Electronica/Dance

[northernringo]

21 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

haven't seen him on here for a while ? or am I imagining it ? 

Posted in here on Friday

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

1 hour ago, crazyfool1 said:

haven't seen him on here for a while ? or am I imagining it ? 

He's enjoying his usual post-festival/summer semi-hiatus. Give it a few weeks and he'll be more active than Chris Martin in June

[Crazyfool01]

18 minutes ago, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

He's enjoying his usual post-festival/summer semi-hiatus. Give it a few weeks and he'll be more active than Chris Martin in June

 

[Winslow Leach]

Lads, what's Juan Atkins like these days? Still got it or over the hill?

Thinking of going to see him and Underground Resistance later this year.

[bennyhana22]

7 hours ago, Gnomicide said:

Don't let @bennyhana22 see this. He says I'm not allowed in this thread.

Jog on, Gnomy...

Ben
x

[FuzzyDunlop]

3 minutes ago, bennyhana22 said:

Jog on, Gnomy...

Ben
x

@bennyhana22 - How was Drumcode? Every video I have seen looked pretty good! Someone at work said it was incredible... but they are 18 and think everything is.

 

[bennyhana22]

1 minute ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

@bennyhana22 - How was Drumcode? Every video I have seen looked pretty good! Someone at work said it was incredible... but they are 18 and think everything is.

 

One moment, caller...

I'm bloody writing the report now!!

Ben
☺️

[Tuna]

7 hours ago, Upside down frowner said:

Wonder if his new hybrid sets will be experimental enough for IICON?

would be very surprised

[Upside down frowner]

I have little knowledge about the booking between the different crews. Is there a particular reason @Tuna?

[bennyhana22]

Wotcha team

So, Warehouse Project - Drumcode from Saturday...

The Glastonbury pal I was going with arrived in Manchester Piccadilly at 7.30pm, returning from two weeks in London taking part in, and photographing, the Rebellion, and the People's Vote March that day. He dropped his bag in a lock-up, chained up his bike and we went to a pub for a drink. It was nice to be with a Manchester (Bury, but, y'know...) lad, as he could show me his town.

We arrived at Mayfield Depot at just before 9pm, partly as Drumcode had emailed earlier in the day announcing 'last entry strictly 9pm', but also because we wanted to max out the night and there were people on by then that I wanted to see. First acts were on at 6.30pm, so when we arrived the queues were very small. Couple of sniffer dogs as you approach the barriered channels to be searched, and security were very nice, searches pretty cursory - much more about metal detectors for blades, which is a pretty sad observation, but that's the way it is now, I guess. Interesting that Twitter has had loads of tweets from people claiming to have arrived in a group and not been allowed entry for no obvious given reason(s). From our perspective, security were fine. Occasional somewhat robust march through the crowd by a threesome of orange jackets, but overall they were pretty discreet.

You enter into a bit of 'lobby' where to your right is the Concourse (the 'second' room) and straight ahead is the cavernous Depot. And holy moly is it big. People have said it's longer than it is wide, and that's true, but it ain't narrow, either! There are two rows of pillars that run along the length, and it's in between these that the crowd is most packed, but still plenty spilling outside of this channel too. 

We headed down the left hand side of the Depot towards the far end (away from the stage) which is where you find the entrance to the 'third' room, the Archive. Along that side are lockers - £5 for a small one (big enough unless you're putting your three children in there for the night) with a £10 refundable deposit, which is a bit pricey, but well worth it on a coldish night when there are two of you and you really want to dump several outdoor layers for the next 7 hours. Then there are loos and a water point - all drinks are either in cans or cups, so WHP actually recommend bringing in an empty bottle for water which I did, much to the envy of quite a few people who had some water off me and regretted not having brought their own!

