The Stool Pigeon music newspaper

A fresh waft of fish’n’chips is literally coming through the floorboards at The Fishtank, the ancient city of Durham’s only venue and one that happens to be owned by Bimbis. But it’s not all cod - there’s a whiff of halibut too as local band Man Is Slapped (pictured) take their lowly positions at the audience’s feet. Crouched among a cluster of keyboards and effects pedals, their hastily constructed 20-minute set belies its creation, flowing harmoniously through gentle electronica. Their most astounding attribute is their ability to record live samples as the bedrock of their songs, culminating in a glorious finale that sees both members, Rich and Ollie, singing and strumming ukuleles to a looped beatbox. A sight to behold.

Keeping it notably more lo-fi is Sheffield songwriter Pete Green whose honest humour and lyrical talents are unquestionable. He brilliantly combines songs about Grimsby Town’s Cod Almighty with gentle melancholy. But it’s Green’s combined affability and aggression that wins him the sizeable audience’s hearts. He lambasts poncey bands who refuse to share a kit but then adds positive notes to his quiet tales.

Another pace switch comes in the form of tonight’s headliners MJ Hibbett and The Validators who, led by their Peterborough-bred frontman, offer acerbic wit within their rattling indie tunes. A set drawn largely from latest record We Validate! is balanced with personal classics from the vault of records Hibbett has released, even before serious middle-age set in. Thus we get web hit ‘Hey Hey 16k’, the world’s first internet single for all the techies in the house (the beards suggest there’s a few), and his ‘Boom! Shake The Room’ cover to close. Even played with a violin in a university town it still has that funky worm groove, which leaves us happily stumbling down the stairs for the chip queue.