Officially released today, 'Keep Breathing' is garnering great reviews for The Durutti Column:

Manchester Evening News [4*]
MOJO [4*]
Record Collector [4*]
The Guardian [5*]

The session recorded a few weeks ago for Tom Robinson on BBC 6Music is being aired this week on Tom's Evening Sequence (Mon-Thu 19:00-21:30 GMT). On tonight's show he also announced that Vini Reilly will be popping in on Wednesday for a chat.

--

With thanks to Phil Jones and the Yahoo DC List.

Labels: The_Durutti_Column

With their new album now in the shops and receiving rave reviews, The Durutti Column have confirmed two more dates for 2006. The new gigs in Norwich and Falmouth mean that nine (count 'em) dates are already in the diary. Here is the full schedule:

Manchester Academy 3 - 13 May 2006
Glee Club, Birmingham - 14 May 2006
Dingwalls (aka Lock 17), London - 17 May 2006
Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, 18 May 2006
Arts Centre, Norwich, 2 June 2006
Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells, Saturday 3 June 2006
Cox's Yard, Stratford-upon-Avon, Saturday 10 June 2006
Princess Pavilion, Falmouth, 16 September 2006
World Guitars Festival, St Georges, Bristol, Thursday 2 November 2006

More details.

Labels: The_Durutti_Column

NOISE is an arts and media festival for all young people (age 25 and under). Peter Saville and Anthony Wilson are among the curators who also include Wayne Hemingway, Daniel Brown and the prominent artist Stella Vine.

From now until 31 May 2006 you can submit your work for the Noise media showcase in October 2006.

www.noisefestival.com

Labels: Tony_Wilson

From street poster in Manchester and to tie in quite nicely with his forthcoming 3CD compilation:

Evolution
Hacienda Classics
Peter Hook - DJ Set
New Order
Friday 17 March
The Music Box
Oxford Road - Manchester

www.evoclassics.com

Thanks to OMMCR.

Labels: FAC51_The_Hacienda, New_Order, Peter_Hook, poster

Theatre of Noise reckons that the rarest (regular issue) New Order song of all is Mesh from the FACTUS 8 1981-82 12". Or (ignoring remixes and instrumentals) is it perhaps MTO from the b-side of the original Run 2 12" single?

Labels: New_Order

0898Dave who are playing The Howff, Kings Arms, Salford tonight from 7.30 - midnight have a new 10" E.P. out on Monday 27 February on Heart and Soul Recordings featuring remixes from Homelife and A Certain Ratio.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio

A triple CD set of Hacienda Classics as compiled by Peter Hook will be in the shops on 6 April. The compilation includes such classics as T-Coy 'Carino', Happy Mondays 'Step On', New Order / Rockers Revenge 'Confusion / Walking On Sunshine' and many more.

Labels: FAC51_The_Hacienda, Happy_Mondays, New_Order, Peter_Hook

According to mediabistro, Peter Saville has joined advertising agency M&C Saatchi as a "goto guy" (a non-hands on role in which he will advise others as and when).

Thanks to C.

The Guardian's Dave Simpson has given 'Keep Breathing' by The Durutti Column a glowing review in The Guardian today.

Also, in the same section, Peter Hook ruminates on the genesis of Blue Monday.

And whilst we're at it, Hooky also names his Top Ten tunes of the moment including New Order's Waiting For The Sirens' Call Wally Gagel Remix (which was released a long time ago as a one-sided 10" white label) in this week's NME.

Thanks to AJ for spotting.

Labels: New_Order, Peter_Hook, The_Durutti_Column, The_Names

Hacienda Paris DJ, Dry kitchen staffer and now Techno superstar, Laurent Garnier has a new book out, in French, called 'Electrochoc'. With thanks to Ashiya for the translation from Amazon France here is the blurb on the book:

Editor's introduction

1987. Manchester: in an old warehouse converted into a club, music is about to live its last big revolution. Fifteen years later, techno has become a worldwide phenomenon. Its artists sell their albums by the million, and the "techno aesthetic" is ever-present in our cultural landscape. From the black ghettos - American until the worldwide explosion on the threshold of 2000 - Laurent Garnier recounts, through his experience and memories, the electronic saga: his key moments, leading players, secret stories, excess and issues. An essential player and privileged witness of the electronic adventure, he unveils for the first time the backstage goings on of the last odyssey of the century.

A DJ, musician and producer very involved in the middle of techno music since more than fifteen years recounts, through his memories and experiences, the evolution of this type of music and of the culture which surrounds it."

