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Month: May 2013

Parklife Competition

Parklife are offering one person the chance to win a pair of VIP weekend passes to this year’s festival.   You can view the full line-up here.

To be in with a chance of winning  just answer the following question:

Where is Parklife being held this year?

Entry closed.    The correct answer is of course Heaton Park, Manchester.

Congratulations to Joe Williams who has won himself a pair of tickets for the weekend!

Preview: Parklife

Manchester’s beloved Parklife returns once more with, perhaps, its finest line-up to date.  Headlining the main stages are staple names such as Plan B, Example and Rudimental but the more you scour the acts the better it gets.  Take some of the biggest Warehouse Project line-ups of last year, compact them into two days, and you’re on the right track for a sublime weekend.

Saturday-goers are truly spoilt for choice:  Disclosure, Four Tet and AlunaGeorge form one stage, whilst Hot Creations favourites Jamie Jones and Lee Foss lead another.  Add to that Maceo Plex, Sub Focus and a return from Maya Jane Coles, and the calibre of quality is clear.  The only question is, ‘where will you be?’  Should you head down early, strive to see Maribou State on the Drop the Mustard stage and you will surely be rewarded, especially as Huxley, Dusky and Bondax all follow.  Sunday also provides yet another chance to see Julio Bashmore live.  Jurassic 5 play the main stage, whilst Scuba, Ben Pearce and a plethora of other DJs complete the second day.

The relocation to Heaton Park may not be convenient but it was undoubtedly necessary, as last year’s overcrowding made some stages near inaccessible.  The bonus is that the shuttle buses run direct from Fallowfield.  No doubt these will turn into rampant party wagons, as studentdom looks to unwind in the inevitable post-exam drinking and debauchery.   As ever, Parklife will surely be a memorable end to any Mancunian student’s year.

Interview: Jamal Edwards

At first glance, you wouldn’t know South London entrepreneur Jamal Edwards is worth an estimated £6 million and counting. Flat cap adorned and Coca-Cola in hand, he looks like the average twenty two year old, but this tycoon has managed to build the multimedia empire that is SB.TV from the tender age of sixteen. This is a company that has one hundred and fifty million YouTube hits, a ten-strong production team and has been strengthened by Edwards’ appearance on the infamous Google Chrome advert that documents his humble beginnings. However, speaking to us from the Z-arts center, a heart of creativity in the center of Hulme it seems Edwards future plans are full of surprises.

This July, he will be bringing three unique events to the Manchester International Festival – two of which branch into a new sphere of urban comedy and all of which look out of place amongst the traditional MIF programming. Jamal explains “the Internet has allowed Grime music to be put in places that it might not necessarily have been when it first started. Collaborating with MIF will put Grime on another platform as such a prestigious and well connected festival.”

The first show, Smokey Barbers, Jamal describes as “already a hit on YouTube, but this is the first time that it’s going to be taken into a live space.” Representative of SB.TV’s branching into youth cultures other than music, the one-off Smokey Barbers event will comically “bounce off the typical conversations that happen in the hairdresser’s.”

Edwards expands. “Everyone goes to the barbers or the hairdressers. The event reflects those typical conversations of “where did you go last night? I’m seeing this girl or boy etc.” I wanted to have a joke on those dynamics so we’ve created a barbershop with a few main characters, cameras and the banter that comes with it. Jokes from the Hood, another event I’m introducing, will similarly consist of a stand-up comedy show that features both small and well-known comedians.”

Likewise, Jamal will be presenting History of Grime: Rebels with a Cause, a one-off event narrated by grime artist Justin Clarke aka Ghetts that will take the audience inside one of Britain’s most exciting musical cultures. “History of Grime will tell its story from when the genre first began, from when Ghetts was spitting with Wiley to where the genre is today. It’s especially interesting from an artist’s point of view.”

However, it’s precisely this diversion away from SB.TV’s grime roots that has sparked criticisms the channel’s direction towards the ‘mainstream’. Jamal defends. “People need to remember that I’m still on the streets filming those MC’s and as long as I’m still doing that, I don’t know what the problem is. Only a week ago I was in Manchester’s South nightclub filming the spitters.”

In fact, SB.TV’s ethos revolves around a fusion of celebrity and new talent. “By incorporating the more popular acts, I’m helping the unknown artists! If you’re up and coming and I’m featuring a mainstream act, you may get their subscribers to click on you and say “I never knew about this music but I like it”. They may even be Jessie J fans. It’s about introducing people to a new market, about marrying the two together and making it mutually beneficial to both big and new artists.”

Named the “voice of a generation” by many, you can see that Edwards is humbled by the comment. “It’s a responsibility to push the right messages out there so I release self-belief videos every other week.” However with an expanding business, he has his hands just about full. “I want SB.TV to be a youth hub that so that if you’re interested in fashion, comedy, sports or games, you can go to SB.TV. When I first started, I had to start with something that I knew and I knew music. But now it’s my plan to expand.”

