b&n magazine

Rooftops, dinosaur skeletons, train corridors and ferris wheels are only a few of the places the Manchester Scenewipe guys can be found filming bands from all over the country performing their favourite songs. Think Black Cab sessions, minus the taxis, plus a generous dose of mightaswell, yeahwhynot and letsdoit!, paired with the odd failure to observe health & safety laws (wild guess) and impressive persuasion skills. Having started only a few months ago, they have been incredibly busy filming dozens of videos in some of Manchester’s most unusual locations, lovingly edited (check out the titles) and presented on their website, manchesterscenewipe.co.uk. And since we all love a good party, what better reason could there be to celebrate than the release of their 100th Manchester Scenewipe video?

I was half expecting some crazy ad-hoc undercover party on a Magic Bus or in someone’s basement, but I suppose the Deaf Institute will do just as well for what seems to be a brilliant birthday bash lineup. Manchester’s favourite beard, Denis Jones, is invited, alongside all-time darlings Cats in Paris, With That Knife and the much hyped and currently omnipresent Brown Brogues (honestly, how come they play Manchester every other day and I still haven’t seen them yet?). If you’re one of the first 100 (aah, see the pattern here?) people through the door, you even get a Scenewipe mixtape of their favourite Manchester bands - sounds like a plan to me. And I bet that, while we’re happily sipping drinks and watching bands, Toby and Sam from Scenewipe will be exploring the Deaf Institute and surroundings to scout locations for their next video.

Manchester Scenewipe 100th video celebration - 12th August at the Deaf Institute - get your cheapo tickets here, they’re going fast! (21 left as of Thursday 29th July)

I was just about to write “you can tell the quality of a city’s cultural scene from the number of fanzines” but since I have absolutely no proof for this claim whatsoever, here’s just a simple announcement:

3030 magazine, a new zine on Manchester’s not-quite-so-big zine landscape, is celebrating its first issue with a nice little launch party at Common Bar tomorrow. It looks very pretty, so I’m quite looking forward to getting my hands on a copy!

Come down to Common (the green place on Edge Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter) from 7pm, Wednesday 25th July, have some drinks, a chat and grab a free magazine. I’ll see you there!

Just like everyone else, I went to see the RNCM Symphony and Concert Orchestras playing a series of pieces from Jonny Greenwood, Avner Dorman, Stravinsky and Icelandic wunderkind Olafur Arnalds at the Bridgewater Hall this week. The evening started with Radiohead songs being played in the foyer, followed by the eerie Jonny Greenwood composition “ Popcorn Superhet Receiver” which culminated in the entire string section playing their instruments stood up, plucking them like guitars to create an amazing percussive effect. The two very dynamic percussionists from DYAD were fun to watch during the next piece, but somehow I lost my interest and just drifted off in between all the banging, drumming and tapping. Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”, recommended to me as “one of the best classical music pieces to see live” was indeed moving, and the sound created by over 100 musicians on stage was absolutely impressive.

I can’t remember ever seeing a contemporary ‘pop’ artist playing with a big orchestra (despite the fact that this has been quite popular for a few years now, see Elbow playing with the Halle orchestra last year), so I found it very exciting to see real people playing real instruments rather than listening to the songs on record thinking it’s all just digitally created synth sound. For some reason however the orchestra did not even do that much, and during a lot of songs only some of the strings played. I would have loved to see (or hear, that is) some more of the brass section and the harpist. The drum machine in particular put me off a little - having just seen a pretty vibrant percussionist duo, I couldn’t understand why Arnalds had to use this fake and tinny sounding drum machine when he had an abundance of talented percussionists and instruments readily available.

While the evening was great and I genuinely enjoyed all of the pieces, it was hard to keep my eyes open towards the end of the concert - 3 1/2 hours of sitting down in a dark auditorium, listening to classical music was just a bit too much for me. And I wasn’t the only child of the 80s there suffering from a short attention span: by the time Olafur Arnalds started playing, a third of the audience had already left the auditorium, and when he finished at around 11pm the applause was rather sparse, sadly.

Lovely evening, and a nice change from the usual gig routine, but I really hope next time the organisers bear in mind that several hours of music, interspersed with multiple intervals (of which one was 45 minutes long) on a mid-week evening is quite a heavy package.

I love indoor festivals! Love love love them! Especially when they’re located in the town I live in - no need to worry about travelling, accomodation (or even worse CAMPING, ugh!), food, and if all else fails, there’s always someone’s sofa nearby to crash at. After enjoying MAPS festival in 2008 and a few gigs at Hungry Pigeon last year, I was quite looking forward to wandering the Northern Quarter again at this year’s Hungry Pigeon festival, maybe spending a couple of hours in the sun at the open air stage at Picadilly Gardens, discovering a few new bands and exploring new venues.

While I hadn’t really planned to go to any particular gigs (except the Travelling Band on Saturday and Thomas Truax on Sunday) and leaving out the usual suspects (Liam Frost, the Jessie Rose Trip, May68…), I was hoping to end up at some good shows by doing a bit of venue hopping. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite work out and so I seemed to always arrive at a venue when the band had just finished or was playing their last song. Note to self: Check the times and plan more next time.

Maybe this is why the festival just didn’t impress me too much - the atmosphere was great, and some of the venues I hadn’t been to before (Noho, Band on the Wall) were really nice. But after seeing a few bands and thinking “hang on… wasn’t that the one that played at that other venue before?” I realised that a large part of the acts playing Hungry Pigeon were almost generic looking and sounding indie rock bands, plus keyboards sometimes. They weren’t exactly bad, some of them were actually quite good, but just not particularly exciting - at all. And I need excitement, oh I need it bad! The crowds of fans (i.e. friends of the band members, my guess) requesting songs and singing along seemed quite happy with it however. Even the much hyped Travelling Band, playing with a string section, didn’t change that impression too much. Unfortunately, the weather was quite bad on Saturday as well, so that I only watched a bit of Athlete in the evening before escaping back into the warmth of Night & Day.

