D.O. Roth, the German video director who brought Joy Division back to life in a Playmobil animation, earning more than 600,000 YouTube viewers, has struck again. Last year, the internet came alive with talk of the legendary band’s 1979 TV performance of Transmission being performed by the toy figures.

Following success with his plastic versions of Ian Curtis and the acclaimed Factory Records band, Leipzig based film maker D.O. Roth has returned to music videos by working with Manchester band, The Slow Readers Club. Using the same arduous production process as before, Roth has made Playmobil versions of the band to perform in a perfectly observed, stop frame animation – complete with audience participation.

Building a miniature stage set in his apartment, Roth has painstakingly recreated the band’s performance of new single Feet On Fire by watching footage of the Manchester four-piece and recreating their every move. The end result of 100 hours hard work is a cute interpretation of the group’s otherwise brooding appearances, amazingly captured without ever meeting the band.

Roth says: “Over half a million people saw my Joy Division video and I got a great reaction, so it was great to work with a current band in the same way. The Slow Readers Club guitarist Kurt (Starkie) got in touch and we went from there. He sent me a description of the bands’ style, how they looked and how they dressed. With the information that he sent me I searched for the fitting miniatures and instruments and started to put them together.”

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Lee Jeffries began his career as a sports photographer in Manchester. But a chance meeting with a homeless girl living in the streets of London changed his life forever. Following this encounter, he decided to make a series of raw portraits of homeless in black and white. The result is absolutely stunning and compelling.

Mishka Henner is a photographer and artist living and working in Manchester, England. About this project, he writes: ‘No Man’s Land explores the margins of urban and rural environments in Europe as experienced by what appear to be women soliciting sex, all captured by Google Street View cameras. Sourcing locations from online where men share local knowledge on the whereabouts of sex workers, these areas were then visited online and re-framed using the Street View cameras’.

Claire Atkinson is a street photographer based in Manchester who is fascinated by the way we utilise space around us and distance ourselves from others in the process. For many, the city provides a backdrop to our daily lives, with an everchanging cast of characters and stories. Whether we are alone or in groups, we occasionally find ourselves seeking refuge from the inevitable chaos of city life. And one another.

Young Manchester band, City Reign, release their third single, Daybreak, on May 9 through their own label, Car Boot Records. The song goes back to the old tradition of a rock band: loud guitars, soaring vocals and BIG drums. The track is available as a free download on Soundcloud.

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In December 2008, while a deserted warehouse in Manchester was beginning to inspire the city’s creative instinct, just across the Irwell a breakthrough film was being completed about ahd168, a depressed and broken droid living on Salford’s streets. This micro-documentary ignited the viral furnace that is YouTube, and he was met with as much sympathy as his makers Mi were showered with plaudits. He’s now back on his feet, and has a job.

In this new viral video you can see him taking a circuitous route to his desk at The Sharp Project, a shiny new digital development that was once a derelict warehouse in Manchester. The Sharp Project is an independent hub for the creative and digital industries with an emphasis on animation, CGI and visual effects.

Devastatingly original and dynamically coloured artwork from London-based illustrator, Dan Stafford, who graduated from Loughborough University School of Art & Design with First Class Honours in Visual Communication.

Muscles is doing a remix of my single I Love Pop Music and I’m really excited to hear what he comes up with. He’s a new electronic artist from Australia and he’s full of piss and vinegar. He’s got that youthful Manchester-esque arrogance that makes rock n’ roll sound life-changing, all set to a surprisingly retro style. Check out his album Guns Babes Lemonade. It’s sort of like thug pop techno made for big teddy bears.

Our friends over at the street art and design site, Feed Me Cool Shit have a revealing interview up with UK artist Sickboy, who talks about his earliest days on the streets. ‘I have been writing graffiti for maybe 14 years, first started with nick names drawn in a strange style. I don’t think it was really graffiti in terms of Classic style that derives from New York, just stupid stuff that I used to do in the back of my school books and on desks. Then my friend introduced me to real graffiti style through his brother who was doing a lot of bombing in Manchester (UK), at the time he wrote Shit. He had a really nice style though, and I decided then that I’d like to try and create a style of my own’. Read more of the interview at the Feed Me Cool Shit site.

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