Justice, bad books and yer mam: some gigs

It's going to be a busy few days of me and my chums doing stuff.

Manchester singer Hannah Atkins will be launch her new album Beyond Your Skin at the Band On The Wall tonight (Wednesday 15th), with tickets at £8 if bought when doors open at 7.30pm. There's a pretty neat twist to the music because the songs come from her work in social justice and a whole bucketful of charities will benefit from the event. There will also be real life stories of the people written about on the album -visit Hannah's website for more.

On Tuesday, my gang The Flashtag Writers will team up with Bad Language for our second Flash Language literature pub quiz. Past rounds have included Amazon one-star reviews, an insane version of bookish Pictionary and famous literary couples. We'll probably be giving out beer and terrible books as prizes. No more than six people per team, £2 per person, Tuesday 21st February at Barcelona in the Northern Quarter, Manchester. Here's the Facebook page here.

Finally, Seaming To (pictured looking like a strange android) will bring spycorders and vintage electronics to the International Anthony Burgess Foundation for a new piece Songs For My Grandmother. It's a song cycle commissioned by the Chinese Arts Centre, and you can also expect poetry (Judy Kendall) and a concert pianist (Seaming's mum!). It starts at 8pm on Thursday 23rd February - see this event page for tickets - and it will be truly magical.

Kammer time: Mayming in London this week

If you're klammering for something kuriously different, then kop a load of Kammer Klang.

Kammer Kang features my wonderful friend Seaming To. She will weave you loops of infinity as one half of  Mayming, with her equally wonderful friend, the cellist Semay Wu.

Along with Mayming, you'll get some of the best contemporary electronica and classical music. Avant-garde composer Luigi Nono's piece will capture the sound of the lagoons and bells of Venice. Expect the harsh and haunting sounds of Xenakis, and Cornelius Cardew's work will be accompanied by Mao Tse Tung's poetry.

Even more intriguing will be the beguiling Peter Ablinger, who makes his piano sound like a spaced-out voice doppelgänger. Expect performances from Mother Theresa and Billie Holiday... yes, you read right.
 
It's happening at Cafe Oto in Dalston, London, on Tuesday June 30th at 7.30pm. It costs a fiver, which I think gives you a lot of kwality for your kash.

Seams burns tunes and Blood Looms and Blooms looms in June

Leila is working on her third studio album, Blood, Looms and Blooms, and like Portishead her last album was released before Rice Krispies were invented* (last album cover is pictured, with the words edited out in a pathetic nod to minimalism).

Taster single Mettle is a dense, trippy paean to the likes of My Bloody Valentine, so I'm expecting a full-lipped snog of post-trip hop, post-post-rock, and post-post-post-everything from her new long player. Expect it in June.

Incidentally, I only stumbled across Leila by accident.

In these new-fangled days of "burning" and "ripping" and other overly dramatic words for data transfer, it's easy to top and tail a copied album with some of your old faves. When my chum Seams gave me some of her tunes on a compact diskette, she sneaked in some late-90s Leila goodness and I was a convert.

While we're talking about sticking tracks onto the end of albums, you'll discover a treat if you rifle through my CD collection. On the end of my copy of Radiohead's In Rainbows (paid £0.00 and now I feel guilty) , you will find the Rainbow theme tune, Rainbow's classic 70s hit Since You've Been Gone, and two tracks from Mariah Carey's platinum-selling LP Rainbow.**

Back to the recommendations. Also look out for Boredom's Super Roots 9 on Thrill Jockey Records. The disc consists of one track, LIVWE, which is a grand symphony of rolling drums, stormy harmonies and wailing choirs. It doesn't change much over its 40 minute duration, but it's worth it for the opening jingle bells. I think it's Japanese but I may be wrong.***

And finally, a gripe. There is no excuse for Jamiroquai: he makes me want to smash in my eyeballs with guns. So there is definitely no excuse for Jamie Lidell's new offering Jim. Luke Vibert's remix of A Little Bit More rocked my world, but this Michael Buble toss rocks me to sleep.

*not true, but it's been a while.

**quite obviously a lie

***not a lie. I'm quite right. *puffs chest*

DEEPER FRIED FAT: TORN UP, JAMIE LIDELL