Adam Sweeting has written a quite entertaining review in The Guardian of last weekend's 48 Hour Party People Brixton Academy live shows featuring Happy Mondays and The Farm, as evidenced by this opening extract:

"The resurrection of Happy Mondays brings you two miracles. Firstly, Shaun Ryder is still alive, and secondly, they sound remarkably good considering the vast stretches of bad road they've travelled. For the first night of Brixton's 48 Hour Party People knees-up, they strolled on to a sustained bellow of approval from the crowd, who had endured a drab opening set from the Farm."

Labels: Happy_Mondays

The following are now available from LTM for mail order purchase ahead of the store release dates:

Richard Jobson - LTMCD 2444 '10.30 On A Summer Night / An Afternoon In Company
Blaine L. Reininger - LTMCD 2417 'Book Of Hours'

Guests on the Richard Jobson include guests include Vini Reilly, Wim Mertens and Virginia Astley.

Full details on the news page of the LTM website.

Labels: Vini_Reilly, Wim_Mertens

Congratulations to Mike Mitchell, creator of the Durutti Column gigography, who has taken on the huge task of putting together an A Certain Ratio gigography. Please send any corrections / additions to Mike via his site.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, The_Durutti_Column

The site will be down tomorrow evening, Tuesday 29 March, from 19:00 BST for approximately 30 mins whilst shiny new technological updates to enhance your viewing pleasure are rolled out. Thank you for your forebearance.

Back in 1988, 808 State remixed New Order classics Confusion and Blue Monday but we had to wait until 2004 before they saw the light of day. Predictably there was a very high demand for this release and it soon disappeared from record shop racks. Boomkat, the online independent music specialist now has a new supply. While stocks last!

Labels: 808_State, New_Order

The long-awaited book about 8vo Design will hopefully be published later this year by Lars Mueller Publishers.

Thanks to C.

Labels: 8vo, books

littleBIGMAN Records, a label put together by Happy Mondays drummer Gaz Whelan and Pete Carroll, the man behind Shaun Ryder's Amateur Night In The Big Top album are finalising the new album by Australian band The Panics.

The Panics were in Manchester late last year to play at "In the City" and they also supported Happy Mondays at Clapham Common. Shaun Ryder, who is a big fan of the band, interviewed them when he presented a radio program on BBC 6Music. He also got the Panics to play 3 songs live to air. The band's new, as-yet-untitled album will be available sometime in August.

Labels: Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top, Happy_Mondays

From BBC 6Music:

"Shaun Ryder has resolved the legal action that meant his finances were frozen for six years. He's reached a settlement with Black Grape's former management team, and is now free to keep his earnings, once he's paid back his debt to them.

Last year, viewers of the BBC3 documentary Shaun Ryder Comes Clean saw the Happy Mondays frontman struggling to go straight and fighting to get his finances in order. At one point in the court case, Lord Justice Thorpe observed that Ryder "said he was freaked out by paperwork and that it 'did his nut in'"."

Read the full story here.

Congratulations to Shaun. Will this mean new recordings are in the offing?

--

Thanks to AJ.

Labels: Happy_Mondays, New_Order

The Manchester Evening News reports that the organisers of new multi-venue club night Birthday Party have persuaded Peter Saville to design five (count 'em) badges. The next night is at the King's Arms in Salford on 9 April when none other than F4 Records supremo Tony Wilson will be DJing.

www.birthdaypartynight.co.uk

Kings Arms
11 Bloom St
Salford
Lancashire M3 6AN
Map

Labels: artefacts, badges, Peter_Saville, Tony_Wilson

At 0820 this morning, in a break from reporting the events in the world news, Mark Coles reported for the BBC's Today Programme on the new Ian Curtis biopic 'Control' and more generally about the resurgence in interest in Joy Division and New Order. The item is already in the BBC's Listen Again archive [Real Player required].

Labels: Control, Joy_Division, New_Order

As part of BBC 6 Music's New Order Day, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris of New Order will be talking to Marc Riley on his Rocket Science show on Saturday 26 March from 1300-1600 GMT.

6Music also has signed copies of the new LP Waiting For The Sirens' Call to give away in their competition.

Plus they also have a link to the 'Krafty' video directed by Johan Renck.

If that wasn't enough New Order for you there are loads more links and latest news including the recent Top of the Pops and NME Awards television appearances on NewOrderOnline.

Labels: New_Order, Peter_Hook

To coincide with the remastered and repackaged release of the LTM cd 'Guessing The Way', Tunnelvision are releasing a 3 track CD single on 4 April.

Tracklisting

Anyday
Where Was I
Stones

It costs £2.95 incl P+P

Further details can be found at tunnelvision.moonfruit.com.

