Jon and Libby

PP Roy being announced by host Tom.   It was back to The Lloyds for Totally Wired #4 last Thursday, to do battle with once more with the unquiet ghost of Martin Hannett. Maybe he was bored tormenting the performers, or maybe there was a priest in the audience, but the new PA was superb, and it was good and loud! First to the tables was PP Roy with his unique blend of beats and 60s lounge music. This guy must have one heck of a record collection. I get a chilled St Etienne vibe from his work. See what you think... We were up next and after discovering that we could play for longer than planned, the set list became somewhat casual. Being behind the speakers wasn't the best for recording sound, but it went down OK on the night.   Rollmopski took to the stage next, with their unique blend of Prophet 5, modular, Theremin and slide guitar creating a sound that was in turn bouncy and plaintive.   Next, we were in for an interactive treat courtesy of Thunkist and his special padd...

  1 Behold, the mighty Muson synthesizer! It was back to Totally Wired in Chorlton-cum-Hardy last Thursday, and the scene of the previous ghostly goings-on during election night in June. The Lloyds is a big venue, and I like playing there a lot because it has a "lay" crowd of very appreciative Thursday night drinkers who are up for something different. This time, I hoped to make peace with the unquiet spirit of Martin Hannett. Did I manage it, or did he cause even more spectral mischief?  PP Roy was on first, and was using the most glorious synthesizer I've ever seen. A Muson synthesizer from 1978. His wife told me later that she bought for next to nothing. Though limited in scope, this baby has a 10-note sequencer and (according to the spec at Polynomial ) 2 note polyphony and (ahem) MIDI! Quite how the makers implemented that last facility several years before it was even a twinkle in Dave Smith's eye is probably just wishful thinking on the part of a seller. Spea...

The bay window at The Lloyds, where legendary producer Martin Hannett used to hold court. They say that Chorlton local and legendary producer Martin Hannett used to randomly mess with people's gear to throw them off their guard and thereby open up their creativity in the studio. Whether this was true or not, I don't know, but what I do know is that gear in all forms was definitely playing up when Marjorie directed us into Manchester on election night and to Totally Wired at The Lloyds Hotel. First the car park. Only one tichet machine was working, and it was refusing cards. Taking the warning signs of ANPR cameras seriously, I tried to feed it with enough pound coins to let me stay until at least 11pm. But the machine had other ideas, only accepting two of them. I could only stay until 10pm. I'd planned to stay late, then get home and stay up to see the first general election results come in. Grumpily, I walked through the curiously gentrified "urban village" and ...