First up in the Archive was B.Traits. I was looking forward to her set as I know she plays quite a lot of electro and that looked like one of the few sets where I might get some. I didn't. The sound from that first stage when we arrived was only ok - definitely not loud enough by a log way, and clarity was so-so. She was playing (sorry, I know I go on about this...) a bit too fast, so a lot of the tracks struggled to find an identity, but overall the hour I saw was decent, and a nice intro to the night. Crowd was pleasant enough, not packed, as most were still in the Depot, presumably a lot of them headliner/big act kind of people who will take a while to realise that the gems are often elsewhere. And then Victor Ruiz came on. Well...what a set. The sound seemed to get better during his set, both in volume and quality, and his 90 minutes was really pretty brilliant. Only a couple of tracks were less than excellent for me, and his selection and running order made for a really high-energy set. He got a brilliant reception, and I got a very nice thank you from a couple of guys who didn't know him and stayed at my recommendation, they having said they like Enrico Sangiuliano. Sadly, my mate missed most of it, having gone off for a cig after B.Traits and come back an hour and a quarter later! I asked him where the hell he had been and he thought it had only been about 20 minutes! Fool.

After Victor we went into the Depot for the last 45 mins of Enrico, working our way to about 15m from the front, dead centre (there's a surprise). Sound on the big stage from there was superb. Really crisp, great separation, brilliant bass and kick and plenty loud. Enrico give us a typically euphoric 45 minutes, saving his lush chordal stuff for the second half of the set. Genuine hands in the air stuff with not a hint of cheese. The big screen behind him had some excellent visuals (probably even better from slightly further back) and the lights were great. Crowd down the front was good, and despite it being pretty full, we managed to carve out space to dance without hindrance. His Lordship, Herr Beyer, was up next. We were in two minds as to what to do as we had intended to go straight to Pan-Pot from Enrico, but the sound was so good where we were, that we stayed for half an hour. Which was great, but enough. He is pretty generic for me, if fun on a decent sound system. Pan-Pot were better in the Concourse, and then 15 minutes of Alan Fitzpatrick saw us hoofing it all the way back (it is a fair way, the place is BIG) to the Archive for Monika Kruse. I like Monika. She clearly loves doing what she does and, when she hits her stride, can play some of my favourite type of full-on techno. I love how she builds her percussion tracks. But. She does have this tendency to build up to a brilliant full track, and then whip it away from you too soon, reverting to a single 4-beat kick/bass, before building it up again in a pretty similar pattern each time - off-beat simple high-hat or click, add in a bit more percussion, and then the body of the track around it. It's not that I don't enjoy the tracks, it's just there is rarely any 'wow, didn't see that coming' moments. Compare that to the hour long masterclass that Child 3 and I saw from DVS1 (the man is a techno genius) at Dimensions and you're left a little unsatisfied. But, the hour of her we saw was smashing overall, and at about 3.30am we bugged out and got a taxi to The White Hotel. WHP finished at 4am and so we had always intended to try to find something afterwards.

Oh
My
Goodness

One of the best venues I've ever been in. One of the best crowds I've ever been in. One of the best raves I've ever been to. Brilliant size, simple but really effective lights and (lots and lots of) smoke making an amazing atmosphere, fantastic sound with speakers from the booth and behind you. Mama Snake was just hitting full gas in a 5 hour set of techno, electro and trance. For two hours she didn't put a foot wrong. Truly one of those dance experiences. At 6am, when she finally slowed down the beats to a stop, I was absolutely gutted that it was over. You can't ask for more than that. 

My pal then took me on a guided walking tour of the highlights from Salford back into Manchester as the city woke up and the sun rose. First train south from Piccadilly and home by 1030am.

Unbelievable.

Ben
x

Edited October 22, 2019 by bennyhana22

[FuzzyDunlop]

Good review Ben. I am going to see Underworld at the depot and would like to do a "proper" WHP there too. Glad Mr Ruiz was banging, he has never failed when I have seen him. Beyer I find to be very up and down. I have seen him play some banging sets, but others have been pretty much ten a penny. Pan Pot are always solid.

Good news on the bouncers. I always wonder about why people have been picked out by the bouncers. I have never been a victim of it however I have seen others (not with me) suffer at their hands.

I have been to the white hotel a few times, I don't mind it - but I find it a bit too full of smoke, too hot and I end up outside for long periods. I don't think Manchester has many decent venues, Hidden probably being the best one.

