Salford’s beloved Sounds From the Other City festival (SFTOC) has announced it will return to Chapel street‘s pubs, churches and community corners in 2022, bringing new music, performance and art to Salford once again.
Spreading across a host of exciting indie venues, it will celebrate intimate gigs in small spaces – taking over the likes of Bexley Square, Seven Bro7hers Beerhouse, fivefourstudios, Hot Bed Press, Old Pint Pot, Partisan, Porta, Regent Trading Estate, Saint Philip’s Church and The New Oxford.
Manchester International Festival’s new cultural space, The Factory, will also present a stage of up-and-coming artists as part of the SFTOC ahead of its official opening next year.
Image: Sounds From the Other City (SFTOC)
The festival has released its initial line-up today, welcoming a host of local Greater Manchester talent from across the city to perform following a two-year break.
Names to watch out for on this year’s roster include Manchester’s LayFullStop, Jenna G, OneDa, Katbrownsugar, Mali Hayes, Jazztronica, and LYR (Land Yacht Regatta) – the brainchild of UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and his bandmates Patrick James Pearson and Richard Walters.
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Elsewhere, Chandé and Gracie T, fresh off the back of their iconic 2021 B2B Boiler Room set, will bring a mix of garage, funky and classic Asian bangers to Salford.
Image: Sounds From the Other City (SFTOC)
Joining them on the bill will be much-lauded British electronic music producer Holy Other and Grove, the proudly black and queer Bristol-based producer, vocalist and DJ.
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Many more artists due to appear on the lineup are still to be announced.
This year’s community festival promises to recapture the “true, sweat-drenched, hands-on DIY SFTOC spirit”.
A regular sell-out, despite having taken two years off there’s no doubt that Sounds from the Other City is a genuine DIY success story and has a reputation for championing huge breakout artists at early points in their career.
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Image: Sounds From the Other City (SFTOC)
Image: Sounds From the Other City (SFTOC)
In previous years, the festival has housed early performances from a diverse mix of artists including 2017 Mercury Music Prize winner Sampha, Manchester BBC Sound of 2018 nominee IAMDDB, Slowthai, Marina, Alt-J, James Ferraro, Hannah Peel, GoGo Penguin and Black Midi.
SFTOC has been a firm underground favourite with music lovers since 2005, delivering a unique annual event that champions local promoters and celebrates the off-kilter beauty of Salford, the oft-overlooked ‘other city’ to Manchester.
Taking place across the May Bank Holiday, this year the festival will kick off on Sunday 1 May 2022.
Riv Burns, Creative Director for the festival, said: “Coming back from two years without a festival was always going to be daunting.
Image: Sounds From the Other City (SFTOC)
“The support of our extended community from crowdfunders in 2020, through to purchasing tickets in the back end of 2021 with just a date announced, through to sheer enthusiasm from promoters and artists has been overwhelming and humbling.
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“This first wave of artists is so unbelievably exciting and quintessentially SFTOC, I’m really proud and can’t wait to bring this AND MORE to Chapel St and the surrounding area on Sunday 1st May. It really is shaping up to be a vintage year, full of magic, collaboration and new faces. One you don’t want to miss.”
This year’s artists have been selected by Manchester tastemakers Alphaville, Band on the Wall, Beauty Witch, Big People Music, Daytimers, Fat Out, Good Afternoon, Grey Lantern, Heavenly Recordings, Hey! Manchester, Kiss Me Again, Ladies Music Pub, Love Rain, NIAMOS, Now Wave, Partisan Collective, Reform Radio, Strange Days, Sweet Vibrations Radio, The Factory, Tru Luv and VAM.
