AUDIO FARM RESIDENTS 004: ASHER
Fellow Sauce resident (alongside previous resident selector, Bradford Dave), Asher has been a staple underground wall-crawler and DJ for over a decade in the city of Manchester’s sprawling music community, regularly taking to the turntables in venues like The White Hotel and beyond.
Asher has been a huge component in mapping out the sounds of our festival since 2013 as well as our Dug Out stage at the acclaimed Festival Number 6.
This mix has Asher taking you through rugged, bumping rhythms and melodic house sounds all the way to high-end electro-tinged techno.
Enjoy x
AUDIO FARM FESTIVAL RESIDENTS 003: BRADFORD DAVE
Our third in this series of selectors welcomes Bradford Dave to the platform. A permanent fixture at Audio Farm festival since 2013, Dave can be found plying his trade at his Manchester throwdown, 'Sauce' alongside, co-pilot, Asher. You can catch Bradford Dave at this year's Audio Farm festival as part of the Human Shield party for our departed friend, Pete Mangalore.
For those that don’t know who Peter was and why we’re celebrating his life this year, can you give us a little story about him at the festival?
“I remember the first Audio Farm I played at, at the Work House and I was DJing on Friday night. The needles on the decks were fucked and the first 5 or 6 records I played skipped. The room was pretty busy when I started, but soon emptied with the ensuing disaster! To make matters worse, a pissed up lad was continually pestering me to let him have a go, I later found out this was Christian Wood (Il Bosco) of Red Laser fame, who’d been playing earlier. So while the records were skipping and the harassing became more persistent, I asked Pete Mangalore to help out - maybe find someone with better needles, or something, but he wouldn’t because he said it was too funny. He just stood and laughed at me! Typical Peter”.
So, you’ve been with us from the start. What makes you keep coming back?
“Why do I keep coming back? Because I keep getting asked to come back, so why wouldn’t I? It’s a great weekend and it’s testament to you lot for all the hard work you put in that it keeps getting better and better. When I saw the Forest Stage last year, I couldn’t believe how good it looked and I’m really looking forward to finding out what’s in store this year”.
You can catch Dave alongside Asher this coming weekend, instore at Eastern Bloc.
For more info, head here
ESSENTIAL DJ SNEAK
This year's Audio Farm Festival finds us playing host to one of the true heroes of the house music genre in the form of Chicago’s own, DJ Sneak.
It’s fair to say that even today Sneak’s influence still casts a wide shadow, with some of the biggest lights in music today still sighting DJ Sneak as a major influence in their work.
From Basement Jaxx to Daft Punk the accolades for Sneaks work are like a roll call for the who’s who in house music culture.
Now I’m sure everyone has their own favourites that have been left out of this list and it’s easy to see why with such a hefty back catalogue. So this is just a little snapshot of an epic career spanning the best part of 3 decades at the forefront of a style of house music full of soul, swing and viscous funk.
DJ SNEAK – WORK IT
Reeking of party from the word go , the first release on his own first label, Defiant Records, ‘Work it’ BW with the cheeky rag time sound of ‘Mutant Jazz’.
DJ SNEAK - MESSAGE OF LOVE
in 1993, whilst working in Chicago’s acclaimed record shop, Gramophone, Sneak met a young Green Velvet. This meeting led to a partnership that that went on to deliver many fruitful years of work together, including this debut release on Velvet’s fledgling Cajual label.
DJ SNEAK - MANOS QUE TOCAN (DEEP MIX)
One of Sneaks early outings on seminal New York label Strictly Rhythm this stripped back, percussive workout showed another side to Sneaks sound pallet.
DJ SNEAK – FIX MY SINK
Of all the monsters Sneak concocted, it seems this is the one that cemented his legendary status. Featuring vocalist, Bear Who, Fix My Sink came out in 2002 as a part of his solo Album Housekeeping on Credence and has never really gone away since.
DJ SNEAK - LOVE
Taken from the solid ‘Platforms’ EP in 1995 on 83 West records was an incendiary record for both Techno and house dancefloors alike across the world.
