FAC off

I read with bemusement bordering on amusement the Guardian endorsed FUC51 blog. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/05/ian-brown-peter-hook-51 that sites Manchesters musical past as an 'albatross around the city's neck'. The berks.

The first thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is the slagging off of member of New Order/The Stone Roses yet no bemoaning of Morrisseys playing of the MEN arena or Old Trafford. Funny that, could it be that old Moz is en vogue and Ian brown isn't?

Secondly, the kicking of Peter Hook. Now, i will admit i love the Factory story. I think its more romantic than Romeo and Juliet. And like most people i don't enjoy seeing it belittled and sold off. I see that on Ebay that you can get Tony Wilson t-shirts, Zippo's and , heaven preserve us, wrist watches. This, like Ian Curtis tours of Macclesfield, leaves me feeling uncomfortable. But Manchester's trouble is it cannot help but sell its myths. How people and can sit and watch 24 Hour Party People and Control and then moan that they draw people to the city is beyond me. And, us much as i hate it, there is money in the Factory/Hacienda name. And who is more deserving of a slice of that than Peter Hook? For gods sake, the worst that's happened is the city has gained another venue. Hardly something to sulk about is it? If you want to see a city crippled by its legacy look at Liverpool. They've based a tourist trade on it.

Thirdly, and this is what really pisses me off, is the whining about the Ian Brown gig. So fucking what? I don't fancy going to watch it either, so why not take advantage of the dozen or so gigs/nights/films etc that the city has to offer on the same night? Outside perhaps Glasgow, Manchester has the best venues, the best bands, the best records shops, the best crowds and the best attitude. It also has by far the most eclectic taste in Britain and the widest choice. Do me a favour and and spend a weekend in Crewe, or Shrewsbury, or Stoke, or Coventry or even a 'big' city like Bristol or Birmingham. You will, pretty soon, realise how spoiled for choice you are. Sitting and typing and moaning is not the Manchester way is it? If you don't like the gig, fine, put on your own. There's loads, fucking LOADS, of bands, venues and people to make it happen.

There was (maybe still is) a Northern Soul night on at the Thirsty Scholar on a Friday night, and every Friday night this bloke, a big fella, would go dressed exactly like Joe Strummer circa Combat Rock. He wouldn't do anything, he would just sit there with his missus and a pint of lager and just watch the people dancing. Now, im not going to judge him on what he does with his weekend, so why should i judge some middle aged man going Platt Fields hoping he does 'where Angels Play'?.

Honestly, Mancs. Don't know there born.

DOWNWARDS/SANDWELL DISTRICT BLOG>>>>>

http://wherenext.tumblr.com/

TomTom-Teenage Terraces forever

Most of you will have no idea who Tomtom is, but his passing has been felt deeply within the Teenage Fanclub family.

Tomtom was a poster on the TFC forum, who represented everything thats perfect about the music that we adore. A bright, funny man who would bend over backwards to turn you on to new music, often going WAY out of his way to do so. He was a guy who adored music, a gentleman and a true fan.

He was one of those guys, the sort you would see at every gig, a passionate man who loved nothing better than making you a CD to introduce you to a new artist, a new avenue, a new adventure.

We are quite spoiled, i think, in the world of indiepop in that we are lucky enough to rub shoulders with artists we admire. Its almost taken for granted that we can meet with/drink with/talk with the people who make our little world a better place, and its easy to forget the people who go out of their way to make that gig and to introduce us to certain bands.People like Tom are the lifeblood of our little corner of the music spectrum, and its crucial that people like him are not forgotten.

But, like i said, most of you will not know Tom, so i ask that you look at this thread, learn the lessons and strive to be a bit more like him. I wish our scene was full of people like Tom, but of course it isnt. But i think we should try to take a tiny piece of what he (and, essentially us) stood for into the future. God rest you ya eejit. You wont be forgotten
http://www.teenagefanclub.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41635

TG: A Psychic Rally In Heaven

Rube Goldberg Machine? Ok, Go!

Wow. Great video.
The hammer to the TV playing their old video is a nice touch :)
Cheers for the headsup about this Ylva!

OK GO - THIS TOO WILL PASS

The Missing Chums- How Come?

Now then, to be absolutely chrystal clear and whiter than white honest, im not a huge fan of this song. Its very nice, very catchy and im sure the band will do very well, but its a bit Starsailor for my tastes, BUT the video that accompanies the song is something else.
Its a trimmed up short story by Krzystof Kieslowski, him of the 3 colour trinity, and its one of those things that finds you and walms the old ticker and inspires the mind. Wonderful.



http://brilldream.blogspot.com/

The needle and the damage done and done again

In 2002, a band from North London called The Libertines released their debut album, Up the Bracket. The LP was appreciatively received by young music fans, who no longer had to put the with the out dated, luddite lager-rock of Oasis and by critics, who finally had something interesting to write about after desperately clinging to The Strokes for inspiration, a band for all their twangy riffs and ultra studied sub-CBGB cool, still came across with the collective charisma of Bill and Ted in a collerless leather jacket.

