Competition: Manchester Jazz Festival

The 20th annual edition of Manchester Jazz Festival launches this week with its ever-impressive array of time signatures and styles, continuing from Friday 31 July through to Sunday 9 August.

While limelight stealers include the Robert Glasper Trio and the Mercury Prize nominees Gogo Penguin (whose Festival Pavilion show is now reportedly sold out), there’s also a keen eye on ensuring plenty of events remain accessible and free to attend. Jazz North’s northern line showcase extends across Monday 3 August at a few of the partner venues – Matt & Phred’s, Central Library and St Ann’s Church among them – and other newcomers remain free under the ‘introduces’ banner.

Elsewhere, there’s a strong local presence, both old and new, with the likes of Charlie Cooper & The CCs, Hans Prya (who formed after meeting as participants of Snarky Puppy’s Brighter Sound residency at Band on the Wall in 2013), Cinematic Orchestra guitarist Stuart McCallum and Lamb double bassist Jon Thorne.

Look out for reviews of some of the festival’s events in our September issue, which will appear here.

We’ve teamed up with Manchester Jazz Festival to give away a pair of tickets to the Riot Jazz Brass Band / Baked A La Ska double bill at the Festival Pavilion on Saturday 8 August. All you need to do to enter is like and share the image at the other end of this link (making sure it’s set to ‘public’ so we can see that you’ve entered).

We’ll announce the winner on Thursday 6 August.

Good luck!

Preview: Sounds From The Other City 2015, Sunday 3rd May

The May Day Bank Holiday is approaching this weekend and that can only mean one thing. Well, depending which century your traditions are originate, it might mean a few other things, from pagan dancing to International Workers’ Day, but for Chapel Street in Salford it can only mean one thing, and that’s Sounds From The Other City festival.

The annual new bands knees up is once again the highlight of the long weekend, commandeering the Sunday by booking in some of Greater Manchester's finest pop pickers. This year, those directing proceedings hop from the buzz band heavyweights at Now Wave to seasoned niche indie selectors at Bad Uncle and Comfortable on a Tightrope, via the pathway of dependable promoters at Hey! Manchester, Grey Lantern and Fat Out, round the record label corner to Gizeh/Little Red Rabbit, Red Deer, Sways, Samarbeta and Tru Luv, and back onto the main road blockaded by visual delights at Video Jam and the comic timing of Sham Bodie. And breathe.

Under those umbrellas, or rather in those venues, you’ll find many of those currently orbiting at the centre of Manchester’s creative universe rubbing shoulders with handpicked touring acts to set your ears ablaze. Ex Easter Island Head’s collab with the BBC Philharmonic Ensemble is sure to be a standout, and you won’t go far wrong with Naked (On Drugs), Paddy Steer, Liz Green, Jane Weaver, Black Josh, Acre Tarn or many more, but roaming around is always a sure fire way to see something unexpectedly great.

Venues-wise, meet at the Islington Mill wristband exchange from 3pm and float whichever way the musical breeze blows you.

Words: Ian Pennington

For tickets and more info: soundsfromtheothercity.com

Preview: Columns Festival @ Manchester Cathedral

Manchester Cathedral will host, for the second year, Columns Festival on Saturday 2 May. The one-day event makes use of the cavernous Cathedral setting and showcases a shortlist of strong leftfield emerging electronic artists. Last year’s line-up included Future Islands and East India Youth, both of whom promptly became far more established artists in their own right. This year is headlined by the Canadian duo of Purity Ring and Braids alongside Ghostpoet, Born Gold, Shivum Sharma, Clarence Clarity and Cash + David. It looks set to showcase another range of performers, many of whom are performing newly released music.

Topping the bill is Purity Ring, showcasing their second and more accessible album, Another Eternity. Arriving from an extensive European tour, the Manchester stop will be another in a long line with tour support and kindred spirit Born Gold. Both artists are deeply rooted in the electro-pop formula and are strongly interconnected performers.

The festival will also mark the first weekend after the release of Braids’ third album, Deep In the Iris. One of the most progressive Canadian artists of the decade, the group’s collective work has gained comparisons with Animal Collective, Björk and Burial. With further shifts in direction on their new album they have delved into drum and bass as well as house. Early single ‘Miniskirt’ also suggests a new clarity to their sound that has often relied on a dense and obscure maximalist approach.

Ghostpoet likewise released his third album, Shedding Skin, back in March, conveying a similar upfront confidence that was missing from his previous work. His performance, like many on the bill, will prove his progression as an artist, from Mercury nomination to now.

