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Month: April 2013

Interview: David Ford

“People are buying less and less; the quality of music is deteriorating so if you put out something of quality people will take interest.” David Ford speaks to me after the release of his New Album Charge and prior to his sold out gig at The Deaf Institute. “The people who come to my shows and listen to my records seek me out and remember me even though I’m not on the TV and radio.”

David approaches live shows differently to most singer-songwriters, using a Boss loop pedal to build and layer songs without anyone else, effectively becoming a one man band. “The loop machine is only for live use, in the studio I like to do things old school and organic, I try and pretend I’m using a tape machine so I don’t cheat too much. The Looping style was born out of fun; I was never good enough as a guitarist or a piano player to freak out with some awesome moves, but because I could do a bit of everything I could and put it all together quite easily.” This approach isn’t without its problems, with just one mistake being enough to ruin the whole process. “It’s gone really wrong a few times, most of the time it’s when you put a really bad note in or just trip over, but you don’t want to eliminate all the danger because without that you don’t have the same sense of excitement. It’s like plate spinning, you kind of want it just to prove it can go wrong – and it does”

David’s annual Milk and Cookies gigs allow him to experiment and indulge in genres that we wouldn’t perhaps associate with singer-songwriters, whilst raising money for a good cause. “The charity gigs are just about getting drunk and having a laugh really. The most challenging cover I ever tried to do was ‘Bat Out of Hell’, it’s very long and it never repeats itself – I never quite nailed it, it was an impossible task on the one piano and to even get close was good enough.”

Released in March, Charge climbed to number 12 in the iTunes charts with relatively little PR. But despite this success his approach to record making hasn’t changed. “It was me in a basement and that was it, no-one else entered the basement for 18 months, although I did occasionally come out to see the sunlight. Working alone is a necessity for me, and its free – my time is worthless. I also like the self determination of it; I stand or fall from my own efforts. If it fucks up I don’t have a producer to blame.” This isolated existence is a very necessary one, and one that doesn’t welcome outsiders. “I can’t co-write, my process is very solitary. To me it doesn’t make sense to write with someone else. It’s a very personal process that happens by accident, I couldn’t do it on a given day or time,”

Playing smaller venues like The Deaf Institute, the audience is treated to a far more intimate show where the humour and the personality of the artist comes across, however if Wembley came knocking he wouldn’t shy away. “It’s a challenge I’d welcome if it ever arose, I’m not cursing my luck playing in these smaller venues. It’s much easier to engage an audience this close. I’ve never been to a gig in a stadium but I imagine the performer has to be pretty damn special to create a connection from 100 yards away. But I don’t think the problem of stadia is something I need to worry about right now.”

Ford wrote his book I Choose This on his experience of nearly making it in the industry, reflecting on what held him back. “I’m holding myself back for certain, and I don’t know how close I ever really got to ‘making it’. I had a deal with what I consider to be the greatest record label that ever existed, Columbia – home of Springsteen, Paul Simon, Jeff Buckley and anyone who was anything to me was on that label. But they were going through some very difficult changes, basically destroying the label to build it back up again and there wasn’t the inclination to get behind me and to be honest I didn’t have the record to do it either.” The mind set of someone trying to be famous is also one David has little time for. “One of the things you have to do to make it big is to peruse that fame at the cost of everything else, and I have friends who wanted to be famous and have became famous and that’s great. Personally I would find it difficult to reconcile myself if I did that, rather than just for sheer excellence.”

Despite his time with Columbia he has no resentment for the industry. “I’ve absolutely no bitterness towards the industry, I’ve not had a job for 13 years and I’m 35 this year. I’m the luckiest guy in the world because I love what I do and I can just about pay the mortgage. It’s never about the money; I do it because it’s very important to the world and wellbeing of humanity that I make records.”

“The industry is a reflection of how the world’s going, the problems with music are similar to the problems in football, we’re in an age of shortermism. It’s people who want everything now and want to get paid for it. Like Chelsea not renewing Frank Lampards contract – the man deserves to be on the books for life.”