Labels: FAC51_The_Hacienda

News from www.carolinetruerecords.co.uk

THE PREFECTS "LIVE 1978 - THE CO-OP SUITE BIRMINGHAM"

Ltd CD: Released Monday 27 February on Caroline True Records (CTRUE2)

"I will always remember that show: it's as Punk Rock as Nirvana at New York's Roseland ballroom in July 1993, when Kurt Cobain refused to play 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and, to the roars of a hostile crowd, brought on a cello player and played Leadbelly songs." (Jon Savage on the Prefects live experience - sleeve notes 2005)

"Their music is as bleak, cynical and loveless as their personalities, with a perverse humour." (The NME Book Of Modern Music 1978)

The Prefects occupy a very special place in the rich heritage of UK punk and Post-Punk music. Guesting on the incendiary white-riot tour of 1977 with the Clash and the Subway Sect - the band were famously called "amateur wankers" by Clash manager Bernie Rhodes. Vocalist Robert Lloyd was asked to join Joy Division by Ian Curtis as a drummer! Indeed the Prefects were well respected by JD.

Their music was a melange of Krautrock, Beefheart, glam and the Pistols. All the things that PIL were to be later - the Prefects were there first - groundbreaking and unconsciously rewriting the rules.

Carpark records 2004 "Amateur Wankers" release collected together the 2 Peel sessions and some live odds and ends - to go with the posthumous Rough Trade 7" that was released after the split.

Now, February 2006 sees the long awaited release of a recently uncovered 1978 live set from the Co-Op Suite in Birmingham. Featuring all the classic Prefects moments, Faults, Barbarellas and Escort Girls, along with the addition of a live cover - Disco Stomp. A great live document, it's like being back there.

Exclusive liner notes by England's Dreaming / Time Travel / MOJO writer Jon Savage are included inside a special package. As he suggests: "Who'd have guessed that, in the 21st century, the Prefex would find their time."

Indeed.

Album available from: www.carolinetruerecords.co.uk

Labels: Joy_Division

Photographer Martin O'Neill's exhibition of photographs of Joy Division playing Bowdon Vale Youth Club will be on show at The Met, Bury, from 18 March - 30 April. The exhibition was previously on display at Hale Library, Altrincham and the Rampant Lion, Withington.

Labels: Joy_Division

Rowetta has provided guest vocals on the new single 'Wop The Groove' by the mighty Cornershop. They say that "The Factory Records stable have always given solid support to the Cornershop firmament, and it was this connection that led to this collaboration."

The single is out now on Rough Trade with the promise of a new album eventually.

Labels: Factory_Records

Joy Division Central report that Torn Apart: The Life of Ian Curtis by Mick Middles and Lindsay Reade "has been submitted to the publisher and should be in the shops in April".

With thanks to JD Central.

Labels: Joy_Division

First it was tracksuits and trainers and now it's white (naturally) Levi's 517 jeans for designer Peter Saville. The customised clothing will go on sale in Japan at a cost of 33,600 YEN (approx 163 GBP / 284 USD) on 4 March 2006.

Maybe this is why he doesn't buy them anymore - he just gets them for free!

Peter Hook of New Order is sitting in for Marc Riley on his BBC 6Music show Rocket Science on Saturday 25 February.

Labels: New_Order, Peter_Hook

Tunnelvision have split with their component members now working on projects as follows:

- Ian Butterworth is working with Section 25 on their new album.
- Chris Anderton was producing / engineering the new Section 25 album but this is no longer the case.
- Chris and Tony Ashworth are now working under the name of FORM.
- Matthew Ashworth is recording as Calpol Child as well as promoting gigs out of Manchester and also playing as one half of a duo Lion Kiosk.

Labels: Tunnelvision

Thanks to everyone who has bought a copy of Scream City. Just a quick announcement to say that copies are now in Vinyl Revival and Piccadilly Records in Manchester. Time to let the feet hit the street!

After a couple of false starts, the new album by The Durutti Column, 'Keep Breathing', will finally be in the shops on Monday 27 February.

Written and played almost entirely by Vini Reilly, the album is built out of ideas generated over the last year and was inspired by African hip hop, traditional Jewish music (Klezmer) and 1930's piano music by Art Tatum.

The 12 tracks were created over 3 months in a room "not much bigger than a broom cupboard" using only one microphone and whatever time and equipment Reilly and the album's programmer Ben Roberts had spare. This inventiveness adds to the richness of Reilly's amazing "honey wrapped in sandpaper" guitar playing.

