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Month: March 2016

Review: An Evening With The Voices In Annie’s Head

Every year the University of Manchester Drama Society offers new theatre-making opportunities to students from all degree levels and subject departments as part of the Manchester In-Fringe Theatre Awards (MIFTAs). This year, An Evening With The Voices In Annie’s Head, a play written and directed by third-year music and drama student Sarah Teale, tackled pertinent contemporary issues surrounding young people and mental health.

Annie is a shy university student who can barely interact with her best friend, let alone the rest of the world. While her mouth remains firmly shut, her brain fizzes with activity. The contrasting worlds of Annie’s imagination and reality reveal to audiences why one should never judge a book by its cover. Annie handles her daily experiences and thoughts by imagining she is being interviewed and advised by two exuberant and boisterous television show hosts, Ken and Kendra Kenderson. As Annie becomes increasingly troubled by the influence Ken and Kendra have over her life and behaviour, she attempts to resist them and ignore their consistent cruel commentary. Teale’s play is a hyperbolic enactment of the inner experiences of an anxiety sufferer. Illuminating and thought-provoking, An Evening With The Voices In Annie’s Head is a disturbing reminder of how silently destructive mental health disorders can be.

The concept underpinning Teale’s play is complex and clever. It is inherently difficult to present on stage the intricate thought processes and complex goings-on of the human brain, yet Teale created the perfect framing device by which to put across the feelings of self-judgement and self-analysis that come with anxiety in her portrayal of Ken and Kendra. Scenes depicting Annie’s real-life experiences are interspersed with scenes presenting her being interviewed and interrogated by the presenters in her mind. As the play goes on, Annie becomes increasingly overwhelmed by her own feelings of self-doubt, to the point where she responds to Ken and Kendra’s criticisms out loud in front of her friends. The energy and wit of the two fictional characters that live in Annie’s head demonstrate Annie’s innate creativity and strength of character. Presented in contrast with the painfully awkward conversations Annie has with her friends, the crippling and repressive nature of anxiety come to light.

As premiere performances of student writing, MIFTA productions cannot be expected to be without fault. While Teale certainly succeeded in putting her overall point across about the profoundly harmful nature of mental health disorders, the execution was not flawless. The play was lengthy and overly drawn-out. While this added to the initial impact of scenes depicting the awkwardness Annie feels during social situations, the point had been firmly communicated far before the end of the play. The lengthy silences between sentences became painful in a less evocative way, and it became difficult to retain interest in the plight of the characters. Ken and Kendra were depicted in scene after scene relentlessly breaking Annie’s spirit, consequently their words became less and less shocking and intimidating as the audience became used to hearing their streams of cutting insults. The play often lacked a sense of plot progression and the audience’s interest in the piece was not consistently suspended. It seemed that Teale’s point might have come across more successfully in a concise one-act structure.

The acting and design aspects were well-executed, and the performances of Dominic Varney and Mia Nuttgens as Ken and Kendra Kenderson were particularly memorable. The characters were portrayed with unnerving convincingness, striking genuine fear into the hearts of the audience on behalf of Annie. Despite the use of minimal set, a massive contrast was clearly struck between the two separate worlds of Annie’s experience. This revealed a real ingenuity on the part of Sarah Teale and producer, Georgia Affonso.

Whilst certainly not flawless, An Evening With The Voices In Annie’s Head was hard-hitting and emotive. As with each of the plays presented as part of the MIFTAs this year, Teale’s play was a wonderful demonstration of the ever-evident potential of up-and-coming student theatre-makers in Manchester.

Review: Footloose

The casting of minor celebrities in popular musicals has become common practice, broadening the appeal of theatrical productions to both regular theatregoers and theatre novices. Often this decision results in box office success, but uninspiring overall performances. Frankly, the marketing of the most recent tour of Footloose centred around the casting of ex-Pop Idol contestant, Gareth Gates. However this did not inspire an optimistic outlook on the production, although I did try to retain an open mind when taking my seat in the Palace Theatre in March.

Footloose is the story of a group of teenagers battling to change rules which prohibit dancing in the small American town, Bomont. Ren, a free-spirited and misunderstood young man moves to Bomont with his mother after his parents’ divorce and demonstrates to his new friends the importance of leaving the past behind, and moving with the times. The musical is interspersed with upbeat rock ‘n’ roll songs which had the audience dancing in their seats.

This production was incredibly enjoyable and successfully reversed my outlook on celebrity casting. Gareth Gates proved the sceptics wrong in his role as Ren’s loveable and dim-witted best friend, Willard. He acted with a perfect balance of humour and sensitivity, never over-playing the comic aspects of the role. The songs and dances were performed with expert skill and power, leaving spectators in fits of laughter and shouting for encores, which he generously provided.

The design by Sara Perks was clever and appropriate, giving an overall sense of the rural setting, while being easily adaptable for quick scene changes. The simplicity of the revolving scenery helped keep the audience submerged in the plot, creating a seamless flow between key moments in the story.

Unfortunately, the part of Ren was played by Luke Baker’s understudy, Thomas Cotran, on the press night, whose performance was disappointingly lacklustre. Cotran’s voice was often obscured by the accompanying instrumental music, something which could have been dismissed as a technical issue, rather than a lack of ability on the actor’s part, were it not for the perfect clarity with which each other cast member’s voice could be heard. The lyrics of the musical’s most famous songs, including the title song, were almost inaudible.

Footloose’s actor-musician cast was the element which really underpinned the success of the musical. The extremely skilled instrumentalists stood their ground, exuding energy and sheer enjoyment as they energetically danced around the stage. The use of actor-musicians in place of a band or orchestra gave the production an immersive feel, as the story and music worked in unison, neither distracting from the other.

The 2016 tour of Footloose might seem like a show meant for audiences of children and fans of the classic 80s film adaptation, however the remarkable performances of all involved, and attention to detail in the design aspects, make for a sophisticated and impressive performance which may be enjoyed by a diverse audience.

Four male students stand trial accused of rape at university ball

Four male students are standing trial for allegedly raping a woman during an annual university ball.

The alleged rape took place during the End of Year ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in May 2014.

The four male students—Thady Duff, Leon Mahon, Patrick Foster, and James Martin—deny all the charges they face, which were all allegedly committed against the same woman.

The jury at Gloucester Crown Court, made up of six men and six women, were sworn in this week and told that the prosecution, led by barrister Fiona Elder, would open their case on Wednesday the 30th of March.

They were also told that they would be shown graphic video footage as evidence in the trial. Judge Jamie Tabor QC addressed the jury: “This case concerns sexual activity on a ball night at the Royal Agricultural University. Some of that was filmed.

“This is going to be what we call adult pornographic material—very short in length—to be watched.

“If any of you feel uncomfortable with that please put your hand up.”

Duff, 22, of Swindon, Wiltshire, denies three charges of rape. He also denies one charge of sexual assault against the same woman, an act that was allegedly carried out in October 2013.

Mahon, 22, of Cirencester, denies three charges of rape and two of assault by penetration. Foster, 22, of Colchester, Essex, denies one charge of rape and two of assault by penetration. Martin, 20, of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, denies one charge of rape.

Founded in 1845, the Royal Agricultural University was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world, and in 2015 it had a student body of 1,185 students, studying across 30 undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes.

