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Month: December 2014

Is it okay to date an ex’s friend?

Written by Perisha Kudhail on . Posted in Lifestyle.

With the huge platform of people that you meet at university, it seems inevitable that a dating interest will pop up along the line somewhere. Perhaps a night out turned into a night in, or your boy friend turned boyfriend? But what happens when you fall for your ex’s mate? What do you do? Is it acceptable?

Yes—Bella
“I think you should be able to date who you please. If you feel like you could truly be with a person and that person so happens to be your ex’s friend, who cares! If you’re both mature enough to move on then this new relationship should not affect any friendship.

“Perhaps if the relationship ended on bad terms then maybe the best idea wouldn’t be to flaunt your new found relationship in front of your ex. But if the breakup was mature and maybe even a friendship came from it, then I believe that it is at least OK to date your ex’s friend. I am actually dating my ex’s friend and my ex has moved on too. We’re both still friends and the friendship between my current boyfriend and my ex is sound. I understand that this transition may not be so smooth for everyone, but I guess I was lucky.

“You both should be strong and allow the other person move on. As long as there’s no cheating and leading on then live and let live, I say.”

No—Ben
“Although you may not be able to help how you feel about someone, I think dating your ex’s friend is a bad idea. Not only will it be heartbreaking for the ex, but both of you won’t be able to gain closure: they’ll still have a pang of jealousy and you’ll be constantly reminded of them by their friendship with the person you’re now dating.

“I have actually been through a breakup recently and my ex is now going out with a guy who used to be my mate. I say ‘used to’ because the friendship has changed. I mean he couldn’t chat about what a great night he had with his new girl, because that new girl used to be mine! I kept thinking about all the things we used to do together and if she was having a better time with my mate.

“I would strongly advise against dating within the same friendship group. Things can get messy and no matter how much you tell yourself, you won’t ever truly move on.”

My time in a psychiatric hospital

Written by Eilis Hall on . Posted in Features.

You tell yourself that routines are healthy. They keep you on the straight and narrow. They tell you how to get through each day. A daily routine can be incredibly useful for the average student, particularly if you struggle to motivate yourself into sitting down and doing your coursework. You might have your daily routine figured out in a way that is completely functional and if you do, I salute you. I have had many different routines since I started university but here was my second year routine:

7am: Wake up. Lie in bed and avoid getting up for as long as possible.
Between 10pm and 2pm: Do all of the washing up in the kitchen. No matter how much there is.
Next: Work out. 200 jumping jacks. 100 leg-ups. 100 – 200 sit-ups.
Next: Shower.
Next: Roll a cigarette, make a cup of herbal tea, eat a banana. Smoke cigarette. Drink tea. Wash mug.
Next: Find anything possible to do to get you through the day without having anything to eat. Aim to find a reason to walk for at least half an hour. Throw yourself into all of your university work and tell yourself you aren’t allowed anything you enjoy until you have read x amount of pages or written x amount of words of the essay that is due in three weeks time.
Between 6pm and 8pm: Do any washing up that has accumulated throughout the day. Find the smallest bowl and a comfortably small teaspoon. Roll a cigarette. Prepare half a tin of soup and a mug of herbal tea. Prepare a slice of toast, provided the bread is below 100 calories. Eat soup, wash up immediately. Smoke cigarette. Drink tea.
Next: Throw myself into university work or reading until it is an appropriate time to drink alcohol.
Around 2am or 3am: Crawl into bed. Probably don’t get to sleep for another two hours or so.

Now maybe this routine would be okay for the average student for one or two days. Here’s the thing: I wasn’t the average student, I did this every day. In bed, I calculated every calorie for the whole week. If I was drinking on a particular night, I would have to have a lower calorie soup. If I wasn’t, I could ‘treat myself’ so long as the soup was still below 200 calories. My ‘workout’ routine was painful but I had to do it because in my head, if I missed one day then this would destroy everything. The only thing that seemed to change was how much activity I did in the day. Sometimes I had work and on those days it was often even worse. I was a tutor for kids in the area and I had to go to different houses for each session, often in the hours that I considered ‘dinner time’—and if I missed ‘dinner time’ I missed dinner. On a few occasions my clients would comment on me looking tired or pale—but none of them knew how ill I really was.

My housemates knew what I was doing, and my family would ask me about my eating habits every day. One night, my friend was lying in bed beside me and she burst into tears. When I asked her why, all she said was, “I don’t want you to die.” I told her neither did I, but in reality, every time I ran or climbed the stairs, it felt like my legs were going to collapse beneath me. Yet somehow it still took me nearly the whole year and two different counsellors before I finally said it: “I think I need to get some real help.”

Admitting I had a problem wasn’t the issue. No, I knew I had a problem. I suppose it becomes a ‘laugh-or-cry’ situation when you realise that you’ve spent half an hour sitting at your kitchen table trying to work out whether or not to eat a satsuma before your blood test and a banana after or whether to just wait until later so that you don’t have to have the extra fruit. My ‘issue’ was that I felt like going into hospital meant that I was giving up a part of me or throwing it all away. That and, I felt like everyone would forget me and when I came back, I would have no one. I felt like my illness was my identity and that when I lost it no one would find me ‘interesting’ or care about me. Now it seems ridiculous that I somehow believed that my closest friends preferred the girl who would literally flap her arms about squealing if unable to find a clean teaspoon at teatime to the functional human being they had met in first year.

Cut to me, an in-patient.

Deciding to go into hospital is probably the most important and mature step I have ever taken, but this does not mean I immediately became a well-adjusted functioning adult. The next step was getting me to agree to anxiety medication, which was an interesting battle. When I was feeling more ‘sane’ my argument was “well clearly I’m managing my anxiety very well on my own.” When I wasn’t, my argument was “I REFUSE TO BE A LAB RAT IN YOUR CAGE, I WILL FEEL MY FEELINGS.” The clincher for me was the day I had an argument with the nurse who was serving our food at the hospital on the grounds that I was certain that parsnips were not a vegetable. Often people will refuse medication on the simple basis of pride—myself included. A lot of people refuse to even acknowledge that they have a problem because they are so determined to simply be stronger.

The day after the parsnip melodrama, I had a cigarette with one of the nurses and explained to her my fears; I wanted to feel in control. It was through talking to this nurse—and a few others—that I realised that this need for control was controlling me. I’d spent the past two years obsessively trying to keep my life structured and it had been exhausting. Maybe trusting them was frightening, but in the environment I was in I had no choice but to trust them. So I started to try to alter the way I saw things. Thinking “I can’t control this” had been sending my anxiety sky high and re-affirming my determination to reject the anxiety medication which, at that point, I needed. They could take control of my physical health but I’d be damned if they were going to take away the crippling sense of dread that made me wake up at 5am and smoke three cigarettes in a row. However, changing the emphasis of that statement seemed to change the way the whole world looked: “I can’t control this” also meant “I don’t have to control this.” I didn’t have to obsessively calculate everything I consumed and time my walks and obsess over the order in which I would make my dinner and do the washing up and which spoon I would use. They were doing this for me, until it became less exhausting. They were giving the overheating system that drove my actions a break. And they knew what they were doing. Suddenly that didn’t seem so scary at all; it seemed liberating.

In the hospital I met a large variety of people and regardless of whether we were friends or enemies—and I won’t say there were no enemies—I am glad I met every single one of them. One girl is now one of my best friends and I expect will remain so. This is not just because we had our illness in common. Nor is it because we were able to understand the frustration caused by the dietician telling us that we were not allowed to put mayonnaise on fish fingers because this is apparently not ‘normal’ (though this is still a sore spot for us both). The reason we are friends is because we can both identify greatly with the characters in The IT Crowd, and because we have both fantasized about what house we would be placed in at Hogwarts. We both read about two to three books a week and can probably quote the film ‘Frozen’ word for word. She introduced me to Terry Pratchett and I introduced her to Margaret Atwood. We might have mental illness as a part of us, but we also have our own identities and I feel like a lot of people forget that about people in hospital. Maybe it’s because they think that nothing in their life can be separated from the disorder or maybe they want to glamourise it (because what they really want is a young hot mess for a friend to fantasise about saving), but ultimately they see the illness and not the person. But the people I met in hospital were more than that.