The death of Rock n Roll (as he calls it) and the time in which we live is the biggest factor in affecting his popularity. “Popular music as an art form was a blip; it was all to do with population growth. We had a war that wiped all lot of people out – it was pure demographics. The ages that people were in the 50’s and 60’s were perfect, pop music was intelligent and poetic and the audiences were enlightened enough to get it. Standards haven’t fallen but the population has moved on. Popular music now is different because the people have changed, and what I do isn’t popular anymore and that’s cool, however there are still enough people who still get it for me to carry on.”

Briefly studying Drama in Manchester, David has some fond memories of the city but not necessarily its music. “I’ve got to say, no offence intended to Manchester, but I fucking hated Oasis, and I think the Stone Roses are kind of responsible for killing music. For me The Bee Gees and Simply Red are the two best bands to come out of Manchester. The problem with the Stone roses was it was way too heterosexual, before that music was all a little bit gay, and it does need to be a bit sweet and camp – they were so straight it was painful, and then all of a sudden lads started making music. The Stone Roses were a death nail for music and other bands even if they didn’t sound like them there was a certain attitude that followed on from that.”

David Ford’s new album Charge is out now and is available from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/id600620925?affId=2220393

http://www.davidfordmusic.com/2013/03/where-to-get-david-fords-new-album-charge/

Live: Eels

17th March 2013

Academy 1

8/10

Back on the road in support of his tenth record under the Eels moniker, Mark Oliver Everett – or E, as he’s known whilst on band duty – is not a musician I’d had the opportunity to see live before. A friend of mine, who’s a die-hard Eels fan, had done little to provide a clear picture of what I should expect from a frontman known to be a little difficult at times. “Sometimes, he’ll come on, play the songs and get off without uttering a word, and other times he’ll be hilarious, interacting with the crowd all night and generally putting on a great show.”

Tonight, it’s the latter that’s the case, as E stakes a convincing claim for the title of indie rock’s most enthralling frontman. Decked out, like his bandmates, in an Adidas tracksuit, he’s on rare form throughout, joking with both band and crowd and even, at one point, pausing to ‘renew his vows’ with guitarist The Chet, before drummer Knuckles delivers a stirring rendition of ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’; the band reciprocate with an quick, improvised jam, ‘Go Knuckles!’, by way of thanks.

The evening’s setlist, unsurprisingly, leans heavily on latet effort Wonderful, Glorious; with ten records and a raft of EPs already behind them, you have to wonder exactly how you’d best go about putting together a running order for an Eels show. It’s a little surprising, then, that they’re able to accommodate the straight-up hard rockers, which dominate their repertoire tonight, as well as a few quieter moments; ‘The Turnaround’ and ‘Dirty Girl’ are particular highlights. Inevitably, there’s a host of disappointing high-profile exclusions, but at least the band have strived to find creative ways to squeeze as much into each show as possible – an inventive mashup of ‘My Beloved Monster’ and ‘Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues’ opens the encore.

The real triumph tonight, though, is E himself; so often portrayed as awkward and brooding, onstage he’s a revelation; personable and witty, he makes the Eels live show one of the most consistently entertaining on the circuit.

‘Man! I feel like a woman’

You wouldn’t enter enemy territory without armour, and that is exactly what the power suit used to be for women: a shield against the brutal patriarchal business world. Although it might appear a trivial analogy, in a society where women were chained to their kitchen sinks, looking fierce reiterated that girls ran the world (well, we didn’t then but we do now). Yet today we don’t need to be kitted out with shoulder pads to show we mean business and the trouser suit can be worn on a daily basis. So how did the Power Suit come into being? And does its demise mean that women have gained enough confidence that we can face battle unarmed?

Sowing the seeds of the power suit in the 1920s, Chanel designed skirt suits which liberated women from restrictive clothing like the dreaded corset. Chanel’s suits consisted of knitted cardigans and matching skirts, not quite the polyester suits we are used to today but still a revolutionary step. Around the same time, the adored German actress Marlene Dietrich exhibited a male suit with bow tie and matching top hat and looked powerful, sexy and down right fabulous. Following the example of Dietrich, the fantastic Katharine Hepburn demonstrated that it was possible to wear a trouser suit and maintain your femininity. Her role as Tess Harding in the 1942 sensation ‘Woman of the Year’ influenced innumerable women about how to dress to get recognised in the business world.