Three relatively undiscovered artists complete the bill. Shivum Sharma fuses gospel atmospherics with soft, minimalist textures. Clarence Clarity is taking glitch-pop to an extreme, sounding like a cross-between Kindness and Hudson Mohawke, but with added camp. Finally Cash + David, featuring Bombay Bicycle Club backing singer Liz Lawrence, are an electro-pop duo surely taking note of the headliners. All three will feature first at Columns before venturing to play a number of the summer’s most anticipated festivals.

Columns is set to be an occasion for hearing established electronic talents alongside new blood relishing the chance to perform in one of the city’s most ornate venues.

Words: Thomas Dixon

Information and tickets can be found on the Columns website, here.

Rochdale Feel Good Festival, 30.08.14

What have Andrew Nutter, Scouting for Girls and the M6 Theatre Group got in common? The answer is not immediately obvious, but one answer is that they all appeared at this year’s Rochdale Feel Good Festival.

Such a diverse collective is an essential part of this free, public spectacle, which is designed to appeal to all people. So there were smiling mums queuing up to get a picture taken with Ainsley Harriott after his cooking lessons, whilst the younger element of the demographic could be found shouting enthusiastically for the headline act, Scouting for Girls.

Those with more of an adventurous attitude to life could be seen abseiling down the clock tower at the town hall, some with eyes closed and others enjoying the view over the fairground rides.

When the rain came it was torrential at times, but did lead to one group of youngsters spotting a marketing opportunity by selling ponchos at £2 a time. The rain also drove a number of the crowd away from the enjoyable pop of the Lottery Winners, into the welcoming recesses of the Flying Horse where local bands delivered their versions of heavy rock numbers.

Bird to Beast, a band that has evolved from the core members of the husband and wife team of Hannah and Sam Hird to a full band line-up, were playing their second gig of the day, so it was a welcome delight to hear that their voices were still in fine fettle.

Thankfully the rain eased up enough to allow the square outside to fill again to celebrate all things ska rude boy courtesy of Pauline Black’s Selecter. With Pauline and Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson leading from the front, it was difficult to believe that some of these rich, vibrant sounds were over 30 years old.

Not many people left the event without a smile on their face, so let’s look forward to next year’s event.

Words & photos: Ged Camera

COMPETITION: Beat Herder 2014

This year’s Beat Herder is just around the corner now – due to welcome revellers within its gates from 18-20 July. Outside of the headline grabbers of 2ManyDJs, Happy Mondays and Vitalic, they always have room to showcase lesser known artists from the North West , a policy that has been retained from its very first outing back in 2006.

This year their line-up features a host of acts representing Manchester’s shores. On the bands front, there’s a return for indie pop rockers The Loungs after a three-year hiatus and we also recommend Debt Records signees Snow Apple, indie shoegazers Patterns, acoustic hip hopper with a grin Gideon Conn and of course the beanie wearing Chorltonite Badly Drawn Boy.

Looking at the electronic music on the bill, Beat Herder favourite Vieka and avant-garde drumming animal Paddy Steer both join the fun, while on the bigger soundsystems they have Dub Smugglers, Dub Phizix & Strategy, unreal Stockport DJ Mr Scruff and a live set for Herbal Sessions and Gnod cohort Raikes Parade. Add to the list a full band show for hip hop wordsmith Skittles and reggae stalwarts Nucleus Roots and it’s a sizeable Manchester contingent.

Of our other picks, jazz duo Colman Brothers visit on the back of a debut album via the excellent Wah Wah 45s label and our issue 7 interviewees The Orb are lining up a live show for the Sunday.

Try squeezing all that into your weekend.

We’ve teamed up with Beat Herder to secure a pair of tickets to give away to one lucky Now Then Manchester reader. All you have to do to enter the competition is to like and share the image via this link (making sure it’s set to ‘public’ so we can see that you’ve entered).

We’ll notify the winner on Friday 11 July. Good luck!

Words: Ian Pennington

Images: courtesy of Beat Herder

For more information on the line-up and tickets, visit the Beat Herder website.

Preview: Dot to Dot Festival 2014, Friday 23 May

Dot to Dot Festival rolls in to town once more this weekend to kick off the festival season early, with more titillating new music in tow than anything the majors could possibly offer and all in the comfort of some of Manchester’s finest venues.

Spoiling numerous audiences for choice as it makes its way through Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham (Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively) the only real question for attendees is who can’t you afford to miss? Thankfully the festival has put together an extremely comprehensive stage guide so you can perfect your sprint from Gorilla to Zoo just in time to catch Macaulay Culkin and co’s homage to Neapolitan flatbreads and early John Cale records.



