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Year: 2010

I Heart: Grosse Pointe Blank

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Film.

'Always keep a gun handy'

 

  Since John Cusack made his name as the face of the 1980s teen rom-com, it is fitting that Grosse Point Blank is, at its heart, a high school movie. Martin Blank, (Cusack), is a hit man facing something of a midlife crisis; he has recurring dreams of his prom night sweetheart; he no longer derives satisfaction from his job; and he’s being pressured to join a union (yes, apparently professional killers have those), led by union chief Dan Aykroyd. When his final “job” is booked for the same weekend as his high school reunion, he decides to kill two birds with one stone, (pun intended), and re-evaluate his life. Needless to say chaos ensues, including, (but not limited to), death by fountain pen, convenience store shoot outs, long lost romantic reunions and god-awful poetry.
  What makes this film the perfect dark comedy is its ability to truly blend the two genres together. The script is infinitely quotable, (even more so than Withnail and I or Anchorman – and I stand by that), and manages to weave bouts of brutal violence with genuinely likeable, funny characters. All this and an impossibly hip ‘80s indie soundtrack to boot. So for all you fans out there, say it with me now; “I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. How’ve you been?”.

Mark Pettit

I Hate: Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Film.

Mia Wasikowska as Alice

 

 The classic, quintessentially British story continues 13 years on, as Alice, 19, returns to find that her once magical Wonderland, (now war-torn Underworld), has fallen under the tyrannical rule of the Red Queen. Aided by a few fan favourites, Alice sets out on a quest; to find the Vorpal Sword, liberate her friends, and lead the White Queen’s army to victory against the Red Queen, her legion of cards and the fearsome Jabberwocky on the Frapjous Day. An avid Alice fan, I was deeply disappointed with Burton’s rendition. Though plentiful at first, references to Carroll’s original text are treated with reckless abandon. A fast-paced start sees the story flit from idea to idea, in a seemingly desperate bid to cram as much Wonderland as possible into Burton’s ‘Underworld’; never dwelling on one idea long enough to fully establish it and with no regard for the context in which it is shown. These sporadic glimpses will, no doubt, delight devoted fans, while serving as a confusing distraction to those unfamiliar with the text.
  Mia Wasikowska’s Alice is petulant, dim-witted and at times, more than slightly irritating; while Depp’s portrayal of the deliciously deranged Mercury-addled hatter, appears at first glance to be nothing more than a combination of Captain Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka.
  In typical Burton style, stripy socks, unnervingly twisted flash-backs, and Helena Bonham Carter are in abundance; (no one could mistake this for any other director), and Tim makes the almost unforgivable mistake of detailing the ending at the start of the film.

This film is ‘almost Alice’, and most certainly not ‘absolutely Alice’.

 

Beth Cook, Film Editor

Fees debate splits the coalition

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Opinion.

Last week the Browne report, commissioned by the government, suggested that the cap of £3,290 on tuition fees should be lifted, and a free market of tuition fees should be introduced. Vince Cable, the business secretary, said he agreed with the “general thrust” of the suggestions to improve the financial health of Universities. However, opposition to increased tuition fees was central pledge in the Liberal Democrat’s election campaign, opening up the possibility of a backbench rebellion. As well as prizing open some clear divides, this issue is acting as an interesting insight into the inner workings of an unlikely coalition.

The Coalition Government is currently carrying out wide ranging spending cuts to tackle the budget deficit but there have been suggestions that Liberal Democrats MPs and supporters oppose the severity of the cuts. Recently, the Energy Security, Chris Huhne, said in a newspaper interview that the cuts could be altered “if economic conditions changed”, suggesting he opposed the nature of reduced spending. As a result he was rushed into a TV interview insisting that he “very much” backed the government’s programme.

Higher Education Funding is likely to cause even deeper divides in the government. The Liberal Democrats rely on a large student vote, which they cannot afford to alienate. Vince Cable said that he was still considering a cap of £7,000, but it was not clear weather this would be a ‘soft’ cap, where institutions can exceed the limit but are penalized by the treasury, or a full cap, but insisted that a free market for fees would be “unfair”. This issue could easily cause a large political standoff unlike any in recent British political history.

Coalition politics is a very alien concept to the British political system. Our system delivers all or nothing; if your party forms the government you can expect all the policies you supported to become law, however, if your party becomes the opposition then you have a grim five year experience where nothing you want passes. This is a very poor democratic process, the government needs to be pegged back, and compromises must be enforced over the course of any government’s life.

Britain is now in the unique position of having a relatively weak Coalition government with a strong democratic mandate. The Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians are representing a far larger proportion of the electorate than any government in recent memory. The last Labour government won 35.2% of the vote in 2005, compared to the combined 59.1% secured by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats this year.

The question for students is whether coalition government can forge a more moderate proposal for Higher Education Funding than the policy proposals of the Browne Review. There is still some way to go before a final decision is made. A coalition reform of Higher Education funding will be more favourable for students that any ideas proffered purely by the Conservative Party.

The Browne Review: Where Next for the Student Movement?

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Opinion.

The recent publication of the Browne Review will not only have lasting consequences for higher education funding and the wider university landscape, but will have massive repercussions for the student movement.

The review itself was headed up Lord Browne, the former Chief Executive at BP whose cost saving cuts and subsequent health and safety corner-cutting there had him accused by some pundits as “the man most responsible for the BP oil spill”. It should come as no surprise to us that his review, which was instigated by the Labour Party, would follow his trend of maximising savings by slashing expenditure. The question remains, will his proposals be as devastating to the student movement as the oil spill was to the Gulf of Mexico?