There was an Italian woman in the hospital with me, who was a doctor in anthropology; she seemed to have more artistic talent in her little finger than I have in my entire body. In the time I knew her, she had made a T-shirt, designed several tins for her boyfriend’s antique shop, made two eccentric but glorious hats and designed a poster for an event that was being held in aid of Alzheimer’s disease. On one or two occasions she returned to the hospital from her time out drunk, with a lengthy description of her sexual exploits to relate back to us—she wasn’t perfect. But it was this woman who brought me out of my post-admission slump. I was sat in the corridor upstairs because being alone in ‘my’ room still frightened me. Outside of that room, I still felt isolated but at least I was less afraid. The radio was permanently on and usually it was some kind of cheesy ‘smooth’ programme which played predominantly 80s songs, which I sometimes felt forced to love, but usually wanted to smash the radio repeatedly with a mallet. But this time, when she came out into the corridor and asked if anyone would get up and dance with her, I think I surprised myself when I actually said ‘yes’. I love dancing, no matter how terrible I am at it. When you’re drunk on a night out it’s easy to drop your embarrassment and just make an idiot of yourself. Having the guts to do this sober and with a person I didn’t know was a different issue—but it was one of the first things that really made me feel like myself. And the thing is, in the early days it’s little things like that which will keep you from really going crazy.

I won’t describe hospital as a ‘fun’ place, but you find amusement where you can. Eventually, I think I almost loved the irritating things because they brought us together. It could feel like being a group of naughty children in a boarding school. We mastered the art of dealing out chewing gum like it was a Class A drug and sneaking into each other’s rooms. We learnt the thrill of daring to get a caffeinated drink when we were on our access hours. Fine, breaking the rules isn’t the main point of a hospital admission but I guess it’s the things that make you smile that count. Maybe you find yourself behaving like a child sometimes but in an environment where you have to ask permission to go for a walk and have someone coming into your room every half an hour to ask if you’re okay, it’s not really a wonder that you revert to some old habits. I found the nights the most irritating. I still remember, with gritted teeth, the time an agency nurse came into my room at 2am and stared at me for 10 seconds before stating, “you’re not asleep.” Oh, how impressed I was with his exceptional observation skills! The more experienced staff members would begin encouraging you to actually go to sleep. “We have to encourage good sleep-hygiene.” I understood that my sleeping pattern maybe wasn’t ‘normal’, but having been a student, the concept of going to bed before midnight (sober!) and being woken up at 8am was pretty alien. Now I find myself feeling pretty lame when I am absolutely shattered by 10pm and a ‘lie-in’ for me is if I wake up at 9:30 in the morning. Why thank you, NHS, I am officially my grandmother.

What I came to realise is that all these ‘irritants’ were actually preparing me to face normal life. I may not like getting up early in the morning, but at least I can say I’m able to do this. The first time I was allowed out for the weekend, my mind was blown by my ability to actually go into town with my friends during the day. I found myself dragging my friends through the town with ridiculous enthusiasm; everything from the market stalls (which were the same every Saturday) to the Mormons that stop you on Oxford Road was novel. Every single person that passed me on the street was beautiful. And even better, I went out to get food and genuinely enjoyed food again. Every argument I’d ever had with a nurse or the dietician suddenly seemed practically insane. All I wanted to do was throw my arms around all of them. Am I saying I never freaked out? Of course not. The difference is, I was able to say to myself what I had never said before. If I avoided the situations that scared me, I might find it easier but I also knew exactly how it would go. If I faced the unknown, maybe I would panic, but what if I was missing something I would have otherwise enjoyed? Was that really living? Did I want to look back on my sister’s wedding and think: “I went home early and missed it all but at least I was safe at home with my book and a cup of herbal tea,” or “I freaked out for a bit but then I picked myself up, drank a few ciders and got to see my dad attempt his signature Footloose jump”? Guess what; I decided on the second option and had one of the best nights of my life.

The week of my discharge, one of the nurses—the nurse who took me for my first meal at a restaurant since the illness had taken hold—asked me how I felt. My answer was, “I feel like I’m in a different world,” and she smiled and said to me: “You are. You’re in a better world.” For all the jokes and complaints I might make about the rules and the structure of hospital life, and in spite of the fact I literally wrote on my menu that I was having ‘FREEDOM’ for tea on the day I left, it was emotional leaving. I will never thank the staff enough for the support they gave me and the things I learnt with their help. I’m not saying everyone was peachy-keen or anything, but the people that were, well, they were something special. It is one thing to do your job as a nurse, but it is another thing to see the patients as people as well. It’s something that even people who don’t work in a hospital struggle with and it’s something I needed. There were nurses at the hospital who I hope I will see again one day—on different terms—because they weren’t just staff members to us, they were interesting and caring men and women who went above and beyond in their careers. I even had my thank-yous to give the ‘dreaded dietician’ the day I left; though I did attach a note to her gift explaining my continued disgust at her discrimination against mayonnaise.

The fact is, mental illness will never be something that everyone can fully understand. You take the good with the bad. I have friends who talk to me as the girl I used to be and once again am. I have friends who tell me I’ve got my ‘spark’ back and we dance to our old favourite songs and fall back into that old easy conversation. I also have relatives who say things like, “how are you doing? No, I mean, how are you really doing?” Before I left the hospital I made jokes about the comments I was scared of. Okay, £50 on the first relative to say “you look well,” any takers? But you know what? When someone did say “You look well,” it didn’t hurt the way I thought it would. They told me I look well, because I do. It doesn’t mean I’ve gained so much weight I’m a whale. It means the colour is back in my cheeks and my hair isn’t dry and straggly. It means my eyes are no longer sunken in with big black bags beneath them. It means that I’m not vanilla, I’m not the girl to whom my housemate once said: you never laugh, you just sort of shrug—it is no longer true. Because that was my illness—not me.

So here’s the most important thing that I learnt from my admission to the ED unit: mental illness is not a weakness. I realise now that more people than I could have ever imagined in my life struggle with some form of mental illness. The difference between ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ is nothing to do with what your brain is doing or how often you have those days when you just don’t want to get out of bed. Moreover, recovery does not mean that you wake up one day without any problems. I realised that recovery is about being able to cope with your issues in a practical way, as opposed to crying because there are too many dishes on the drying rack and you’ve just washed the Pyrex jug and have nowhere to put it.

I wanted to write this article but until I began writing, I wasn’t sure why I wanted to write it. Now I think I know what I’m trying to say, and it’s dedicated not just to people with eating disorders or even people with ‘severe’ mental illness. This message is to everyone who has ever felt afraid of what’s inside them whether it is big or small. This is for anyone who has ever found themselves clinging to the negative feelings because they feel like they don’t know where they would be without them. Here’s something I wrote for a friend while I was an in-patient:

You are not your illness. You are not the sadness that keeps you up at night. You are not your eating habits. You are not the panic that hits you before an exam or a job interview. Your headaches and stomach cramps: they are not your identity. You are every quirk that the people around you adore you for. You are the songs you sing in the shower. You are your favourite books and the quotes you remember. You are the things that make you passionate or excited, the face you make when they give you good news. You are the look your lover gives you, the jewellery you refuse to take off, the mismatched clothes you somehow pull off. Your demons try to take away from that but they are not you. Don’t let them take away from that. They are smoke and mirrors and you are magic.

Tutorial: Festive feline flicks

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

The feline flick is an essential part of many make up routines. To add a festive feel we have combined it with a glittering gold smokey eye and a pop of Santa’s favourite colour on the lip.

What you will need:

Foundation/concealer/powder
Bronzer/blusher/highlighter
Gold/brown shimmering eye shadows
Gold glitter eye liner
Black liquid eye liner
Mascara
Red lip liner/lipstick

1. Start by applying your usual foundation base, blending seamlessly around the jawline for a natural finish. Apply concealer over any blemishes and on those dreaded bags, and powder on top to set the products. Fill in your brows if this is usually part of your routine – a darker brow makes the golden and brown shadows stand out. Start the eyes with a base, this can be a primer or cream eye shadow.

