Duly London

My first Gay Pride in years, so naturally I completely overdo it and surface after three days with bleeding gums, cold sores, no voice, a huge dent in the coffers and an advanced awareness of myself as a member of a globally oppressed minority. Not. The only sensible way to recover is to go to London, which I duly do. There are several things in the world which make me absolutely have to smoke cigarettes; these include Camden Town, my friend Katie, cider and hot sunshine. Because I hate myself but I really want to quit smoking I choose a combination of all four to go cold turkey under. It works, I’ve been squeaky clean since September the 1^st. Feels good. And guess what? Tea actually tastes of something! In Camden we attend the launch of Everything Everything’s brilliant LP Man Alive which consists of a fantastic set at The Barfly followed by the boys DJing a load of filthy hip-hop 'n' r‘n’b which I duly nick half of for my next stint at Off The Hook. The next day is more Gay Pride, this time in Hackney, but a proper community affair, diverse beautiful queers marching in sunshine through their own streets, and me with them, as opposed to forlornly watching a Barclays Bank float in the rain from my window which is what I did in Manchester. Later I almost lose my new Fall vest in Vogue Fabrics. This part of the weekend is also the culmination of what I suppose is an internet romance. It involves eating hummus in a flat overlooking Hoxton Station, amazing tattoos, poetry, loads of brilliant music (but especially '100,000 Fireflies'), long lie-ins ... I guess if I cared about such things I’m sure I would say it was pretty special, or something.

Anyway, Kalimera Gleeko …

Hackney Pride

New Sensational Daily Micro Blog Diet!

After last September, as I often do when that most challenging of months hits like a sack of wet leaves, I wondered aloud, ‘September’s here again, and what have you done about it…?’ Well this time, actually Marilyn French, I have done something. I’m four weeks into the Masters in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. And about time too. This semester consists of reading a breadth of contemporary novels, one a week, to inspire, cultivate and otherwise ass-kick us into our own fictional endeavours. And it’s working. This in part explains why my blogging has been sluggish of late, as if you care, but my life has suddenly accelerated somewhat. Coupled with the tyranny of my ridiculous, ever-growing ‘To do’ list (currently three sides of A4), a workload that is out of control and a shedload of DJing, which I am loving more and more, it’s fair to say my blog has taken a back seat. But no more! As of now my intention is to do a daily microblog of around this length, an exposé, diary and digest of what’s going on culturally, emotionally, fiscally, romantically, internally, externally and otherwise with Manchester and myself. For a while there it looked like this dreadful city had beaten me again, but he’s totally my boyfriend again now. Swoon …

Trapeze artist, Flesh @ Paradise Factory, 29.8.10

In The City 2010

Can you believe it's that time again? Fresher's Week, In The City, Literature Fest, Zombie Pride, Christmas!? Who knows where the time goes? says Sandy Denny. I concur.

Anyway, one thing at a time ... This year's In The City as usual takes over every square foot of Mancunian performance space to showcase the most exciting new musicians for the edification of journos, musos, PR monkeys and punters alike.

This year's line up is mighty impressive. We are unreasonably flushed in particular about the following ...

Wednesday 13th ...

Chiddy Bang @ The Roadhouse, I played 'Opposite Of Adults' at Off The Hook last month, went down a treat

D/R/U/G/S @ Ruby Lounge, amazing electronica

Sophie's Pigeons and Young British Artists @ The Castle, saw YBA support Asobi Seksu, interesting stuff but I hear they've upped their game ...

Thursday 14th ...

Pulled Apart By Horses @ Night and Day, WARNING: HEAVY SHIT

Sky Larkin @ Ruby Lounge, do not miss, DO NOT MISS, y'hear?

D/R/U/G/S @ Band On The Wall, second chance to see, yes they're that good

Brown Brogues @ The Castle, unapologetic, touching lo-fi indie of the kind you thought they might not make any more but they do so there

Sky Larkin

Friday 15th ...