DJ SNEAK & ARMAND VAN HELDEN - PSYCHIC BOUNTY KILLAZ (PT-2)
1999 saw a release another collaboration with long time friend and studio buddy Armand Van Helden as part of his 2 Future 4 U EP, this mutated disco frenzy appeared alongside monsters like ‘Necessary Evil’ and the timeless house anthem, “You Don’t Know Me”.
DJ SNEAK - SHOW ME THE WAY
Never one to shy away from a big sample, Sneak took ‘The Jackson 5’s ‘Show You The Way To Go’ and turned out a mid-nineties house monster.
DJ SNEAK – ALL OVER MY FACE 08
Originally released in 95 as part of Da Pimpdoggin EP, this Loose Joints ‘All Over My Face’ sampling monster was updated to great effect some 13 years later.
DJ SNEAK – U CAN’T HIDE FROM YOUR BUD
1997 was a huge year for Sneak. Riding high with international acclaim. A wealth of remixes from Daft Punk to Dave Clarke and a member of DJ super-group, alongside Roger and Jnr Sanchez, as part of the S Men. To top it off, he goes and tears up the roots with this timeless anthem.
U can’t hide from your bud sampled teddy Pendergrass's "You Can't Hide From Yourself’
Interview with Carl Craig
Carl Craig Interview
Carl Craig has long been on the Audio Farm radar. On Sunday 2nd September 2018, Carl Craig will finally play on Audio Farm Festivals Sundance Stage. What a Sunday treat. There is now just under 4 weeks to go until the gates on open 30th Aug 2018 at the stunning Hopton Court. Tickets are running low and looking like a sell out event.
https://www.skiddle.com/news/all/Carl-Craig-interview-Life-In-A-Northern-Town/38571/
Audio Farm Residents: Cy Humphreys
With it being an epic task to put on a festival with such a small team, none of the team has yet to put together a mix for our website in the 2 years. Not a one! Enter our resident house music botherer and Beatport underachiever, Cy Humphreys, who’s hastily put together a weighty mix from our farm to your table.
So how did you come to be involved in the festival?
“Well, I’ve been involved from the very start of the road I’d say. I first met the guys at gatherings and parties in remote parts of North Wales about 2007 - come to think of it, I distinctly remember my first ever encounter with Ste (Chesters) – him telling me he wanted to create a festival environment with some of the biggest artists in the world. You hear that sort of thing all the time and I laughed it off as easily. They set up shop in Withington and Audio Farm opened the doors in the Northern Quarter’s Moho Live, early 2009.
After a flurry of events with the likes of Derrick May, Shonky, Radioactive Man, Evil 9, I ate my words, moved up to Manchester and joined the circus. I’ve never really looked back. I’ve watched the rabble grow into a thriving, busy village of super-talented heroes make some truly breath-taking festival moments I’ll never forget”.
Like?
“The production value that went into the Forest Stage last year was outstanding I think it was a guy called Daniel Jacques that came up with the design. I apologise if I leave anyone out. Our décor crew like Sonya and Dawn, source such odd and unique pieces. There’s not too many times I walk round the site when I don’t have to do a double take.
Last year the crew managed to get hold of some of the set from the BBC show, Peaky Blinders, they turned a passport checking booth into a bar. I do get chuffed pointing it out to people like I had some credit in that happening. Reflective glory!”
What do you play at the festival?
“House and disco (no edits) with a bit of techno like Robert Hood or Anthony Shakir with acapellas, Rick & Morty clips. There’s no real standard format. But the bulk of it is house…… A few rave records. Everyone plays rave from time to time these days. I’ve got some stuff that I’ve made that’s exclusive to me that I’m too lazy to get released”
“I played a dubstep remix once, too.”
What are your highlights to check out at this year’s Festival?
“The line-up this year has to be a favourite from my point of view, as I own at least one record of every artist at the top of the bill. Carl Craig will surely be something special and I’m handing over the headphones to DJ Sneak this year, too.
As far as people off the beaten track so-to-speak? Someperson. He’s, like this dusty, Dilla-esque guy from round my way. Sam Watson is always good. We’re also having a Human Shield event to mark our lovely friend Pete Mangalore, who sadly passed this year. This will be a permanent fixture at the festival now as he was a highlight at every event we put on.
