manchester

1998 Hop & Grape Show on 6 Music Tonight

Tune into the Gideon Coe show tonight at 9pm to hear a early live doves performance taped at the Manchester Hop & Grape September 1998. Blues Tune was performed at this show, and has previously been broadcast on 6 Music. So maybe another chance to hear this rare track that never made it onto Lost Souls.

Cheers to Baldilocks for the heads up!


Blue Water Live at the Manchester Ritz

Doves official youtube channel: Video of Doves performing Blue Water at the Manchester Ritz back in November 2000.

Also uploaded onto the channel is a 10 minute Doves album megamix.

XFM Manchester Interview

Andy Spoke to XFM Manchester’s Pete Mitchell on Sunday there. I managed to grab a wee minute of the interview (cheers to Slow Hands at Doves board for the heads up) which you can listen to here. The bit missing is basically just Andy talking about how somebody suggested they should revisit Blue Water for the Best Of. What you will hear is Andy talk about the origins of Andalucia and the band’s plans for the rest of the year.

You may have noticed with the previous blog post, we have a new author on the blog. A big thank you to Madeleine aka BlackEyedAngel at doves board for offering to help out during this busy time. Madeleine has the great advantage of being based in North West England, so will have access to articles like the one she posted about below that I do not over here! The fresh input is never a bad thing also, the blog will only benefit as a result.

To those who have asked about status of doves.net.. Not sure to be honest though I do know the site will have a fresh new look which should be going live any day now, so that may be why the site is down.

Manchester Central

Pictured tweeted by @tsimmonds

Doves finished off the year in style with a massive hometown show at Manchester Central (though will always be the gmex!) The band reunited with the London Bulgarian choir for some of the set (Firesuite, The Cedar Room among others). They finished the set with Spaceface. More as I have it.

PopMatters: On the Sixth Day God Created Man…chester

An interesting, if at times a bit rambly article about Doves & Elbow’s impact on the modern day music scene. Plenty Doves/Elbow clichés in there, but I think the article accomplishes what it set out to do. Its good look at both band’s impact on music this decade, whilst most writers focus their end of decade articles on the likes of Coldplay.

Doves and Elbow register in the 9-to-5 tradition of working class Manchester, where respect is earned through hard work, and character is assessed by true-to-self authenticity and true-to-others selflessness.

this is not your father’s prog rock, as the moody sound-scapes of Elbow and Doves are infiltrated by the pulses of modernity, too, ambient techno rhythms often providing the backdrops for the more traditional instrumentation, particularly in Doves’ works. Radiohead are the common denominator inspiration here, but the acid house beats that the Madchester scene imported from Detroit and Chicago are equally omnipresent, while Manchester’s northern soul tradition—rooted in the beats of Motown—can also be heard, if, perhaps, by way of the precedential forays of the Stone Roses. For all the broad-ranging influences and deep musical roots at the heart of Elbow and Doves, a notably Manchester sound still emanates from them in the final product. As the NME opined when reviewing Doves’ house-inspired debut album, Lost Souls (2000), “above all you hear a time and place” in the songs. (“Lost Souls” 31 March 2000)

Equally adept at capturing personal circumstances via topographical settings are Doves. Album titles like Some Cities (2005) and Kingdom of Rust (2009) establish their urban milieu, while nature-bound titles like “Winter Hill” and “Bird Flew Backwards” (both from Kingdom of Rust) suggest alternative desires to escape the city-scapes. Like Elbow, Doves use sounds and words as visual devices, as sparks for our imaginations to cross sensory lines. And as befits bands hailing from the city that provided the first passenger railway service, travel—particularly by trains—provides metaphors for themes of movement, unrest, escapism, and life journeys. Doves’ equivalent to Elbow’s “Station Approach” is “10.03″ (2009), a conventional riding-the-rails blues melody set against a techno-modern rhythmic backdrop, while an earlier song, “M62″ (2002), had the band surveying urban topography from the context of a North-West motorway; indeed, they even recorded the song under one of its overpasses.

Reflective of their techno roots, Doves experience Manchester in fast-forward mode, with a rhythmic momentum of and about movement, speed, and change. Some Cities recognize the transformations that cities like Manchester have gone through in recent decades, the progressions weighed against the inevitable loss of tradition, the commercial vibrancy against the erasure of character and distinction. “Home feels like a place I’ve never been,” reflects Jimi Goodwin on “House of Mirrors” (2009).

To read the full thing, click here.

A Night In Aid of Dyslexia Awareness

Andy & Jez will be DJing at a special Dyslexia Awareness benefit gig at the Manchester Ritz, November 27th. The gig also features a live set by Badly Drawn Boy & The Hayley Faye Band among others. Tickets priced £15 are now available to ticketline.

Buy Tickets

For More Info:

The Resolution Daes Project

Piccadilly Records

Whilst browsing Piccadilly Records, I noticed they have started up their own blog. Check them out, one of the best record stores still standing! Whilst I will be missing the Electric Proms gig later this month by only a few days on my return to the UK on Holiday (I moved to Chicago last year) I shall take the consolation prize of visiting one of my favourite record stores (along with Beatin’ Rhythm) for the first time in ages. My favourite local record store back in my hometown sadly closed down a few years ago. Chicago still has a few decent independent stores still standing, though I do wonder how long they have left.

Doves play a show this Friday in Hatfield to open up the new students union music venue at the University of Herfordshire. Tickets are still available at the usual outlets, though are expected to sellout. As always, if you are attending, would love to hear from you with photos/setlist/review whatever you have.

1998 Hop & Grape Show on 6 Music Tonight

Tune into the Gideon Coe show tonight at 9pm to hear a early live doves performance taped at the Manchester Hop & Grape September 1998. Blues Tune was performed at this show, and has previously been broadcast on 6 Music. So maybe another chance to hear this rare track that never made it onto Lost Souls.

Then on Saturday from midday, a 6 Music listener tells Liz Kershaw why Lost Souls still blows their mind in All Killer No Filler.

Manchester Xmas Show

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Doves will play Manchester Central (formerly G-MEX) Friday December 18th. Tickets on sale Friday September 11th 9am.

Doves at URBIS

Picture of Jimi taken by Natalie Curtis as featured in the exhibition the best of manchester awards 2009 at Urbis Manchester.

You can view Natalie’s work, as well as all the other contenders work at the best of Manchester awards exhibition which runs through til September 20th at the Urbis exhibition centre in Manchester.