M U R M U R Issue 27 • January 2020
Welcome to MURMUR, hello@murmurmcr.com Manchester’s monthly guide to radical, independent & inclusive goings-on. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a digital copy of MURMUR, extended articles, reviews on gigs, zines, places to eat and some literary surprises. www.murmurmcr.com
• Local classical experimental promoters Curious Ear bring you the spellbinding UK/Danish all-female improv trio of Julie Kjaer, Hannah Marshall & Rachel Musson. AND a rare visit from one of the few experimental musicians currently working in Palestine - Dirar Kalash. £6, 8 - 11pm
SUN 19 01
Ecstatic Dances at
HAPPY NEW YEAR MURMUR READERS! We have loved bringing you Manchester’s finest independent, radical, and inclusive goings-on in 2019 and are looking forward to carry this on into 2020 and beyond. Thank you, to all of our supporters, the interest of our readers, and kindness of Manchester’s community. A big thank you goes to all featured illustrators, stockists, everyone who helped with the production of the newsletter and donors. We couldn’t do it without you!
L I S T E N SUN 12 01
Rosey PM / Spengler / Oranj Son / Shitxyz at
The Peer Hat
• This gig is exactly what we’re longing for this month! Dance away the January blues with Oranj Son (synth punk from Liverpool) and Shitxyz (garage punk from Rio / Stoke-on-Trent), then snuggle up with Rosey PM’s catchy “pyjama-jazz” and groovy chill favourites Spengler. Price TBC, 7.30 - 11pm
THU 16 01
Kjaer/Marshall/Musson/Kalash/David Birchall at
Peer Hat
Stoller Hall
• Manchester Collective seamlessly weave us over into the new decade with some exciting new work - Ecstatic Dances with Poul Høxbro, the great musician of small instruments. Expect ancient flutes and bells, wailing violins and lots and lots of invigorating sonar tension. £11/18, 5 - 7pm
MON 20 01
Tethered Rage No.1 at
Peer Hat
• Tethered Rage is a community of LGBTQ+, womxn, POC, and disabled creatives organising live music events in Manchester. This is their first event fundraising to organise future gigs at fully accessible spaces. Meet former drag queen Laurie, punk-noise-pop trio ether mech, and queer post-punkers ouch!!! £3/5/7, 7.30 - 10.30pm
THU 30 01
Penelope Isles + Francis Lung at
• Brighton-quartet Penelope Isles, forged around siblings Jack and Lily Wolter, have had a busy year. In 2019 they played SXSW and Green Man, they toured Europe and the US, and released their debut album ‘Until the Tide Creeps In’. They’re finally back in Manchester to treat us to their lovely melodic psych-y dream pop. Support comes from local hero Francis Lung, whose debut ‘A Dream is U’ also came out last year and was hailed as a “kaleidoscopic dreamscape” full of pop gems. £8.50, 7.30 - 10.30pm
D A N C E FRI 17 01
Televisual: Christoph de Babalon at
at
Peer Hat
• The Manchester-based Early Mornings are coming at you with their melodic, sometimes angular, always poetic, pop and this time, they’ve got a single! Head to the Peer Hat to celebrate and get a chance to pick up an early-release copy. A special line-up of all shades of Punk will be playing for your auditory pleasure, featuring Roxy Girls, All Girls Arson Club, and The Vat-Egg Imposition. We know we’d rather be nowhere else! £5, 7 - 11pm
Soup Kitchen
• Televisual are new on the Manchester scene, and judging by their first selection they offer an ambitious new twist to the scene. Plunge into the depths of January with the cool, dark sounds of experimental producer Christoph de Babalon. Jungle, drum and bass, and some seriously atmospheric synths. £5/£7, 11pm - 4am
FRI 24 01
Early Mornings Single Launch
Gullivers NQ
FRI 17 01
Boogizm W/ Abena, Anna + Babs at
White Hotel
• All Hands On Deck’s feminist superpowers will be warming up Salfordian soils at Tom Boogizm’s do this January. Expect weird bits and bobs, maybe some gabber even but definitely strictly bangers that will make your boobs and booties wiggle with joy. £5, 11.59pm - 7am
SAT 18 01
BLOOM Presents: Stellar OM Source & Budino at
White Hotel
• BLOOM are back with an interstellar showing in Salford’s favourite mechanics’ garage. This double bill of Stellar OM Source and Budino is set to captivate with genre-bending selections and fiery house and trance bangers on the dancefloor. Check out Christelle Gualdi’s release last month as Stellar OM Source, I See Through You, for a flavour of what’s to come. £8/10/12, 11.59pm - 6.00am