Future plans may even incorporate live events. “I’d be interested in doing a monthly event that could give the many fresh singers I know a live space where they might never have performed before, a sort of open-mic night feel” he ponders. “Expansion aside, running SB.TV and presenting the events I’m bringing to MIF are all about giving new talents a platform to try out on.”

 Smokey Barbers, History of Grime: Rebels with a Cause and Jokes from the Hood will premiere in MIF alongside Jamal Edwards in Conversation from Mon 8th – 17th July. Ticket prices and further details can be found on http://www.mif.co.uk/event/jamal-edwards-presents .

 

Win Tickets to see Kodaline live!

The Mancunion are giving away a pair of tickets to see Kodaline perform an intimate set from their hotly anticipated debut album A Perfect World at Hard Rock Cafe Manchester on 30 May ahead of their performance at Hard Rock Calling Festival. To be in with a chance of winning, just like and share this post on our Facebook page by 10pm today.  

Manchester born Absolute Radio DJ Pete Mitchell will introduce the chart toppers to the stage in a gig that will provide the perfect warm up ahead of their performance at this year’s Hard Rock Calling festival, which takes place 29 & 30 June at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

Pete Mitchell said: “With 2013 being hailed as the year of the return of the guitar band, Kodaline have timed their arrival perfectly. Welcome to Manchester lads.”

Kodaline’s Steve and Mark, along with bassist Jay Boland and drummer Vinny May Jnr, have had an explosive start off the blocks. In three months, their debut track ‘All I Want’ is approaching almost 100,000 copies sold.  Kodaline’s recent smash hit “High Hopes” also reached #16 in the UK single charts and #1 in Ireland. Influences are wide-ranging, from the likes of Radiohead, The Beatles and The Strokes to Thin Lizzy, Jackson Brown and Bruce Springsteen. Their debut album, In A Perfect World, is out on 10 June.

 

Live: Alt-J

It would be something of an understatement to say that Leeds quartet Alt-J are on a bit of a high right now.  They won the Mercury Prize last year, were nominated for two BRIT awards and just picked up a prestigious Ivor Novello award for their sensational debut album An Awesome Wave.  Their Manchester show comes as part of a huge UK tour and, never having experienced their live show, I was keen to see how the record came across.  I arrived at Academy 1 and met a friend of mine who swiftly dragged me right to the front of the crowd.  I think that if I hadn’t been amongst their biggest fans, the sloppiness that marked several songs during their set might have been more apparent.

As it was, the crowd just didn’t care. They were there to show their love for the group and, to their credit, all the members of the band looked genuinely humbled by the response, particularly during ‘Matilda’ and ‘Dissolve Me’, during which singer Joe Newman was practically inaudible over the volume of the crowd singing back at him.  One of the most remarkable aspects of the performance was how they managed to retain the subtleties of the record in a live setting, but that may well have been a case of excellent sound engineering and clever arrangement more than anything else.  Undoubtedly, if Alt-J were a smaller band with a less rabid following, some aspects of the show would have been met with anger.  ‘Ms.’ was almost completely out of time and, committing one of the cardinal sins of live music, they had to restart their biggest song ‘Breezeblocks’ several bars in.  Even with two covers and every song in their back-catalogue played, the gig felt brief but the crowd’s reaction and the atmosphere show that the public are clearly ready for them.  This gig begs the question, however, are Alt-J ready for it themselves?

Interview: Bob Mould

“I know Kurt was a fan of the band, and I know Dave was too. I think that’s why I was one of the names being thrown around to potentially produce what eventually became Nevermind.” The band in question is Hüsker Dü, and you can probably forgive their former frontman, Bob Mould, for sounding a little blasé about having had such a profound influence on one of the biggest rock bands in history; it’s not as if he isn’t used to it. Nirvana’s bassist, Krist Novoselic, once described their sound as “nothing new; Hüsker Dü did it before us”, whilst Kim Deal joined the Pixies by responding to an ad by Black Francis that called for a female Hüsker fan. Those are probably the most prominent examples of Mould’s influence, but it wouldn’t be too controversial to suggest that any band that bonded over a love of alternative music in the late eighties wouldn’t have taken at least a few cues from Dü.

Mould’s recent return to the spotlight has been triggered by a host of career developments, from penning a fascinatingly forthright autobiography, See a Little Light – The Trail of Rage and Melody, to a collaboration with the Foo Fighters both in the studio and onstage. His other band, Sugar, reissued their classic Copper Blue, and when a handful of solo shows to support it culminated in a star-studded celebration of Mould’s career at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, he decided it was time to write some new material.

“A number of things happened over the past few years that made me want to make a record like Silver Age. The twentieth anniversary of Copper Blue was looming, and we went out on the road and played it live, and I really reconnected with that sound – it was a real blast playing those songs again. After having devoted three years of my life to writing the book, I felt like it might be nice to make a pop record that was just straight-up, short, fast, loud guitar songs. The other thing that was a key contributor was the work I’d been doing with the Foos – I went out and played with them a bunch of times and DJed at some of their shows too. Getting up and playing with those guys just reminded me that I loved making that kind of music. I fell back into it really naturally.”