The gorgeous song 'Maggie' samples a school choir he heard on the BBC 14 years ago, while other tracks such as the defiant 7 minute long love song, 'Let Me Tell You Something' are just as powerful and reflective, showing the positive frame of mind Vini was in when making the record.

The new album is more polished and less haphazard than his previous efforts and Durutti Column have also committed to touring it extensively in 2006, with a live band consisting of Keir Stewart, Bruce Mitchell on drums and John Metcalfe on viola.

--

Thanks to Phil Jones.

Labels: John_Metcalfe, The_Durutti_Column

There is an exhibition of Mick Rock Prints on now at Vox Pop on Thomas St in Manchester city centre. It continues for another week and a bit. Mick Rock he was the only photographer allowed backstage at Manchester v Cancer and it's the only time ever that these prints will be seen together because they will then be auctioned to raise more cash.

40 local Manchester artists also painted iconic images which were signed by artist and will appear in the basement of Hedonist Hair Salon on Tib St by the start of next week.

Great Northern Productions are preparing for the DVD release of the Manchester v Cancer concert, all the proceeds of which will go to the Gene Therapy Unit at the Christie Hospital. There is not a set date for release yet.

Thanks to Tom @ Great Northern.

Peter Saville has re-designed St Luke's Gardens in Clerkenwell. 30gms explains how he "paid homage to the area's history as London's printing district."

This new direction comes from the man who once proclaimed that "Art is the new gardening".

The first edition of my new fanzine 'Scream City' is now available via eBay.

Many thanks to those who have already bought it already. It is also available in the Rough Trade shop, Neal's Yard, Covent Garden, London but Mancunians should not worry because it will soon be available in a number of places in Manchester itself (such are the vagaries of printing a Manchester fanzine in London!). Details to follow.

Scream City covers Manchester music, art(s), books and popular culture and features a number of guest writing contributions. It includes an assessment of record collecting in the post-eBay world and old school alternatives, Tony Wilson on various Factory artefacts, exclusive new artwork by Matt Carroll (Central Station Design), a new version of my biography of The Durutti Column, a review of the career of noted Mancunian Jeff Noon who was once in Manicured Noise and an interview with Kevin Cummins to coincide with his new exhibition 'Arca' which continues at Paul Stolper until 11 March.

Labels: artefacts, Central_Station_Design, Factory_Records, Kevin_Cummins, The_Durutti_Column, Tony_Wilson

Educational slides are now available of Hacienda visuals courtesy of Gonnie Rietveld. The slides come in three packs comprising flyers, posters and can be obtained from the Visual Resources Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University priced GBP 75.00 for all three sets.

Gonnie brought these images together for the 1992 and 1993 exhibitions that she curated for the Manchester Institute of Popular Culture to celebrate '10 Years of The Hacienda'. She did this in conjunction with the image and background research that she conducted for the book 'FAC 351 The Hacienda Must Be Built', co-edited by Jon Savage.

Labels: FAC51_The_Hacienda, poster

There was an excellent turn-out last night for the launch of the new Kevin Cummins exhibition 'Arca' at Paul Stolper including the man himself plus Natalie Curtis, Jeremy Deller (2004 Turner Prize-winning artist), Ben Kelly, Carol Morley, Paul Morley, Maxine Peake (Shameless), Gonnie Rietveld, Mick Rock, Michael Shamberg, Neil Spencer (ex-NME editor from the Cummins era), Richard Wentworth (sculptor), and a camera crew from the Manchester District Music Archive (hello Alison!).

Talking exclusively to Cerysmatic Factory, Kevin Cummins said, whilst joking that he was standing in front of his picture of East Germany (in reality, Princess Parkway, Hulme, 1979 in the snow), "Paul Stolper asked me about 18 months ago if I'd like to do some Joy Division pictures with him. We sorted it out over quite some time and eventually whittled it down to a selection of eleven pictures. So it was a really tight edit."

Read the rest of this interview along with a full feature review and much more in my new fanzine 'Scream City' which is launching very soon. Watch this space for further details.

Thanks to Kevin Cummins and Paul Stolper.

Labels: Ben_Kelly, Joy_Division, Kevin_Cummins

Screen Daily [subscription required, 14-day free trial available] reports that unknown actor Sam Riley has landed his first big role and will play Ian Curtis in the forthcoming biopic of Ian Curtis. Alexandra Maria Lara will play his lover Annik Honore. Samantha Morton has already been cast to play Deborah Curtis. Anton Corbijn will direct. Subject to final funding being sorted out it is hoped that filming will start in the spring.