Other highlights across this gargantuan day of sound include kings of nostalgic indie-rock Real Estate, the icy, Scandinavian alt-folk of Noah Gundersen and the warm, spacious pop of New Yorkers Caveman. Running water, zero mud baths, plentiful cash machines and reasonably priced drinks as standard.

Words: Dan Coultas

Tickets are still available, priced at £20 (+ booking fee). The downloadable timetable is here. For more info visit their website here.

Not A Summer Festival @ Gullivers and The Castle Hotel, 08.02.14

It sounds like one. It appears like one, so surely it must be one. Well, it is a festival but, as the headline states, it's not a summer festival which is technically true as we are being deluged with water in February. That does compare well with Glastonbury in June or July though.

The positive part is that the music, spread over the Castle Hotel and Gullivers, will go ahead regardless of how wet it is outside. With a diversely engrossing line-up of styles and attitude available, it’s good to see that the Castle is three quarters full at 3.30, with more people queuing to purchase wristbands.

Crywank. It's one thing to have a name that will stand out, court controversy and attention, but is the talent there to support it? On this performance, James Clayton, subtlety supported by Dan Watson, who has the packed crowd entranced, does have the magnetism to draw people around him. He might just be able to reach the escape velocity beyond merely being potential.

Meanwhile, a snippet of the closing number from The Ferals’ set is inviting enough to try to catch them from the start next time. A more precise, considered musical range is displayed by MyLyricalMind.

The simplicity in structure provides a useful counterpoint to the more upfront urgings of Waltz.

A lot to encounter for the first event but hopefully the promoters will be around again, passing out the cakes along the way.

Words & photos: Ged Camera.

¡VIVA! Festival 2013 @ Cornerhouse

This month The Cornerhouse plays host to the 19th ¡Viva! Spanish and Latin American Film Festival, transporting audiences away from the grim, grey streets of Manchester and into a world filled with the spice and colour of Spanish culture.



From the get-go, however, ¡Viva! demonstrates how Spanish and Latin American identity is made up of much more than just pure fun and frivolity. Yoshua Okón’s video installation, Octopus (2011), in Gallery 1 reminds us of the incredibly dark undercurrent that has plagued life in Guatemala since its civil war in the 1980s.

The performance itself is a re-enactment of this civil war, with the performers made up of those who were forced to fight. There is one major difference, however. The old battleground of Guatemala is instead replaced by a new one: the carpark of a Home Depot in LA. The war itself claimed over 200,000 victims, most of whom were Mayan Indians, in an attempt by Guatemala’s military leaders to eliminate the leftwing guerrilla uprising that threatened the existence of the country’s rightwing dictatorship.



Rather than use graphic imagery to draw attention to the sheer barbarity of the civil war, Okón uses satire to demonstrate how these atrocities were not only ignored by the Western world, but actively promoted. Okón’s positioning of the piece in a Home Depot, a physical embodiment of American capitalist society, points to the controversial relationship between Guatemala and America.

Reagan’s administration in America helped support the oppressive totalitarian regime in Guatemala by approving the sale of $6.36 million worth of military arms to its genocidal dictator, Efrain Rios Montt. Okón explores this through a layer irony, which is achieved using a complex system of camera angles and perspectives, projected into an almost 360 degree environment, completely immersing you in the action.



The accompanying piece in the gallery, US (2005), has a similar tone of to it. It is a single-channel four minute animation which consists of a solid gold monument of the letters ‘US’ towering above Washington, DC. The letters revolve on the spot and appear to act as some sort of shrine to either the American dream or corporate greed, the difference between the two being perhaps too close to separate.

The premiere screening of the festival’s launch night was ¡Atraco! (which translates as Hold-Up!), directed by Eduard Cortés. The film explores the real life events which led to an attempted jewellery shop robbery in Madrid during the 1950s. In an elaborate plot, akin to that of the Ocean’s Eleven series, two Argentine Peron loyalists attempt to steal back jewels which had been previously pawned to fund their leader’s time in exile. The reason for wanting the jewels was that they now risked falling into the hands of the Spanish dictator General Franco’s wife, having been previously owned by Argentina’s first lady Eva Peron. Still with me?



Despite its complexity, the film is undoubtedly an audience pleaser, with the two robbers in question truly stealing the show (cough, no pun intended). Guillermo Francella and Nicolás Cabré perform their roles as Merello, the exasperated veteran, and Miguel, hapless sidekick, down to a tee. In fact, the best moments of the film come when both characters argue and engage with each other in a quick-fire comedic way, re-enforcing their roles as experienced pro and naive first timer.