Formerly known as the Royal Agricultural College, it gained university status in 2013.

In the same year, it was named the safest university in the South West by the Complete University Guide.

The trial continues.

Home Office liable for the wrongful deportation of 48,000 students from the UK

The Home Office and Theresa May have been found liable in court of wrongfully deporting almost 50,000 students since 2014 who they believed to have fraudulently passed English language tests in order to study in the UK.

In 2014, the Home Office took drastic action after a BBC Panorama documentary exposed an East London school to be fraudulently passing students who sat the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC)—a test carried out by students wanting a visa to study in the UK. After the documentary was broadcast, the Home Office revoked the licenses of over sixty institutions, and detained and removed over 48,000 students who had allegedly passed their TOEIC.

This week, the case has reared its head again as the Upper Tribunal (Asylum and Immigration) ruled that the Home Secretaries’ actions were based on evidence that included “multiple frailties and shortcomings.” The President Honourable Mr Justice McCloskey, said: “The evidence adduced on behalf of the Secretary of State emerged paled and heavily weakened by the examination to which it was subjected… In the sporting world, a verdict of ‘no contest’ would have been appropriate at this juncture.”

Adding to evidence that the Home Office made a hasty decision, Justice McCloskey noted that there was no evidence from any English Testing Service (ETS) witness, a US firm the that Home Office had contracted for overseas students seeking a study visa.

Last week The Mancunion reported Emmaculate Tshuma’s story, an 18-year-old University of Manchester student who is currently facing the threat of deportation back to her home country, Zimbabwe, where she suffered physical and sexual abuse. Her experience of how the Home Office treated her through deportation shares similarities to witnesses of deportations in 2014. The Hindu Times reported that “students were rounded up in dawn raids and taken to deportation centres, carrying only the clothes they were wearing.” The report continues, “Students had to return home in disgrace—their money having been spent, their courses remaining incomplete and with the badge of ‘cheat’ on them.”

The court ruling could mean that those who were faced with this punishment may be offered a chance to return to the UK to finish their courses, as a way to claim compensation from the actions of the Home Office.

A spokesperson from the Home Office has responded: “The investigation into the abuse of English language testing in 2014 revealed extremely serious, large scale, organised fraud.

“We are very disappointed by the decision and are awaiting a copy of the full determination to consider next steps including an appeal. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

Live: Submotion Orchestra

Gorilla

24th March 2016

8/10

Rudely, we considered missing the support act and going in straight for Submo at half past eight – because you know, time is just so precious these days. However, when memories of Catching Flies’ ‘Stay Forever’ came revolving back as it looped repeatedly in a fume filled hall of residence in first year, I thought it right that we indeed caught the flies.

Catching Flies is a 23 year old DJ from London and is the perfect sound to precede the main act’s ambient mix of dub, jazz and instrumental electronica. His downtempo lullabies wrap up the crowd in the black magic of the venue, enclosing the sound around us in the box room under Deangate’s railway bridge. It feels safe, it feels special, it feels like we’re experiencing something unique.

I wait patiently for my plus one to arrive, playing rock paper scissors with a fellow hanger-rounder by the bar. My friend is from Kirkby and has a rare Norwegian beauty to her, very Agnetha Fältskog from Abba, though the thick Liverpudlian accent makes the distinction clear. We look around for her and my new hand game pal asks where she is, ‘probably stealing, or lying’, I reply. To which he returns that they got in via tunnelling; his mate is part mole. ‘Mole mates’: they’re good to have.

Submotion begin and a couple of songs start off steady but I can’t get into it until Agnetha arrives. I spot her on the balcony steps and we unite with open arms. She smells of lush perfume. I remark that Ruby looks incredibly different. Ruby Wood is the lead singer; normally blonde, around 5’5, 5’6 with soft rounded features. She seems to have lost height, dyed her hair and become significantly more oriental. It isn’t until I shout ‘G’wan Ruby’ through a cupped hand that two mortified fans turn round to shout ‘Ruby’s had a baby! That’s not Ruby’ and I realise this transformation is not quite so supernatural.

Ruby’s replacement is the equally astounding Alyusha Sings, who slots into the seven piece with a transition so smooth that it could even go unnoticed to the untrained ear, let alone the eye. Accompanying her is a rather handsome male vocalist called ____. We call him Ryan. Ruby and Ryan. A fantastic duo. Not counting the five other members of the band left on stage.

Trumpet delivery is on point as the lights coincide with the clash of drums, the circling pool of white projections dancing on each wall reflecting the album artwork of ‘Finest Hour’. Imagery is further tied up by the aforementioned oriental style of Alyusha’s dress; coinciding with the Japanese garment-inspired track from their new album ‘Colour Theory’; ‘Kimono’.

The set ends with ‘All Yours’, which Agnetha, the two aghast fans and I emotionally wail along to with arms in the air for the band’s classic. Some disapproving looks aside, (not sorry if you can’t see the funny side of ‘We loved you in Drive’ heckles) the crowd is pretty together for this one, and as the lights go up and faces are illuminated, there’s more than just a trace of that ever so elusive gig feeling that breathes from the inside out.

Former Manchester IT specialist dies after horrific street attack

Ex-University of Manchester IT manager Paul Tam has died after being stabbed in the street in San Francisco a month ago.

Tributes have been paid to the 44-year-old former web content and digital marketing manager who moved to the USA to find new work after being at the university for a decade.

He was walking with his niece in the Japantown area of San Francisco on February the 18th when he was mugged by a man and woman. While trying to prevent the robbers from taking the bag he carried containing his passport, phone, money, and bank cards, he was stabbed in the head.

He died on Thursday the 24th of March at San Francisco General Hospital.

His niece was unharmed and the authorities are yet to catch those responsible for Tam’s murder.

Police have released the footage of the tragic incident in the hope of being able to identify and find the two criminals.

According to San Francisco police, the male attacked was around 5’10”, black, and in his 30s or 40s, and the female was around 5’4″, black, and in her 20s, with braided hair in a ponytail.

The video, which can be viewed here (video contains distressing images), appears to show the hooded attacker chasing and attacking Tam in the road as cars drive past the seriously injured man.

Police believe they have recovered a scarf belonging to the woman which is currently being tested for DNA traces.

Manchester residents who had lived in the same neighbourhood as Paul Tam described him to ITV News as “a very nice person, very kind and gentle.”

Review: Swim Deep

Swim Deep
Manchester Academy 1
Thursday 10th March 2016
7/10

As a seasoned Swim Deep gig-goer, you’d think I know the drill by now. Five gigs in and it’d all be pretty predictable. Not this time. Swim Deep were my sixth-form band, they were my first proper gig, and they were the first band that genuinely got me through something. Around the time they dropped Where The Heaven Are We, I went to lot of Swim Deep gigs, but not many since.

I felt isolated and distanced by Mothers and its house-y feel; that whole overdone, overexposed genre which permeates Manchester’s student population. In a way, I felt like Swim Deep lost the dreamy, surf pop vibe which made me fall in love with them. I probably listened to the most recent album once and I definitely didn’t give it a chance. This would be the first gig I’d experience material from Mothers live and, honestly, I was apprehensive.

