Manchester is shit

Anechoic's a band I discovered at one of the old Eyeball Haemorrhage nights that Kino Film Festival used to throw at Night & Day. They blew me away from song one. They used to be based in Manchester & Leeds, but now I hear they're kicking around London.

You can download an EP for free online, provided you pass the word on to a friend.

Here's the link:

Free EP link

Norman Clayture will be polishing up his wood and performing such classics as 'Watching Paint Dry' and 'Mama Didn't Want Me to be No Ladyboy' at the monthly extravaganza known as AUTO TEST PILOT on Sunday 25th June at Tiger Lounge, 5 Cooper Street, Manchester. Sharing the troposphere Norman will be Robin Nature-Bold and BAND(ism), The Star Fighter Pilot, John Hyatt, Three Johns John, Joseph Peace, Rolling Jones - playing songs that you thought only you liked, the whole is contained by Mr Chavez-Dawson. £2.80 (members 80p)

To all Dpercussion fans

As you may have read in the Manchester Evening News today or heard on XFM , Dpercussion is seriously under threat of not happening due to two major sponsors recently pulling out and leaving a shortfall of around £40,000. This means that we are really struggling to make the event happen.

As you know the artists of the festival play for very little and the festival requires the support of many people and that includes you. XFM are running a message board to gauge opinion of what Manchester people think if the festival that was started as a response to the bomb 10 years ago won’t be happening this year of all years.

http://xfmmanchester.co.uk/Article.asp?id=231515

Please post your comments on the message board and forward this email on to anyone you know. Together we can hopefully gather enough interest to help the festival remain the biggest free music festival in the north

Thanks for all your help in advance.

D Percussion

MUSIC FESTIVAL BORN OUT OF THE BOMB CANCELLED DUE TO LACK OF SUPPORT?

D percussion is Manchester’s biggest free music festival and attracts 50,000 people into Castlefield for a day of live music and DJs across a range of stages. It was created by a group of music-mad Mancunians as a positive response to the bomb that blew the heart out of the city 10 years ago yesterday. This year’s line-up planned for the event scheduled for 5 August is almost complete and includes, Polytechnic, The Pippettes, The Whip, Djs sets from Greg Wilson, Benji B, Recloose, with some very special guests still waiting to sign Some of the previous acts that have played Dpercussion are Nine Black Alps, Mr Scruff, Badly Drawn Boy, Snow Patrol and 808 State

percussion has been forced to pull the plug on this year’s event after two of its main local partners pulled out after promising increased level of support earlier in the year.
Events agency, Ear to the Ground organise the event and say that there are insufficient funds to make the event happen this year without replacement private sector investment. Steve Smith,

Creative Director for Dpercussion said:
"Music is the lifeblood of Manchester and Dpercussion has always demonstrated its ability to spot and nurture tomorrow’s talent. The event is free and relies entirely on sponsorship and council funding. At the moment we are about £40,000 short and don’t see any way of raising the money at this late stage. It seems terrible that 10 years after the bomb, one of its most successful and positive responses is not being backed the private sector.
Dpercussion is not just a music festival for the music lovers. It has important role to play in the cultural landscape of the city as for 10% of the audience it is their only chance to see live music, and for 18% it is their only chance to see an arts and cultural event

Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Culture and Leisure, Councillor Mark Hackett said:
"Manchester City Council has been a consistent supporter of Dpercussion and recently made it one of the pillar events in the City’s Events Calendar. A recent report commissioned by the City confirms that Dpercussion makes a significant contribution to Manchester’s economy which will be lost if the event does not go ahead".

Steve Smith made it clear that unless Dpercussion secures last minute sponsorship to save the day Dpercussion will not take place this year to the disappointment of 1000s of its fans and puts in jeopardy its 10 th anniversary plans for 2007.

www.dpercussion.com
www.eartotheground.org

Hello Giraffe,

Wow. Day one in Seattle. I woke up late and went to find coffee at this cafe that's supposed to be around the block. I walked all the way through Chinatown, into old Seattle, hit the puget sound or whatever, went up through downtown, which is literally downtown, because I had to walk back up a steep steep set of hills.... and on up unto Capitol Hill, which seems kinda like Chorlton, and then suddenly there it was. It's called Cafe Vita and they were playing Ratatat, Seu Jorge doing Bowie and Tapes n' Tapes -- those could've been my choices. I had a mocha, set up my laptop, sent out a few emails to editors, then looked up where I was on Mapquest. I needed to get home in time to listen to Hoodlum Tribe radio. Turns out it was just around the block from where I live after all.

I don't know uptown from downtown, doll. As Matt was playing that gospel record he got from Sweden, I get an email back from The Stranger already asking for a piece, on spec of course. Meanwhile, the girl who wanted to help me find funding for my film has accepted a position in Sudan, so she's out. Don't worry, marrying you is still on the table. Of course, I'm going to put a beard hair clause in the pre-nup. Oh wait... prenups aren't recognized in British courts. What's the latest in that Mrs. Porn McCartney thing?

I've given out about a dozen stickers so far, by the way.

Missing Manchester,

American Dave

P.S. The jazz station was playing a Mr Scruff remix today. Weren't we talking about this sort of thing the other day, but with classical?

So i managed to interview Will Holland from Quantic last week, I did this interview on behalf of straightup.com.au, based over in Australia. Mr Holland was a bit surprised as he was expecting a call from Australia but instead he got me in Manchester, ah well... You can read up on the results here

www.straightup.com.au/interview


Its been far too hot over here in Manchester to be playing any hiphop this week, the sun is out, and summer has finally arrived, so this week have have been digging deep into my collection to unearth some lovely latin and soul, perfect for the sunshine. Managed to unearth a few gems along the way, so sit back relax and enjoy some sounds from Tom and Joyce, The Masters at work, Roy Ayers and err... Paul Simon. No I don't have sunstroke, trust me, this Paul Simon edit is a slab of mighty fine balearic pie...


1. Azymuth Tudo que voce podia ser (Rocs rerub) [ Far Out]
2. Marcos Valle A paixonda par voce [ Far Out]
3. Malena Para ti (Criancas mix) [ Mr Bongo]
4. Tom and Joyce Quiexume (Masters at Work Kuts remix) [ Yellow]
5. Yukihiro Fukutomi Playback [ Especial]
6. River Plate Samba Orchestra Congo (Sao Benitez cut) [ Mr Bongo]
7. Max Sedgley Happy (Spiritual South go happy in Rio edit) [ White]
8. The Avalanches Since I left you [ XL recordings]
9. The Isley Brothers Summer Breeze [ Sony]
10. Roy Ayers Everybody loves the sunshine [ Urban]
11. NuYorican Soul MAW Latin Blues [ Mercury]
12. NuYorican Soul Gotta new life [ Mercury]
13. Recloose manas bounce [ Peacefrog]
14. Universal Principals Inspirational breaks [ Soma]
15. Black and Brown Cool Affair (Eric Kupper remix) [ Irma]
16. Paul Simon Late (Edit de DJ Spun) [ Editions Disco]

www.straightup.com.au



enjoy!

Wish I had one of these, and then I would have friends rather than wasting my time talking to Julia from the Ukraine getting kicks from grainy webcam shots of her shoulder. Or importing various wives from that region. Only joking, I am dead popular - go ask my mum. Anyways, Mini Cooper Cabrio decorated with Sydney-based drawman Andrew Georgious cartoons. Does it get any better? Check Andrew's other work, like his totally gay pet shop by clicking...... here.