Labels: Tunnelvision

The unreleased 'remix' album of 2003's Amateur Night In The Big Top album entitled 'The Return of the Majestic' is quite a revelation, being a poppier, more instantly accessible version of Clowns and Pet Sounds (with a few new surprises thrown in for good measure)

Tracklisting

Confessions of the Money
Perfect People With Brittle Bones
A Talent For Runaway Razorblades
Soldier Blues
Wham Bam Zap Pow
Johnny Wrote Songs About Murder
The Heebie Jeebies
All I Really Wanna Do
Got The Talent For Dancin

[promo only on Offworld Sounds]

Shaun Ryder and Bez can be seen in the new Peter Kay / Tony Christie 'Amarillo' video marching alongside the cream of British showbiz including Keith Harris, Orville, Bernie Clifton, Jim Bowen, Geoffrey and Bungle.

Labels: Amateur_Night_In_The_Big_Top

Please see below for details of the RAW-T 'Realise and Witness' Album Launch Party taking place on 10 April at Ampersand, Longworth St, Manchester, UK.

RAW-T's album Realise and Witness is out Monday 4 April on F4 Records.

RAW-T 'Realise and Witness' LP Launch Party

Featuring: RAW-T performing exclusive live PA with DJ Que and DJ Flair (RAW-T) plus Special Guests: DJ Semtex (BBC 1xtra) and DJ Silver (DMF)

Sunday 10 April
Doors 10pm - 2am
£6 Advance MOTD
Tickets available from Taylors Fallowfield, Fat City Records and Piccadilly Records.
A Squiggle Dee Mash and 1 Clique Production
Info lines: 07832 145285 / 07896 0148955
www.raw-t.com / www.f4records.co.uk / www.djsemtex.com

RAW-T are also appearing at Fabric Live in London on Friday 1 April alongside The Mitchell Brothers, Skinnyman, Scratch Perverts, DJ Die, Mapi Swift & Andy C....

Labels: RAW-T

How to follow the legendary system of Fac numbers used by Factory Communications, Factory Too and (albeit minimally) Factory Records Limited? That was the task facing F4 Records when launching late last year.

The first release, 'Switch / Ego' by RAW-T, was given the number R1 M15. And this is why:

'R' is the generic prefix for releases, so items will be numbered consecutively R1, R2, etc. The suffix M15 is an artist identifier which is derived from postcode associated with the artist in question. With RAW-T, it's M15 which covers part of the inner city including Hulme.

The first release by The Young Offenders Institute has been assigned the catalogue number R6 M40 with the M40 suffix relating to the Collyhurst area of Manchester from where the band hail.

At the moment there are no plans to assign catalogue numbers to other items such as the F4 badge and the digital releases from the F4 Download Shop but doing this retrospectively has not been ruled out.

--

Thanks to Tom @ F4 for info and OMNY for instigation.

Labels: artefacts, badges, F4_Records, Factory_Records, labels, RAW-T

The Guardian has a review by Adam Sweeting of Moby's one-off, low-key show to mark the release of his new album Hotel. On the setlist was a rendition of Temptation by New Order, a track which also features on the album. According to the review this was "played with bare bones guitar and affectingly sung by Laura Dawn" and "excavated previously unsuspected layers of emotion from the song."

Labels: New_Order

sofoot.com, thanks to whom for New Order / football article, announce that their football songs compilation including The Smith, Sham 69, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg and plenty of others, and which has already been released in France (thru Fnac) will be on sale in the UK in April. Sofoot tried to get World in Motion by New Order included but sadly couldn't secure the rights.

Labels: football, New_Order

Messrs Hook, Morris and Sumner of New Order would like to be consulted on the forthcoming Ian Curtis biopic according to this interview in the April edition of UNCUT out now. Stephen Morris says "We'd like to speak to them, as we don't know if it's going to be a film about Ian's life or a film about Joy Division. It could be a pantomime."

Labels: Joy_Division, New_Order

'I Don't Believe You' by The Magnetic Fields is on the 'Word of Mouth' cover disc of April edition of Word magazine.

Free with issue 26 of Word Magazine (£4.20 UK /

Labels: Magnetic_Fields

Manchester Online reports today that the new logo designed in 3 weeks by Peter Saville for 50 grand is to remain under wraps until Saville is reassured on how the logo, based on the letter 'M', is to be used. The logo is one of Saville's first pieces of work as Manchester City Council's Creative Director. He is quoted as saying "What is the point of a logo? London does not have a logo, nor Paris and they seem to be managing. What do you do with one, apart from put it on a balloon and float it above the town hall?"

New Order recently talked to French football website sofoot.com about which football teams they support. The full article is reproduced here in English with many thanks to Marc @ sofoot.com for permission and Nick Mackenzine for translation duties.