Within a context of a 25% reduction in education funding, the clear winners in the proposals will be the elite universities who will be able to claw back their funding from the pockets of students paying increased fees. Other winners include part-time students who will finally be allowed to access some reliable form of education funding. The losers in the proposals are the less prestigious universities who can’t afford to put off students with a hike in fees and arts and humanities departments who are likely to be decimated by the proposals. Needless to say, students lose out on these proposals by paying more, but working class and some minority students will be worst affected by grants and scholarships not keeping pace with the increase in fees and living costs and being able to rely on the parental handouts.

Whether Lord Browne’s proposals get the nod through Parliament largely depends on the whim of whoever is holding the party whip; but it is clear that the student movement needs to look beyond traditional party politics for it solution. The Liberal Democrats, once the darling of liberal students, are set to betray the movement by voting for an increase in tuition fees on top of their support for a 25% education budget cut. Whilst the Libdems might make a show of a small back-bench rebellion on the issue; it is proof, as if proof were needed, that the Libdems were never the “progressive” party they claimed to be.

With the Labour Party’s ranks swelling with Libdem defectors it seems likely that students will increasingly turn to Labour in search of a saviour. But, as the inventors of the Browne Review, can they really be trusted? It seems that a slash and burn approach to education funding would also be on their agenda if they had managed to make it into power again, and whilst they can (and no doubt will) criticise the ConDems from the relative safety of the opposition benches, they do not represent a viable, progressive alternative for us.

So, where next? With the National Union of Students flagship graduate tax seeming more and more like re-branded tuition fees, the rank and file of the student movement will have to look elsewhere for support in the fight for fair and genuinely free education. How we respond to the current attacks on our education will be key, and its clear from looking at our movements’ history we never got anything without fighting for it.

Is the Big Society just a Big Con?

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Opinion.

In times of political uncertainty great politicians have been able to ease the concerns of their subjects by indulging in a little bit of harmless populist nationalism. For Conservatives the chance to use a little Winston Churchill-style rhetoric is always too tantalising to pass up, yet as we saw in David Cameron’s speech at the Tory Party Conference, the use of populist nationalism can backfire.

When introducing his concept of a Big Society to a bored and sceptical looking party faithful, the Conservative Party leader called for political power to be taken away from government and put into the hands of the British people. “Your Country Needs You!” was Cameron’s mantra; and moments after he’d uttered these words, across the country hundreds of nerdy amateur political commentators, like myself, were busy on Photoshop trying to convincingly transfer David Cameron’s face onto the famous Lord Kitchener poster.

These stirring words were meant to inspire the Conservative Party into some kind of spirit of national togetherness yet, as many have pointed out, his use of the World War One propaganda catchphrase seems somewhat unfortunate. After all, a man who has become so associated with policies that are widely seen as being unnecessary and destructive should probably not look to evoke the slogan of a government which spent it’s time in power embarking on a policy of unnecessary destruction; no matter how stirring he thinks their slogan may be.

So first of all, what is the Big Society? Well that is a difficult question. Despite his rhetoric about ‘small government’ and ‘people power’, David Cameron hasn’t spent very much time detailing what his Big Society idea actually involves and this lack of detail has left the idea open to heavy criticism from the left. The new Labour Party leader Ed Miliband has savaged the idea saying, “People in the voluntary sector know that, for all the talk of a big society, what is actually on the way is cuts and the abandonment of community projects across Britain.” This view echoes those of many who believe that the Big Society is just a cover for the draconian spending cuts about to come. But is the Big Society really just a Big Con?

At its most basic level, the Big Society promises to give communities more powers, to transfer power from central government to local groups and to foster new relationships between public services and their users. In practice this should mean enabling parents to take a more active role in the running of schools and allowing cooperatives to take over failing public services (i.e. local post offices, library’s etc). What’s more it promises to do all this while also saving money. How very grand.

Indeed the concept, in principle, should be lauded by everyone on the political spectrum, after all who would really stand up and say that they were against strengthening families and encouraging greater community involvement? Meanwhile, those on the left who deride Cameron’s idea of letting community run co-operatives take over failing public services would be well served to remember, as Dianne Abbot has pointed out, “mutual societies and co-operatives (were) the bedrocks of working class self organisation in the nineteenth century”. Yet perhaps the greatest criticism one can have of the Big Society is that its principles seem so palatable to so many.

If Tony Blair’s time in office taught the British electorate anything it taught us that policies that seem to promise the best of everything generally deliver nothing at all. Blair’s ‘Third Way’ principle which promised to combine strong, free-market driven, economic growth with social justice and a strong welfare state, ended up giving us an economic crisis, the largest prison population in western Europe and a partly privatised welfare system.

Ultimately only time will tell whether the Big Society will prove to be the big con that so many people think it will be. For now the best question to ask David Cameron and those in charge of formulating the government’s spending cuts programme is whether, ultimately you can strengthen communities and families through cuts to jobs and benefits.

Thanks for the memories: the potency of perfume

Written by Isabelle Dann on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

Scent is a sensual subject, surely? Certainly, if you close your eyes and imagine the current object of your infatuation, one of the most memorable aspects of that person may well be – if you’ve managed to get close enough – their smell.