Mould’s output in the years since Sugar’s split in 1996 comprises a musically-diverse body of work, and that’s without even mentioning a brief stint spent as a scriptwriter in the professional wrestling business, for WCW. An electronica-infused LP, Modulate, met with a decidedly mixed reception; after years of experimentation, you have to assume it might be a struggle to return to more conventional guitar songs.

“It was pretty easy. Actually, it was so easy that I didn’t really think about it. I think I’d gradually been moving back towards guitars over the course of the last three solo records (Body of Song, District Line and Life and Times). Each of those three albums was moving towards a loud guitar sound, although there was some electronic stuff in there too.”

“I did write a couple of songs purely with the intention of getting my feet wet, but truth be told, most of Silver Age was written in December of 2011, right after I’d done so much positive stuff – a ton of book promotion, the Disney Hall tribute show, and having been out on the road with the Foos. I had a good head of steam, a lot of energy. I think over the past ten or so years, a lot of people liked to think, “Oh, Bob went off and DJed and did a load of electronic stuff”, but actually I was making solo records with rock bands, so it wasn’t as abrupt a shift as you might think.”

Nirvana’s admiration for Hüsker Dü and Mould’s links to Nevermind seem to suggest that a collaboration with Dave Grohl was bound to happen at some stage, although it wasn’t until fairly recently that the pair finally became properly acquainted.  “In 1991, right before Sugar started up, I spent the summer doing a lot of touring in Europe, playing shows with Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth and Nirvana, so there’d been a familiarity there already. If we fast forward to 2008, that was the first time that me and Dave actually sat down and talked properly, in Washington D.C. – we were both part of a show that was celebrating a famous local venue there, the 9:30 Club. He ended up reaching out to me when they were recording Wasting Light in 2010, so I went down and worked on the song (‘Dear Rosemary’) and we wrote the bridge together.”

Describing those sessions, Grohl spoke of how “everybody was sort of startstruck”. According to Mould, though, it was by no means a one-way street. “There were two big highlights of that session for me – one, getting to meet Pat Smear (Foos guitarist). I was such a Germs fan, so that was awesome. The other great thing was finally getting to work with (producer) Butch Vig again – I think it was the first time since 1984. You can probably see how it worked, with all these old contacts; it’s pretty amazing that we’ve all managed to stay at the same craft all these years. It’d make for a great reality TV show, actually.”

Of no small importance to the development of a record produced as fast and furiously as Silver Age was Mould’s ability to call upon his now-established live band when it came to recording. “Well, Jason Narducy plays bass and we’ve been friends for at least a decade now. I worked with him in the nineties when he was doing an acoustic duo thing with a cellist called Alison Chesley; they became a group called Verbow, I produced their record and we’ve been touring together on and off ever since.” Jon Wurster, a member of Superchunk and The Mountain Goats who moonlights as one of the funniest musicians on Twitter, is currently behind Mould’s kit. “I met Jon back in the Superchunk days, but we didn’t play together until 2008, when our last drummer kind of drifted off to do other things. It’s just fucking great to not have to think about anything, we just go up and do our thing – it’s gotten so effortless over the past five years. We’ve been playing a lot of songs that everybody knows from different eras, but those guys lend it a new sound, I think.  Plus, they’re fucking hilarious.”

Mould is speaking from his home in San Francisco, and he catches me a little off guard. Maybe it was the aggression I was so used to from those Husker Du records, or the physical power of his live presence, but I wasn’t expecting him to be so disarmingly friendly. It’s not difficult to see why the idea of publishing his memoirs has been in the pipeline for so long; he’s an engaging storyteller, consistently weaving deft timestamps  and neat anecdotes into our conversation.

“You might’ve heard of a guy called Michael Azerrad – he wrote a book called Our Band Could Be Your Life, and one about Nirvana too, actually. He was the first person I spoke to on record after Husker Du split up, in late 1999 or early 2000, I think, for his book. After it came out in the summer of 2001, I had a meeting with Michael and his editor at Little Brown, who’d published the book. He asked if I’d ever thought about an autobiography, and my immediate reaction was, you know, “I’m only forty, it’s too soon!” It was kind of an open-ended offer and seven or eight years later, it seemed more feasible. I’d had more experiences, not just musically but obviously dealing with my sexuality and being out and more comfortable. I just thought it was time to tell the story before I started forgetting it.”

See a Little Light‘s most striking features are its brutal honesty and sharp attention to detail; just from reading it, you can tell it was a real labour of love for Mould. Having taken time away from music to focus on the book, how much of an impact did it have on his songwriting when it came to returning to the studio? “Silver Age was an absolute reaction to the book. You know, that process was three years of looking at stuff I’d been ignoring, and also three years of being painstakingly methodical about something and making sure every single word was exactly so. It was fun to just do something that was the antithesis of being so careful, and just putting a bunch of words together on a rock record.”

