After eight years of making music and thirty-six imprint releases later, seminal Manchester music collective and label Swing Ting has announced its last drop – and it’s a belter.
Finishing on a high, the Swing Ting label has dropped a collection of remixes of Manchester MC Fox’s debut 2019 album Juice Flow, which focused on his own journey whilst working with the collective over the years.
A stalwart of the Manchester scene, Fox has appeared regularly as a vocalist on Swing Ting’s releases as well as acting as a resident MC at the now-discontinued club nights that once filled Soup Kitchen’s basement with ravers every month.
So it seems only fitting that he’s all over the final release, too.
MC Fox pictured outside Soup Kitchen, the home of the Swing Ting dance in Manchester, where the collective hosted monthly parties from 2011-2019. / Image: F_13zm
The culmination of a decade of performing at Swing Ting dances, the originalJuice Flow album featured a star-studded guest-list of worldwide collaborators, friends and family.
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Now, this new Juice Flow Remixed package sees producers Lenzman, Nowheretobefound, Sam Binga and Sherry S retouch and revisit four of the original thirteen tracks with a contemporary edge.
Firstly, North-Quarter’s Lenzman flips the Tappa Benzfeaturing Day Ones into a sweet, soulful drum and bass roller that has already been getting rotation from scene heavyweights. Opening with the line “Out to my day ones and my day twos / Shout to my bredrins and my stay trues,” it all feels a bit emotional.
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North-Quarter’s Lenzman / Image: Izzy Gramp
Next, mysterious Nowheretobefoundtakes the eponymouse title cut on a breezy, blissed-out soulful garage tip, before Sam Bingatakes the Coco-featuring Rebel Souljah on a bubbling, percussive UK funky-ish workout.
Last but not least, Sherry Ssteps up for the final rework, ramping up the tempo of the Anz-produced Live Life for a roughneck, two-step banger set to cause club damage.
Set to drop on Friday 4 February, it is the last ever release on the Swing Ting label – first founded in 2014.
Over the years, the Manchester label has achieved global acclaim from the likes of Mixmag, Resident Advisor, DJ Mag, Pan African Music, Riddim Magazine and The Wire with wide support across BBC 1Xtra, Radio 1, NTS live and more.
Just like Swing Ting itself, Fox has never been one to be held down to one particular sound and this final release seems a fitting tribute to both.
A mix of bass-heavy party sounds spanning a range of genres, Juice Flow Remixed sees them exit out on a high in a fitting tribute to many years of hard work and floor-filling party bangers.
Feature image – Swing TIng
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Sankeys nightclub is returning to Manchester
Danny Jones
It’s officially happening: iconic local club Sankeys is coming back to Manchester city centre almost a decade on from its gutting closure.
The iconic ‘Sankey’s Soap’ nightlife space – which started out over in Ancoats during the mid-’90s – enjoyed numerous stints during its time in the clubbing world, as well as opening multiple partnered venues in the country and even overseas.
Now, approaching nine years after the shutdown, Sankeys is returning to Manchester in the new year, and Mancs are currently losing their minds.
Whether you are one of those who ‘remember it when’, or someone who sadly missed out on the halcyon days in the old Beehive Mill, we assure you that everyone is in agreement that this is nothing short of massive news…
First teasing the comeback back in July, as our city and the world at large were gripped by ‘Britpop Mania’ 2.0, the largely dormant Instagram account posted: “This week Manchester, and the UK, has been blessed with a homecoming of our very own, Oasis.
“We think Manchester deserves another homecoming… Definitely, maybe?”
The North West corners of the internet and veteran revellers alike were understandably quick to get excited by the potential revival, but nothing else had been said for months – until now.
Confirmed on Tuesday, 25 November, the infamous and storied nightclub’s social media team began by writing, simply: “The Legend Returns” and beckoning “a new era for Sankeys”.
It is still unclear as to where exactly the new and improved club(s) will be, but we do know that the events will be in the city centre. However, we do know we’ll be getting a familiar matrix grid installation as part of the design once again.
They will also be enforcing a strict new no-phones policy, which has become increasingly popular across the scene, thanks to the likes of Amber’s right here in Manchester.
Sankeys first opened in Manchester as "Sankeys Soap" in June 1994.[3] It was so called due to its residence inside Beehive Mill, Ancoats, which once was used to manufacture soap. The basement of the mill was transformed into a club and live music venue#pub#historypic.twitter.com/cnM6Nt23uZ
Sankeys may have remained an active promoter in the days since the building on the corner of Radium and Jersey Street (M4 6JG) closed – going on to become an unsuspecting office development – this will be the first event of the aforementioned next chapter in a flagship venue.
Promising a limited capacity of no more than 500 people, Sankeys is set to make its landmark return on
“We will only be open one night a week on Saturday. There will be no VIP or phones allowed on the dancefloor — everyone is a VIP. People need to stop taking pictures and start dancing to the beat.”
Hordes of clubbers, ravers, students and more are already signing up for early access and general admission tickets for the first two nights on Friday and Saturday, 30-31 January 2026 go on sale at 9am this Friday (28 Nov).
Get ready to grab yours HERE and party like it’s, well, 1994, 2017 – take your pick.
Review | ‘Hopefully!’, you get lucky enough to see the spectacle that is Loyle Carner live
The Manc
The O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester has this week played host to Benjamin Gerard Coyle-Larner this week, a.k.a. Loyle Carner, as he serenaded adoring listeners with his captivating lyrics, spine-tingling bass and drumlines, as well as his ever-laid-back warmth and charisma.
His stage name is the only spoonerism you’ll ever find in this man’s craft, as every syllable is as intentional and well-placed as the last.
Accompanied by an incredibly talented band and golden production, the night lends itself to a thought-provoking performance that leaves you wanting more. Consider me listening to nothing but this setlist for the foreseeable.
As the rumble of eager, loyal/Loyle – take your pick – listeners awaited his arrival, you could sense what this artist and his poetic music mean to people.
We've seen @LoyleCarner twice this week. We might even go again tonight – yes, he really is that good. 🎤
Opening with ‘in my mind’, just like that, you saw the crowd suddenly holding each other’s hands whilst comfortably sitting in the palm of Carner’s.
Let’s not forget his brilliant band, either, who all got their time in the spotlight and wowed as a collective.
Carner and the crowd definitely gave them the recognition they deserved, with piano solos throwing a blanket of respectful silence and tentative listening over the whole audience.
Loyle’s well-loved and special lyrics were echoed throughout the venue from start to finish.
He insisted (and not for the first time) that there’s “something special about playing in Manchester” – and we couldn’t agree more.
Carner’s vulnerability onstage opens a glowing portal for his listeners to do so as well. He encourages feeling. And as an audience, this is extremely clear in the room. It was a sea of warm embraces, agreeing heads and ignited eyes.
Loyle Carner was just as good on night two at Victoria Warehouse as he was on the first. (Credit: Audio North)
As the setlist crept towards the end, the crowd were not ready to say goodbye as the customary chants of ‘one more song!’ bounced off the Victoria Warehouse walls.
We were then blessed with a solo Loyle, who shared a typically creative and reflective spoken-word Carner special with us.
Without any demand, the crowd fell sweetly silent and absorbed his every word. A poet, pure and simple.
The 31-year-old rapper and wordsmith plays one more night at the venue to round off his mini residency tonight (Tuesday, 25 November 2025); you can try and grab last-minute tickets HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
25th January 2022 