One of the funniest running gags throughout the film was how both of these Argentines managed to wrestle with the task of pretending to be Spanish in order to not arouse suspicion. In one scene, in which Miguel tries to rehearse the robbery, Merello tells him to be more Spanish and shout “bollocks” when he walks into the store. This, of course, goes about as well as you can expect, provoking a greater amount of laughter than it does terror.

Ultimately, it’s the fine balance between comedy and tragedy which makes ¡Atraco! such a captivating film to watch. Through his direction, Cortés has managed to create a film which is warm, charming and enjoyable, and yet also makes us question the true meaning of loyalty, family, friendship and brotherhood.

Words: Joseph Barratt.
Images: courtesy of The Cornerhouse.

The 19th ¡Viva! Spanish and Latin American Film Festival continues at The Cornerhouse until Sunday 24 March, 2013.

Now Then Shebeen Festival Mix

Our next live music outing is now only a week away. We've invited a selection electronic maestros along to Shebeen Festival, an eclectic all-dayer that ticks plenty of genre boxes across six venues, from dub reggae to folk; jazz to hip hop and blues to psychedelia.

Here, in sonic form, is what to expect on our stage, at Trof Fallowfield, in the form of a mix melded in the fires of Acrobat gadget wielder Samuel Twidale's mind:

Below is more information about all the musicians performing on the Now Then stage:

Jason Singh (AV show).
Beatboxer, vocal sculptor and sound artist.

The Age Of Glass.
Trad sounds plugged into the digital vortex, turned up to rhythmical riot.

Acrobat (AV show).
The mesmeric improvisational side-project of Sam Twidale (Sun Drums/Deep Hedonia).

From The Kites Of San Quentin.
Twisted glitch-tronica pilfered from a sci-fi techtopia.

Beatsum.
Hip hop from the heads behind Manchester's Golden Egg Collective.

Forged Motif.
Downtempo soundscapers skilled in the subtler arts of electronic production.

Torotoroka.
Live electronica fused in the same smouldering effervescent vapours as Múm.

$?.
?? Symbolism and mystery abounds.

(murmur).
Remixology and sampladelica from the acclaimed university project freed into the wild.

KA/VAN.
FTKOSQ guitarist LSN’s prog-tronica solo project.

Mind On Fire DJs.
Tune selectors extraordinaire who are about to embark on their ninth year.

For more info about other stages, locations and tickets, click here.

Canned Music. Now Then Manchester Presents, feat. (murmur) & Raikes Parade @ Antwerp Mansion Festival, Saturday 14th July 2012

The last time I entered these premises it was by traipsing through an overgrown garden littered with empty beer crates and then climbing over a fence. All done under the hours of darkness. The main area in the building comprised of a large, dust filled, poorly lit room where the artists performed.

This time the approach is in bright sunlight and along a path of sorts, though there appears more beer detritus than last and a temporary BBQ stall has been set up. The vast size of the premises is now apparent. The access door to the inside is more of a challenge as it has been painted to form part of mural that extends from the ground floor up to the roof. The location has always been a ‘work in progress’ type of development and the owners / users have now managed to repair another section of the roof, allowing an upstairs toilets room to be created. The layer of dust has increased in depth.

The reason for the visit is that the venue has been hosting a three day musical festival and today is the middle day. This section comprises of a series of solo performers, organised by Now Then Manchester, that utilise electronics to develop their tastes.

First up is (MURMUR), aka Rick Hartley, who has previously appeared as one half of Bug & Leaf. As the warm, pulsating beats grow and fill the room, there’s a constant stream of musicians walking in front of the raised stage to collect their instruments that were used the previous day. Putting this visual disruption to one side, the air starts to fill with Japanese style chimes and ethereal notes. Layers of ska beats are then mixed in as the morphing of the different strands into something new and attractive continues.

A more robust and aggressive product is displayed by Raikes Parade. Hunched over his decks, Andy Blundell, who has worked as a soundman for GNOD, unleashes an explosion of noise. The sound bounces out, hits the wall and slides down. Those present feel the beats flow though the room and eventually their resistance to move and sway along begins to crumble, although it’s not quite an outbreak of dancing. The recent sound proofing (i.e. bricking up the windows) is put to the test, but those outside sampling a few rare rays of summer sun are still able to sample the intensity whilst partaking in the barbecue.

Words & Photography: Ged Camera

The next Now Then Manchester gig sees an audio-visual show with Disney's timeless feat of imagination, Fantasia, remixed in a live headlining performance by experimental band TheBrokenDoor. Special guest Paul Green will support by adding his ambient electronica to an edit of Gaspar Noé's cult hallucinatory classic Enter The Void. All at Dulcimer bar in Chorlton on Sunday 22nd July.

