UKNY For July 22
The cast of 'Fatherland' (photo by Manuel Harlan, courtesy of the MIF)
It's a blistering hot summer weekend of FUV lineup shuffles with the debut of a brand new Saturday night show, "The Boogie Down," hosted by Binky Griptite. UKNY stays put at 11 on Saturday nights (Marshall Crenshaw now holds down that same time slot on Sunday nights with "The Bottomless Pit" while Paul Cavalconte launches a three-hour edition of "Cavalcade" Sundays at 8).
On tonight's UKNY, an opening set dedicated to Binky's arrival on the airwaves, plus new releases from London (and frequently Ibiza-bound) producer and DJ Maya Jane Coles and south London's Childhood who just released a brilliant, breezy second album, Universal High.
Last week I travelled to the Manchester International Festival and tonight's show will reflect a bit of the music that ecstatically flowed through the city's streets, theatres, and galleries during the 18-day event. One of the centerpieces of the festival was Fatherland, a riveting verbatim play with music that was at once commanding, tender, disturbing and surprising, adroitly examining masculine identity and vulnerability. The piece, co-written and created by Simon Stephens, Underworld's Karl Hyde, and Scott Graham of Frantic Assembly, closes today at the Royal Exchange Theatre but will transfer to London's Lyric Hammersmith as part of the Lift Festival next spring.
Concurrently, during a stretch of nine remarkable days at the MIF, Hyde and his Underworld partner Rick Smith, unveiled their stirring multimedia installation called Manchester Street Poem, collaborating with those who have experienced homelessness on the city's streets (interviews arranged via various organizations, like The Mustard Seed and the Manchester Homelessness Project, which have helped people overcome dark times). Every day, from 10 to 6, Hyde rigorously painted the words of people with lived experiences of homelessness, transcribing their stories on the cardboard-covered walls, floors and stairs of an empty storefront on Oldham Street to a score conceived by Smith; a website expanding on those testimonies will remain active for the next year. You can hear an outstanding radio documentary about the project, including Underworld's full ethereal score for the installation, via BBC Radio 6 Music.
Six composers were commissioned by the MIF for Music For A Busy City, writing compact pieces of music for locales scattered throughout Manchester and Salford, chosen by the artists. The compositions included Anna Meredith's "Chorale for Lifts," which took place in a busy passageway at the Arndale Shopping Centre, and Huang Ruo's haunting "Inscribed" at Manchester's ornate Town Hall, finding confluence in the Eastern sheng, the Western cello, and the distant buzzing of bees (Manchester's resonant symbol of pride and strength).
True Faith, an exhibit at the Manchester Art Gallery which continues through September 3, traces the legacy of New Order and Joy Division via not only curated items from the bands' own collection of artwork, videos, live concerts and music, but contemporary paintings and installations inspired by both groups. In addition, New Order performed at the Old Granada Studios for five unique shows in collaboration with visual artist Liam Gillick, called So It Goes, accompanied by a synthesizer ensemble of students from the Royal Northern College of Music, conducted by Joe Duddell.
Discover more about this year's Manchester International Festival here.
You can now find UKNY on demand immediately after broadcast via the Weekend Archives at wfuv.org.
Songs played:
1. (Commonwealth Cut: Wellington, NZ): Lord Echo feat. Lisa Tomlins, “I Love Music,” Harmonies
2. Joe Goddard “Lose Your Love,” Electriclines
3. Massive Attack, “Be Thankful for What You’ve Got,” Blue Lines
4. Ride, “Cali,” Weather Diaries
5. Childhood, “Californian Light,” Universal High
6. 808 State, “Pacific (707),” 808:88:98
7. New Order, “Run 2” Technique
8. Karl Hyde & Matthew Herbert, “We All Hurt,” Fatherland: Original Music from the Stage Show
9. Anna Meredith, “Blackfriars,” Varmints
10. (Commonwealth Cut: Toronto, Canada) Broken Social Scene feat Ariel Engle, “Stay Happy,” Hug of Thunder
11. Maya Jane Coles, “Won’t Let You Down,” Take Flight