Errr, Barry Gammon and The Midday incident, as I want to know what Paul’s done with his viral fame after his offer of “12 free bales of hay” post went viral with hundreds and thousands of shares across the globe last winter. You’d think they didn’t have free hay in Japan, not to mention the delivery charge on that from Preston?"
Could you give us a few of your favourite memories behind the turntables at the festival and are there any special tracks reserved for your Audio Farm set?
“Last year, I did 5 back to back 18 hour shifts then went to warm up for Lone on the Forest Stage.
A few years ago a guy didn’t turn up for his set and Pete (Mangalore) came running past me saying ““Matt’s (Black Eyes) try’na blag it – grab yer records - we’re not gonna let that c**t get away with it”.
Once there he demanded we were doing it topless”.
I guess I’m known at the festival for playing the Ashley Beedle remix of The Streets ‘Weak Become Heroes’ as a closer”
Tell us about your mix?
It was recorded live in one take on a Sunday morning in Hoole with my girlfriend when we were dog sitting for my mate, Danny. He’s got some decent kit so I pugged in and played for a bit.
I’ve only got one turntable and no mixer at home so I took the rare opportunity. There wasn’t any planning that went into it (as will become apparent)
Intro with Amy Poehler.
D Train you’re the one for me
Gary’s Gang – Lets Lovedance (Danny Krivitt Edit)
Gene Chandler – When You’re #1
Dan Shake - Magic Marcel
Global Communication The Way (Secret Ingredients Mix)
Roman Rauch – Too Many Things
MF Doom- Devil’s Shoestring (Cody Currie’s Re-Jazz)
Kyle Hall - Tomorrow is the day
Mr G & G Flame - G’s Sound Dub
Anonym - Deep Ending
Round II – New Day
G Prod – D-Light
Kink – Chorus
Russ Gabriel – Change
DJ H – Come On Boy (Larry Levan Mix)
Marques Hawkes – Basement is Burning
Koenig Saatgut – The Spirit
Doc Daneeka - Never Wanna Lose Your Love
Duke Silver – DugOut
Unbreakable Kimmy Choir – Ellija Rise
HOME OF THE DRUM - BY NIGHT (SPOTIFY PLAYLIST)
Pulsing through the night, powered by a fusion core of molten Detroit soul, underpinned German engineering, 'Home Of The Drum - By Night', will be piloted by some of the most legendary figures the global techno scene has to offer.
To help get acquainted with the talent we've got on offer, we've decided to put together a very special 'Home Of The Drum - After Dark' Spotify Playlist, to give your ears a bit of a rub down.
This playlist takes a tour round a few highlights of our guest's prolific careers, taking in the likes of Juan Atkins' seminal 1982 record as Cybotron - Clear, as well as fellow Detroit resident, DJ Bone's 'It's All About'.
Scottish legends, Slam, have painted their way through seven shades of techno textures over the years, as you can see from their first release on their own Soma Recordings, 'Eterna'.
And we have XDB and his fist pumping, 'Indywa' whereas Fellow Freerotator, DJ October on the list with tracks like, 'Drama Queen'.
You can catch these guys alongside residents of some of the area's most respected party platforms. Manchester vinyl monolith, Eastern Bloc will be represented by Kerrie, *Means&3rd and Akram and front-running techno party, Meat Free will be in control of Saturday, with their residents: Blasha & Allatt Alice Woods and Lucy Ironmonger.
Liverpool's leaders in the underground and hosts of Friday's party, 303, take over with their residents: Kenny Muir Stuart Hodson and Gemma Muir. Not to mention our residents: Leon Mittenacht, Gary Sloan and Tom Houghton.
For more playlists from us and our guests, you can subscribe to our Spotify page. You can just cloick It's right there. It'd be rude not to.
You can also check out exclusive mixes and more music on our SoundCloud page.
HOME OF THE DRUM - DAYTIME
Edging closer and closer, like a stampede of colour, rhythm and sound, One Tribe is well and truly over the horizon and heading towards us at what seems like breakneck speed.
With all the music on offer, we're sure there's not a person here that's heading down to Cholmondeley Castle that hasn't got their highlights in the lineup. But just to help you out in discovering some new sounds to get your head around, we've put together a series of Spotify playlists with sounds of the artists that will be pumping out of the speakers.
