Arts, Music & Events Preview, January 2012

As mentioned in a previous post, the Midwinter supplement of Lass Fest is ongoing at Lass O’Gowrie with an array of comedy and drama productions until Sunday 29th, but there is plenty more to shelter you from the gales.

We’ll start with a relaxed event on Wednesday 11th; down in Didsbury there’s a Manchester Friends of the Earth endorsed film night, screening ‘No Impact Man’, in which New Yorker Colin Beavan decides to eliminate his personal environmental impact for one year.

Onwards to Thursday 12th, which is when the top shout on the Song, By Toad label / blog’s tips for 2012 list, Easter, will be headlining a show at Dulcimer with fellow reverb-friendly post-rockers Outer Dark (three quarters of To Sophia) and Cyril Snear. Before you head along, you will have had ample time to discover and download (legally; ie paying the music maker) the new Borland EP, Romantic Animals, which is organised via local label Gulf Records and sits in the early Nathan Fake-esque cosmic soundscapes corner of electronica.

If you were playing a magical version of Monopoly and encountered a Community Chest card that says you could be a giant for one day then Saturday 14th might be the day to opt for, so that you could leapfrog through town and sample a bit of each of the following. Mellowed out ambient duo A Winged Victory For The Sullen pop into Academy 3 to emit some peaceful tones, the Underachievers clubnight continues its Roadhouse stint by welcoming local indie favourites Brown Brogues and Great Waves and Kraak welcomes the justifiably hotly tipped Trailer Trash Tracys. Given the lack of such a card, you’re going to have to take a chance and choose.

Take a deep breath for a few days after that one.

The first Now Then Manchester show for this year of supposedly imminent oblivion will play host to Dan Haywood’s New Hawks, Samson & Delilah and Ottersgear. Haywood himself has been likened to Nick Drake and Mark Kozelek by critics who were running out of superlatives to describe his self-titled debut album, released late in 2010. That LP documents the ornithologist Haywood’s five years of bird-and-people-watching during travels around Highland Scotland. Combined with the New Hawks, a band comprising talented musicians such as Paddy Steer, Mikey Kenney and Mia Bleach, Dan emits a crazed stage presence, which can be sampled on Thursday 19th at Dulcimer.

If your disco feet are getting itchy by now, then never fear! Casiokids are here. I remember when ‘Fot I Hose’ planted itself in my subconscious back in the day and it hasn’t left since, such was the rhythmic infection bestowed. The Scandinavians’ sophomore LP is due out this year to coincide with a tour that stops at Deaf Institute on Friday 20th.

Humble Soul, believe it or not (you'll have to believe it because it's the truth), will have been promoting some of the area’s finest music for five years this month and have assembled a typically stellar bill for the occasion. Denis Jones, Paddy Steer, Table, Aidan Smith and GladEyes all jostle for attention at Band On The Wall on Saturday 21st. Then as an after party option the Spektrum attic club at Sankeys hosts another edition of Continue through the early hours, this time roping in a recently arrived Manchester resident in the shape of R&S and Magic Wire signee Lone.

Some more folky types will be showcasing some songs at Dulcimer on Sunday 22nd; Imploding Inevitable presents the Manchester leg of Laura J Martin’s album launch mini-tour. As a multi-instrumentalist (flute, piano, mandolin) who favours a looping pedal to build her compositions, Martin brings an off-kilter zaniness to the alt-folk template, leading chirpy melodies through meandering sonic textures. Emily of former Red Deer Club cohorts Stealing Sheep supports in Emily & The Faves guise.

Last year an arts group based at Islington Mill decided that the best way to counter the public sector cuts would be to subject their work to a fiery communal death, very much shaped by its participants, in order to rise again from the ashes with new ideas and outlook. The Artists’ Bonfire returns this year with concern for funding in the arts still ablaze, but interpretations of the event needn’t be as incendiary as the fires, as artists are encouraged to join for reasons both political and personal. This will take place at Islington Mill on Thursday 26th but be aware that the deadline for submissions is Friday 20th.