FRI 24 01
Making Faces at
White Hotel
• Good Grimace! Pull up your sleeves and faces for Cosmo Vitelli’s debut in Salford’s one and only garage-comeclub den exploring the odd and curious borderline disco. Also gracing us with their presence: double-trouble Souvenir. Closing and opening ceremony adequacy from the one and only Annabel Fraser and Slacky. The cherry on topnand visual amalgamation of your eyeballs will be provided by Max Morris-Doherty’s animative visuals. Really, really, really not to be missed! £8/10, 11.59pm - 6am
D
O
• On the first Monday of every month Olga Gerke hosts sketching meetings in the media lounge of Manchester Central Library. Get inspired by readers, visitors, architecture and inspirational guest speakers. Rumour has it Olga sometimes brings in some of her famous piroshki. Free/£5, 6 - 8pm
TUE 07 01
Organising to Win: ACORN 2020 at
Partisan
• Here at MURMUR we’re sure that, however you voted in the recent election, the result was disheartening and disappointing. But Parliamentary democracy is not the be-all and end-all, and there are few groups that prove this more than ACORN Tenants Union. Direct action will be more important than ever now, so please do consider attending this meeting, which offers a great introduction to the organisation and their fantastic work. There’s a world to win, friends! FREE, 6 - 8.30pm
SAT 18 01
at
Irish World Heritage Centre
• A chance to debrief with political organisers Momentum after the election. Meet folk who have been involved with the campaign to find out about Labour’s future and ways to stay mobilized and self-help our communities. FREE, 2 - 4pm
Hope for 2020
SAT 25 01 - SUN 26 01
Chinese New Year at
Arndale / CFCCA / Central Library
• Ring in the year of the Rat with the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art this weekend. Join acclaimed artist Joey Yu at the Arndale for a paper dragon making workshop (SUN 26 Jan, 11am 2pm), or win one of her colourful, original illustrations by submitting a Year of the Rat drawing yourself at CFCCA (SAT & SUN, 10am - 5pm), or head to the Central Library for artist-led activities inspired by CFCCA’s archive and history (SUN 26 Jan, 11am - 4pm). FREE
FREE, 8.30am - 3pm (See queerouthere.co.uk/events for more details)
SAT 25 01
RISO Beginner’s Course MON 06 01
Art In The Library at
Central Library
£40/50, 1.30 - 5pm
A
at
MARC the Printers
• This course is also a fundraiser - for one of Manchester’s oldest co-operatively run businesses - MARC the Print-
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THU 16 01
Talking Sense Preview at
Portico Library
• Join the Portico Library for the exhibition opening of ‘Talking Sense: The Changing Vocabulary of Mind and Brain’. Fifty artists are paired with fifty phrases relating to mental health and emotional experience. The exhibition aims to rethink mind and brain terminology, challenging archaic views about mental health care. FREE, 6 - 8pm
Onwards To Socialism
SAT 04 01
• There is plenty of space outdoors, but it doesn’t always feel that way. The outdoor industry and social media tend to display a very narrow definition of who is ‘outdoorsy’ that isn’t representative of most of us. Queer Out Here run free excursions for people over the age of 18 to create community, develop leadership skills and gain confidence through the shared experience of outdoor adventure and physical activity. Join them for the first Saturday of 2020, setting off from Piccadilly Station at 8.49am for a 6.5 mile hike, traversing through the village of Hope, and eating some wholesome (vegetarian and gluten free) food.
ers. For over 40 years Manchester Area Resource Centre (MARC) has helped the DIY scene and social justice groups to print pamphlets, posters, educational materials and art prints to affordable prices on eco-friendly, recycled paper and card. Last year the team has picked up their tradition of leading workshops at their new premisses in Salford. Learn all about risography, how to use it right and the history of this magical yet accessible print machine.