We began by examining The Forest Stage's wealth of musical acumen with tracks by the likes of Boddika, Lone, Move D, Psychmagik and Roberto.
Next, under the melodic microscope, we have The Home Of The Drum during the daytime.
While seven shades of techno pulse through The Home of The Drum by night, the day belongs to a procession of eclectic sounds from all over the world.
Highlights include Stadium electro titans, The Egg, that will be taking us back to transforming car adverts in 2007 with their Radio One strangling 'Walking Away'. Wild Marmalade blend primal didgeridoo sounds with swingy chords in 'Redbelly'. Afriquoi lay down original uplifting and contemporary African influenced house. The Turbans give you a taste of traveller rave before the industrial revolution through their Balkan Beats, whereas the John Fairhurst's mountainous voice strides over a punchy, stripped back, Mississippi Delta groove on 'Hungry Blues'.
With only one track per artist on this playlist, these tracks are needles in the harmonic haystack, so a bit of extra research might advisable (with a great many artists not actually being on Spotify). And be sure to subscribe for future exclusive playlists from Lone, Move D, DJ October and Roberto and many more artists.
For more music and downloads you can head to our SoundCloud page for exclusive mixes by Luv*Jam, Duckett and live recordings from One Tribe itself.
RADIO ONE TRIBE - THE MANGO CLUB
The big cities have always been the places you go to find new music and listen to talented, bubbling under talent before the inevitable explosion of popularity. The Mango Club in Chester buck this trend, playing host to some of contemporary underground's breaking talents to packed out, fever pitch crowds every time they open their doors.
We tried to get inside the heads of founders and promoters, Alan and Benito, in order to get to know a little bit about their monstering Cestrian success story.
So I’m sure you get this a lot, but could you tell us a bit about how you both (and Benito) came up with the name?
Sure. The name 'the mango club' comes as at the time a couple of our mates used to call each other mango "hey mango". As the party started purposely to bring friends together through music we decided the name, worked quite well and we went with it.
I’ve got to say I’m a fan of the event page/flyer art too. Can you tell us a bit more about the inspiration behind these works?
Yes this is a massive part of us as a party and showcasing talent of people from our area is very important. Each year we give an art creative freedom to design the flyers for the events, The inspiration for this there are a lot of talented people from Chester and we want them to be part of the Mango club. We like to incorporate aspects of the city in the design to give representation.
For a club night outside of a major city, you’ve managed to make a success of booking some of the freshest underground artists and DJs over the years without any cynical ploys or resorting to booking more obvious names. My question is; How all of that?
Alan: It's a great scenario for us to be honest and one we appreciate. We have a blank canvas And just want to bring our favourite artists to the party and by doing this have gained a trust from the community who come. We used to dream of bribing some of the people we have been able to into Chester. It's a nice thing to do for our community.
Benito: I think a lot of credit also lies with the team we built around us and have continued to develop. Because there never was much of a scene in the city, like Alan said - we have, and do still have a blank canvas. Accompany the fact that the crowds are relatively young and willing to be educated or so to speak, along with the fact that we have a really hard working team encouraging people to come to the parties - we are kinda on to a winning recipe. They come, they enjoy it and then they keep coming and they haven’t had their heads turned by boring and obvious tech-house artists because nobody is really doing that around here, they’ve gone straight into the good stuff which allows us to continue to book genuinely exciting up and coming artists rather than having to compromise our ethos.
Sticking with some of the names you’ve booked over the 4 years, are there any highlights or DJ’s that have surprised you that come to mind?
Alan: Christopher Rau was a bit difficult (crowd-wise). Apart from that everyone else has been first class. We've witnessed outstanding performances night after night.
Benito: I will have to echo what Alan said, almost every single one of the artists has been impeccable, both behind the decks and as a person. We actually became such good friends with Jordon (Mall Grab) he’s just moved in over the road and I'm currently tour managing for him as some work on the side. He would be an obvious highlight for me and is the perfect example of us booking somebody on the cusp of their big break. Willow would have to be another highlight, I've never seen (vinyl only) mixing as smooth as that before in my life and the crowd were on point as always. HNNY as well, I think that was our first ever sell out if I remember rightly. He was unbelievable and it’s such a shame he is no longer playing out anymore. I guess that makes it all the more special that we had him. He was such a nice guy and we wish you all the best Johan!
