Sankeys this weekend...

The first weekend in October has a twinning feel to it – pairing the might of the UK one evening with our transatlantic counterparts taking the focus 24 hours later. It’s also an opportunity for the legendary party of the past to square up to everything that represents the brilliance of Sankeys in the here and now. Naturally each event is something of a classic in the making, spreading the musical palette to its far-reaching limits with a smorgasbord of stellar DJs all in starring roles.

 

Tribal Sessions kicks things off on the Friday. The legendary Sankeys institution still retains its driving ethos, a mantra etched into DJs and clubbers alike, with the pursuit of brilliance a principal Tribal Sessions continues to attain. The headliner for this TS instalment brings James Zabiela to the helm. The Dalek obsessed beatsmith has become synonymous with technique focused DJ sets which blow the conceptions of what you can do with technology out of the water. But they do so by presenting the music first and foremost in jaw-breaking fashion; never is this a DJ who lets technical prowess override the aural component of dance music at its finest, and for this James is globally revered.

 

He’s joined by Glaswegian house aficionados Silicone Soul, the duo still one of the genre’s most potent forces and as sure-fire a sign of peerless quality as their leading label, Soma. The new school is represented by James Teej and Droog who add a cosmopolitan zest to the traditional formula of ballsy dance music that has made Tribal Sessions such a vaunted and revered institution, one which Sankeys welcomes back with open arms.

 

If Friday is about a thoroughly Manchester ingrained institution, Saturday refers to connecting with a spiritual partner in the city of Detroit. Ever since the North West was engulfed by Northern Soul fever from the early 70s, the mid west metropolis has had a grip on Manchester’s musical hearts. What followed in the next decade was a connection to the city’s techno output and that of the infamous Belleville three, whose raw computer driven sounds entranced the early pioneers of acid house that Sankeys and dance music as a whole remains so indebted to.

 

The starlets headlining this showcase are part of the new school that continue to profit from that legacy, headed up by Omar S. Pursuing a more housier template than his forefathers, he arguably owes more to fellow city dwellers Theo Parrish and the funkier strains of Carl Craig. The raw soul infused ethic of Kyle Hall, with his delightfully rough and ready template, offers the perfect motor city counterpart to gift the party that grittier edge. Sankeys own Jozef K completes the bill, playing a double whammy at the club.