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.

Work Them March Top 10 - Part 2 plus East India Youth

Following the first 5 in our new occasional charts compiling records we can't get enough of at the moment, here's another 5 to take us to a logical top 10, courtesy of the other Work Them resident, Scott, AKA, 'That Beaman Sound', AKA, Ricky SB. You can find the first half right here. Gotta catch em all!

Work Them is back down in Soup Kitchen this Friday from 11PM featuring the wonderful Fort Romeau. All details and ticket links can be found here. It's going to be a great party, we're sure.

As well as our Friday party, John will be taking care of business on the decks at the debut Manchester show from East India Youth this Tuesday at Kraak, courtesy of our friends at Grey Lantern. So good that The Quietus set up a record label just for him, the show will also include support from Swimming Lessons and Leopard of Honour, as well as ourselves. All the details and tickets are here. Advance tickets just £3.

Digital Lyrical with Dr. Me

Work Them's first Digital Lyrical guests are esteemed local creative minds Dr. Me. With a foot in the worlds of both art and music, and then another two between them to presumably do whatever the fuck they like, Dr. Me are responsible for some of the most distinctive and unique posters and artwork in Manchester over the past few years. As well as work for the likes of Dutch Uncles and Holy Other, they have also designed  the poster (pictured below) for our upcoming party with Fort Romeau at Soup Kitchen on March 15th. We were as pleased as we'd anticipated, ie. very, and happy to interview them for the blog (pictured further below)

How long has Dr. Me existed in it’s current form?

On the first day of university we were paired together to do a 'get to know each other' kind of project due to our names being next to each other on the register, that was in 2008 maybe? We properly formed DR.ME when we returned from working together for illustrator Mike Perry in 2011 though.

What’s the current studio setup?

We sit across from each other, separated by a pair of red boxing gloves that hang between us and our good pal Steve Hockett (http://www.wonder-room.eu) who sits across the studio.

Talk to us about your recent exhibition at Piccadilly Place, curating local talent. Are you now Godfathers of the scene? – here’s your unique chance to make that arrogant assertion!

The exhibition at Piccadilly Place was with our bro SAVWO it was the culmination of 2 weeks of workshops with students from University of Salford, it was serious fun screen printing, drawing and generally making a mess and then welcoming over 300 guests in over the weekend to see the temporary gallery space. Godfathers of the scene? No, we're just getting started.

You've mainly done work with other artists and musicians thus far. Do you intend to work in a more commercial arena, or is is your focus more-so on an independent ethos?

We're happy to work with anyone that is brave enough to work with us as long as we keep a healthy balance between keeping the wolf from the door and doing things that excite us.

In regards to this, do you often debate art and commerce? Or is it just important to consider what’s sincere and interesting? Is this a really trad question?

There's nothing wrong with making money for what you do, people seem obsessed with drawing lines and saying "well if you work for XXXX then you're a sell out", the only point when you "sell out" is when you find yourself crossing your own line of comfort and starting to feel those pangs of guilt in your stomach. 

You’ve recently worked with both Holy Other, Dutch Uncles and D/R/U/G/S amongst others. What is the collaborative process when working with an artist, and what are the key factors in ensuring a sort of trust between the two of you?

Communication, the better you understand each other the and the more trust there is the better the end product is. If there is no trust and bad communication then you end up with something that neither party is proud of. 

Is there a different creative process involved in creating a poster and some album artwork? What do you principally draw upon?

Normally just the time frame but in principle the process is kind of similar, you are trying to create something representative that captures the essence of whatever it is that is being presented, whether that's something really simple to something highly complex. Due to both of these processes normally feeding back to the promotion of an artist we always find listening to the artist over and over again paints things like colours and imagery really well in your mind before you start working. 

You’re quite closely associated with the Manchester music scene of late, and you’ve a background in DJing and such. Straddling both art and music, how do you feel about the state of ‘alternative culture’ at the moment?

It's great, especially in Manchester so many great bands and artists coming through over the past five years inspiring people to stay in the city.

What do you listen to in the studio at the moment?

We've been working on the new Haxan Cloak record design so that's been on quite heavy rotation, other than that it totally varies, right now we're listening to Deerhunter but aside from that we got sent a bunch of records from Warp as we did some work for them so we've been trying to motor through them, Gonjasufi's record is a stand out.

