Spill out into Rat Alley for some cigs and booze between three of the hottest acts the scene has to offer.
Iceman Productions brings you the twisted, gothic melodies of 1919, the angular rhythms of Ombudsmen and the catchy, trashy hooks of Pleasure Island at Aatma in Manchester on Friday 6th October
Intersperse the joy of these three by rubbing shoulders with the most interesting surviving members of Manchester’s counter-culture scene, whether it be in the venue, rat alley or the toilets.
An exquisite line-up of four bands presenting catchy indie anthems awash with memorable lyrics and indelible riffs.
Tickets £9 + bf
£5 on the door.
Comyn / Odie Ji Ghast / Whiteman
Francis Comyn
Fran Comyn is a percussionist and improviser. He has worked on various improvised music events and projects in Manchester, Sheffield and London in addition to solo field recordings. Current activities include the quartet Fjall soon to release their first recording on Discus Music and a duo project with Adam Fairhall.
https://francomyn.bandcamp.com
Odie Ji Ghast
Odie ji Ghast (a.k.a. Greta Buitkute) is a Lithuania-born improviser known in Newcastle and Manchester scenes. She is part of Historically Fucked and Impossibility Knox, and has shared the scene with many creators in the last decade. She also produces music and makes mixes, and has released solo albums with Beartown Records and Chocolate Monk. Since 2019 she started doing solo voice shows which resemble scripts – improvised melodies and rhythms with written word spoken and familiar songs reimagined.
https://odiejighast.tumblr.com
Nina Whiteman
Nina Whiteman is a composer, vocalist, and multimedia artist. Her project BELOW GROUND is a collaborative interdisciplinary investigation of the subterranean (funded by Arts Council England in 2023), and has included multisensory multimedia performances as well as ‘sonic gardening’ workshops in the community.
In 2022, Nina created a cycle of multimedia works titled The Cybird Trilogy, investigating potential of AI in both sonic and visual domains to express complex relationships between nature and technology.
Her music has been performed widely in the UK and abroad by ensembles such as Manchester Camerata, Quatuor Danel, Dutch accordion duo TOEAC, Ealing Youth Orchestra, Psappha, Colinton Amateur Orchestra (Adopt-a-composer scheme), and Distractfold Ensemble at venues and festivals including the Cheltenham Music Festival, Kettle’s Yard, the Bridgewater Hall, Kings Place and the RNCM. International performances include The Galaxy Rotation Problem at the World Music Days festival (Slovenia, 2015; selected by British and international panels).
Curington / Diurnal Burdens
David Curington
David is a composer, visual artist and improvising oboist based in Hadfield, UK with interests in density, texture, noise, waste, commercialism, collage, the everyday, the absurd and their manifestations in the internet age.
He is the founder of Square Ears records and, to date, his music has been released on both his own label and Difficult Art and Music and aired on Freeness on BBC Radio 3. As an improviser, he is interested in reconceptualising the oboe as a noise instrument and has performed both at Square Ears label nights and the Curious Ear series in Manchester.
David holds a PhD in composition from the Royal Northern College of Music and is a former winner of the RPS Composition Prize.
https://www.davidcurington.com
Diurnal Burdens
Ross Scott-Buccleuch records music as Diurnal Burdens and as half of the duo Liminal Haze. He has collaborated with Brandstifter, Matt Atkins, Several Wives, Andy Jarvis, Territorial Gobbing, Andrew Sharpley, Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, Tim Olive, James Wyness, David Curington, Craig Johnson, Daniel Vujanic and Howard Stelzer.
Albums from these projects have so far been released on Invisible City Records, Matching Head, Falt, Chocolate Monk, More Mars, Crow Versus Crow, Moonside Tapes, Courier, Bivalve, Sound Holes, Kirigirisu, Flux on Demand, Test Recordings, Park70, Liquid Library, Steep Gloss, Hooker Vision, Ubanu Tarasa, Anticipating Nowhere.