--

New Order is without doubt one of the greatest English groups of all time. And that didn't stop them from writing the theme song for the England team in the 1990 World Cup, World in Motion. The song is an ode to ecstasy. Just to put you in the mood…

Around the table in a hotel room near the Champs Elysees, we almost have the dream team. Phil Cunningham, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner are there. Peter Hook will be speaking to the press tomorrow. The Mancunian group is promoting the new album, Waiting for the Sirens' Call. Smiling and chatty, they're obviously happy to be here. We talk about football, and the natural hierarchy of the group is respected. Cunningham, the newcomer, sits on the bench and listens without saying anything. Stephen Morris supports Sumner the star, full of verve and stories, talking about Giggs in the toilets and the Gypsy Kings on the turntable.

"New Order and Football"

Which teams do you support?

Stephen Morris Macclesfield Town

Bernard Sumner Manchester Utd.

SM I'm from Macclesfield originally. It's a dirty little town south of Manchester. The team's in the Second Division, and frankly they're pretty bad… they even have an Iraqi player in the squad. Not that it means anything, mind you. Last year, they had a good spell. Four or five victories on the trot. The fans were chuffed. I can hear the stadium from my house, and they never stop singing. The media talked about us a bit then, and especially when the Iraqi arrived… But since then it's been calm. Life has gone back to normal in Macclesfield… sad.

BS Me, I grew up in Salford, a suburb of Manchester.

SM Wow, yet another United supporter who doesn't come from Manchester…

BS Salford-Manchester, it's ten minutes, Stephen. Ten minutes on foot! Salford is Manchester. And, if you really want to know, I was born in a hospital in the centre of town. We've got to kill this myth: there are as many United supporters as City supporters in Manchester. People from the north of the town support City, and those from the south support United. It's as simple as that, the division is historic… Salford is north-west of Manchester, so I support United. It's easy…

SM And China, that's north of Manchester? They all support United over there. It's nothing but a commercial undertaking, that club… It's more interesting to support a club in the lower divisions.

BS At Macclesfield, you might get a thousand in the ground. They all tell you "Division Three is real football, it's authentic," etc. But the players all dream of being in the Premier League and playing in the European Cup. They'd give anything for that opportunity… I find this conservative attitude boring. Me, I'm happy when my team wins and I don't have to be ashamed about it.

Do you watch from the stands or on the sofa?

SM When I was a kid, I was traumatised. My father knew a guy who could get tickets for all the England games. One day, this guy gave my dad two tickets for an England-Scotland match, up in Scotland. I was six years old and it was hell. Stuck amongst thousands of supporters, lost in the crowd. You couldn't move and if you wanted to pee, you had to do it in a bottle. Also, there was a real tension, a latent violence. You can't understand just how much the Scots and the English hate each other. I begged my father to get me out of there. We understood from the faces of the Scots that we saw on the way home that England had won. Ever since, I've been afraid of football grounds…

BS Sofa for me, too. But when I was a kid, I went to watch the team play. I discovered football at the time of Best… The atmosphere was fantastic, that was a few years before the match that Stephen's talking about. There were two kops, the Stretford End and the Scoreboard End. A superb time for football, before the hooligans took over. Before it got watered down, as well. You could go to the ground without feeling any danger and without feeling like it was just an expensive fairground… I loved that. I remember that I went to the city centre with Hooky to celebrate the European Cup victory in '68. Charlton was captain. Matt Busby was trainer. There were hundreds of thousands of supporters around St Albert Square. I was twelve and I was overwhelmed by the crowd. In fact, I don't think Hooky was there… In any case, I was literally carried by the crowd. At one point, I couldn't even feel the ground. Incredible!

So when did you stop going to the ground?

BS Something changed very quickly. In 1968, in fact. A few months after the European Cup victory, we played in the World Club Championship, against a South American team, from Argentina, I think, called Estudiantes. Two-leg fixture, away and then at home. I remember watching the first match, in Argentina, on a really old TV. The father of Juan Sebastian Veron was playing for the opposition, but I really remember the referee. The bastard completely ruined the match. A thief, completely corrupt. Everyone who saw the match will tell you that. That day, I understood that there was something wrong with football. After that match (won 1-0 by Estudiantes), I went back to the stadium a few times, but something had changed. I realised that in football, like everything else, there was injustice and cheating. And what happened after that didn't really take away that impression.

So why do you watch it on TV then?

