Long gone are the days when Manchester meant nothing more than oversized grey rainmacs or Joe Bloggs 28 inch flared jeans. As it seeks to overtake London at the top of the Cosmopolitan UK chart, it's good to know that there are some genuinely groundbreaking (The Longcut, Doublejo(H)ngrey) and hugely innovative artists such as the Former Bullies emerging to back up the Mancs' claim.

'The World Ended' is so low budget that you can almost hear someone flushing the chain at the end of each recording, but still damning proof that you don't need expensive gadgets and big name producers to make something sound magical to the point of creating a mohican hairdo along the back of your neck.

Nick Ainsworth's vocals sound like a more frazzled Johnny Bramwell of I Am Kloot fame if he'd OD'd on Cobain and absinthe. The title track rips the "ount" out of country and shoves it up Turin Brakes' safe little rectums. Sideways. Better still though is 'Chorley Cemetery', a two man rock'n'rasp about the Bullies' hometown that makes The White Stripes sound like Akon. And his mum.

"This is the place where you wanna go!" shouts an exasperated Ainsworth while the rest of us push and shove each other out of the queue to catch the next bus to Chorley's ubiquitous graveyard.