Interview: The Imploding Inevitable Festival

Even some of the largest of the UK’s annual music festivals have decided to sidestep this year’s sporting attractions by taking a year off, but The Imploding Inevitable Festival will embark on its third year this weekend, bringing together some of the North West’s finest musicians and poets.

Of the larger festivals, Glastonbury has taken the opportunity for a fallow year while Sonisphere announced its cancellation in March. More locally, organisers of LadyRock had to pull the plug on their south Manchester based event, in an interview blaming the decision on a mixture of factors from poor Springtime weather to the Olypmics, whilst also pointing out the surfeit of nationally marketed, large weekend events, such as the Jubilee.

But The II Festival, as it is often shortened to, has persisted through the range of issues and will tomorrow (Friday 29th June) welcome fans of a variety of folk, blues and psychedelic music to its setting near Lake Windermere at Fell Foot Wood.

Director and curator Baz Wilkinson describes previous years and what to expect this year.

Now Then: Why did you begin the festival originally?

Baz Wilkinson: It seemed the next step up to celebrate a year of promoting the bands that we love. Not only that but it brings everyone together who love the bands, spoken word-ers and, well, we like to drag people from the mundane of everyday life and provide them with something that they can really enjoy and relax with.

NT: Do you have a festival philosophy?

BW: I suppose our festival philosophy follows on from the philosophy that we have created for our regular events. It basically revolves around putting the artist first, keeping things as cheap as possible, which means being non-profit, and ensuring diversity across the weekend and nurturing creativity. For example, in the first year we had the audience contribute a line of poetry to a mass ‘Exquisite Corpse’ surreal poem and last year we had a very good open mic section. This year we are doing the open mic again but also offering woodworking classes and even a crocheting group haha! It’s all good fun…!

NT: There seem to be ten festivals every weekend across the UK during the summer months these days; has it proved difficult with the competition? Why (not)?

BW: I think that’s always going to be a factor with these things. The only thing I can say from experience is that many of our ticket holders have been three years on the trot so we must be doing something right! Not only that, but the feedback we get each year has been superb and is great to read through after the event. I guess the most difficult thing is the weather; we’ve generally been lucky and had great weather but that’s always a wee bit of a worry. I’ve yet to try out my naked sun dance that I learnt when I was trekking in the hills of Wigan – maybe this year, it may catch on, who knows?! We could call it The II Festival With A Wink then ha!

NT: What made you choose the setting of Fell Foot Wood?

BW: Five words: Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty. That is all.

NT: The festival remains very low key and independent; is that likely to change as the years go by? How big is it likely to grow?

BW: I’ve been asked this quite a bit which I like to think is because people can envisage it getting bigger, but for now we are quite happy with how it is. The atmosphere and vibes of the place has a really calming effect on the audience; it seems to put them at ease, forget their worries and have a great time! And, rest assured, if it did become bigger it would still remain true to its ethos in supporting locally sourced materials and food, being totally independent and supporting truly independent artists.

NT: Has there been an Imploding Inevitable Festival performance or moment that is particularly memorable for you?

BW: There’s been quite a few actually! Paddy Steer being unleashed on a totally unsuspecting audience in 2010 was absolutely fantastic. He had a dancing robot (which was actually Men Diamler), lazers and loads of flashing lights – it looked like a UFO had landed. Earlier that day Men Diamler performed waltzing through the audience on the most beautiful of days I’ve seen at Fell Foot – again, that took the audience by surprise and they loved it!

Last year, Magic Arm was the epitome of ‘aceness’, as were Driver Drive Faster. Regarding the poetry/spoken word, Mark Mace Smith put an incredibly gripping performance in showing his class yet again and I particularly love the diversity of that aspect of the festival each year. A truly memorable… memory was last year’s get-together after the bands had finished when we stayed up quite late laughing and drinking through the night with PICO (the comedy puppet act who will be at the festival again this year!) and some of the bands; I’ve never laughed so much I don’t think and those memories will stay a long time with me!

NT: How do you select the line-ups?

BW: It’s a tricky affair as we’d love to book everyone but obviously we have to say sorry to quite a few. But let’s start at the beginning – we’ve always booked based on three main underpinning aims: integrity, creativity and originality. All the artists we promote have these by the bucket-load, so then it’s a case of seeing who’s free, looking at the logistics and seeing what will work, etc. And if we still can’t decide we put all the names of the bands we love down on the floor and our mascot, the nocturnal aye-aye (as in The II Festival), points to the ones he’d prefer.