BS You have to defend your colours. At home, I'm the only United supporter. My wife's father played for Manchester City in the 1940s. And my son, Dylan, the idiot, decided he had to support City. What a tragedy! For derby games, we have an agreement. Whatever the result, whether United or City wins, no-one crows about it. No screams of joy, no taunting. Obviously, when City win, this agreement doesn't stop the little brat from making me suffer for hours! But when United win, which is more often, I'm not allowed to do anything. My little lad starts crying! And I wouldn't want to add to his suffering… My daughter supports Arsenal. After United's last victory, 2-0 at Old Trafford, she was really sick. After the first goal, she went ballistic and kicked the TV set. We had to watch the end of the match on another set. At the end of the match, she jumped on me, she attacked me. But she's much better now. In fact, she changes club every week. She had her Liverpool period, and now she's changing her loyalty again. She went to the United training centre the other day with her school and she had the chance to speak to the players. When she came home, she said "Dad, I think I might support United now…" The only problem is that she's fallen in love with Wayne Rooney. Frankly, I don't agree with that!

Have you met Rooney, in town, in a bar or in a brothel?

BS No, but like everyone, I read the article about him and the prostitutes in the tabloids. Apparently, when he went to the brothel in Liverpool, he signed an autograph for the old whore that he had just had. He wrote Thanks for the fuck, Wayne Rooney and wrote the date. What an idiot!

Have you met many Manchester players?

BS Beckham lived in the same street as me. I met him several times, but we never spoke, he didn't know who I was. I could have punched Ferguson on the day he sold him. All of a sudden, his ego overtook his management skills. For his own pride, he ruined our season

Do you think Beckham is a maestro?

BS Of course! The guy is superb and he fights like a dog. In the media, he's shown as a bastard or an idiot, but in fact he's a superb guy. I don't understand how Ferguson can prefer Roy Keane…

Beckham's a boy, Keane is a man

BS He's just a wanker, that guy… he has a nasty side to him. But I must be the only United supporter who thinks that…

Have you met anyone else?

BS I spoke to Ryan Giggs one night at the Hacienda… He didn't make much impression on me. Giggs, he's a typical football player, talented on the pitch, but completely uninteresting off it. In his eyes, there was nothing there. No expression. Like a zombie… A few days later, I met him again in a bar in the city centre. I don't know if I should tell you this, it's a drug story… basically, he was there with a glass in his hand, with this same empty stare… me, I was completely out of it. I was with my mates and we had all taken a few pills. We took Giggs with us when we went into the toilets to have a couple more… and at that moment six bodyguards jumped on us and grabbed us by the shoulders to get us out of the bar. It was the first time I saw an emotion in Giggs' eyes: terror!

Did you ever meet Cantona?

BS I met him a few times, at parties. He even came to my place once. I was having a party and a girlfriend rang me, asking if she could bring along some guys she had met in a bar round the corner. I asked her who these guys were. "Eric Cantona, his brother and a couple of mates". "Shit, yeah! Bring them over!" I talked a bit with Eric, I got the impression that he was someone very… strange! Very intense, very thoughtful. Not like Ryan Giggs! We talked about a few things, and I remember we went into the kitchen, and he saw a photo that was on the fridge door, a photo of him. He looked at the photo, he looked at me, and then he looked at the photo again… it was only a few seconds, it was weird, I was a little bit scared, and I said maybe we'd better go back in the other room... I also remember that Eric, or his brother, I'm not sure, kept putting on a Gypsy Kings CD! Jesus, the Gypsy Kings in my house! And they all started dancing like Spaniards to this crap!

SM Fuck me, you've got a Gypsy Kings CD at home!

BS No, they had brought it with them, I swear it! They were mad! And then Eric was talking to a girl – a blonde, not bad looking. She was a friend of a friend. I don't know exactly what happened, but he stuck his finger up this girl's nose! Just like that! Paf! Up the girl's nose! I didn't know what was going on, I just pretended that I hadn't seen anything… and no, I don't have any Gypsy Kings CDs at home!

Labels: FAC51_The_Hacienda, Joy_Division, Macclesfield, New_Order, Peter_Hook

New skate / surf / culture magazine Modart has an illustrated interview with Ed Templeton whose artwork also graces the cover of the magazine.

We learn that Ed Templeton's favourite ...

... films are 'Ghost World', 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' and 'Pulp Fiction'
... cites are Barcelona, Paris and Los Angeles
... skateboarders areGeoff Rowley, Josh Harmony and Marc Johnson
... artists are Barry McGee, David Hockney and Tom Wood

Modart
No. 3 March/April 2005
£3.30 UK / $5.85 US
www.modart.com

Last Friday night saw a reunion of two members of legendary punk band Ed Banger and the Nosebleeds - Ed Garrity and Vini Reilly - at MDMArchive's screening of John Crumpton's 1977 punk documentary, 'The Rise and Fall of the Nosebleeds'. More details at mdmarchive.co.uk and there's also a photo gallery. Thanks to AJ.

