A broad range of boogie in Manchester this weekend, from new nights such as Four20 showcasing the best house and techno both national and local, to forward thinking scene survivors such as Hoya Hoya, celebrating the release of Illum Sphere’s mind boggling new Fabriclive mix, to a genuine, in-the-flesh pioneer such as Africa Bambaattaa. Finally, Chow Down push things forward with the increasingly notorious and experimental Boxed crew.
Four20 - Joshua Brooks, Princess Street, Friday, £6
A house and techno specialist with a background in post-punk, hardcore and even bluegrass, James Welsh might not necessarily have seemed like the natural fit for disco-centric labels such as Futureboogie and Hypercolour, but his music, loved and rinsed by everyone from Giles Peterson to Breach, has a unique, offbeat quality unlike many other producers around. As well as Yorkshireman Welsh, Four20 also turns the spotlight on a set of esteemed local jocks. Sian Bennett is an expert at keeping crowds moving through to the latest early hours during her regular stints at the Warehouse Project’s Afterlife party, and Drop the Mustard’s Sam Graham is one of Manchester’s most reliable party starters. Further support on JB’s stonking system comes from Olsen and Relay.
Africa Bambaataa - The Roadhouse, Newton Street, Friday, £15
The term ‘legend’ is much overused, so in this case, we’ll go with pioneer. Africa Bambaata, the New York hip hop trailblazer was of course, the first man to get turntables into the American Music Hall of Fame, and Bambaataa has retained his original skill, integrity and imagination with age. He’s joined by DJ Woody, who's ‘40 Years of Hip Hop’ live presentation promises to be his most ambitious to date, skilfully combining edits, animations, graphics and experimental visuals, taking clubbers on a whistlestop heritage tour of the genre, culminating of course, with Bambaataa himself in the building. Scorzayzee, another of the UK’s best respected hip hop selectors, completes the bill.
Chow Down & Boxed - Soup Kitchen, Stevenson Square, Saturday, £6
Boxed are perhaps the leaders of the recent, offbeat wave of UK bass and grime that goes in all sorts of weird directions guaranteed to blow heads in the dance. Typically, Chow Down are on point in bringing members of the crew to Manchester, headed up by co-founders Slack and Mr. Mitch, who both individually and together have been working on instrumentals true to grime’s original, futurist vision. Check out Slack’s recent, acclaimed RA podcast for a glimpse of what to expect; bright, surprisingly tuneful and incredibly well produced dance music. Support on the fringes comes from Chow Down’s reliable crew of Trends, Finn and Fallow.
Hoya Hoya - Roadhouse, Newton Street, Saturday, £7
Manchester’s diverse Hoya Hoya crew hardly need an introduction at this stage - individually, the likes of Krystal Klear, Jon K and Eclair FiFi are representing on an international scale, and the night holds down a much respected residency in Room 2 of Fabric. In fact, the London superclub recently asked founder Illum Sphere to contribute to it’s long running Fabriclive series, and playing tonight with Jonny Dub, you can expect a similarly eclectic and far reaching mix of house, techno, disco, dub and other, fractured rhythms as on the recently released CD. Unlike on record, the legendary Fox will be up on the mic with Emmanuel taking care of the club’s always stimulating live visuals. If you’ve never dropped by Hoya, this weekend’s party will be a good 101.