Eight years later, Robyn Whitehead, a promising film maker and photographer was found dead amongst drug paraphernalia in a flat owned by Pete Wolfe, co writer of number one hit 'For Lovers' , in Hackney, East London. The cause of death is a suspected drug overdose. She was 27 years old.

The story between the two events you probably know. A sordid tale of drugs and super models, of men being thrown to their death off balconies. A book of broken dreams, broken bones, break ups, and break ins. We followed the story from hoping he would turn to gigs, to hoping he would write good songs again to hoping people would stop dying. It should have been so different.

Initially, The Libertines, and in particular Pete Doherty, caused something of a renaissance amongst British youth. For all the critics of Doherty's music (and there are plenty, Ive seen many a level headed music fan turn apoplectic with rage when the sobriquet 'genius' has been used to describe him and his songs), for all the people fed up to the high teeth of the 'Potty Pete' stories, what is undeniable is the effect he had over his admirers. He made music romantic again.
He inspired people. I have met people who have started bands, set up record labels, write poetry, put on nights, promoted live music, because of the ethic of The Libertines. Ive met people who have became writers, musicians, fashion designers, artists, reviewers, blogers, travellers, thinkers, because the saw a twinkle in Pete Dohertys eyes and thought 'i can DO something. I can be different'. Hearts are won, the arrow ascends.

Then, of course, with broken hearts, the arrow falls. The pied piper effect reveals its down side. When the piper himself sinks into a seedy world of drug dens and addiction, there are people who will follow him into his rank lifestyle.

Manchester has a reputation for being a drug city. Mancs will trip over themselves to tell you how many pills they have popped, they will gaily drag you into a toilet cubicle for a cheeky line, they will stink out the top decks of their buses with the acrid fug of skunk smoke. But with heroin and crack cocaine comes a sense of shame. They are drugs that are frowned upon, because they are killers, and they know it. In London, in a certain scene, smack and crack share a sense of almost idle bohemia. People nod out in dens thinking they are the reincarnation of absinthe swigging french poets in the 1800's. This of course, is bollocks.

You can wave the Bill Hicks argument that all great music is created by people on drugs. Or that Keith Richards made 'Exile on Main Street' as a smack head. But like Neil Young, who slowly watched his band die one by one through overdoses, i would argue that addiction kills not the heroes, like Keef, Nick Cave or Shaun Ryder, but the hangers on, the people who get sucked into the scene. All three will tell you that, when it comes to heroin and crack, you either clean up or die.

There's lots of thing i find disgusting about the tragic death of Robyn Whitehead, a bright funny young woman who posted on the same message boards as me, and attended the same gigs i went to. I'm disgusted by the tragic waste of a young life. I'm disgusted that Doherty, a man who is happy to lead people into his fucking horrible crack den world, can merrily skip away when people are killed through it. I'm disgusted that a man who obviously has no intention of getting clean can be found in a UK court with thirteen wraps of heroin and be released back into his little day dream world. I'm disgusted for myself, for falling for his spell, for defending him and his 'artistic nature' in the face of common sense, and the fact it took a young girls death to finally, finally wake me up to that fact. I'm disgusted that the poor girls death has been dragged into the perverse world of tabloid journalism. I'm most disgusted that her death wont be the last. Something has to change.



originally posted by shaun tomkiss on brilldream

Why?

Happy New Year everyone.

Being back in Manchester after three weeks is exciting, I'm already planning to blow all my student loan on gigs at the Deaf Institute.

Listen to this, it's brilliant. Props to Lucy for putting this on her lastest compilation she made for me xxx

just joans

There comes a time in every break up of a relationship were you start to listen to really, really sad songs because they make you feel sadder, which somehow makes you feel better. Its like picking at a scab, the pain is easier to take when you control it. So you spend night after night alone in your room playing the same sad songs again and again. Then, eventually, there comes a time when you realise you've made a bit of a fool of yourself weeping into barmaids blouses and thinking every corny, shite love song on the radio was written about you. At this point, you want to listen to something thats as poigniant as it is angsty, something that will give you hug then bark at you to pull yourself together. The Just Joans could have been created for this stage of introspection.

