Art Feynman "Slow Down"

This proved to be a bit of a grower when it was released last summer. It seemed too strange and trance like/trippy to grasp immediately, and listening to it again now I can hear a certain echo of late 1980s/early 1990's indie/dance crossover artists, like the Shaman. Which I don't remember noticing initially, but still... Great tune.

Town: On the anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing

Given the role Tony Walsh's 'This is the place' played at the vigil on 23rd May 2017, it feels very apt that HOME would commission a series of spoken word pieces to mark the anniversary of the Arena bombing. HOME worked with Monkeywood Theatre last year to, in their words: 

Commission 19 astounding Mancunian writers to write 19 tiny but titanic new pieces that explore our city and its people.  

Eve Steele was one of those people. This is her ode to the city centre. 

One year on. We won’t forget. Our city stands strong. #McrTogether

Dott - Like a Girl (feat. Sadie Dupuis)

Tomorrow Ireland goes to the polls in a referendum on reproductive rights. The Irish band Dott have teamed up with Speedy Ortiz's Sadie Dupuis to record this fantastic anthem for the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment.

Because the people who fill the city, because the city fills the people

"Because the people who fill the city, because the city fills the people" - Everything But The Girl, Five Fathoms

Billboard display opposite Manchester Apollo, the week after the Arena bomb

Everybody has a Manchester Arena story.

If you live within the fifty mile radius of the city of Manchester, grew up in it's clubs and venues, drank in it's pubs, staggered down it's dark and rainy streets... chances are you will have been touched by the events of 22nd May 2017.

Maybe not directly, but indirectly.

Even if you didn't lose a loved one in the attack itself, chances are you will know someone who went to the Ariana Grande concert, or know someone related to someone who went to the concert. Or you have a friend who went to a gig at the Arena mere days beforehand. Or a friend or family member who works for the emergency services.

Even if this isn't the case, you will have either gotten a worker bee tattoo to raise funds for the families of those killed, or you will know someone who got a worker bee tattoo. You will have seen the murals in the hipster end of town, and the one in the Arndale. You may, if you live in Stockport, or pass through the Heatons on a regular basis, have seen the Stockport worker bee. Similarly, the worker bees on buses, We heart Manchester digital displays on buses not in service, and the Spirit of Manchester tram.

Stockport worker bee

The marks are everywhere. Subtle maybe, and not necessarily obvious to visitors, but they are there.

Today, the first anniversary of the bombing, events are taking place in Manchester  and there will be a national one minute silence at 2:30pm.

Manchester Arena itself re-opened in September 2017, with a fundraising concert that featured Noel Gallagher and Blossoms, amongst others. 

My own Arena story is confined entirely to the night I saw Florence + The Machine headline there in September 2015. It was the first, and so far only, time I'd been to the Arena and I found the size of the place somewhat surreal. It felt cavernous, enormous, and weirdly reminiscent of St Pancras train station in London if it had been mated with the Arndale. That was the actual bit of the Arena where you go in and where you can buy non food kind of food and merchandise, not the actual bit where the concerts take place.

I remember watching Florence Welch gleefully legging it off stage, down the side of the standing section, and right up the other side of the Arena, where she sang part of 'Rabbit Heart (Raise it up)'. I remember how incredibly pleased I was that she made the audience stand up in the seated bits because I  was in the seated section and was dying to stand up but no one else was doing so I didn't feel I could without blocking someone's view.

I remember, after the gig, the slowly unfolding confusion of trying to get from the Arena to Piccadilly without getting lost. Of finding myself in some cordoned off bit of the city centre where extensive Metrolink works were taking place, somewhere near St Ann's Square, and of the relief when I and a steady stream of Arena goers finally located the top end of Market Street and we realised we were on the home stretch to the 192 stop.

That is my Arena memory.

Post Arena bombing tribute, left by Canadian tourist, Manchester, July 2017

Skating Polly - Little Girl Blue and The Battle Envy (Official Video)

The album The Make It All Show is out now, and it's been riveting watching this band grow up over the past couple of years.

This introspective epic of a song is a far cry from their thrashy beginnings as very young teenagers supporting the reformed Babes In Toyland.