Photo: Ellie Howe

2. Using the lightest shade of gold first, blend outwards from the inner corner of the eye and into the crease. Gradually darken the shade and apply to the outer two-thirds of the eye, to give the illusion of depth. Apply a glitter eye liner to the centre of the eye to emphasise the feline flick, and add a very dark brown into the outermost edge of the crease, blending to avoid harsh lines. For the flick, mark the point that you want the flick to reach with a dot, and draw a line from the outer corner of the eye to this spot. Place your brush at this spot and bring the line to the centre of your eyelid, and fill to create the perfect flick. Finish the eyes with mascara.

Photo: Ellie Howe

3. Contouring and Highlighting is vital to achieving this glowing, polished look.  Use a matte brown bronzer to shape the cheekbones: apply directly underneath the bone and blend in an upward direction using a buffing motion. Lightly brush the bronzer over your temples and around the hairline at the top of the forehead to complete. Use a golden highlighter over the top of the cheekbones, shaping it in a ‘C’ shape from the top of the cheekbone to underneath the brow. Apply a pale pink blusher on the apples of the cheeks to finish.

Photo: Ellie Howe

4. Carefully line your lips with a red liner (avoid creating a Kylie Jenner-style duck pout). Use a lip brush and lipstick to fill in the spaces between the liner, taking extra caution around the treacherous Cupid’s bow area. If any lipstick strays, apply concealer to cover and provide a clean edge. Top everything off with some winter woollies and an advent calendar and hey presto! The look is complete.

Photo: Ellie Howe

Does Christmas change as we age?

Written by Harry Newton on . Posted in Opinion.

Christmas as a child is the most beautiful time. I remember it vividly:  “Holidays are coming, holidays are coming, holidays are coming.” It had begun, the Coco-Cola advert signalled the start of anticipation for Christmas day!

Each day I grew forever more animated at the prospect of a morbidly obese bearded man stumbling down my non-existent chimney and leaving presents that only he and I would know are suitable, due to my list that my parents obviously posted. He would then deliver to the rest of the entire globe in a completely plausible fashion.

In the days leading up I would cut out snowflakes, make papier-mâché snowmen, and play Christmas songs each and every moment of each and every day. The day that we would buy the tree was always my favourite as I’d weigh up each tree in my mind and choose the largest tree available. Christmas was the best time of the year.

Then Christmas took a few blows. I realised that my hand-made snowflakes were actually just making a mess; my papier-mâché snowman was never as good as Lucy Jackson’s; that Christmas songs have been the same seven songs in circulation since 1986—except for the yearly resurrection of Mariah Carey’s festive career; and that the biggest Christmas tree I chose was always swapped when I wasn’t looking for the cheaper one that would fit through the front door.

But at least I still had Santa Claus—my trusty companion.

Then came that day I’ll never forget. It was a Tuesday and it was raining. This was the day I was told by my parents about Father Christmas’ sudden death of natural causes. I understood; he was over 2000 years old and death at such an age was a reasonable notion.

I negotiated with my parents and we came to a mutual agreement that they would continue in the place of Father Christmas with a smaller budget, as they don’t have the enterprise, infrastructure, magical prowess, cheap labour of the Elven kind or the economies of scale that he did. It just wasn’t the same.

Christmas had lost its sparkle, Santa was gone; the amount of Lynx Africa sets trebled; and The Muppets’ Christmas Carol just wasn’t funny anymore. Surely it was only going to get worse from here.

Christmas was dead. Or was she?  No, never! A quick reboot on the defibrillator and Christmas is back, bigger and better than ever. If you are currently going through the stage of Christmas losing its sparkle, then have no fear because I am here to remind you of the Christmas wonders only an adult can enjoy!

Christmas dinner is something I only came round to in Christmas’ second spell in my life as I and my taste-buds matured. On the 25th of December 2003, at the tender age of seven, I had simply had enough of sprouts and turkey, so went to the freezer in a tantrum and took a frozen pizza to my plate.

After being told that this was not acceptable behaviour, I followed suite with a bigger tantrum, which led to me having a ham and pineapple pizza for Christmas dinner. Looking back I’m ashamed of myself for not realising Christmas dinner’s potential wonders! Now I’m old enough to appreciate the wonders of pigs in blankets, carrots, asparagus, mash, Yorkshire puddings, turkey, and gravy smothering it all!

If there’s one thing better than opening presents, it’s watching other people open the loving presents that you bought them or the extra small condoms you wittily bought your mate for Secret Santa. As a child buying other people presents was a sin but now you can buy everyone presents with your student loan. It definitely should not be going towards furthering your education. And here we are in Manchester—the Christmas market capital of the world. Embrace it, embrace all the Christmas shopping!

Lest we forget about the joyous Christmas parties that pop-up in the run up to the holidays! It’s no longer a case of a hot dog and a fizzy Vimto on the school disco dance floor, before I knee-slide my way over to the girl in the pink tutu, now it’s a real party.

Whether it’s putting on a Christmas jumper to go out with your friends from your class, halls or societies; or putting on your best clothes to go out with your colleague, family or mates back home; Christmas parties are simply completely and utterly different to other parties! The best nights out are had over Christmas as everyone winds down and relaxes. Late night kebabs and cheap vodka have replaced the semi-cooked hot-dog and fizzy Vimto from the bowling alley.

The world of Bob the Builder Christmas Specials is now over. We get to stay up late and watch the dirty Christmas specials that you did not even know existed.

Now we get to stay up drinking with Nana and Grandad while they tell you what a horrible cretin your parents were.

Now, New Year’s Eve is not just the night you’re let loose on the babysitter, it’s the night you let loose on the town!

Now a tenner in a card is much more appreciated than a toy!

Now Christmas is bigger and better than ever.

So, go out, ice skate, shop, drink, fall in love (like Hugh Grant apparently does every Christmas), go to Nandos, watch Frozen (because we haven’t grown up completely and nor should we), resurrect your Christmas-oriented skills (or if you’re Mariah Carey, your career) because this is Christmas’ prime age and you should embrace it.

Feature: Top 10 Albums of the Year

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Music.

10. Morrissey – World Peace Is None Of Your Business
Morrissey’s tenth solo album saw the former Smiths man back on form in typically disgruntled fashion, taking aim at… well, basically everyone. World Peace is his most eclectic album to date, giving his signature indie rock a make-over on many of the tracks, with flamenco guitar and accordion on ‘The Bullfighter Dies’ and the showtune-esque title track. It’s a worthy addition to his canon – and after five years, it feels good to have him back. Dan Whiteley

9. St. Vincent – St. Vincent
Harnessing expression through the use of sound palettes, melodic composition and dramatisation, St Vincent has created an album which soars as much as it dances through intriguing digital and analogue soundscapes. It’s an album which shows emotional progression for the innovative musician, and further stretches her skills at song writing and producing. Samuel Ward

8. Todd Terje – It’s Album Time
With every passing year, electronic music gets more and more serious. Luckily, Todd Terje hath emerged from distant Viking lands to quell this trend. His debut album It’s Album Time, made dance music fun again by injecting some much needed humanity into the robotic electronic scene. Be it ‘Svensk Sås’s vocoded scat singing, the Bryan Ferry collaboration or the incessantly catchy ‘Inspector Norse’, this is the new and updated definition of ecstasy on the dance floor. Lowell Clarke

7. Aphex Twin – Syro
The cult of Aphex Twin was fortified with the monster hype campaign prior to the release of Syro, building the release up to mythical proportions. Pressing play for the first time however all this was forgotten, as the true brilliance of the music spoke for itself. The amount of layers present throughout the album is staggering, the sheer number of influences at play astounding. James has not created an entirely new sound or genre, but he has managed to weave sounds together in a way no other could. He’s human, but he’s like no other human. Patrick Hinton

6. The War On Drugs – Lost in the Dream
2014 has been quite a year for The War on Drugs. Their third studio album, Lost in the Dream was the catalyst that saw them reach new heights, and finally saw them step out of the shadow of former band member, Kurt Vile. The album explores an emotional time for lead singer Adam Granduciel: after breaking up with his long-term girlfriend, he became somewhat stagnated and isolated in life. The desperation in the lyrics paired with the dreamlike extended guitar solos on songs like ‘Ocean Between the Waves’ and ‘Under the Pressure’ wonderfully captures this mood, and easily makes this one of the best albums of the year. Ali Pearson 

5. Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire For No Witness
Burn Your Fire For No Witness may not seem like an obvious contender for one of our albums of the year, but Angel Olsen’s second album will certainly grow on you. Beautifully introspective songs such as ‘Lights Out’ and ‘White Fire’ demonstrate Olsen’s ability to produce irresistibly haunting vocals that almost sound like they have come out of a time warp from the 1950s. However Olsen expands from her traditionally folky sound with the garage fuzz of ‘Forgiven/Forgotten’ and the electric schmaltz of ‘Hi-Five’. Give Burn Your Fire… a listen, and you’re sure to be blown away. Matthew Staite

4. Mac DeMarco – Salad Days
Mac Demarco’s unique sound – to which he dubs ‘Jizz Jazz’ – is immediately recognisable in his latest album Salad Days. The offbeat style runs through every track, and Demarco sticks to guitar riffs that have become iconic in his music. The title track ‘Salad Days’ is typical of the style of the album: old style, laidback rock. Each song on Demarco’s new album embodies this retro-rock vibe; one that has arguably become less and less prevalent in today’s music scene. The album is easy-listening, but infused with innovation and bursting with musical substance. Natalie Proctor

3. Gesloten Cirkel – Submit X
Due to his reclusion from the public eye and anonymity you could classify Gesloten Cirkel as a reserved producer. However, the productions he creates are anything but. Submit X is 12 tracks of no-holds-barred electro-infused- techno. It’s dark and relentless, yet also multidimensional and nuanced. ‘Zombie Machine’ is a straight up club wrecker; ‘Arrested Development’ features a guitar solo reminiscent of classic arena rock; ‘Stakan’ is a dizzy, shoegazey number. Submit X compounds and confounds with these styles and influences, resulting in a deliriously exciting album. Patrick Hinton

2. Bombay Bicycle Club – So Long, See You Tomorrow
Rewind back to the heyday of noughties indie, when Bombay Bicycle Club hype train first entered the station. The excitement wasn’t just over their brilliant yet meek first album, but the potential the band had to become a major force in British music. So Long, See You Tomorrow is the album that stands up taller than the shadow they once casted, blending guitar sensibilities with the best of avant-garde pop. Just one play through reveals that BBC are still one of our most promising bands and that this album is their manifesto of the great things we still expect to come. Lowell Clarke

1. Flying Lotus – You’re Dead!
With Alice Coltrane for an aunt, it was inevitable that Flying Lotus, aka Steve Ellison, would attempt a jazz venture at some point, but the outcome, You’re Dead! is anything but inevitable. The exploration of death mutated from a jazz project into a collaboration of jazz, electronic, hip hop and even prog rock that is ambitious and unlikely but, crucially, extraordinary. Ellison is the master of carefully produced controlled chaos. You’re Dead! is 38 minutes, 19 tracks long and stuffed full of genres. Yet while the style veers manically across the musical spectrum from track to track, the album is somehow measured and fluid. The journey through death begins with the experimental confusion of jazz intro ‘Theme’ which continues through to ‘Tesla’, featuring piano courtesy of the legendary Herbie Hancock. Lamar, Ellison’s rap alter ego ‘Captain Murphy’ and Snoop Dogg rap as dead men in denial through to acceptance on ‘Never Catch Me’ and ‘Dead Man’s Tetris’. You’re Dead! then descends into a mishmash of otherworldliness suggestive of the afterlife. You’re Dead! is never melancholic, rather Ellison has managed to make death relevant for an audience of 20 somethings cocksure of their own immortality. And if that doesn’t make a great album I don’t know what does. Rachel Connolly 

Live: Mini Mansions

Written by Jacob Evans on . Posted in Music.

1st December

Gorilla

7/10

Opening for Canadian power-pop supergroup The New Pornographers, Mini Mansions take the audience by surprise. The side project of Queens of the Stone Age bassist Michael Schuman, the band defy all expectations – it’s clear from before the band even come on stage that the audience is in for something original as the venue fills with what sounds like funfair music. The band emerge, clad in brightly coloured suits, and immediately launch into what can only be described as demented circus music.

Schuman drums and splits vocals with keyboardist Tyler Parkford, who covers the sound in layers of camp organ and carnivalesque piano. However as the band launch into their latest single, ‘Death is a Girl,’ it’s bassist Zach Dawes who dominates. Wielding more pedals than the Tour de France, Dawes steals the show from his bandmates, switching between fuzzy, dextrous riffs, squalls of feedback and funk grooves constantly, rarely repeating himself, and providing a one man showcase for all the qualities of a frequently underused instrument.

The band work their way through a storming opening section, following ‘Death is a Girl’ with ‘Monk,’ ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘Creeps,’ winning over the initially confused crowd with ease. However the set doesn’t quite keep up the momentum; the keyboards are largely inaudible, the songs slow and technical problems prevent Schuman’s attempt to move to the guitar. In addition, the set isn’t exactly varied. The tempo slows for much of the second half but beyond Dawes taking a more traditional (and far less interesting) role the songs sound exactly the same, Schuman even playing a seemingly identical beat for several. However just as the gig starts to drag, the band crank it back up a gear, accelerating as they deliver the most frantic, storming one-two of the night, bringing the show back to an exceptional close. So, whilst the middle section sags, and Mini Mansions only really do one thing, when that one thing is so accomplished, when the bass is this good, it doesn’t matter. For once we can all agree with Mehgan Trainor; it really is all about that bass.

Live: Augustines

Written by Will Ellis on . Posted in Music.

1st December

Manchester Cathedral

9/10

Watching the dry ice drift to the top of the high ceilings of Manchester Cathedral, illuminated by the bright white lights, you couldn’t help feeling a mystical sense had taken the building. This wasn’t a late night vidule though, the normal churchgoers have been replaced by a 6 music crowd. The amps are stacked up by the altar and the trestle tables are by the font selling beer and merchandise.

The building has been taken over for a night by Augustines, though the strict 10pm curfew prevents the evening for going ful rock and roll. The band perfectly suit the atmosphere that such a magnificent building provides, with the arena rock sound they produce beautifully capitalising on the acoustics of the room. A must for fans of Springsteen and U2, Augustines have made a name for themselves by taking these big sounds to intimate venues. Those days may be numbered now though with the band selling out their current tour of the UK.

This success will surely translate into a run of festivals next year and watching the band engage the crowd for singalongs you know they’ll be right at home. In fact the only criticism I could really level at the band would be their enthusiasm. Sometime the breakdowns and the commands to chant became a little bit much and the Monday night crowds responded with nothing more than a quiet singalong drowned out by chatting. The mid gig trumpet solo dragged a little long but the energy that the band provided to the crowd was more than enough to forgive them. Stopping the gig for the tradition of an encore left the band with an opportunity to unplug and perform without the aid of mics. In the Cathedral setting the silence of the crowd coupled with the strong voice of lead singer Billy McCarthy left everyone blown away. A great way to finish for a band that are surely not far from the arenas to suit their arena rock.

Live: Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott

Written by Dan Whiteley on . Posted in Music.

5th December

O2 Apollo

6/10

Over a decade after their last collaboration as part of the Beautiful South ended, Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott returned as a duo earlier this year, releasing the album What Have We Become? back in May. Featuring Heaton’s trademark witty, observational lyrics and Abbott’s soulful vocals, the record peaked at number 3 in the UK album chart – behind Coldplay and Michael Jackson, no less – despite the fact both parties had, until then, kept a relatively low profile since the split of their former band. In support of the newest release, Heaton and Abbott have been on a nationwide tour, which stopped off in Manchester on the 5th of December.

The show opened with ‘Moulding a Fool’ and ‘The Right in Me’ off What Have We Become?, though the album’s tracks were used sparingly throughout the rest of the show, buried in the mix of Beautiful South and Housemartins hits – ‘Rotterdam’, ‘Don’t Marry Her’, ‘Build’ and ‘Me and the Farmer’ being amongst the best received – that they clearly understood the crowd were first and foremost there to hear. Dressed casually in a parka and thick-rimmed glasses, Heaton’s demeanour on stage is completely devoid of pretension; despite his status as something of a cult national treasure, he remains exactly the regular northern bloke you’d expect him to be having heard his songs.