Labels: Ed_Banger, Manchester_District_Music_Archive, The_Nosebleeds, Vini_Reilly

Stephin Merritt (The 6ths, The Magnetic Fields, Future Bible Heroes, Gothic Archies) has written the music for a new musical play about the life of Hans Christian Andersen. The show, which is based on the book by Erik Ehn, is entitled 'My Life as a Fairy Tale' and will be directed by Chen Shi-Zheng when it makes its world premiere as part of the Lincoln Center Festival this summer.

Wednesday 27 July 2005
8:00pm
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College

Stephin Merritt (official) at houseoftomorrow.com

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt, The_Sixths

A Certain Ratio, who play the Nuits Sonores festival in May, have announced an exclusive online album release of their live set from last year's Rob Gretton memorial concert Fac 511 And You Forgotten. The album will be released through online specialists Urbanite.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio

A remarkable series of hitherto unseen photos of Joy Division playing live at Bowden Vale on 14 March 1979 have just gone online. The photos are also available for purchase.

Photographer Martin O'Neill has also organised an exhibition of the photos which will run at Hale Library from 3-7 May. This will coincides with the 25th anniversary of Ian Curtis's death.

Labels: Joy_Division, Martin_ONeill

New Order, Basement Jaxx, Keane and Kasabian are lined up for Wireless 2005, a completely new festival which will take place in London's Hyde Park over the space of 4 nights in June.

June dates

24 - New Order
25 - Basement Jaxx
29 - Keane
30 - Kasabian

More acts are expected to be announced soon.

Tickets on sale: Saturday 12 March at 9am
Price: £35 per day. [O2 customers can get in there early by using their Active service to purchase tickets from Tuesday 8 March.]
Tel: 0871 230 5468

Labels: New_Order

Yesterday's Metro carried an interview with Peter Hook from New Order. Amongst other things he opines on how long a bass guitar strap should be - "As long as possible. Take two normal ones, strap them together and then you are getting near."

The New Order media frenzy also continues in the form of a tv advert for new single 'Krafty'. This is screening on MTV and possibly other channels.

Labels: New_Order, Peter_Hook

Last night's VH2 special turned out to be a chronological run through of pretty much all the Joy Division and New Order promotional videos. Great stuff although several of the track title idents were decidedly dodgy ("Shellshocked" and "Waiting for the Sirens to Call" anyone?).

Labels: Joy_Division, New_Order

It's short notice but this might be worth a listen: "Anthony H Wilson traces the history of the song Rock around the Clock, the first rock 'n' roll song to top the charts 50 years ago." Apparently guests include Vini Reilly, Bruce Mitchell and CP Lee.

Tuesday 8 March
13:30 GMT
BBC Radio 4

BeingHunted.com reports the launch of a set of skateboard decks for Supreme designed by none other than Peter Saville. Quite a departure. The Peter Saville for Supreme decks will be out in mid March.

The 'Carte Blanche' element of this year's Nuits Sonores Festival which takes place in Lyon, France, centres on Factory Records and the music of Manchester and starts on 31 March. In common with previous festivals a whole section of the Festival is handed over to a particular theme and this year it's Factory.

The line-up includes an exhibition of the work of Central Station Design, a mini-conference with Tony Wilson (Factory / F4 Records), Matt Carroll (Central Station Design) and John Cooper (Cerysmatic Factory), a photographic exhibition 'Manchester, le son en images' by Richard Bellia, 'Made in Manchester' - a series of screenings of notable Manchester / Factory Records documentary films and a showing of Michael Winterbottom's movie '24 Hour Party People'. Plus, during the main festival which runs from 4-8 May, A Certain Ratio appear at a special concert and Mike Pickering and Dave Haslam play DJ sets. Full details are available at www.nuits-sonores.com but here are the highlights:

Central Station Design exhibition

Les Subsistances, 8 bis quai Saint-Vincent - Lyon 1er
Friday 1 April to Wednesday 4 May
www.centralstationdesign.com

Meeting Tony Wilson

Saturday 2 April at 16:00
Bibliothèque de la Part-Dieu, 30 boulevard Vivier-Merle - Lyon 3ème
with Matt Carroll (Central Station Design) and John Cooper (Cerysmatic Factory)

Manchester: le son en images / Photos de Richard Bellia

Photographic exhibition by Richard Bellia

Bibliothèque de la Part-Dieu, 30 boulevard Vivier-Merle – Lyon 3ème
Friday 1 April to Wednesday 4 May
10:00 - 18:00