The motherwell 6 piece are masters of writing songs that both lie in awe of the fucked up-ness of relationships and at the same time take the piss out of it. Take, for example 'I wont survive', an ode to the joy and liberation of finding new love, with a chorus that warns of immediate self destruction should the said relationship sour.
'If you dont pull' is like a baby cousin of The Smiths's 'How soon is now?', a tale of a lonely man in a terrible nightclub who realises that as hideous as the place may be, it might be the only place he will find love.
'Hey boy..youre oh so sensitive!' is a perfect little piss take of the fey indie boy that lurks in all of us, the part of us thats convinced liking Woody Allen and carrying a book of poetry around with us will make us irresistible to the opposite sex.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking of them all is 'What do we do now?' a song about about growing older, losing friends and being alienated from your hometown. Full of achingly misplaced nostalgia, its like someone closing the indie club of your youth and holding a microphone up to it.

"what do we do now/now were are ten years older?/the bands we loved are dead/i'll always think of you/whenever i smell cider/but it wont be the same/again."

heartbreakingly real.

brilldream.blogspot.com/


http://www.myspace.com/thejustjoans

what do we do now?






hey boy...youre so sensitve

Dean McPhee

Last night, Didsbury's tiny boho-hipster cafe, the Art of Tea was the slightly unlikely but very welcome venue for one of the best gigs of the year. The unassuming, self effacing and unbelievably brilliant guitarist Dean McPhee was launching his new 12" record Brown Bear (Hood Faire Records). This guy really has to be heard to be believed. Post John Fahey, post Loren Connors mesmerising solo guitar brilliance. Plugging his Telecaster through a couple of delay pedals (I don't know exactly what he was using cus I couldn't see his feet) and into a Fender Hotrod amp, he created the most beautiful and hypnotic sound you are ever likely to hear. He picked up an Ebow at one point, but apart from that, it was all gorgeously understated finger picking. The set must have only been about 30 minutes, but he could have easily gone on all night and I would have sat there quite happily. The Art of Tea is a pretty nice venue for a gig too - with about 25 people in there it was seriously intimate, and felt a bit like someone's front room. In a good way. Basically, you need to buy his new record, and when his album comes out next year, you need to buy that too. Go and see him live too if you get the chance.

www.myspace.com/deanmcphee

www.hoodfaire.co.uk

www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=236274

I like Noise.

Really into all this churning noisy guitar music of late...


The Horrors - Mirror's Image



Health - Die Slow


^^^^^^
Off to see these guys at the Deaf Institute tonight!

Tying Tiffany - Slow Motion (Nic Endo Remix)



Woo! Always good to hear Nic Endo's productions :)

Jizz In My Pants

Groovy Proggy Krautrocky....

DAVES MIX - DOWNLOAD HERE

UKF

What the Fish!?

I stop reading the blogs for like, 2 weeks...
then i hear this! (Keep with it at least until the vocals change at about 3mins...)

UK Funky just got interesting :)

MAJOR NOTES - HOLY GHOST

Oh, by the way - it's got nothing to do with the band Holy Ghost...who, while we're on the subject, got me really confused because i thought the techno Holy Ghost (tresor!) had made a comeback...

Sunshine Lollypops

Hi there,

Things that have been buttering my crumpet>>>>


SWEDEN



GANG GANG DANCE



I've had loooads of trouble trying to describe these guys to people.
You can tell these guys were an improv band; their crazy loose tracks have elements of all kinds of genres stabbing or floating in and out of them...drum machines sit alongside tribal drumming, swirly guitars and psychedelic synths and are peppered with effected vocals...or, more like screams and yelps. They are wicked :) Also, they're on Warp, so if that ain't a healthy endorsement i'm not entirely sure what is.

I went to see these guys live in manchester a couple of weeks ago..
recommended! the amount of kit they managed to cram onstage at the deaf institute was impressive. The lead singer is an absolute mistress; she whacked hell out of pretty much every percussion instrument in her reach. Her voice is brilliant! And points go to Mr Synth man who was running about like a chicken with his head cut off prodding all manner of synths, effects units, drums machines and percussion. A great show. Loose and Primal.

KRIKOR & THE DEAD HILLBILLIES - GOD WILL BREAK IT ALL <



I LOVE this song.
Makes me dance about. Think Electronic Body Music like Nitzer Ebb or Throbbing Gristle, but more lighthearted.



TERROR DANJAH - ZUMPI HUNTER (SWINDLE REMIX)


Planet Mu just keep churning out amazing electronic music, and are really on the pulse with the party scene at the mo. I heard this Swindle Remix of Terror Danjah's Zumpi Hunter and instantly pictured 'Skate' from Streets of Rage II moving on a level into a grime party, skanking along to this tune while beating the shit out of bitches with electrical whips. Sass.