Warehouse Project may be cocooned for hibernation again pending an announcement of their new lodgings – supposedly in, around or nearby Manchester – but that won’t stop them from treading a nomadic path along with Drop The Mustard in pursuit of some of the best international electronic musicians. Nicolas Jaar is scheduled for Saturday 28th with the likes of Scuba and Damu at the ever impressive Sound Control, which is entering its third year in the dubiously named Southern Quarter.

Also on 28th will be Air Cav's first show of 2012 across the Irwell at the Kings Arms

And if neither of those are striking the right chord then there's the grand reopening of Antwerp Mansion, Rusholme’s answer to Islington Mill. No concrete details as yet, but they don’t tend to operate on anything less than full-speed so it’ll be worth a look. And while your eyes are on the Mansion, have a glance down to the Now Then Manchester monthly there; 4th Thursday of the month from February. More info soon...

On the subject of self-promotion, our monthly Sunday Soirée slot at Dulcimer recommences on Sunday 29th. That one opts for an acoustic feel featuring Dr Butler’s Hatstand Medicine Band and Aidan Smith, with support from James Munro and Shen. Future Sundays will assemble some of the best local comedy (February) and electronica (March), all maintaining an earlier start of 5pm.

Neko Neko has a new single ('Trouble In The Streets' / 'Ya Playin'') lined up for vinyl release via My First Moth on Monday 30th, so I suggest you dust off your record player in preparation. Also scheduled for that day, the home of the aforementioned Samson & Delilah, Little Red Rabbit Records have a taster for Last Harbour's forthcoming album in the form of a single entitled 'Never'.

To finish the month off, Grey Lantern are teaming up with dependable shoegaze selectors Sonic Cathedral, whose signings of a few years back, The Early Years, have reformed and are back on the gig trail, calling at Kraak on Tuesday 31st.

A quick peek into February illuminates an enticing double promoted by Hey! Manchester. Saturday 4th sees a Jesca Hoop show at The Annexe room in The Cornerhouse and then on Monday 6th they bring back the folk / electronica crossover collaboration King Creosote & Jon Hopkins, this time at Central Methodist Hall.

Then a little further along is a special tour for Now Then interview alumnus The Electronic Exchange, who are set to treble in numbers for a full band performance at Kraak on Friday 10th. Also on that bill is Dayse & Aver from the always excellent hip hop collective The Natural Curriculum.

And for the photogenic amongst you, contact The Last Party about appearing in their forthcoming single's video alongside various local celebs from the radio and telly. (The catch is that you'd need to be available over the weekend of Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th February).

I’ll stop there before I chew any further into February...

Words: Ian Pennington

Arts Cuts and the Manchester Response

The Guardian recently reported Bank of England Governor Mervyn King’s analysis of the public spending cuts. "The price of this financial crisis is being borne by people who absolutely did not cause it," he said. "Now is the period when the cost is being paid; I'm surprised that the degree of public anger has not been greater than it has."

So here we are, seemingly in a reality that values a visit to the bank over a visit to an art exhibition. Those CEOs and board members of multinational banks with gut-wrenchingly high bonuses have not only twisted the system to suit their sordid greed and manipulate many a populace into economic meltdown, but now, by electing a government set upon finishing the job, the clarity of shooting ourselves in the other foot is all too vivid.

As far as the arts are concerned, there has been some local resistance so far. The recent Artists’ Bonfire at Islington Mill is one example and its co-organiser Rosanne Robertson lauds the “definite sense of camaraderie and passion that I have never witnessed at an art event before.” There is more to follow, as The Artists’ Bonfire will next radiate its embers in the Big Smoke of the south, London, with the aim of building on the foundations that will have been laid by the March for the Alternative protest event on 26th March. Robertson is enthusiastic about the possibilities of the second Bonfire event and encouraging participation and awareness can only be of help to the arts as she aims to “add fuel to the creative fire.”

