Beacons Festival 2013

Oh Beacons, last Summer you found a special place in my heart, remember? One of my favourite weekends of 2012 it certainly was and what better way to get over the January blues than the fabulous first line-up announcement that these guys just dropped this morning?! Running from 16th-18th August this year with Mercury-nominated Django Django showcasing their psychedelic pop for a suiting Sunday night headline slot, other names added to the bill include reggae legend David Rodigan OBE, the folk-turned-haunting-grunge of London's Wolf Alice, Birmingham's boys Jaws, Local Yorkshire natives Hookworms AND some of the UK's best electronic producers of the moment such as Bondax, Eats Everything and the master that is Ben UFO. Also coming along for the ride will be tents sponsored by the likes of Noisey and Resident Advisor. Are these guys for real?! Only a portion of the acts have been announced so far with two headliners still to be revealed and I'm getting nostalgically excited already; I SALUTE YOU BEACONS TEAM, bring on the mud! 

For more information visit www.greetingsfrombeacons.com 

Words by Yours Truly X

Feature // Manchester Reborn #3

My third installment of Manchester Reborn for Artrocker is now live! I changed direction this week and strayed away from the usual guitar-driven pieces (all is explained in the article...) to delve into why Manchester has some of the best kept dance nights in the country, with residencies including Lone, Krystal Klear, Joy Orbison and Ben Pearce. Aren't we the lucky ones! Also, if you've got any ~tips~ or subjects you think I should cover for future Manchester Reborn articles, hit me up at the email on the right. HAPPY FRIDAY!

Words by Yours Truly X

Bleep.com

If you know a thing or two about independent music, then you'll know about Bleep.com. Born out of Warp Records, Bleep is known as one of the UK's first legal download businesses and has now extended to full online retailer, with releases from a whole host of labels worldwide. I'm super proud to say that I'm now penning blurbs for their new releases online, so whenever you spy a record that takes your fancy, you can read my words of enlightenment to give you an idea of what you're getting into! This week I wrote about Outboxx, Jaap Ligthart, Wizard Of and Matthew E. White, go check it out and purchase some sweet music! Oh and shoutout to Raj who you can catch doing a wicked three-hour Boiler Room mix of Bleep's top 100 tracks of 2012 over here! Can someone get me a sold-out TNGHT beanie, pretty please? I'm now going to eat my weight in sushi and attempt to shake off this two day hangover thanks to finally catching Boddika and Dusky live followed by a coach full of Manchester debauchery post-staff do...PRAY FOR ME.

Words by Yours Truly X

In photos // Kendrick Lamar @ The Ritz

How have I not posted since last year?! I'm sorry dear blogsphere, I'LL NEVER ABANDON YOU AGAIN! Now that deadline season is no longer (REJOICE!), my Artrocker column will be back next week and more interviews are on the way along with exciting writing news for moi, sit tight! In the mean time, Kelly and I went and caught Kendrick Lamar's debut Manchester show last night and I took some shots of which you can see below- BIG thankyou to Stephanie at Universal for getting us in, you are a god among (wo)men! It was amazing, overwhelming, humbling and Kendrick is just absolutely off the scale, no debate...

Words and Images by Yours Truly X

Albums of 2012

It's almost 2013, which means that every writers inevitable 'end of' lists will be spamming left, right and centre; mine being no exception. You can read part one here, part two here and my final top five here- it was a ridiculously close call but ultimately  hats off to Tom Krell for making one of the most beautiful, spine-tingling records of the past twelve months, 'Total Loss', you are a work of art. Adios FS playlists, we had a great run! See y'all in 2013, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a fucking great one already.

Words by Yours Truly X

Feature // Manchester Reborn #2

Hello! My second column as Artrocker Magazine's Manchester reporter is now live here! I talk about Antwerp Mansion, how WuTang's GZA popped in and other amazing events that the people behind the project put on. Apart from that I've been in deadline hell and spending way too much time in South but more articles (Including my ~records of 2012~ list) coming soon, I promise! Oh and another thing; some fabulous friends of mine and other university students are curating and partaking in an art & design exhibition this Thursday (aka tomorrow!), showcasing numerous photography, graphics and other works over at the Bench Gallery in Northern Quarter- it's going to be fun, free and you can come along too if you just join this group to be on the guestlist. There is going to be booze, tunes, films and beautiful work to see all evening from 6pm-9pm, so come play out whilst I swoon over pieces and take your party pictures! 

Words by Yours Truly X

Interview // Chad Valley

Newsday number 1; IN THE BAG! I celebrated early by going to Resident Advisor X WHP on Saturday (It was my last one of the year, pass the tissues :'( ), I had a rad time meeting the three up- for-a-rave Irish chaps we found in Room 1 during Apparat and a group of wonderful new Manchester faces' of whom made me feel very welcome indeed, never feeling so happy as I did during 90% of Orbital's set and bouncing off the walls on my own to Julio Bashmore! I also did philly cheese steaks and mulled cider with FreedomSpark Katie and went to see Passion Pit with my lovely Jadey who came to the city for the evening earlier on in the month; we swooned, caught up on life by being overly girly and drank too many pints before I had to go to work, ooops! But I did manage to Interview the  terrific Hugo Manuel of Chad Valley who also played. We talked "A&R vultures" and their attempts to wine and dine him along with one crazy night in Paris; it was great to speak to the man behind the falsetto as 'Equatorial Ultravox' is definitely up there in my fave EP's of 2011. Anyway, it's all over on Noisey here, ch-ch-ch-check it out!

Words by Yours Truly X