Colour Manchester

Mike Humphries is somewhat of an enigma in many senses. Not one of the “major” players on the scene so to speak, I had a discussion with him very early on in the promotion of this event, based around how he viewed himself. He spoke of being Underground. That, he certainly is.

But my assumptions in that statement were wrong. Whereas so many view the term “Underground” as hard to find or (in some cases) even elitist, what Humphries represents is, for me, the truest sense of the word.

He is uncompromising, visual, and targeted. His website is a testament to resource, quality and interaction, his profile well managed and positioned, the people he links to; all pioneers in their field.

But none of this is underground, this is common sense and passion combined. For me, as it should be, it’s the music he represents that best deserves that description.

Powerful and essential, in my eyes Mike Humphries represents some of the best in UK Techno. Listen to one of his productions:

Spark Taberner – Hunt – Mike Humphries (remix) by Mike Humphries
A classic example of his sound: tight, incisive production that delivers an incredible amount of energy. Pounding, but perfectly controlled – a well executed blend of power and grace. There are very few people, at the moment, who are delivering music of this quality in the UK.

Which is why I think that he (as an artist) and his label (as a base) are so important to us right now. Where in Europe the sound of Techno is still moving, we have very few people who I would describe as champions. For me, as a UK based Techno lover, Humphries is the man that I am betting on.

The future? In relation to all the work we have done for the White Noise show, I think it just as important to highlight the work that the Mastertraxx Podcast does in terms of compiling some of the best music out there.

Check out the latest sounds here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mastertraxx-underground-techno/id359561339
To have Humphries and Clarke on the same bill is a benchmark, of sorts, for the upcoming year. Whatever your feelings, there are so few chances to see what the future might be, few chances to be surprised, amazed and uplifted by the music we love, an experience that every event should be. With these two, I feel pretty confident.

Written By Matt Childs.

To get tickets for this Fridays Colour with Dave Clarke & Mike Humphries please go to : http://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Manchester/Sankeys/Colour-with-Dave-Clarke-Mike-Humphries/11401557/

Let us be clear, there is an agenda.

As our reign at Sankeys approaches one year, we have already achieved so many of the goals that we set ourselves at the start. Dave Clarke? Check. DJ Rush? Check. Chris Liebing, James Ruskin, The Advent, Robert Hood, Sims, Surgeon, Bone, Frank Lorber…

So far, we’ve hit our marks and danced the night away with aplomb each and every time.

September 10th, our penultimate gig at Sankeys before we enter into the next phase of our residency, sees us start to close off the season with an early indication of what might be to come. We hope that you feel as excited as we are at the possibilities. After all, without you guys there would be very little to celebrate.

COLOUR present:

Friday September 10th 2010 @ Sankeys, Manchester.

Sandwell District Live (Regis and Function)
Joey Beltram (20 years of Energy Flash)
Felix Krocher (Compressed)

Plus Colour DJ’s

Online Tickets:
http://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Manchester/Sankeys/Colour—Joey-Betram-Felix-Krocher–more/11383209/

We came, we saw, we sweated.

Whatever your thoughts on Sankeys, July 9th witnessed the club once again as an absolute asylum of techno. This time the order of the day was a chaotic backdrop of pumping fists and peak time contorted faces.

For us, this constitutes a job well done; the unforseen circumstances responsible for abandoning Spektrum were taken in stride as we primed the main basement room for what panned out to be a sweaty seven hour battering.

Andro and Dimitri took us off the mark and turned in a good dose of rumbling futurism to give the basement speakers an early work out, before our own Tom Long and Ed Mackie chipped in and threw it down in anticipation of the arrival of Detroit’s DJ Bone. It had been a long, long time since DJ Bone last graced Manchester, let alone Sankeys, and he showed exactly what we’d been missing as he dispatched a full throttle 90 minute drill of funky and soulful yet driving and relentless 313 techno. This set the tone in stone: not once, for the rest of the entire night, did the pace, energy or atmosphere dip once the man from Detroit had begun setting the place alight.

Sims then took the reigns as Bone’s close was met with riotous applause. A marginally more regular fixture up north, certainly in the UK, but attracts no less as a result, Sims sublimely cut and chopped a period of peak time mayhem; old and new, funky and hard. Across his and Bone’s set, Sankeys’ 1210s haven’t taken a beating like that in years.

Then there was Rush. Everyone had their own idea of what to expect and I think few can say they were right. Tough, percussive, dancefloor fodder, laden with classics and of course the obligatory appearance on the mic to get everyone, ahem, “funked up”. Check the link below for a video of him doing a spot of cheerleading over a Beltram banger..

As Rush left the place at fever pitch all that was left was for Distek, Locked Records purveyor of fine pounders, to give the basement room one final rumble. Cue lights up, and a fine end to a memorable party.

People spoke of how they didn’t leave the dancefloor all night, of a night so musical and involving they couldn’t leave the floor for a second. The smoking terrace seemed to be that little less congested all evening. Doubters were convinced, and those of us in the know were proven right. The event that we spoke of well and truly came about, where three of Techno’s greatest artists came together for an experience that will be remembered for what it was for quite some time.

The next line-up is under preparation, from here on in there’s a lot to expect.