b&n magazine

BEACH PARTY TONIGHT! BEACH PARTY TONIGHT! Hard Girls - Beach...

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 17:28:17 +0000

BEACH PARTY TONIGHT! BEACH PARTY TONIGHT!

Hard Girls - Beach Party

Sometimes I wish I were a pop punk hipster kid. Song is awesome, video alrightish.

Amanda Palmer - Map of Tasmania Can I just say, this is one of...

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 17:54:57 +0000

Amanda Palmer - Map of Tasmania

Can I just say, this is one of the best things that’s happened so far in 2011. Featuring essential survival tips such as ‘if it gets too bushy, you can trim’ and arts&craft crotches.

This is awesome. And weird. And awesome. uvmann: Destroyer -...

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:08:05 +0000

This is awesome. And weird. And awesome.

uvmann:

Destroyer - Kaputt. “Chasing cocaine through the backrooms of the world.” Hahaha.

b&n 6 - The 90s - is out!

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:25:00 +0000

And ooooh, I LOVE it. This issue features some impressive pieces by fantastic writers (who also happen to be lovely people!), English and German, short and long, serious and not quite so serious. There’s childhood memories, music, hip hop facts, fanzines and penpals, technology, more music, drugs, the odd swear word, and a lovely poster to decorate your walls with.

Printed copies are available in bars and cafes in Manchester and perhaps London, as well as in places in Cologne, Heidelberg, Hamburg and Berlin.

You can also read it online and download a PDF version here: http://issuu.com/bunmagazine/docs/bun-6-web

Like?

Gigs and concerts, concerts and gigs: Hauschka and M.I.A. in Manchester

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 19:09:52 +0000

There were people with radio button thingies in the entrance hall. Women with very high high heels. Men in suits. And us: a scruffy looking pair of soon to be drunk soon to be doctors, wearing sturdy boots in preparation for the second part of our evening. The presidential suite of the Lowry hotel wasn’t quite as glamorous as one would have expected, but the big floor to ceiling windows that made up one side of the sitting room set the right atmosphere for the wonderful concert we were about to experience. Nancy Elisabeth, multi-instrumental, giggly and lovely as always, played a few songs before Hauschka took over the piano that had all sorts of bric a brac sticking out. What followed was a wave of piano music and percussive sounds, caused by kids’ drums, necklaces, ping pong balls and vibrating bullets that were stuck into the piano, paired with explanations and stories told by the surprisingly chatty and charming musician.

From classy to flashy: The second half of the evening was more shouty than chatty and certainly a lot messier, as we saw M.I.A. at the Warehouse Project. Well, we heard the music, the odd noise from her, and saw some flashing lights, but the lady herself made hardly any impact on the show. Given my disliking for the Warehouse Project, I hadn’t expected this to be ultimately satisfying in the first place, but the euphoric atmosphere in the audience and sweaty one-on-one body contact made for an all-round fun experience.

Hauschka 1 : M.I.A. 0.5

In other b&n news...

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 20:16:40 +0000

… WE’RE GETTING THERE!

Thanks to some pretty awesome folks, I’ve managed to collect enough material for the next issue of b&n. Topic is “Tied to the 90s”. Estimated time of arrival: early to mid December. Hip hip!

#beatoff - Generation hashtag

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 20:09:00 +0000

I don’t quite understand what’s going on here, all I can remember is sticking this label on my notebook on Friday night and joining in on a game of silly puns based around the word “beatoff” and now this: “scenester” (quote Adrian Slatcher on his blog - love it!) Fat Roland has declared a new age of outstanding literary excellence (or so) coming straight from the M-C-R: the #beatoff generation, proud(ish) heirs of the Beat, Offbeat, Beatles and Bish Bash Bosh generation. What that means? No idea. But we’re all having a splendid time with it.

Being a great fan of self-plagiarism, I’ll just quote myself from Fat R’s blog:

“Wikipedia says on the Offbeat generation: “Young, untamed, good-looking and as influenced by punk rock as they are by Proust…”

Make that “not quite so young, mostly tamed, okayish looking, influenced by all sorts of weird music and certainly nothing they could possibly agree on as they are by Proust, the MEN and obscure blogs…” for the Beatoff generation.”

Make that #beatoff. We should stick with the hashtag-name.

From zine to zine - The Shrieking Violet media special is out!

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 14:14:10 +0000

For her “media special” issue, Natalie over at the Shrieking Violet asked me (along with “Things happen” and “Belle Vue”, two zines from Manchester) why I still bother with print (Yes, iand gentlemen, b&n IS and has always been a print zine.) and I happily wrote a little paragraph.

Check out the online version of the Shrieking Violet 11 or try your luck and discover one at various outlets in Manchester (I found one at An Outlet on Dale Street last time :)

Ooooh and I’ll definitely try out the Elvis Sandwich recipe (i.e. heart attack between two slices of bread). I’ll report back… if I survive.

Call for submissions! :)

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 11:57:18 +0100

Dear friends of popular culture,

it’s that time of the year again: b&n is looking for submissions!

Topic for the next b&n (issue 6) is “The 90s”, anything goes - so far we’ve published written pieces, poetry, interviews, photos, crafting instructions, recipes, snippets from other publications… b&n isn’t too much about serious journalism, you can let it all out if you want to be provocative ;)

Previous issues of b&n can be found on http://bunmagazine.com/paper - issue 4 and 5 are mainly English, the rest is in German. Feel free to write whatever you like - anything around 500 words is cool, less is just as good, so is more, up to 1000 perhaps. Any images that fit the text would be great (yours or photographer friend’s or flickr creative commons licensed ones with name and url). I don’t edit except for spelling/grammar and formatting, I doubt my writing skills are much better than anyone else’s.