I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to see them support Wolf Alice and subsequently interview them (which you can also read on this site), as I’ve rediscovered a band I’d almost given up on. I have an appreciation and a heartwarming pride for their ridiculous growth, from the lo-fi sound of my teenage years in the tiny basement of Manchester’s Soup Kitchen (where they could barely fit all the tech on stage), to the genre hybridity of Mothers, juxtaposed with carefully selected tracks from WTHAW played live to a sold out Academy 1 gig; an album they had to make which proves their worth as something more than your stereotypical indie guitar band talking about love and heartbreak.

They opened their support set with ‘King City’, their most well-known and arguably best single, that one song almost guaranteed to have an insane reaction, and of course it did. It felt overwhelmingly nostalgic and the energy of the crowd chanting the line “Fuck your romance, I wanna pretend that Jenny Lee Lindberg is my girlfriend” was infectious. Ah yes, I’d forgotten how much I love Swim Deep. I’d never see them play to such a large crowd and their technical skill and growth as a band compared to when I was seeing them over three years ago is immeasurable. Most notably, their bassist Cavan McCarthy; I’d never seen him play like that before.

Their performance of ‘She Changes the Weather’, the unashamedly straight-up love song from WTHAW, with an extended instrumental build-up felt nothing less than ethereal, capturing the mermaid-y, dreamlike feel of its music video. Austin William’s raw vocals alongside the gorgeous guitar heavy focus, and as he sang “its okay it’s not obvious” it reminded me so much of DIIV’s ‘How Long Have You Known’. It felt different from your run of the mill love ballad in its emotive honesty.

They closed the set with the self-indulgent eight-minute long ‘Fueiho Boogie’, a track they told me was the most fun to produce and I can definitely see why! It felt like a world away from the shoegaze-infused Swim Deep of ‘Honey’ and ‘King City’ fame but it didn’t matter, it was a lot of fun. Here, Kraftwerk acid-house influences are made most obvious, in this psychedelic, otherworldly dream, they did what they came to do and couldn’t have chose a more raucous track to psyche the crowd for Wolf Alice if they tried.

Swim Deep, I salute you and I’m sorry I ever doubted you.

Interview: Swim Deep

As my degree comes to a close, I can’t think of anything better than this. Teenage Meg would have been unashamedly happy to know that some three years later she’d interview the defining band of her sixth form/university transition. This particular interview felt a lot more like a genuine conversation with a humble group of guys which makes you realise, as much as celebrity culture tells you otherwise, they’re just people that happen to make music. Like a lot of other Swim Deep fans who loved the, lets admit it, pop music of WTHAW, at first I didn’t quite understand the radically different and house-fuelled vibe of Mothers, but this interview helped me construct a cohesive picture of the two albums and who they are as artists. A band from Birmingham wanting to do more than write your stereotypical love song, talk about things that matter, make you feel something, redefining and questioning what we think about when we think about popular music.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

M: I feel like when I listen to the two albums I’m almost listening to two completely different bands? Is Mothers more reflective of who you are as artists and the sound you want to achieve?

Austin: Yeah I guess so, at the time, that was the sound we wanted to achieve, its much more of an evolution than a change. Its definitely reflective of who we were then, we try and make albums to reflect us at human beings and the thoughts and emotions that we felt then.

The first album is very surf-y whereas this feels a lot more trippy, psychedelic and otherworldly; it’s almost house at times, what has influenced this new direction?

A: I wouldn’t listen to house music on my own but I listen to electro on my own, more stuff like Kraftwerk, stuff that house music was influenced by.

Cavan: Our manager showed us a lot of music.

A: Yeah he’s mad into acid house,  he was growing up around the time acid house was huge, he definitely showed us a lot of records which had a massive influence on us.

For me, Where the Heaven are we is very romantic as an album, I’m a massive fan of She Changes the weather and I think if I’m going to find a comparison on Mothers it would be ‘Is there anybody out there’, is there a backstory to this song?

A: They’re both love songs quite blatantly and I like the idea that I don’t really write about that kinda stuff that much only because I find it quite self-indulgent and if I was going to have one love song on the record I wanted to make it as blatant as possible. But yeah they’re both about love.

Yeah, I do Creative Writing at university and it’s so difficult not to be influenced by things that have happened and life experiences you have had. But you feel slightly unoriginal talking about that kind of stuff over and over.

A: Yeah exactly, and a lot of songs are just about that and you get a bit bored of it so I guess the reaction is to write something different, a more pressing matter or like something that people can hear about that they don’t already know or something that will influence people to be better. Yeah not just stuff that’s same old.

Its about moving away from the generic.

A: Exactly, yeah

Awesome. So what track was the most fun to produce?

C: Fueiho Boogie, the last one.

Zach: Yeah Fueiho Boogie

Yeah, I’d agree with that!

Z: Forever Spaceman was really fun to mess around with too

A: Yeah we tried to recreate what it would feel like in space, it feels like you’re flying through space

C: Everyone was sat there trying to make as much noise as possible!

Z: That was really fun to make

Cool… this will be actually be my fifth time seeing you guys.

A: Really?! Oh thanks so much!

Z: Nice one man, thank you.

It was my first proper gig, it was at Soup Kitchen. Do you remember that?

C: Yeah I do, it was in February, I don’t know why I remember but it was in February.

I’ve actually always wanted to ask you guys this… I’ve never heard you do ‘Orange County’, is there any reason why you don’t perform this live or am I just super unlucky?

A: Yeah, we’ve never actually played that live.

Oh, never?!

A: Well we wrote it it at time when we were… I don’t know… it’s just one of those songs, we have a few songs that we never play live.

C: They feel almost too sacred to touch or something. We’ve never even played it as a band.

Z: We’ve never tried to

I thought maybe you just didn’t like it anymore, and that’s why you don’t play it.

A: No, not at all, no. But its just I don’t know…

C: People really like that song, it’s really weird.

You should play it!

A: It’s just that… we’ve changed in ways that sometimes it wouldn’t necessarily suit in a half-an-hour set or a 40-minute set, a song that’s so kind of lo-fi and old.

C: Yeah, it’s the old us.

A: Because that was such a short amount of time, the old us, so when people say “how can you change?” it’s strange for us because the short period of time that was like a year when we wrote all of these songs like, that compared to the amount of time which we’ve actually been a band is quite weird.

I guess you were playing them for ages but you weren’t writing that kind of material anymore.

A: Exactly, yeah. Definitely, man.

Obviously the Libs being one, you’ve supported a lot of really high profile artists, is there a particular band you’ve toured with which have influenced you?

A: I feel like all bands you tour with you get influenced by, like even if you don’t like their music or whatever but by the end of the tour, you end up having some sort of bond and you learn something. They taught us how to be on tour and how to look after each other and stuff, they made a real effort talking to us, we were really shy and they made a real effort coming into our dressing room and saying “Hey, feel free to come into our dressing room,” and that taught us to do the same with our support bands.

C: I felt like we learnt so much from them. They’re proper keen musicians, they’re just great to be around and see.

A: Really inspiring musicians

C: I was definitely inspired by them the whole time, I’d say I definitely learnt something from them.

I’ve always wanted to ask this… I know this was ages ago now but I went to the Libertines Hyde park gig in 2014, when you guys were supporting, what happened? Where were you?!

