Arts, Music & Events Preview, February 2011 (Part Two)

It’s been a revolutionary month so far but largely one for the armchair supporters in this country. I don’t foresee a fortnight’s worth of protest in the cotton capital over here but there’s plenty to sink your political teeth into, as well as gigs, exhibitions and all the rest.

This evening (Tuesday 15th) there’re a couple of gigs worth a look; This Is The Kit bring some lo-fi folk to the Night’N’Day Cafe while Debt Records signees Red Tides add more of the same in support. And Darkstar return to the Deaf Institute after their support slot with Matthew Dear last year, this time headlining.

Wednesday 16th shapes up in a similar vein with a pair of Now Then endorsed shows to sample. The Night’N’Day again plays host, this time to Animal Collective semi-copyists Fixers, a band who equally invoke Coldplay. Confused? Intrigued? Both fair reasons to check them out. Ryan Francesconi is on down the road (Oldham Street) at The Castle Hotel and if you need any further encouragement for that one, Hey! Manchester, who don’t often put a foot wrong, have organised his return following a stage-sharing with alt-folkie pin-up Joanna Newsom last year.

Also on Wednesday is a socio-economic discussion put on by Manchester Salon, entitled China’s Economic Growth: What Should We Celebrate? Alan Hudson and Berthold Schoene are the guest speakers, respectively focusing on the social possibilities of Chinese urban centres given rapid recent development and planning, and the west’s mentality towards globalisation and cosmopolitanism as factors in the relative stagnancy and decline of western society. Those waxing lyrical can be found in the Shakespeare Pub just off Market Street.

Or, finally, put your feet up for a Wednesday film upstairs at Trof Fallowfield. Shock Doctrine will be beamed onto a screen, pre-Cool Runnings, and it’s guaranteed to be more enjoyable than straining your ears through a barrage of popcorn crunchers at any given Orange Wednesday theatre.

While your political head’s screwed on you might appreciate a trip to the University of Manchester on Thursday 17th to look back at the 1990s opposition to Manchester Airport’s second runway. Joining will be guest speakers, including legal experts, who’ll be armed with a shedload of photographic slides while evaluating your, and humanity’s, carbon footprint.

Carefully Planned take their all-day gig a stage further; this is their 8th on Saturday 19th and the usual varied genres apply, broadly under an independent umbrella. Halifax’s Battles-esque prog troupe Wot Gorilla? and Huddersfield’s jazz-sampling hip-hop duo Imranimal with DJ Illas are just two of the diverse mix.

Art Corner launches its latest array of artistry, featuring twenty-odd easel-wielders, shape-sculptors and paint-merchants interpreting the title Desire & Repulsion: Grotesqueries. Monday 21st is the opening date, which is a date shared by MIE Music and their show at Islington Mill. They’ve talked the Flower/Campbell duo into another appearance (following last November’s Fuel gig) and the eardrum obliterating Our Love Will Destroy the World headline.

As you may or may not have heard, off-kilter MuseRadioheadPortishead summoners Kin will disband after this month and Thursday 24th is a final chance to catch the four-piece on the same stage. Interested collaborators Mr Heart and Veí support.

On the same evening BlankMedia freshen up the decor at their new BLANKSPACE abode. Freedom From Selection invites artists to introduce a biological slant to compositions, which will no doubt provoke some responses worth viewing.

Closing in on the end of the month, I’ll finish with a trio of gigs; Friday 25th sees Yuck at the Night’N’Day cranking up the level of 80s/90s American lo-fi indie influence; same day for a King Creosote / The Earlies double-whammy at Band on the Wall. Then ambient soundwalling glitchman Venetian Snares unpacks his electronic beats orchestra in Jabez Clegg on Saturday 26th.

Words: Ian Pennington

Arts, Music & Events Preview, November 2010 (Part One)

Welcome to November; home of charitable moustache movements, money up in smoke and the onset of that one-hour shift in your daylight allocation. We’re now into ‘the darker half’ of the year, if you follow your Celtic tradition, and so malevolent spirits have moved on by; fooled by your Scream or Jigsaw masks.

Which conveniently (ish) leads me onto the beginnings of this month and the benevolence that remains. Today (Monday 1st), if you read this in time, there’s a forum in Hulme to discuss climate change solutions. Starting at 5pm, the Community Engagement and Climate Change forum is staged by Manchester Friends of the Earth and will feature proactive discussion and global case studies within the confines of St Wilfrid’s Enterprise Centre. Another from Manchester FoE the following day is Moving Manchester at Friends Meeting House, 7pm. Amongst others you’ll potentially hear from local public transport monopolists, Stagecoach, and the City Council about transport policy in the area.


If you’re after some intriguing music this evening and still have demons to exorcise then head to Islington Mill for a post-All Hallows Eve Zombie Zombie performance of John Carpenter’s enviable compositions.

Onto a theatrical slant, Contact Theatre has a new production under the moniker A Night on the Tiles. One for the board-game wordsmiths, it hinges on a high-stakes game of Scrabble and runs from Tuesday 2nd until the middle of the month. Also on the Tuesday, Ruby Lounge hosts James Yuill for an evening on poppy electronica.

For those who’re still living off Frank Zappa’s world-wise pearls of wisdom (eg “don’t eat the yellow snow”) and jazz-infused psyche weirdness, a sometime incarnation of his former backing band, The Grande Mothers Re Invented, promise a rehash of Zappa’s extensive back catalogue mixed in with blues numbers and their own ditties. Wednesday 3rd at Deaf Institute.

