An old mechanics garage with razor wire on the flat roof, stripped out and pumped full of smoke.
Manchester’s best dance venue, in Salford.
Longstanding resident and local DJ’s Anz and Tom Boogizm frequent the iconic music venue, nestled in the forgotten industrial estates was the legendary Manchester selector ‘Anz’
As with every night at the iconic Salford venue the night kicked off late, starting at 12pm, but only really getting going around the two o clock mark. The listening was easy going and not too heavy, floating around the 130 beats per minute mark, for some stylish breakbeats and left-field house. The venue was packed out from the get-go, with a ‘5 out and 1 in’ policy from 2am onwards. But the music lover’s inside were oblivious to their fellow audiophile’s problem with the sideways rain, because Anz had just stepped up to the decks.
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The Manchester selector commenced her set complimenting the rain outside. Heavy. She started with some left-field electro, featuring screeching synths, as I fumbled to load some film into my camera, you could feel the anticipation in the crowd. She had the audiences attention, and over the next two hours would expose them to some fast moving breaks, sure to get everyone dancing, with the help of MC Chunky.
Anz showcased a few of her own productions throughout her set, most noticeably last summers massive hit, “Unravel in the designated zone” With a melodic synth lead and intermittent drums that sent the crowd into a humming frenzy, mimicking the synth, whilst reminiscing on the summer just gone.
This was swiftly followed up by ‘Loos In Twos’, a song off Anz’s debut E.P for Hessle Audio, a label ran by White Hotel frequenters: BenUFO, Pearson Sound and Pangea. The song features heavy breaks and an outstanding vocal sample that got the crowd moving, contributing to a more immersive and collective experience. The fast paced nature of the track played to MC Chunky perfectly, using the tradition of toasting over rhythms to keep the crowd on their toes.
Listen to the breaks and MC Chunky toasting below:
As you can hear the crowd was electric. Anz finished her set with some face-pasted breakbeats that were very well received by the crowd, she left the booth to a packed out venue giving her a round of applause.
However, things soon ramped up again when Salford resident, ‘Tom Boogizm’ stepped up to the decks, teasing the crowd with some heavy drums and jungle rhythms. By the time he had mixed in his second song everyone was moving and cheering. This set Boogizm up perfectly for his specialty. Dancehall.
Boogizm’s affinity for dancehall is intertwined with his own experience from a trip he took to South Africa, teaching children about music as a form of therapy.
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It was a refreshing change from the normal plethora of music that you would hear at ‘rave’ venue. This was evident in the way the crowd were moving, its not often you get to experience these kind of tunes in a venue like this, and the crowd were taking full advantage of this and making the most of it.
Normally the crowd tends to thin out by the time the sunlight starts to intrude and 6am rolls around . But not this time, it was as full as ever and the crowd were loving it.
Click on the video below to hear some of what the crowd had to say, along with a video of the inside:
When the time to leave did finally come around everyone regretfully filtered out, one by one, back into the rain.
Check out Anz’s page here and Tom Boogizm’s page here, for any upcoming events and news.
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