For students who are serious about bass and heavy house, who want a night purely about this (plus decent priced-drinks), the guys behind Rum & Bass may have the answer. Launching on 2nd February, Antwerp Mansion, the former Belgian embassy-turned-squatters-mansion will be transformed, every other Saturday, into a haven for bass heavy house lovers, offering surprise additions and appearances from guest DJ’s.

Rum & Bass

We were chuffed and intrigued when we got a tweet from the guys at Rum & Bass (@RumNBassMCR) inviting us to come down for the opening night. The Gig Room is all about Rum & Bass residents and the best MC’s, with the best tracks from Julio Bashmore, Disclosure, Eats Everything, Mark Knight, Jamie Jones and many more.

Over in The Ball Room, you’ve got ‘The Best of Bass Music – Exposure DJ’s Takeover’ with popular tracks by the likes of Redlight, Sub Focus, Netsky, Magnetic Man and Rudimental, to name but a few.

This all sounds well up our street and it’s good to see a venue outside of the city centre putting on what is expected to be a decent night for music. This fits in with the ethos of Antwerp Mansion, a renovation project striving to turn a beautiful but run-down Victorian Mansions into a music, art and photography haven. This fortnightly Saturday night event looks like it’ll help the venue achieve this for music, bringing in students and those passionate about house/bass.

Launch night poster

So, if you like the sound of a ‘strictly bass heavy’ night at a unique venue out of town and fancy something a bit alternative, come down and join us at the launch of Rum & Bass…we’ll be the ones at the front starting a DMM Dance Off most likely!

Saturday 2nd February @ Antwerp Mansion, 9pm – 3am
Website: rumandbassmanchester
Tickets: Fatsoma website

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?

OK, so we’re all over Gina Star at the moment. She absolutely nailed Venus, Manchester with her exhilarating  house set, with DMM throwing some ridiculous dance moves at the front as per usual. Not only is she technically brilliant, brought a variety to her tracklist and really lovely but she’s a great performer and danced her socks off straight through the set.

We then found her brand new podcast in our inbox and had to share it with the World Wide Web. It’s completely free, syncs with your iPod / iPhone / iPad / BB / Android etc and is great to listen to at work, on the train from work, in the shower, before a night out, whenever floats your boat.

Gina has had a mass array of awesome single releases behind her, with some of the worlds’s best Dance labels backing her including, Mark Knight’s Toolroom Records in UK and Eire, Vicious in Australia and New Zealand, NEWS in Belguim, Holland and Luxembourg, TIME records in Italy, We Play in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Family Tree Music in Scandinavia, Just Music in South Africa, Blanco & Negro in Spain, Warner Bros in Israel, and Atlantic Records for north American, Japan, and the rest of the dance music universe.

Her recent smasher, remixing Tiësto and Toolroom boss Mark Knight‘s Beautiful World, along with her track placed in the 2012 Miami buzz chart and shows both sides of the Atlantic, Gina’s smiling face will be one to follow this Summer. Unfortunately, Gina is now back stateside but she has left us with her new monthly lowdown of what’s heating up the dance floors as a gift that you will most likely love.

The launch edition of Gina’s podcast is available now on iTunes for FREE!
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/podcast-01-gina-star/id522795449?i=113988955

Follow Gina on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/ginastarmusic

Wow. The World’s number 1 nightclub Space, Ibiza have literally just announced their opening lineup for Sunday 27th May 2012 via Twitter. Dance Music Manchester highlights include 2ManyDJs, Carl Cox, Dubfire, Marcoloco, Toolroom boss Mark Knight, Nic Fanciulli, the legendary Roger Sanchez, Sasha, Steve Lawler and the Japanese Popstars DJ Set. This isn’t a nightclub, it’s a bloody festival!

More info soon…

Eddie Halliwell, the genre splitting Lancashire legend and host of the incredible Fire It Up radio show and former Radio 1 resident, is releasing his new album on the 23rd April, through Toolroom Records, an announcement that has made the Dance Music Manchester team very happy indeed. Eddie’s awesome stage presence, his ability to blend between trance and house seemlessly and his incredible ability to change his tone, mid-set to please the crowd earned his nomination from Mixmag in the 2011, Greatest  DJs of all time and my oh my, the nomination was well deserved. Crossing the musical spectrum with lightning cuts, layers of effects and slick scratches, Eddie harnesses the energy of his sets into the next installment of the ‘Toolroom Knights’ album series.

Toolroom Knights Mixed by Eddie Halliwell

The new album, features  2 exclusive offerings from the legend himself, accompanied by a host of big hitters including Mark Knight, Eric Prydz, Calvin Harris, Nicky Romero, Tommy Trash and Hard Rock Sofa, so prepare to get ‘Fired Up’ with ‘Toolroom Knights Mixed by Eddie Halliwell’.

The last time #DMM saw Eddie was at Creamfields 2011. He already had the crowd going ballistic, well and truly in the palm of his hands. Then he stands up on the table, next to his decks, and starts dancing getting the crowd even more riled up.  ”Hash tag, legend…”

The album itself, demonstrates Mr Halliwell’s awesome ability,  manipulating the music with his trademark ED-IT’s by creati.ng unique cuts from original tracks and moulding them into entirely new creations. The Dance Music Manchester highlights from the album must be it’s exclusive tracks,  ‘Rock This Place’  and his incredible remix of Tiesto & Mark Knight’s ‘Beautiful World’.

For those who know and love Eddie’s harder, Goodgreef-ish trance side, for those who appreciate his natural musical ability and for those who simply like trance / house music, you need this album on the 23rd!

Toolroom Records: www.toolroomrecords.com
Eddie Halliwell: www.eddiehalliwell.com
Eddie on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eddiehalliwell