Photo: crisandcros.com

In the swinging ’60s nobody can be more accredited for helping women’s suits gain prominence than Yves Saint Laurent. The creation in 1966 of YSL’s infamous Le Smoking suit paved the way for androgyny to gain momentum. The style gained even greater attention in 1971 as Bianca Jagger married her beloved Mick whilst wearing a white Le Smoking jacket designed by YSL, although as Mrs Jagger decided to wear nothing under the suit jacket, this exact look wasn’t quite mimicked in the office. However, although Bianca’s suit wasn’t present at board meetings, the second-wave feminism of the 1970s inspired the power suit to explode into people’s wardrobes. Suits emerged which exaggerated women’s shoulders, deeming her a force to be reckoned with. Skirts were more often than not traded for trousers and combined with a double-breasted jacket. Giorgio Armani was one of the many designers who embraced this look, creating unstructured designs with relaxed jackets. This contrasted with Donna Karan who endorsed women’s sexuality by incorporating designs such as wrap skirts to enhance their curves.

Photo: lookingstylish.co.uk Photo: igossip.com

At the power suit’s peak, the 1980s showed sharp cuts, rigidity and superiority. The 1988 film ‘Working Girl’ demonstrated the influence that a structured suit could have on a woman’s career, as the secretary Tess McGill managed to climb the ladder of success after stealing the skirt suits of her boss. Along with this, the election of Maggie Thatcher indicated just how powerful women had become, as she donned her power suit in 10 Downing Street. Yet she wasn’t quite the style icon young women desired. Rather, Madonna became the ultimate role model of that era, and her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour simultaneously inspired girls and revolutionised fashion. Madonna mixed a Jean Paul Gaultier pinstripe suit with a conical corset giving birth to the idea of contrasting the masculine and the feminine, and women everywhere began mixing lace shirts with their trouser suits.

Yet throughout the late 1990s, the power suit’s popularity began to fall and by 2000 it was deemed near extinction. The new workplace look for women became more feminine, softer cuts and feminine colours such as pinks appeared more and more. Along with this, the trouser suit has become adapted into everyday fashion; it can be worn to university or even to the supermarket.

But the power suit’s disappearance is not due to women losing power, quite the opposite. With more and more women on top, they can decide what they wear and when they want to wear it. Rather than being restricted into attempting to fit into the male businessman exterior, women all over the world now enjoy the freedom to dress how they want but still maintain their authority.

Review – Bioshock: Infinite

In 2007, Bioshock was released to universal acclaim. Perfect scores and Best Game awards came pouring in. So when I say that the true sequel, Bioshock Infinite, is every bit as good, it means a hell of a lot.

Infinite leaves behind the murky depths of Rapture, and instead soars in the open skies of a new city, Columbia. Founded by a man calling himself a Prophet, the city stands upon his Christian beliefs and the ideals of Washington, Franklin and Jefferson. Columbia captures the essence of an idyllic 1912 America on the surface, with wholesome families, parades and good, old-fashioned heroes.

I spent my first hour exploring. I gazed around at the beautiful city nestled between the clouds. I listened gleefully to the many conversations the citizens were having. Then I watched a parade of floats pass by. Later, I tried every stall at the fair, which served as a kind of weapons tutorial. I was totally seduced by Columbia. Then everyone turned out to be super racist.

The jarring introduction to this world reflects the city as a whole. Whereas Rapture was a shadow of it’s former self by the time Bioshock took place, Columbia is a city at it’s peak at the beginning of Infinite, and the arrival of protagonist Booker DeWitt ignites a sharp decline. Picking through the ruins of Rapture and piecing together what happened was engrossing, but living through the downfall of a city and understanding why is what makes Columbia outshine Rapture.

Booker DeWitt is a man who owes the wrong people too much, and has to travel to Columbia to rescue a young lady, Elizabeth. How he has to do this wasn’t specified. Between all this is civil unrest, and uprising from the people who feel wronged by the Prophet.

On the one hand, Booker has access to a variety of scientifically magic powers called Vigors and, on the other, a whole arsenal of guns. One Vigor can pull distant enemies in for close kills, another can launch them helplessly into the air ready to be picked off.  Combat in Infinite is a more fluid, streamlined version of the fighting in earlier Bioshocks. Swapping guns and abilities feels dynamic.

