Northwest Clubbing Highlights – February 2015

Paleman, KiNK and a tribute to J Dilla prove worthy of digging out yer snowshoes

Preview by Sean Toohey | 02 Feb 2015

The month kicks off in Manchester with Quantic treating us to a two-hour set at Soup Kitchen on 5 Feb courtesy of Banana Hill, who just last year expanded their brand by offering artist booking and management alongside soulful, carnival-esque club nights. The intimate basement bash sees Quantic spinning his rhythmic, organic, Latin-inspired beats, dripping in funk, brass and guitar, alongside the disco-inspired sounds of So Flute's Danuka and one half of Banana Hill themselves, Cervo, treating you to some afro-electronica goodness. A perfect distraction from the clutches of a grey winter (£7). Quatie also plays Hifi, Leeds, on 8 Feb (£2).

6 Feb sees Gorilla cater to your hip-hop cravings with a night dedicated to the life and work of legendary American beat-master J Dilla. J Dilla Changed My Life is hosted by London based The Doctor's Orders, connoisseurs of hip-hop and revered party planners since the year 2000. Juicy, who are back at Joshua Brooks every Wednesday (£1.50), are also involved so expect their brand of hip-hop vibes to seep into those looping beats. Warehouse Project favourites Jonny Dub and Rich Reason drop sets alongside The Doctor's Orders' own Spin Doctor, oh, and all proceeds are being donated to The J Dilla Foundation and Lupus UK, so you'll be doing some good with those moves (£6-25, donations).

Elsewhere on 6 Feb, the guys at Stonebox deliver a night of fuzzed up riffage at Dulcimer featuring three acts from Manchester’s burgeoning Party Doom circle. DJs Firebrave and Testtrack will also be on hand to provide a heterogeneous soundtrack informed by dub, afrobeat, electro and – at intervals – Ice Cube (£5 OTD).

Jumping into Liverpool, Abandon Silence find themselves back at The Kazimier on 6 Feb to continue their fifth birthday celebrations with Belgian-bred house hombres FCL. Housy, bubbling basslines till 4am (£14). Also on 6 Feb Zutekh celebrate their 6th birthday at Soup Kitchen (stealing your thunder here, Abandon Silence), offering up a whole night with man-of-the-moment Jeremy Underground Paris. If that’s still not enough house for you, check out what Sankeys has on offer on the same night. Music Is Love (aww!), spread between two rooms, provides some weighty techno and house from the likes of KiNK, Levon Vincent, The Revenge and Nail. You can even book a ten-head booth with bar tab, table service and entrance for a mere £600. Or, if you're on a lowly student budget, entry is just a tenner with a valid student ID (£10-15).

Back over the Mersey, the fresh-faced team at Propella present Hector Couto + Guests on the 7th in the twisted industrial rooms of the Baltic Triangle's Camp and Furnace. Propella killed it in 2014 with bass-heavy house sets from the likes of Applebottom and Leftwing & Kody, and kicked off 2015 with a free-entry bash featuring MadTech Records' Cera Alba back in January. Expect tech all over the shop, and enough bass to rattle your brain ’til 4am. Look out for Propella's own Kane & Briggs and Ben Edwards rising up through the ranks (£12-15).

The same night over in Manchester sees Circus jump ship over to Manchester's Albert Hall for part of the anticipated Transmission run. London-born duo Dusky, fresh from their 2014 EP Love Taking Over, picked up by Annie Mac and the like, prepare to drop some lofty house bangers. Also on the bill are trance/progressive house veteran Sasha and, of course, Circus's father Yousef laying down his own brand of hyped-up electronic beats (£28.50).

Get yourself back over to Liverpool for the 13 Feb to catch Phaeleh at The Garage. Pumped through a Funktion One, Phaeleh's unique sound stemming, and blossoming, from his roots in dubsteb and garage is sure to send your body into convulsions. This producer truly has a next-level control over sound; take his last full release, Somnus, an ambient album comprised of field recordings, and place it next to the wavering synths and frantic beats from his new EP, A World Without, and you'll be baffled at the range of his musical mind. A must-see if you haven't caught him yet; if you have, well we know where you're going to be (£7-9).

Shooting over to Manchester and back to the Soup Kitchen (they have February all sussed out) for the 19th to catch Labour of Love back and revitalised for 2015. Let German-based, Running Back label honcho Gerd Janson treat you to a night of hefty beats. His name and ability has gained considerable traction on the continent in the past 12 months and he looks set to mark his place over on our shores in the next 12 (£8).

Shake off that hangover, get a smoothie or something, and hop on a train to Liverpool for Madnice Marauders X Hot Plate Present Dego & Jon K at 24 Kitchen Street on 20 Feb. Promising to be a ‘celebration of forward-thinking, soulful music across all tempos and genres,’ Kitchen Street sees Dego, one half of 4hero and head of the awe-inspiring 2000Black collective, spilling some genre-spanning yet always on-beat pieces to a buzzing crowd. Alongside Dego, Manchester music maverick Jon K will be getting energetic for you lucky heads (£6-10).

Back over to Camp and Furnace, Illiterate throw their first party of the year on 20 Feb and do so with a heavy splattering of tech house courtesy of Romanian soundscaper Rhadow. Combining sharp and precise tech house rhythms – those hi-hats! – with, at times, ominous and trippy vocal samples, he will most likely have you in a 120bpm trance for most of the night so wear something breathable. It’s the man's first time in the city so greet him with your best moves (£7-10).

Swing by Joshua Brooks on 27 Feb where the Just Skank team will be continuing to tighten their hold on the dub scene with Chestplate. After a blinding NYE do with the murky sounds of Commodo, Kaiju, Compa and a cheeky hello from Levelz's own T-Man spewing, amongst others, his bars from their recently released LVL 07. Chestplate sees Distance, Tunnidge and Cyrus bust out the messiest, nastiest dub our young 2015 has ever seen (£8-10).

If that’s not enough for your plate, we have sides of the KOOKY opening party at Gorilla on the 28th featuring Chris Lorenzo (Hannah Wants's number-one collaborator) spinning all the house you could need for a month (£15-17.50), and if your hankering for something a little harder catch Paleman at Sankeys the same night (£10). More than a mouthful, eh?

All prices are advance unless otherwise specified; some events may be more on the door