Z: We still played, but it was next door.

C: We played in a tent with like 20 people. It was pointless because no one got told.

A: It was really fun to play though, because there was no one there, it felt really relaxed.

C: Yeah we had such a long queue, I was really excited to play but then everyone was going mad for Wolf Alice.

Z: Shut up, it wasn’t Wolf Alice man! It was Reverend and the Makers!
*Debate continues*

Meg: I remember hearing a rumour that you were climbing up the poles or something? Is that true?

All: Oh yeah!

C: This wasn’t us though! I don’t know why people were saying that, do you remember at The Libertines, they cut the show half way through because loads of kids were messing and on Twitter they were saying it was us. I don’t know what happened but everyone was saying it was us. Apparently Higgy said it was on Twitter or something. People think it was us, that’s so classic!

What plans do you guys have for the future? You’ve been so experimental and taken a lot of creative risks with Mothers, where do you go from here?

A: I feel like now we’ve done the experimental thing and let that out, we’ve had the shoegazey pop album, it was quite a naïve take on pop music. I feel like they are going to both come together with the third album, in a way that both worlds collide. We’ve got all this knowledge from the second album. I just kind of want to write a really good pop album.

Yeah that would be great, I’m a bit of a sucker for an honest pop album.

A: We’ve always wanted to make pop music. Mothers is pop music, just no-one gets it.

With A Little Help From My Friends: A Tribute To George Martin (1926-2016)

George Martin? Isn’t he the guy who wrote Game Of Thrones? Twitter, as it often does, jumped to the wrong conclusion following the death of the great man, who passed on Tuesday 8th March aged 90.

No, George Martin did not produce fantasy novels, George Martin produced The Beatles.

It’s often the way with producers. They work their magic behind the scenes, their seemingly secret art a mystery to the general public. But George Martin was both a friend and a mentor to John, Paul, George and Ringo; he helped guide and craft the music of the most influential band ever.

There’s some mystery surrounding how he came to be involved with The Beatles, with the official story being that he received a demo via EMI, and decided to give them a chance based on the band’s charisma rather than their music. However, recent evidence from Mark Lewisohn’s definitive biography of the band (‘Tune In: The Beatles’) suggests that it was in fact the strength of a Beatles song that got the label’s attention, and that Martin was forced into the role. Whatever the case, what’s certain is that the fab four were by no means a polished effort when Martin found them. They were rough around the edges, according to the man himself, timid even. Martin’s contribution to The Beatles was of huge importance to their sonic expansion.

It was Martin who encouraged the replacement of drummer Pete Best, Martin who supposedly introduced Lennon to the concept of reversing tapes during the Revolver sessions, Martin who wrote some of the band’s most famous orchestral backings, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Eleanor Rigby’ to name just a few. His background in comedy and novelty music also gave him an understanding of sound effects, of which are littered throughout the band’s recordings.

Martin was a gateway for the band. He enabled the four scruffy Liverpudlians in their campaign to create music of greater depth and individuality. In the early days, it was Martin suggesting alternative instrumentation; as time progressed, he became the man who made their outlandish ideas possible, bringing them to life. He rose to any challenge, splicing songs together, speeding them up, and did so, up until 1967 (the year of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band), with the restriction of a four-track recorder.

George Martin was a man of integrity and respect, and the band came to completely trust his wisdom and expertise. He did what any great producer does, he accommodated the band’s vision, and enriched their songwriting. He may have parted ways with The Beatles on Let It Be, but returned for Abbey Road, and went on to produce LOVE, a Beatles mash-up album, with his son. His death marks the end of a remarkable musical career, and the departure of a true English gentleman.

Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ready to Die” – A Modern Feminist Masterpiece?

There’s been much written about the role of hip-hop as a cultural obstacle to feminism; a globally favoured genre that advocates misogyny verse after verse, rapper after rapper. Amongst the genre’s icons that are held up as examples of this is Biggie Smalls. I recently heard the album ‘Ready to Die’ for the first time, expecting exactly the kind of subject matter that is so often condemned as sexist. What I heard was something quite different and far more original—a partial new-wave feminist piece. This might sound as far-fetched as Kanye doing an album about rectal sensuality, but there are multiple moments throughout ‘Ready to Die’ that stand out for the fact they don’t fall into the typical misogynist discourse in hip-hop.

There are certain moments difficult to justify. Regardless of how pissed off they make him, the women in ‘Friend of Mine’ probably don’t deserve the hate Biggie’s offering. The initially censored line on ‘Gimme the Loot’ about robbing a woman even if she’s pregnant alongside the murder of another woman in a car sound pretty cold after 20 years. Violence towards women is indisputable, yet Biggie exerts just as much brutality on the male victims of his verbal spray—you certainly can’t accuse him of double standards. Rather than the discomfort felt when listening to say Eminem’s ‘Kim’, there’s a sense of indifference for anyone and everyone that gets in his way. Under Biggie’s rules, men and women are just as disposable as each other—equality, yay.

Violence is second to sex in this album and presented much more ambiguously. In ‘One More Chance’, Smalls promises that “Whether it’s stiff tongue or stiff dick/Biggie squeeze it to make shit fit”, proving himself to be a rather accommodating lover. Another line goes “I gotcha wishin’ for an intermission/Fuck the kissin, lickin down to your belly button, I ain’t frontin/they don’t call me B.I.G. for nuttin”, depicting a man who takes pride in his work, doing all that is necessary to leave no customer dissatisfied.

The ‘Fuck Me’ interlude—the predecessor to those video clips your friends send to you that unexpectedly turn into loud porn half way through—is literally the sound of Biggie’s female counterpart thoroughly enjoying herself for 90 seconds. She is clearly getting the most out of it as the 380-pound rapper tries to keep up. Since Donna Summer’s iconic orgasm, African-American women singers have long utilised sexuality for the sake of expressing independence and enjoyment. Rather than resisting the powerful force of feminine pleasure as a source of liberation, Biggie seems to condone it. The whole scene feels in no way derogatory; tongue-in-cheek it might be, but this break in the album suits the new-wave feminist value of sexual autonomy and reveals an unexpected side to Brooklyn’s finest.

‘Me and My Bitch’ is similarly surprising when you listen beneath the surface. The title and the line about “beating her right” doesn’t bode well, yet this is probably the most romantic track on the album despite the distressing outcome. We’ve got parity (“A real bitch is all I want… With a glock just as strong as me/Totin’ guns just as long as me”) as well as poignancy (“I swear to God I hope we fucking die together” … “They killed my best friend…”). We have an original depiction of a woman in a rap song; admired and adored by Biggie, a tragic heroine. The mourning nature of this song ultimately shows that even the Notorious B.I.G. can be moved by female companionship and undermines any orthodox misogyny he might be associated with.