Further evidence of Mould’s lasting influence on the alternative scene is provided by his tribute show at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in November 2011, when an impressive array of musicians lined up to pay homage to his back catalogue; No Age, Ryan Adams, The Hold Steady, Spoon’s Britt Daniel and, of course, Grohl were amongst those performing. “The Disney folks got hold of my manager at the start of the year, just as the book was ready to come out, and said they’d love to do something to mark it, and this was the first idea that came up. I’d been involved in similar shows at Carnegie Hall in New York – one for Bob Dylan, one for R.E.M. and one for The Who – so I was already familiar with the concept. We got together with those guys and put a wish list together of people we wanted to get involved, and, incredibly, most of them came through. It was just a really fun night, a real celebration. I played a couple Husker Du tracks with No Age, and then the keystone of the whole thing was me playing a bunch of songs with Dave. It really brought home how lucky I am to get to hang out with my friends and keep making music.”

This upcoming European run includes a handful of UK dates, Mould’s first for more than five years.  Advancing years seem to have had little bearing on his stage manner; he continues to play as if nobody’s watching, with an arresting vitality absent in plenty of frontmen half his age. “All the other stuff I’ve been doing these past thirty years really has no bearing – it’s all about those ninety minutes onstage. I can’t pretend the road doesn’t get a little longer every time we go out on it, and I wish, at fifty-two, I could say I feel the same as when I was twenty-two, but I know better by now. You’ve gotta take it a little easier so that you can put on a show every night. Just the fact that I can still come over and play to people who wanna see me – that’s enough for me.”

Bob Mould plays Academy 3 on May 20. Silver Age is available now via Merge Records

Album: Daft Punk – Random Access Memories

Released: 17th May 2013

Daft Life

 

There’s a lot that’s surprising about Random Access Memories, the latest offering – and the first studio album proper for eight years – from Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, the Parisian house legends better known to the world as Daft Punk. What’s relieving, though, after all that time and all this album’s twists and turns, is this: it was worth it. The bombastic opening chords of first track ‘Give Life Back to Music’ herald the arrival of an hour-and-fourteen-minute opus which touches base equally with funk, disco, and the poppy house on which the duo have built their reputation, but which reaches out to the future as strongly as it is rooted in the past. It’s definitely Daft Punk, but it’s more dynamic and more diverse than we’ve ever heard them before.

Much has been rightly made of the album’s long and impressive list of guest contributors, but what is most striking is the extent to which these tracks really are musical collaborations, not just the sort of name-dropping cameos which are all too familiar to modern listeners. The insouciant cool which Pharrell Williams lends to the MJ-esque ‘Lose Yourself to Dance’ and infectious lead single ‘Get Lucky’ is what’s garnered the most attention, but the most pleasing collusion here is with Chic’s Nile Rodgers, whose funky guitars lend an extra groove to three of the album’s tracks. Special mention also goes to Julian Casablancas, whose turn on ‘Instant Crush’ sounds exactly how The Strokes produced by Daft Punk would, the familiar detached vocals and staccato guitars squeezed through filters, lest we forget for a moment who’s at the helm.

Indeed, those ever-present vocoders are back with a vengeance, but the juxtaposition of electronic and organic elements feels particularly deliberate on this record. The strangely affecting use of a filtered, robotic voice expressing very human sentiments, long one of Daft Punk’s trademarks, is even more striking when that voice belongs to Casablancas or, on ‘Doin’ it Right’, Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, or when it sails over Chilly Gonzales’ loungey piano on ‘Within’, the closest the album gets to a ballad. “Touch… I remember touch…” croaks a distant, android voice on the album’s centerpiece ‘Touch’, before the track bursts – via a tender cameo from another Williams, veteran singer-songwriter Paul – into a joyous cacophony of keyboards and brass, the perfect foil for the self-conscious late-night swagger of Pharrell’s contributions.

Make no mistake, though – this is the sound of musicians who are cherry picking from the past, but only that they might carve out a path into the future. The album’s closer ‘Contact’, co-produced by the duo’s compatriot DJ Falcon, is the only track on which Daft Punk elected to use samples; appropriately bizarrely, they plumped for a NASA recording from the Apollo 17 spaceflight and an excerpt from ‘We Ride Tonight’ by ‘70s Aussie rockers The Sherbs. Rising electronic wails pierce through arcade game synth arpeggios like a rocket bursting through the atmosphere, as if to remind us that, on Random Access Memories, Daft Punk are boldly going where no one – or no member of The Sherbs, certainly – has gone before.

Preview: Chorlton Coffee Festival

There may be a myth that students will happily settle for substandard, barely-palatable coffee – evident from the queue meandering its way from the library café – but funnily enough, there are some of us who want for more. The humble coffee bean can yield a lot of power, and if you’re lucky, this can be in flavour and not just energy.

For those eager to heal the effects of harsh library coffee after the stresses of exam period, Chorlton Coffee Festival is here to soothe your mangled taste buds.

With the participation of over 30 cafés, bars and restaurants from the area, Chorlton Coffee Festival takes place 28th-30th June, promising a weekend that dedicates itself to coffee and celebrates café culture – something that Britain has happily taken under its wing in recent years.

