Curated By Four Tet at Mayfield Depot
Fergal Kinney
It’s credit to the enduring influence and reach of Keiran Hebden AKA Four Tet – perhaps the definitive independent electro artist of his generation – that such a line-up as this has been put together for the Curated by Four Tet night at Mayfield Depot.
“As has been the case with every WHP venue” explained WHP co-founder Sam Kandel, “we don’t really know how long it will be around, so our thought was that we need to make the most of it for the time it’s available”. And on the last weekend of October, WHP and Four Tet have done precisely that.
The definitive independent electro artist of his generation
Four Tet, who hails from South London, is fresh from a crossover headline set at Green Man. Indeed the fact that Hebden’s as comfortable at a festival like Green Man as he is the superclubs of Europe tells you something about his unique stature. So does the eclecticism of the line-up here – the most eye-catching name being Skillrex, who will be bringing his dubstep maximalism to Manchester for the first time since 2015.
The city itself is contributing its share of homegrown talent to the night. Look out for Swing Ting, whose monthly club night at Soup Kitchen showcases a wide-ranging, highly popular mix of grime, dancehall, garage and hip-hop. Legends are well represented too, with DJ Q and Flava D continuing their collaboration of classic UK garage and bassline.
Its Peggy Gou’s set, however, that’s perhaps the most anticipated of the weekend. Gou has had an astonishing twelve months, and across the globe there’s almost nowhere proving immune to the acid dame’s talents. What Gou does remains highly faithful to her original passions of foundational techno, house and electro, and she has a sweet tooth for a pop melody – hence the continuing success of ‘It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)’
What else? British bass innovators Hessle Audio, the Danish DJ and label owner Courtesy and German producer Brian Müller whose hybrid of breakbeats and ambient textures generates an almost instinctive dancefloor experience. Unmissable.