[Madyaker]

There's a drumcode night in dublin this friday and ive got tickets ? enrico was on my radar but ive never seen him, looking forward to it now. Cheers for the writup ben you're a beast!

[Mouseboy11]

Lakota NYE event announced today with Palms Trax, Nightmares on Wax, Young Marco and DJ Boring...absolutely all over that

[Zacko]

Always love your reviews Ben!

We've gone for Glitterbox at Printworks for NYE, just fancy a good bloody boogie y'know? Basement Jaxx are doing the midnight slot I believe so that should be a fun hour or so 

[Slugworth]

I won't quote your review @bennyhana22 as that takes up too much thread space but wow, what a review. Thank you

[Slugworth]

Slightly off topic but whats the general opinion on Awakening acts playing Glasto, now? 

I'd love to see the like of Marco Carola & Joris Voorn at Glasto. Is that too much of a dream?

[zero000]

1 hour ago, Mouseboy11 said:

Lakota NYE event announced today with Palms Trax, Nightmares on Wax, Young Marco and DJ Boring...absolutely all over that

Nice spot! Could definitely be a good choice for NYE!

[lukethekid]

4 hours ago, Slugworth said:

Slightly off topic but whats the general opinion on Awakening acts playing Glasto, now? 

I'd love to see the like of Marco Carola & Joris Voorn at Glasto. Is that too much of a dream?

I got a sarky comment for suggesting Carola ??‍♂️ 

[Tommy Dickfingers]

14 hours ago, bennyhana22 said:

Wotcha team

So, Warehouse Project - Drumcode from Saturday...

The Glastonbury pal I was going with arrived in Manchester Piccadilly at 7.30pm, returning from two weeks in London taking part in, and photographing, the Rebellion, and the People's Vote March that day. He dropped his bag in a lock-up, chained up his bike and we went to a pub for a drink. It was nice to be with a Manchester (Bury, but, y'know...) lad, as he could show me his town.

We arrived at Mayfield Depot at just before 9pm, partly as Drumcode had emailed earlier in the day announcing 'last entry strictly 9pm', but also because we wanted to max out the night and there were people on by then that I wanted to see. First acts were on at 6.30pm, so when we arrived the queues were very small. Couple of sniffer dogs as you approach the barriered channels to be searched, and security were very nice, searches pretty cursory - much more about metal detectors for blades, which is a pretty sad observation, but that's the way it is now, I guess. Interesting that Twitter has had loads of tweets from people claiming to have arrived in a group and not been allowed entry for no obvious given reason(s). From our perspective, security were fine. Occasional somewhat robust march through the crowd by a threesome of orange jackets, but overall they were pretty discreet.

You enter into a bit of 'lobby' where to your right is the Concourse (the 'second' room) and straight ahead is the cavernous Depot. And holy moly is it big. People have said it's longer than it is wide, and that's true, but it ain't narrow, either! There are two rows of pillars that run along the length, and it's in between these that the crowd is most packed, but still plenty spilling outside of this channel too. 

We headed down the left hand side of the Depot towards the far end (away from the stage) which is where you find the entrance to the 'third' room, the Archive. Along that side are lockers - £5 for a small one (big enough unless you're putting your three children in there for the night) with a £10 refundable deposit, which is a bit pricey, but well worth it on a coldish night when there are two of you and you really want to dump several outdoor layers for the next 7 hours. Then there are loos and a water point - all drinks are either in cans or cups, so WHP actually recommend bringing in an empty bottle for water which I did, much to the envy of quite a few people who had some water off me and regretted not having brought their own!