Piscine du Rhône
Friday 6 May - Saturday 7 May
18:30 - 23:30

Made in Manchester

Thursday 5 to Saturday 7 May 2005 from 13:00 to 20:00
Galerie des Terreaux, Place des Terreaux - Lyon 1er

Screenings of classic documentary films about Manchester music and Factory Records:

New Order Play at Home
Madchester: The Sound of the North
Fac 211: Wired Joy Division

24 Hour Party People (dir. Michael Winterbottom)

Saturday 7 May 2005 at 20:00
CNP Terreaux, 40 rue Président Edouard Herriot, Lyon 1er
Tel: 04 78 27 26 25

Special Concert with A Certain Ratio and James Chance and the Contortions

Les Subsistances
Saturday 7 May
21:30 - 00:00

[21:30 - 22:30 A Certain Ratio
23:00 - 00:00 James Chance and the Contortions]

Mike Pickering and Dave Haslam DJ sets

Piscine du Rhône

Friday 6 May
19:00 - 20:00: Chris Clark (Warp / UK) Live
20:00 - 21:00: RITON (Grand Central Records / UK) DJ set
21:00 - 23:00: Mike Pickering DJ set

Saturday 7 May
19:00 - 20:00: RITON (Grand Central Records / UK) Live
20:00 - 21:00: Battery Operated (COCOSOL1DC1T1 / UK-FR) DJ set 3 decks
21:00 - 23:00: Dave Haslam - DJ set

Full details of the series of Factory and Manchester-related events (collectively known as the "Parcours Associe") on nuits-sonores.com

- -

Thanks to all at Nuits Sonores.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Central_Station_Design, Dave_Haslam, Factory_Records, Joy_Division, New_Order, Tony_Wilson

Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris (or "Stefan Morris, Dancer" as Bernard would have it) appeared on VH2's 'In Control' slot tonight and introduced the following videos:

New Order 'Krafty'
Chemical Brothers and Flaming Lips 'The Golden Path' ("it's not as good as the one I did with them" - Bernard)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 'Whatever Happened To My Rock & Roll'
David Bowie 'Space Oddity'
eels 'Novocaine for the Soul'
Jimi Hendrix 'Crosstown Traffic'
Joy Division 'Atmosphere' ("not by Russ Abbott")
Doves 'There Goes The Fear' (or "Here Comes The Fear" as Bernard introduced it)
The Streets 'Dry Your Eyes'
Black Grape 'In The Name of the Father'

Labels: Joy_Division, New_Order

New Order, cover stars in this week's NME, are the subject of a new documentary entitled 'From Joy Division to New Order' which will be screened on VH2 in the UK at 8pm. The show which will include live and video footage is preceeded by New Order: In Control at 7pm in which New Order choose their favourite tracks.

Labels: Joy_Division, New_Order

An F4 Records promotional postcard marks the launch of the F4 Download Shop.

[front side]
F4 Records
brings you down
loads of love
factory, february 28th, 2005

[back side]
F4 RECORDS
brings you downloads
of LOVE
of RAW-T
of THE DURUTTI COLUMN
of THE YOUNG OFFENDERS INSTITUTE

and this is just the start; more digital signings, more great songs, more value for money; it's called disintermediation you dummy

official downloads at last - pay for the music you bastards,
you know it's worth it

WWW.F4RECORDS.CO.UK
F4 Records, Manchester, England, Original/Modern

- -

Watch this space for news of a RAW-T gig at Fabric, London.

Labels: Factory_Records, RAW-T, The_Durutti_Column

The new issue of MOJO magazine (April 2005, #137) has cover story "Ian Curtis 25 years gone... his life his death and their legacy" plus "New Order return" an all-new interview and retrospective of New Order.

There is also a free 'Beyond Punk!' cd which contains tracks by A Certain Ratio ('Choir'), Cabaret Voltaire ('Silent Command'), Death From Above 1979, Wire, The Fall and The Human League. It's similar in style and breadth to the 'In the beginning there was rhythm' collection which came out on Soul Jazz Records a few years ago.

Just to complete the Factory package there's an updated version of the advert for The Best of The Durutti Column which includes all their previously advertised spring/summer dates plus one at the 10 Days In May Festival in Glasgow (20-29 May 2005).

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Cabaret_Voltaire, Factory_Records, Joy_Division, New_Order, The_Durutti_Column

Joe Magee's website is a veritable treasure trove which contains details of "works commissioned in Manchester 1991-1998" including the Fac 2.09 'Walks on Water' poster for Factory Too.

Magee also designed the sleeve for Fac 2.05 'Wasted' by Factory Too band Hopper.

There are plenty of other diversions including a complete portfolio of his work for many and varied clients including the Guardian, the New York Times, Pentagram, BBC and MIT.

Thanks to Mike for spotting.