The one highlight, and almost a fixture of Hungry Pigeon (and previously MAPS) festival was Thomas Truax, who played Noho on Sunday night. Both the venue with its huge glass front and people walking past outside, as well as Truax’ quirky handmade instruments worked really well to create an almost eerie atmosphere (even more so had it been raining outside…) (see video posted below! :)

I appreciate the promoters’ effort to provide a forum for as many local bands as possible. But somehow it would be good for the festival to make sure the acts they select are a bit more diverse - I’m sure they can find more than just 5 piece all guys indie rock outfits in the North West. As one of a few indoor city centre festivals in Manchester, Hungry Pigeon has definitely got its place, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it evolves over the years! Will report back again next year (if they let me in haha).

The third festival within a month will take me back to Manchester’s Northern Quarter - it’s time for the Hungry Pigeon festival again! I remember spending a couple of nice hours in the sun at the Picadilly Gardens outdoor stage last year, sat on the grass, drinking cider… happy memories!

While I only know a few of the bands that are playing - there are just too many -  (suggestions are welcome: bunmagazine@gmail.com), I am looking forward to wandering around the Northern Quarter, hopping between the venues, catching some poetry readings, looking at art and hopefully discovering some new favourite bands. This is going to be marvelous!

Start is tomorrow (Friday) night, and tickets are still available from Picadilly Records. Go go go! Hope to see you there! I shall report back on the events of the weekend on this blog.

Almost at the last minute, I was offered a ticket for the sold out ATP in May which was curated by Pavement. Indoor festival + beach + one of my favourite bands = Best. Decision. Ever. It was like spending a weekend at home with a water fun park, an oversized deck chair and amazing bands right next to your house. Happy times.

So much happened in those few days that it is impossible for me to write a review of the whole festival (have a look at my epic Sounds from the other city Review - and that was only one day!), so I’ll just recycle myself and present you my neverending stream of ATP twitter posts, including pictures. The madness starts in 3… 2… 1…

Insane food shopping with Dr Maha, off to @atpfestival early tomorrow then!! Yay!! 6:48 PM May 13th

It’s getting ridiculous now. Dr Maha looks lovely though! 7:55 PM May 13th

3 girls, 5 hour drive, 8 mini bottles of champagne from home bargains, 9 1/2 donuts and take that playing on the radio. Guess we’re ready for ATP 9:05 AM May 14th

Nearly there! Boris give Dr Maha road rage haha. Folks, look out for some b&n magazines at the festival and grab your copy. 1:39 PM May 14th

We made it! Having a wander around the village and arranging fruit in our council flat chalet.  3:21 PM May 14th
(Unfortunately, we then missed Avi Buffalo, which I really wanted to see. The huge pile of food and booze in the first picture may or may not have been the reason for this.)

I expected the Walkmen singer to speak in a scally manc accent. On the grass green carpet now. Feels like a festival, without the mud! 8:36 PM May 14th

I wish I were canadian. unrelated: need more booze.  9:16 PM May 14th
(Broken Social Scene were playing. What’s with that girl with the huge hair wandering round the stage looking lost and singing a few lines?)

This is the weekend of genius puns. Watching Blitzkrieg Trapper now, very enjoyable! More b&ns at the merch! 3:11 PM May 15th

Not a fan of sexist jokes, so left the Mark Eitzel gig quickly. Watching Camera Obscura now… anticipating.. BORIS. 6:02 PM May 15th
(Someone asked about Mark Eitzel and sexist jokes. My reply: Oh I just didn’t like how he told a story about a ‘stupid bitch’, regardless of the context. Not cool.)

Dr Maha Jr just said: fuck twee. BORIS! I agree. Camera Obscura are…nice. That’s about it. Nap time! Getting more drunk & rowdy. 6:21 PM May 15th

Monotonix just had to cut their set for ‘security reasons’. Rowdy mob not amused. Safety first, kids! 11:54 PM May 15th

In #atp news: Pavement awesome, Monotonix rage silly, Atlas Sound lovely, Souleyman disturbing. I’m tired.com, see you tomorrow kids. 1:32 AM May 16th
(Atlas Sound was indeed amazing. Loved it. He did a little birthday dance on stage as well, how sweet.)

Wow. Got master blastered and had a Sunday roast, best festival ever! Also: hairy pale indie people on water slides = hot hot hot.  3:29 PM May 16th
(Water slides at a festival. The awesomeness!)

(My phone wouldn’t let me post this picture, but I have to mention the stone masonry workshop held by Steve West from Pavement, as announced at their gig the night before. The “Bob the builder” show stage was packed, but I could catch a glimpse of Steve hammering rocks. Woah.)

Fangirliest moment of the weekend: bumping into Bob Nastanovich, drawing on hands and engaging in a 5 min group hug. Then we screamed. 8:46 PM May 16th
(Dr Maha bumped into The Malkmus later that night which ended with an awkward conversation about American high school movies. The randomness!)

Christ. Mark E Smith is so inept, you’ve got to love him.  9:03 PM May 16th
(Apparently this was one of the best and most coherent gigs The Fall ever played.)

Woke up realising I painted at least 30 hands last night. Sorry guys, got carried away.  4:12 PM May 17th
(There were plenty of dinosaurs, little pacmen, and one guy got a dog on one and a cat on the other hand. He was very excited. So was I. Anyone who took photos, please let me know.)

Last #atp tweet from me after a lovely day out in Somerset: great festival, ace weekend! Back to real life now. 10:28 AM May 18th