Drowned in Sound celebrate their Factory Records Day with four articles by ACR's Martin Moscrop, Jon Savage, The Distractions and Cath Carroll.

Of course, every day is a Factory Records day on Cerysmatic Factory where you can discuss the various revelations, Robert de Niro 'n' all on the Message Board.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Factory_Records, The_Distractions

David Nolan, author of I Swear I Was There: The Gig That Changed The World, Confusion: Joy Division, Electronic And New Order Vs The World and regular Scream City contributor has a new book about Tony Wilson out in the spring.

You're Entitled To An Opinion - The Lives and Times of Tony Wilson (available to pre-order now on Amazon) features more than 40 interviewees, covers all aspects of Tony's life and career and was written with the co-operation of Tony's partner Yvette Livesey.

A donation will be made to The Christie Hospital for each copy sold.

Labels: books, Joy_Division, New_Order, Tony_Wilson

An extensive UK tour by The Durutti Column is shaping up nicely. Recent additions to the itinerary are Mansfield and Manchester.

The full schedule is:

January

Sat 31 - The Met, Bury [10.00 GBP adv, 12.00 GBP door]

February

Mon 16 - Baby Blue, Liverpool [12.00 GBP adv / 15.00 GBP door - Buy online]
Thu 19 - The Cluny, Newcastle [+ support from Chippewa Falls; Tickets 10.00 GBP adv, Buy online via from seetickets.com (+ booking fee / handling charge)]
Sat 21 - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds [+ support from The Declining Winter, Tickets 10.00 GBP adv]
Wed 25 - Komedia, Brighton [12.00 GBP adv]
Thu 26 - Thekla, Bristol [Doors 7pm Curfew 10pm; Tickets 12.00 GBP adv, Tickets available from seetickets.com (+ booking fee / handling charge)]
Fri 27 - Firestation Arts Centre, Windsor [10.00 GBP adv, 9.00 GBP conc / 8.00 GBP member]

March

Sun 8 - The Deaf Institute, Manchester [ticket details TBC]
Fri 20 - The Town Mill, Bridge Street, Mansfield, NG181AN [10.00 GBP adv, Tickets available from TicketWeb]

Meanwhile, a new album entitled Love in the Time of Recession is set for release on 2 March on the Fullfill label.

For all your regular Durutti Column news don't forget to check thedurutticolumn.com.

Labels: The_Durutti_Column

The Part Time Punks Factory Records 4-hour special aired on 15 January 2009 by KXLU is now available to download as a podcast.

"Four hours of the music from Factory Records label you don't have to dance to. You'll also hear excerpts from Tony Wilson's book, interviews with band members & then-contemporary reviews & other sundry knowledge of the label, its bands, city & era. Not to mention some unreleased New Order & Joy Division tracks you won't hear anywhere else in the world (unless yer mates with Jon Savage). And even an excerpt from some of Ian's letters to Annik..."

Labels: Factory_Records, Joy_Division, New_Order, Tony_Wilson

Thanks to Frank for the heads up on the forthcoming After Twilight Crépuscule Exhibition in Köln, Germany, which runs from 7 February to 5 April 2009. Also known as Après Crepuscule, Na Schmering and Nach Dammerüng, the exhibition covers the whole gamut of all things Crep.

More info [in German] at: kunstaspekte.de

The Joy Division documentary is available for free viewing on Pitchfork.tv for just a few more days.

Labels: Joy_Division

An announcement at barbican.org.uk confirms the cancellation of the tasty ACR/ESG doubleheader thus:

"We would like to advise that this show has been cancelled due to unforseen circumstances. We will shortly be sending out an official notification to ticket holders and regret any inconvenience caused."

Thanks to Mark on the Cerysmatic Factory Message Board for spotting.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, ESG

Unfortunately, due to technical reasons beyond Cerysmatic's control stemming from the shift of FeedBurner feeds to Google's servers, the News Links feed via delicious.com is temporarily down. Hopefully this service will be back up and running again soon. Thank you for your forebearance.

Jimmy Batista, in association with French publisher Camion Blanc has a new book on FAC 51 The Haçienda slated for around the end of this year.

With the working title FAC OFF, it will focus on the heydays of the Haçienda and the Madchester scene.