Labels: Factory_Too, Hopper, Joe_Magee, labels, poster

The glitches in the aforementioned faulty mp3s have been fixed (apparently a corrupted disc was to blame) and the Durutti Column downloads are once again available from F4 Records.

Labels: F4_Records, labels, The_Durutti_Column

As announced yesterday, the new six-track collection by The Durutti Column entitled 'Heaven Sent (It Was Called Digital. It Was Heaven Sent)' which was specially recorded for F4 Records (and which is excellent by the way) was launched at the F4 Records Download Shop via www.f4records.co.uk. Unfortunately tracks 4-6 had audible and noticeable glitches. The tracks have been temporarily taken down whilst F4 Records and The Durutti Column work together to fix the problem.

Labels: F4_Records, labels, The_Durutti_Column

Brand new specially-recorded tracks by The Durutti Column and the first two singles by RAW-T are available now in the F4 Records Download Shop via www.f4records.co.uk. Each track is available individually for 99p and the RAW-T tracks are available bundled as per the individual releases. Audio clips for pre-download listening are also available.

The full tracklisting is as follows:

The Durutti Column
'Heaven Sent (It Was Called Digital. It Was Heaven Sent)'
01 Bruce
02 Keir
03 Neil
04 Mike
05 Alan
06 Anthony

RAW-T

'Where We Live' [3-track bundle £2.49]
01 Where We Live
02 I Bet You Didn't Expect This
03 Starlight

'Switch' [2-track bundle £1.49]
01 Switch
02 Ego

Labels: RAW-T, The_Durutti_Column

The beautiful work of Trevor Johnson and Johnson/Panas (Trevor's company with fellow graphic designer Tony Panas) has adorned the sleeves of record releases on Factory Records by (amongst others) Stockholm Monsters, Kalima, A Certain Ratio, Biting Tongues, The Royal Family and the Poor, The Durutti Column and Electronic. More recently, Trevor designed the artwork for the Rob Gretton tribute Fac 511 And You Forgotten. His work post-Factory included the establishment of the multi-disciplinary venture Object 57 (more of which below). He now works with Via Design & Communications Ltd in Manchester's Northern Quarter.

Cerysmatic Factory posed Trevor Johnson a few questions about his career.

[Cerysmatic Factory] What happened to your project Object 57?

[Trevor Johnson] Object was an idea at the time to introduce the disciplines of commercial visual exchange into a gallery environment with a commercial remit. We attempted to display several disciplines at the same time, and presented fine art, graphics, illustration, photography, new media and 3d together, with original pieces for sale, in a gallery space to be accessible by the public.

Because of my experience and connections in our industry and my relationship with regional colleges I was able to provide an opportunity for talented graduates to display work alongside high profile established professionals such as Peter Saville, Ben Cook, Philip Diggle, Martin Parr, Elaine Constantine and such. It was important that we did this from Manchester and from the northern quarter and all exhibitors had a Manc connection, and an attitude to their work which was a result of their connections with the city.

This was operated by my wife Michelle and myself. Michelle's skills and experience are in finance and customer services. Object 57 was very successful very quickly and we achieved all our planned objectives within the 1st twelve months. We became a specialist consultancy for contemporary art sales and creative commercial projects, and as well as providing art for private collectors, Object 57 became successful in facilitating the requirements of institutions, businesses and cultural industries.

Object 57 as an exercise was intended to operate as an Artboutique for a specific period to see how things went and was entirely self funded, therefore did not have to operate as a gallery putting on shows every 2 months for the sake of fulfilling a calendar. Object is a thought process, a state of mind or attitude to approach certain ideas, and will continue to evolve. 57 was the physical manifestation of output at the time - 57 Thomas Street. Object's basic principles have foundations in Existentialism - "a term covering a number of related philosophical doctrines denying objective universal values and holding that people, as moral free agents, must create values for themselves through actions and must accept the ultimate responsibility for those actions in a seemingly meaningless universe."

Well, you did ask!

Are you going to do a Peter Saville and sell posters of your work?

The current official merchandise which Saville sells is an extension of the promotion of his book, which supported an exhibition of his life's work at the Design Museum and is touring the world, and which was at Urbis a year ago for a period. This includes official copies of some old poster designs.

Saville is a big admirer of the work of Andy Warhol. The work he created and which we displayed in the gallery were 'waste paintings' and were very specifically intended as purely pieces of art using commercial (computer programme) processes.

I don't really have the necessity or means to sell old pieces of design, and we didn't actually do that many posters, although this may happen with some of the projects we have in planning. We are definitely going to continue the process of Object and look at how the disciplines of graphic design can transcend the principles of fine art, and create new saleable works for the gallery environment.