However, Robertson laments the circumstances that have paved the way towards this scenario of belittling artistic pursuits. “For many people art doesn’t seem to factor into the equation as something that should be saved in these circumstances, whereas threats to libraries or the forests get a wider response as perhaps not everybody has a relationship with art. I think a lot of the time people see it as a small selection of people asking for money to fulfil a hobby and, with the Government using the arts as a soft dispensable target, they back that up on a national scale.”

Christina Pavlou, who is a proactive figure in Manchester’s street art scene, offers a slightly different perspective: “People are losing their jobs and galleries are shutting down, but art will always be viewed as a luxury product. We don’t need art in our homes, but we want it and I think small groups can still make exhibitions, shows and events happen. I am more concerned by the closure of libraries and getting rid of some youth work teams.”

Pavlou, formerly curator at Mooch N4 Street Art Gallery until the cuts indirectly prompted its closure (“There was a definite drop in sales when the arts cuts were announced, and as a result we did not have the income to stay open”), recently curated the HldTght live art exhibition and afterparty in the Soup Kitchen’s basement “on an £80 budget and we made most of it back. There were around 250-300 people at HldTght who enjoyed a night we put on for a fraction of what most people pay.”

But when you only make most of your outlay back then such enthusiasm will remain in the realm of extra-curricular, meaning less time can be afforded to it and the results will be less frequently enjoyed. For many the arts may be a luxury, but for others they are a livelihood and the luxury for one can less easily be retained and continued without the livelihood of the other. Robertson favours a stronger public sector: “If organisations disappear or start having an entrance fee then access will be restricted, further marginalising groups who may not historically engage as much with art. I think that free access to art, culture, broadband, knowledge and literature should be a basic right and that in some places the removal of an art centre or a library can mean the loss of all of these things to a large number of people who don’t have the money to access these things any other way.”

“There is a new philistinism that threatens not just art galleries, museums and centres but art and culture in primary education, music in community projects and university humanities and arts departments. There has to be an orchestrated resistance by the people who understand the value of arts and culture.”

Part of that resistance has been organised by another attendee at that Bonfire, Ian Hunter, who is also a Director at the Littoral arts trust and co-ordinator of the upcoming Merzweek event later in March. He pledged to the fiery fate a framed photograph depicting a scene from the Degenerate Art exhibition (Munich, 1937), at which Nazi goons displayed artwork in a derogatory fashion to exemplify their perception of its lack of value to society. Hunter’s speech commanded the full attention of the gathered circumference as he explained how those derided artists were deported so as not to stain the Nazis’ Aryan vision.

To take that comparison a step further, it could be argued that, by diminishing arts groups’ access to the state’s economy, a similar tactic of exclusion is taking place.

Hunter’s parting encouragement before the flames died down was to “work together, act together in solidarity, in generosity, in reciprocity,” which will in theory be the underlying aim for The Uncut Society event and workshop at Madlab tomorrow, Saturday 5th March. It will be an open meeting encouraging everyone from artists to NGOs via community groups and political arts movements to attend with a view to setting up an informal coalition or network.

There will also be a further reaching protest tomorrow, 5th March. Manchester March Against the Cuts begins at 12pm at All Saints' Park on Oxford road and will continue until around 3pm. Make the effort to go along and make your voice heard, before Rupert Murdoch inevitably seeks to use his ever expanding media arsenal to shoot down opposition.

The attitude of hope for the future exuded through Hunter's parting words will be invaluable for the arts during this period of forced austerity. Pavlou is also confident that art will find a way through it: “In an economic downturn artists always speak out and significant art movements always appear. So I think something good will come for the arts, we are living in the wake of the YBAs and this should be the prompt for our generation to hit the art market and the press again.”

Finally, she adds as an afterthought: “Oh and carry a marker pen at all times, you never know when you’re going to pass a poster of David Cameron...”

Words: Ian Pennington