The best action kicks off in big areas littered with possibilities. Gun and Vigor combinations can suit many play styles, skylines can be used to whizz around and dive onto foes, and Elizabeth can use her abilities to change the battlefield. She can bring into reality many helpful items, from weapon crates to automated turrets that can change the tide of battle.

Elizabeth herself is a really handy AI partner. The game helpfully tells you that you don’t need to look after her in combat, which drew a big sigh of relief from me. She spends her time finding any kind of supply you might be short of, and can be a lifesaver in a pinch.

It’s hard to find faults with Infinite, although some do exist. Most sorely missed are the neat puzzling sections that punctuated the gameplay in the original Bioshock. While the enemy varieties are each uniquely challenging, nothing is quite as intimidating as going toe to toe with the Big Daddies and Big Sisters of Rapture.

Scattered around Columbia are 80 audio logs, special stat upgrades and many sight seeing opportunities. Finding them all is well worth doing to gain a deeper understanding of the people and city as a whole. The hardcore 1999 mode should stump even the most dedicated of fans.

A big part of what makes Infinite so memorable is the whole look of the game. The vibrant city floats among the clouds, and viewing it for the first time is simply breath taking. Grand houses and majestic plazas give way to dark corners and crumbling structures as time goes on. Infinite also has an outstanding soundtrack. Expert score that intensifies the impact accompanies every emotional scene. Around the game, 1912-ified versions of pop classics, such as ‘Tainted Love” and “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” can be heard.

While 2013 will probably be remembered as the year of the new generation, it should really be remembered for the big games that saw off the old generation. Bioshock Infinite is possibly the biggest and best of these. It is an absolute must-play, and a compelling reason for anyone to buy a console if they haven’t already even at this late stage in the cycle. Quite simply, Bioshock Infinite is art.

It is rare these days that such a big game is released without a multiplayer mode. After sampling the unnecessary offering in Bioshock 2, it is safe to say that having no multiplayer is both rare and a gift. Bioshock Infinite is, without doubt, the best single player experience I’ve had with a game in years. The story it tells is engaging on every level, and the gameplay is a delight. Much like going back to a favourite book or film, I’ll be going back to this game again and again.

The Mancunion’s Photography Competition

Calling all budding photographers!

The Mancunion is offering you the chance to win £100 cash and a chance of being our Photography Editor next year.

All you have to do is submit 3 images related to the theme: Life on the Oxford Road corridor, plus 200 words describing your work, and details about your course and year of study by April 21st 2013.

Submissions should be sent to Media Intern Joe Sandler Clarke ([email protected]). Please put ‘Photography Competition’ in the subject box of the email.

All University of Manchester students can enter.

Good luck!

Bioshock: Infinite Preview

Fans of the BioShock franchise thus far have been treated to some of the most inventive and chilling plot lines the gaming industry has had to offer. The first two games combined horror, fantasy and thriller with impressive results bringing a dark and deserted under-water world known as Rapture to life. All of this is turned on its head in the up and coming BioShock Infinite as developers Irrational Games attempt to win over new fans. Infinite draws heavily upon American Exceptionalism and the Red Scare whilst retaining the steam-punk feel that made it such a visually pleasing experience last time around.

However this is where many of the similarities with previous BioShock games end. Director of design Bill Gardner has admitted compared to Rapture, Columbia is larger, richer and more detailed, but will this be enough to keep fans happy with the new direction?

The story in Infinite takes place before the events of the first two BioShock games. Co-founder of Irrational games Ken Levine even failed to rule out the possibility that BioShock Infinite takes places in a different universe to that of its predecessors entirely – giving us an idea of the new direction the franchise is taking.

The player takes control of a former agent of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency called Booker DeWitt. Drawn to alcoholism and gambling as a result of events Booker witnesses at the Battle of Wounded Knee, he is hired by secretive individuals who task him with infiltrating the air city Columbia in order to rescue a women called Elizabeth. Once in Columbia, Booker soon realises Elizabeth is extremely powerful and central to a civil war that continues to rage in the sky-city. Two factions called the Founders and the Vox Populi both want Elizabeth, and DeWitt must protect her from an array of dangers including a Robotic Songbird (wait and see), in order to get her out alive. Not to make things any easier for Booker tears in the fabric of space-time threaten to destabilise the city.

