“Conceived on South Beach Miami, born on a rooftop in Ibiza and spreading its wings upon the beaches of San Antonio; melted has now landed in the UK and about to come of age. Bringing you high quality 4-on-the-floor house music all night long.”

Reading that paragraph on the Facebook event page for a new house night at Sound Control caught our attention in a big way. Not only were we  highly intrigued by the conception story but the confidence of the night’s future success seemed high in it’s intro. So as we do, we got in touch with the guys behind it to find out more.

Aimed predominantly at students, the team at Sound Control and Melted have 9 events in the pipeline, all bringing high quality, underground house DJs from across the country. Why do we sound so confident in the night’s success? After meeting the man behind the gig, Kill Suarez, in Font last week and listening to the back-story, the passion and the knowledge that is fueling it, we were quickly persuaded.

After the polite intros, we quickly asked Mr Suarez about Melted and it’s curious beginnings. At the start of the Ibiza 2012 Summer season when looking for DJ gigs and struggling, with his first boss telling him that, “Ibiza was not for you”; Suarez took a leap of faith and decided to put on his own night. Walking up and down the beach of San Antonio Bay, selling tickets to the workers, rather than the tourists, he quickly built a cool, underground reputation, which spread to the tourists trying to attend the “cool workers parties”.

The first night took place at a poolside bar, Casa Maria, and was a big success. Combining the hard work and passion he displayed on the beaches, with his enthusiasm for the music, plus Marco Loco turning up to play on the first night bringing along revelers from his prior boat party gig along, he had a recipe for success in his hands.

A second event was quickly set up, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the first but this time, the venue’s music license was quizzed by the police half way through and what was looking to be an improvement even on the first gig, was halted abruptly. This was not the end of Melted as Suarez was then offered him a weekly spot at V-Club at the bottom of San Antonio’s infamous strip on a busy Saturday night, to which he entertained holiday-makers and workers for the rest of the season.

Upon returning to the UK, Suarez hosted a small night in Trof, Fallowfield, which for the size of the club was a huge boost to his confidence and reputation in Manchester: quickly prompting Sound Control to offer a regular spot at the city centre venue. As Suarez has a huge love for Sound Control, from the live music, the varied rooms and the grimey underground basement, he believed this would provide a perfect environment to bring Melted to Manchester. In Ibiza, he created a dirty, underground club night that was completely different but highly welcomed. In Manchester, the underground, cold, industrial basement room at Sound Control was a perfect match for his vision of the event and brand, reminding him of Hacienda back in the day.

The booking of Mark Wells and Ben Clarke for the first gig should prove to be a brilliant call. Two DJs who are both musically renown across Manchester and the dance music scene. We haven’t witnessed Mark in person but his soundcloud profile says enough for us to know we want to be at Sound Control next Thursday. Ben however, we have seen trouncing Sankeys, The Warehouse Project and various gigs, mainly with Applique; so we can promise you that Ben is a solid, ever growing DJ who is going places in the next few years.

Melted has a simple philosophy; house music, twice a month, no prejudice, just a really good party. Suarez spent last summer proving his mettle in the tough Ibiza scene and is bringing it closer to home at Sound Control. We highly recommend heading down on Thursday 31st January. Check out Kill Suarez’s promo mix below, or join the Facebook event page for more information. Tickets are £5+Bf (MOTD) on the Sound Control website. One note from the team, don’t wear your favourite trainers!

 

This summer sees the return of Electric Elephant Festival, a 5-day boutique escape packed with sun, sea and awesome music in the idyllic setting of the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia. Entering its 6^th season in 2013, get ready for plenty of dancing under the sun and stars on the beautiful Adriatic coastline from Thursday 11^th – Monday 15^th July 2013. A gathering of like-minded souls united from across Europe and beyond, Electric Elephant have just announced more names for its instalment at its new home for this year, The Garden Tinso.

Electric Elephant will be welcoming Manchester music maestro and general brewer of the finest quality tea leaves, Mr Scruff, who will be making his long-awaited debut at the festival. For us at DMM, this is great to see a fellow Mancunian represent this great city at such a prestigious festival abroad and we predict his genre-blending set will be one not to miss!

After enjoying himself so much last year Kompakt Records head honcho, Michael Mayer, will be returning alongside Tobias Thomas plus other new names like Panorama Bar resident Prosumer, Fabric regular Pete Herbert and Wild Bunch founder, DJ Nature. Also on board for this Adriatic adventure include debutants Heidi and Miguel Campbell, as well as familiar faces Andrew Weatherall & Sean Johnson, Optimo, Ivan Smagghe and Ewan Pearson. These are just some of the huge names playing at Electric Elephant, but you can check out the full line-up on the website.

