- I moved to Manchester to attend university just over a decade ago. (I've since left.) Back then the Warehouse Project was actually a warehouse project, Sankeys was just a Manchester thing, and you could still find free parties going off in WW2 bunkers, old cinemas, castles and the like. It was a different scene, one defined by its rough edges and fiercely D.I.Y. spirit. But on July 1st, I relived something of the good old days in the scruffy but loveable basement of Hidden.
Hidden hasn't been around for very long—it'll be one year this August—but it's already gained a cult following in the city, and it's easy to see why. It's a bit off the map, located in a disused factory building on the outskirts of town. Finding it is part of the adventure. The club has been decked out with a Void soundsystem and given a graffiti makeover, but otherwise it's the kind of dank haunt it should be. There are four rooms of varying size and on this night we all piled into the 250-capacity Den space for an Ilian Tape showcase hosted by local promoters Project 13.
Manchester is a student city, teeming with £2 nights and vodka Red Bull. Hen and stag parties are just as unavoidable, but there was none of that here. The crowd was youthful but plugged in—and there wasn't a fancy-dress costume in sight. This was a party for the heads and the ravers, and we were going to be put through our paces. I got in around midnight just as Skee Mask and Stenny took to the decks for a back-to-back session.
Skee Mask kicked off with breakbeat, something that he, Stenny and Andrea have all shown an affinity for over the past few years—Skee Mask especially. The pair then proceeded to carve between techno, acid and electro with the sort of fanatic energy of two mates trying to outdo each other. By the close they'd hit a jungle and grime groove, which encouraged a few more bellows and flailing limbs from the crowd.
Playing live and adopting a more casual sit-down position, Andrea followed with an hour of deep, smouldering techno, licked with breaks and fused with those warm pads and synths that characterise his Ilian Tape discography. It was a reset of a kind before Djrum finished in a blaze of hardcore and jungle bombs to close.
Djrum headlined P13's first-ever event back when they were more of a platform for homegrown talent, such as Acre, Biome, AnD, Szare and Indigo. Lineups have gotten more international since—and now they're a label too—but otherwise precious little has changed for the troupe. It's as scrappy as it ever was, and it's one of the best nights of its kind around.