Presentation: Salford Psychic City

Similar in spirit and form to John Doran’s 2019 Unsound presentation on Aphex Twin and Cornish mythology, this talk by Doran explores the idea that Salford in Greater Manchester is a psychic city, a place where weird (wyrd) music predicts the future. The scene around White Hotel (based on DM Thomas’ cult precog novel) and artists such as AYA (FKA LOFT) trace a line back to Joy Division (who predicted the nightmare world we find ourselves in now) and The Fall (who were a band of magic realists, led by a psychic who kept his gift dampened down with whisky and speed) and then go back even further…