I’ve missed it so much.  Although the reliability of a long contract is great, I’ve missed the excitement and the opportunities to use ALL of my skills instead of just the contract prescribed ones.  I have also deeply missed working on varied projects that span different sectors, which due to my inquisitive and learning personality I enjoy so much.

So, all this means a few things.  First and foremost it means if you have landed on this page looking to see if I am available to work with you, then you should contact me asap to see if I am before I am booked up.  It also means that this website will be getting a makeover – the current design is over 3 years old now!

Finally, it means I’ll be blogging on here a lot more too. So expect plenty of more posts over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, if you want to hear more from me and get to know me better, follow me on Twitter @mancunian or take a look at my tumblr photo-blog.

Exciting times await. I’ll hopefully be speaking to and consulting for you at some point if you are reading this.  If so, I look forward to it.

Until then, keep your eye on this blog and the other links above!

Oh, I should clear up the London/Manchester confusion too.  I am based in and live in Manchester, but I work at least 3 days a week in London too.  I’m prepared and able to work full-time in London should a project I am interested in require it.  Of course I am still available to work remotely on global contract as always.

See you soon!

One thing I’ve been working on is a brand new business: BriefBox – Underwear by subscription. Buying underwear and essentials is one of those things that you have to do, but is rarely fun and it’d just be easier if it was magically replenished without you having to do anything.

Now it can be. Hop on over to BriefBox and take a look at the future of buying men’s underwear.

Visit the creator’s site H5 or the Logorama site itself.

Anyway, whilst watching the movie adaptation of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four I couldn’t help but notice what appears to be a clear render of the tower through Winston’s apartment.  It is especially clear at the point where Winston and Julia are arrested.

Is Ian Simpson a fan of the 1984 film Nineteen Eighty-Four?  I think so.

Beetham Tower Image by David F Morton from Flickr

That’s a shame really, because every time I hear this album I tell myself I should play it more often. I really like this album. I like Fretwell’s outwardly northern vocals. I like his similarly bleak northern lyrics and songwriting ability and I like his voice.

Perhaps one of the reasons I don’t listen to it that often is that it doesn’t suit every occasion. It’s something to put on and enjoy at high volume in solitude. It’s a little melancholy in parts but the majority of it is modestly optimistic; even if as is the case with “Run” the lyrics seem to be describing a damaged, yet sincere and sad relationship.

I personally (and somewhat controversially) think that when Fretwell is on form he is potentially England’s answer to Dylan. As I am a huge Dylan fan, that’s not an easy thing to say, but certain parts of this album show huge chasms of Dylan-esque potential. As controversial as I know some people might find that statement, I stand by it.

Regardless of how people may interpret it, I do love this album and although I might not listen to it over and over or every week, I’m certain I’ll always have a copy of it with me till the end of my days.

He has done a second album, which is also quite good, but for me, Magpie will always be the stand out record (unless of course he betters it with a 3rd album – EPs aside).

I’ve put a couple of tracks below for your listening pleasure. If you like them, then please go and buy the album.

Run

Lost Without You

Emily

It’s far from the best album I’ve ever heard, and probably will not even make it through to the hallowed position of a band or album I listen to regularly. But, seeing as though I’ve not heard anything noteworthy from their fellow countrymen and also purveyors of relaxed and leftfield electro that is “Air” for a while, “Get Back Guinozzo” are a worthy substitute for the “Air” intermission until I hear “Love 2″ properly.

I think I’ll be giving it plenty of plays over the coming weeks and months as it’s great music to work by, relax to and generally listen to without feeling it’s taking over your existence at that time.

The standout track is the album named “Carpet Madness” which is a floaty, uplifting and surprisingly well produced and full-sounding little ditty.

I predict much praise from the blogs for that particular track and perhaps some good reviews from the big guns (The Guardian, Pitchfork, Metacritic et al) for the album in the future.

Give it a go at least.

You can listen to Get Back Guinozzo – Carpet Madness below.

Carpet Madness

Anyway, to the point;  as it turns out Jay was playing a gig with his new band Mazes.  Having known Jay for a while and benefitting from a bit of knowledge of his past endeavours (worked with Stephen Fretwell on the successful Magpie album, was part of The Beep Seals – who I love – and has had a hand in some other successful acts) I thought it’d be rude not to stick around to see the Mazes.

As it turned out they were excellent, and I’m not just saying that to support a mate.  From my limited knowledge of the Lock Tavern, it’s not the easiest venue to get booked in and it’s even less the kind of venue where a band could get away with being a bit crap.  Thankfully, I thought they performed very well and it seemed to the rest of the crowd thought so too.

So, if you’ve got a spare few minutes to check out some new music, then pop on over to their website (funny blog) or their myspace and give them a whirl, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

As a precursor to listening, they sound a little like Stephen Malkmus, Pavement, Silver Jews or even a more intense Neutral Milk Hotel – apologies to the band if that comparison is well off – but a better Malkmus and an equal Pavement is what I hear !

Anyway, have a listen and let me know what you think with some comments.

I’m not saying who I it was that I was working for that reminded me of Nathan Barley and “Sugar Ape” in particular; because that would do them a great disservice. In all honesty they were an outstanding agency, with a sterling client list and a lot of talented creative people on their staff. But something in that office, little things here and there screamed “Sugar Ape” to me.  Perhaps it was the background ping-pong, maybe something else; what I can say though is that at least there were no games of “cock, muff, bumhole” going on – that I could see anyway.

Anyway, it was the perfect excuse/reminder for me to go home and revisit this great series. Watching it again I still find it funny, and even more relevant today than it was in 2005. I even had trouble working out whether your typical “new-media-hipster” saw the series and adopted the attitude and mannerisms in an “oh-so-cool” ironic fashion or whether it was just a genuine parody of it’s time and people haven’t changed that much. Either way it strikes a chord and makes me laugh.

It’s yet another true gem from Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris – everything they touch seems to turn to laughter. So if you haven’t seen this series yet then please go out and acquire the DVD, it’s funny, incisive and daft and therefore worth a few hours of anybodies time.

The four track ep takes its tracks from the upcoming “My Way” album and signifies a return to form after the underwhelming effort (sorry, that is hard to admit) that was “The World is Yours”.

In the words of Ian Brown himself; Beg, steal, borrow or buy it – it’s worth it.

Here’s the video for Stellify featuring Ian taking a stroll through the streets of Manchester.

Video player and video stream supplied by Polydor/Universal Music