They need your contributions in the form of:

- People who could provide original pictures (from anything Haçienda and Madchester-related including bands, DJs, fans, nightlife and the like)

- People who could provide scans or hi-res pictures of flyers, posters and any kind of Haçienda, Factory, Dry Bar and Madchester memorabilia

- People who worked or were serious regulars at the Haçienda, or just people who lived through the whole thing and have any interesting story to tell, for interviews.

If you would like to participate please contact fac.off@hotmail.fr.

Labels: books, poster

Recommended viewing for tonight from bbc.co.uk:

"Writer Paul Morley takes a journey back through time to revisit his own adventures and misadventures in fashion and meets the pop stars who he feels are responsible for the way he looks now.

"Morley uses pop music as a kind of time machine and his encounters with pop stars in this documentary act as portals into other worlds where people wear bovver boots and braces or sparkly capes and flower shaped hats.

"He seeks out the men who have influenced him and shaped fashion over the decades and finds a touch of himself in the glamour of Slade, the prog-rock playfulness of Jethro Tull, the androgyny of The Human League, the soberness and intellect of Joy Division, the darkness of Tricky and the geography teacher attire of Jarvis Cocker."

BBC Four
Thursday 15 January 2009
21:00

Or watch it later via iPlayer.

Of course, back in September 2007, The Guardian implicated Ian Curtis in its own fashion conspiracy.

Labels: Joy_Division

The tracklist for the new War Child 'Heroes' album was released on Monday. Contemporary artists such as Lily Allen, The Yeah Yeah Yeah's, TV on the Radio and Franz Ferdinand, have recorded their own renditions of songs by classic artists like Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Bob Dylan, and Blondie. Plus, Hot Chip cover Transmission by Joy Division.

Tracklisting

1. Beck (Bob Dylan: Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat)
2. Scissor Sisters (Roxy Music: Do The Strand)
3. Lily Allen (The Clash: Straight To Hell)
4. Duffy (Paul McCartney: Live And Let Die)
5. Elbow (U2: Running To Stand Still)
6. TV On The Radio (David Bowie: Heroes)
7. Hot Chip (Joy Division: Transmission)
8. The Kooks (The Kinks: Victoria)
9. Estelle (Stevie Wonder: Superstition)
10. Rufus Wainwright (Brian Wilson: Wonderful/ Song For Children)
11. Peaches (Iggy Pop: Search And Destroy)
12. The Hold Steady (Bruce Springsteen: Atlantic City)
13. The Like (Elvis Costello: You Belong To Me)
14. Yeah Yeah Yeahs (The Ramones: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker)
15. Franz Ferdinand (Blondie: Call Me)

War Child is an international charity, founded in 1993 which works in the world’s most dangerous war zones including Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

EMI is releasing the record through Parlophone and has made a substantial upfront payment to Warchild. Parlophone are donating all their profits to War Child's work to protect the most marginalised children in war zones, who would otherwise be overlooked: street children, child soldiers and children in prison.

Warchild on MySpace

The album is officially released on 16 February 2009.

Labels: Joy_Division

Back in the old days, Steve McGarry was a good mate of Donald Johnson and Rob Gretton's. He designed record sleeves for Slaughter & The Dogs as well as the sleeve for the Ideal for Living 12" by Joy Division. He moved to LA years ago and is now a pretty successful illustrator.

In the present day, Steve's sons have a band called Pop Noir and they've played a few times with Donald whenever he's been over in the States. Check out this video of them playing a great version of Do The Du in Steve's garage, recorded when Ratio played the Part-Time Punks festival in LA toward the end of last year.

With thanks to Rofey.

Labels: Donald_Johnson, Joy_Division

Down the corridor and to the left, Pascal et Sylvie found, and filmed, ACR's ex-stablemates Happy Mondays in full flow.

A further five points go to BiggT for spotting that the tune is, in fact, Yahoo, soon to be B-side of their genius 24 Hour Party People single.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Happy_Mondays

Our new Parisien friends, Pascal et Sylvie, have posted more "80s analogue cameras with built-in microphones" videos from their 1987 UK 'tour' that was first mentioned here last month.

The latest videos, dated 13th August 1987, feature A Certain Ratio in rehearsal at their Soundstation 1 studio in The Boardwalk, and feature (previously recorded) Only Together from Force, and (yet to be recorded) Coldest Days from Good Together.

Five points for recognising this as being recorded during the spell of endless showcase gigs and demo sessions in the run up to the ill-fated A&M deal.

Ten points for spotting that the track Coldest Days grew out of Donald Johnson's one-man-band live drum soundcheck.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Donald_Johnson

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