NT: What do you have lined up for 2012?

BW: We have another cracking line-up with Laura J Martin, Jonnie Common, Jess Bryant, Colorama, Denis Jones, Dave Rybka (Victorian Dad), Meursault (solo and a late addition), the eccentric and lovable Oddfellow & I, Harvey Lord, The Woven Project, David A Jaycock, Rob St John, two artists from Brooklyn, New York, in Jo Schornikow and Scott Rudd, Jo Gillot and not forgetting that Saturday morning we have a harp recital by Rachael Gladwin to wake people from their slumber. Alongside the music we have a superb selection of spoken word performers from comedy to story-telling to straight up poetry readings and then there’s the aforementioned Wood Craft and Crocheting circle to take part in. It’s going to be a cracker!

Words: Ian Pennington
Images: Courtesy of The Imploding Inevitable Festival

Tickets, including student discounts, are available from the site owner at Fell Foot Woods and you can avoid a booking fee by calling 01539 531014. There will also be an option to turn up on the day. For more info see the website and for ticket info follow this link.

An edited version of this interview previously appeared on Manchestermule.com

Free For Arts Festival Submissions Deadline Tomorrow

Manchester’s Free For Arts Festival returns later this year for its fourth programme of events and already the deadline for submissions has almost arrived.

The festival, first staged in 2009, is a not-for-profit enterprise focusing on the idea of positioning a diverse range of arts and performances in unique city-based locations, while making them accessible to the general public. The curators of the festival, including new directors Ali Gunn and Emily Songhurst, will spend the remainder of the summer months organising and scheduling in order to showcase local art across Manchester from Friday 19th to Friday 26th October.

But hurry – now is the final opportunity to submit a proposal for artwork, music, exhibitions, events or any other creative outlet as the online form closes tomorrow, Tuesday 26th June.

Words: Ian Pennington
Image: Free For Arts Festival

This article first appeared on the Manchester Mule website.

Chorlton Arts Festival 2012

Chorlton Arts Festival launched on Thursday 17th May and if you haven’t yet attended an affiliated show then you’ll have missed the likes of Stuart McCallum, The Tourists, Jesca Hoop and the preview night for Liz West’s curious Trolleys exhibition, as well as promotions by Manky Poets, Chorlton Film Institute and Playback Theatre. But there’s plenty more to follow during its second week, as the festival director Philip Hannaway describes.

Now Then: Last year Badly Drawn Boy opened the festival from the precinct balcony overpass; are there any plans for similarly inventive spectacles?

Philip Hannaway: Well we launched this year with secret performances from Alan Cochrane and John Bishop, which was pretty special. Coming up this Sunday [27 May] we have an outdoor performance on [Chorlton] Green complete with grand piano. There also are a few surprises over the Chorlton Weekender so keep a look out on the streets! You should also look out for the work of our Digital Arts Collective; there will be happenings all over Chorlton as the festival comes to a close.

Badly Drawn Boy

NT: One of the more complex multi-arts shows was the gig featuring Swimming, Dallas Simpson, headphones, video links and a detached audience at St Ninian’s Church – can you explain how this worked?

PH: This was a really amazing night. The band actually performed in the Church Hall away from the audience who were in the main church. We watched video of them performing live in the other room. Dallas Simpson (a sound artist) moved around the room and we pick up through our earphones what he is listening to. He used all kinds of tubes and equipment to pick up various sounds of the band. It was a totally unique event and a first headphone only gig in Chorlton. If you had walked into the church there would have been complete silence. It sounded amazing.

NT: The festival is also about highlighting the local arts and music in the area and many of these shows will be free entry. For those spoiled for choice, could you personally pick out and recommend any of those to attend?

PH: There have been so many great events in the community this year and in the last few days of the festival there is even more to look forward to. I’d make sure you check out our street art exhibition by local artist Trafford Parsons – you’ll find his work on shop shutters around Chorlton. Perfect for a stroll in the evening. There’s also our visual arts exhibitions in Electrik, Marble Beer House, Battery Park and Oddest and a really bold art installation at Creative Corner Café from award winning Elysion Productions. There’s also loads of free music going on around Chorlton over the weekend including some parlour sessions at Dulcimer. All the information can be found on the festival website. Of course you would not want to miss the Weekender headliners as well, including Dutch Uncles, The Handsome Family, Chew Lips and Lanterns On The Lake.

NT: How can the festival benefit local artists and musicians?