Taking a relaxed approach to the evening’s performance – singing the majority of their lyrics from behind music stands – he and Abbott chatted candidly between songs, delivering anecdotes (including, but not limited to, “that time I drank elephant’s piss”) and repeatedly thanking the crowd for sticking with them over the years. The stage backdrop featured a mock propaganda poster emblazoned with “PAUL AND JACQUI SAY BRITAIN NEEDS A PAYRISE”, as if Heaton’s famously left-wing views would ever slip his fans’ minds.

Whilst the show’s down-to-earth feel is endearing, the small scale was at times its undoing; a lack of horn section, for example, meant the more Motown-influenced numbers such as ‘Good as Gold’ sounded flat in comparison to their rousing studio counterparts, despite flawless vocal performances from the two singers. ‘Perfect 10’, meanwhile, was lacking its infamous, infectious porn groove bassline and transformed into a chugging pseudo-Motley Crue rocker, effectively stripping the song of its charm. Maiming what is perhaps their best loved hit in this manner would have been unforgiveable, had it not been the show-closing a capella rendition of the Housemartins’ almost-Christmas Number 1 ‘Caravan of Love’, prompting a heart-warming sing along and ending the show on an emotional, festive high note, and reminding their fans that, however low key their return, it’s good to have them back.

Live: The Wytches

Written by Cordelia Milward on . Posted in Music.

1st December

The Ruby Lounge

6/10

Having sold out The Deaf Institute already this month, The Wytches’ ‘pop-up’ gig at Ruby Lounge was a gift for those dissatisfied, having missed out the week before. Hedging their bets that this evening’s crowd were either those unfortunate enough to have missed their official show, or those come back for round two, The Wytches made no effort to flirt with a room of strangers, but instead flung their familiar material at a bunch of old friends. Starting, as you would assume to go on, The Wytches are not self-conscious, albeit only of their faces, which are concealed behind a mass of hair for the entire set. Frontman Kristian Bell’s screeches increase with hysteria, as the coherent blend of psych-rock and garage-punk rile the previously tame moshers into a frenzy. Undeniably, the mass of sweat is palpable.

An intermission of extended guitar reverb between songs aids momentary forgetfulness, so as not to recognise that every song sounds the same. Either that, or to provide a short respite from the relentless headbanging. The three ecstatic girls who found their way onto the stage, would have been gone unnoticed, thrashing their long black hair in sync with the band, if only their blonde friend, clambering up after them, hadn’t ruined the continuity of the dark, faceless rocker.

It would be easy to accept Wytches for Bell’s hoarse, gutteral exertions and assume The Wytches are a contrived punk band with a ‘fuck this’ attitude. Yet, hard as it may be, when you strip away the heavy screams, a delicate melody is revealed. This is most evident on ‘Wide at Midnight’, with emphasis instead placed on the guitar, spidering around a melancholy web of haze. Just as The Horrors played with the same balance in 2007 on Strange House, The Wytches are successful as they hint at an upbeat surf-rock beneath their darkness, placing them on the digestible end of the grungy, garage rock spectrum.

Live: Little Comets

Written by Katie Burns on . Posted in Music.

22nd November

Victoria Warehouse

7/10

After the experience that was Vevo’s Halloween party, The Mancunion once again decided to send me to Victoria Warehouse. This time, though, the atmosphere was chilled, there was fancy soap in the bathrooms and each ticket came with three free whiskys. I was there to watch Little Comets at the first ever Whisky Sessions Festival. Due to going up against main stage headliners Gomez, the crowd ended up a lot smaller than they deserved. However, there were still a few devotees there to witness what turned out to be a great gig, despite the setbacks.

A wide range of songs led to an hour of variety, ranging from the emotionally charged ‘Violence out tonight’ to an upbeat, high energy ‘Joanna.’ The band have a lot to show off, blending styles and experimenting with their concoctions, and they’re not afraid to show off some of their newer stuff, among which there were a couple of fledgling stadium pleasers.

They have matured musically quite a bit over their time as a band, honing their talents, carving their path. Luckily though, they haven’t lost the freshness of a fledgling act or their gloriously DIY aesthetic. Sure, they might not do that thing with a bit of string anymore, but their set lists came written on paper plates, and their playing style exhibits the perfect amount of ramshackle abandon. With a new album due out early next year, I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Live: Chet Faker

Written by Will Ellis on . Posted in Music.

21st November

Manchester Ritz

8/10

With the prevailing trend in dance music it seems like every other week a new remix or rework creates hype around another emerging artist. Whilst most fall back into obscurity, Chet Faker has managed to capitalise upon the hype of his 2011 cover of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity”, three years on still filling out The Ritz. Having been helped along by regular collaborations from fellow Australian act Flume, most notably with the instantly recognisable hit “Drop The Game”, Faker has certainly forged his place within the scene. With a moniker derived from the legendary jazz artist Chet Baker, the sax and synth style that Faker infuses these influences into a post night electronica. Whilst such a style differentiates the sound from others in the same vein, some of the slower jazzier songs played for the Manchester crowd left the crowd lifeless and chatty. This was definitely made up with the audience perking up for the dancier tunes such as “This Song Is Not About A Girl”.

However, this one man orchestra was keen to set himself apart from other dance acts by telling the audience that he believes in a room for error in music. To showcase this Faker took time to fully improvise a mix on the spot, raving over his keyboard in a jazz-like trance . Such a divergence from convention was well received and for a track created on the spot was an absolute corker. Drawing mainly from his new album Built On Glass, Chet Faker put on a gig that left many fans eager to keep the night going. Though occasionally getting a bit slow for the attention of an audience made of dance fans, he held the crowd together well. This is certainly an achievement for a man playing keyboards whilst mixing and singing. One man bands don’t seem as bad anymore.

Live: Sinkane

Written by Cordelia Milward on . Posted in Music.

19th November

Deaf Institute

9/10

To try and collate everything great about Sinkane is a seemingly impossible challenge. However the band managed to compact the four corners of the world into an hour long set, so 300 words will have to suffice for me. In spite of the obligatory smurf-like beanie hats adorned by three-quarters of the band, everything about Sinkane is inconsistent. Whilst this sounds like an almighty criticism, it is their refusal to be confined to a single sound that is exactly what makes them so incongruous and fascinating.

Blasting out mainly tracks off the album Mean Love, dropped earlier this year, they don’t dawdle in getting the audience grooving. ‘New Name’ is super funky, with the magic coming out of front man Ahmed Gallab’s guitar similar to that of a sax. Having remained strangely silent throughout the opening number (perhaps in awe of Gallab’s wizardry), the co-guitarist leaps into the most self-indulgent guitar solo with his shoulder length hair flying. With no warning, Sinkane’s jazz seamlessly slides into psychedelia, and it’s entirely natural. Yet just as the audience adjusts their dancing to compliment this new sound, Sinkane have cast away another genre, creating their own space reggae with ‘Galley Boys’.

There are moments where Gallab’s falsetto is delicious, reaching inexplicable peaks, but never to the extent that it becomes at all overbearing. Ending with the single ‘How We Be’, Gallab somehow manages to lace electro synth pop with Led Zeppelin style shreds, and it actually works. Having collaborated with almost everyone under the sun (Caribou and Yeasayer to name a couple), Sinkane is an amalgamation of everything pleasant. He doesn’t defy genre, since each song can be clearly located within a single style, but its the very disparity between songs, that demonstrates Ahmed Gallab’s winning exploration.

Album: Charlie Sloth – Hood Heat, Vol. 1

Written by Dinesh Mattu on . Posted in Music.

Released 8th December

Naughty Boy/Virgin Records

6/10

After taking over Westwood’s pioneering Saturday night Radio 1 Rap Show, Charlie Sloth has become ‘Britain’s premier tastemaker’ of urban music. Towards the close of 2014 Sloth has compiled a mixtape of the year’s biggest hits from the UK and the US, with the intention of proving the UK’s worth alongside US Hip Hop.