Indeed, scent seals and evokes memories more powerfully than any other sense  –  our sense of smell is 10,000 times more sensitive than all other senses. Also, the  recognition of smell is immediate, due to the fact that other senses must travel through the body by means of neurons and the spinal cord before arriving at the brain, whereas the olfactory response is immediate, extending directly to the brain. Therefore, it’s not entirely surprising that many memories – most notably memories of youth and love / lust affairs – are enmeshed with some sort of smell.

However, the power of scent is by no means epitomised by the memory of another, as demonstrated by the very personal choice and application of perfume. When selecting a perfume, I am always hunting for a fragrance that smells like something I want to be: a reality that makes me feel like myself, yet with all the promise of fantasy. This scent isn’t about pleasing anybody else, but instead is a curious method of defining myself just for myself.

For the past couple of years now, my Bvlgari “Jasmin Noir” has performed the role of such a scent. Enclosed in a beautiful black bottle, complete with violet shadows and strong gold stopper, it gives me great pleasure to simply reach for this perfume. Having released the scent around my neck, “Jasmin Noir” opens with notes of green sap and gardenia, the heart notes of the scent – including sambac jasmine and satin almond – soon follow, accompanied by the base notes of precious woods, tonka bean absolute, and liquorice. The result is a rich yet subtle scent full of sophisticated yet sensual femininity, complete with incredible longevity – I can always smell it the morning after the night before. When the sun goes down (for it is truly a nocturnal scent – I use Tom Ford’s “White Patchouli” for a daytime sense of self), I never leave the house without enveloping it into my outfit. Clothes come second to a signature scent because, comparatively, nothing else seems necessary.

Silent and invisible, the consequences of fragrance are nonetheless tangible. Proust exemplifies the enigmatic power of perfume when he muses:

“But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection”.

When there’s no night left  for dancing and I fall into bed with the sunrise, on the brink of unconsciousness, reality in all its sensuousness begins to fade until I am left solely with the remains of the perfume that has pervaded myself throughout the night. My head hits the pillow, the heart notes swirl up from my hair; I sleep with a final intoxication.

Government announces immigration cap

Written by news on . Posted in News.

The UK government have announced a limit of 21,700 on the number of skilled workers approved to work in the UK from outside of the European Economic Area. This is following recommendations from the Migration Advisory Commission to the coalition government on 18th November concerning how they can fulfil their promise of driving net migration down from current levels of 196,000, to ‘tens of thousands’ by 2015.  Net migration includes EU citizens, who have a right under freedom of movement laws to enter the UK. This leaves only non-EU migrants, over 50 per cent of who are students.

The issue of immigration, though increasingly scrutinized over the past ten years, has recently intensified. Questions are being asked about the growing population, illegal immigration and, more recently, the migration of skilled workers. The population is set to swell to 77m by 2051, ten million more than as estimated at the start of Labour’s government and largely due to migration.

Skilled workers account for 20 per cent of non-EU immigrants. The basis for their rights to work in Britain is currently a points scheme similar to that of Australia, in that the more desirable the skill the worker has, the more likely they are to be given the right to work.

In driving down net migration, businesses are set to lose out. Companies are aware of this and have successfully lobbied for a lift on the cap for intra-company transfers. As a result, the cap will not include employees transferred by their companies from another country providing they are earning over £40,000 a year (a special level of £24,000 was also set for IT workers).

The cap of 21,700 added to last years intra company transfers figure of 22000, leaves a total cap of 43,700, in line with the Migration Advisory Commissions recommendations. This leaves skilled workers down by 15 per cent from last years figures of 50,000. Whilst this is less than was first suggested by Cable, it is a blow for sectors that need such workers to succeed in the current Economic climate. The cuts in visa allocations will result in a key source of recruitment being lost by businesses, which could be a key factor in long term economic growth, since a well trained workforce is vital in fostering a strong and growing economy.

Further restrictions include reducing the amount of time a non-EU migrant can spend working in the UK after they have graduated. This may potentially prevent UK businesses from reaping the benefits of well-educated individuals who received their education from within the UK.

Universities will be affected as well. Under the new proposals foreign academics may struggle to obtain a visa and a right to work within the UK. This will result in academic institutions around the country suffering from a smaller pool of quality staff. A reduction in their access to educated staff members is likely to be a severe blow to the quality of teaching offered to students, and to the standard of UK academic research. Joseph Akkinagbe, UMSU International Officer agrees: “If you look at the international research awards which were won in the UK, 33 per cent were won by people born outside the UK and a further 33% were won from people born outside the EU. Teaching has become globalised we should be getting the best talent, not just students but the best talent to come and teach our students.”

The reduction in work-based visas offered would only amount to 20 per cent of the government targets, with the remainder having to come from cuts to student and family migration. Universities are to be hit again under this proposal; since many institutions are reliant on the higher fees they are able to charge non-EU students for their economic survival. Akkinagbe ponders the effect this could have on the globally competitive international student market: “Because of the cap you could have less people granted visas and this could create a global impression of the UK being unwelcome to international students.”

The impending increase in tuition fees is also of some relevance. These may reduce the number of home grown skilled workers available in decades time. Courses such as engineering, architecture and medicine all involve lengthy study and these skills may become scarce and prompt a higher need for foreign workers. With fewer skilled workers offered the chance to work in the UK, and less chance for young people to develop those skills, the workforce of the future may be very unskilled leaving a negative impact on the economy.

 

Combat Fatigue

Written by Nick Renaud-Komiya on . Posted in Features.

Despite coverage on nightly news bulletins and round the clock news channels, the wars in Iraq and, to an extent, Afghanistan seem to have slowly faded in our collective subconscious. Regular reports of violence, be they suicide bombings, or atrocities like the recent attack on a Catholic Church in Baghdad, appear to elicit little public reaction. Turning on the television to find out that yet another British soldier has died serving in Afghanistan used to be a tragic news event. Now in some ways it is a regular occurrence, a part of the average day.

After being exposed for the best part of a decade to media coverage of British soldiers fighting in foreign fields, it is getting easier for us to become desensitized, only to box it all up and store away in our minds. If these ongoing conflicts can be ‘zoned’ out, what of those of the recent past? Bosnia? Kosovo? Will our awareness of those simply peter out as well? Encounters with people like Nigel [see last page] brings these issues back into sharp focus.

This syndrome in some ways mirrors the phenomenon of so-called ‘Compassion Fatigue’ or ‘Oh Dear-ism’ that is experienced in public life in response to natural and humanitarian disasters. Scenes of disasters like the Pakistan floods, the earthquake in Haiti and now the Cholera outbreak there don’t elicit the kind of public reaction that they once would have done. We have seen it too many times before. There has been no Live Aid for Pakistan, nor has there been a flotilla of boats, filled with people sending aid to Haiti. This is not to say that we do not care at all, quite the contrary. Around campus today many good, selfless people work tirelessly, fund raising for these same charitable causes. However these people are a minority.

With the proliferation of television news media especially, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that many of us now have a similar reaction to hearing about Britain’s war dead. We mark grim milestones with little ceremony; 100, 200 and now as of last month 300 British combat-related deaths in Afghanistan since invasion in 2001. [Source: BBC News]

Of course it would be insanely presumptuous of me to think that what I write here reflects the views of all those who read this paper, especially when it comes to as contentious and important an issue as the way in which we view war. I can be confident in saying that a vast proportion of students here are aware of the fact that British soldiers are fighting overseas and are aware of the reasons this is the case, even if they disagree with them.

However can some of us help but feel this ‘fatigue’ given that we are constantly surrounded with reminders that our country is still at war, albeit on the other side of the world?

A view of life from an ex ‘Bootie’

Written by Nick Renaud-Komiya on . Posted in Features.

A month ago Nigel Le Fanu was attacked on Mancunian Way. His callous mugger pulled a knife out and waved it aggressively, demanding the war veteran’s wallet and mobile phone. Reflecting on the attack, Le Fanu says: “As it is approaching Christmas, I just want to give a warning to all students  – if the same thing should happen to you, don’t try and be a hero. Don’t try to be a big boy or a big girl.”

Arriving for our meeting, Nigel Le Fanu is dressed impeccably, complete in dark navy suit and old school tie. Sipping his coffee, he speaks slowly, but by no means minces his words.  A wicked sense of humour belies the distress he regularly feels due to the way he is treated by others, particularly his fellow students; he has been the subject of derision by other students due to his disability, the result of a gunshot wound to the head whilst serving in Afghanistan.

This is obviously upsetting, but Le Fanu remains resilient: “They’re just ignorant. They stare and they laugh at me. I try to keep my feelings to myself and bite my tongue until I get home – but tell them I forgive them.” Whether it is getting sneered at whilst cycling past Owens Park, or students pointing and laughing around campus, this debasing behaviour is an unflattering depiction of our ‘enlightened’ times.

Currently in his first year of post-doctoral Astrophysics research into event horizons, black holes and neutrinos, Le Fanu is a unique character with a fascinating story. Speaking about his life and time in the armed forces, his words are beguiling, touching and at times harrowing, but they are certainly never tinged with self-pity.

Before coming to study at the University of Manchester, Le Fanu was in the armed forces for 24 years, as a Royal Marine. Joining in 1980, he made the rank of Major just a year later. The Marines’ have a fierce reputation. Le Fanu explains their nickname “Booties”, or “Bootnecks”, a moniker referring to the neck collars they traditionally made out of boot leather, in order to prevent sailors slitting their throats whilst they guarded officers aboard British ships.

On paper, the list of places in which Le Fanu served reads like a comprehensive history of British military intervention over the last thirty years. His illustrious CV includes time served in The Falkland Islands, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan, yet he remains modest: “I can take the blood, bullets and bombs, but I don’t need any medals”.

On witnessing extremely active student groups debating and protesting the Israel-Palestine conflict around campus, Le Fanu reflects: “The conflict in Palestine has been going on since the year dot. I attended a talk on Palestine recently, and it struck me that more people should know about matters closer to home, like ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and the insurgency in Northern Ireland.”

Le Fanu described in graphic detail the horror that confronted him whilst serving in Bosnia: “Because of the nature of my capacity in the armed forces, I’ve seen horrible things. I saw pregnant women shot dead in the Siege of Sarajevo”.

Le Fanu took the decision to adopt a Bosnian orphan, with help from the British Consulate. Both of her parents had been Bosnian Muslims, murdered during the period of ethnic cleansing that marked the break up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. She is now in her twenties and also lives in Manchester.

Being initially based in northern Iraq in 2001, deciding to move from one battleground to another, Le Fanu elected to be placed in Afghanistan, which is where he was wounded three years later.

“Six years ago I was tasked with taking command of ninety Royal Marines while posted in Afghanistan. We were stationed near the Kajaki Dam in Helmand Province. This was on my fifth tour of duty in the country. Each tour lasted six months. The Taliban had compounds approximately eight miles away from where we were stationed.

“We were given orders to take out the compound. This is what is known as a Tactical Advanced Battle. How long does it take you to walk eight miles? It took us two hours to reach the compound with all our weapons and ammo. We started to engage the enemy at 05:27. We were still taking incoming fire at 15:12, so I called in an air strike. A United States B1 bomber dropped 6,000 pounds of ordnance on the compound. Much to my consternation and perhaps even admiration they were still firing at us.

“An IED [Improvised Explosive Device] blew the arm and leg off a Marine in my command. He was only 22 years old. He was killed, then and there. But in a perverse way, [Le Fanu pauses] he was the lucky one. He died instantly.”

An all too common story, yet hearing these words from a fellow student, shocked me more than any news report could.

Le Fanu then makes a point of showing me the exact spot on the left side of his head, where he was shot during his sixth and final tour.

A widespread criticism of the government’s handling of the current war in Afghanistan is that those on the frontline are simply not being given the sufficient equipment needed: “We simply didn’t have the equipment we needed to do the job. There aren’t enough Snatchers (Purpose-built jeeps), and for 10,000 troops there are only eight Chinook helicopters, two of which are used for medical emergencies.”

I am shocked and appalled to discover that a typical Royal Marine earns the equivalent of £2.18 a day while on tour: “If you’re thinking about joining the armed forces,” Le Fanu intones, “approach me in the Union bar, I’m willing to give you advice.”

I feel humbled by the stories that Nigel Le Fanu chose to share with his fellow students, and find it difficult to stop thinking of his final words to me: “Those of us who were injured bear the legacy of the Blair/Brown ‘ideal’ in so much as they want something for nothing. This sentiment is shared by most people who work in the public sector.”

Column: The Jonas Brothers Are Good For Music

Written by music on . Posted in Music.

Recently, I found myself sat in front of a Freeview box with friends and alcohol, begrudgingly watching the worst music channels on TV (You know the ones; channels with titles like Mega Tunes TV or Hit Land). All delightfully cheesy and vaguely tolerable, until, a few beers in, the corner of the screen lit up with the world’s most irritating words, “Up next, The Jonas Brothers”.

The groan in the room was universal and I myself bashed away at the remote, heroically changing to some repeat on Dave. In the aftermath of this near disaster came the rumblings of overly manly assertion that, “This Disney shit is ruining music”. As much as this puts me in a minority, I disagree. In fact, The Jonas Brothers can only be a good thing.

First things first, let me assure you, I haven’t gone entirely mad. I despise every squeaky clean, zero riffed, soul-destroying, opal ring wearing note of any brand of ‘rock’ that is produced within a ten metre radius of the band or any of their products. The same applies with Hannah Montana, Justin Beiber and the entire cast of High School Musical. Just as well really, as none of the above are really musicians so much as they are marketing tools. But the effect that their brand of corporate approved noise has is, unquestionably, worth the pain.

When The Jonas Brothers were splashed on some corporate flipchart many moons ago, we know that they were accompanied by the words ‘Aim at children.’ This is the first reason they have some worth for music. They help kids discover music earlier, which is certainly important. There was nothing more embarrassing than going to college and talking to people who’d never even heard the name Johnny Cash. Remember back to when you were a little brat. What attracted you most, David Bowie and Led Zeppelin or Cow and Chicken and Pokémon? Without The Jonas Brothers’ pre-merchandised CD’s, complete with clothing, TV shows and dolls, music would never stand a chance of attracting the younglings. Certainly not when the genuinely fantastic Peppa Pig is there to catch their eyes.

Being hooked on The Jonas Brothers so early also gets the irritating ‘phase’ stage out of the way. The phase stage is annoying, and so are kids. They may as well overlap. We all had a phase stage, where we listened to something God-awful for months, before moving on and regretting the whole experience. Most people our age had emo or nu-metal. Mine was the constant playing of a Readers Digest disco classics record and yet now, my band of choice would likely have two guitarists, heaps of spandex and crazy hair. Everybody evens out from the phase, but the sooner it starts the sooner it ends.

Whilst Disney still exists in its current form, the likes of these twerps will continue to exist, but it’ll be interesting to see who their fans like ten years from now; and if nothing else, they make everything else sound an awful lot better.

Thomas Geddes, Music Columnist

Album: Disc-Overy – Tinie Tempah

Written by music on . Posted in Music.

3.5 Stars

During the eleven months that it has taken to record his debut, Tinie Tempah’s jocular, no-frills lyrical style has taken him from relative obscurity to being one of the most talked about and promising artists in the charts, and initially, Disc-Overy seems to uphold the momentum of his previous success.

 

The piercing snare of Intro accompanies the visceral utterances of the South London artist. He vociferates,“I’m an extra terrestrial, Came out the f*cking dirt like a vegetable”, asserting his formidable presence.This is followed by the sonorous bass line of ‘Simply Unstoppable’, an unsettling drone that nods towards drum and bass, but presents itself in the embodiment of grime.

 

These factors are accentuated by the urgent synth noises dotted around the core of the sound and the ever-present pop hooks that make the songs even more forceful. The cross breeding of these elements result in a ferocious new species that’s both potent and progressive. However, the introduction of other factors into the gene pool causes the model to become defected.

 

For example, the vocal on ‘Written in the Stars’ emits the odour of David Guetta-esque tackiness, and the unnecessary employment of collaborations sometimes hinder the album, making the tracks seem disparate. Invincible, featuring Kelly Rowland, is dynamically flat and adds nothing more than marketing dreariness, and the partnership with Swedish House Mafia recollects Dizzee Rascal’s collaboration with Calvin Harris.

Disc-Overy has even got a ‘Holiday’ theme to the title – ‘Miami 2 Ibiza’. At these points, the album suggests haphazard exploration rather than genuine discovery, which is a shame due to the individuality that Tinie Tempah has demonstrated in the past. The modern allusions such as “All Saints” and “SD card” also seem a little contrived.

 

Disc-Overy is a good pop album overall; it does however lose integrity at points due to Tinie Tempah’s desperation for universal acclaim.

 

Mitchell Holmes

Album: Halcyon Digest – Deerhunter

Written by music on . Posted in Music.

4 Stars

 

 

Given their previous associations with so-called ‘garage rock’, this new offering from Deerhunter comes as a bit of surprise. Gone are the discordant soundscapes and experimental noise sessions that denote their previous albums. Their fourth offering has an ambient, dreamy quality to it that make it softer and possibly somewhat more palatable. This is not to say however, that the band have lost any of the original sound that sets them apart.

 

What this change shows is an evolution into what can only be described as greener pastures. There is a joyful feel here as Bradford Cox’s vocals have matured from the breathy, and at times almost monotone style embraced on Microcastle – the band’s previous LP – into a self assured melodic lilt which gives this album its magic.

 

‘Revival’ and ‘Helicopter’ are two good places to start. The former includes a catchy set of “aahs” that call to mind Grizzly Bear, which is no bad thing, whilst the latter has a melancholic drifting riff that couples wonderfully with its sombre lyrics.

 

The highlight has to be the album’s opening track ‘Earthquake’. The band layer a multitude of echoing and ambient sounds, evoking the dazed atmosphere Deerhunter so often place us in. Yet instead of the usual discords and reverb, the song moves with a soft ease not present in the band’s previously darker sound.

 

The one criticism of this album may be that for die-hard fans of a more experimental rock sound, this album lacks the grit and edge of its predecessors. In fact, it could even be a step toward a more accessible style which some may find displeasing. However, if you’re able to leave your expectations at the door, you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

Emily Talbot

Live: Josh Ritter @ RNCM

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4 Stars

It’s always heartening to see a musician enjoying a gig as much as the audience, and Josh Ritter, playing to an almost full Royal Northern College of Music last Wednesday, looked positively ecstatic. At several points he literally jumped for joy, and the rest of the time contented himself with grinning wildly, resembling in sheer enthusiasm a somewhat hairier, country version of Chris Martin; although cooler, obviously.

His excitement seemed justified: I’ve rarely heard an audience of 600 people make quite so much noise. But it would have been hard to resist, with a nigh-on two-hour set of crowd-pleasers from his first five albums, a handful of well-chosen covers (Hedy West, Talking Heads and the obligatory Neil Young), and an impressive selection of tracks from his new LP, So Runs the World Away. Support came from Ritter’s wife Dawn Landes, and her band the Hounds, all of whom joined Ritter on-stage for an encore he couldn’t have avoided if he’d wanted to.

Ritter’s witty, literate Americana has always mingled delicate and mournful songs with stompy barnstormers, and live he and his dapper Royal City Band were equally effective at both, opening with a spectral, haunting ‘Idaho’ and building up to an irrestibly bouncy ‘Lillian, Egypt’.

With the confidence to step out in front of the mic and sing unamplified, a charismatic stage presence, a growing catalogue of critically acclaimed albums, and a band that definitely know what they’re doing, Josh Ritter is certainly worth seeing live.

Alec Johnson

Live: Two Door Cinema Club @ Manchester Academy

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4 Stars

Its 7:30pm, and outside the union a group of teenage girls are shelling out £40 each for a ticket. Bearing in mind the normal price was £9.50, it’s not surprising the touts are laughing their heads off. It’s also no surprise to find that at least of half of the crowd is underage, and only they seem to enjoy the overly repetitive, overly brash, and distinctly unmelodic We Have Band’s supporting set.

But as soon as the opener ‘Cigarettes in the Theatre’, also the opening track from the band’s debut album Tourist History, kicks in, the entire crowd is bouncing up and down, not just those who are too young to remember the 90s. By the time second track ‘Undercover Martyn’ begins it’s a surprise to find that the floor hasn’t given way to the perfectly synchronised bouncing of the crowd.

A new, as yet unnamed, track offers more of the same dance-tinged indie expected of Two Door Cinema Club, and if possible is even more danceable than anything yet released. Lead singer Alex seems almost overwhelmed by the deafening cheers greeting his talks to the audience between each song. ‘Come Back Home’, the band’s latest single, is undoubtedly greeted with the biggest cheer of the night, and with good reason, it’s by the far and away the highlight, with not a glum face in the house.

After a little under an hour onstage the band finishes with ‘Now I Can Talk’, to rapturous applause. It may have got a little repetitive towards the end, but with only one album’s worth of material, there’s only so much for Two Door Cinema Club to draw upon. That having been said, the atmosphere was great, and no one could fault the Northern Irish trio’s effort levels; it’s been thoroughly enjoyable.

Charlie Rawcliffe, Music Editor

Live: Dutch Uncles @ Night and Day Cafe

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About to embark on the well trodden path to Mancunion music fame are local 5 piece Dutch Uncles. Coming up in a complete new wave of Manchester electronic/dance sound, Dutch Uncles are not mere replicas of current successes, but act as a complement to this ever growing landscape. The Night & Day Café served as a dimension the band have grown accustomed to over recent years. However tonight is different, signifying somewhat of a new start. Having released their 2009 self titled debut only in Germany the band have just signed to Memphis Industries, home of The Go Team & Tokyo Police Club, in the UK. As they take to the stage the somewhat leisurely crowd suddenly become assertive, ready to see what ‘Dutch Uncles Chapter 2’ has to offer. Opener and former single ‘Face In’ sets the tone for the evening, its music quick & infectious with vocals distinctive & smooth. Now leaning towards new material the ‘Duncles’ showcase an instrument addition – the synth – while maintaining their attention-grabbing riffs and interesting lyrics. Clear no more so than on new single ‘Fragrant’, which injects a new energy midway through the set, while the memorable hook from set closer ‘The Ink’ even forces a foot tap from those lurking at the bar. Overall it’s clever: a characteristic these guys carry in abundance.

Jack Salisbury

In The City: Preview

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In the run up to this year’s festival, music editor Eoghan Bennett chats to the festival’s organisers to see what all the fuss is about.

The Mancunion: To anybody who’s not familiar with the festival, sum up what it’s all about.

In The City: In The City is a three-day music conference held in the heart of Manchester’s Piccadilly and Northern Quarter areas. For three days it takes over the city with an (in)famous music industry conference and hundreds of live music shows. Think SXSW with a bit more rain and a few less barbecues and you’ll get the idea.

M: And to anybody who’s attended in previous years, is there anything new we can expect this year?

ITC: This year has been something of a transition. We’ve left The Midland Hotel to the Labour Party and relocated in the Piccadilly area of Manchester, taking over City Inn, Malmaison, The Abode and The Place Hotels. We’ve also moved our live showcases exclusively to the Northern Quarter which will make venue hopping much easier, and focuses the music industry on one of the most creative and vibrant areas in the country.

We’ve also added slightly to the conference side of In The City with The Hive. It’s a new educational initiative aimed at grassroots and entry-level students (16+) looking to make a bit of headway into the music industry. It’s a separately ticketed event at only £60 which gives you access to two days packed full of industry debate, workshops and masterclasses, and access to all three days of In The City gigs. Bargain!

M: What do you feel In The City has to offer Manchester students in particular?

ITC: In The City gives students a great chance to experience what a major Manchester music festival has to offer. We use the best venues in the city and bring international bands to Manchester where one of the largest student populations is. We also work with the best promoters and clubnights in the city – SJM, Now Wave, Fierce Panda, Same Teens, Contort Yourself, Clique, Pull Yourself Together to name a few, so this gives new students living and studying in the city a chance to see what the best nights to go to are.

M: What’s the reason behind ITC’s decision to focus exclusively on emerging and underground acts, rather than more established bands that might sell more tickets?

ITC: This year is actually a bit of a shift away from having just brand new bands, and we have bands such as No Age, Mount Kimbie, Male Bonding, Sky Larkin, Pulled Apart By Horses and HEALTH but In The City’s focus will always be on new and emerging bands as that’s the very essence of the festival. This year we’ll be thriving on having the first UK shows of Kisses, White Ring and Oberhofer, bands who we think will go on to be really successful. The whole festival is very much about discovery, and that will always be the case.

M: There seems to be a Madchester ‘anti-revival’ emerging in Manchester, with many new acts choosing to cut themselves loose from the city’s rich musical heritage. Given that the festival was founded by Tony Wilson, what is ITC’s view on current attitudes towards the music scene in Manchester?

ITC: Kicking against the past is very much a Tony Wilson thing and he’d completely approve of the new group of bands from the city not being hung up on the past. When the Hacienda building was turned into flats Tony and Yvette actually went to see the first bit of demolition begin – looking to the future rather than the past. That spirit is in everything In The City does.

What does ITC hope to leave behind for Manchester once all the bands have packed up and the delegates have checked out of their hotels (until next year’s festival anyway)?

We hope that people will have found some of their new favourite bands for years to come.

Visit www.inthecity.co.uk for tickets and more information

Album: The Record Collection – Mark Ronson and the Business International

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Record Collection – Mark Ronson and the Business International

Three and a half stars

‘I only want to be in your record collection, and I’ll do anything it takes just to get there’, chimes the chorus on ‘Record Collection’. This is without a doubt a feeling shared by many frustrated musicians across the UK. It is all about reaching that problematic balance between maintaining integrity and musical autonomy whilst also achieving fame and recognition. Mark Ronson, under the various guises of DJ, producer, multiple instrumentalist and visual icon, appears to be one of the lucky few who appear to achieve this.

Though well received, it has been remarked upon that his second album Version is merely ‘other peoples songs with horns added’. Surely anybody can do that assuming you know the right people? Fortunately, Record Collection, is not more of the same. Instead this album of original songs is the result of Ronson’s new band and alias ‘The Business International’, together with guest rappers and singers.

