A talk that concerns the countercultural bookshop that helped birth The Fall and Joy Division and how these bands went on to predict the future. John Doran, author, broadcaster and editor of the Quietus website has created a fascinating audio visual presentation which digs deep into Manchester’s music – both of today and the post punk years – unearthing hidden connections to the great witchcraft boom of the 1960s, the ghostly White Lady of Ordsall Hall, the foundation of Communism, the occultist and spy Dr John Dee’s use of a scrying glass to speak with angels, Britain’s most notorious and banned publishers, Mark Fisher, Sigmund Freud and the Joe Bloggs warehouse that pumped out bellbottomed flares to Stone Roses fans in 1988. Ultimately Salford Psychic City! hopes to start a conversation about how weird culture helps us make sense of the tumultuous times we live in now and helps us prepare for whatever comes next.
John Doran is the co-founder and editor of The Quietus website. He is a writer, author and broadcaster. He published the acclaimed memoir about alcoholism, habitual drug use and mental illness, Jolly Lad, for Strange Attractor in 2015, which was described by The Guardian as “the most painfully perceptive book I’ve ever read about addiction, while still being very funny”. He wrote and presented The Cult Of Aphex Twin for BBC Radio 4 which won Gold Medal for best documentary at the New York Festival Radio Awards 2019. His series, New Weird Britain, aired on Radio 4 in 2019. He has also been a regular guest and presenter on Late Junction (BBC Radio 3) and the Freakier Zone (BBC Radio 6).