Apparently we, too, are beginning to harbour that continental thirst for casual, social and civilised caffeination that stems from the late-night haunts of Paris, Vienna and Istanbul, and this was the inspiration for festival director, Lorelei Loveridge. Having flown further afield to sample the teas and coffees of Europe and Asia, Loveridge is keen to transport the sociable ethos behind café culture to the south Manchester suburb of Chorlton.

Entry to the festival hub in Chorlton Central Church costs £3 and most other events are free. There are also pre-festival events in the lead-up to the weekend, and local businesses are adding festival specials to their menus. Talks and workshops include ‘How to Become a Home Barista’, which is perhaps one to master in time for the next deadline period.

So stop hankering after that caramel latte frappacrap with whipped cream, marshmallows, fireworks and logo-emblazoned white doves. Instead, go and support the independent businesses that work hard to provide an honest cuppa Joe.

 

http://www.chorltoncoffeefestival.com/

Vote YES for a PAID EDITOR

Vote YES for a paid Editor at The Mancunion

Vote on your Student Portal (My Manchester, Union tab)

VOTING CLOSES FRIDAY MAY 17th at 12pm

– Better quality publication
– More support for students
– More opportunities for students
– More accountability

Read the full manifesto here: http://manchesterstudentsunion.com/top-navigation/student-voice/decision-making/all-student-vote/should-the-editor-of-the-mancunion-be-an-elected-paid-and-full-time-role

*

“I would heartily endorse the reinstatement of having a Mancunion editor doing the role on a paid sabbatical basis.

“From personal experience, it would have been impossible to juggle such a role with one’s studies, particularly with the amount of work that was involved in dealing with advertising, printing and distribution.

“Having a full-time paid editor also made an enormous difference during the summer term when many of those involved in The Mancunion’s production are revising for exams and unavailable to help out in the normal way.

“I was quite shocked to learn that the post was no longer an executive position.

“When I was editor, it was a running joke that The Mancunion editor was the hardest-working member of the union executive, something that I gather continued in later years.”

– Ian King, Business Editor at The Times

Feature: Justin Bieber – Misbehaving or misunderstood?

Whether you like it or not, Justin Bieber is the biggest pop star in the world. He has nearly 38 million Twitter followers, 3 billion views on Youtube and 52 million Facebook fans. He sold out Madison Square Garden in 22 minutes. He is, opinions aside, a pretty big deal. The question that has been bouncing around the Internet recently is; has all this gone to his young head? The Canadian star has always divided opinion, from his devoted army of ‘Beliebers’ to the copious amount of ‘Haters’ he has managed to accumulate. Even taking this into account, his last few months have been controversial.

His time here in the UK marked the beginning of the media storm. He turned up two hours late for one of his sold out 02 arena shows, one of the biggest shows of his record-breaking ‘Believe’ tour. He reportedly remarked backstage, when one of his entourage attempted to chide him onto the stage, ‘My Beliebers will wait for me’. If this is true, not only does he sound harrowingly like a cult leader, but also massively self-absorbed. The idea that his fans worship him so much that he can pick his own concert times is mildly terrifying. If we’re being realistic, the chances that his exact words were twisted are very high. Regardless, his tardiness cannot be overlooked. It is quite clearly a sign of someone struggling to deal with just how colossal his brand has become. Stunningly, this was not his most reported misstep on our Great Island. His uncontrolled rage directed at a photographer made many more headlines. After the aforementioned photographer had called Bieber a myriad of revolting names, the 19 year old burst of his people carrier to declare that he was going to ‘ f*cking beat the f*ck out of’ the paparazzi. In fairness, the names being thrown at him were enough to make anyone’s blood boil, but should he not have learnt to control himself by now? He has had this level of attention for over three years. This, coupled with the fact that the likelihood of him being able to ‘beat the f*ck out of’ the huge bald photographer was very slim, makes his reaction seem overcooked and impudent. His sea of bodyguards prevented him from getting anywhere near the object of his desire, but many would have silently thought ‘ Go on, Justin. Let’s see where this gets you’.

His antics did not limit themselves to the UK. Last month, his actions wreaked havoc in Amsterdam. Like many tourists, he decided to pay a visit to the Anne Frank museum, situated in the alcove in which she and her family hid from the Nazis until their eventual capture. I myself have been there and it is a hugely affecting experience. On his way out, young Mr Bieber decided to write in the guestbook. He scribed ‘ Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber’. Although undoubtedly well meaning, the ‘Boyfriend’ singer grossly misread the situation. The museum is a place of such gravity for so many, that to mention himself and his followers in his reflection comes across as shockingly arrogant. There is no doubt his comment was innocent, but it was undeniably inappropriate.

Despite the young singer’s behaviour, I feel he needs to be cut some slack. I would defy anyone not to become slightly self-absorbed when you have 50 million fans that devote their lives to you. He receives tweets on a daily basis containing such charming ditties as ‘ I would be nothing without you’ or ‘you are my reason to live’. Although terrifying, this has no doubt had an effect on him. His day to day friends consist of bodyguards, a vocal coach, a manager and many other non-descript helpers who are paid to be with him. He has no idea of what a normal childhood is like. He is 19, with an estimated personal fortune of 120 million dollars. When he was caught on camera supposedly smoking marijuana, his fans started trending the twitter topic ‘ #cutforBieber ‘ in an attempt to stop him doing drugs. Is experimenting with drugs not normal teenage behaviour? Although his recent actions have been misjudged, I for one feel desperately sorry for him. No one can understand what his life is like and I see him as a teenager dangerously out of his depth.