First up in the Archive was B.Traits. I was looking forward to her set as I know she plays quite a lot of electro and that looked like one of the few sets where I might get some. I didn't. The sound from that first stage when we arrived was only ok - definitely not loud enough by a log way, and clarity was so-so. She was playing (sorry, I know I go on about this...) a bit too fast, so a lot of the tracks struggled to find an identity, but overall the hour I saw was decent, and a nice intro to the night. Crowd was pleasant enough, not packed, as most were still in the Depot, presumably a lot of them headliner/big act kind of people who will take a while to realise that the gems are often elsewhere. And then Victor Ruiz came on. Well...what a set. The sound seemed to get better during his set, both in volume and quality, and his 90 minutes was really pretty brilliant. Only a couple of tracks were less than excellent for me, and his selection and running order made for a really high-energy set. He got a brilliant reception, and I got a very nice thank you from a couple of guys who didn't know him and stayed at my recommendation, they having said they like Enrico Sangiuliano. Sadly, my mate missed most of it, having gone off for a cig after B.Traits and come back an hour and a quarter later! I asked him where the hell he had been and he thought it had only been about 20 minutes! Fool.

After Victor we went into the Depot for the last 45 mins of Enrico, working our way to about 15m from the front, dead centre (there's a surprise). Sound on the big stage from there was superb. Really crisp, great separation, brilliant bass and kick and plenty loud. Enrico give us a typically euphoric 45 minutes, saving his lush chordal stuff for the second half of the set. Genuine hands in the air stuff with not a hint of cheese. The big screen behind him had some excellent visuals (probably even better from slightly further back) and the lights were great. Crowd down the front was good, and despite it being pretty full, we managed to carve out space to dance without hindrance. His Lordship, Herr Beyer, was up next. We were in two minds as to what to do as we had intended to go straight to Pan-Pot from Enrico, but the sound was so good where we were, that we stayed for half an hour. Which was great, but enough. He is pretty generic for me, if fun on a decent sound system. Pan-Pot were better in the Concourse, and then 15 minutes of Alan Fitzpatrick saw us hoofing it all the way back (it is a fair way, the place is BIG) to the Archive for Monika Kruse. I like Monika. She clearly loves doing what she does and, when she hits her stride, can play some of my favourite type of full-on techno. I love how she builds her percussion tracks. But. She does have this tendency to build up to a brilliant full track, and then whip it away from you too soon, reverting to a single 4-beat kick/bass, before building it up again in a pretty similar pattern each time - off-beat simple high-hat or click, add in a bit more percussion, and then the body of the track around it. It's not that I don't enjoy the tracks, it's just there is rarely any 'wow, didn't see that coming' moments. Compare that to the hour long masterclass that Child 3 and I saw from DVS1 (the man is a techno genius) at Dimensions and you're left a little unsatisfied. But, the hour of her we saw was smashing overall, and at about 3.30am we bugged out and got a taxi to The White Hotel. WHP finished at 4am and so we had always intended to try to find something afterwards.

Oh
My
Goodness

One of the best venues I've ever been in. One of the best crowds I've ever been in. One of the best raves I've ever been to. Brilliant size, simple but really effective lights and (lots and lots of) smoke making an amazing atmosphere, fantastic sound with speakers from the booth and behind you. Mama Snake was just hitting full gas in a 5 hour set of techno, electro and trance. For two hours she didn't put a foot wrong. Truly one of those dance experiences. At 6am, when she finally slowed down the beats to a stop, I was absolutely gutted that it was over. You can't ask for more than that. 

My pal then took me on a guided walking tour of the highlights from Salford back into Manchester as the city woke up and the sun rose. First train south from Piccadilly and home by 1030am.

Unbelievable.

Ben
x

Off to WHP on Saturday for Upsammy, Avalon Emerson, Hessle Audio, Skee Mask and Lone. What is the sound like at Concourse and Archive as I’ll be spending most of my time there, doesn’t one have a 360 degree dance floor so you can go behind/around the decks?

Glad you had a nice time at White Hotel, it’s the best venue in Manchester hands down. Skee Mask actually playing there Friday but the line up is too stacked Saturday to not go. 

Has anyone been Cotton yet? I’m off soon for SPFDJ buzzing for that. 

Also Dan Avery and Helena Hauff are doing a boiler room in Manchester end or November on a Saturday it is tickets on sale Thursday at 9AM if you register. 

[Tommy Dickfingers]

8 hours ago, Slugworth said:

Slightly off topic but whats the general opinion on Awakening acts playing Glasto, now? 

I'd love to see the like of Marco Carola & Joris Voorn at Glasto. Is that too much of a dream?