A new-wave feminist perspective on the album could also make note of the masculinity in it. As men are increasingly engaged in equality and gender debates, issues like depression and fatherhood appear in discussion more. This album goes beyond the hyper-masculinity of typical hip-hop records. ‘Suicidal Thoughts’ is intense yet moving, as Biggie discusses the disappointment he’s caused the women in his life and gives in to his feelings. On the record’s anthem, ‘Juicy’, he explains that it is dedicated “to all the people that lived above the/buildings that I was hustlin’ in front of, when they called the police on/me when I was just tryin’ to make some money to feed my daughter/and all the niggaz in the struggle”. The extreme issues faced by black men in the 90s may radically contrast to those of new-wave male feminists—predominantly white—of today, but we can still recognise a degree of sensitivity towards men and their social challenges here. If he were alive today, Smalls would likely appreciate Kendrick’s ‘For Free?’ for its similar sentiments. The single father battling depression represents an honest response to the rapper stereotype Biggie is associated with, posing questions about the day to day problems of young men.

If you asked Biggie if he was a feminist, he’d probably shoot you. But on the evidence of this album, maybe he’s not the misogynist everyone always thought. His approaches to sex, love and masculinity all share similarities with modern new-wave feminist discourses and add another intriguing aspect to an already incredible piece. 19 years since his death, maybe we misunderstood the big man massively. Maybe…

Record label feature: Opal Tapes

Started in the small, unassuming town of Redcar, North Yorkshire, Stephen Bishop’s cassette label Opal Tapes is a kind of mecca for off-kilter electronic music. The ballast of Opal Tapes’ output occupies an uneasy grey area between techno and house: none of the artists here truly share the former’s stern, machine-like pulse, while the tunes are too bleak and introverted to replicate the jubilant bounce of the latter. It all makes for extremely absorbing and intelligently made electronica that flirts tentatively with the dancefloor.

Bishop himself, bred on punk and hardcore, records under the moniker Basic House: a slurry of unsettling beat-heavy melancholy, drizzled with a post-industrial flavour. A great deal from the label isn’t for the faint of heart – the super-charged acid of Worker/Parasite’s ‘Prophet’ isn’t so much disturbing as oppressive and petrifying – and fans of Actress’ gloomy Ghettoville will find much to love here. But that’s selling this terrific label short. Some of the most exciting modern music is to be found here. Highly repetitive electronic music often drifts perilously close to being completely characterless and dull, but it’s the endearingly lo-fi quality to all the stuff here that really delights – the palpable sense that human hands were involved in their creation.

L Neils’ glacial textures has echoes of deep house producer Vincent Floyd (‘Caribbean Drive’), while elsewhere it reimagines Zomby’s moody racket as though disappearing into a despairing k-hole (‘Puzzlebox’). Inbetween the slicing scariness of more abrasive artists (Violet Poison) or the quirky, over-crowded jolt of Lumigraph, lies Personable’s playful ‘Just Cool’, a fantastic slice of gleefully deconstructed synthpop. The curiously titled 51717 (real name Lili Schulder) makes variously creepy, sexy and astonishing avant-garde noise experiments. It’s not as pretentious and joyless as that sounds, purely because 51717’s compositions are so otherworldly and enigmatic it’s hard not to be swept along. Michael Vallera imitates the sound of Oneohtrix Point Never, circa Replica, retreating into a black hole. Ñaka Ñaka’s brooding concoction of Aphex Twin’s first Ambient Works album with punishing bass is enormously affecting and visceral.

With music this cold and sombre-sounding, there’s always the temptation to overstate just how cold and sombre-sounding it is; it is testament to Opal Tapes’ calibre that its unique and distinctive sound often yields diverse surprises. Cloudface’s productions, perhaps the most outwardly upbeat of the label’s roster, are infused with an emphatic sense of warmth that bounces over purling waves of bleepy electronics. It successfully manages to be both alien and deeply human. Unlike other acts on Opal Tapes, Masks’ lo-fi house – covered on the spectacular Food Plus Drug (II) – is actually danceable, channelling the uncontrolled mania of a particularly bacchanalian club night wrapped in cotton wool; something like the overheard noise of a house party bleeding into the bedrooms of the houses next door.

Crucially, given the label’s musical aesthetic, Opal Tapes doesn’t suffer from a dearth of variety. There’s everything from Heurco S.’s profoundly disorientating mutations to 1991’s jaw-dropping album High-Tech High-Life – the unusual, transcendent sound of Tycho and the 80s nostalgia-laden subgenre chillwave engulfed in the worst bad acid trip imaginable. But if you wanted a sense of what Opal Tapes do best, a precise distillation of their ethos, then you could do worse than settle on Patricia, who specialises in hypnotic, ambient styles. ‘Josephine’, from 2013’s Body Issues, is an absolute stunner: embalmed in tape hiss, its muffled, squelching bass, clacking 4/4 thrust and airy synths dovetail together wonderfully. The label has since branched out into vinyl with their offshoot Black Opal, exclusively releasing material on wax, a sign that they are slowly but surely accruing more devotees. Head over to their Bandcamp page and indulge yourself.

Live: Cigarettes After Sex

Tuesday 8th March

Fallow Café

7/10

Sometimes a band can make too much noise. So much, in fact, that the purpose of making a listener feel anything can be lost. Excitement can be drawn from a whisper just as well as a shout, and in the case of New York ambient pop band Cigarettes After Sex, they did just this, giving an irresistibly hypnotic and deeply heartfelt performance at Fallowfield’s Fallow Café.

Cigarettes After Sex’s sonic texture may strike some as formulaic; the resonant guitar playing and wash of gentle synthesizers does not vary a great deal. But the interplay between the instruments adds an unmistakable atmosphere. This lick of dark paint, when applied to a set of already charming songs, sets the band apart from anything else you’re going to hear.

In the hands of any other band, captivating ballads such as ‘Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby’ and ‘Affection’ could’ve been crassly misused and over-performed. For Cigarettes After Sex, the simplicity of their delivery is what makes them so appealing. It took only a quick glance around the room to see their impact. The whole audience were wide-eyed and silent, totally involved in a hazy trance. It felt as if you were intimately connected to the band as they mused on new-found love and barely remembered drunken arguments.

They channelled all of the somber introspection of The xx and Joy Division, but seemed to do so with a sense of underlying levity. The best descriptive sentence I can come up with for them is sad songs sung with a smile. If there were only a single word available to describe Cigarettes After Sex, it would be tranquil.

The evening was incredibly chilled and hugely enjoyable, in part due to the fantastic performances of the band, but mainly due to the quality of their material and ability to craft an alluring mood. Should they grace Manchester with their presence again, I would strongly urge you to go and see them. And invite that person you secretly fancy along too; the music is so romantic it’s bound to make them fancy you right back.

Live: Kaluki at Albert Hall

26th February @ Albert Hall

8/10

Manchester-born imprint Kaluki made its homecoming stop of their 10th anniversary world tour, bringing along an exceptional line up to an equally exceptional venue.

If you’ve ever strolled past the Albert Hall whilst an event is taking place, like the one I attended last Friday, you will probably notice the bewildering sight of sporadically flashing lights canvasing a mural onto the grand Victorian windows of the venue. This novelty is fully realised inside with the gallery and high ceiling which give a feeling of being in a bright an open space, a nice change to the dark and claustrophobic spaces one often finds oneself in when listening to house and techno. All of which might not have been appreciated by those who had trouble getting in due to the close ending times of an earlier event, which resulted in long queues and some people being turned away.