You're currently exhibiting a lantern as part of Soup Kitchen's ongoing Lantern exhibition? Is it true that the bottom of yours is full of fun size bags of Maltesers?

Who told you?

What is the future for Dr. Me? 

Keep on scaring the life out of each other and never reach for the boxing gloves.

Thanks to Dr. Me. For further details, archives and comissions, check out their website.

Work Them March Top 10 - Part 1

Music. There's an absolute load of it nowadays, more than one man, even the men at Work (Them) could hope to consume. Fortunately, the pushier sorts like ourselves are happy to compile it into lists and present it to people on blogs. Is this a good thing? How do you source your music nowadays? Given the tyranny of choice, who are the real tastemakers left to front for the industry? And do those in the limited yay or naysayer roles crush the dreams of the creator and narrow the mind of the fan? Will they kill the HMV dog? And how? All things to consider whilst you work your way through Part 1 of Work Them's Top 10 records for March 2013, as carefully selected by John AKA, John Loveless AKA, Thor Jones, AKA, JT Chasez.

Helpfully, these are all records you can expect to hear down in the basement of Soup Kitchen at our next party with the amazing Fort Romeau on March 15th. All the details here. If you enjoy these, expect another five from the other half of Work Them this week, and find more music we like and details we consider to be of note at our Soundcloud and Twitter. We feel it's a way of us being in your life that works for both parties.

Work Them with Fort Romeau

Firstly, a big thanks to all of you who made it to our recent party with Tusk at Kraak. Hope you enjoyed the music, and you can expect another later in the year. But long before that, we've another party to announce...

On Friday March 15th, Work Them returns to Soup Kitchen for the first time in 2013, featuring one of our favourite new artists, Fort Romeau.

London's Fort Romeau has been making music since he was 14 years old, originally inspired by the experimental pop of Air and the atmospherics of Autechre. Having been absorsed in records whilst DJing throughout university in Brighton, he began working with La Roux, programming the drums and live shows for one of the most successful alternative pop acts of the last decade.

Experimenting and producing between sound checks and airport stopovers, his debut mini-LP for 100% Silk emerged when the band ceased touring, and the result is, in our opinion, one of the best records of 2012.

Writing music that attempts to capture "feeling more than a certain sound", Romeau's aesthetic is somewhere between the soul of early house, the ambience of Arthur Russell and the more jackin' end of modern bass music. 

Following the success of Kingdoms, Romeau has been signed to Matthew Dear's much loved electronic and experimental institution Ghostly, home to Gold Panda, School of Seven Bells, as well as Dear himself. On March 11th, SW9/Love (Dub) will be released on the label's Spectral Sound imprint, designed for one off dancefloor transmissions, and previously utilised by Seth Troxler and Benoit and Sergio. They're in good company - both sides are transcendent dancefloor fare.

He's also an absolutely brilliant, 100% wax DJ, and we're delighted to be bookending him with the usual mix of alternative and electronic music for the body and mind, from disco, weird pop, out-there house and techno, as well as a few unexpected edits to keep it fresh until the finish. 

Tickets are available in advance priced just £7. Sorry that it's a little pricier than usual for us, but we guarantee a proper party. They're available now from both Skiddle and WeGotTickets. More on the door! 

All further details can be found on the Facebook page here, as well as the opportunity to let us know you're coming. It's also Comic Relief night, so we can make calculations in terms of anticipated weight of beans needed and the volume of the bath - just kidding. The Lenny Henry DJ set was way out of our price zone.

Keep your eye on our Twitter feed as we've some material of note coming to the blog in advance of the show, including an interview with local art collective Dr. Me, who we can thank for this month's excellent poster, as well as the usual mixes, musings and so on. See you on the floor, but in the meantime, check out Fort Romeau's 30 minute Boiler Room mix from last year for an idea of what might go down.

On Request - Tears on the Dancefloor

Work Them are pleased, hell, bloody well excited to return this Saturday at Kraak, Stevenson Square in frosty Manchester for a one-off with our good pals and disco fiends Tusk. Entitled 'Hands Up For Heartbreak', we can absolutely affirm there will be no tears on the dancefloor (all weeping must remain in the toilet cubicles, their spiritual home), but plenty of leftfield alternative and electronic music, surprising edits, weirdo disco and let-go house magic. Check out the second edition of our Seasonal Affective Disco mix for a special, free downloadable taste, or grab all the details by selecting the revolutionary poster portal just below you...

