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 

SMS takeover.

We're very much looking forward to tomorrow night at our new basement, Q Cavern and we're happy to have Seb from Stop Making Sense lending a hand. In anticipation of tomorrow, he's put together a little playlist of the stuff he's been playing out, from hypnotic electronic to inappropriate house, we're sure you'll enjoy it.

Work Them
Q Cavern
Newton Street
17th November
10-3AM


See you soon. x


Joe- Studio Power ON

 

I think Joe is a vastly underrated producer. I'm a huge fan of the way his samples are so crass and seem cheaply placed over the track like some 90s clip art. I guess that's his main skill though his tracks are sparse and he manages to balance them so well that the end result is totally fantastic. Check out all his shit.

 Mike Dunn-Phreaky MF
 

 Smutty house vocals really do it for me, if a track is talking about how someone is going to shit on another whilst holding their large ____ I instantly buy it up.... I once played this record at one of the NQs street parties at about 6pm, apparently there were young children running around.....I feel.....ashamed.




 Discrete unit- Shake Your Body Down



This came out a couple of years ago.... I still can’t get enough of the bass hook.


 Kassim Mosse- untitled A

 I am a regular attendant to the night meandyou and those guys really got me switched on to the workshop crew. I saw Kassim Mosse play live this summer it was awesome, I’m pretty sure I didn’t say a word throughout his whole set. This is a stunning opus of a track, full on journey.


 Marcel Fengler- Friction
 

 I used to be really into all this Ostgut style techno and made frequently pilgrimages to Berlin. I remember when I first started going out an dancing to 'harder' music how I used to just get super locked into the groove and get fixated on all the subtle changes in the tracks……this isn’t the track I wanted to post…. But I think it’s a pretty decent example of what I’m getting at.





SMS has been going for just over 5 years now. In that time we've played host to guests from Pangaea to Mike Simmonetti to ...and you will know us by the trail of dead. I think that mix of those artists pretty much well sums up the night, it's meant to be fun with an anything goes music policy that doesn’t take it's self all too seriously. To celebrate our 5th birthday we are having belated a party next Thursday (22nd) at Common.  As we are  turning 5 we plan to have cake, party bags and fancy dress. You are all invited with open arms.

Work Them at Q Cavern + New Basement Mixtape

After two months worth of sweat and sellout crowds at Soup Kitchen, Work Them shifts up the road but keeps it down in the basement with a night at Manchester's coolest and strangest new venue, Q Cavern.

You wouldn't suspect that this unassuming jerk chicken mini-mecca could make for such a great party, but Q Cavern is fast gaining a deserved reputation amongst those in the know, and we're delighted to bring you another night of weird and wonderful body music below Newton Street. If you've yet to sample Q, we'll be waiting with new discoveries, current groovers and records that still sound as fresh as any from the worlds of disco, psychedelia, post-punk, house, experimental, bass and more. Willing feet and broad minds required. 

As per, you can find all the details and RSVP at our Facebook event here.

To celebrate in our usual fashion we've released a special new Nyce and Slow mixtape, mixed live by our John, and designed to give you a feel for the early hours of Work Them. It's a a low-tempo but big impact 45 minute mix for you, dear potential punter/Work Them convertee, which happily gels alt-rock, slow ass acid and weird pop. Tracklist after the jump and a download link on the way.

Don't forget to have a gander around our Mixcloud for more furtively mixed mixtape nuggets.

Work Them Basement Tape #2 - Nyce N' Slow by Workthem on Mixcloud

 Tracklisting....

Maria Minerva with LA Vampires - Seasons Change

Orange Juice - Rip It Up (Dicky Trisco Edit)

Venice Beach - Da Mind

Mock & Toof - My Head

Dead Rose Music Company - Your Kisses

Matthew Dear - Her Fantasy

Homework - Spinning Top

Daniel Avery - The Eagle

Wooden Shjips - Crossing (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Walls - Into Our Midst (Capracara Remix)

JETS - Sin Love With You

Work Them Basement Tapes - Vol 1.

The first in a series, Work Them's Basement Tape Vol. 1 is 50 minutes of music, selected to reflect the sounds of our monthly discoteque. Gradually increasing in tempo from the organic experimental stylings of Can and Brian Eno to the visceral machinery of Factory Floor and Daniel Avery, whilst Prince shows up before it gets lairy to remind us of our own humanity. 

Work Them returns to Soup Kitchen on Saturday 13th October, from 11PM-330AM. £4 on the door before midnight, £5 after.

Work Them's Basement Tapes - Vol. 1 by Workthem on Mixcloud

Work Them returns... again

First thing's first... A massive thankyou to all of you who made it down to the bowels (not bowls) of Soup last weekend for the first edition of Work Them 'by night' in quite a while. Any by all of you, I do really mean all of you, as we had a total sell out event on our hands. So as well as a big thanks to everyone who kept dancing until the end, and for not making a single shite request along the way, a big apology to anybody who couldn't make it in. Fortunately, you'll have another chance, but you'll need to move quick sharp. Work Them returns on Saturday October 13th to Soup Kitchen once more, for another throwdown of full bodied alternative and electronic music for the body and mind, but be warned, this is no victory lap. We've got plenty more where that came from - more grooves, more fuzz, more weird stuff, more liberal use of the strobe light and smoke machine. No fuss, no muss, so see you down there? It's just £4 in before midnight, and only £5 after. This event follows on directly from Now Wave's PINS headline show, so come find us and we'll see if we can cut you a deal should you want to stick around.

