I read an article last week that put forth – in surprised tones – that the main source for an introduction to ‘new music’ was the radio. I’ll be honest, this is no surprise to me at all. Whack on BBC 6 Music on any day of the week, at any time of the day, […]
Tag: Factory
Manchester based record label. Responsible for launching the careers of Joy Division, the Happy Mondays and A Certain Ratio. Folded in the 90s.
My daily commute takes me from Manhattan out to deepest, darkest New Jersey, taking in the industrial wasteland bordering Newark airport, before finally landing in the greenery of ‘The Garden State’. The journey takes me through East Orange. And so, as I sat in my car last week, surrounded by SUVs, pick-up trucks, and knackered […]
So, come on then, time to own up. Raise your hand in the air if you’ve been checking out Jez Kerr’s solo material. No? Shame on you, if you haven’t. You’ve missed out on a couple of peaches – two singles to give a taster of what’s in store on Jez’s debut album. At the […]
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Fac 501: Tony Wilson
A post from earlier in the week, about DJing in Berlin, was ostensibly about the enduring love that people of a certain age, and born in a certain geographic location, have for the music of Manchester. Anyone who has been a semi-regular visitor to this site, or who has ever set foot near to one […]
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Shaun Ryder matters
So Shaun Ryder is having a bit of a resurgence in popularity in the UK. Thanks to his reality-show appearance at the back end of 2010, he’s probably also found a new audience in the UK. People who are not really going to know about ‘Kinky Afro’, or ‘Mad Cyril’, or ‘Freaky Dancin’’. Tunes, all […]
Terry Christian is an unlikely source for genuine insight. He’s more Manc than an Arndale Centre full of parka-wearing monkey boys. To be fair, he has pretty much crafted a career out of being a professional Mancunian. From fronting 90s Channel 4 pop-culture totem ‘The Word’, through to radio and journalism, Manchester is writ large […]
2010 has been quite the year for music. Everything Everything emerged from nowhere to knock out an album which more accomplished bands would struggle to match. Badly Drawn Boy returned, and produced his best work in a decade. Supergrass departed stage left, but left behind the unadulterated joy of The Hotrats. And, after a silence […]
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Celebrating Vini
There are certain artists who you just depend on. Rarely going fully out of your way to acknowledge how good they are, but they’re there, on your playlist. Artists who are just not that popular, but whose influence transcends their lack of public acknowledgement. A case in point: The Durutti Column. The Durutti Column is […]
My love of Manchester is no secret. It’s a great city. Second only to New York in ‘places I want to live’. It’s a close second, at that. I totally acknowledge that I have the capacity to bore people with my paean towards the heart of the Industrial North. So, I won’t go down the […]
You’ve probably missed this. My guess is that the music press is barely going to take notice. The NME won’t be screaming a headline, celebrating the tenth studio album of one of the most outstanding contributors to British music over the last 30 years. It’ll go without note – just as the majority of their […]