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Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | February 2025

Ready for more? Course you are.

Danny Jones - 28th February 2025

Well, how now music fans!? We’re back again for February with five more Greater Manchester-based artists, be they new, old or already high-flying, that we’ve been listening to over the past 28 days in this case.

And believe us, this month’s a corker.

If you’re new to the series this year, it’s pretty self-explanatory: every month we round up five up-and-coming or just downright entertaining artists from around the region to spotlight and remind ourselves why our hometown is the absolute best place for music in Britain – nay, the planet.

Hyperbole? Maybe. Do we care? Nah, so let’s waste any more time and introduce to to some Manchester artists that might be new to you.

Greater Manchester artists of the month

1. Bou

First up on our list new Manchester music you need to be listening to is, rather fittingly, Bou. We didn’t plan for that to rhyme, but what we can tell you is that the 25-year-old producer and DJ is making some serious waves.

Having just announced a tour of the USA and Canada this spring into summer, the Algerian-British beatmaker’s name could soon go stratospheric as our friends across the pond continue to immerse themselves in more UK dance and electronic music, as well as grime and DnB.

Bou made a big name for himself in 2023 after hopping on ‘Baddadan’ with the legendary Chase and Status; he’s just dropped a big new track with Aitch too but he’s actually been grinding since 2015. He’s only getting better but we’d say start with ‘Raving In The Studio’, ‘Wicked & Dark’ and ‘Streetside’.

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2. The Lathums

From the EDM side of things to indie excellence from over Wigan way and one of the most promising bands to have come out of Greater Manchester—sorry, Lancashire* (they were insistent on that) and that is, of course, The Lathums.

We’ve made no secret of our love for these lads over the last few years in which they’ve seen a meteoric rise and now their third studio album, Matter Does Not Define, has officially dropped, we were more than willing to dive back in. Interview dropping on socials soon, by the way, so keep your eyes peeled…

You’ll get more of those charming folk vibes with plenty of swaggering guitars, trotting drums and more of their trademark “dark Western” approach intros and riffs, but the decibels, rock feel and vocals have been dialled up a notch. ‘Leave No Stone Unturned’, ‘No Direction’ and ‘Long Shadows’. You’re welcome.

TRUCK FESTIVALLLL!!!🚛🎪

We are absolutely buzzing to announce we’re back at @TruckFestival this year🔥

We cannot wait for this, gonna be one to remember 🫡 (vid is from last year😮‍💨) pic.twitter.com/cVOxS8dMhI
— The Slates (@_TheSlates) February 25, 2025

3. All Now

Now this one is for all the moshers, throwback rock and pop punk fans, as well as anyone who loves it when British rock bands aim to recreate that unmistakably American sound – only this stuff is contemporary.

Maybe it’s the nostalgia talking, but we’re pretty confident if you regularly tuned into the likes of Kerrang TV, NME and Scuzz back in their heyday, not only would you instantly fall in love with them but they’d already be massive now.

We saw these local lads live and Night and Day recently and not only were they brilliant but their unapologetic frontman was great value. They’ve just released their debut EP Northern Blood, on which you can see the Manchester skyline and hear ‘Can’t Get Over It’, ‘Principles’ and ‘Remember His Name’.

As far as new Manchester music goes, we’re glad the city is pumping out stuff like this.

4. Oceans on Mars

Next up is another band we saw that very same random weeknight on a whim and also managed to get us very excited. Opening up for All Now were fellow Manc rockers Oceans on Mars, who provided everything from Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains to Nirvana, hints of Soundgarden, Deftones and more.

It felt rather fitting that we got all these vibes before the headliners finished with a cover of ‘Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)’, but it’s also rare that you get a night full of growly-guitar, gravelly-throated grunge like this in 2025. Not that we were complaining. It was ace.

The intro to ‘Mousetrap’ makes us instantly think of ‘All Apologies’ only instead of Kurt Cobain you get Haydyn Biddle’s voice and it certainly sticks with you. ‘Let Me Know’ is another catchy track and third place goes to ‘Mirror’, which kicked off the post-2020 era with their new frontman. Give them a go.

@oceansonmars only right way to listen to grunge music. stream our song now woo!!! #grunge #grungemusic #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #trending #viral #grungetom #k #aic #aliceinchains #nirvana ♬ When It Rains – Oceans on Mars

5. Durutti Column

Last but not least is a reminder that not every new discovery necessarily has to be new; in this case, it can just be a rediscovery of an experimental genre-bending collection of musicians that were way ahead of many other Manchester artists of the time.

If you’ve never taken a deep dive into the world of Durutti Column, we will warn you that it can turn into a bit of a rabbit hole. In fact, beyond the most well-known tracks like ‘Otis’, ‘Jaqueline’ and so on, we’re not going to even recommend tracks this time: just immerse yourself in the incredible soundscapes that Vini Reilly and co. built over several decades.

Be it making a sandpaper LP sleeve that damaged other records stored around it (so nonchalantly punk), or their sheer amount of variety in the discography, we firmly believe they’re among the most overlooked artists in Manchester music history. They even featured in the soundtrack of the most recent series of The Bear, which gave us an immense amount of joy, especially with just how well they used it.

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Oop! Would you look at that? Once again, we’re out of time already. Sad face.

We hope you enjoyed digging into more Manchester music, both new and old, that you might not have heard before. Do go away and do your extra research on them too, that’s part of the fun.

In the meantime, you can find out our first picks of the year in our list of new Manchester bands and artists we were in January, but for now, we’ll catch you next time.

Oh, and don’t forget to keep it locked to Audio North for more round-ups, music news, gig guides and interviews like this one: