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Day: 8 December 2015

University network under sustained cyber attack

Written by Marcus Johns on . Posted in News.

The publicly-funded academic computer network Janet, which connects many British universities to the internet, came under a persistent cyber attack this morning. Fire services’ websites were affected too in an attack that briefly brought university’ websites, online learning environments, internet connections, essay submission services, and email systems to their knees.

The attack disrupted internet connections on The University of Manchester’s campus. The network was working intermittently but remained down on certain connections until Tuesday afternoon. Campuses across the country were affected, as Janet is responsible for the .ac.uk domains, .gov.uk domains, and the eduroam WiFi network used at the majority of universities across the country.

IT services said: “The Janet network is experiencing issues again this morning affecting a number of educational institutions including us. We’ll keep you updated.”

There is intermittent service on the campus WiFi system, eduroam. Engineers recently tweeted:

The Janet network is is funded by the public body Joint Information Systems Committee, Jisc, which tweeted about the attacks from its Jisc Major Incidents account. 

Denial of Service attacks (DoS) are malicious attempts to knock out an internet service. The most often employed tactic is flooding the target with large amounts of traffic. Flooding the service causes it to exceed its capacity, which causes the service to run slowly or become unavailable to normal users.

Despite returning to good service after the attacks began last Friday, on Monday morning the attacks had recommenced causing campus-wide issues, and the Turnitin system was inaccessible to all students—preventing some students from submitting essays within their deadline.

IT services said: “Janet, the UK organisation which provides computer network access to UK education and research services, has experienced a Denial of Service attack, resulting in a degradation of network traffic.

“Further and higher education organisations in the UK—including The University of Manchester—are connected to the Janet network. “Engineers from Jisc are implementing blocks to prevent connections from the source of the attack, while taking great care to ensure that legitimate network traffic is still accessible.

“We are being provided with more information by senior management at Jisc, and will issue updates when relevant here on StaffNet news and our social media channels, particularly Twitter @UoM_ITS.

“The occurrence of these incidents highlight the fact that issues with cyber security are a very real threat, and this further emphasises the importance of the University’s extensive cyber security programme. More about the cyber security programme can be found on the IT Services website.”

On Twitter, Jisc said they would stop updating their status page and has since stopped tweeting detailed information in response to their suspicions that attackers were using their tweets to keep ahead of Jisc engineers’ efforts to control the network.

At 14:00, Jisc Major Incidents tweeted to say that they were monitoring the situation, after an increase in traffic in the East Midlands signalled a potential further attack this afternoon

As of 15:00 on Tuesday 8th of December, the internet connections and eduroam WiFi service on most campuses, including Manchester, appeared to be online and functioning as normal.

MAP turns ten

Written by Elise Gallagher on . Posted in News.

2015 marks a decade since the Manchester Access Programme started at the University of Manchester. The Manchester Access Programme, otherwise known as MAP, was created in response to the university’s goal to recruit students who will be successful at Manchester regardless of the educational or social background they possess.

MAP is a specially structured scheme targeting local post-16 students who meet specific academic and background criteria. As well as the development of key academic skills the aim of MAP is to support the participant’s entry to Manchester, or to another research-intensive university.

During the scheme students will be given the opportunity to establish their potential through a variety of activities such as a series of personal development/skills workshops, one-to-one UCAS application guidance, and a two-day University Life conference. However, successful completion of the scheme is reliant on the completion of an academic assignment conducted under the guidance of an academic tutor at the University.

All students who successfully complete MAP will then benefit from 40 UCAS points towards their University of Manchester offer and an annual scholarship of £1,000 upon registration on a course at Manchester.

MAP targets students using criteria related to academic potential and measures of underrepresentation in Higher Education. Greater Manchester pupils wishing to qualify for MAP must meet all essential criteria. You must be in Year 12, currently studying a two-year Level 3 qualification—A-levels, BTEC qualifications, etc.—and either be living or studying in Greater Manchester. Potential participants must have attended a state secondary school. You must also have at least eight A* to C grades at GCSE including English Language and Maths. Neither of your parents have attended university and achieved an undergraduate degree or equivalent.

Priority criteria is allocated to those who live in a ‘disadvantaged’ or ‘low participation’ neighbourhood, were entitled to free school meals (FSM) at secondary school or who also may receive a 16 – 19 bursary from their current institution. Students may also have experience of Local Authority Care or attended either a secondary school where the average Key Stage 4 performance is lower than the national average, or currently attend an institution where Key Stage 5 performance is lower than the national average. You do not need to meet all criteria in order to successfully gain a place on MAP, applications are judged on a case by case basis in order for the university to support their belief of “supporting talented students.”

Application processes differ in respect to what course the student is hoping to study. Students hoping to study medicine, dentistry, or pharmacy have a more competitive process. As the three courses are highly popular there are a restricted number of places.

If you are interested in pursuing one of these subjects at university, you must have achieved the minimum entry requirements at GCSE (or equivalent), in order for your application to be considered further for that particular subject strand.

It is important to note that if you apply for the Pharmacy subject strand of MAP, and then decide partway through the programme that you want to apply for Medicine or Dentistry at Manchester instead, you will not qualify for the 40 MAP UCAS points towards entry. Alternatively, if you successfully gain a place on the Medicine, Dentistry or Pharmacy strand of MAP, and then decide you want to apply for a different course altogether, you will still be eligible for 40 UCAS points towards entry onto any other course at Manchester. Applicants for courses other than Medicine, Dentistry or Pharmacy will be eligible for the deduction of 40 UCAS points towards entry for their favoured subject.

MAP is a key initiative which sole aim is to promote progression to the University of Manchester or any other competitive institution for those who may more obstacles than some on their pursuit for higher education. The vast majority of successful MAP students go on to become student ambassadors which help with the overall MAP experience as well as take potential students on tours around the campus whilst at the same time gaining invaluable material for their CVs.

Applications are open for 2016. Regarding any queries contact: [email protected].

Review: The Pit

Written by Annabel Cartwright on . Posted in Theatre.

The Drama Society’s 2015 Autumn Showcase has brought forward a new body of student-written work, reminding Manchester theatre-goers the importance of paying attention to the work of young, emerging playwrights.

As the successful careers of a number of University of Manchester alumni serve to prove, it would be a great crime to underestimate the potential talent of current student artists. Particularly relevant evidence of the success of alumni is the recent run of Alistair McDowell’s play Pomona at the Royal Exchange Theatre, having previously been performed at the National Theatre and the Orange Tree Theatre.

Perhaps following in McDowell’s footsteps might be playwright Tom Mackintosh and the cohort of theatre-makers who worked alongside him in producing the play The Pit, recently performed in the Council Chambers of the Students’ Union. Surprisingly, one of the great triumphs of this play is in its illogical plot and nonsensical style. Boasting clear resonances of Beckett’s Endgame and Waiting for Godot, The Pit delightfully and accurately reinvigorates absurdism. In a sudden injection of normality amidst confusion, Mackintosh reinforces the messages that Beckett and his contemporaries endeavoured to project to their own audiences in an inventive and thought-provoking way.

The Pit opens, develops and closes in a pit. Diggers work all day under a disconcertingly anonymous regime, unaware of why they must dig, when they began digging, or when they might be allowed to stop digging. In a repetitive, meaningless universe that is neither up nor down, there is no knowledge of anything ‘else’. When a woman from ‘our’ world gets dropped into the mix, the diggers are jolted from their daily routine, and begin asking questions that no digger has thought to ask before.

Bringing the principle duo of diggers, Garf and Crid, to life, were the charismatic and wonderfully comedic Sam Ebner-Landy and Oliver Robert-Vale. Perfectly cast, these two actors set themselves apart from the rest, giving tender and complex representations of two exceedingly disturbed characters. The entire cast of The Pit must also be commended for their emotional and physical commitment to the production. The sheer energy and power with which the actors approached their roles was remarkable to behold.

Much like reading an epic poem, The Pit was exhausting yet entirely absorbing to experience. Whilst perhaps excessively drawn out during the first half of the play, the plot remained interesting and intriguing. Undeniably, the various designers had much to do with the overall success of the play. The effective deployment of extensive audio-visual effects was impressive, and the artistic direction by Cecilia Wray was thoughtful and detailed, and rounded off the microcosmic world of the play perfectly. The use of timeworn papers and magazines among the mud and filth of the pit bolstered the sense of timelessness that is so key to the text.

With the Drama Society’s showcase drawing to an end, anticipation begins to build for its next series of plays to be performed during the Manchester In-Fringe Theatre Awards season in the new year. Manchester theatre-goers can only hope that the Drama Society’s productions continue to simultaneously challenge audience expectations whilst inspiring potential McDowells to bring their work to life.

Government to cut disabled students’ funding

Written by Eve Foster on . Posted in News.

From 2016, the government will be cutting funding for disabled students, expecting universities to take on this responsibility themselves.

Currently, the government offers Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs), non-repayable grants provided to disabled students through universities to pay for various different forms of support, consisting of specialist equipment including computers and voice recorders; support workers such as sighted guides, note takers, readers, and study coaches; and additional travel costs.

However, after a consultation on DSAs, Minister for Universities and Science Jo Johnson announced that although some specialist support would still be paid for by the government, such as sighted guides to help students around campus, Higher Education institutions themselves would have to cover the costs of non-medical support staff, such as note-takers and readers. There will also be a decrease in the amount of funding offered for equipment and specialist accommodation.

According to the minister’s report, spending on DSAs has risen by 44 per cent between 2009/10 and 2012/13. During 2009/10, £101.3 million was granted to 47,400 students, but by 2012/13 this had increased to £145.8 million to 64,500 students. The increase can be linked to an increasing number of disabled students attending university and disclosing their disabilities.

In a written statement, Johnson stated that the move is to “ensure that the limited public funding available for DSAs is targeted in the best way,” and “to rebalance responsibilities between government funding and institutional support.” He pointed out that: “There is widespread agreement that Higher Education providers should discharge their duties under the [2010 Equality Act] to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate disabled students, as other organizations and businesses do.”

A spokesperson for the University of Manchester said: “The government first announced these changes to the Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA) in April last year, and have just released their response to a sector-wide consultation this week. Now that we have confirmation of the extent of the changes to some support worker provision, the university is planning how we will respond and continue to support disabled students. We see this as a positive opportunity to build on the provision for disabled students and to continue to meet our legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and will be consulting with colleagues and students via the Disability Consultative Group over the coming months.”

However, others have been more concerned, particularly about the consistency of support offered across higher education institutes, worrying that students at different universities might not receive equal support. The NUS suggested that smaller institutions with a higher proportion of disabled students might suffer a greater financial burden.

There are also fears that deaf students will be adversely affected, because although sighted guides will be funded by the DSAs, note-takers will not. Susan Daniels, chief executive of the National Deaf Children’s Society, said: “We are bitterly disappointed that the government has announced it will cut Disabled Students’ Allowance, which is a lifeline for so many deaf students at university. Deaf students desperately need support such as note takers because they cannot lip-read a lecturer or follow a sign language interpreter and take notes at the same time. Deaf young people are telling us they feel the government is intent on making it more difficult for them to go to university.”

Hola Gary Neville!

Written by Will Kelly on . Posted in Sport.

Former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville has been named as Valencia’s Head Coach until the end of the season. His brother Phil, who joined the Spanish club as assistant manager in July, will stay on the coaching staff. The lads from Bury are swapping Bury’s rain and famous oven bottoms for sun and paella.

Neville’s appointment has promoted to a spectacular new level his own and his four Class of ’92 Manchester United teammates’ partnership with the Spanish club’s owner, the Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim. The five are financially backed by him in their hotel and property projects and the ownership of Salford City Football Club.

Despite the business links, it’s still a surprise appointment, bearing in mind Neville will be taking the helm at one of Spain’s biggest football clubs. He does not know the Spanish League, doesn’t speak Spanish and has no managerial experience.

Even Neville himself has admitted that as a pundit he would have been sceptical about his appointment at Valencia, but insisted that, had he not taken the job at the Mestalla when it was offered to him on Sunday night, he would have lost his credibility. He said he had previously turned down other positions in football but that, after four years talking about managers on television, it was time to get off the sofa and prove he could be a manager, too.

It’s certainly an amazing opportunity for him but also, presents a brave decision. Whether he is auditioning for the England job or merely doing celebrity work experience, he will have to wrestle with his new surroundings. During his first press conference, Neville remained calm and assertive. He insisted that it would be an insult to Valencia to say he has come here to play the “Manchester United way”. Instead, he spoke of his admiration of the “Valencia way”, and it’s this style he will have to play if he is to become successful as manager, for Valencia is a club far away from Neville’s rose tinted image of United.

During David Moyes’s disastrous reign at Manchester United, Neville was his greatest defender during his punditry at Sky. He called for United to give Moyes more time, saying that “as a club they stand against the immediacy of modern life.” However, no club is more about the immediacy of modern life than Valencia.

Previous Valencia coach Nuno Espírito Santo left the Mestalla after fans turned on him as a symbol of an increasingly unpopular regime headed by Lim, and advised by well-known football agent, Peter Mendes. Having bought 70 per cent of the club in 2014 and steering them away from financial difficulty, Lim filled the team with Mendes’ clients, including the manager and Nicolas Otamendi. The plan worked and Valencia propelled into fourth place and qualified for the Champions League in the 2014/2015 season. Otamendi secured a big money move to Manchester City.

However, despite sending £60 million this season, the team currently sits in 9th place. After longstanding rumours of dressing room discord, and subpar on-field performances, even being a Mendes client wasn’t enough to save Nuno’s job.

Mendes’s influence was so deeply felt at Valencia that the club’s president, Layhoon Chan, actually had to explicitly deny that Mendes was Valencia’s sporting director in the wake of fan’s protests. The club also felt the need to distance itself from Mendes to declare that the next manager would not be one of his clients.

Respected football pundit Ruben Uria wrote in his Eurosport column that Neville would have to listen to the club’s famously demanding supporters if he were to succeed. “There are those who believe that Gary can only improve on what he is inheriting from Nuno”, Uria wrote. “There are those who believe that Lim has shot himself in the foot once again and those who see him as a patch until a more prestigious coach is appointed next summer”.

Certainly there have been a few rumors that Valencia will attempt to lure José Mourinho to the club in the summer. Neville insists he has come into the job thinking for the long term, but it will be interesting if he will receive the level of patience and time he asked Manchester United to give to Moyes. He is certainly going to need time to adjust to his new surroundings in order to put out the fires behind the scenes and improve the team. Despite their struggles this season, the club is still in the Champions League, with a good chance to progress if they beat Lyon next week. And they’re only five points behind Celta Vigo, who are in fourth place in La Liga.

Despite speaking about the difficulties of settling into a new country for an inexperienced manager, it is still an amazing opportunity for Neville. He is certainly spoken of very highly amongst the England players he works with, and has revolutionized football analysis in England forever. How Monday Night Football will mourn his loss; and certainly Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler, who has worked with Neville on many an occasion, hopes it isn’t the last time that they have worked together.

Neville has been endorsed by his former manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who has spoken about Neville’s attributes that suggest he will be successful in management. He told Sky Sports: “His leadership skills are strong, he’s honest and he’s hard working. He is the type of character who is not afraid of making a big decision, which is a vital skill when leading.”

Interestingly enough, Neville told the press that he had not consulted Sir Alex for advice and had taken the decision himself. When comparing this to Moyes at Manchester United, it was reported that Moyes would seek Ferguson’s advice on a number of occasions. After being recently sacked in Span, it was reported that Moyes had not properly assimilated himself by not learning the language and also wrestled with Real Sociedad’s club policy of only playing players from the Basque region. Neville already in his press conference displayed a willingness to assimilate himself. He joked that he can’t yet find a Spanish teacher that will teach him at 6 in the morning but also spoke how he will be loyal to the players he already has, and that they have every right to fight for that shirt. It appears that already Neville is doing the right things needed.

Time will tell how he will get on, but one thing for sure is Manchester United will be surely keeping an eye on how he is getting on. If he does well, there is a very big chance that he will be wanted back at Old Trafford as manager at some point.

Review: The Good Dinosaur

Written by Alasdair Bayman on . Posted in Film.

What if the meteorite that hit Earth 65 million years ago and destroyed the dinosaurs…missed? Would the world as we know it even exist? Pixar’s second film of the year, and ancestor to the specular Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, plays with this idea in the utmost imaginary way. The very least you would expect from the animated studio kings. The consequences of the non-extinction towards these reptilian creatures leads to their domination at the top of the food chain, with humanity inferior and commonly referred to as ‘wilderness critters’. The premise of the film is second to none, only conceptualized by Lasseter and co. Nonetheless, the innovation that is so synonymous with Disney’s sister studio stops at its foremost blueprint.

Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) is a young Apatosaurus, and is part of an agrarian family in an idyllic home at the base of Clawtooth mountain—an ominous set of three snowy peaks. He is unlike his brother and sister, who are well-machined parts of their group. His inability to find a place in the agricultural landscape leads towards pressure to make his mark on his kin. An opportunity is presented, however, when one ‘critter’ is caught in a trap; this animalistic creature is Spot, a canine-like human. Growling and howling through his screen time, this little enigmatic thing shines in every scene. Revering the stereotypical dog and boy story—as established by classics like Lassie—Sohn enables his characters to evolve into a pastiche of this narrative framework.

As always with Pixar, the animation is breathtaking. The palette of colours in the environment might possibly be the most lifelike ever portrayed on screen. A use of the scope of these forests, mountains etc. is only used in the background of scenes. Within panning and wide shots, they in themselves are untouched by man and dinosaur alike. But with these fascinating works comes the heavy emphasis of cartoon-animated creatures. The binary between the two is a little distracting at times, but to a child’s eye, this may not be so.

The problematic development process of The Good Dinosaur has been well-documented with a total re-development of the story, and even a change of directors from Bob Peterson to Peter Sohn, plus a total re-cast. The likes of Neil Patrick Harris, John Lithgow, Judy Greer and Bill Hader were all removed for Jeffery Wright and Steve Zahn. This re-direction is clearly evident in the simply formulaic structure, harking to such classics as The Lion King. An initial release date of 2013 was set, and it should have avoided being released after Pete Docter’s Inside Out, which is in contention for Best Feature Film at this year’s Oscars.

Unlike many other of Pixar’s films, the thematic undertones of the work could propose a problem for very young children. Fear, death and loneliness are all challenges to be overcome by Arlo. In particular, during my screening, numerous smaller children were carried out in wailing fashion. These themes are prevalent in life itself, of course; however, they may possibly be a little overwhelming for younger children. This is not to say that the film does not deliver joyous comical moments between the two central characters (one including a Dumbo-esque psychedelic sequence through the consumption of a strange fruit).

Whatever feature is released by Pixar, they will always hold a special place in pop culture’s heart. Even the supposed lesser films like Brave, Cars and Monsters University have all found resonance to certain children and adults alike. This, given time, will also apply to The Good Dinosaur (even if the short film, Sanjay’s Super Team, that shows before the main event, is slightly better than the former). The rise of animation as an art form should be taken seriously by the Academy and critics alike; not simply branded as child’s play.

Thankfully, Arlo and Spot are not quite as extinct as in real life.

3/5

Album: Oneohtrix Point Never – Garden of Delete

Written by Helena Ross on . Posted in Music.

Released 13th November via Warp Records

10/10

Oneohtrix Point Never’s latest release Garden of Delete is something remarkable. In contrast to 2013’s R Plus Seven, which was one of the year’s most exciting releases but not necessarily one of its best, the first thing to stand out is how coherent and well-structured it is. R Plus Seven felt like a fascinating skeleton made from new and exciting ideas without muscle to hold it together, whereas Garden of Delete is an equally inventive but more fully-fleshed beast.

The other thing that stands out about Garden of Delete is the range of genres tangled inside it. Metal is probably the most apparent, especially considering the alternate history Daniel Lopatin created to go with the album featuring the fictional band Kaoss Edge, but there’s plenty of others—Lopatin has made use of synthesised vocals before but here they’ve moved from dreamy synth choirs towards the sugary, uncanny sounds of Japanese Vocaloid software. The stuttering, violent drum breaks that punctuate the record are all too familiar to me as someone whose passion for electronic music comes filtered through the rawness of gabber and breakcore.

All of these influences are united in how ‘uncool’ they are: ones for which you self-consciously switched on ‘Show what I’m listening to’ on MSN to show how cool you were aged 15, but would cringe to have a friend find in your library now. Nevertheless, they’re the sounds of one’s first attempts at self-expression through music.

Garden of Delete is teenaged awkwardness as high art, and it works because of its sincerity. The gloss of ironic detachment that, for better or worse, covers every PC Music release’s references to J-Pop and Clubland anthems is absent here; every surprising turn is nestled comfortably into the bleak, synaesthetic soundscapes that—as much as one could come up with a ‘Oneohtrix sound’ between 2007 and now—make up the ‘Oneohtrix sound’. Momentarily, the 8 minutes of ‘Mutant Standard’ incorporate a sequence that powerfully conjures up the trancey BGM of Tekken 5, and god knows how many hours were spent mastering it, in a way that leaves me sure it’s an experience Lopatin and I shared.

There’s no point in trying to retcon your adolescence into something cool—it is always difficult, and it is always embarrassing. At the same time, it sets up a huge amount of who you will grow into. I often wish, listening to new music, for a way to recapture the excitement of my first time hearing a breakcore or grime beat: something that made me think “I didn’t know music could do that”. It’s a feeling that inevitably gets rarer the more music you listen to, yet Garden of Delete manages to revisit those moments. It’s not the same, but the point of those moments is they’ll never come back again.

Live: London Souls

Written by Liam Killeen on . Posted in Music.

London Souls opened for Catfish and the Bottlemen. I was pleasantly surprised to be confronted with actual rock here, with both members of London Souls looking like they had stepped straight out of the 70’s and were trying to blend in. They managed to captivate a teenage audience interested in pop-rock with classic blues rock, and, taking into consideration that there were only the two of them, this was a feat in itself. However, although extremely accomplished musicians, the duo lack an artistic edge, and I feel as though this could be down to there being just the two of them; maybe if the London Souls had more of a musical range…they would have more definable style.

With a quick, “we’re the London Souls!”, frontman Tash Neal crashed into the set, covering their heavier songs straight away. With songs like ‘Honey’, ‘Alone’ and ‘Crimson Revival’ it felt like a band who have been influenced to such a degree by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Cream that it crossed into the realms of copycat. The song that stuck out most in their set was ‘Steady’, which, although slightly reminiscent of The Beatles’ White Album in style, also felt the most original. Often, their set felt a bit overbearing for the audience, with a few going to get drinks, but the vast majority stayed and seemed to give the support their attention. What really set them apart during their set was the amount of texture they managed to achieve with just an ES-335 and a kit. The high gain guitar and crashing drums as well as the dual lead vocals made for a musical battle between the duo on stage.

Both Chris St. Hilaire and Tash Neal are incredible musicians in their own right, and although this may be a wonderful surprise as a support act, it’s debatable whether it will ever be a headlining act. Their set felt like a well-practised Jimi Hendrix Experience tribute band, at times, with many songs blending into each other. They gave a very energetic and textured performance but, apart from reminding a few of the oldies in their crowd of some of their favourite rock and roll songs, they didn’t really make much of an impact.

Taking into consideration that their debut album, Here Come the Girls, only came out earlier this year along with their band member switches, it’s easy to see that this is a band getting to grips with their sound. What currently feels like a copycat band may grow into something more stylised as time goes on.

 

Live: Warehouse Project – Circus

Written by Matthew Staite on . Posted in Music.

21st November

Store Street

6/10

Yousef brought his Circus back to Manchester last Saturday for what promised to be another fantastic Warehouse Project. While there was much anticipation around headliner Dusky, their disappointing set was blown out of the water by other acts on the night.

Entering the Warehouse, we were greeted with a warm welcome of heavy beats from Dense and Pika. Apart from a late drop of Doomwork’s ‘Marmalade’, their set wasn’t the most imaginative. However, they did well in filling out the dance floor and building anticipation for Dusky, in what sadly proved to be a wasted effort. As our recent interview feature and review of last year’s Albert Hall show from Circus prove, we’re fans of Dusky here at The Mancunion. Last year’s Albert Hall show saw Dusky carefully build up the crowd’s mood, before dipping into some choice cuts of their repertoire.

Now, I am certainly not one to expect a DJ to play a show the same as the last, or only play their own music, but the dark, brooding and industrial approach that Dusky took with this show was nowhere near as clever or fun. Taking a more techy and glitchy approach, the duo spurned their more dancey tracks such as ‘Inta’ or ‘Yoohoo’, and instead chose the rather grating ‘Squeezer’. Their as-yet-unreleased track ‘Lydia’ did raise a reaction from a slightly disappointed crowd, but it felt too little to late.

Thankfully, Dutch DJ Joris Voorn stepped in to save the day, playing a b2b set with Kölsch not originally advertised on the lineup. This set proved to be an absolute treat, both for the crowd, and for the DJ’s who were visibly having a lot of fun behind the decks. What started as minimalist compositions evolved into frenetic sounds that sent the Warehouse wild, such as Voorn’s keyboard-fueled mix of ‘Sonic Highway’.

To these tracks, Kölsch responded with soulful house or disco, which proved to be the perfect counterbalance. His own track ‘Goldfisch’ was the sure highlight of the whole night; extending it to well over ten minutes, its euphoric feel transported the crowd to well beyond the confines of Store Street. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end; the disco-infused ‘Finally’ by King of Tomorrow proved a great ending to a sterling set. Huge cheers of appreciation from the crowd saw the duo windmill their towels in salute.

Deciding to move into the smaller confines of Room 2 to wind down the night, I was pleasantly surprised by the music there. The end of Subb-An’s set was strong, as was the surprisingly energetic closing set by Nastia. Despite being pretty industrial (at one point overlaying lairy gunshot effects akin to German DJ Barnt), her set energized a flagging crowd.

Live: Death Cab for Cutie

Written by Liam Killeen on . Posted in Music.

3rd November 2015

Manchester Academy

8/10

When Death Cab for Cutie started playing, I wondered how what are essentially a time-capsuled band of teenage angst could still be managing to do a world tour at big venues. When I looked at the crowd around me, it soon became apparent why; this was a crowd of aged, loyalist fans who had related to Death Cab’s music at some point, and not left since.

The set was kicked off with the first of many moody, yet atmospheric, songs about the futility concomitant with pursuing a girl, ‘No Room in Frame’. With added help from Zac Rae and Dave Depper, each on keys and guitar, the band managed to account for the loss of founding member Chris Walla with ease. The band sounded startlingly like their studio recordings—not much was added in terms of crowd interactions. The setlist was jerky in terms of coherence, with them going from the sullen, stripped back ‘I Will Follow You Into The Dark’ to the much more instrumentally dense and heavy, ‘I Will Possess Your Heart.’

What the set did lack in order, it made up for in longevity as well as an attention to the crowd’s wants, even if brought across in a muddled way. Covering material from all of their eight studio albums, every member of the crowd was appeased, regardless of when they had joined the Death Cab train.

Although the lyrics felt emotively repetitive, the music can definitely be said to have progressed live with their new album Kintsugi (Japanese art of fixing broken ceramics, also a reference to being love sick) being much less guitar-centric. Crowd interaction could have been better from the band, with little-to-no breaks inbetween bundles of songs that didn’t really mesh well. Even though this powering through the setlist did highlight the aged band’s energy, it did also feel as though this was routine, with no spontaneity or unusual song choices. The most that frontman Ben Gibbard offered in terms of interaction to the crowd was a complaint that the towel he had been given “didn’t hold moisture like a towel should.”

Death Cab for Cutie have progressed live and remained unusually stagnant as artists, whether this is down to recent band member alterations or just simply that they’re a one-trick pony is anybody’s guess. They are the perfect nostalgia band; they will always be as good as you remember them.

Live: Kagoule

Written by Zakk Brown on . Posted in Music.

Soup Kitchen – 20/11/2015

Kagoule have taken the D.I.Y alternative rock scene by storm. If their debut album Urth wasn’t enough to make you see why, then their live performances certainly will be. The Nottingham trio open with ‘Adjust The Way’, setting the mood for their unique sound with its sci-fi style guitar on the verses, the fuzzy intro, and whiplash-inducing pace changes out the track. The stage, soaked in strong coloured lights, also underpins the sci-fi element throughout the set. The band is clearly well suited to underground—literally, in Soup Kitchen’s case—venues. I struggle to imagine how well their alien vibe would be captured in a big venue, without the intimacy of being in a small room being attacked by the intense bass, and drowned in light as if you’re inside the mothership.

The band’s presence on the stage perfectly complements the music they play, oscillating between Cai’s spaced-out presence on the slower, almost paranoia-inducing sections, and Lucy and Lawrence’s frantic movements during their rhythms that often reach breakneck paces at the flick of a switch. This is most prominent on tracks like ‘Gush’, ‘Glue’ and ‘Centralwing’. There are moments of reprieve however, with Lucy taking over on vocals at about the midway point of the set with ‘Made of Concrete’, a more relaxed but equally as unique track. They also attempted to end on the transcendental ‘It Knows It’, a fitting end, but were coerced by the fans (myself included) shouting for more. The final taste in the fans mouths leaving the venue was instead the sub 2 minute thrasher ‘Empty Mug’, which sent the otherwise laidback crowd into an eruption of mosh pits.

Kagoule showed that they are able to have a variety of songs but while also keeping true to their own sci-fi brand of alt rock. They also demoed a new track—they said they’ve only played it 4 times—and if it’s any indicator of things to come, then we can expect great things from them in the future.

8/10

Live: The Fratellis

Written by Zakk Brown on . Posted in Music.

Academy 2 – 16/11/2015

It’s easy to overlook anything by The Fratellis that isn’t off Costello Music, although admittedly there isn’t much else to look at by them. That is until listening to their latest album Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied. While it won’t be making anyone’s album of the year list, it has some decent enough tracks to at least refresh their career. The band suit their transition into more mature, subtle, Dad-rock style Americana fairly well (even their album logo has changed to an adult font from the garish bubble-writing of days gone by).

Costello Music is evidently still adored by anyone who has ever experienced adolescence in the 2000’s; with massive choruses of ‘Flathead’, ‘Baby Fratelli’, ‘Whistle For the Choir’ and of course ‘Chelsea Dagger’ being obvious fan favourites. Most of the audience knew that they were only there to jump up and down while chanting to ‘Chelsea Dagger’. The band knew this as well, attempting to leave the stage early and make the audience anticipate it in the encore, but were called back out before a minute was up because due to the aggressive chanting of the crowd.

However, while the Glaswegians do still enjoy playing their older indie bangers, the character of the band no longer seems to match the character of that material. Instead, they now seem better-suited to their newer sound, having a more adult presence on the stage. ‘Adult’ is probably the best way to describe The Fratellis in their current state, now having a pianist on tour with them who has essentially saved the band. The addition of a piano gives tracks off the new album this grown-up edge, making album opener ‘Me and The Devil’ sound more grandiose and even epic—a word I never thought I’d use to describe The Fratellis. Unfortunately, the bass didn’t feel like it was turned up loud enough to give some songs a real force. It was sorely lacking on the Stevie Wonder-esque ‘Dogtown’, where it was needed to underpin the funk rhythm, but just wasn’t there.

Although the band is far from greatness, their early work has enough energy to make even the most stoic of musical snobs want to jump up and down and shout the various ‘do’s’ ‘la’s’ and ‘ba’s’ in ‘Chelsea Dagger’ and ‘Flathead’. Their newer work also has enough character to drag them out of their slump of stagnant second and third album work, suggesting that there might still be enough life in the band for them to continue as an Americana-style group.

6/10

The Coffee Column: Foundation

Written by Andrew Wells on . Posted in Food & Drink, Uncategorised.

On Lever Street, in the Northern Quarter, is the Grade-II listed ‘Sevendale House’. This former Edwardian warehouse is the home of Foundation Coffee House: possibly the largest coffee shop that I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting.

Everything about Foundation seems to point towards the history of Manchester, or I could just be making over-reaching analyses. The designers have knocked through two units of the building to create a spacious, open plan set up fitted with furnishings that appear to be a tasteful nod to the historic, industrial foundations upon which Manchester is built. This seems to be evident in the naked industrial lighting, metal work, and tiled walls that emulate the public houses of the industrial era. There are organic finishes to soften the starkness in the form of wooden, hexagonal tables that conjure up thoughts of a beehive; bees are also a symbol of the work ethic of the city that has ties back to the industrial past.

The location of the shop is ideal, just a short walk round the corner from Piccadilly Gardens and Market Street whilst also being on a much quieter street itself so that you still get a break from the bustling crowds.

Behind the counter, Foundation serves some excellent coffee and great baked products. Even when my own coffee cooled a little too much, after getting distracted by the copious amounts of reading I had to catch up on, it still tasted pretty good. A simple, classic flavour done well which seems to be Foundation’s raison d’être. The shop as a whole and the produce that it serves is all really straight-forward with very little fuss, but contained within this simplicity is fantastic quality—and all for a reasonable price.

Of course, like all the coffee shops this column has reviewed so far, there is still an array of teas and soft drinks to choose from if coffee has yet to make a positive impression on your palette. Foundation has followed the vegan zeitgeist of alternative dairy products, with almond milk, coconut and cold pressed juices for those looking to feed their bodies with nutrients. The matcha coconut latte is really something special and unrivalled. However, if you’re going to have a coffee anywhere, this is the place to start trying the delightful taste that the coffee bean has to offer as the espresso here has such a mellow aroma. Plus, if you want to ease into it then cucumber-flavoured water (and unflavoured water) is available to smooth off any bitter edge.

With the vast and stark space that Foundation has taken over, you do lose that bit of cosiness which other smaller coffee shops can provide. However, if you want space to do work or somewhere to pause for coffee after a bit of Christmas shopping, then this is an ideal spot for you.