Dan Birch

Read original review on the Press  here

“I HOPE you all get home safely tonight,” said the Johann Strauss Orchestra conductor, David Juritz, in response to the night’s winter chill.

Dancing ahoy!: Let us dance like this in clubs today

His voice echoed across the Barbican, stirring imaginings of the empty, isolated and frosty streets that awaited outside in the January blues, only for those thoughts to be overtaken by a musical masterclass that was both enthralling and educational.

Last Friday’s Johann Strauss Gala focused on the magic of the Viennese Ball in a celebration of the most popular music and song and dance of the Strauss family, with the orchestra being conducted from the violin by Juritz, who has worked previously with the Mozart Festival Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic.

The Waltz King set the mood and there were fine individual performances all round, including by soprano Amy Freston, whose outstanding contribution was Il Bacio. The violin solo by Juritz that followed this gave out particular emotional resonance.

Such favourites as The Radetsky March, Chatterbox Polka, Voices Of Spring and The Blue Danube were performed too.

Arguably the highlight of the night was the dancing.

Led by dance captain Julianne Rice-Oxley, the dancers produced outstanding spins and conveyed character traits to give a human face to the gala that the audience could identify with.

Overall, this was a performance of nostalgic delight, travelling back to a time when society appeared to be more respectful and polite in nature.

- Daniel Birch

‘ UStream goes underground with a twist ‘

The MC shouts and the Boiler Room throws into life. There is a giant curtain screen on the background of a rave from 1989 surfaces to the foreground. Only 40 people are here, and the DJ is also here. The sounds coming out are all here and live. This is only an invite party though, and we have not been invited. Why are we here?

If you are into technology or as a more varied point, a consumer of entertainment, the chances are you will have used Ustream which recently broadcast the Apple iphone event. The purpose of the station is home made. You can broadcast anything you want to on it, all from the screen of your laptop.

Strictly speaking, The Boiler Room has been broadcasting for just over a year, but its rise into dance music culture has only been reprobated in some quarters of the music press over the summer.

This grimy, dark underground church feeling which the station provides is not technically limited to the dance genre. Radiohead recently streamed their remix album ‘TKOL 1234567’ which collaborated on the DJ set with several artists including Jamie XX. It might be a cliché, but the idea of an established band performing over the internet on a specialist station shows that this is the now and future as we know it.

The show takes place several days a week including Tuesday nights. While giving the look of an underground illegal party, the parties actually take place at Corsica Studios in London, a renowned artistic space. James Blake, Jamie XX, Oneman, and Radiohead are just several of the artists that have taken to the airwaves to perform. However what makes this station something we could take note of?

From a cultural perspective, The Boiler Room appears to be influenced by the original pirate radio stations which broadcasted from across the United Kingdom at the height of the rave scene in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. It was during this period that Radio 1, now an avid influencer in what makes particular aspects of dance music to audience’s popular, banned acid house music with a reference to the drug culture that was an accompaniment on the dance floor.

The station proves that the underground still exists from the over ground culture which is exemplified by the stadium acts of Tiesto and Guetta, and even the monopolised brandings of Creamfields. An over ground can still bring excitement to mainstream audiences but when you watch the Boiler Room you get the feeling of excitement at a live broadcast which seems to restore early dance nostalgia to a new audience while the impression that it is new and live.

The genres of music played seem to be unleashed in a tardis from a dance floor in somewhat 1981 complete with shirts ties, cocktails and disco smoke. Hip-Hop, Jazz, and 1980’s Soul are played albeit surprisingly on vinyl records despite the fact that the DJ’s weren’t even born when these records were first distributed. Then there is the original Acid sound and new House music which seems to have been influenced by its older neighbour within the sounds.

Perhaps one of the greatest inventions of all time was the Podcast. The mixes might not be available in physical copy but they can be restored to your ears if you miss a show. The majority of these will go down in a historical term, particularly if these artists in question go on to hit the upper heights, and several of them have already conquered with albums, met with glee in the wider music world, and of course performing the Warehouse Project.

At first thought, the idea of watching a set with a room of 40 people dancing around to a DJ might seem unattractive, particularly for the longingly of wanting to be there. However for the viewers, it is more about the history and occasion that each show brings, and the idea that you are not missing out on the new underground sounds of London.  The idea of the DJ blasting out funk and 2-step for example is what makes the station modern for the generation thus becoming incredibly diverse. The idea of watching James Blake perform on the show, is a sign that ‘you were there’ albeit in a completely lesser breath of moment.

Without question, the real life span of the Boiler Room is its outstanding catalogue collection of mixes. But the idea of it being live and now is the future as we know it, and with music shows on television becoming an increasing rare spectacle, the idea of embracing new technology and underground culture is here as we know it.

www.boilerroom.tv

IT was never a hotter day than the one that engulfed Moor Park today as FOUNDRY COURT were unlucky to go 4-2 down to FC Beever.

A new look side once again shows signs of a breakaway side from the original Foundry Court line up that saw graduates leave at the end of last year. After a disapointing first half display, the two goals scored by the Isle of Man team duo of Jonny and Aidan secured a fine 2-0 second half win.

A friendly it was, but this was an opportunity to try new players out for the SUL. However it was the weather that was the main talking point in monsoon conditions that to television cameras would look the game on television to be played abroad.

The pitch was still cut up though on this side of Moor Park and FC Beever, also with a new look team made their presence felt within the opening quarter of the match. 2-0 up to the good with a series of fine passing and a sense of weakness in the tackle from the Foundry side.