Web Developers wanted for 2013/14

We’re looking for a new web team for 2013/14.

The Mancunion has been the student newspaper at the University of Manchester since 1969, and prior to that since the 1920s as the Manchester Independent.

The paper is one of the most respected publications in the UK, with a circulation of between 5,000 and 10,000. In addition, Mancunion.com is a successful website, with close to 140,000 unique visitors so far for this academic year.

Benefits for students wanting to get involved include practical experience of running a successful website, teamwork, working in media and the chance to win awards; particularly The Guardian Student Media Award for Website of the Year.

Web developers would be tasked with working with the Web Editor to continue the gradual improvement of the website, helping to introduce new features onto the site, and carrying out maintenance on the website to ensure that it runs smoothly.

Experience required:

  • Previous experience of using WordPress
  • Web development in PHP
  • Experience developing themes in WordPress is a bonus

Those interested in this volunteer position should send an email with ‘Web developer application’ in the subject box detailing their experience to next year’s Editor Jonathan Breen on [email protected]

APPLICATION DEADLINE: WEDNESDAY 12TH JUNE

 

 

Festival: Open’er

3rd – 6th July

Boasting a stellar lineup, whose headliners (Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Kings of Leon, QOTSA) probably best those of any other festival happening this year, Open’er has become a major player on the international festival circuit in recent years. This is due in no small part to the price of attending. 4-day tickets are available with 7-day camping and a free pass to see Rihanna the day after the festival’s culmination, should you so wish.

The price of the trip often tallies at significantly less than the total of attending a large UK festival which is fantastic when you consider that you also get a complete cultural experience, many beautiful beaches and three cosmopolitan cities to explore nearby. Flights to Poland and accommodation are also dirt cheap. Of the 120 artists confirmed, Crystal Fighters, Editors, Alt-J and the excellent Tame Impala will certainly absorb audiences in the hot Baltic sun. Finally, when you can describe acts with the magnitude of Nick Cave, Animal Collective and Kendrick Lamar as being part of the alternative section of the bill this year’s Open’er looks to be a fantastic experience all-round.

Tickets are £110, that includes camping for the week – see website for more details.

Festival: Eastern Electrics

2nd – 4th August

Extending its duration to three days and two nights, EE 2013 will see over 100 of the finest global electronic artists hitting Hertfordshire this August.  The festival will take place at the iconic Knebworth Park, a venue steeped in tradition and which has played host to the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Oasis and, of course, Robbie. It will be very interesting to see how the event fairs in its new home.

Day 1 kicks off on the Friday with Ben UFO, Blawan, Bicep, Maurice Fulton and DJ Sneak getting the ball rolling. The no-nonsense beat-stream continues on Day 2 with Magda, Heidi, Ame, Roman Flugel and Surgeon. Then to close on Sunday, the legendary Masters At Work, Kerri Chandler, Chez Damier, as well as P-Bar giants Tama Sumo and Prosumer. There’s also a host of young guns on display over the three days – the likes of Kyle Hall, Pan Pot and Subb-an will certainly wet more than a few whistles.

Weekend tickets with camping are £115 standard, day tickets will set you back about £40. There are plenty of offers for groups and ‘boutique’ camping – see the website for more info, here.

Big Green Coach are also offering coach travel from all over the country, check it out.

Festival: Wilderness

9th – 11th August

There  aren’t many festivals that combine panel debates, nature retreats and wood-fired hot tubs with an enormous wealth of talent from the worlds of circus, music and theatre. However, Wilderness Festival does just that.

It is the brainchild of the people behind the success of both the Secret Garden Party and Lovebox music festivals. As Wilderness enters its third year in the picturesque parkland of Cornbury Estate, Oxfordshire, the festival will certainly aim to maintain and further solidify its reputation awarded to it by the readers of the Live UK magazine as the the UK’s best festival with a capacity under 15,000 in 2012.

Australian duo Empire of the Sun headline in what is an exclusive UK festival performance, and their first UK date in just over three years. A perfect headline act in the care-free, relaxed environment that the festival offers. Other acts performing include Noah and the Whale, Rodriguez, Ghostpoet, King Krule and Martha Wainwright, alongside the BBC Sound of 2012 winner Michael Kiwanuka and the 2013 Brits Critics Choice award winner Tom Odell.

Tickets are £139 for the weekend w/camping – see website for more details.

Festival: Hideout

3rd – 5th July

With a backdrop that combines the Mediterranean climate, mountainous scenery and crystal waters, it is plain to see why Hideout Festival has become one of Europes leading dance getaways. Whether it’s boat partying with Joy O or being poolside for Bashmore, Hideout has all bases covered, catering for both the commercial and obscure clubbers alike. Whilst Chase & Status and Jamie Jones top the bill, the essential party names of ever present duo Oneman and Jackmaster are guaranteed to keep summer vibes flowing.

