REVIEW: Manchester-based popular provocateurs PSYCHOSCALLY release new track ‘Cottonopolis’
No five words induce anger in me quite like Manchester’s recent propaganda diktat motto: “we do things differently here”.
For a city which seemingly can’t accept that music and culture generally have moved past the 90s, it is remarkably good at dismantling the cultural institutions and conditions which allowed bands like The Smiths, The Stone Roses, and Oasis to develop. Once a shining beacon on how you didn’t need to be London to be cool, Manchester is now doing a gentrification speed-run. Sure, if you’re used to £2,000 a week bedsits in Dalston, Manchester is probably still cheap, but if you’re actually from the city, god forbid you try and afford, well, anything. You would be forgiven for thinking that all Manchester has to offer is £8 pints at a obnoxious bar with some sort of cunty “theme” to it, as well as hundreds of harrington-jacket wearing indie bands doing their best Courteeners impressions.
Enter PSYCHOSCALLY: three Manchester-based musicians who are seemingly trying to combat the cultural malaise of Manchester (a malaise which is definitely led by The Manc account on Instagram) by shining a light on the parts of the city that the Council would probably rather you ignore. Combining rock, hardcore, numetal, and even some rap, PSYCHOSCALLY are easily one of the best things coming out of Manchester at the moment, and their latest single ‘Cottonopolis’ is the perfect introduction to everything the band stand for.
Named after the main trade for which Manchester became famous during the industrial revolution, the song is suitably industrial in sound. Featuring an introductory sample from Manchester-based rapper KHI-P repeating the phrase ‘Make Ancoats Rough Again’, which has become the battlecry of PSYCHOSCALLY, the song launches into a heavy, frenzied riff, echoing the band’s pent up frustrations with the city generally but, more specifically, their experiences at Brunswick Mill.
Brunswick Mill is a historic building in Ancoats which, until recently, was a beloved music rehearsal space, and an important asset within Manchester’s creative scene. However, as is becoming all too common across the UK, a proposal to turn the site into flats was approved in 2021, despite fierce opposition (and a distinct lack of affordable housing within the proposals themselves). PSYCHOSCALLY were one of many acts kicked out of Brunswick Mill, and their justified anger at the situation is felt heavily in ‘Cottonopolis’.
The crunching riffs of the song are matched by the genuine dismay in lead singer Jake’s vocals, as he declares that “nothing done different here anymore”. Around two and a half minutes in, the song crescendos into an cacophony of rage, as the vocals ring out that “we’ve had enough of selling our soul”. PSYCHOSCALLY have managed to capture the anger and the hatred that so many feel for private landlords and their gentrification of our cities, and they’ve done it whilst making a great song. Impressive!
PSYCHOSCALLY are definitely a band we should all be paying a lot of attention too, and they just might be one of the voices of the anti-capitalist, anti-landlord generation.
‘Cottonopolis’ comes out on the 29th August, and you can find it on the band’s Spotify. The release will also coincide with a music video for the song, as well as new (and re-stocked) merchandise.
Words: Charlie Sweeney