The current quality of American Hip Hop/ Urban music is not quite the era that birthed Jay-Z, Nas and The Notorious B.I.G. especially when you think of the ‘biggest tracks of 2014,’ and the first songs that come to mind are ‘Loyal,’ ‘Hot N*gga,’ and ‘We Dem Boyz.’ However, what we get on Hood Heat Vol 1 is a carefully curated compilation of back to back UK and US hip hop, coherently mixed together by the Radio 1 DJ. The usual suspects including Drake, YG, Future and Rick Ross feature among others for the US, whilst Skepta, JME and Krept and Konan and co. hold it down for the UK.

Given the current questionable state of US Hip Hop, his selection of UK music includes – in parts – a somewhat slightly more substantive content. The biggest UK urban hits of the year including ‘Rari Workout,’ ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ ‘That’s Not Me’ and ‘German Whip’ are put alongside songs from exciting upcoming British talent such as CASisDEAD, Dvs and Stormzy. Whilst Sloth affirms “our levels of production, our depth of content, flow and character in our rap artists is on par [with US Hip Hop], there is no more ‘UK Hip Hop’, just Hip Hop” it is difficult to believe, because Hip Hop is so intrinsically American.

Sloth’s own single ‘Look Like’ attempts to fuse the two together on a track that features the legendary New York native Jadakiss alongside upcoming UK artists JMC and Stormzy. What results is an outdated, cheap-sounding beat, with a poor hook and less substance than anticipated. You get the feeling across some of the mixtape that the UK are kind of ‘running out of ideas, […] doing covers of American beats’ as Skepta put in his song ‘Ace Hood Flow.’
With that being said, the compilation features a good amount of original UK music. Take Dvs’ ‘Black Waterfalls’; an inherently British take on rap – acoustic guitar, accentuated flows and reflective content, it is a track that doesn’t rely on ready-made DJ Mustard beats.

The point is that there is in fact such thing as UK Hip Hop or Grime or Urban; however, it doesn’t need to be in the shadow of its American counterpart. UK music in general has found its own lane in the past few years and at the moment is more ambitious than what’s on offer from across the pond.

Album: The Lion and The Wolf – Symptoms

Written by Matthew O'Brien on . Posted in Music.

Released 24th November

Courage and the Stone records

7/10

In a world where many take the easy route to establish themselves in the music industry, (yes X-Factor contestants, I’m aiming my scornful glare at you) Thomas George, a.k.a The Lion and the Wolf, establishes himself as an artist willing to suffer for his art. A lengthy stint of sleeping on floors and more gigs than you can shake a stick at make it difficult not to admire a man who quit his job to earn his stripes the old fashioned way, avec a rather impressive beard.

Through this toil we get Symptoms, George’s debut effort which throws away the dime-a-dozen dynamic of ‘man and an acoustic guitar’ for arrangements brimming with activity. There is no lacking in surprises on this album, most notably a sitar feature in the aptly named ‘The Lion and the Wolf’, showcasing George’s heavy armoury of influences.

Opener ‘Bandages’ quirky, indie-folk arrangement can be likened to the work of Glasgow outfit Belle and Sebastian with subtle harmonies that pay homage to Simon and Garfunkel. I would be hard pressed not to liken George’s soft and subdued vocals to the melancholic whispers of Elliott Smith. The follow up track ‘Colour’ could very easily have appeared on a Smith B-side.

The sustain of a haunting church-like organ sits atop of the rich, instrument heavy arrangement in dreamy ballad ‘Ghosts On Trinity’ showing that church hall’s can be an under-utilised setting. A powerful melancholy befalls this album, a perfect soundtrack for the wistful reflector. ‘The Hole That It Leaves’ maintains this mood to perfection, a slow burning tale about the death of George’s sibling’s friend, which builds to a fitting ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ ending, horns and all.

The closing track ‘Green’ is a life affirming, upbeat crescendo (it isn’t all doom and gloom) with a powerful backing of heavy kicks and crashes, piano and distorted guitar which has an air of Bon Iver’s self titled LP.

As a connoisseur of such melancholic themes, one could quite happily imagine listening to Symptoms on a rainy evening or a winter’s day, but it isn’t all smooth sailing. At 13 tracks in length, it seems as if some songs merely act as filler (‘Curtain Call’), and the pacing is somewhat unsure of itself.

Minor downfalls aside, if you need a fitting accompaniment to a reflective walk through the park on a winter’s day then look no further than Symptoms.

Pangaea teams up with Party For The People to help fund Meningitis Research

Written by Anna Phillips on . Posted in News.

This year, non-profit organisation Party For The people will be teaming up with Pangaea to raise money for charity through ticket sales.

Party For The People is an organisation forged from the vibrant underground UK music scene with sole aim of raising money for charity.

Tom Laidler, a representative of Party For The People said: “We’re delighted to be working with RAG and the UoM Students’ Union at the January Pangaea Festival. We will be handling ticket sales for the event and after discussions with the Raising and Giving society we have made the mutual decision to support two worthy causes, the Meningitis Research Foundation and Manchester Nightline.

“With the shock death of a UoM student this year due to meningitis this is of course a cause important to many at the university and the funds will be used to raise awareness about the disease and to fund research.

“We’ve also chosen to support Manchester Nightline as they are currently short of essential funding required to train volunteers and provide a key service to students across the Manchester area. The donation will be vital in keeping the phone lines open to those in need of support. We hope to raise over £1000 for each cause in January and to continue our relationship with Pangaea for years to come.”

The support for the meningitis research foundation follows the tragic death of first-year University of Manchester student Teygan Sugrue who died suddenly of meningitis early last month.

Teygan was found seriously ill in his room on Sunday the 2nd of November, he was taken to hospital at around 8pm, but medics were unable to save him.

Party For The People will also be supporting Manchester Nightline through ticket sales, a voluntary confidential listening information service run by students for students. The number for nightline can be found on the back of your student card.

PFTP operates a fully-fledged ticketing agency, and will be donating a percentage of the booking fees from every Pangaea ticket to support the Meningitis Research Foundation and Nightline.

They are the only non-profit ticketing organisation in the UK, adding an ethical dimension to music events at no extra costs. They have no shareholders, so 100 per cent of their net profits are invested into the charities they support. 50 pence from each Pangaea ticket will go towards supporting these charities.

PFTP will also be hosting an outdoor stage in January’s Pangaea, and selling sweets at the event for extra fundraising.

The organisation has already secured partnerships with the O2 Academy, Warp, Sankeys, Tramlines, and Farm and Gottwood festivals. They also hosted a room in January’s ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ Pangaea earlier this year, raising £150 for the University of Manchester’s RAG society.

The highly anticipated ‘Space Odyssey’-themed Pangaea 2015 will take place after exams in January and ticket sales will be announced soon.

Club: Zutekh present Martyn

Written by Patrick Hinton on . Posted in Music.

5th December

Soup Kitchen

7/10

With Zutekh amongst Manchester’s best promoters and Soup Kitchen being the city’s best club, a monthly residency combining the two is guaranteed to be first-rate. This was affirmed with the debut Manchester booking of elusive Berlin trio Italojohnson for a 4 hour set in November, the first in what is set to be an undoubtedly hot streak of bookings that continues tonight with 3024 boss Martyn.

Martyn’s move away from dubstep and dnb production into house-ier straight up club records in the latter half of his output channels excellently into his DJing. Hi hats and kick drums abound throughout the set of dance floor primed tracks to get the packed out Soup Kitchen crowd dancing vibrantly all night.

His selection of fine club tools is typified with the dropping of Joy Orbison’s wryly titled ‘Big Room Tech House DJ Tool – TIP!’, the track working successfully in a small basement. The intensity lets up slightly with the airing of Martyn’s collaboration with Four Tet ‘Glassbeadgames’, the atmospheric vocal cuts flood the room whilst the synth stabs build to a euphoric climax until he barrels fiercely into another club wrecker – Special Request’s remix of ‘Hackney Parrot’.

This blending continues successfully throughout Martyn’s two hours, keeping the energy in the room high throughout. Four Tet’s ‘Love Cry’ provides another high point before he closes triumphantly on Wookie’s garage classic ‘Battle’ – an ideal ending to a set punctuated by club focused anthems.

Club: Dusky presents The Next Step @ WHP

Written by Patrick Hinton on . Posted in Music.