A few good runs on the flanks from wingers, Ryan Clayton and Sean certainly showed promise but it was clear the midfield was being overrun because of the tactics imposed by FC Beever who had more players in the central area. Unfortuanely in this respect things got worse before the half time whistle, and two further goals from FC Beever both errors of judgement by goalkeeper, Niall meant the game seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

Building a new side always takes time, and the 4-0 reverse score at half time echoed memories of last week’s appalling display against Preston City. The scoreline would not eclipse the 6-1 defeat in this particular conquest though and Foundry applied the pressure in the second half.

A fine long ball from Jamie Allen found Isle of Man superstar, Jonny who rounded the keeper in style after a fine run. The player who has represented the island internationally looked comfortable up front on his own in a lone striker role and this paid good dividends with a goal.

A second goal looked good with pressure being faced from both flanks and a fine series of tackles from Jay in midfield. A second goal came when a fine run by Jonny found centre back, Aidan in the box to tap it home past the keeper.

Final score: FC Beever 4-2 Foundry Court. The first half display was poor but a credit to a new team for fighting back from the scoreline at half time. The second half was encouraging and experimenting was indeed the only option in this enthralling 2011-2012 season.

Foundry Court: Niall, Dan Baker, Jamie Allen, Ben Sharples, Dan Birch, Ryan Clayton, Gary Clark, Aidan, Jonny, Sean, Matt Smith

Subs: Jay, Simon

I have gone beyond thinking writing about serious things on this blog and decided to revert back to the spontaneous way of things!

You might be wondering why I am posting at such a silly time but a read of my earlier posts on this blog perhaps convinced me it was a good idea to get what was in my mind.

I have now begun third year at UCLAN and I am going out in Freshers Week. And you know what? I like it.

The summer that has just gone past was a chance of rediscovering what I enjoyed doing and what I felt and this came through periods spent back in Harrogate and Cambridge.

Weirdly enough tonight was the best night I have ever had at Lava and Ignite. I would go as far as saying it is worse than Moko in Harrogate. Lava looks like a club born to be in the Hitman and Her (90′s clubbing show) and looks a taccy swimming pool alcoholic fuelled bingo hall with the pleasure of the northern delight of hot dogs.

I only went in there tonight because it was Freshers Week but I found that by sticking to myself, I had a decent night even though I have to pinch myself that Freshers Week really is no rules at all!

The most important thing I have learned in the past few months is to stick to who you are. Call it Dodgy but I liked going to the Viper Rooms in Harrogate. Yes that’s right, Dan Birch likes going to commercial nights for I who always rebelled against this sort of night! It was a joy to socialise with everyone from Harrogate Grammar in all the years and made me re-discover how important my education was (that I do believe I had forgotten) and also the politeness scenario, which I hope and want to continue.

I went to Altern 8 in Leeds two years ago and went to a few Old Skool Hardcore 90′s rave nights and going to them I believe increased my confidence in these ‘commercial’ your own age nights where you have to role play! I used to be so bothered about it. Now I just want to take the ‘mick’. At the end of the day, you just have to have fun.

If you think this was me being a ‘socialite’ then I did find the time today to do Shorthand and go for a run. Going for a run in Preston in the Fulwood area is actually quite pleasant. It is a suburbian area that makes you think of all the families that live there, in a lifestyle associated with home and not the lifestyle associated at University. It is a nice place to escape to in Preston, but the ‘home’ feel is certainly an important factor and I am going to try and go for runs there before lectures in the morning over this coming year.

The Shorthand was fun but I have Track 4 to do now and that will mean combining the words. I will have to do this tommorow after my work.

I have just discovered the time. It is 4:57am. I have work at 12:00pm the following day. I will be working with new people in a job where I have now become a veteran having worked last year. I am desperate to not give the wrong impression but quite clearly there is a problem.

So I have to go. I will stick to my HGS roots most importantly but I hope that this blog post has made sense to all of you!

PS: I feel free from the dearths of serious journalism of trying to be controversial, I feel free once again to post feelings – not bad!

There’s nothing better than a damp squib.

Scotland’s match against Denmark last night might have been all about the victory, but quite simply it was the weather that was the main talking point at Hampden.

Making the walking trip to Hampden Park battling the raining cats and dogs are something that all Scotland supporters have to do at least once in their lives.
From going from a warm sunny day in Monday in England to a return to up north in torrential downpour, it could not have been more scripted.

The rain thundered over the players and the noise of the water provided one of the main atmosphere points, with the sparse 17,000 crowd inside the national stadium.

A lack of fans it may be but the match offered me the opportunity to stand up throughout the whole game.
It was just like a bygone era, but for an international match, something I had never been able to do before apart from the odd match watching Harrogate Town.

Talk about nothing new but standing made the football experience much more fun. Older supporters will remember the open unroofed terrace of Hampden Park which would have been a whitewash in the old days.

From a football point of view, we are not getting carried away. A 2-1 win against a good team will boost ranking points, but there were still plenty of elements which need to be improved on, ahead of the important qualifiers.

The 4-5-1 tactical play of playing long balls through to Kenny Miller will simply not work against top class opposition particularly Spain. Some of Scotland’s best chances against Denmark came from through balls played in links up between Naismith and Miller. The two players worked well together in their time at Rangers and there was evidence last night that they can do the same for Scotland.

More players need to express creative freedom. Barry Bannan’s long shot right at the end of the match tested Sorensen well but from memory, was the only time we actually tested him from outside the box.

Allan McGregor needs to work on dealing with crosses and high balls. He was caught out completely by Eriksen’s goal when he went a yard forward too much. McGregor’s shot stopping ability has seen him come for high praise indeed, but we need him to concentrate on focusing on his weak areas ahead of the qualifiers.

But a win is a win, and yes we actually won, let’s savour it!