Mango Club Resident, Nick Jones provided us with an eloquently sourced mix to give a glimpse of what to expect from their take over with himself, Alex Wilson and Benedikt Webber and special guest, Luv*Jam on a Friday that also includes 12 hours of Freerotation as well as appearances from DJ Bone XDB,
RADIO ONE TRIBE: FURTHUR PROGRESSIONS - ONE TRIBE SPECIAL
With less than a month to go before we take to the Cheshire countryside to envelop ourselves in a weekend whirlpool of musical talent and we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s in store at the festival.
So it came as something of a godsend when the hosts of Audio Farm Festival's Psychedelic Stage, Furthur Progressions Records dropped this special Audio Farm Festival podcast into our laps.
Hosted by the label head honcho, Hamish the mix steers its way through some of the finest highlights and snapshots of what to expect at the festival, including guest interviews and anecdotes from two of our headliners in the form of underground superstars, Cimi and Bedouin.
This transcendentally talented trio will be appearing in a weekend of bleeps, creeps and sweeps with melodic mayhem, alongside some of the genre's top underground talents that include: Fabio & Moon, Gaudi and Sonic Species.
You can check the podcast right here:
303 LIVERPOOL FEATURE: MASTERS OF MACHINE MUSIC ON MERSEYSIDE
It's fair to say that Liverpool's underground music scene has had a facelift from the Cream dominated years with a slew of new venues and club nights pulling themselves out of the woodwork and into a scene that's teeming with fresh talent.
303 have very much established themselves as charge leaders in making the city the hot-spot that it is today with a who's who of electronic music's greatest envelope pushers and legendary selectors gracing the turntables to packed, fever-pitch crowds at every show.
Clubnight cornerstone, Kenny Muir sat down to answer the pressing (and some not-so) questions behind the 4-year roller-coaster ride through the Williamson Tunnels and beyond.
So, the city of Liverpool‘s underground seems to flourishing in the last few years do you think you’re a symptom of the revival or part of the cause?.
"It certainly is flourishing and it’s great to see so many try their hand at the promotion game. Liverpool isn’t the biggest city in the country but it is certainly the most competitive with new nights popping up literally every month and some great one’s well. There’s not many cities as healthy as Liverpool for dance music right now".We are now in our 4th year and I would say rather than being a symptom I would say we are very much part of the cause".
Over the years have there been special tunes that go off particularly well at 303 parties?
"There’s been so many but highlights would have to be Higher State of Consciousness, which nearly destroyed the tunnels, when Josh Wink visited and we all have very special memories of Andrew Weatherall closing with the John Talabot remix Teengirl Fantasy: ‘Cheaters Never Win’.
"There was James Zabiela closing seamlessly with Drum n Bass into Sasha’s Track 10 and my personal favourite from Robert Hood last year who closed up with the Bucketheads The Bomb into New Order Blue Monday".
Have you ever been sent a mix tape?
"We have never received a mix tape, however, I think it would be a real great way of getting our attention. As with most promoters we received mixes via soundcloud links but people can be so lazy with this. I’m old fashioned in my approach to this and would be so much more inclined to give someone a slot at 303 if they came and supported the night and got to know us all. That’s far better than sending a friend request and then sending a link to your mix with no introduction".
In a walking dead scenario, which of your previous guests would you like at your side?
"Well off the top of my head one of the guests I think would add real value to keep our 303 crew together in the face of a zombie apocalypse would be Dave Clarke. The Baron of techno would have no problem at all destroying revived corpses".
And should that massive inconvenience not happen, who would you like to see at 303 in future?
"Well, should the apocalypse not happen we have a long list of DJs but the likes of Sasha, John Digweed & Kolsch would be perfect for me to die happy!"
If you can't wait for Kenny and the team to show us how they do things in the pool, then you can catch them in Williamson tunnels once a month to experience the finest in techno. If you can, then you're a stronger person than I and you can catch the 303 crew alongside Juan Atkins and DJ Bone this August at Audio Farm Festival.