So what can we expect from Infinite that will help it stand out from its predecessors and where will it replicate the tried and tested formula? The game is still a first-person shooter and retains the odd roll-playing element that will help bring to life the utopian world of Columbia. But Columbia itself is full of people. Rapture on the other hand was pretty much deserted, so expect the experience of interacting with citizens and seeing the citizens react back to your in-game behaviour to change the dynamic of your experience.

To move around Columbia Booker will mainly use grappling hooks and a series of connected railways known as the skyline, which join together the high rise buildings of Columbia. In terms of the more technical side of the game, only two weapons can be carried at any one time, and careful choice of weaponry will be key as the environment is set to be pretty interactive and bad choices of weaponry could weaken your effectiveness.

One of the most obvious omissions from Infinite will be the loss of tonics, plasmids and EVE, something which I will personally miss having spent hours collecting them in the previous games. In their place will be vigors, gear upgrades and salt. To gain more powers and abilities you have to collect vigors. They will grant you abilities such as telekinesis and electricity manipulation. There will be no Gene banks in Infinite, so once a vigor is used it is permanent and cannot be changed, so expect more emphasis on character customisation rather than level-to-level equipment grabs as it were. Salt replaces EVE as the power source for these abilities. Gear on the other hand will improve your strength or damage and can be collected throughout the game. There will also be four available slots for gear upgrades and various upgrade paths. They will be key in defeating the various bad guys who will pursue you throughout the story, including the Handymen and the Motorized Patriots.

Three separate batches of downloadable content should be made available and all related to the storyline. Whilst alternative weapons, gear, costumes and vigors will come as extra content. Infinite is out on the 26th of March, and should be well worth the dosh!

The Thai Society

The University of Manchester’s Thai Society enables students interested in Thai culture and traditions to get together and meet new people. Each year they take part in the Samaggi Games, an annual Thai student sports tournament, which this year was held in Manchester for the first time. I spoke to Carissa Sirikitputtisak, the Chair of the society, to find out how we got on.

“This year 55 universities attended Samaggi and participants competed in 18 events ranging from badminton to an eating contest, relay races to tug of war, as well as three-legged races. In these events the University of Manchester had great success taking home two medals at the games. PhD student Poonsuk ‘’Nook’’ Poosimma won gold in women’s squash against the University of Southampton and Tanapat ‘’Kan’’ Wilaingam and Jirapas “Pao” Tantipiriyakij won the bronze medal.

This event is very important to the Thai Society of Manchester because the Samaggi Games is a hub for all Thai students from across the UK to connect. It is a great chance for other Thai societies from other universities to network with one another. Carissa Sirikitputtisak also explained how ‘it’s also an important cultural event where Thai students can get together and experience Thai food, language, cultural games and music.’ Overall the event was a great success, with over 1,000 Thai athletes participating and another 1,200 Thai students came to cheer them on making this year’s event one of the largest Samaggi Games ever held.

The Thai Society also organise a whole host of other events, including trips around the UK. These include excursions to Bath, Stonehenge, and a hiking trip to Snowdonia. There are also weekly events, for example a Thai-English language exchange every Sunday at KRO Bar on Oxford Road, as well as many weekly sports events. Although this society is directed and aimed towards the Thai community, it welcomes people who don’t have a Thai background but who just have a passion for the Thai culture.

For more information on events are how you can get take part in you can get in touch via facebook, the society’s website or send them an email.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/TSM.UK/

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://manchesterstudentsunion.com/societies

Must See: 1st – 8th April

Cannibals

Written by Manchester playwright Rory Mullarkey and directed by Michael Longhurst, Cannibals is a play about Lizaveta, a woman caught in the midst of war and progress, forced her to leave her home. The play follows her journey across continents trying to piece her life back together.

Runs 3rd April – 27th April at the Royal Exchange. Tickets £10.

 

The Glass Menagerie

David Thacker directs this production of Tennessee Williams’ famously autobiographical play which follows the protagonist Tom’s recollections of his mother, Amanda, and his sister, Laura. The hopes, regrets and idealisms of a family suffering the abandonment of a father and husband are played out in this postwar American drama.

