John's New Music Blog

Manchester has spawned many of the greatest bands of the last 35 years, (Joy Division, The Smiths, New Order, Stella Marconi, The Stone Roses, The Buzzcocks) and now the collective Help Stamp Out Loneliness (HSOL), joins that list. HSOL was started in 2007 by Bentley Cooke and Colm McCrory as a way to recover from their years in the twee indie pop band Language of Flowers but soon found themselves wanting to return to their debauched life in indie pop. Cooke and McCrory recruited four more members, Ben Ambridge and Louise Winfield from Star and Garters, Kath McMahon and their vocalist, D. Lucille Campbell.


HSOL recently released their first album, the self-titled, Help Stamp Out Loneliness, a 12 track masterpiece produced by Smiths producer Craig Gannon. Take a listen to the whole album below:



Help Stamp Out Loneliness is available for download from their Bandcamp site, their label, Where It's At Is Where You Are (scroll down), Amazon and iTunes. You can also download their free Record Store Day release, "Record Store," here. HSOL's previous singles, "Pacific Trash Vortex" (iTunes and Amazon) and "Torvill and Dean" (iTunes and Amazon) are also available for download. HSOL is playing dates in the UK in July, no word on plans to come to the US.

Today's Fresh New Music featured band is Manchester's Stella Marconi, a three piece band consisting of James Bagshaw on guitar and lead vocals, Andrew Smith on bass and backing vocals and Sophia Hardman on drums.


Stella Marconi have three tracks up on Soundcloud, the  first one I'm featuring is "One Off Free," a driving track that evokes the Manchester punk scene of the late 1970's and brings it forward to the 21st Century. There are elements of The Clash, Sex Pistols and The Ramones audible in "One Off Free" and I highly recommend it as an example of the pre-Joy Division punk sound that was taking shape in Manchester. If I didn't know any better, I would think these guys were at The Gig to End All Gigs.

Stella Marconi is unsigned and is currently posting their tracks on Soundcloud. They are performing in the Manchester area in February and March (Click here for gigs and dates).