You can find the poster below - click for the Facebook event - and then scroll for a quick video playlist of some choice tunes that those in attendance appeared to enjoy. For a more comprehensive, but hopefully not too conclusive idea of that Work Them sound, drop by our Mixcloud for a history of streaming live mixes. There's more of them to come too, as well as a few other features and interviews.

Work Them at Soup Kitchen

As promised, Work Them returns this month to a brand new venue that'll really allow us to take it up a gear, down in the basement of Soup Kitchen. If you've never had the chance to visit, you're in for a great party. And we don't use the term party lightly. It's the perfect setting for five hours of weird and wonderful body music with minimal but effective disco lights, dubious enclaves and chatty communal unisex toilets. Oh, and a great soundsystem and a typically up for it crowd. Just in case communal toilets aren't enough to convince you to part with £4*. That's right, less than a premium jacket potato in many of the UK's top chain retailers. Ladies and gentlemen, this is hype.
 

Credit to Natalie Dunning for our crisp poster, as well as all our other artwork.

To celebrate, and also because it just seems like the sensible thing for a still relatively fresh club night, we've produced an hour of music mixed and mastered to give you an idea of jus what to expect down there. Entitled Work Them's Somewhat Esssential Mix #2 and is the sequel to last year's mix, stil available on our own Mixcloud archive. Held together with a more four the floor style reflective of what to expect now we found ourselves below ground level (where things get deep, yo), you'll still find an eclectic hour of music covering a wide range of edits of artists and producers from Zomby to Kate Bush, Nicolas Jaar to Bob Sinclair, some chopped up, beefed out or rearranged, some nestling comfortably in their original form. Listening atmosphere suggestions include a Metrolink at sunset without a ticket, a hungover shower or with a girl you want to impress. If you suspect she may be impressed by Andrew Weatherall remixes, therefore rendering her a keeper.

Work Them presents... Somewhat Essential Mix #2 by Workthem on Mixcloud

 The mix is also available as a free download with a quick visit to our Facebook event page here, which contains everything you need to know, but, in short...

WORK THEM

SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER

10:30PM - 3:30AM

£4 BEFORE MIDNIGHT/£5 AFTER

GET OUT THE HOUSE MUSIC ALL NIGHT LONG.

 

 

Afternoon Delight & Summer Mixtape

Hello, nice catching up. It's all been a bit quiet on the blog front as of late, but fear not, the Work Them cogs are turning and things are coming together. A few of said things, we're pleased to be able to tell you about right now.

Currently, we're going to ride out the drizzly dusk of Manchester's summer scene and come back with more proper parties in September, which will incorporate guest DJs, a few live acts and the same sound but different as usual. In the meantime, to keep us alive in hearts and minds, we're making our presence felt in various bars and basements for the meantime.

First of all, we're pleased to announce that Work Them's director of sonics and flyer-size, John Thorp, will be undertaking a new residency on the last Saturday of each month at the ubiquitous Deaf Institute, between the Aquatics centre and the kebab shops of Manchester's contrived Southern Quarter. From 3PM to 9PM, expect a set that transitions fluidly from an afternoon laze around to a pre-night out drink-up, taking in ambient electronica, psychedelic edits, warped hip-hop, laid back disco and hypnotic shoegaze. Given that we've six hours to fill, we'll also be inviting down some very special guests over the coming months, often taking the advantage of the daylight streaming in to play the sort of music you might not expect...

As well as the speaker output, The Deaf Institute (AKA, 'The Deaf', AKA, 'The Deafy', AKA, 'The Wes Institute'), will be serving it's fine selection of craft ales and impressive cocktails, to match the mood. Also encouraged are zines, mixtape swaps, crafts, t-shirt printing and readings. This gives us a broad remit, so if any of you have any ideas of something matching but beyond the musical realm to match, do get in touch. After all, this is your event. Actually, no, it's ours, but there's no better company than like minded souls.

We'll be compiling an accompanying Spotify playlist for the event to enjot at your leisure, and whilst our edition is not for a month or so at the time of writing, the series launches with our pals Dr. Me this Saturday the 7th July, whose are fine designers and DJs to boot.

Meanwhile, we've a summer tinged mix to download and stream over at Mixcloud here. We've previously been advocates of Soundcloud, but they didn't seem to want this one as apparently the new Major Lazer track featured, and is particularly copyright protected. This is particularly stupid as not only did I customarily lay some wonky electro-jazz chords over the end of it anyway, but it was a free giveaway. I tell you kids, it wasn't like this back with Freeserve. Anyway, do enjoy it, and some of our favourite tracks this year from the likes of Slow Magic, Romare and Trevino.

Natural nger at Diplo notwithstanding, we've some great stuff planned, so thanks for your time, see you for some Afternoon Delight. x