Waste of money in my opinion could book better DJ’s (to my taste) for less money who maybe they normally couldn’t afford.

[Beaster]

1 hour ago, Tommy Dickfingers said:

Off to WHP on Saturday for Upsammy, Avalon Emerson, Hessle Audio, Skee Mask and Lone. What is the sound like at Concourse and Archive as I’ll be spending most of my time there, doesn’t one have a 360 degree dance floor so you can go behind/around the decks?

Glad you had a nice time at White Hotel, it’s the best venue in Manchester hands down. Skee Mask actually playing there Friday but the line up is too stacked Saturday to not go. 

Has anyone been Cotton yet? I’m off soon for SPFDJ buzzing for that. 

Also Dan Avery and Helena Hauff are doing a boiler room in Manchester end or November on a Saturday it is tickets on sale Thursday at 9AM if you register. 

Likewise, line-up is pretty excellent across the venue. Will be sure to see Jon Hopkins though and hopefully catch Four Tet for a bit. Wouldn't mind seeing Courtesy too, she's superb

[bennyhana22]

2 hours ago, Tommy Dickfingers said:

Off to WHP on Saturday for Upsammy, Avalon Emerson, Hessle Audio, Skee Mask and Lone. What is the sound like at Concourse and Archive as I’ll be spending most of my time there, doesn’t one have a 360 degree dance floor so you can go behind/around the decks?

Glad you had a nice time at White Hotel, it’s the best venue in Manchester hands down. Skee Mask actually playing there Friday but the line up is too stacked Saturday to not go. 

Has anyone been Cotton yet? I’m off soon for SPFDJ buzzing for that. 

Also Dan Avery and Helena Hauff are doing a boiler room in Manchester end or November on a Saturday it is tickets on sale Thursday at 9AM if you register. 

Hi Tommy

Concourse sound was good. That's the 'Boiler Room'-like stage with a platform that wraps around the back of the raised decks. Looks very cool actually, having people dancing all around the back of the DJs.

As said, Archive sound was so-so. Noticeably better later on, including for Monika Kruse who was closing, though of course there may be multiple reasons for it sounding better to me by then...

Ben

Edited October 23, 2019 by bennyhana22

[bennyhana22]

1 hour ago, Beaster said:

Likewise, line-up is pretty excellent across the venue. Will be sure to see Jon Hopkins though and hopefully catch Four Tet for a bit. Wouldn't mind seeing Courtesy too, she's superb

And I hope she is. Have to say that she was my only disappointment of Dimensions. I'd watched a few of her sets online whilst researching the line-up and was excited to see her, especially as she was in the best Dimensions venue, The Moat.

Sad to report that she was really dull. Selection and mixing were just not my thing at all, and some of her beatmatching was sixth-form disco bad! But that probably says more about me than her! Karen Gwyer at Dimensions, on the other hand, was unbelievable! Child 3 is a musician and so 'understands' what's going on with live DJ performance. And he was dumbstruck by how good her hour was!

Ben

[FuzzyDunlop]

3 hours ago, Tommy Dickfingers said:

Off to WHP on Saturday for Upsammy, Avalon Emerson, Hessle Audio, Skee Mask and Lone. What is the sound like at Concourse and Archive as I’ll be spending most of my time there, doesn’t one have a 360 degree dance floor so you can go behind/around the decks?

Glad you had a nice time at White Hotel, it’s the best venue in Manchester hands down. Skee Mask actually playing there Friday but the line up is too stacked Saturday to not go. 

Has anyone been Cotton yet? I’m off soon for SPFDJ buzzing for that. 

Also Dan Avery and Helena Hauff are doing a boiler room in Manchester end or November on a Saturday it is tickets on sale Thursday at 9AM if you register. 

Means&3rd is also on. Friend of friends. Good guy from the odd time I have met him.

 

[ManchesterGlasto]

I think the Mayfield depot is a great venue for WHP. I’ll be back there for 808 state next month. Was at the Hacienda night a few weeks ago which was good.

Having just returned from Ibiza I’ve found my rave head again so watching this thread with interest.

Id love to see Kolsch at glasto.