Monday 24 June 2013

Kiosque - From Hulme To Chicago

With less than two weeks to go, we're very excited about our next live special guest at Work Them, which is saying something given that he's yet to even release a single sound. So here's the scoop.



Earlier this year, yours truly attended the psychedelic Maria Minerva show at Kraak. It were a chilly night way back in late winter - arguments about Disclosure were more infrequent, friends and associates would still occasionally say 'YOLO' for comic effect, and the good club and gig loving folk of Manchester held strong and ploughed through a seemingly endless winter with a seemingly equally endless supply of drugs and alcohol. Oh well, YOLO.

After Minerva had finished one of her typically weird but exciting sets, I spied the DJ playing it strong, playing it all night long, and not immediately recognising him thought, "Hey, who's this jerk?!" Filled with righteous indignation towards this mystery selector, I marched over to the booth, furious, and said, "Hey man, cool set. Who's this by?"

"Oh this?", he responded. "This is one of mine." I told him, with a sincerity I hadn't expected to conjure, that it was really good, that it sounded like something that might come out on 100% Silk. "Oh cool", said the man known as Kiosque. "I've actually signed to 100% Silk." And on that dark winter night, tentative plans for a gig were born.

Work Them has somewhat gravitated to 100% Silk releases (and guests) since our conception, with tunes by the likes of Magic Touch and Ital becoming inadvertent floor fillers. Kiosque's music, or what we've heard of it, gravitates in a similar direction to their output thus far - warm, strange, both euphoric and melancholy and even faintly poppy. His upcoming live set on Saturday July 6th is going to be an all analogue affair to compliment our usual DJ sets, and the mysterious Hulme resident has put together an all vinyl taster mix featuring some of his favourite records as well as a selection of his own material. You can hear and download it below.

Further details can be found at our Facebook, and you can buy advance tickets at just £4 from Skiddle. See you on the floor?



And don't forget, our semi-sort of spin-off Still Going can be found in the basement of The Deaf Institute, each Sunday from 9PM-1AM, although last week's jackin' session with the one and only Ste Spandex extended beyond that. Not band for a Sunday buzz. Upcoming guests include John Doran of The Quietus, Trash-O-Rama, Dance Lady Dance, Ghosting Season and more... And it's always free.



Wednesday 12 June 2013

Soup Kitchen w/ Kiosque + Still Going



We're pleased to announce that Work Them will be returning to our favourite basement, Manchester's Soup Kitchen, fresh from a recent refit, on Saturday 6th July. Beginning at 11PM, expect 4-5 hours of alternative and electronic music for the body and mind, from classic edits to throbbing house, chugging heart tugging disco as well as a few surprises. We'll also be joined on the night by our pal Kiosque, performing a special live hardware jam. This mysterious Mancunian will soon release an LP on 100% Silk, a mainstay in the Work Them record box, and will be previewing his raw but uplifting material in his home city for the first time. He's recorded a mix featuring a variety of overlooked classics as well as his own material to give Workers (yeah, we're using that now), a taste of what to expect. We'll be uploading that next week, so bear with us.

Credit as ever to Natalie Dunning for the poster.You can find all the details and let us know you're coming here. You can let us know you're not coming either, but that'll probably be self-evident. Although at £5 all night, what's your excuse? However if you are completely stripped of currency, we may have something else of interest up our sleeves....


As well as nurturing Work Them, we like to think of Still Going as a semi-spin off, with a few key differences. We're still in a basement, albeit, at the other end of town, in The Deaf Institute. But we're not on a Friday, or a Saturday. Still Going is a new idea and a new attempt to establish a Sunday session in the city, every week, 9PM-1AM. To sweeten the deal after what could have been a heavy weekend, you can expect a special guest every week, playing as they wish away from the hustle of a big night out, but still within the remit of our handily rhyming Last Chance To Dance mantra. Best of all, each night is completely free.

So as well as weekly sets from us, in the first few month's alone you'll get, amongst others, the likes of Wet Play's Ste Spandex jackin' some Sunday evening boogie, Quietus editor and Vice columnist John Doran letting loose whatever he likes on the PA, local heroes Melodic Records going head to head with disco expert Chris Egan of Tusk, Trash-O-Rama opting in for some weekending dance sleaze, or moody techno experts Ghosting Season digging deep into their digital collection, whilst Dance Lady Dance and Pasta Paul will be popping along with many an obscure pop gem.

Still Going is all about variety, and an idealistic focus on good music and nice people to wind down a weekend, all in a properly intimate and ornate setting. If you've never ventured down below The Deaf, have a look at this recent gallery, shot by Sebastian Matthes. We're also lucky enough to have had Paul Hemmingfield take care of our artwork, which is typically incredible and as the more cultured amongst you will recognise, loosely based on MC Esher's (our favourite MC after Hammer and Chunky), and his concept for a never ending staircase. 



The first Still Going is this Sunday 16th June, from 9PM-1AM, with residents John Loveless and Tenmen, and is entirely free entry, as always. We hope to see you down there. For a flavour of what you might hear, you can find John's recent Work Them Spring Mix, available for streaming and as as free download below, featuring music from Four Tet, Glowing Palms, Romare, Rhye and more.

For details of all upcoming guests at Still Going, do us a favour and find us on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for bearing with us through this lengthy transmission, it'll all just be music soon enough.