- Any local will tell you that the Manchester's always been good for the ears, and it's been clear for a while now that the city is also home to an extraordinarily fertile electronic music scene. Artists like Andy Stott and the Modern Love crew, and Kevin Gorman (head honcho of Mikrowave Records) have for a few years now been releasing records that are equal to, and in touch with, the best house and techno output anywhere. With world-class record shops like Boomkat and Eastern Bloc hailing from the city, the weak link in Manchester's creative chain has been the relative sparseness of parties geared towards bringing the records made and sold here to the locals.
Lately, though, things have changed with Faktion, Meandyou and others putting on events that pinch the cream of international talent and bring them to Manchester. Couple that with the unpretentious and affordable places they're bringing them to, and these promoters are turning out the locals and not-so-locals alike. Late last month, for instance, I was in town for the Meandyou. party, where local players Bovill and Murmur competed for boots on the dance floor against the likes of Marcel Dettmann, Thomas Melchior, Luciano, Surgeon and Redshape elsewhere in the city.
Meandyou. that night descended on the Soup Kitchen, a multi-purpose venue in Manchester's Northern Quarter. The Soup Kitchen lies off an unpopulated square with little else around. (My concerned taxi driver didn't want to let me out on the basis that "there definitely aren't any clubs here.") The bass rattling the Kitchen's metal shutters and the queue of people asking the friendly bouncer whether they were in the right place suggested otherwise. Inside, the vibe was small club, big speakers and friendly faces. Reasonable drinks prices and laidback punters everywhere suggested more of the vibe of London's secret location gigs than the polite hauteur of its grandest clubbing institutions.
Resident Will, one of three bright-eyed Manchester lads tapped to perform regular wheels-of-steel duty at Meandyou., was on a solo mission. He played sophisticated house, for the most part, reeling through a flawless selection with ease and aplomb. His tricks were subtle but effective: one playful tug on the pitch slider at the moment of transition took a competent mix and made it compelling instead. Will had the confidence to keep his mixing understated and let the music speak for itself, even though his level of skill suggested he could have made the wrong decision and put himself out front if he'd pleased. Omar-S's modern classic "Psychotic Photosynthesis" was the highlight of a strong set.
The two men behind Murmur, (I've met them but still couldn't tell you their names) stepped up next. Their live and decks show impressed as much for the smoothness of the sound put out as for the array of wires needed to transfer the proceedings to the mixer. Murmur played a different sound than they did on their recent RA podcast. Some of the tunes were familiar from the Meanwhile Records back catalogue, but their long set also allowed them to branch out. (Surprises like Moodymann's "The Dancer" cropped up.) Murmur put their own imprint on everything played in the best way, though. The unfettered space opened in their own music foregrounded similar qualities in the other cuts they spun. The well-worn speakers helped things immensely: the sharp drums were clear, and the spacious bass was fuzzy in a way that let it envelop the room.
Bovill wasted no time in tugging us out of our bass reverie. He played a style even further from his productions, focusing on the Berghain sound. The dub-meets-Dettmann vibe that labels like Vidab have been pushing gave way to the full-on sound of the Berghain main room by the last hour. Herr Dettmann's "Plain," off of Beatstreet, was a welcome spur to my feet. Hearing it played in this context was a fantastic reminder of just how much relevance the reverberated sounds of German techno and the dubbed-up ones of Manchester techno have had to one another this year.
It was clear from the get-go that Bovill and Murmur had an onerous job in representing the local talent at a night that has recently witnessed many of the world's best DJs behind the decks. The fact that they held their own suggests that Manchester is fast becoming on par with the very best dance scenes. With parties like Faktion and meandyou. filling in the last gap in the creative chain, I can see many more train rides to the bawdy North in my future soon.