That said, house music remains at the fore with men like George Fitzgerald and Dusky standing in good stead to keep the beats playing well past sunset. If this was not enough, the influential figures of Scuba and Skream sit alongside the relatively young pair, Bondax, to offer one of the most balanced lineups Croatia’s coast will host this summer. Located on a small beach upon the island of Pag, Hideout offer the customary boat party opportunity, with labels such as Numbers, Hessle Audio and Hot Creations all commandeering ships. 2012 deserves special mention DJ Jackmaster finishing his sunset performance by playing ‘Teardrops’ by Womack and Womack. This resulted in the audience getting rather emotional, especially when ‘Gypsy Woman’ by Crystal Waters was played upon Jacks encore.

Festival: Latitude

19th – 21st July

While Kraftwerk and Carol Ann Duffy might be two names which rarely come together in the same sentence, the forefathers of electronic music share a billing with the poet laureate and GCSE English staple at 2013’s Latitude Festival, in a line-up which, at first glance, might make for slightly bemusing reading – Modest Mouse, Germaine Greer, Duane Eddy and Tim Key all feature among a wealth of others, in what is surely one of the more wide-ranging mix of artists assembled this summer. However, as organiser Melvin Benn has stated, Latitude is “much more than a music festival.”

Headlining alongside Kraftwerk are festival stalwarts Bloc Party and Foals, although with over 500 live acts booked for the four day festival – including break-through acts Laura Mvula and Rhye – it would be hard not to find something to enjoy. The appeal of Latitude’s eclectic (sorry) range of live performance is matched by the allure of its setting, in the idyllic grounds of Suffolk’s Henham Hall, over which rogue flocks of luminously dyed sheep roam at will – as far as British festivals are concerned, locations don’t come much better in this. Founded in 2006, and with a current capacity of 35,000, Latitude is already becoming a major highlight of the UK’s festival circuit.

Festival: Dot To Dot

24th May

Perhaps one of the worst things about booking a festival ticket is the utter, utter dread that our notoriously schizophrenic British weather just won’t cooperate. There’s always a risk that after spending £200 on a ticket and then the same again in transport, supplies and copious booze, you’ll end up spending a weekend soaked to the skin and covered in mud. And that’s the joy of a multi-venue city festival. The heavens can open all they like but you’ll be standing inside a nice warm venue and at the end of the night, you can go home to a shower and a warm bed.

The first night of three with the crew rolling in to Nottingham and Birmingham the same weekend., the Manchester leg is taking place in a number of venues surrounding Oxford Road train station: Ritz, Sound Control, Joshua Brooks, Deaf Institute & Zoo. The festival has always prided itself on exhibiting some of the freshest new bands around; at the top of the bill are the always wonderful Dry the River and critics’ darling Tom Odell but further down there’s some of the best new talent currently winning over the music blogs. Be sure to catch the likes of Wolf Alice, new indie-pop wonders, Thumpers, MØ – who’s being touted as the Danish Grimes, Chloë Howl and Story Books before they rise out of their relative obscurity.

Check the stage times and ticket info here.

Festival: Gottwood

20th – 23rd June

One of the hottest tickets of last summer, Gottwood is perhaps best described as a techno-based teddy-bear’s picnic. Nestled away in the Anglesey woods, this year’s vibrant roster of artists includes Extrawelt, Luke Vibert, Ben UFO, Detroit Swindle and Tom Demac – plus a plethora of quality producers and established regional promoters.

Manchester collective Drop The Mustard play host to up and comers Urulu and Ejeca, London house heads Tief welcome Bicep and KRL, whereas Leeds night Louche bring in German supremo Move D for a 4hr set. Hip-hop tinted live act The Scribes and deep-rooted reggae crew General Roots also contribute to an extremely eclectic billing.

What sets Gottwood apart from other UK dance festivals is that it is genuinely dedicated to supporting up and coming DJs. The promoters strive to provide a platform for lesser known artists, giving them the opportunity to push themselves further into the public eye. It’s also set in the woods, which is pretty rad. The theme this year is ‘The Wild Things’, so expect to see plenty of larger-than-life art installations, animalistic murals and graffitied trees.

Tickets are £95 for the weekend w/camping – great value. See the website for more details and necessary directions.

Festival: Outlook / Dimensions

29th Aug – 2nd Sept  /  5th – 9th Sept

Located in the stunning surroundings of Fort Punta Christo, Croatia, Outlook returns this year to celebrate its sixth birthday. With a line up including some of the best in house, techno, reggae, garage and grime, every taste is pretty much catered for. There’s also a major hip hop contingent this time round – including Mos Def, The Pharcyde, Pharoah Monch, Talib Kweli and Jay Electronica.

Dimensions starts three days later on the same site, and is shaping up to just as good as, if not better than its older brother. Looking to capitalise on last year’s inaugural success, the line-up boasts some of the most innovative producers doing the rounds right now. In addition to the techno stylings of Ben Klock, Karenn and Efdemin, the lighter end of 4/4 music is represented by Floating Points, Move D, Mr Scruff and John Heckle. But I’d say the most exciting prospect is the Detroit tour de force, comprised of Moodymann, Model 500, Theo Parrish, Omar-S and Rick Wilhite. Silly good.