D/R/U/G/S @ The Soup Kitchen, okay stop now ...

Devlin @ Night & Day, taking on The Streets at his own game

Clock Opera @ The Roadhouse, this band have knocked out two of my favourite ever rmxs (Everything Everything's 'MY KZ UR BF' and Marina's 'I Am Not A Robot', and they played a beautiful support slot for EE's Barfly album launch gig, they are really special

Dutch Uncles @ Ruby Lounge

Clock Opera

Why pamper life's complexities? Essays on The Smiths

Okay, sometimes I love my job ...

I'm more excited about this title than anything else (bar, possibly, New York Hustlers) that we've produced in my nine years (ARGH!) of working for Manchester University Press. This book has been my particular pet project, not only because The Smiths are my favourite band in the world and have been for, ooh, about seventeen years, but because I was lucky enough to be at the original symposium way back in 2005 from whence these papers first emerged. But these things take time.

I've seen the title through its copyedit, proofread and eventually got to design the thing too. I'm very proud that its about to be set free into the world *blub*

I'll let the link speak for itself.

Keep your eyes and ears open for news of our very special launch event coming soon ...

Everything Everything: Man Alive

If the past is a foreign country then Everything Everything are music’s arch-xenophobes. Man Alive arrives at last as the accomplished and relentlessly forward-looking debut we always knew it could be. This is genuine musical postmodernism: comprehensively informed, restless, full of mad juxtaposition. Where Radiohead’s postmodernism once came manifest as paranoia, alienation and technophobia, the Everything vision is a relentless thirst for stimulation, data, the ideas between other ideas.

The tracks you already know have new life breathed into them in the context of a full album. ‘Schoolin’’ is the brilliant earworm of white-boy r‘n’b meets X-Files theme. Old favourite ‘Suffragette Suffragette’ flaunts its dirty AC/DC riff like the bad tattoo you got in sixth form that suddenly feels cool again. ‘MY KZ, UR BF’, the greatest of four singles to date, takes its rightful place as album opener while ‘Photoshop Handsome’ spins addictive juddering Commodore 64 prog.

Jonathan’s Bowie-esque cut ‘n’ paste lyricism complements defiantly broad song structures, with their unexpected turns and eclectic layers of sound. It can sometimes seem like everyone in the band has at least two jobs, but blissful workouts like ‘Leave The Engine Room’ or the frenetic ‘Come Alive Diana’ can effortlessly give way to the tonal singularity of ‘Tin (The Manhole)’, which breathes four and half minutes of touching ambience through the album’s mad tapestry, or the sweet chamber harmonics of ‘Two For Nero’.

‘QWERTY Finger’ reminds you that, if they absolutely need to, they can, ‘rock’ in something like a traditional sense while ‘NASA Is On Your Side’ would make Kate Bush or Peter Gabriel proud, never mind any of their younger peers. ‘Weights’ is probably the greatest closing album track since ‘I Won’t Share You’ saw The Smiths go out in a veil of tears. Thank God this is just the beginning of it all.

Everything Everything have more than made good on a self-imposed remit to avoid cliché at all cost. The past is a foreign country after all, and modern life really is rubbish. Despite all that, Thom Yorke once proffered that you should ‘be constructive with your blues’. I would guess Man Alive is that record.

Ace Faces

Here they come, the beautiful ones ... Here are some favourite pictures of mine of the gorgeous night owls, party people, creatives and club kids I am proud to know in this dirty city of rain and music and sex. It's kind of like my tribute to Nan Goldin. Because you're beautiful ...

Thom


Joe



Kirsty



Shaun



Amber Swallows




Scott



David




Ruth



Andrew




Red




Paul




Nicholas and Caleb



Kurt Dirt




Me and Katie




Matthew



Mark





Kirsty and Keith






Kim





Kev





Kate




Joe





Keith




Jim




Jeremy and Katie





David




Paul




Andrew




Matthew



Zsa Zsa Noir