Notion Touring & Phys Ed join heads for their next addition to the tapestry in the stalwarts of the trailblazing Club Glow Collective Denham Audio & Mani Festo!
These two provide an urgently vital snapshot of the modern UK dance scene.
May 3rd Neck of the Woods, Auckland
Supported by Scarlett and AndWahn
Denham Audio
In a blizzard of breakbeats, b-lines and acid hooks, Denham Audio have brought new urgency and vitality to the modern rave scene. The sound they’re pushing is rooted in the legacy of UK hardcore, but those foundational sounds and styles are given a thorough spruce up, feeding into the buoyant areas of exploration happening between 140 and 160 BPM. Releases have been coming thick and fast, from early outings on Nineteen Ninety Four and Artifice through to a blistering run on WNCL, Frendzone! (alongside Violet), Lobster Theremin, Sneaker Social Club and more. Across these 12”s you can hear every shred of influence spilling out – from the upfront hardcore and jungle through to hip hop and reggae, and beyond the confines of music into sci-fi and anime.
As well as a relentless charge of rave-ready EPs and DJ sets spanning the UK and as far as Seoul, Tokyo, Berlin, New York and elsewhere, the Denham Audio pressure also piles into the Club Glow collective. Alongside Borai, LMajor and Mani Festo, Denham are presenting a communal front which first manifested as a tape series and now spans 12” drops, a monthly session on Balamii Radio and coordinated blitzes on appropriately sized dancehalls. It’s a natural extension of Denham’s production endeavours, succinctly captured on the SNKRX05 12” as “16v hatchback breakbeat NRG kickin’ it out of your Kenwood system.” We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.
Manifesto
Mani Festo is a champion for the transportive, perception-altering power of club music. His productions are a juxtaposition of inspiration, finding the nuances between genres and styles. He is focused on a mission to avoid obvious trends, whilst carving out a unique space in the musical zeitgeist of our time.
He uses his expressive productions, live performances and Dj sets to tell this story, approaching each with the same vision and technical execution that enables him to narrate a captivating world of cerebral machine music. Pulsating synthesizer loops, syncopated breakbeat rhythms and intricate sound design have all become a part of the Mani Festo sound. Which has seen him count labels such as Fabric, Sneaker Social Club, Rupture, Shall Not Fade & Hooversound as regular outlets, whilst wielding his own imprints Club Glow & Flightpath to great effect.
Having lived a life around sound systems and raves, embarking on missions into forests and warehouses in his youth and counting most of his formative experiences around festivals and clubs. His deep understanding and love of this culture is something that comes across clearly in his work. From production to design, djing to live performance. Mani Festo is committed to electronic music in all of its forms, on a journey that respects all that has come before, with an appetite to explore and discover new routes into the future.
Come may 3rd This will be a masterclass in honoring the past in the present to walk boldly into the future.