Image: Sounds From the Other City (SFTOC)
The full Sounds From the Other City (SFTOC) 2022 lineup announcement so far:
Call it a Truce – Chandé (DJ) – Contours – Do you Remember the First Time? (DJ) – For Breakfast – Frazer (DJ) – Freya Beer – Glue 70 – Gracie T (DJ) – Grove – Gut Level (DJ) – Holy Other – Isaiah Hull – Jenna G (DJ) – Juke Joint (DJ) – Katbrownsugar (DJ) – Kid Katharsis – LayFullstop – LYR – Mali Hayes – Mandy, Indiana – Modern Nature – Nayana Iz – Obeka (LIVE) – OneDa – Psychederek – Sarah Bates – The Bug Club – The Rebel – Wesley Gonzalez
New images released of Piccadilly Gardens as transformation plans take a big step forward
Daisy Jackson
Plans to transform Piccadilly Gardens to make them more ‘colourful, vibrant and safe’ have taken a big step forward today, with new images released.
Manchester City Council has shared the vision to the public ahead of a planning application being submitted this summer.
The plans to finally give Piccadilly Gardens some love were revealed last autumn, but things are now moving at pace with a delivery team appointed to design and build the new public space.
The new images show the vision for more green space, including lawns, trees, planting, seating, and colourful horticultural displays.
The temperamental fountains will also be removed for good, replaced with a new space called The Pavilion which will host family-friendly events.
The low concrete walls and raised planters at the edge of the gardens will be ripped out, improving the setting of the Queen Victoria statue.
There’ll be a new, larger playground for younger children, created in the same high quality style as the new parks at Mayfield Park and Ancoats Green.
A pre-planning consultation has started today and will run until Wednesday 15 July, with plans to submit the final planning application later this summer.
The new-look play area at Piccadilly GardensPlans for the new Piccadilly Gardens from above
The council has said that these new designs reflect feedback from the public and opinions on what we want to see at the new Piccadilly Gardens.
Council Leader Cllr Bev Craig said: “We’re getting on with sorting out Piccadilly Gardens. We all want to see a space which Mancunians can be proud of – a welcoming and attractive environment which people want to spend time in.
“So as well other initiatives which are delivering more police and more CCTV, we’re bringing forward this scheme to transform the public space. That means investment in more flowers, more greenery, a new welcome pavilion, a new and bigger playground and an altogether more inviting Piccadilly Gardens. A bright new chapter is just around the corner.”
Further planned improvements to the area around Piccadilly Gardens in the coming years will include a multi-million pound investment by Transport for Greater Manchester to create a new, modern transport interchange.
Council calls on Manchester public to help bring hundreds of empty homes back into use
Emily Sergeant
Residents across Manchester are being called on to help bring hundreds of empty homes across the region back into use.
Since the beginning of this year, a major review has been underway around the city’s draft strategy for bringing empty homes back into use to help meet demand for affordable homes across the city, while also improving communities by tackling empty homes that can blight an area… but now, Manchester City Council needs your help.
Following a major public consultation, the Council is now acting on feedback to accelerate plans to bring as many long-term empty homes back into active use as possible.
Although the number of long-term empty homes in Manchester is near a historic low, with the Council having managed to reduce the number by more than half since 2013, there is still more work to be done.
“Every void property is a missed opportunity to provide a family a place to live, reduce homelessness, and lessen the burden on temporary accommodation,” the Council said in a statement.
The Council is calling on the Manchester public to help bring hundreds of empty homes back into use / Credit: Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)
So, how can residents help then? What do you need to do if you spot an empty home on a street nearby?
Well, the easiest way to report an empty home is to report the issue online here, or by emailing [email protected]. And then once that’s done, a team of dedicated empty homes officers will take up the case to find out who owns the property and work with the owner on a plan to bring the home back into use.
The vast number of empty homes are privately owned with complex histories, and there are some cases where an owner may have passed away.
While working collaboratively with housing providers, voluntary organisations and public services are also a key element of detecting potentially empty or ‘problematic’ homes to repurpose them.
Officers can also support, where required, if a communication or language poses a barrier to resolving an empty home issue.
Tailored approaches to different communities – where empty homes impact neighbourhoods in different ways – are also being considered, according to the Council.
“To think, if we could bring all empty homes back into use, then we could provide more homes for those on the housing register and take pressure off the whole housing system,” explained Cllr Gavin White, who is Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development.
“The potential of making empty homes a thing of the past is huge for Manchester families looking for a place to call home – and a significant part of tackling the housing crisis.”
Georgina Pellant -
8th February 2022 