Fortunately for myself this only meant I would miss the early supporting acts, as I did not run into any issues with the venue, bar the expected expensive drinks. Darius Syrossian began the night and, despite having parted ways with Sankeys, the ex-resident played tracks that very much reminded me of it, such as Bas Ibellini’s ‘That’s Right’ and Cuartero’s remix of his own ‘Hans Trippy’, which was certainly no bad thing. Syrossian closed out his energising set with a final few groovers, including the effervescent Walker & Royce remix of 12 Stories’ ‘Bright Lights’.

Of course the most anticipated that night was the so-called “hardest working man in dance music”, Eats Everything, proving to be a master of his craft throughout the course of his heavy-hitting and high energy set. A set which took many guises, whilst initially bringing out tracks the like his cheery latest release ‘Big Discs’ and then teasing in elements of the infamous ‘Dancing (Again!)’ amongst other songs to keep things fresh. Everything continued bringing out unknown treats, or tracks that seemed unknown and unreleased, but would turn out to actually be old school house tracks from the nineties, such as Hole In One’s ‘Life’s Too Short’. The only downside was that he only played for one and a half hour, which didn’t feel long enough me.

Nonetheless, Joris Voorn was still very much welcomed, despite his more sombre and melodic brand of techno. In fact Voorn’s feel complemented the previous set perfectly. The crowd embraced the warmer sounds as the night dwindled into the morning, and hearing him play blissful tracks like his remix of Röyksopp’s ‘I Had a Thing’ was just what we needed. As he basked us with his melancholic hit, ‘Ringo’, I found myself struggling to decide which set I enjoyed more, yet I resided on the fact that they were two different beasts.

University of Hull students request refund after Scarborough campus closed

University of Hull students have been left feeling neglected after it was announced that the university’s Scarborough campus will move south to Hull. Students have expressed outrage at the prospect of not having enough access to their lecturers to aid them in their academic career.

Students, particularly those affected by the closure of the Scarborough campus, have now issued a petition in which they demand a £9,000 refund “to reflect the cuts in the level of service.” The petition already holds over 400 signatures.

The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Calie Pistorius, announced his plans to close down the campus in April 2014. The number of students living in the Scarborough campus exceeded 1,800 in 2010. Now the seaside campus is only home to around 600 second and third-year students.

A university staff member told The Guardian that the abandoned campus was like as a “ghost town,” adding that “many academics have been reposted to Hull but administrative staff still have no idea what will happen to their jobs.”

After considerable pressure was placed on university bosses, they agreed to keep the campus’ library open through the night, however, students still cannot shake the feeling that their academic opportunities are being vehemently curtailed by the campus’ closure. On top of the campus moving 40 miles southwards to Hull, it is believed that around thirty university staff members could face redundancy, as the university is only transferring their lecturers and tutors to Hull.

Responding to recent developments in Hull, a university spokeswoman announced that “We are working with our students on the Scarborough campus to address recent concerns raised by them and have already introduced improvements to enhance their experience and directly address the points raised. These include the introduction of 24-hour opening at the campus library, improved the availability of academic support and reviewed catering.”

Most students expressed resentment at university management, claiming that the small Scarborough campus in which students had no difficulties in getting to know one another and found easy access to lecturers and tutors was one of the main selling points for them prior to their acceptance at the university.

The Student Experience Survey shows the negative effect the decision to close down the Scarborough campus had on student satisfaction. Out of 117 universities, University of Hull is currently 74th on the table. This is a dramatic drop from the survey two years ago in with the university was 44th in the survey.

A student who requested that they would not be named over concerns that it would would affect their grades, told The Guardian:  “It’s a nightmare from the students’ point of view.

“We know that we’re coming to a small campus and there’s good aspects of that: you end up knowing everybody, it’s very friendly, access to lecturers and tutors historically has been brilliant – or that’s what it’s sold to you as.”

The students have highlighted that they are particularly disappointed at the lack of information provided by Pistorius. “The campus and the town of Scarborough have been hung out to dry by a bungling vice-chancellor who hides behind his junior staff and hasn’t got the guts to appear before his own students,” one staff member told The Guardian.

The affected students, the majority of which are undergraduates, feel their request for a refund is justified given that the services they had originally paid for are not being met by the university. A student, who preferred to be kept anonymous, says they did not pay to go to stay in the Scarborough campus when their personal tutors are in Hull three out of five days.

“It’s depressing. We just want it to end now because it’s hard enough doing your finals, let alone doing them in a depressing atmosphere where you feel like you’re being hard done by. That is the consensus of how people feel: it’s tough and they’re taking the piss, frankly.”

The Mancunion will continue to update this story as it unfolds.

h/t The Guardian

Manchester student and victim of sexual abuse facing deportation

18-year-old Manchester student Emmaculate Tshuma from Zimbabwe, who is claimed to have suffered physical and sexual abuse from a state security agent in her home country, was, according to reports, “brutally dragged out of bed and down the stairs in a dawn raid yesterday”.

Tshuma, whose asylum to the UK is assumed to be still pending, is now believed to be detained at Pennine House in Manchester.

A petition to Home Secretary Theresa May has been posted to Change.org to “Stop the deportation of a minor Emmaculate to Zimbabwe”.  At the time of writing the petition has 645 signatures, but is being shared by members of the University of Manchester Students’ Union Exec Team.

The petition urges May to “stop the deportation of a minor Emmaculate Tshuma because she suffered physical abuse in Zimbabwe from a security agent”.

Tino Mashonganyika, who started the petition on Thursday, claims the security agent “used his position to get immunity and it is not safe for her to return” and claims that Tshuma suffers from depression.

Mashonganyika states that Tshuma was “dragged by UK male Immigration Enforcement Officers with her legs wide open and she was screaming as they were banging her head and twisting her neck”.

Mashonganyika also describes “the look of fear in her eyes when they got to the police station’ due to the fact the officers were claimed to be ‘laughing and joking about her”. Tshuma was then apparently then kept in her cell with no food all day.

Jess Lishak, the University of Manchester Students’ Union Women’s Officer shared the petition on her official Facebook, and stated that Tshuma has “committed no crime and was regularly reporting to authorities and registered as a student so is of no risk of absconding”.

Lishak claims in her post that “as she has been a victim of sexual abuse, the parliamentary committee and Shaw report themselves say she should not be detained”. Lishak has declared this action by immigration authorities to be “both immoral and unlawful”.

Stephen Shaw’s report, commissioned by Theresa May, into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons, reviewed the impact of detention on vulnerable detainees. Shaw called for a “presumption against detention” of victims of rape and sexual violence.

When published, immigration minister James Brokenshire accepted the report’s recommendation that there should be a presumption against detention for a new category of “adults at risk”, which included sexual violence victims.

This news comes only days after it was announced that Theresa May would be facing a parliamentary investigation after a tribunal ruled the Home Office had used unscientific “hearsay” to deport thousands of students from Britain.

The tribunal found that the Home Office had not investigated further into claims that students had cheated in English exams before detaining and deporting them. The ruling on Wednesday means that thousands of students could now return to the UK and claim compensation.

The Home Office has been contacted by The Mancunion for a statement, but are yet to respond.

Win £10,000 for your startup through Venture Further

The Manchester Enterprise Centre’s (MEC) Venture Further scheme is a business startup competition hoping to find some of the best business idea proposals which have the most potential for success.

