Skip to main content

Day: 18 April 2014

Club: Lo-Fi presents Cosmin TRG / Floating Points

Written by Patrick Hinton on . Posted in Music.

4th April

Sound Control

7.5/10

Despite having launched in 2014 and being newcomers to the Manchester dance music scene, Lo-Fi have built a considerable rep and are pulling in the big guns already. Tonight’s double headliner bill of Floating Points and Cosmin TRG certainly showcases that.

For a promoter that identifies as “mostly techno”, Floating Points doesn’t seem the most obvious booking. He’s a DJ well versed in building lengthy sets filled with jazz and funk, not exactly your pounding 130bpm. And whilst soulful funk is still at the forefront of his selection – with the likes of Alicia Myers’s ‘I Want To Thank You’ typifying the upbeat, vocal driven tracks he favours – as the set progresses it feels more muscularly driven and at a greater tempo than I’ve previously experienced from the Manchester born DJ. Possibly a response to the promoter’s identity and shorter than usual set time. The airing of ‘King Bromeliad’, a track from Floating Points’s next Eglo Records release, proves a set highlight. The layering of grooving, lively and soaring textures combine and are amplified through the club system into an intensely danceable number.

Next up is headline act Cosmin TRG: you can file him right alongside previous Lo-Fi guests Boddika and Surgeon as he immediately thumps the room with the spinning of fine techno cuts. As the man responsible for the very first release on Hessle Audio, presently one of the most influential labels around, and now frequently releasing on Modeselektor’s admired 50Weapons imprint – Cosmin TRG is an artist that has been perfecting his craft for some time and is now a master. TRG is markedly more aggressive and dark than Floating Points. The cascading bells of Planetary Assault System’s ‘No Exit’ envelope Sound Control to produce that mind-bending effect on the crowd only techno truly provides as everyone present loses themselves in the sound. As his set progresses the kick drums remain booming, the bass remains distorted and reveller’s fists remain pumping: what more could you want.

Lo-Fi are on a break now for the summer; I wait with excited anticipation to see the no doubt high calibre of artists they bring to Manchester next year.

Album: Kylie Minogue – Kiss Me Once

Written by Cecilia Bicknell on . Posted in Music.

Released 14th March

Parlophone

0.5/10

Not exactly being a hardcore fan of Miss Minogue, I sat down ready to be fairly disappointed but not exactly surprised by her latest offering. The first song ‘Into The Blue’ left me in a cold sweat. This is not music. I’m sorry Kylie I know you’re a national treasure and all after you went on that program with the twisty chairs, but please for the sake of all that is just in the world do not pursue a further career in singing.

Willing to give everyone’s favourite 3 foot high songstress another try, I skipped ahead to “Les Sex” – which I can only assume is a raunchy ode to the one and only Les Dawson – but after being told repeatedly by Kylie to “work it, push it baby” I just wanted to sit down and have a cup of tea to recover. Not only is the horribly artificial screeching autotune of her wailing vocal cords grating on one’s nervous system, but the lyrics leave you depressed and angry at the state of modern popular culture today. If the only thing that sells records these days is Kylie squeezing her ample derriere into a red leather baby grow and instructing you very forcefully to “sexercise! Feel the burn!” then I despair for future generations.

Described as an “R&B reboot” for the 45 year old self-proclaimed goddess, the singer thanks her many fans who “always inspire” her. Funny that as upon closer inspection, none of the songs in fact were written, produced, or even edited, by Kylie herself. But after all, what more is a pop star than a pretty face to lord about in gold hot pants thrusting her aging genitalia in the faces of anyone who’ll watch.

Never one to judge, I sat through the rest of the album, intrigued by “Sexy Love”, the fourth wonder on the album. I forced myself; teeth gritted, to see it through to the end.  As a child of the noughties, I have sat through a fair few Liberty X cassette tapes, and I am no stranger to the honeyed tones of Tina, Paul; Rachel, Jo, Hannah, Bradley and Jon, but I think it has been a while since I have endured such dirge. As a young girl I was not adverse to a bit of Australian pop – everyone likes some Kylie at the year 6 disco – but this is something else. Truly, utterly, terribly abysmal. There are no words strong or grotesque enough to describe the jaded horror of this monstrous album. Kylie’s thin, perpetually high-pitched yelps screech out over the top of over-produced, over-edited filth. Without meaning to be rude, I would simply beg of you, Kylie if you’re reading this, please desist. I have given this album 0.5/10 for the simple reason, that Kylie undeniably has the best brows in show business.

Club: Project 13 Secret Sessions Part II

Written by Patrick Hinton on . Posted in Music.

22nd March

Secret Warehouse Location

7/10

Replicating the success of last year’s Secret Sessions, tonight’s event is sold out. As the text announcing the location comes though at around 10pm I head off to Salford excited and intrigued about what’s in store for tonight. ‘2 labels 4 headliners’, hailing from Bristol, is all the line up details known.

Entering the Secret Warehouse Location doesn’t feel all that different to any basement club in Manchester such as Soup Kitchen or 2022NQ: there are pillars through the room, the walls are bare and there’s even a bar at one side – one that remains surprisingly busy considering the BYOB allowance tonight.  Indeed, the only noticeable difference to this location is that everyone inside is carrying big rucksacks stacked with booze, an allowance that raises SWL from a gimmick to an ideal feature for many of the cash strapped students in attendance.

A set list on the wall reveals the headliners: Ipman, Pinch, Batu and Beneath. A fine selection, and by my estimations that makes Tectonic and Cold the two labels represented. A night of dubstep and techno is on the cards it seems.

Ipman immediately confirms these expectations as he gets the room moving with a hard, bass heavy set. This is typified by the dropping of Special Request’s ‘Hackney Parrot VIP’, an appropriate choice considering its sound bite samples from illegal raves. The baton then passes to Pinch and he picks up where Ipman left off, releasing a ferocious set that shakes the room. Techno and dubstep are blended expertly, the pinnacle of the set arriving with the selection of future-classic ‘Mercy (Boddika’s VIP)’ . Next up is newcomer and young gun Batu, an artist who released his first ever record on Cold Recordings last year. His sound is more crunchy than the previous 2 DJs but it retains strong grooves. The selection of ‘Null Results’ by Demdike Stare for example highlights this, with pulsing acid emerging from the relentless percussion. Final headliner Beneath brings down the tempo slightly as the night draws to a close, opting to spin many of his own productions as well as those by the likes of Alex Coulton.

It’s easy to see from tonight why on reputation alone Project 13 were able to sell out this details undisclosed event, bring on Secret Sessions Part III.