists are Manchester based ‘Consoles and Players’. We’ve reviewed their stuff on TT, but we thought you might like to know what they had to say for themselves!

So who are Consoles and Players?
We’re school friends from Manchester. Me (Mike) and Ali lived next door to each other for 18 years and have been writing songs together since before we could even play instruments, pressing the demo button on a little keyboard and trying to rap over it when we were about 7. We both started learning guitar aged 11/12 and we met Matthew at school where we used to jam. Fast-forward a little and you have Consoles and Players. We’re a relatively new band, having only been around since March, following the split of an old band [The Uncouth Union]. My little bro, Dave has been playing bass for us. We do what we do because we love it - writing, recording, and especially playing live to people who have been appreciating what we do.

What’s your sound?
We’re an indie band, though we like to incorporate aspects of other genres into our music including jazz, hip-hop, drum’n'bass, and heavy rock - because they’re good basically. We like to keep an open mind to new music, though we’re not too into the indie scene as a whole at the moment, as it seems to be following fashion with glowsticks and aviators, without having the songs to back it up.

What have you been up to?
So far we have played gigs at The Night & Day, The Roadhouse and Joshua Brooks in Manchester, as well as Prohibition in Leeds and the Raynor Lounge in Sheffield.

Anything exciting in the pipeline?
Keep checking our myspace for some new gigs before I [Mike] move to France for the year in September - don’t worry though, Consoles and Players are gonna be around for a good while yet!

So that’s Consoles and Players in their own words, but we got our very own Clare to take a listen and tell us what she thought of their stuff.

Who are they?
Consoles and Players are a quartet based in Manchester made up of Ali Craig (Vocals and Guitar), David Allen (Bass), Matthew Tate (Vocals and Drums) and Michael Allen (Vocals and Guitar). There are a number of songs on their myspace, http://www.myspace.com/consolesandplayers and they are currently working on producing an EP. The band describes their influences as ‘all the usual suspects’ including The Beatles, The Strokes, Blur and Led Zeppelin.

My thoughts
So this is the first review I’ve attempted to write, and it’s only just struck me quite how hard it is! Not sure where to start. At the beginning I guess. I clicked onto their myspace and listened through the tracks in turn. I was immediately grateful I had been given ‘Consoles and Players’ for my first review, my life had been made easier! I actually liked the music and didn’t therefore have the worry of criticising a band in a constructive way!

I have to admit when I discovered that Berni (Amnesia) knew one of the band members I was slightly worried, not only because she has awful taste in music (jokes, jokes) but also because I was expecting a high school band, which in my experience have never been great. Instead I am pleased to report ‘Consoles and Players’ sound very professional, and to me it is a shock that they aren’t signed or at least don’t have more myspace friends (add them guys!).

Their mix of jazz and indie to me is very reminiscent of artists like ‘The Kooks’. The instrumentals are a particularly good example of the jazz influence, as demonstrated at the end of ‘Nights Like These’. The choice of ‘Not Quite Mysel’f as the first track on the site, and the one that plays automatically was a good one. Not only does it demonstrate the lyrical ability of the band in an almost narrative style, but it’s also catchy and once you’ve listened to it more than once (or 15 times I you’re anything like me) you’ll soon be humming along. Having said that my personal favourite is ‘Nights Like These’, particularly the introduction, as it seems somehow darker and less happy go lucky.

So basically I would say yes, they are superb. I’ve added them to my myspace which is something in itself. Being a southerner, I’m never likely to see them myself unless they hit the big time, which I really hope they do, but if you do live anywhere near them I would whole heartedly recommend seeing them live. I would give them a 4 out of 5. Pretty impressive for my first review, you have to admit.

And so I have done it, completed my first review for TT music, I’m quite proud of myself! Thanks for reading to anyone that bothered! I’ll be back, don’t you worry, I’ve enjoyed myself far too much!

- Clare