Deadline is late October, around the 24th. Let me know if you would like to contribute, and just roughly what that would be, and I’ll save some space for you.

Contact: bunmagazine@gmail.com

Sam xx

Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:52:00 +0100

It’s been a while since I’ve had my last massive crush on electronic music - the comfort of and easy access to indie music is just too seductive in times of neverending project work and constant mild confusion (i.e. my life). And then came Gold Panda. Having been on my mind for months now, mainly due to one fantastic song I came across ages ago and the lovely name (GOSH!), I was never really aware of his incredible awesomeness. Soft but determined beats, loops, rattling and the odd cling and clang from bells remind me of a less spaced out version of Pantha du Prince. And while said Berliner often plays with the motif of snow and ice which becomes quite obvious in his tracks, Gold Panda’s album sounds like it was composed as the warming blanket to a miserable and rainy day in Manchester, possibly in the messy traffic on Oxford Road - never mind he’s from London.

“Lucky Shiner” will be released on 12 October, only a month before Mr Panda (GOSH!) plays a gig at Manchester’s Ruby Lounge on 15 November (got moved from October. BOO!). According to live music connoisseur Rebecca, proud founding member of #teampanda, it’s going to be “totally MEGA”. Can’t wait!

Darwin Deez! Darwin Deez! Darwin Deez! Look how happy he is. I...

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:05:12 +0100

Darwin Deez! Darwin Deez! Darwin Deez!

Look how happy he is. I know, I wrote about him before, but I’ve just realised that Darwin Deez has probably released my favourite album 2010. FACT.

Check out his myspace, buy his album, see him play Manchester on 12th October, dance dance dance.

FUR COME OUT SO SHINY! (via sesamestreet)

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:04:33 +0100

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

FUR COME OUT SO SHINY! (via sesamestreet)

Florrie - Give me love This b&n magazine tumblr seems to...

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:17:00 +0100

Florrie - Give me love

This b&n magazine tumblr seems to turn into a continuous stream of me going crazy about female artists… well, why not - I’m actually more than happy with that. Pop is awesome. Girls are awesome. Girls who make pop music are double awesome!

The very young artist Florrie from Bristol sounds quite a bit like Danish disco queen Annie (what is she up to anyway?), playing brilliant and fantastically catchy dance pop. Even better, she’s moved on from playing the drums in her band Xenomania to writing and producing her own songs, labelling herself as “drummer, singer, songwriter and guitarist”.

As if to prove that this is not just a story, a glossy video of her playing the drums in a jam session is posted right on the front page of her website, screaming “YES. LOOK AT HER. SHE’S A GIRL. SHE PLAYS THE DRUMS!!! HOW UNUSUAL!” at the visitor. Yes, yes, I believe it - and I love how she makes funny faces when drumming. Being the daugther of a semi-professional drummer, I know how the drums are both incredibly tempting and incredibly hard to play. How great would it be to see some more girls in bands behind the drums? Or, more girls in bands, really.

All of Florrie’s songs, including remixes, are currently available for free on her website as she’s not signed to a label yet, so clicketyclick and download, remix and share the love. AAAND, she’s going to play Manchester soon: 16th September at the “Kraak Gallery” - get your sweet bums over there!

Oh. I suppose I should mention: that girl is very pretty. Model-pretty. There are a lot of sexist comments under her youtube videos along the lines of either “THIS IS SO SEXY” or “thats actually quite good stuff”. Well yeah, she’s been playing the drums for 14 years. You prick.

Found this photo and loved it (well of course, it’s food...

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:05:00 +0100

Found this photo and loved it (well of course, it’s food related.) There’s more mini people wading around in edible material on Claire’s website!

Kicking Against the Pricks Online Zine

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:05:00 +0100

Kicking Against the Pricks Online Zine:

Ace zine from Sheffield - looks like a zine, but digital. Very pretty.

Happy 100th Birthday, love! Now, let's have a party.

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:50:53 +0100

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)

Christ. I don’t normally reblog stuff or post things that...

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:53:00 +0100

Christ. I don’t normally reblog stuff or post things that are non-music/pop culture/whatever-related, let alone devoid of any message, but this made me laugh non stop for several minutes. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

via: joethedough:

bullshit:

Current status.

(via inothernews)

I actually keep scrolling back up and looking at its facial expression and it makes me laugh every time.

Multiple Awesomeness: M.I.A. clones at Letterman show!I do love...

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:29:47 +0100

Multiple Awesomeness: M.I.A. clones at Letterman show!
I do love this lady very much indeed.

3030 magazine launch in Manchester!

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:09:24 +0100

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!

Robyn - Don’t fucking tell me what to do In case you...

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:45:36 +0100

Robyn - Don’t fucking tell me what to do

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a sucker for pop music. It all started with Justin Timberlake and Britney’s ‘Toxic’ (Best.Pop.Song.Ever.) that got me out of my 18 year old listening to sad indie depression and got me d-d-daaaancing! No surprise then that I’ve fallen for the Swedish awesomeness that is Robyn.

Having listened to her self-titled album and shaken my booty to “Konichiwa Bitches” countless times, I’m more than just a bit excited about her new release Body Talk Part 1. Ok, so, imagine me (possibly drunk, I always get way too excited about music when I’m drunk) ramming some headphones in your ears, shouting “LISTEN TO THIS LISTEN TO THIS FOR FUCKS SAKE LISTEN TO THIS IT’S THE BEST THING EVER!!” and playing Don’t fucking tell me what to do.

Much more pleasant than it sounds, honestly.

Also: whip out your 3D glasses kids, it’s psychedelic video time: http://robyn.com/killingme