6th December

Store Street, Warehouse Project

9/10

Dusky’s star is at an all-time high. The Next Step tour has taken them worldwide from Auckland to Miami, selling out every city in their wake. Tonight in Manchester is no exception, and as the pair unleash the big room smashes that have earned them their place at the top it’s easy to see why. Tracks such as ‘Careless’ epitomise their forefronting of chopped vocal hooks and anthemic bass lines, ideal for the Room 1 space of Store Street.

The greatest achievement of Dusky tonight however proves to be their curation of further incredible DJs across the bill, who outshine the headliners on the night. Ben UFO and Joy Orbison guide the crowd on a seamless journey of genres. Roman Flügel’s remix of Daniel Avery’s ‘All I Need’ kicks the room into action early on, and this energy is multiplied when Floating Points’s latest masterpiece ‘Nuits Sonores’ is brought in. Its atmospheric opening gradually ramps the room up until the unmistakably FloPo middle section of progressive bass lines and intricate high melodies incites wild dancing.

Joy Orbison delves into his label’s output in his selection of Barnt’s ‘Under His Name But Also As Sir’, the crowd then anticipate the pummelling flip of ‘Chappell’ – a WHP staple this season – but it doesn’t come; predictability is certainly not a trait of these two. Instead Ben UFO correspondingly showcases his own label’s latest release by mixing in Bruce’s ‘Not Stochastic’. This proves a fine selection as the high notes and industrial under layers flood the room to mesmerising effect.

The pair close triumphantly on Outlander’s classic ‘Vamp’ before making way for the master of the live set – KiNK. Renowned for his technical prowess and improvisation capability, KiNK’s live set up is something to behold. He navigates the mass of gear expertly, producing a mesh of stunning sounds. Bass crescendos throb in and out of ‘Express’ whilst steam train samples provide the percussive line and high pitched whistling adornments; the piano chords of ‘Existence’ are teased in and out and receive a rapturous response; as does an airing of Cajmere’s ‘Percolator’ with its catchy vocal hook.

Closing the night after Dusky is Midland – somebody who as a DJ never stood out to me before, but tonight he truly excels himself. Revelling in the size of the room and the jubilant crowd, he unleashes a set that keeps the energy high right until 5am. Tribal vigour is channelled with ‘Safi’ into ‘Kuar (Olof Dreijer remix)’, before a move into tracks ideal to be played in large spaces is heralded with Spencer Parker’s ‘Yogoto’ and Kenny Larkin’s remix of ‘I Don’t Need A Cure For This’. Another standout highlight is provided by Floorplan’s genre blending ‘Baby, Baby’ – its cutting between funk and soul flourishes and pounding techno body sounding especially crisp and impactful on the Store Street system. Finally he selects Debbie Jacobs’s disco classic ‘Don’t You Want My My Love?’, an appropriately euphoric choice to close an exhilarating night.

27-year-old arrested on suspicion of Fallowfield rape

Written by Charlie Spargo on . Posted in News.

A 27-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the rape of a female student on the 5th of December.

The victim was walking home from a friend’s house along Ladybarn Lane when she was pushed into an alleyway and raped between the hours of 11:30pm and 12:17am.

The attacker was described as aged between 20 and 30, black with a light skin tone, and around 6ft tall.

A man was arrested and is being held in custody, on suspicion of carrying out the rape, for questioning.

The 22-year-old student is now receiving trauma support from specially trained officers and Greater Manchester Police stepped up patrols in the Fallowfield area following the crime.

It is not thought that this attack is connected to the similar rape of a 19-year-old student between Whitby Road and Filey Road in Fallowfield that occurred at around 3:40am on the 25th of October, though investigations are still being carried out and the search for the attacker in this incident, described as 5ft 9in, of black or Asian descent, slim and with short black hair, continues.

Detective Inspector Tanya Kitchen, of GMP’s Sexual Offences Unit, said “In both incidents the victims were students. Both ourselves and the university have been supporting them through this and we remain absolutely determined to catch the men responsible.

“At this stage we don’t believe the two incidents are linked, but we don’t want to alarm people.

“We simply want women to take some sensible common-sense precautions. These include sticking to well-lit areas if possible, making sure your friends know where you are or walking home with others at night where possible.

“We have made an arrest, but the investigation is very much ongoing and people will continue to see more police officers in the area in the coming days.”

Students’ Union Women’s Officer Jess Lishak, in an official statement on Facebook on the 7th, said, “my thoughts are with the woman who was raped walking home from a friend’s house in Fallowfield this weekend and all of the other women who have been subjected to sexual violence on our campus and all over the world. These three incidents are horrendous and upsetting but unfortunately they are just the tip of a very large iceberg.

“I am working with the university and the police to look at ways that we can keep our students safer whilst not going down the route of telling women to stay locked up in their houses as if we don’t have as much right to go wherever we want, whenever we like, wearing and drinking what we fancy.

She further explained the university’s Safe Taxi Scheme, under which university-accredited taxi company Street Cars accepts student cards in lieu of cash under the agreement of payment the following day in return for the card.

Students have recently been signing a petition for Greater Manchester Police to shift their focus from shutting down student parties to dealing swiftly and effectively with the crimes that make many afraid to live in the student area. The petition has gained almost 7000 signatures already.

Anyone who may have information about either crime or related incidents should call the police on 0161 856 1983 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Interview: Cast

Written by Dan Whiteley on . Posted in Music.

Liverpool’s John Power originally rose to prominence in the late Eighties as the bass player in The La’s, a band who proved to be as infamous as they were influential, releasing just one critically acclaimed album in their ten-year career. After leaving The La’s in 1991, Power went on to front the hugely successful Cast, whose back-to-basics guitar pop had a massive influence on British music in the nineties and were credited as one of the major driving forces in the Britpop movement; Noel Gallagher once famously described their live show as a “religious experience.” Fast-forward to today, and he has just finished an intimate solo acoustic tour of the UK, and has been working on a new album with the re-united Cast, slated for release next year. I spoke to Power ahead of the band’s December UK tour, which hits Manchester on the 21st.

“It’s a really grassroots kind of thing that we do when I go out with Jay [Lewis] with the acoustics,” Power says of his acoustic shows. “It’s generally off the beaten track, very small—150, 200 capacity—sort of venues, and it’s a real sort of troubadour vibe. Just you and the acoustics, and you’re not playing the major cities, and you’re going to places where they’re kind of half-disbelieving when you’re there—a lot of the time I have people coming up after the show being like, “how come you’re here?” There’s something in the romance of it, although I must say every now and again I look at Jay and say, “fucking hell, what the fuck are we doing here?” But generally, it’s a really good thing. It’s keeping it real with the guitars, singing ballads, singing a lot of the rootsy solo material and obviously the Cast tunes as well, and we just have some magnificent experiences. We travel light, we’re just driving the car, guitars in the boot, and we just turn up. It’s got a romantic, old-school sort of vibe to it, you know?”

These low-key acoustic dates are worlds apart from the larger-than-life spectacle Cast’s live sets are known to deliver, a contrast he says he enjoys: “It’ll be great fun hooking up with the lads, getting back on the road. You’ve got to remember that when Cast get together and play they’re one hell of a live band, with the dynamics between us now and everything. It’s very easy—I don’t mean that complacently, I mean it’s very loose and the music is very, very tight. We sing and play much better than probably we ever did in our heyday, and the songs have proven to be ageless and classic, and that’s a great feeling. It’s a great celebration and I get a lot of positive energy from it.”

Last month, ‘Baby Blue Eyes’, their first new material since 2012’s Troubled Times, was released online as a free download. The song itself is classic Cast—featuring layered guitars and Power’s vulnerable delivery—but with a more melancholy, almost folk twist. Talking about the song’s creation, he explains, “that folk element perhaps came from doing those acoustic shows. I do travel with my acoustic, I write a lot on the acoustic and I have that sort of history, or DNA, to me now as well. It’s not just a hard strum, there’s no electric rhythms on that track, and the song itself is a little bit life-weary, it’s a bit more experienced. It’s still got something of that hope within it, but it’s also not naïve—there’s a weight to it a bit more in the verses—and it’s a bit more seeing things for what they really are; maybe the paint is peeling off the façade and it ain’t all as novel as it used to be, or as innocent as it used to be.