Nonetheless, we thought we'd delve into the record collections of some of our favourite DJs and musical tastemakers in Manchester (and a few further afield), to find a few recommendations as to the finest dancefloor heart breakers  There's no shortage of great melancholy dance music, or at least music you can dance to, that establishes that tangible but somewhat indescribable link between agony and the ecstasy. However, these loveable shmucks are going to give it a shot at our cheeky request, God bless them. 

Stop Making Sense

Joakim - Lonely Hearts

"A totally melancholic, beautiful song, which makes me want to dance (on my own) powered only by existential loneliness. Plus the fact that it's a 3 minute pop hit is fully rad."

Stop Making Sense will be presenting a very special but typically eclectic selection of records tonight, as SMS Got Me Pregnant saunters into Common with romantic swagger. Expect "a whole spectrum of tunes from melt in your mouth romance to stomach churning smut and filth." We're also promised free mixtapes with a specially commissioned sensual cover - "guaranteed to get you laid or your money back!"

Dave Underachievers

Magnetic Fields -  I Thought You Were My Boyfriend

"I'm a big fan of this Magnetic Fields track which I've always thought could have been a big club hit but never was. It's not even on their most well-known album, which has 69 bloody love songs on it, many with heartbreak galore. I always think Stephin Merritt would make a cracking disco album if he chanced his arm at it, as a lot of their finest songs have an electro edge and his voice really suits this. I've played it out a few times, never a floor filler, but a few people always get really excited. Once somebody asked me what it was, which is a lovely thing, that really doesn't happen as much as you think. And I then inevitably acted really awkward trying to not sound excited or smug that someone cared."

As you may have heard, Underachievers is set to bow out gracefully within the next few months.  Fortunately, there are still a few more events from the city's last great proper indie disco to go before the end though. After that, all the illustrated dogs on years of flyers will be put to sleep. Dave expands on  the closure of Underachievers and the various merchandising opportunities it entails here.

Muscle Memory (AKA, Scott Brooks, AKA Scott Yeah, AKA @PopFacts) 

Thom Yorke - Atoms for Peace (Four Tet Remix)

"This may look like a box ticking exercise on my part to show how much a of a cliched modern dance music fan I am by name-checking Four Tet and Thom Yorke (which of course it is), but they started it by releasing the damn thing and pandering exactly to my tastes. All that aside it's genuinely one of my favourite songs.

One of the most impressive things that Four Tet does here is that, rather than remix the track per se, he completely replaces everything bar Yorke's habitually fragile yet soaring vocal. What remains is a shuffling live beat and a simple electric piano like that meander about for 4 and a half wonderfully heartbroken minutes before bursting into a 4/4 banger (of sorts). Majestic stuff."

Mr MM. is a regular resident at Now Wave's more electronic tipping lineups. You can find recordings of his storming live sets over on Soundcloud 

Ghosting Season

youandewan - 1988

"This track has a lovely hazy sounding chord sequence, it would fit perfectly over the end credits of some pretty heart-wrenching breakup scene. When we've DJ'd this one people have stopped dancing and help hands for the entirity."

Ghosting Season's debut album, The Very Last Of The Saints, is out now on Last Night On Earth. You can find their full discography here.

Dance Lady Dance (Lou)

Conan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love (Erol Alkan Extended Rework)

"We always play this song in a set. Personally, I love anything that has dark undertones but at the same time is uplifting. The words are a sort of nonsense and they don't instill any emotion but overall the edit is a perfect mixture of creepy and sad. While it actually gives me the shivers it also, at the same time, makes me want to dance my ass off."

Find where DLD are next a-spinnin-ana-twirlin' here on their Facebook.

Winter Son

Greenville Massive Box

"The bass is pretty pensive in this one, it reminds me of some 'doom-like' news that's about to land me, eg 'you've eaten the last Rolo, you twat'. Or 'Happy Valentine's Day, I've had enough of your vinyl, I'm moving out.' On the whole, an awesome track."

Winter Son makes dance music half way between Chicago house and The Cure. You can find out more, and download a stonking, Resident Advisor approved live set from Sankeys last year, here. 

Trash-O-Rama

1 from Trash-O-Rama DJ Polly Esther...

