Following on from its inaugural year in 2008, Un-convention returns in June to bring independent music debate and performance to the Sacred Trinity Church  in Salford.

Last year’s event complemented the more mainstream In The City conference – but with its early summer slot this time around, the event is even more tempting. Here’s what’s on offer panels-wise (click on each for more information):

• The Artists Panel
• ‘Outside the Box’
• The Modern Role Of Collection Agencies
• ‘Music as Culture’
• Bands As Enterprise
• It’s Easier to Ask For Forgiveness

And the music programme isn’t bad either, with Everything Everything, The Loose Salute, Arthur Delaney, Magic Arm, Jake Flowers and I Am Kloot among the potential highlights.

Plenty of familiar names are signed up: Peter Hook, John Robb, Jay Taylor, Howard Monk from The Local… plus BBC DJ Tom Robinson is lending his support in the form of an Introducing show featuring 22 tracks from artists involved, and sessions with Kyte, Sisters of Transistors and Gallops.

Un-convention 2009 kicks off next Thursday, 4 June, and continues throughout Friday and Saturday. A full pass costs £40 and live music tickets cost £7.50 per night or £18 for all three nights. Check out the Un-convention site for more details, and follow the event on Twitter.

We just heard about a gig at Salford’s Islington Mill tomorrow night and, rather than trying to sound all knowledgeable about it, we thought we’d pass on details word for word:

Thursday 7 May gives us the second in the Salford Concert Series – Claus Van Bebber. This German-based artist of longstanding comes directly out of and is contemporary to the late 70s Milan Knizak ‘Broken Music’ school of playing physically ruined records. In 1982 he co-founded the artists’ collective Heinrich Mucken, an intermedia platform animated by a handful of experimental musicians, visual and performance artists. Joining in will be Mick Beck, Ben Gwilliam, Sonic Pleasure, and Matt Wand, whose many talents are far too lengthy to list here, you will just have to come along and witness for yourselves, concert starts 7.30 pm on Thursday 7 May and costs £5.

The mill is just off Chapel Street in Salford – a leisurely 15-minute walk from Deansgate.

It’s the first Bank Holiday weekend in May, which means Sounds From The Other City is happening tomorrow, Sunday, along Salford’s Chapel Street. Each of its previous four years have sold out – and 2009 looks to be no different. Here’s a note from one of the organisers:

Just a quick message to say that the last 40 Sounds From the Other City tickets went in Piccadilly Records on Firiday afternoon. Quay tickets is sold out now so this is your last chance to get hold of one.

There’s no guestlist and there won’t be any tickets available on the day. Stage times for the event, which kicks off at 3pm, are up on the SFTOC Facebook group.

Salford’s only new music festival is back! Or is it in fact Salford’s only music festival? Either way, Sounds From The Other City returns for its fifth outing on Bank Holiday Sunday, 3 May. We’ll be there supporting what is one of (Greater) Manchester’s best one-day events – assuming we can get tickets before it inevitably sells.

This year there are 10 promoters involved, with Terrorist, Hoya:Hoya, Your Mama’s Cookin, Bad Uncle and Huw Stephens among them. Here’s how their various stages are lining up…

LAMB AND WOLF @ THE KINGS ARMS

Sleeping States
Chops
Mazes
Wulf Wulf
Banjo or Freakout
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YOUR MAMA’S COOKIN @ THE SALFORD ARMS

Earnie’s Rhythm Section
Vinny and The Curse
JD Smith
Tom Attah
Zacc Rogers
Jack Pudding & Hans Abattoir

+ Rockabilly Bingo, Doo Wop Raffle, Jump-blues Bake-off, Vintage Stalls and more…

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MIND ON FIRE & HOYA:HOYA @ THE MARK ADDY

Live artwork by SKETCH CITY artists
Focused Lights Installation by VJ CYCLOPTIC
YouTube AV set by NORVUN DEVOLUTION
Illum Sphere (Fat City / Hoya:Hoya)
LA77 (live – Timbreland / Mind on Fire)
Mind on Fire House Band (live)

Resident DJs from Mind on Fire & Hoya:Hoya
JONNY DUB / RYAN HUNN / WOLI WOLS / LOGA / ZOIR

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BAD UNCLE @ UNITED REFORMED CHURCH

Fonik (Performing to Ghosts)
Gnod (Performing to The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda)
Sam and the Plants (live improvisation to animation)
A Middle Sex (performing live to Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Lodger)
SoPhIeS pIgEoNS (live set)
David A Jaycock

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COMFORTABLE ON A TIGHTROPE @ SALFORD RESTORATION OFFICE

Lexie Mountain Boys
Former Bullies
Sir Yes Sir

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GOLDEN LAB @ FROM SPACE

The Skaters
OAWRE
Bridget Hayden
Serfs

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BRING ON THE DANCING HORSES @ ROVERS RETURN

Plugs
Cats in Paris
The Invisible
Young British Artists
Hot Knives
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SWN @ SACRED TRINITY CHURCH

Marina and the Diamonds
Gallops!
Peggy Sue
Sweet Baboo
The Tombots
Nia Morgan

Jakokoyak DJ set
Huw Stephens DJ set

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TERRORIST UPSTAIRS @ BLACK LION

Legowelt
Digitonal
Dorian Wood
Troubleshooter
Mark Jones
English Electric
GordonTinnitus

Our picks from the lineup so far are Sleeping States, Mazes, Young British Artists, Banjo or Freakout, Sam and the Plant, Gnod, Cats in Paris and Former Bullies.

The day runs from 3pm until late and tickets are just £12.50 from QuayTickets.com and Piccadilly Records on Oldham Street.

Hey! Manchester first caught Alan Wilkes – aka Vinny Peculiar – playing solo at the Star and Garter in 2004. He was orchestrating technical problems to panic the sound man. The Smiths’ Andy Rourke was DJing (terribly) that night. Later, he and fellow Smithsonian Mike Joyce became Vinny’s backing band, while Bonehead, ex-Oasis, also played with him, somewhat bizarrely.

We’ve put Vinny on three times: for our first ever gig, with Jens Lekman at the Kings Arms; at our monthly night at Kro bar (he was ill but soldiered on); and at the Salford Arms as part of last year’s Sounds From The Other City. He always impresses the audience.

As part of a regular new series, we’ve asked Vinny to give us an unreleased track – a live performance of Everlasting Teenage Bedroom in this instance – and answer a few questions…

Reviews have included various comparisons from Bowie to Magnetic Field’s Stephin Merritt. But which artists have particularly inspired you?

Well I do really like Stephin Merrit; 69 Love Songs is just wonderful. I’m inspired by those who do what they do without overtly pandering to the forces of commercialisation, those who create stuff because they have to, it’s who they are. Working with Bill Drummond helped me to get some kind of perspective on art for arts sake. He is an inspiration for sure. Bowie of course goes way back, it’s a teenage glam generation affiliation thing… I mean, the 60’s had the Beatles, the 70’s belonged to Bowie – end of. Of the modernists I like Fleet Foxes… amazing singing. And I love people like David Byrne, Stephen Jones, Luke Haines; Joni Mitchell’s Blue is my all time favourite album… well it is today.

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