What happened to the Panas in Johnson/Panas?

Because of the stupidity of the demands of this industry at the time - continuously busy, unreasonable clients, ridiculous operational hours, bad diet etc., (all of which was manual production, pre-computer) - Tony Panas became very ill and was out of the loop for 12 months in the early 90's. When he was well enough to return to work, he decided he'd had enough and that was it. We parted on good terms although I haven't spoken to him since. Tony lived in Todmorden. I have heard that he was teaching graphics for a period at Salford, and also doing some id design over his way.

What is your favourite piece of Factory work? (Yours or someone elses)

I have been lucky enough to work with all of Factory designers, and have the greatest respect and admiration for them all. I enjoyed a good working relationship with Ben Kelly and I am a great admirer of all of his work. The Gay Traitor cocktail bar at The Hacienda was my favourite place on earth for a period.

I suppose my favourite Factory graphic designs were Central Station's Happy Mondays cover which typified the culture of the city and the vibe of a generation for me at the time, Saville's 10th Summer numbers, and New Order titanium sleeve and conch shells photography, and all of 8vo's designs - for Durutti and Hacienda were delightful.

The most enjoyable pieces of my own work were probably for independent identities we created for such nights as Flesh, Hot, Zumbar and Void at the Hacienda.

--

Many thanks to Trevor for taking the time to answer the questions in so much detail. Additional thanks to AJ.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Ben_Kelly, Biting_Tongues, Central_Station_Design, design, Factory_Records, graphic_design, Happy_Mondays, Johnson_Panas, New_Order, poster, The_Durutti_Column, The_Royal_Family_And_The_Poor, Trevor_Johnson

Wim Mertens has a new solo album set for release on Monday 7 March. The release marks his 25th year in the business. The official site, wimmertens.be, offers this insight into the new album:

"Un respiro, Mertens' new solo album offers 10 new compositions, often very rythmical tracks composed for two pianos and two voices all performed by the composer himself. Un respiro shows Mertens' passion for the voice, not using it as an instrument but presenting the voice as a guide for the piano, always looking for pure expression only."

Catch Wim Mertens live in Belgium and Germany from March onwards:

11 March - Tongeren, Belgium. CC De Velinx, 20:30. Wim Mertens Ensemble
19 March - Mechelen, Belgium. CC Mechelen, 20:15. Wim Mertens Ensemble
23 April - Genk, Belgium. CC Casino, 20:15. Wim Mertens Ensemble
11/12 June - Weimar, Germany. Festival Köstritzer Spiegelzelt, 20:30. Wim Mertens Solo

Labels: Wim_Mertens

The third act (coming after RAW-T and The Durutti Column, the latter having a download-only deal) on F4 Records, the fourth incarnation of Factory Records, are The Young Offenders Institute. The F4 site has more details:

"The Young Offenders Institute are from the grim North Manchester suburb of Collyhurst, and they're every inch a Manchester band. They're putting the working class rebellion back into rock 'n' roll music – and with it, the hunger, the wit, the raps and the melodies.

"Flying in the face of conventional music wisdom (not for the first or last time), they played their first ever gig at a packed Cellar Vie during the In The City industry convention in September 2004. The entire music industry was there. Most of them walked out in disgust after two songs. Those who stayed behind witnessed a seminal moment in rock 'n' roll history. With more gigs under their belts and with the 'Owen Morris Sessions' recorded The Young Offenders Institute are ready to take over the world or at least their local HMP."

Sounds promising. The official Young Offenders Institute website is at www.youngoffendersinstitute.com

Labels: Factory_Records, RAW-T, The_Durutti_Column

Issue 03 of Wallpaper Navigator* selects "seven cities you need to know", the fourth of which is Manchester. There are 14 pages on the city including architecture, culture, eating out and shopping. The contribution of Factory Records towards the city's reputation is made more than once including the following:

"This is also the city that set the world's clubbing scene alight with the opening of the legendary Hacienda nightclub in 1982, designed by Ben Kelly, with graphics by Peter Saville. Today, all that's left of the Hacienda is an apartment block, although Manchester's club scene is still thriving."

The other cities you need to know are Beirut, Buenos Aires, Hamburg, Montreal, Stockholm and Valencia.

Labels: Ben_Kelly, FAC51_The_Hacienda, Factory_Records, Manchester

According to their official website, Tunnelvision will be releasing a limited edition single shortly to coincide with LTM's forthcoming re-release of their 'Guessing The Way' collection (LTMCD 2313) of rare and live recordings. Also, there is an official statement which says "Matthew Ashworth is no longer a full time member of Tunnelvision. We would like to thank him for his valuable input and hope to work with him again in the near future."

Labels: Tunnelvision

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