Tickets are £135 each / £245 for both – check out the websites for more info – Outlook / Dimensions

Planet Festival is also offering deals on coach travel + accommodation – so make sure you have a good look at what’s available.

Interview: Ghostpoet

“Some people decide to go down a particular path in life, or follow a particular crowd – some say I. Instead of doing that, I’m walking down my own avenue – so I say light.” Ghostpoet is attempting to elucidate the thinking behind the title for his sophomore record, Some Say I So I Say Light; after his debut carried a similarly-abstract moniker, Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam, it’s obvious he’s not one for a straightforward self-titling. “It came to me in a dream, as ridiculous as that sounds. I wrote it down at the time, and kind of forgot about it for a while. It wasn’t until we came to finish the album that I realised it had stuck.”

Ghostpoet – or Obaro Ejimiwe, when he’s at home – provides compelling evidence that extra-curricular pursuits at university can involve more than just supermarket vodka and regret. It was during his time as a student in Coventry that he made his first significant forays into music. “I’d never really met like-minded people, musically speaking, until I got to uni,” he says. “It was less about actually making anything and more that I was just listening to so much stuff, and absorbing so many different influences. I was really into grime at the time, and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of MCs and DJs – I was able to immerse myself in that scene.”

As much as this could easily be considered a lazy comparison, Ghostpoet reminds me, overwhelmingly at times, of The Streets. It’s not just the blend of typically-urban genres with a handful of more eclectic influences; it’s the atmosphere, on both records, that kind of mirrors what Mike Skinner produced, particularly on Original Pirate Material and A Grand Don’t Come for Free; that brooding, late night, inner city ambience that’s only partly translated through the lyrics – Roots Manuva, too, often pulled it off on his more contemplative efforts. “The music always informs the lyrics – it’s never the other way around.  When you’re trying to come up with the words, it’s all about tapping into the emotion that you’ve created through the music. You need to figure out where the sounds want you to go.”

If there’s an obvious explanation for the influx of new ideas on Some Say I So I Say Light, both sonic and thematic, it’d be the progression from Peanut Butter Blues‘ bedroom-produced beginnings to working with an established producer in an actual recording studio. “I knew that if I wanted to evolve as an artist, I was going to have to go into a proper studio. I knew straight away that I wanted to bring in a co-producer, and that was all part of wanting to challenge myself, artistically speaking, by doing new things, and forcing myself into positions that made me a bit uncomfortable. The whole of the first record was sort-of laptop-produced, and this time we actually did most of it analogue, which was something I hadn’t really thought about before.”

The co-producer in question – and he is, indeed, a co-producer, as Ghostpoet is at pains to point out – is Richard Formby, who’s worked extensively with one of Ghostpoet’s favourite bands – Wild Beasts. “I love that band, and I admired the work Richard had done with them; he’s produced all three of their records so far. I liked what he did with Darkstar too, so I had kind of a trial week with him and we really hit it off. He’s a good friend now. Probably the most important thing was that we got along so well.”


One of the most obvious signs of advancement on Some Say I is the decision to include a number of collaborations, with Gwilym Gold, The Invisible’s Dave Okumu and Lucy Rose all making appearances. “I feel like I’m not a musician in the traditional sense,” he reflects. “I look at songs as if I’m trying to put them together, and I had an idea of who I thought could help complete certain tracks. Lucy Rose came to my attention through the work she did with Bombay Bicycle Club, and as soon as I heard her solo stuff, I knew I wanted to have her on the record, so I wrote that song (‘Dial Tones’) with her in mind.”

Ghostpoet’s signature is the eclectic mix of genres that he’s embraced on both his records, with hip hop only one influence among many; he’s repeatedly distanced himself from the ‘rapper’ tag. “It’s just a reflection of the fact that I’m a fan of so many different kinds of music. If something feels right, I’ll put it in there. I’m not consciously trying to make the record sound diverse, but I wouldn’t ever try to write a song by only focusing one particular sound.”

The lean towards an analogue recording process was perhaps not totally surprising, given that Ghostpoet insists on a full live band when playing shows. “I really want the gigs to have a different flavour from the records. Often, it’s very easy for electronic artists to just turn up on stage with a laptop and a mic. I know, from going to gigs myself, that you want to take something unique away from a live show. I love guitar music; it has the best kind of live energy, and that’s what I’ve been trying t o channel.”

With Some Say I meeting with similarly positive reviews as its predecessor, it wouldn’t be remiss to suggest that another Mercury nomination might be in the offing, after Peanut Butter Blues was pipped by PJ Harvey back in 2011. “That was really crazy. The recognition was great, and it opened a lot of doors for me, but I don’t think about it too much now. I’m always looking to the next thing, and that time has been and gone.”

Ghostpoet plays Gorilla on May 28. Some Say I So I Say Light is available now via Play It Again Sam