Thanks to Chrissmari on Livejournal and the IMDb Message Board for Control [free registration required] for info.

From the Iconoclast mailing list:

We are pleased to announce the European opening of Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture from 16 February until 19 March 2006. The exhibition follows in the footsteps of the American version and features the work of many artists including Ed Templeton.

as part of the Triennale di Milano
Viale Alemagna 6
Milano
Italy

Opening hours: 10.30am until 8.30pm (closed on Mondays)

Last Friday's Film and Music section of The Guardian included a reworking of Harry Beck's classic London Underground "diagram" by Dorian Lynskey. The piece obviously owes a great deal of debt to The Great Bear by Simon Patterson in 1992 but, unlike that work, the interchanges actually work in terms of the music. The brown of the Bakerloo line becomes the Soul Line, the Circle Line becomes Pop and the Waterloo and City becomes the DJ Shadow and RZA (linking as it does DJ Shadow and, erm, The RZA). Factory's sole representative is New Order (on both the Rock and Electronica and Dance lines) who are arranged between Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk.

The map, produced in association with the Mayor of London and Transport for London is available to buy from the London Transport Museum shop. You can also download the map for free as a pdf.

Labels: New_Order

The 27 January 2006 edition of Building magazine is the somewhat unlikely source for a completely new FAC number. However, Tony Wilson along with partner Yvette Livesey, have guest edited the magazine which carries the headline "Oh Manchester: A special issue of Building edited by Tony Wilson and Yvette Livesey and starring Britain's most dynamic city".

In the article 'The making of Manchester', architectural editor Martin Spring talks to AHW about his new role as a "regeneration adviser" and his plans for Manchester. The official Factory catalogue number FAC 481 has been assigned to the issue of the magazine. Further articles on how Manchester is evolving are entitled '24 Hour Construction City', 'Greater Expectations' and 'How It Used To Be'.

Read the full article on building.co.uk [free registration required]

Thanks to Martin Spring and to Blue's Blog for originally spotting.

Labels: Tony_Wilson

Peter Saville's cover artwork for New Order's Power, Corruption and Lies (his own personal favourite) has been nominated in the Great British Design Quest being run by the Culture Show on the BBC. The work is nominated alongside 24 other classics of British design including the Tube map, British traffic signs, the Raleigh Chopper and The Face magazine. Voting on the shortlist is now open to all.

Thanks to Matthew.

Labels: Factory_Too, labels, New_Order

Vini Reilly is recording a session today for the Tom Robinson Evening Sequence but it isn't going out live on tonight's show as previously advised. Watch this space for an announcement on when the show is being broadcast.

Thanks to Phil Jones.

Labels: The_Durutti_Column

There was a strong showing from Factory in the NME's "100 Greatest British Albums Ever!":

23. New Order: Technique
44. Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures
77. Joy Division: Closer
82. Happy Mondays: Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches

For comparison, the June 2000 issue of Q had a 100 Greatest British Albums Ever list with #19 Unknown Pleasures, #31 Pills 'n' Thrills and #97 'Low-life' by New Order. This was followed in the July 2004 issue of Q had a 50 Best British Albums Ever list with Closer at 22 and Pills 'n' Thrills at 24.

In 1993, NME writers placed Closer at 20, Technique at 42, Unknown Pleasures at 43 and at #100, and voted by NME readers, it was Bummed by Happy Mondays.

Thanks to OMNY.

Labels: Happy_Mondays, Joy_Division, New_Order

Peter Saville was a special guest on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme this lunchtime where he talked about Manchester's corporate image in his capacity as Creative Director to the City Council. He starts off by explaining why the city's new slogan is no slogan at all:

"I think I've taken it more seriously than that. We don't believe advertising in the way we used to believe advertising. We don't believe slogans. If I see something that has to make such a claim for itself, then plainly it's not really achieved it. And also we're not talking about hair shampoo or breakfast cereal. I mean cities and communities are much more complex than that."

Available via the Listen Again feature for a limited time.

Vini Reilly will be playing live on the Tom Robinson Evening Sequence tomorrow evening. Expect some solo acoustic tunes and talk about the new album 'Keep Breathing' and more.

Liz Kershaw, also on 6 Music, gave the album a big plug on Sunday when she played a medley of four tracks including 'Nina'.

Catch both shows for one week from the transmission date via the Listen Again feature on the 6 Music website.

Labels: The_Durutti_Column

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