Entrants can win up to £10,000 in four categories: business, social, digital and research. Business proposals have the potential for commercial success through a new product or service, social proposals are those that can improve the lives of people and communities, digital proposals apply technology for new experiences and innovative opportunities, and research proposals focus on the application of university-based research to real-world problems.

The winners of each category receive £10,000 to implement their proposal, while a runner-up in each section receives £2,500.

The deadline for entry to the first round of applications is the 29th of March at 23:59. Proposals that make it to the final round will pitch their idea to panels of experts such as Professor Luke Georghiou, Vice-President for Research and Innovation; Professor Kenneth McPhail, Associate Dean Social Responsibility; Professor Chris Taylor, Associate Vice-President Research; and Kris Matykiewicz, Head of Business Engagement.

 

Below are two case studies of previous Venture Further winners, Jenny Berry and Olumayowa ‘Mayor’ Osundeko.

Photo: Manchester Enterprise Centre / Weber Shandwick

Jenny, Your Own Words creator

Poet and English Language student Jenny Berry has always recognised the power words had on people and while studying at the University of Manchester, she used her undergraduate research project to create ‘Your Own Words’, an initiative which she hopes will help rehabilitate prisoners and other vulnerable populations in the Greater Manchester area.

For many years, Jenny has written bespoke poetry for others helping them voice their feelings through her writing. Through creating words for speeches, funerals and many other events she has seen first-hand how poetry can help people to heal by expressing their emotions.

Your Own Words is a creative poetry programme which has been run in the Salford-based prison, HMP Forest Bank. Jenny’s philosophy is to encourage prisoners to express themselves through a creative release, rather than a physical one.

Last year, Jenny submitted a business proposal for the programme to Manchester Enterprise Centre’s annual Venture Further competition. Your Own Words impressed the judges and she won a £10,000 prize to develop her idea further. Jenny now hopes to adapt the sessions for other prisons across the country, as she believes it will help towards tackling problems such as drug and alcohol addiction. Furthermore, these sessions can be used in schools and the corporate sector to enable effective communication.

“I’m really passionate about helping people, particularly in relation to rehabilitation. There’s no point in letting a prisoner out if they go on to reoffend. If I can help people to help themselves, I will,” Jenny explained.

Jenny hopes to use her seed funding to introduce community classes for released prisoners and wants to introduce her concept to the Ministry of Defence and other settings to help with communication and well-being.

“In a typical hour and a half session, we work with eight to ten inmates. We talk through published poems, rap and song lyrics and what they mean to them. Then encourage them to write raw poems of their own.

“I’m really grateful to the Manchester Enterprise Centre because in a very short time I’ve had a lot of support from them to refine my business plan. Over the last year I’ve been on many training courses offered and have managed to link my dissertation to business development. Both Alliance Manchester Business School and Manchester University have been extremely supportive.

“I believe Your Own Words is an idea that can live on in various formats and I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to develop it through Venture Further.”

Jenny has also worked with primary and high school pupils, delivering master classes in poetry and inspiring youngsters to write their own poems.

 

Photo: Manchester Enterprise Centre / Weber Shandwick

Mayor, Joy & Joe creator

Entrepreneur Mayor Osundeko created his award-winning manufacturing business Joy & Joe when he identified a gap in the baby carrier market following the births of his two children.

Mayor Osundeko and his wife Bisi spent a lot of time in neonatal intensive care in 2007 when their daughter Joy was born with Down’s syndrome. During this time, the couple observed how important physical contact and affection was to help children develop.

They used their knowledge of kangaroo care—a technique where babies are bound skin-to-skin to their parents, helping to facilitate infant development and happiness – to create their own product.

The inspiration for Joy & Joe baby carriers was born, but it wasn’t until 2009 that the couple would pursue their business dream, following the birth of their son Joseph, the “Joe” in Joy & Joe.

The couple recognised that there were very few kangaroo care carriers available on the market and of those that existed, none were manufactured in the UK. The Bolton-based couple set up Joy & Joe Ltd. in 2013, where they design baby carriers and work with weavers and tailors in the North West to create the products, ensuring the whole manufacturing process remains 100% British.

Joy & Joe’s proposition is clearly one that worked. In its first year, the company turned over £47,500 and made a £10,000 profit. The carriers are currently used in the NHS and sold in the UK as well as through retail channels globally.

In 2015 Mayor put a business plan together to expand his current offering further. He entered the plan into Manchester Enterprise Centre’s Venture Further competition, where his proposal won an investment of £10,000 to further his business.

Upon winning the competition Mayor said: “We are investing £10,000 into developing our packaging, which is at the moment only really suitable for online customers. We intend to launch the product on the high street this year and expand our accessory range.

“We’ve gained a lot from entering Venture Further and the team at Manchester Enterprise Centre has taught us a lot about how to present our product and how to build our brand. We’ve also gathered useful tips and trends from them which will help our business grow.”

 

Enter Venture Further before the 29th of March.

Manchester Students’ Union calls upon university to reverse its plans to cut bursaries

In a petition to the University of Manchester, the Students’ Union has directly called for Higher Education to be made accessible to all.

The petition ‘Make Higher Education accessible to all, and reverse plans to cut bursaries!’ was launched at 12pm on the 23rd of March, and calls on students to add their voices to the campaign to stop the cuts.

“From 2017-18, The University of Manchester are planning to cut bursaries for their poorest students by £500 pounds per year. This cut of 20% for the students most in need will bring down the yearly amount from £2500 to £2000; a significant amount which equates to nearly two months’ rent.

“Currently negotiating their next Access Agreement with OFFA (Office for Fair Access), the University are responding to increasing government cuts in Higher Education by reducing the amount of financial support that it offers to undergraduate students who come from a household with an income of £25,000 or under.

“We recognise the strains that the government are placing on educational institutions, but the Students’ Union vehemently opposes the University’s plans.

“This decision unfairly punishes and burdens worse off students, and does nothing to ease the injustice of the attainment gap that currently afflicts students from poorer backgrounds.”

According to the petition, 23.9 per cent of the university’s students are from widening participation backgrounds, that is, young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, low-participation schools, families with no prior entrants into HE, those with a disability, and a number of other disadvantaged groups.

The SU asks that the university do “not just play lip service [sic]” to making Higher Education accessible, and that they do not reduce the financial support to underprivileged students.

A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “When reviewing the University’s Access Agreement, any changes are done in the context of government funding and policy changes. Over the past few years the University has had to respond to significant cuts to government funding in this area, whilst maintaining its commitment to providing one of the most generous student financial support packages in the Russell Group.

:A third of new students receive financial support each year and we have the highest numbers of students from low participation neighbourhoods and lower-socio economic groups of any Russell Group University. Any decision about changes to bursary support for new students joining the University in 2017 will not be taken lightly and the University is in regular discussion with Students’ Union representatives to find the best possible solution.”

Is hype everything?

Last November was a busy month for the gaming industry, with numerous big releases coming to all platforms. Fallout 4 was perhaps the most hyped of all of these releases and I, like many others, was caught up in it. I wasn’t a big fan of Oblivion and even though I liked Fallout 3, I just never got hooked—however Skyrim was a different story. The atmosphere was much more inviting with the mountainous visuals and masterful soundtrack keeping me occupied for many hours, and I even bought the expansions. It was perhaps a bit of an issue for Bethesda that this was their first big release since Skyrim—not including Elder Scrolls online. Skyrim had made quite an impact on the games that have come out since. Metal Gear Solid V and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt were two of the best games to come out last year and they were the first in their respective franchises to go fully open world.

