With word from Boris that clubs can finally open from Monday 19 July in what’s being dubbed as ‘Freedom Day’, what better way to spend your first week out of lockdown than in a different club each night of the week?
Bit ambitious? Maybe, but it has been a while.
Either way, we’ve taken the opportunity to plan out our perfect week of club nights anyway. Here’s our pick of bunch from 19 – 25 July to celebrate getting our music scene back on its feet. All tickets are available on Skiddle as we speak and selling fast.
A bassy Levelz reunion on Monday
How about starting the week off with Levelz’s Lockdown Lift-off at Mint Lounge on the big day itself?
Get ready for the usual Levelz crew consisting of Skittles, Chimpo, Chunky and the rest of the lads there, providing bars and beats for an atmosphere they definitely won’t let you forgot. They’ve been gunning for this night for 16 months since their last visit to Mint Lounge in March 2020 – and so have we.
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If you had tickets to the rescheduled June date, they’ll roll over. Otherwise, last remaining tickets are on Skiddle here.
Three floors of music with THREEDOOM on Tuesday
When Hit & Run took over WHP in 2019. Image: gbmultimedia/IG
Three of Manchester’s biggest student nights will come together under one roof at Factory on Tuesday 20. Hit & Run, Ghosts of Garage and Lean & Bop will join forces to provide three floors with three different genres of music.
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For Hit & Run, we’ll have drum and bass heaters from the likes of Poison Ivy and Mystix alongside Truthos Mufasa and Sparkz, and the B2B from Sabrina and Kira will be their Manchester debut.
Representing Ghosts of Garage will be Hit & Run’s own Rich Reason, ThtGrl, Warped DJs, Offbeat DJs, Area 808 DJs and Emanate Audio DJs, with T-Man on the mic.
And on the final floor, resident Lean & Bop DJs will provide some grime, hip-hop and RnB sounds, joined by DJ Yami.
Urban music platform Origin will take over the Northern Quarter’s Off The Square on Wednesday 21. The team is renowned for showcasing the very best emerging hip-hop and RnB talent from the city – and this latest Origin event will be no different.
Manchester powerhouse Motto Estate are set to headline. The nine-strong collective represent a variety of backgrounds, making their music all-embracing and rich in different cultural and social influences.
It’ll all be hosted by radio presenter Emma Rose, with support from Dunamis, Ace Cxbain and Webbo to complete the lineup.
For a more groove-fuelled evening, get down to Stage & Radio for ‘Out The House’ on Thursday for local lads Mandalo. The Manchester DJ duo have family ties to fellow Mancs Solardo and now being signed to the Sola label we can only expect the same success for this pair.
For their own productions, Mandalo merge their wide range of dance music influences – including 808 State and Jamie Jones – to craft their own sound. As for their DJ sets, just know your feet will be sore by the end.
There’ll be music from 7pm from CAIT, DJAAL, Boy Sean, BabaNoot as well. So, you might as well get down early. Skiddle still has tickets for this one here.
Feel-good disco vibes at The Bread Shed on Friday
Presented by Antwerp Mansion, the acclaimed Discopia returns on Friday 23 July, back and bigger than ever. Bring in your first weekend of freedom with the funky house and disco sounds of Dom C. Taylor, Wallace and DJ Ray for a bit of music escapism. Expect to hear everything from Purple Disco Machine and The Shapeshifters to Fat Boy Slim and Mella Dee to put you in the party mood. Good vibes only.
An empty Joshua Brooks as the new team prepare for a huge refit ahead of the club’s relaunch. Credit: Joshua Brooks
You might have seen that Joshua Brooks is back and under new ownership. With this, a complete overhaul and redesign of the club inside and out – and you’re in for a treat.
Its relaunch features a double-header weekend of big names. On Friday 23, Darius Syrossian will return to Joshua Brooks with his Moxy Musik event which has been at South in recent years.
But on the Saturday, house legend Mark Knight will round off the opening weekend. You’ll be in good hands with the Toolroom Records bossman. He knows how to fill the dance floor with the best house music around. It’ll be an all night long set so strap yourselves in.
Originally planned for 17 July, the Jika Jika Presents Denis Sulta party at the brand-new open-air venue Square One has been rescheduled to Sunday 25 July.
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Sulta is known for his enigmatic energy behind the decks. Plus he manages to pull off the most random of selections in his mixes. You won’t want to miss this one.
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Featured image: Factory Manchester. Thumbnail image: The Bread Shed
Audio
Review | Villanelle debut: Liam Gallagher’s son’s band release their first track – here’s our review
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher’s son, Gene, and his band Villanelle, have officially released their debut single to the masses, and since we’re still very much immersing ourselves in everything even remotely to do with Oasis, we thought we’d give this first track a review.
Now, if you’re expecting a familiar Britpop vibe like his dad and uncle used to bash out back in the day, you’d be very wrong…
It’s one thing to settle into something similar to what you’ve grown up around and try to continue a lineage if you’re from a successful family – especially with a legacy as important and influential as the one left by Liam and Noel – but we’re glad to report they’ve done something pretty different.
24-year-old Gene Gallagher and his bandmates Ben Taylor (guitar), Jack Schiavo (bass), and Andrew Richmond (drums) haven’t just tried to do an impression of Oasis; instead, they’ve found their own sound, and while it does give somewhat of an old-school flavour, it’s not what we expected.
It takes literally milliseconds for you to click into realising the vibe they’re going for.