That all sounds pretty good so far, and we’ve not even gone into detail about the location yet. The Garden Tisno is a perfect picture paradise overlooking the clear blue sea beside the secluded sandy beach. With the new site hosting the main stage, beach bar and Tiki bar. Don’t miss out on the legendary Argonaughty, voyages setting sail out across the stunning Adriaticin the evening, plus the infamous after nightly parties. That’s the thing about Electric Elephant, the magic continues well into the early hours, thanks to the amazing new outdoor club, Barbarellas, where you can party under the stars and watch the sun rise. Great for those who are looking for a getaway where they can party 24/7!

Of course, you’ll be staying in Croatia for the duration of the festival, so what about accommodation? The site features on-site apartments and luxury Shikar tents, plus Tisno itself is a picture-perfect postcard town with plenty of shops, restaurant, bars and accommodation options for you to explore. You can find out more info about where to stay on the Electric Elephant website.

Important Extra Info.

Dates: Thurs 11^th – Mon 15^th July 2013
Location: The Garden Tisno, Petrica Glava 34, 22240,Tisno,Croatia
Full weekend tickets: £110.00 / Double Whammy pass with Electric Elephant and The Garden festival: £150
Electric Elephant website

Electric Elephant Promo 2012 from stneon on Vimeo.

Skrillex. Just the mention of his name or the distinctive sounds of his music evokes a reaction; he’s certainly one of those dominating artists who most hold a strong opinion. There’s the lovers, who worship this American electronic producer’s genre-defying stuff, would give him a high-five and wouldn’t hesitate to say he’s a bit of a music legend. But for all the Skrillex fans you’ve got those whose ears cannot physically tolerate the banging, the heaviness, the utter mentalness of his material and accuse him of ruining everything the ‘dubstep’ genre stands for.

Whatever you think of Skrillex there’s no denying he knows how to smash up a crowd – and that crowd will soon be right here in Manchester at the Warehouse Project on Thursday 6^th December -prepared for it to get well and truly destroyed.

Breakin’ A Sweat – WHP style

A few months back this very special addition to the WHP 2012 programme was announced and very quickly caused a bit of a stir: the lovers and haters both voicing what they thought of the news. It’s hard to please everyone but I was quite surprised at the clear divide of comments being made to the Warehouse Project who, credit to them, are open to widening the typical ‘genres’ and offering something for everyone’s tastes throughout the line-up.

From, “I’d rather shit in my hands and clap” to “Big addition. Mean feat getting the biggest act in the world currently to come out especially.” and “Great to see! Skrillex was unbelievable at Belsonic last week and he would do wonders with the WHP sound system!” …I know which side I’m on. But that’s beside the point; Skrillex has chosen to come and put the new WHP venue through its paces. He’s not on tour or even scheduled to be in the country but he’s flying in for this exclusive UK date; Manchester should be proud and we should champion this. Skrillex is, after all, the name that’s leading the change and shaking up the popularity and direction of dance music, electro and dub step.

Let’s make Manchester go ‘Bangerang’

After seeing him at Creamfields (before the near-apocalyptic floods!) I have to say, having seen many a band / DJ set / artist at either a festival or venue and been totally blown away, Skrillex absolutely beyond surpassed my expectations. Now, I’m known to be a bit of a wild one in a crowd or on a dance floor but wow, I don’t think I’ve raved as hard as I did in the BBC Radio 1 Xtra tent on that Saturday night.

Roll on Thursday and get ready for the mentalness and awesomeness Skrillex will bring with him – I’m eating fun dip right now.

Line-up update

Only the other day we heard who else was going to be smashing the crowd up alongside Skrillex: DJs from the same dub-loving, bass-throwing, beat-smashing crowd: Alvin Risk, Baauer and Uz. And what we as DMM were most excited about is that Manchester’s very own Ninjury, the Bass Jockeys and Matt Riley will be dominating the other rooms on the night. Fair to say we’re spoilt for choice and expect to be completely destroyed by Friday…bring it on!

Michael Woods – Joins in Bitch’s 6^th Birthday celebrations.

An artist who has been there, done that and printed the T-shirts. Michael’s achieved so much in his career, countless hit singles, a legendary homegrown imprint, gigs in every corner of the globe and still, after years on the circuit, packs out events and can call all the industry’s greatest as advocates of his work.