1 from Trash-O-Rama DJ Johnny Trash:

Trash-O-Rama are a little bit on the poorly side at the moment, so they just dropped us the tunes. But their record collection is as deep and odd as any, and their fun as fuck Clusterben parties are back in a new location soon, says Jonny... "The next installment of Trash-O-Ramas Clubsterben will be Friday 1st March at an 'undisclosed basement location' in downtown Mancunia. Details tba over the next week or so....."

And concluding in spectacular style with a spectacular choice it's...

John Doran (The Quietus)

Hercules & Love Affair - Blind

"In some ways, the question, ‘What is your favourite melancholy dance track?’ is almost too difficult to answer. Great dance music is always bleak on one level or another; even if only on a subliminal or notional level. (Perhaps ‘Oops Upside Your Head’ by the Gap Band is the exception to the rule… unless you hate the Gap Band that is.) Disco has always been engaged in a futile battle to create an infinite space for its listeners to exist within; and no matter how much we want a night to last forever, we always lose out to the space time continuum in the end. From Earth, Wind & Fire’s Boogie Wonderland to Joe Smooth’s Promised Land, it’s always been bluntly stated that we’re engaged in a utopian project by listening to disco, techno and house but the only place we’re actually transported to is an eventual tearful scene by the photocopier come Tuesday lunchtime. And the more futuristic the genre, the bigger let down we have to face. 

Who among us hasn’t been in some badly ventilated Ketamine shack in Wythenshawe, happily ‘dancing’ to ‘Pandemonic Embolism’ by Baader Meinhoff Fisting Circle on Raster Noton just to suddenly have the anti-epiphany: “I’m not actually going to see attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion am I?” (A realisation you will never have while dancing to the Parma Violets.) Any music that is born from a desire to make you forget misery is by its very nature born with both feet firmly planted in misery and smart dance music will acknowledge this in one way or another. 

Most of this Century’s finest (dancefloor friendly) songs are fully compliant from LCD Soundsystem’s Losing My Edge (ageing) to Of Montreal’s ‘The Past Is A Grotesque Animal’ (heartbreak) via Rihanna’s Umbrella (the vicissitudes of love) but for me it has to be ‘Blind’ by Hercules and Love Affair featuring Antony. I mean, I don’t even know what this song is about but it makes me well up like a motherfucker. I’m feeling like one lachrymal, lugubrious blubber box just thinking about it. I listen to this song and I feel like an al fresco sleeper who’s just been shown a picture of a puppy after his sixth can of Special Brew. But interestingly, it’s still dead good fun to dance to. It’s a funny business dancing, and no mistake. Someone should write a book about it."

John Doran is editor at The Quietus as well as writer of the finest slice of regular Vice, Menk. 

A big thanks to all our contributors. Work Them returns this Saturday 16th February to Kraak Gallery, 11PM. All the details are here. See you on the floor.

Work Them and Tusk present... Hands Up For Heartbreak

Work Them returns this February for a one-off party for our disco friends, featuring our esteemed pals Tusk in dual control behind the decks, navigating with a lightness of touch through five hours of alternative and electronic music for the body and mind, from weird dubbed out disco, pop re-edits, jackin' house and the odder end of techno.

Work Them/Tusk at Kraak

What's more, we'll be nipping back across Stevenson Square to our original home, Kraak. Over the past year, Kraak has evolved into a perfect space for parties, hosting racocous shindigs from the likes of Wet Play and Off The Hook, all with increasingly refined and ample toilet facilities. We're coming back for one more to take advantage of these developments, and also keep it moving under the venue's camoflague office roof, the perfect meld of the corporate world and the Krypton Factor.

To give you an idea of what to expect from us, take a listen to this month's Work Them mix, the return of our Seasonal Affective Disco, an early doors, nightbus medley featuring original, remixes and re-edits from the likes of Jai Paul, Magic Touch, The XX, Legowelt and Melody's Echo Chamber, we hope to get you out on the long nights and onto the dancefloor.

In the midst of Valentine season, expect an evening of alternative and electronic music designed tocure your soul and jack your body, a unique paean to love's labour lost through the medium of disco, weird pop, house and whatever else takes our fancy on the decks. This Valentines weekend, cancel that  Bella Italia reservation, tape over that Katherine Heigel romcom and stop carving your love spoons - come dance yourself clean.
Free download available at the link.

In short...

SATURDAY 16TH FEBRUARY - KRAAK - STEVENSON SQUARE - 11PM-4AM

£4 ON THE DOOR BEFORE 11 - £5 AFTER