We never did read the NME with any regularity, preferring Melody Maker’s more hands-on approach to music back in the day (in this case, that day being circa 1996). But today we’ve been catching up with its latest Manchester-centric coverage.

First up, there was an opinion piece a month ago about how ‘Manchester’s Music Scene Is Dying‘ – sparking much debate both on NME.com and elsewhere. Turns out the writer, Alistair Beech, is very much pro-Manchester and intended the piece as a sort of rallying call rather than an obituary-in-waiting. Looks like it was a case of heavy-handed/over-worked sub-editors and people reading headlines and jumping to conclusions, but there’s some interesting reading in there nonetheless.

Then even more recently, the same author compiled a roundup of the best bands coming out of Manchester right now. Dutch Uncles, Airship, May68, Lost Knives, Modernaire and Hey! Manchester alumni Run Toto Run all feature. Read more here – if your eye sight is up to it.

It looks like this city is going playlist-crazy. The latest we’ve spotted is something of a public service by fellow music blogger Folly of Youth: a 59-minute compilation of bands playing in Manchester this month. Here’s what’s included:

Malcolm Middleton Red Travellin’ Socks (29 June Night & Day BUY TICKETS)
We Were Promised Jet Packs Quiet Little Voices (16 June Night & Day BUY TICKETS)
King Creosote Nothing Rings True (9 June Ruby Lounge BUY TICKETS)
Broken Records Nearly Home (17 June Roadhouse BUY TICKETS)
Wavves Beach Demon (24 June Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Teeth Mountain Ghost Science (10 June Star & Garter BUY TICKETS)
Jonquil Whistle Low (11 June Kro Bar BUY TICKETS)
The Wave Pictures Strawberry Cables (19 June Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
A Hawk and a Hacksaw Kertesz (22 June Ruby Lounge BUY TICKETS)
Dan Deacon Padding Ghost (2 June Club Academy BUY TICKETS)
Deerhoof Milk Man (29 June Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
The Joy Formidable Whirring (5 June Ruby Lounge BUY TICKETS)
The Horrors Sea Within A Sea (1 June Ruby Lounge BUY TICKETS)
M Ward Shangri-La (29 June Club Academy BUY TICKETS)

With us now being half way through the month of June, we’ve missed half of the gigs mentioned – but at least we’ll be ready come July!

We’ve been meaning to set up a playlist on million-member-strong music-streaming platform Spotify for a while – so now we have. For the first of hopefully a few, we thought we’d get all retrospective and include many of the bands who’ve played for us in the past, including:

Jens Lekman, Hush the Many, Nancy Elizabeth, Richard James, Viking Moses, Final Fantasy, Espers, Danielson, Los Campesinos!, Six Organs of Admittance, Jason Molina, Last Harbour, The Pony Collaboration, Alasdair Roberts, Marissa Nadler, Fireworks Night, Maria Taylor, Band of Horses, Of Montreal, Vetiver, The Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit, Herman Dune, Emmy the Great, Jeffrey Lewis, Menomena, Mark Kozelek, Okkervil River, Pinback, Efterklang, Akron/Family, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, YACHT, David Thomas Broughton, Olafur Arnalds, Portico Quartet, Dirty Projectors, Polar Bear, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Volcano!, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Johann Johannsson, Murcof, Great Lake Swimmers, Phosphorescent, Miracle Fortress

The songs selected are a mixture of our favourites and whatever happened to be available. To play the first Hey! Manchester playlist, click here (assuming you already have Spotify) and hit the shuffle button bottom right. Where else are you going to hear pschedelic rock followed by trad folk followed by glammy electronica followed by post-rock?

Anthony Richardson, a Withington-based comedian, got in touch last week. He wanted to tell us about Paint My Album, a project he and friend Diarmuid White set up in July 2008. They’re trying to get people to submit 2,000 classic album covers redrawn in Microsoft Paint by 23 December this year.

My favourites are covers that are so amateurish they could have been drawn by a five year old. I was never very good at art at school, and this group isn’t about perfection. Some of the covers are brilliant, amazing in fact, but that’s only half of what this challenge is about. One of the members, Mark Brown from Leicester, did a cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind so bad it made people cry. I loved it…

The pair also do some very funny Paint My Album videos. The latest episode features their Gay Crab-handed Neighbour, local writer Chris Killen and redone covers of Elvis Costello and Oasis album covers.

They’ve had around 700 submitted so far, but with roughly 30 being added each week there’s a chance they might fall just short of the target. They’re therefore asking music-lovers to contribute to the project – so join their Facebook group and start Painting!

Here‘s Andrew Bird performing unplugged – and unstaged – in Paris. It’s part of La Blogotheque‘s Concert a Emporter (aka Take Away Shows) series, which asks musicians to strip their songs down and wander the streets playing them busker style.

Bird’s are some of my favourites videos on there, though I’d recommend that you check out Okkervil River’s Will Sheff being a hippy, Jens Lekman taking advantage of a gymnasium’s echo, Casiotone For the Painfully Alone in a phonebooth, Grizzly Bear in the bath, Sufjan Stevens on a windy rooftop, Dirty Projectors freaking people out, Of Montreal just being themselves, Beirut being very Gallic, Final Fantasy being elven and Herman Dune simply being the best.

Searching the archive soon becomes highly addictive… like YouTube for alternative music fans. And if after that lot you still need more, check out London’s Black Cab Sessions for a distinctly British take on things.

Andrew Bird plays at Academy 3 again on 13 May. Don’t miss him.