No wonder Bitch Events, one of Manchester’s biggest house nights who have reached the 6^th anniversary of their conception, have chosen Michael as their headliner at not just the Manchester event but as they take on their first arena at the nationally renowned Mint Festival.

As Michael Woods prepares to help Bitch celebrate in style, let’s take a minute of his time to find out what we can expect!

You’ve managed to make that enviable cross over and produced for some big pop acts like Example – how do they come about?

If I knew the exact answer to that I’d be knocking them out once a week haha! I don’t decide to do them they just come about. The main goal when producing is to try to make tracks I know will work well in the clubs and that will get the clubbers going nuts. If that track happens to cross over then that’s all good.


What’s it like working with people from more mainstream genres?

No different to working with anyone else, at the end of day people I work with have a passion for music and they want to share their talent and I’m happy to work with anyone who shows as much enthusiasm for music as I do.

What have you got going on at the moment, we’ve heard whispers about a new single?

Yes, I have a brand new release scheduled for release on the 21st October 2012 that features the vocal talents of Ester Dean. The single is called “We’ve Only Just Begun” and is a being released on Ministry of Sound. The video is really sleek and artistic and features the Team GB Gymnastics squad.

You’re a big advocate of pushing the boundaries and exploring where music can take people and run your own label Diffused, are you heavily involved in picking what it releases?

Yes as I want the label to represent the kind of music I play out and the kind of music I know people respond to. It’s really good to get so many cool demos through every day from musicians all around the world and all I can say to people is keep making the music and keep sending it through.

You’ve been a Bitch Events favourite for sometime, playing at their sellout NYD this year already, how was that party?

That party was incredible from the moment I entered until the moment I left, sometime the following day, it was awesome. Even Eddie Halliwell came along to the party, which is an experience in itself and I’m looking forward to the next Bitch event and can’t wait to play alongside Eddie for this one.

What should people expect from you in the Bitch Arena at Mint festival?

I’ll be dropping a lot of new music I’ve been working on lately, some really interesting collaborations in there, namely one with Chris Lake I’m really looking forward to road testing – Bitch will be getting a world exclusive as they’ll be the first ears to hear it.

Festivals vs Clubs – do you have a preference? You’re playing both the Mint Festival Arena for Bitch and their club night in Manchester, can you even compare the two?

It’s really hard to compare the two and I don’t really have a favourite as they both get me motivated in totally different ways. Festivals are great because you tend to be playing in front of a large crowd and the ambience of that is incredible – whereas clubs are more an intimate affair and you can literally reach out and touch the crowd – which is really cool.

What do you make of Leeds and its parties generally? Good vibes?

I love Leeds, and have done so for many years. My mates and me used to take road trips from London to Leeds on a regular basis because the party scene there is so vibrant – everyone wants to have a good time and party non-stop

And finally, anything you’d like to tease the Bitch and Mint crowds with?

Yes, I’m hoping they can catch because I’ll be throwing out a few of my read “MW” sunglasses in to the crowd!

For all the information on Bitch’s birthday weekend, tickets and details of the arena at Mint Festival visit – www.bitchevents.com

For those who can’t make Mint Festival, the Bitch Arena will be streaming live on Be-at.tv, between 5 and 9pm, with Michael Woods, BBC Radio 1′s Danny Howard, Kryder and D.O.D. so you don’t have to miss out completely!

 

 

 

Shout out to the BassJockeys for sharing this with us, had to post it straight away before the tickets sell out! Toolroom Knights earlier announced their 6th birthday celebration plans with a huge treat for Mancunians and 5 other cities across the UK. We Mancunians have an awesome party lined up on the Thursday 11th October at Sound Control, with British DJ and producer extraordinaire Mark Knight, leading the cavalry for a 6 hour set.

The globally acclaimed Toolroom Knights, are known for their incredible eye for talent, building one of our favourite music brands at Dance Music Manchester and I am sure many will agree. Holding residencies on every major continent, from Miami to Moscow, Las Vegas to London and more, most recently with a storming, summer-long residency at Space Ibiza that concludes on October 3rd, returning to the UK to immediately launch their nationwide 6^th birthday tour, starting at Newcastle’s Digital on Friday 5^th October, heading to Ministry of Sound in London, then north of the border to Edinburgh’s Castle Club on Wednesday 10th before we have the privilege to join in on the party.

The £6 exclusive tickets will sell out quickly and are limited at 600 people, so get them fast. Tickets are available on the Toolroom Records website by clicking HERE. We’ll be there, no questions asked. Who’s coming?