SYNCHRONOISE

This chap makes great electro, and gives it away for free! Check him out on Soundcloud (the link above).

Disco Mix!

Here's a mix. It's DISCO. Enjoy!

http://rapidshare.com/files/274320841/discomix.mp3.html

Cine city, Manchester

I was reading through the excellent blog by Laura Skilbeck(http://lauraskilbeck.blogspot.com/ well worth a look) when I stumbled across the sad news that the derelict Cine City cinema had been knocked down to make flats. It opened in 1912 as the Scala, only the third cinema to open in Britain. Can you imagine how electrifying it would have been to be taken to see you first film there, the air still rich with the smell of sticky wet paint?

I knew nothing of its history before looking it up today to be honest. I haven't been near there since 2003. To me it was a really cool looking building that I looked at from the top deck of the bus, on the way to visit a friend in Didsbury. But I was fascinated with this building. It looked cool enough to be on a record sleeve. I even went on a mission to take some photographs of it(arty black and white jobs, you know the drill), a plan scuppered by a pair of gentleman-of-the-street sitting on the steps drinking what suspiciously looked like a bottle of port,who kept asking strange questions about my trousers, and became enraged when I got my camera out, mistakenly thinking I was photographing them.

Whats really interesting to me, is that I dug up some pics someone had taken after breaking in the place. Initially, I was pissed of as I thought it would be shots of chavy ‘erberts pissing up walls etc. but actually, the are hero historians. Without them, I would have no idea what the inside of the building would of looked like. it’s a funny old world isn’t it? Now, pass the popcorn.

cool pics-

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=28157
http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=21211

http://brilldream.blogspot.com/

Wee pop! records.

Being a fan of a music is sometimes testing. Every now and then you have a crisis(usually after hearing the latest ’hit’ by the Kaiser chiefs) You know the drill. ‘all new music is rubbish’, ‘its all so commercial’, ‘I cant believe that singer/band/label/the NME has sold out’. the last time that happened to me, Wee pop! Came to my rescue. Its quite hard to put into words how much I love this label. Its single handedly put my faith back in music and indie labels as a whole. it’s the anti-Amazon.
When you receive you cheaply priced record (£3 for 3” CD,£4 for a 7” single), the love and attention put into it takes your breath away. Its more like getting a birthday present than record shopping. Each little CD comes in a hand crafted , beautifully designed sleeve. With it you get lovely hand written note of thanks from the lovely Camila, a wee pop! badge and, if you’re really lucky, a sweet(I was thrilled beyond words to receive a humbug with a CD ordered around Xmas time). Music isn’t just about money, its about love. Its about care. Its about a DIY attitude and keeping the faith. With people like a Camila and wee pop! Around, music is in safe hands.

http://www.weepop.net

http://www.myspace.com/weepoprecords

The pains of being pure at heart

I feel a little bit silly writing this post, because I was certain everybody had fallen in love with this band already. It would appear I was wrong. The new york four piece deserve your time. Their self titled album is something to cherish. Imagine the perfect soundtrack for a real, heart stoppy, lollipoppy crush. Its that good. Or the thrills but really, really good. With sweetly fuzzy guitars, pounding indie rock drums, sweeling organs(ooh er) and mumbley vocals, the songs have a remarkable quality of sounding loud and hushed at the same time. Critics have described them as wearing their C86 heart on their sleeves, and whilst Ride and JAMC are obvious influences, the over all feel is more of a teenage fanclubesque pop rush. Single ‘young adult friction’ is hyper active, not so much a toe tapper as a leg pumper, with classic boy-girl vocals, a middle 8 to hand clap too and sweet teeny lyrics(‘in your old sweatshirt and your mothers old skirt, its enough to turn my studies down’)that recall big star, and chant-along outro to boot. Other cuts include ‘this love is fucking right!’ , an anthem with the slightly dodgy line ‘youre my sister and this love is fucking right.’ and ‘a teenager in love’, which wouldn’t be out of place in a john hughs film. Really, do yourself a favour and buy this record, get giddy with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4itzHRpltQ

http://www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com/

http://www.myspace.com/thepainsofbeingpureatheart

didi noel-let the music play

i recently had a bit of a debate with my girlfriend about 'suedehead' by morrissey. to cut a short story shorter, her viewpoint was that it was so sad because it sort of 'gives up'. i didnt share her idea, but i know what she meant. 'let the music play', on the surface, is a northern soul stomper. but the vocal lends this air of meloncholia. it makes me sad and i dont know why. i kind of like that. sometimes a song doesn't need to be a call to arms or a weepy or a dancer. sometimes a song, like a life, can be a weary sigh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz1QYI3S6t8