PH: I think by firstly providing a platform for local artists to show their work. But also the festival provides an opportunity for their work to be seen alongside artists from around the country and the world. We try to be an outward looking festival, which never forgets that it has the community at heart. We hope that local artists will be inspired by what other people are presenting at the festival as they develop their own practice. As for music the festival gives an opportunity for local bands to perform alongside some of the best talent from around the UK and beyond, giving them an opportunity to be part of a great line-up right on their doorstep.

NT: Venues such as Dulcimer are locally renowned for staging regular and dependable live music; what can we look forward to there during the festival?

PH: There’s loads going on in all our venues. Over the Weekender at Dulcimer you’ll see local bands Blind Atlas and I Am Mechanical perform, there will also be an all day event on the last Sunday of the festival [27 May] with loads of local musicians performing. Also in Electrik on the last night of the Weekender you can enjoy a One Deck Session from club night Pop Till You Drop.

NT: How closely do you work with venues when deciding the festival schedule?

PH: Very closely, the festival would not be possible without the support of the venues.

NT: Are there any less frequently used venues to look out for?

PH: There are loads of events at Creative Corner Café this year for the first time; it’s a great space, with great people running it for the right reasons. Everyone should check it out.

The FlashTag team

NT: How important is it for the festival to accommodate initiatives such as the FlashTag flash fiction writing competition into the programme?

PH: Really important; any event that allows people to take part creatively is really important to the festival. It’s a fantastic way for people to get into writing and as a festival we are all about people getting stuck in and trying new experiences. FlashTag flash fiction delivers on all of these.

Words: Ian Pennington

Images: Courtesy of Chorlton Arts Festival

Carefully Planned Festival 2011

The aptly named Carefully Planned All-Dayer has been a fairly regular occurrence over the past couple of years. Handpicking a variety of acts to take the stage, the brains behind Everything You Need first took up a whole chunk of Manchester’s daylight hours back in 2009 – and before that entertained Huddersfield. The modus operandi is merely ‘alternative’, which remains pleasingly vague and probably translates as: ‘a bunch of stuff you haven’t yet heard of’. This time around that equates to 66 acts scheduled across two days and four Northern Quarter venues.

My route through the above format isn’t the most extensive – in fact it’s a particularly small percentage of the total music on offer – but it gives a taster; a few bites from the festival buffet, bouncing between platters with an open mind and receptive palate.

For starters, I’m jumping in on day two; Sunday. Shen is downstairs at Centro, retuning his guitar as a mid-set adjustment on his debut show. The hawkeyed amongst a modest early audience have identified his cohort for the slot as the Dr Mahogany’s Goat Circus guitarist. He watches as intently as everyone else during Shen’s intricate acoustic picking combined with heartfelt lyrics partly aided by echo, before adding beats to a Bill Callaghan cover and incongruous bleeps to an anomalous set closer, which could be likened to Thom Yorke’s electronic tendency in the same way as Shen’s deep, straining vocal emotion to simple yet loquacious lines.

Sitting around for Mount Fabric entails a bout of high pitched Matt Bellamy-isms and a wilful reliance on effects pedals to add flesh to bone-shaking rhythmic skeletons. Following that, an exploration is in order. Inter-music prep at The Castle Hotel leads to a brief dalliance with the post-post-post-noise guitar-string mistreatment advocates Crash Of Rhinos; a popular choice whose curtain soon closes to herald a stroll to calmer climes down the Bay Horse’s stairs.

The Gardenelles’ classical folky vibe recaptures Sandy Denny and Vashti Bunyan through finger-picked tales related to Whitehaven’s episode of ‘Coast’ and its tinted specs of invasion reminisce. What is striking is the almost immaculate behaviour of an audience who receive songs with the respect the duo’s delivery deserves.

And that attitude remains (barring the occasional twitter or phone chirp) through Greta Santagata’s sparse yet involving compositions. The harpist sings in the languages of English, music, wonder, lust and her own personal diction as delicate chimes resonate, sandwiched between the face of anticipant stillness reflected back out by the mirror behind her.

With a fleeting glance back into Centro, where Decadence In Berlin are bashing out high octane thrashy punk numbers about the recession with a pleasing insistence on cowbell for percussion, my not-so carefully planned path through Carefully Planned comes to a close. An enjoyable path, although maybe next time I’ll take the event moniker’s advice and better prepare.

Words: Ian Pennington

Preview: Manchester Literature Festival 2011

Oh dear, the onset of the dreaded Autumnal gloom is now well and truly here and the inches of rainfall from the now ever grey skies are increasing as the nights grow colder. Exactly the kind of weather where people decide that going out is just a bit too much effort. “I might just stay in and read a good book...” Yes I’ve been there; we’ve all been there, but for the next two weeks why not pack your books along with your umbrella and defiantly head out into the sodden streets? Today (10th October) marks the start of the annual Manchester Literature Festival, held across the city with plenty of interesting events to shelter you from the rain.