‘Hinge’ is a simplistic but hard-hitting, grungey and dark debut from Villanelle, who, despite having played a number of in-progress songs live over the last year or so, have only just dropped their first studio single.
In fact, they’ve actually taken the admittedly bizarre and unorthodox first steps of having already played live with Liam Gallagher on the Definitely Maybe 30th anniversary tour before they actually released anything people can easily listen to outside of their live performances.
Nevertheless, the young four-piece introduces Villanelle as the latest post-punk outfit amidst the ongoing revival of the classic rock genre.
That is to say that punk is a tried and true classic style of music, not that these lads are trying to sound like The Rolling Stones…
Anyway, we’re getting sidetracked: Villanelle draw plenty of influences from both original and contemporary examples of this sonic subculture, and while it isn’t explosive per se, ‘Hinge’ is short, direct and hits the same formulaic notes.
It’s also fair to say you can hear a bit of the recognisable LG whine in Gene’s vocals at times, too. Listen to it in full down below and see if you agree.
Even the basic found-footage style video fits into the same category.
To call it straightforward isn’t intended as any kind of a diss, by the way – some of our favourite tunes and best artists spearheading the renaissance of the punk scene write like this.
What we will say is that it looks like bloody good fun to both play and listen to in a small, sweaty room, with plenty of pits and people bouncing off the walls.
Gallagher Sr. might be surprised to see his son going for a slightly heavier, more hardcore route with his sound, but he can’t accuse him of forgetting his roots as the child of a ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.’
The boys are actually hitting the road this winter, including a date at The Castle Hotel in the Northern Quarter, if you fancy grabbing a ticket.
You can grab your tickets to see Villanelle on tour HERE, and in the meantime, let us know what you think of their debut track down in the comments.
Johnny Marr teases his work on upcoming Gorillaz album
Danny Jones
Legendary Manchester musician Johnny Marr has revealed he features on the new Gorillaz album, adding even more interest in the highly anticipated release.
The Mountain is the ninth studio LP from the musical collective led by Damon Albarn, which is set to drop in early 2026, more than three years on from their last album, Cracker Island.
Although the virtual band made up of several real-life creatives (though the ex-Blur frontman and artist, Jamie Hewlett, technically remain the only two consistent core members) hasn’t been away for too long, each new project brings a wave of excitement.
With that in mind, we have no shame in admitting we have even more interest in Gorillaz’s latest album now that we know Johnny Marr is attached to it.
I’m pleased to share that I appear on four tracks on the upcoming Gorillaz album The Mountain. It’s a privilege to be a part of this record along with so many great artists. #Gorillaz#JohnnyMarrpic.twitter.com/KXVZxgyGg9
In the new rundown of tunes already posted earlier this month, the former Smiths songwriter and lead guitarist features on four different songs on the new record. You can see it in full down below:
Gorrilaz – The Mountain tracklist
1. The Mountain (feat. Dennis Hopper, Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash) 2. The Moon Cave (feat. Asha Puthli, Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Jalen Ngonda and Black Thought) 3. The Happy Dictator (feat. Sparks) 4. The Hardest Thing (feat. Tony Allen) 5. Orange County (feat. Bizarrap, Kara Jackson and Anoushka Shankar) 6. The God of Lying (feat. IDLES) 7. The Empty Dream Machine (feat. Black Thought, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar) 8. The Manifesto (feat. Trueno and Proof) 9. The Plastic Guru (feat. Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar) 10. Delirium (feat. Mark E. Smith) 11. Damascus (feat. Omar Souleyman and Yasiin Bey) 12. The Shadowy Light (feat. Asha Bhosle, Gruff Rhys, Ajay Prasanna, Amaan Ali Bangash, and Ayaan Ali Bangash) 13. Casablanca (feat. Paul Simonon and Johnny Marr) 14. The Sweet Prince (feat. Ajay Prasanna, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar) 15. The Sad God (feat. Black Thought, Ajay Prasanna and Anoushka Shankar)
As you can see, the 61-year-old appears for the first time on song seven, ‘The Empty Dream Machine’, as well as ‘The Plastic Guru’, ‘Casablanca’, and the penultimate track on the album, ‘The Sweet Prince’.
It’ll be interesting to see how he fits into the captivating soundscape already teased by the group, with Gorillaz having now shared ‘The Happy Dictator’ featuring art pop duo Sparks.
A strong and politically loaded start.
Marr – who only released his fourth batch of solo material, Fever Dream Pts 1-4, back in 2022 – has continued to craft and produce with countless other artists over the past few decades, sharing the studio with fellow icons such as Noel Gallagher, Billy Bragg, Talking Heads and many more.
He even helped create the score for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtrack with legendary composer Hans Zimmer.
That being said, we can only hope to hear some of his famous guitar tones sprinkled throughout this album, though it’s still unclear as to exactly how much input he had on The Mountain overall.
What we do know about the album is that it’s the first to be released via Albarn’s new record label KONG; it’s 15 tracks, and was largely made following extended recording sessions across India, with the likes of Ajay Prasanna, Omar Souleyman and Anoushka Shankar, joining IDLES, Jalen Ngonda and other collabs.
Perhaps most excitingly, the announcement of ‘Gorillaz no.9’ came alongside a series of tour dates, including one right here in Manchester. We can’t wait to see 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs and Noodle ‘live’ in 0161.
Hannah Starkie -
9th July 2021 