The band will be touring the UK in September, here are the dates:

10th September: Sebright Arms, London
11th September: Le Pub, Newport
13th September: The Thunderbolt, Bristol
14th September: Firebug, Leicester
15th September: Broadcast, Glasgow
16th September: Hare and Hounds, Birmingham
17th September: Yardbirds Rock Club, Grimsby

LORDE - Royals

It seems an apt moment in time to revisit this song.

Northern Picture Library - Love Song For the Dead Che #1

Northern Picture Library emerged from the ashes of The Field Mice and this track dates from about 1994. Later Field Mice tracks, particularly 'Missing the Moon' revealed an interest in dance music that continued with Northern Picture Library and, as such, 'Love Song For The Dead Che #1' can be regarded as a collision between nineties twee pop and trip hop. Absolute genius.

Flinch: Skin Deep

A nice slice of mid 1990s indie. Flinch were fronted by singer/bassist Grog and were quite ubiquitous on the Peel Show, Evening Session and in the pages of the NME in the mid 1990s. They also featured on the UK festival circuit around 1994/1995 but, despite all of that, never quite made it.

'Skin Deep' was one of their strongest, and most abrasive, singles.

New F-Word music playlist now up!

The latest F-Word music playlist is now up on the site!

As I hand the music section back to Jo Whitehead in July, this will (probably?) be my last music playlist for the site.

As such, I had intended to go out with a bit of a bang, playlist wise, and didn't really have any other ideas or themes aside from that. Oh, apart from a thought that festival season is nearly upon us and, as such, maybe it would be nice to include that cover version of Joni Mitchell's 'Woodstock'.

Then, as I was working away putting the tracks together in Spotify (the Miya Folick version of 'Woodstock' did make the grade, you may or may not be interested to know), I realised that, quite unconsciously, a theme had developed.

It was all about youth and being young.

As I say in my post over on the site:

I've tried to include songs by artists at, or near, the start of their careers as this felt like a good way of getting a sense of freshness and, on occasion, rage as well as innovation. I'd been doing this, to an extent, anyway in that I'd been trying out a lot of new songs by new artists, but I also realised that I'd been adding in songs from more established artists from the beginning of their careers, and that this worked well with the new stuff.

I'm really pleased with how it all worked out and, unlike February's playlist, there is a bit more light with the shade this time.

You can read the blog post, and listen to the playlist, on the F-Word website.

Endings are as important as beginnings with playlists and, quite early on, I knew two things:

1) I wanted to make a feature of/draw attention to Let's Eat Grandma and their excellent track 'Falling Into Me' because it felt like the most exciting thing I'd heard in ages.

2) I wanted to finish with Florence + The Machine's 'Dog Days Are Over' because it would be a good way to get a big finish and, besides, reflected the position of the song in their live set (if you discount the encores that is).

Not sure if 'Dog Days Are Over' will remain in the same place, set wise, as F+TM head out for their live dates this year, but I can't imagine them not playing it.

For an example of the joy that is 'Dog Days...' live, check out this clip from Bonneroo in 2011:

The Sunday's track was originally going to be 'Here's Where The Story Ends', for a similar sense of closure, but it didn't work as well as I expected so it got switched for my favourite Sundays song 'Can't Be Sure' instead.

Let's Eat Grandma are also out on the road this summer, and are playing some festivals. There isn't a video for 'Falling Into Me' but the video for 'It's Not Just Me' is out now and I have been enjoying their video for 'Sax In The City' recently.

Florence + The Machine - Hunger

Oh Florence Welch... you tear yourself open and lay it all out there and it can be both terrifying and inspiring to watch. Sometimes I come away feeling very worried about you, sometimes I come away feeling very inspired for myself. Sometimes both. I think it's part of the purity of true artist expression to lay yourself on the line and take huge risks, but if it's sincerely and honestly meant it will always work.

Looking forward to the new album.

The Family Cat - Bring Me the Head of Michael Portillo

A lost gem of mid 1990s indie agit prop.

It was subject to a government ban in 1994 and, as such, never achieved it's true state of the nation anthem potential.

A shame.

The Last Word Festival 2017 - Poetry Slam Final - Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan

This is Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan aka The Brown Hijabi poet performing her poem 'This Is Not A Humanising Poem', which she also performed at the RAR event at the Migration Museum on Sunday.

Spoken Word | The Repeat Beat Poet | I Am Not Surprised

The Repeat Beat Poet. He didn't do this one on Sunday, but it's a very powerful snapshot of 2017.