Saturday 22nd at Whitworth Art Gallery, for example, sees the world’s first purpose built mobile poetry emporium – or so they claim. The idea of which is to serve up eager poetry consumers with free, made-to-order poems in 10 minutes or less courtesy of their ‘poetry chefs’. Surely healthier than any burger van.

A particularly intriguing prospect is the audience with Anthony Horowitz (Thursday 3rd November) who will be discussing his modern take on Sherlock Holmes, a character loved by millions across the world. Horowitz is the first modern author to be officially commissioned by the estate of the original author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Has Horowitz continued the Holmes legacy staying true to his famously logical deductions to solve crimes in foggy 19th century London or has he updated and bastardised the character for a Hollywood generation?

Some of us are more interested in bright and shiny playthings rather than dusty old tomes. A need to be aware of everything and anything happening before it actually happens has led to a growing fascination with blogging culture. Everyone these days has a blog but only a handful of people do it well, to see who is champion of this minority head to The Deaf Institute for the Manchester Blog Awards (Wednesday 19th).

If the idea of this festival of literary delights has whetted your appetite don’t let the rain dampen your spirits – get out there! Chances are you’ll find a celebration of our greatest art form more entertaining and worthwhile than sitting around waiting to dull your brain with next week’s X-Factor tripe.

Words: Ben Robinson
Images: Logos from Manchester Literature Festival & Manchester Blog Awards

Preview: Chorlton Arts Festival

The Chorlton Arts Festival is back for another not-for-profit year of music, art, literature, film and performance. It has achieved a success that belies its humble origins a decade ago. However, it seems they had big ideas even back then. Festival Director Phillip Hannaway states: “There were three guiding principles: to provide a platform for local artists; to provide opportunities for our local children to experience the arts; and finally to provide high quality events, free of charge or at low cost. These principles are still as relevant in our tenth year as they were in 2001.” Last year, it attracted 25,000 visitors, from local to city-wide and national, to a massive programme of goings-on and happenings.


This audience figure suggests both the broad appeal that the festival holds, and also the big names that they attract to raise the profile of the event and bring world-renowned music to South West Manchester. In the past, jazz luminaries Courtney Pine and Jacqui Dankworth have graced the stages, and must-see big names this year include a collaboration between Jazz maestro(ess) Clare Martin and composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett fresh from world tours, folkster(ess) Beth Jeans Houghton, Canadian band The Acorn, and that guy from Bottom (the bald one) making music.

But with all this global talent, is it ever difficult to keep it a locally-focused event? “It's not a struggle at all,” Hannaway replies, “as being at the heart of such a creative suburb means we are never short of local artists who want to get involved in the festival, and the quality of the performances that come from local people never ceases to amaze us”.


There are hundreds of small events, choir performances, workshops, film showings, gallery exhibitions, artist talks, dance classes, local musical talent and such. This isn't just nice talk about being 'community-based' or 'local' – it's at the heart of the festival's programme.


There are also showpiece art-involvement events like 'Flashlight'. The idea is that lots of people from Chorlton buy a light and then meet in a flashmob style at various points around the 'village' to 'take away a new perspective or experience of the place in which they live'. So it might just be a few people holding some torches, or it could be something more... How will you know unless you join in?

And it's not just about an evening's entertainment – there is a strong emphasis on educational value. A schools programme runs concurrently with the festival, asking respected cultural bodies like the Hallé Orchestra to get involved with 5,000 of Chorlton's schoolchildren “who might get their first taste of the arts in Chorlton, which will go on to foster a lifelong interest” enthuses Hannaway. There is clearly great passion here, and it is reflected throughout the festival's ethos and attractions.


One of the great things about an event like this is the diversity. It feels like this whole article is just one a big list of all the things to do – and it could be. But it's not just about how much is going on – it's about local and international combining to provide Chorlton, and the region, with quality, low-price entertainment. It's an opportunity to shine a spotlight on all the amazing grassroots stuff that goes on below the cultural radar all year round, and put it on the same billing as big names that garner respect the world over.

So what are you waiting for? Hop on the 86 and come and join us in the 'burbs for 12 days of good times!

Chorlton Arts Festival runs from Thursday 20th May until Sunday 30th May.

Words: Andy Rees
Pictures: Courtesy of Chorlton Arts Festival