It’s not too bad either. As the title suggests the album is an eclectic collection of music, uniting some unlikely genres including hiphop, 1980s synth-pop, funk and soul. The artists are diverse too with both rapper Spank Rock and Kyle Falconer from the View both appearing on ‘The Bike Song’.

Of course this could spell a recipe for disaster. Too much diversity and not enough cohesive uniting factors could result in a rather disjointed and confusing result. For some reason, however, this has not occurred. Perhaps it is because any seemingly miscellaneous bits can be labelled under the umbrella term of ‘retro’.

Record Collection is likely to be a success because Ronson is a talented producer and his success orientates around genuine musicianship and his own varied anthology of music. But of course, having an address book filled with famous and influential friends always helps.

Becca Luck

Album: Tiger Suit – KT Tunstall

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3 and a half stars

With a discography that includes two well-received albums and a handful of top 40 singles, it may come as a surprise that KT Tunstall has never had a top ten single. Maybe, it’s because she has forged a career as being more of an album artist. ‘Tiger Suit’ follows this trend of being an above average singer/songwriter album, although that’s not to say that you should overlook her singles. Her first release from the album, the beautifully crafted ‘(Still a) weirdo’, ha

Tiger Suit – KT Tunstall

s been given lots of airplay on certain radio stations – I’m looking at you oldies’ favourite Radio 2 – but that’s unlikely to make it a chart topper any time soon.

After disappearing from the music scene for a few years, Tunstall created this record on a three month sabbatical in Greenland. Whilst the album ventures into new scenes with a more electronic sound on a few tracks and the raw, folk notes evident in ‘(Still a) Weirdo’, the same upbeat pop/rock vibes that made Tunstall a household name with ‘Suddenly I See’ are revisited in ‘Come On, Get On’ and ‘Madame Trudeaux’. Maybe it’s a mismatch of different sounds, but Tunstall’s vocals and clever writing stay strong throughout, reinforcing why she was deserving of her Ivor Novello award back in 2006.

You can’t fault the girl for trying a new direction with this album. She’s admitted that she lacks confidence and hence the need for this metaphorical tiger suit to protect her. While it’s unlikely that this album will prove to be groundshaking, it’s a solid album which Tunstall should be proud of. She’s fought against the trends of mainstream pop to create a name for herself as an individual. And that’s nothing to be ashamed of. So maybe she shouldn’t keep hiding away.

Catherine May

Album: Growing Pains – Dinosaur Pile Up

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4 and a half stars

Every article you’ll ever read about Dinosaur Pile-Up will contain at least one reference to the Foo Fighters, and for understandable reasons. Matt Bigland, singer, lead guitarist, and main driving force of the band has never made secret his love of Dave Grohl’s outfit, and the opening tracks of ‘Growing Pains’ reflect this. Birds & Planes and Mona Lisa, both already released as singles, reek of ‘The Colour and The Shape’ era Foos, without ever sounding like a cheap imitation.

But, it’s only later in the album, when Bigland and co deviate from this sound, that the band’s potential becomes abundantly clear. They still remain enthralle

Growing Pains – Dinosaur Pile Up

d by ‘90s Alternative Rock, with Broken Knee serving as a reminder to how great Weezer used to be, and Hey Man straying into real grunge territory. Somewhat surprisingly, it’s the album’s lone acoustic track, Hey You, that comes to mind as the sublime effort on ‘Growing Pains’; wonderfully simple in its lyrics and completely in contrast to the album’s riff laden start.

For a debut album ‘Growing Pains’ really is special, and most definitely justifies the media hype that’s been building around Dinosaur Pile-Up over the past couple of years. With the opening four tracks all fast-paced and heavy on the guitars, there was always the worry of the album becoming stale, but as the sound slows and the riffs take a back seat, Dinosaur Pile-Up come into their own. The latter half of ‘Growing Pains’ is undoubtedly superior to what proceeds it, thanks to a much more varied, yet still cohesive sound.

Top ten singles may not beckon thanks to Bigland’s admirable decision to spurn major labels in pursuit of complete creative control, but with a strong live reputation already, and now a high quality debut under their belt, Dinosaur Pile-Up could fast find themselves becoming cult favourites.

Charlie Rawcliffe, Music Editor

Album: Postcards From A Young Man – Manic Street Preachers

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Postcards From A Young Man is the Manic Street Preachers’ 10th studio album. In a music industry in which a band is lucky if their second album makes any kind of impression, this is a major achievement and should make the band something of a national treasure (albeit a Welsh one). So how come the Manic Street Preachers appear to have passed so many music fans by?

Postcards From A Young Man – Manic Street Preachers

Praise of the Manic Street Preachers in the media has been almost exclusively high throughout their long career. The band has achieved almost legendary status, thanks in part to a career driven by a commitment to political commentary, coupled with insightful and often highly personal lyrics. Band members James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire have both referred to Postcards From A Young Man as “one last shot at mass communication”.  Although having a reputation for often seeming pretentious, they’re allowed to be, because that’s what the Manic Street Preachers are – and have always been – about.

There is nothing to dislike about this album, it is musically coherent and aurally inoffensive. But it doesn’t excite the soul and, despite the inclusion of both a gospel choir and full orchestra on some tracks, it cannot be described as innovative. In fact the album as a whole would be better at home in the nineties.

This album is, in essence and style, very much like the nine previous albums. Therefore chances are, if you are already a fan of the Manic Street Preachers, Postcards From a Young Man will certainly live up to expectations.

Becca Luck