I bought Fallout 4 within a week of its release hoping that the change from Oblivion to Skyrim would be recreated in the jump from Fallout 3 to to Fallout 4, going so far as to even buy the season pass as—from what I had seen of the game—it would take up a lot of time and be a thoroughly enjoyable experience. But this hasn’t turned out as I expected, not through lack of enjoyment, but perhaps it was due to an exhaustion of open world games for the time being.

A week or two later, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition was on sale on Xbox Live for £4 and I knew the sequel had come out, but it had gotten lost in the pile of November games. As a much more linear, story-driven game with one primary goal, I spent more time on this and once I got to the end of the story I stopped playing, but I did not go back to Fallout… I decided to finally finish off Witcher and Metal Gear first, and once that was done, and I wanted another break from open world games. Rise of the Tomb Raider was offered at half price over Christmas, so I picked that up and got back into a more plot-driven game, already equaling my playtime with Fallout.

Fallout 4, Photo: Bethesda Softworks

I still haven’t gone back to Bethesda’s newest creation but I’m sure that I will at some point, hopefully before the DLC comes out. But this raises the question, can hype sometimes be bad, even if the game itself is good? Hype is obviously bad if a game doesn’t reach the expectations that have been built around it, but perhaps it shifts the spotlight away from more deserving games, and not just indie games compared to AAA releases. I have seen Rise of the Tomb Raider on more ‘Best Games of 2015’ lists than Fallout 4, and when they are both in the running, Tomb Raider usually seems to be higher.

I’m not saying Fallout 4 is a bad game when compared to Tomb Raider as they are very different games, but surely they are both deserving of high praise. This has not been reflected in the sales numbers, but Rise of the Tomb Raider was initially available on Xbox One and 360 only—with a PC release that happened in the January just gone, and the PS4 version is due to a release for next Christmas. If you haven’t tried it already, I recommend this series, and if you can’t currently play it as you only have a PS4, then it should be worth the wait.

Man convicted after prowling university towns sexually assaulting students

A man who sneaked into student accommodation and attempted to rape a sleeping student has been found guilty at Manchester Crown Court, and is facing jail for a string of attacks on female undergraduates from across the country.

Tahir Nazir, a 40-year-old Glaswegian divorcee and former Dundee University student, was found guilty of all charges against him at the trial: trespasses with intent to commit an offence, sexual assault, attempted rape and three charges of trespass with intent to commit a sexual assault.

Manchester Crown Court heard today that Tahir Nazir had made repeated attempts to get into rooms of students at various British university towns, making two attempts on Manchester students. Tahir was claimed to have a sexual obsession with students.

Nazir was first arrested in November last year, as a result of girls living in a shared house in Fallowfield reporting that an intruder was attempting to gain access to their rooms at around 4:40am. The girls alerted each other of Nazir’s attempts over text messages and Facebook.

The incident was then linked to another young woman in New Lawrence House, Hulme. This time the girl had returned from a Halloween night out, to wake up later that night to Nazir licking her neck, ‘naked from the waist down’ thrusting himself on her, fuelled by cocaine.

Nazir had gained access to the building by following another woman into the building and unsuccessfully trying to gain access to her room.

When challenged by the young woman whose room he had gained access to, he then proceeded to attempt to enter other rooms. Prosecutor Henry Blackshaw told the jury that he was in a “somewhat frustrated and aroused state”.

DNA was able to link Nazir to the Hulme attack, and he was then arrested in Fallowfield. On arrest police found Viagra and a fake Glasgow University ID in his car.

At the trial it was revealed Nazir had driven 7,000 miles touring university towns and sleeping in his car at night. He went to Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Oxford, Bristol, and Cardiff.

It was also revealed that Victoria Halls in Rusholme had been a target, with Nazir taking 38 pictures of the building. He had also made Internet searches of ‘high school girls’, ‘Freshers’ week’ and ‘Swansea University Students’ Union’.

Alongside the convictions for the Hulme and Fallowfield offences, Nazir was also found guilty for crimes committed in Wales. Last September a visitor at Cathays student neighbourhood in Cardiff woke up finding Nazir “on top” of her “very drunk” friend.

Nazir had gained entrance to the building by smashing the bathroom window, after being found he left, only to return again to pester and proposition them.

Nazir denied all the allegations against him at the trial, claiming the woman had invited him back to their accommodation in Hulme and Cardiff. In the Fallowfield incident he claimed to be looking for a drug dealer who had ripped him off.

Prosecuting, Mr Blackshaw said: “Evidence shows him travelling from Scotland down into England, through England and down into Wales—all part of sexually predatory behaviour targeted at university undergraduate females.

“Not just targeting them in general, but targeting them within accommodation. During the dead of night he breaks into accommodation using one device or another, and then having done that, on two of the occasions, sexually attacks females who are asleep in their beds.”

Vigilance encouraged amid reports of ‘art student’ voyeur

Students at Manchester Metropolitan University have been warned to take care following reports of a man trying to take indecent images of people.

The University of Manchester, MMU, and the police have all recently received claims of a man, posing as an art student, approaching women and showing them nude photos of others as part of an ‘art project’.

He then asks the person to go into an alley in order to take indecent images of them.

MMUnion Community Officer Sarah-Beth Cooper, said: “We would encourage any students who are approached by this man to contact the police immediately. The safety of students is paramount and the police and University security are actively seeking this person.”

 

One University of Manchester student told The Mancunion of a time when she was approached by an ‘artist’ asking similar questions in the street: “A young man stopped me as I was walking through Fallowfield. He told me he was an artist, doing a political piece through photography. He asked if I would be involved and I told him I would have to know more first.

“[He] explained that his work focused on the social censorship of the naked female torso in public. His project was a collection of pictures of women on the street, accompanied by quotes from them.

“The man then offered to show me some examples on his phone. The first few were of girls just standing in the streets, but after a while he swiped onto one of a topless girl. I told him it wasn’t for me and I didn’t want to be involved. He laughed at this and asked why I had reacted so coldly, that he was surprised and thought I would be more open to the idea.

“I told him I was uncomfortable being shown those pictures and that he had not mentioned that he was taking topless pictures at any point. He asked why I wouldn’t personally take the pictures and what I thought was the difference between nudity in art and nudity in public.

“I gave him quick, short answers, because he was starting to make me feel uncomfortable and I wanted to get away as quickly as possible, without there being a chance of him following me with further requests.

“As he left, he told me the name of his Facebook page, which had further topless photos taken on the streets. One picture disturbed me. It was taken in an alley and he had quoted the woman saying she was nervous to be taking the photo, but underneath this he had written ‘Yeah right!’ This did not strike me as the kind of thing someone would say, if they were creating an art piece about empowering women.”

Students are encouraged to contact the police on 101 or 999, or their university’s security team if they have any information on this situation.

The University of Manchester’s security services can be contacted around the clock on 0161 306 9966, and MMU’s on 0161 247 1334.