Thursday 4th sees a folky highlight at Silver Apples in West Didsbury. Folk Lore has lined up The Winter Journey and The Acoustic Conquistador for this month. Both are worth your time and free entry is always a bargain.

Steer clear of pyromania and the homage to Guy Fawkes by instead catching Casiotone for the Painfully Alone’s farewell tour. The lo-fi twee maestro is another stopping at Deaf Institute, with Hey! Manchester providing directions this time on Friday 5th.

Dieter Moebius is an incredible coup for Mie Music. They’ve booked the cosmic synth operator and Cluster co-founder in for Sunday 7th at the ever-creative Islington Mill. Synonymous with Krautrock’s golden era in the 70s, Moebius also has past collaborations with Brian Eno and Neu!’s Michael Rother on his CV.

Visit the Anthony Burgess Foundation HQ on Thursday 11th and you’ll be treated to sets by local songwriters Gideon Conn & Josephine Oniyama in a special seated show.


There’s another birthday for a long-running Manchester clubnight this month. This time it’s Micron who’re celebrating and in doing so they’re planning to share a present of Danny Howells for a six-hour stint on the decks, stretching through the early hours from Friday 12th.

Blank Media Collective have set aside that whole weekend, from Friday 12th until Sunday 14th for their wide-reaching takeover of artistic attentions. Alongside some of their ongoing exhibitions, BlankWeekend promises poetry, arts workshops, music (courtesy of Day For Airstrikes, Go Lebanon and others) and general mischief. Best to visit the links for a detailed breakdown of events.

That’ll do for now, but there’s plenty to look forward to beyond the mid-month mark.

Words: Ian Pennington

Arts & Music preview, October 2010 (Part Two)

It barely feels like summer has ended thanks to the unexpected burst of sunshine lately, but here we are with mid-October fast approaching. And, since we left your October event highlights glass half empty a fortnight ago, now seems an apt time to fill the rest of your cup.


It’s a busy weekend, no matter what your niche. It could all start on Friday 15th at the newly refurbished Islington Mill with one of a few of this month’s birthday parties – Mind on Fire’s 6th anniversary on this occasion. They’ve invited along eight of their favourites for MoF musical chairs, including LA77, Neko Neko, Woli Wols and xxxy (below), and will even send you home with a goody bag consisting of Hear No Evil, See No Evil’s audiovisual treats.


If you’re at a loose end this Saturday 16th lunchtime then head to Chorlton Park to don a cow mask with Friends of the Earth for a photo shoot supporting their Food Chain campaign. Later on, Debt Records present their annual knees-up at the Dancehouse with John Fairhurst and Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six leading from the front.

London promoters Mie Music have seen the light and now ply their trade up here, inviting along the distorted ambient soundscapists Demons for an Islington Mill show on Tuesday 19th. Elsewhere on the same night you can catch part-time Efterklang multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick at Academy 3 for some folk-oriented goodness.

Also celebrating a birthday this month are the tech house connoisseurs, Content. Head over to Joshua Brooks on Friday 22nd and you’ll be able to see / hear / dance to headlining DJ Kenny Larkin. Alternatively that night, American wordsmith Saul Williams is scheduled to wax lyrical in poetic verse at Band on the Wall for Manchester Literature Festival.


Now that your ears are ringing with the tinnitus of a near-month-long sound binge, you’ll likely fancy the prospect of something quieter to mellow the soul. Step forward Trof’s Art Corner exhibition. Staged showcases photography that aims to take a storyboard approach by depicting narratives on a variety of subjects from the British class system to the effects of childhood games. You can view the results any time between now and mid-November.

Another option during this hypothetical sonic siesta might be a stroll down to Mooch's new HQ on NQ's Spear Street for Pain(t) and Ink, which opens for public viewing from Saturday 23rd.


Refreshed and ready to rock, next let hotly tipped antipodes Tame Impala guide you on a psychedelic trip, Wednesday 27th at Ruby Lounge.

Chorlton’s premier folk outlet, Dulcimer, has reeled in Bristolian chanteuse Jane Taylor to top a bill on Thursday 28th that also includes Louis Barabbas and Becca Williams. Expect a duet somewhere along the line.


Naive Melody look to be bidding a fond farewell to their regular monthly discos, but conveniently round off at five years old on Friday 29th with the usual cosmic selection. If you don’t want to confront the end of an era there is another option of a similar ilk. The relatively nascent, yet progressive thinking, promoters HearHere are aiming to tempt you to Soup Kitchen with the double lure of Kompakt’s Ewan Pearson and Andrew 'one half of Fuck Buttons' Hung.


The end of the month (28th-31st) signals the rebirth of arts house Antwerp Mansion, who’ve lined up a four-day event. You can pick and choose your own best bits here.

And squeeze in a trip to Withington that weekend if you can (unless you're already there, of course), particularly if you're enamored with the place and would appreciate a festival that states this emotion. Love Withington Festival takes place on Saturday 30th, predominantly on Old Moat Park, with expected presences of Food Not Bombs (who're looking for volunteers to help on the day and in advance) and the Spokes Bicycle Dancers, amongst others. Furthermore, get involved with the Love Withington group's Street Clean Up earlier that day. Egerton Road is the target for planting bulbs and generally tidying students' vomit and half-eaten kebabs.


Our final tip is Envirolution at the Contact Theatre, which promises debates, interactive workshops, arts and more by way of sustainable living solutions. That'll be free entry on Saturday 30th.

Now take a deep breath because there'll be plenty more next month.

Words: Ian Pennington
xxxy image: Ian Pennington
Antwerp Mansion flyer image: Kris Extance