Ross also runs the tape label Steep Gloss, which specialises in collaborative sound works of all things delirious, bewildering, melancholy, abstract, etc.
Fish El Fish
Fish El Fish (a.k.a. Kamran) is an improvising electronic artist based in Manchester working with analog synths and voiceovers to create ad hoc sonic collages somewhere between spoken word, lofi ambient and an inspirational mixtape left at the back of the fridge for too long. He has performed at the Curious Ear series at the Peer Hat.
Join us for a night packed full of good tunes and good vibes!
Musicians from in and around Manchester will be performing to help raise funds for Northern Air Hospital Radio (first launched in 1960) which lost its studio due to renovations.
Not only will you get to watch some jaw-dropping acts, there’ll also be plenty of prizes up for grabs!
And if you’re a musician yourself, feel free to jump on stage during the interval where artists will be encouraged to jam out together and / or perform any originals or covers.
Doors open at 7pm and the gig will be hosted @AATMA in Manchester’s Northern Quarter
(1St Floor, 14-16 Faraday St, Manchester M1 1BE)
Don’t miss out, it’s gonna be a good one!
* Tickets will be sold on the door and can be paid for by cash/card *
THE SECOND WITCHING HOUR TRAP SHOW IN MANCHESTER. LETS MAKE IT ANOTHER BANGER. FFO $UICIDEBOY$, GHOSTEMANE, SCARLXRD, BONES, and more…
Luvley– 5:15
SmokeySwan – 5:45
Kid Kunai – 6:10
Alienvert – 6:45
Dirtboys – 7:15
SickBoy – 7:55
WavyAbyss – 8:25
Lil Jay Erryday – 9:15
PD the Saint – 9:30
IDIO – 10:00
HANGINGSKELETONS – 10:30
On the 14th of April 2023, I am the Wreckage, Viral Strain and Hellbearer will be performing. This will also be Hellbearer’s first gig.
FREE NOW X AATMA Presents:
Midland Railway have proven themselves to be punk stalwarts on the Manchester music scene. Lovers of both punk and indiepop, the band proudly categorise themselves as ‘geek – rock’ (May the 4th be with you!), with influences ranging from Weezer to Bright Eyes. Those of a certain age may remember an animated series called The Mysterious Cities of Gold. The band’s recent single is a cover version of this series’ theme song and, suitably encapsulating the band’s aesthetic, has become a surprise mini hit. Check this out and more of the band’s recorded output on Spotify.
We’re delighted to add War Stripes to this bill. The Manchester four-piece punk band knows exactly how to send a message to politicians; ‘bills are going up, but wages going down, they’re treating us like bugs, they’re taking us for clowns’, from their track Gas Prices, hits the nail on the head, with IAMUR magazine saying they “remind us that our rage shouldn’t be directed at a window, but at those in power. It’s so bloody refreshing to hear lyrics like this. No metaphor, no trying to appeal to a wide audience, just calling it as it is.” In addition to an EP and single in 2022, the band’s recent single ‘Always Unafraid’ has been remixed as Spitting Teeth (Teef Club Mix). The band will be releasing more material later this year. Check them out on Spotify.
Very special guests Hollyhead and John Rental will be taking the stage to present their selection of original and exquisite music.
This show is sponsored by FREE NOW, working in conjunction with The Music Venue Trust.
Tickets £5
A medieval bard who’s got lost in time and space only to find himself in the 21st century. A high voltage neon tapestry weaving together pieces of the past and visions of tomorrow, a sunset disco in a stone circle, sonic heathenry at its finest, a cosmic renaissance man who’s perpetual search for self and sound has no end. After spending eight years in Manchester working as a session bass guitarist for members of New Order and The Fall plus BC Camplight, Ethan & The Reformation, Granfalloon and Maddy Storm, Jack moved to Glasgow in 2020 to form the first band under his own name and after recruiting a band of local musicians his material is now brought to a live audience with the help of The Dreamstriders: Callum Edwards, Callum Shanks, Iona Reid and Zak Younger Banks.
£8