Modeselektion (Modeselektor, Squarepusher, Four Tet et al) – Warehouse Project, Manchester - 9/12/11
5/5
‘Tis a rare thing that I make the trip outside my adopted home of Leeds specifically for a club night. West Yorkshire’s finest has one of the most renowned dance and electronic music scenes in the world, and I usually find that, if an artist happens to be appearing in a nearby metropolis, they’ll probably wend their way through the city at some point in the coming weeks.
The Warehouse Project is different though. One of the country’s most celebrated bass music nights, every autumn weekend thousands of clubbers make the pilgrimage to an otherwise nondescript car-park underneath Manchester’s Piccadilly station to see how some of the world’s top acts adapt to the cavernous interior of the Store Street space. And, since it’s now entering the final month of the final run at the legendary venue, it would have been rude of me to not make the hour-odd jaunt across the Pennines one last time.
Few line-ups this year, festivals aside, will be as strong as the one assembled for this particular night. It’s one of the strengths of running a night as acclaimed as WHP – artists actively want to come and experience the night for themselves, and with a reputation for only booking the best they feel welcomed by both crowd and organisers. Plus, when the event’s curated by Modeselektor, the crown princes of techno, you’re guaranteed something a little bit special.
Modeselektor themselves were a full-frontal bodily assault in the best possible way. Twisting your solar plexus with gnarly bass, lobbing darts behind your eyelids courtesy of their typically whacked-out visuals, and sending out wily melodies to grab hold of your brain, the German twosome proved why event organisers let them take over their shows so often. An impeccably crafted set took in both their earliest and latest releases, with 2007’s monolithic Happy Birthday! forming the crux of the proceedings. For ninety minutes they pummelled Manchester, clamping the Warehouse Project in their jaws and refusing to let go until all the blood drained away. However, what Modeselektor do so very well is making such a violent artistic experience pleasurable – the nutso amalgam of genres that is their music means that while your head may be picking out elements of rap or trance, your feet are firmly locked into an electro four-to-the-floor. Watching them is immersive in the sense that you’re kept so on your toes (literally and figuratively) that you can’t help but engage with the experience on quite a few levels. A mashed, sloth-like rendition of ‘Let Your Love Grow’ to end the set seemed fitting – the twisted dub of that track, screwed to a shuffle and accompanied by eerie projections of woodland, became a full-body experience where surrendering yourself to the music was the only thing you could do. And of course, it helps that it’s one of the best songs of the last five years.
Modeselektor’s success was augmented by the stellar assembly of acts they had in support. Slowed down to 130bpm rather than the 140bpm that has always been the norm for his bass wobbles, Skream turned in a delightfully soulful mix that encompassed some of the very best in new electronic music. Boddika, Drums of Death, Hackman and the man himself were mixed with the sort of panache you’d expect from a performer of Skream’s experience, and both crowd and artist seemed to revel in the chance to step outside his comfort zone. He did it with style. (N.b. Skream’s mix from the night is available for download here.) Four Tet provided a good foil to Modeselektor, warming the crowd before the headliners with a set of deep house grooves at once mellow and danceable, and Squarepusher prepped the crowd for the Deutsch duo via a live performance of that intense, wonky drum & bass stuff he’s done so well for so long.
The second room, overseen by the excellent Scottish label Numbers, managed to embrace the eclecticism of the night while still serving up some weighty sets from some weighty artists. Hudson Mohawke, for many people the night’s biggest draw of either stage, banged out a load of high-calibre hip-hop before unleashing a flurry of selections from his recent Satin Panthers EP. ‘CBAT’ and its dog-woof of a lead line provided the night’s most leftfield sing-along, and ‘Thunder Bay’, as we all knew it would, brought the house down. Deadboy’s schizophrenic set encompassed everything from house to soca and back again, and Numbers label head Jackmaster played the evening’s most crowd-pleasing set, dropping the likes of SBTRKT and Digital Mystikz before aping James Blake’s Store Street set in November by closing with all 522 seconds of ‘Purple Rain’, which was obviously awesome.
Such an extensive list of big-hitting acts was always going to serve up much in the way of excellence. In fact, if there was one criticism of the line-up, it’s that there was too much of it – kicking off at 4.30, Pearson Sound’s set proved a bridge too far for many of the less hardy ravers who otherwise might have stuck around for him. Still, a minor quibble, and of course you can’t please everyone. It’s a testament to the Warehouse Project that, a good few years after its inception, they continue to serve up such high quality line-ups with such frequency. As the curtain comes down on their Store Street residency, where they go from here is anyone’s guess – but one thing that’s guaranteed is that there’ll be a hell of a lot of people following them wherever they end up. Here’s to hoping that Modeselektor and their chums will join them for the ride.
Artists in this article: Modeselektor, Squarepusher, Four Tet, Hudson Mohawke
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