FRI 17 01
Manchester Open Exhibition 2020 at
HOME
• From January to March, the HOME gallery will showcase work from over 500 artists from Greater Manchester, selected by a panel of art experts and community representatives. This is the first exhibition of its type in the region welcoming entries from everyone, whether you’re an established artist or a first-timer! FREE, 6 - 9pm
TUE 21 01
Interruptions: John Powell-Jones at
The Holden Gallery
• How can we understand the self in a post-truth world? John Powell-Jones questions the position of the individual in a world afflicted by climate crisis and inequality, how we can shape a sense of identity without damaging the world we co-inhabit. Interruptions is a series of interdisciplinary performances and events at the Holden Gallery. FREE, 6.00 - 7.30pm
THU 23 01
Ho Tzu Nyen + Rae-Yen Song Preview at
CFCCA
• Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art kick-start the year with Diaspora season, an exhibition and events programme centred around diaspora artists, exploring new understandings of ‘Chineseness’. Ho Tzu Nyen’s multimedia project A Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia challenges the complex definition of Southeast Asian territories, while Rae-Yen Song’s *May-May Songuu* explores the construction of personal identity through family, community and food. FREE, 6 - 8pm (Open 24 January 2020 12 April 2020)
THU 23 01
Interruptions: ARM at
The Holden Gallery
• ARM is the brainchild of sound artist and composer Navid Asghari, experience designer David Rogerson, and artist and curator James Moss. Together they invite you to an audio-visual performance that responds to our rapidly changing world and accompanying feelings of alienation. Expect a cross-disciplinary performance piece that combines theatre, sound, cinema and installation. FREE, 6 - 7.30pm
W O R D FRI 10 01
BARRY at
Partisan
• Theatre collective Shrinking Violet present BARRY, a piece inspired by Dr James Barry, a 19th century military surgeon who was born as Margaret Ann Bulkley. In Shrinking Violet’s words: expect lip-syncing, drag, music, big skirts, medical masks, lots of dancing and a handful of historical accuracy. £4.50-6, 7.30 - 8.40pm
WED 15 01
Hostile Environment @ Partisan
• It seems as though the past decade has seen an increase in open and blatant hostility towards immigrants. Yet these discourses have a longer history which is explored by Maya Goodfel-
low, author of ‘Hostile Environment: How Immigrants Became Scapegoats’. These narratives are not limited to the present government, but they are what have made the detention centres and violence inherent in the Hostile Environment policies of today possible. The talk will be followed by a Q&A with the author. £3 donation, 7 - 9pm
WED 22 01
Ruth Kinna: The Government of No-one - Book Launch at
Partisan
• Join Ruth Kinna at Partisan for the launch of her new book on the theory and practice of Anarchism. Ruth is a professor of political philosophy at Loughborough and is the editor of the journal Anarchist Studies. There will be a Q&A following the talk. Donations, 6 - 7pm
Black Visual Album: Process at
HOMEmcr
• We Are Parable and HOME present a screening of Process, the visual album from UK recording artist Sampha. The visual album is directed by Kahlil Joseph, who has worked with Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé, and tells the story of Sampha’s travels between Sierra Leone and South London. £5-9, 6.30 - 8.30pm
FRI 24 01
Rafiki: Film Screening at
Nexus Art Cafe
• Queer Cinema Collective presents Rafiki, a 2018 drama film by Wanuri Kahiu about a blossoming romance between two young Kenyan women, Kena and Ziki. Rafiki was the first Kenyan film to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival, but was banned in its home country for “promoting lesbianism”. £5, 7pm start
WED 22 01 & THU 23 01
Portico Prize Shortlist Readings at
Geoffrey Manton Atrium, MMU
• The prestigious Portico Prize is back from a 4-year hiatus and will be awarded to the author who best evokes ‘the spirit of the North’! On Wednesday night, hear the 6 shortlisted authors read and discuss their work (including Jessica Andrews, Graham Caveney and Adelle Stripe). £7-10, 7 - 9pm
W A T C H THU 02 01
The Street at
E
£5-9, 12.45am and 8.40pm start
SAT 04 01
We Are Parable presents The Art of the
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MON 13 01
Things Palace x Isca Wine Supper Club at
Isca Wines, Levenshulme
• Things Palace will be offering a table of 6 dishes spread over 3 courses, serving food inspired by Malaysia and Southeast Asia while focusing on English grown produce. Isca will be offering a selection of wine by the glass or bottle from their extensive list, along with non-alcoholic choices that can be bought on the night. Places will go quickly so don’t miss out! £32, 6pm or 8pm
HOME
• Directed by Zed Nelson, this documentary tracks the changes on Hoxton Street over a four year period as its inhabitants try to come to terms with the ravages of austerity and the alienation of gentrification. The spectres of Grenfell and Brexit loom large in this poignant exploration of today’s London.
A
TUE 28 01
Manchester Coffee Archive #9 - Big Beans at
Siop Shop
• Coffee beans come in lots of different sizes, and for this tasting the lovely Manchester Coffee Archive are focusing on Big Bean varieties: enthusiast favourites pacamara and maragogype will feature heavily on the lineup. Find tickets at manchestercoffeearchive.com Price TBC, 6.30pm start