“We’ve all lived and loved and lost, and we’re maybe seeing society for what it really is, but without giving up hope on our true nature and our true togetherness; it’s still there if you want it, but it’s tough out there, man… there’s war, there’s deceit, there’s liars and psychopaths running the fucking world. And we’re being told and conditioned, from a very early age, with crap TV and shit food, constantly, about what’s good. And it’s very difficult to see our true nature, to see clearly.”

With this new track having a more mature, perhaps slightly more cynical edge than the relentlessly optimistic anthems the band have been known for in the past, has his song-writing process changed at all along the way? Power thinks so, to a degree: “It’s changed, because I haven’t got the time to live the life I did when I was twenty years younger. I can’t just sit around all day smoking and strumming a guitar, my life has changed. But deep down I’m still longing for that never-ending song, and I try and tune into that and save that. And I’m seeing things, as I say, from a more life-weary viewpoint, you know? I’ve lived a lot more, but I still believe in the eternal nature of ourselves, it’s just that it’s a little bit sadder maybe, a little harder. It’s not for me to be spokesman of a generation who are twenty; I can maybe still inspire them, but I’m talking about whatever it is I see and how I see the world. But the process is still me and an acoustic guitar, still striving to write melodies and songs that connect with myself and everyone else who’s willing to listen.”

Cast’s last album Troubled Times was created with the help of the online music platform PledgeMusic, where fans are given an exclusive insight into the creation of bands’ output, as well as extra content and other benefits, in return for helping finance the production process. As a veteran, traditionalist performer, Power has seen the influence of the internet on the music industry first hand. “It’s had an effect on everything really, it’s not just music. But it’s changed so much from when we did our debut album [1995’s All Change], the internet’s had such an influence, and it’s such a way for people to interact with music and to put music out there. In a way it dilutes it, because there’s so much; anyone can put music out there now, so you’ve got to fish with those big industrial trawling nets, you know? Whereas in the old days you used to spot an old place in the water and you’d cast your net out there ‘cause you knew it would bring in the good fish. I think it’s such an influence today, everyone’s connected. You’re not even going to be able to put your bloody computer down soon, it’ll be attached to you. It just has an effect on every facet of life, hasn’t it?”

Between the rise of Spotify and the continuing tendency for music fans to illegally download their favourite artists’ work for free, the internet has had a game-changing effect on the way music is consumed, a fact that Power says isn’t lost on him: “Yeah, I know it’s an ongoing debate. To be honest with you now, there was a good piece I read the other day in the paper kind of saying, “well, everyone’s giving out their music for free now, and you can go and see them live.” But I suppose if you’re starting off, and you’ve got to pay for your own album, it’s very hard if you don’t sell any records to self-finance it further down the line. So it might be the end of a great band before they even mature, because record companies don’t get behind bands like they used to, in the sense of letting them develop.

“What do I think of the illegal downloading? I think, just like the illegal fucking bankers, it’s just a part of the industry now. Can I stop it, do I wish to stop it? It won’t be up to me, I don’t really take much notice of it; I’m not really a businessman, I just write music. But I think that everything is so available these days, I think that battle is more between the record industry and the people… are you ever gonna stop it? It’s the record company trying to keep hold of an industry that doesn’t really exist I imagine, because people don’t buy records and CDs these days, they just download. I suppose there are some people concerned that they’re not getting the royalties they’re due, which would be a concern of mine as well—because it’s our art, it’s our livelihood, it’s how we make a living.” Listening to him talk, you get the sense Power feels like these issues are something of a first world problem. “You know, there’s people fucking starving, and there’s war. We’re sending fucking drones across places and killing innocent children, so maybe we need to start worrying more about other people.”

With their string of hit singles in the mid-nineties such as ‘Alright’, ‘Beat Mama’ and ‘Walkaway’, Cast’s sound and overall retro-revivalist attitude had left an impression on many young bands of the era, and helped pave the way for the emerging Britpop scene. Looking back, I ask, are they proud of their legacy? “I think now I am proud, although not like patting myself on the back. Before Cast reformed three, four years ago, I didn’t touch any of the songs that I used to sing for about a decade. Now I sing them and I celebrate them, and I see the reaction in the audience, and it opens an ageless part of me and an ageless part of them; a song is ageless, you know? And my legacy isn’t over, but yeah, it’s nice to have impressed and to have left a footprint, although ‘I’m just about to put one down’ is the way I live my life.”

On the flipside of the coin, are there any acts in today’s musical climate he particularly respects? “I do catch a lot of stuff, I hear songs. People tell me about things. But I must honestly say to you, I just seem to sit around strumming the guitar, and I think maybe I’ve earned the right to do that—I said that to someone the other day. I know for a fact that with each generation there is, and will be, music out there that’s defining that generation. When you think of the way the world is, you’d think there’d be—I hope to God there is anyway—some serious music expressing a kind of simmering discontent. But you’d have to tell me if there is,” he admits, “I haven’t got my finger on the pulse.”

For a band that have achieved much already, what does the future hold? Power seems confident that Cast mark II, now entering the fifth year of their reformation, are here to stay. “I think now that Cast are together, they’ll always exist in one format or another, and that’s the idea behind why we’re gonna do some new recordings. When we play together now, it’s quite exceptional, we are quite a dynamic live band—and you can’t just do that, you need to have been on the road for years, to know each other inside out. We did this band for about eight, nine years, but now we’re back together we know and respect and dig each other’s musical input. So whilst I’m writing songs, obviously it’s a big deal to go “right, we’re gonna write a new album,” but I’ve got a lot of material, and when I go it alone I’ll be playing that, I’ll be passing ideas along,” he says, “and in the new year we’ll go into a studio and see what’s cooking.”

Cast will play Manchester Academy 2 on December 21st.

Preview: Transmission

Written by Patrick Hinton on . Posted in Music.

With The Warehouse Project set to end a phenomenal season at Store Street this month, any fears that their presence in the Manchester clubbing scene would die down in the spring months have been alleviated by the announcement of Transmission – Sounds From The Second City.

A union of promoters – WHP, Drop The Mustard, Chibuku, Circus, Metropolis, Now Wave, Kaluki, Sounds Of The Near Future and TROF – have teamed up to present a series of nights under the title of Transmission, taking place at the Grade II listed building of the Albert Hall in Deansgate from January to April of 2015.

The opening weekend kicks off with David Rodigan bringing his legendary Ram Jam party on Friday 23rd January, amongst those in tow is drum ‘n’ bass master Shy FX and garage don Wookie. Viva Warriors provide a house feast the following day with Steve Lawler, Âme, Derrick Carter and more.

Adam Beyer’s techno driven label Drumcode offer up another January highlight with Beyer bringing Hotflush label boss Scuba and signees Dense & Pika on the 30th. Moving into February, the month kicks off on the 6th with EDM superstar and skilled cake thrower Steve Aoki.

Hessle Audio take over on 20th February for The Mancunion’s highlight of the season. The line up features the exceptional Joy Orbison and Blawan and Pariah’s live techno project Karenn alongside the three Hessle Audio honchos; attendees at the Resident Advisor WHP this year will be well aware of the seamless brilliance of b2b2b sets from Ben UFO, Pearson Sound and Pangaea. The DJing prowess of Ricardo Villalobos is something these attendees perhaps won’t be aware of after his no-show. Luckily WHP & Zutekh are providing an opportunity to remedy that on 6th March with  the Chilean techno king topping the bill. Magda, Jackmaster, long-term Zutekh affiliate Midland and WHP resident Krysko also headline.

Heidi and her Jackathon arrive on March 28th with a stellar night featuring house mainstay Tiga, Hot Creations’s Richy Ahmed, the elusive Marquis Hawkes and Rush Hour’s Tom Trago.

The following weekend closes the series in style. On 3rd April Carl Cox and his friends Eats Everything and Jon Rundell will bring the Ibiza big room bangers; on 4th April the Defected night is headed by Masters Of Work and Oliver $; and finally, trance trio Above & Beyond headline on the 5th April.

Full details of every line up can be found here.

Tickets go on sale from 9am on Tuesday 9th December here.