Music

Music is the heartbeat of Manchester, what people care passionately about, what frames their lives. So many great bands have come from this city and their shadows still fall over many up and coming groups. But don’t be dissuaded, there are still new and undiscovered beats, rhythms and melodies to find, you just have to go look for them.

Live music
Obviously you have your mainstream venues but I’m sure you’ll find out about them from other places.

Jam nights
There are a huge number of jam nights around the city where people turn up with instruments and just play together. The music usually falls into reggae, funk, soul, or hip-hop genres and the standard is usually good. Jam nights are constantly moving but look out for them in pubs in Moss Side, Hulme and in the city centre.
Current nights; Thursday, Afe We, Royce Road, Hulme, Sunday and Wednesday at the Western, Sedgeborough Road, Moss Side, Sunday at Arch Bar, Stretford Road, Hulme.

DIY music
There is an emerging DIY music scene in Manchester. DIY gigs are organised through passion for music and creating an open, sustainable, musical community in the city, rather than to make a shedload of cash.
To find out about upcoming gigs, check out www.helpyourselfmanchester.org, or www.manchestermusic.co.uk. You can also find flyers for gigs at Piccadilly Records and other record shops.
Gig venues worth checking out are:
Briton’s Protection, 50 Bridgewater St., (near GMEX).
Star and Garter, behind Picadilly Station.
Retro Bar, Sackville St. near UMIST.
The Red House, Ludgate Hill off Rochdale Road.
Night and Day, Oldham St.
Band on the Wall, Swan St.
Mumbo Arts Centre, 86 Princess St.
Timesis Lloyd St. near Albert Square and Town Hall.

Squat parties/gigs.
So you could get your kicks at an over priced club where the beer is £3 a can but wouldn’t you rather party in an anti-corporate fashion?
Free parties are where it’s at. Free from corporate interference, free from licensing restrictions and (mostly) free of wankers. Free parties are put on by a few people with a sound system who squat a venue, for example an old warehouse, for the night or in summer, maybe a place in the sticks. You’ll need to ring a free party line number on the night and a ‘geeza’ will give you directions to the location, ‘sorted’. The music is often techno/drum and bass and the party will go on long into the next day. Expect to see a fair amount of drugs but you will meet some of the nicest most interesting people there are in this city and beyond. You can always blag a go on the decks if you have some records and if you think you could do better then have a go on putting one on yourself.
So keep your eyes open for flyers or contact one of the following:
Northern Techno Alliance www.nta303.co.uk 07017406480
Stumblefunk 07091102463
Network 23 www.network23.org/
Manchester Party line 07091116262

CLUBS AND GIGS AND STUFF

Check out the following club nights:

Electric Chair
last Saturday of every month, the Music Box, Oxford Rd. An eclectic mix of “anything soulful” in Manchester’s finest sweat box. Expect (good, banging) house, tekno, breaks - basically anything that you can shake your booty to. Rammed every month.

Keep it Unreal
1st Sat of the month, Music Box, Oxford Rd. Monthly Mr Scruff marathon. Everything from 50s funk to dub to jazz to house to breaks, via a smattering of Scruff’s own madness. Full every month - arrive early!

Cut+Paste
1st Weds of every month, the Roadhouse, Newton St. Mad orgy of craziness, with a party-inspired, DIY flavour, brought to you by Manchester’s finest hedonists. Random giveaways every month, and resident cheerleaders. Only one quid door tax and way cheap booze - not to be missed!

C’mon Feet
1st Friday of the month, Band on the Wall, Swan St. Bass-heavy hip-hop, with excellent team of residents to make your body groove.

Luvdub
last Friday of the month, Band on the Wall, Swan St. Everything you need to know about dub, from the ultra-chilled to the speedy dancehall, brought to you by Manchester’s Blood+Fire Sound System.

Bandwidth
inconsistently on Fridays and Saturdays mostly at the Zumbar, Oxford Rd. Door tax - about 4 quid. Diverse selection of modern underground dance music: breakbeat, techno, nu-skool & jungle, all mixed with the classic sounds of funk, soul, reggae, ska and incorporating anything else in between. Sounds good to me.

Chipswitheverything
First Saturday of the month, Night and Day Cafe. Bonus - get in free if you hang around getting drunk from before 8 onwards. Crazed debauchery - expect the unexpected. All manner of weirdness from the avant garde.

Record Shops
No one is interested with buying over-priced rubbish from HMV and Virgin when you can download from free off the internet. But for more specialist fare you may want to try one of the many independent record shops in Manchester.

Kingbee Records
519 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton
new and second hand mainly

Pop Records
Oldham Street

PopArt Records
9, Egerton Crs, Withington M20
A fine selection from the 60s and 70s as well as more recent stuff

Piccadilly Records
51 Oldham Street
Lots of indie and dance records, a good specialist choice

Sifters Records
177 Fog Lane, Didsbury
As featured in Shakermaker by Oasis!

Vinyl Exchange
18 Oldham Street and 67 Bridge Street
This second hand shop is a Manchester institution with 1000s of records available from all sorts of genres

Eastern Bloc
Central Buildings, Oldham Street
Techno, dance, D&B etc

Polar Bear
123 Deansgate
New and second hand records

Fat City
Oldam Street
Connected to the label of the same name specialising in funk, soul, jazz and a like

Spin In
Smithfield Building, Tib Street
Techno, trance hard house, gabba; all things fast and repetitive

Any suggestions for club nights, music and gigs? Email us