Runs 27th March – 20th April at Bolton Octagon. Tickets £9.50.

 

Dystopia

A physical theatre production which follows 18 survivors in a post-apocalyptic Manchester whilst they form a new society in which some try desperately to remember and others try desperately to forget. Who will survive? Who will fall? Exploring the reality of power, memory and companionship this performance from the Contact’s Young Actors Company poses big questions about humanity and mankind’s ability to survive.

Runs 3rd April – 6th April at the Contact. Tickets £5.

 

 

Review: The Adventures of Sky the Reluctant Hero

First off, I had never been to the theatre before so this was the first show I have seen on stage. I was not exactly sure what to expect but I thought it would involve a bigger stage with more actors and maybe a musical element to it with a popular story line, but this was completely different.

It struck me as more of a personal, contemporary, arty, monologue piece, the sort of thing people often stereotype as arty student theatre. Something which can be confusing for a regular audience, as part of this audience myself I was pretty bewildered and was not actually sure as to what the deeper meaning was. It was both bizarre and brilliant at the same time. This is what I would imagine Lady Gaga was like when just starting out.

“The Adventures of Sky the Reluctant Hero” is the story of Sky, the girl who has not slept for six months. Nikky Norton Shafau did an amazing job in this one woman show exploring the reality of mental illness and insomnia. She had the ability to portray a variety of different characters and scenes in her life without even a single costume or set change. The storyline took many sudden twists and turns in this dream like play and with every fiber in her being she managed to express powerful emotions.

She begins the play in a big library with rows and rows of books, before coming across a big red book called ‘Digging Deep’, which is full of blank pages on which her story is to be written. She takes us through various points in her life. As a child being brought up by her grandmother she takes us through her culture and family traditions. One of the main themes here was the idea of working hard to achieve something, rather than taking the easy way out.

There was also fairytale dream element throughout the play with fictitious descriptions of reality, such as her grandmother’s description of her parents as astronauts on the moon. At various points in the play she explored her identity crisis, struggling to find her place in the world by directly asking the audience rhetorical questions like, “Who am I? Where am I? Do you know?” which involved the audience making them ask themselves these questions.

The theme of religion was a central part of the play with the description of “Grey town” symbolizing heaven with its “golden gates” portrayed through a light projection of a city skyline. Lights changed according to changes in mood helping the audience to keep up with the changing scenes.

Sky tried to escape her demons through various superficial outlets like alcoholism, sex and consumerism. She illustrated the effect of peer pressure leading to a loss of identity painting a vivid picture of these scenes through the use of music. She portrayed night life through loud club music, vigorous dancing and voice changes. She sang karaoke changing the words of the song “Diamonds” by Rihanna to suit her character. She even had a rap battle with a bear projected as a shadow on the wall.

Humor played a big part in her performance as she switched from serious to light hearted in a bipolar manner. Her dramatic movements were the aspect of the play which stood out the most. The eccentric portrayals of her internal struggle, pouring water over herself then summersaulting over the bed into the head board snapping it clear off the bed left the audience with their mouths gapping open.

The whole performance kept you on the edge of your seat. Props were laid about the room leaving the audience wondering when they would come into the story, there was, for example, a top hung on a hanger from the ceiling which was used to represent the idea of capitalism.

The structure of the play followed in very rough chronological order of her life randomly jumping from one thing to the next. I do feel the structure could have been planned a bit more because it was quite difficult at times to follow the storyline the links between scenes. But I also realise that this element added to the dream like quality, leaving it open for interpretation.

Ultimately, it left the audience feeling like they were in a trance. The various themes explored in the play resonate with us all and make us question what makes us happy and what defines who we are.

Sky highlighted the main reasons for not being able to sleep as loneliness and confusion over identity which can only be escaped through superficial things for a short while until they catch up to you and the only way to find peace is to face them head on no matter how difficult it may be. As my first theatre going experience I enjoyed it because it was so unorthodox, but I would prefer to see a more traditional play if I was to return to the theatre again, as that is what I was initially expecting. However, I do think everyone should experience the wacky yet serious side of theatre at least once in their lives.