Happy New Year Example readers. Wait, was it? All too often, New Year’s is regrettably, and unavoidably, shit. The happy glow of Christmas has already faded, and the prospect of three long months before normal daylight resumes again looms. New Year’s Eve is the last chance to wave the old year out in style, and bring in the next 12 months with as much merriment as you can muster. Style and merriment, however, cannot always be guaranteed. As I myself fall under the ‘New-Year-Hater’ category, I’ll do my best to explain why.

Deciding to go out can be an error from forced start to long-overdue finish. First there is the problem of people. Masses and masses of people. Some of these may be throwing up, particularly in proximity to you. Even those with the most resilient of ‘more-the-merrier’ attitudes will find their cheer being stretched to its limit after an hour wait in the queue to the club, only to find the crowds at the bar to be relentlessly 5-people deep. Not that you’ll have much money left to spend on drinks after you paid double what you normally would to get into your regular. Change your mind? Tough. If it’s not too late and the damage hasn’t already been done, it will have been by the time you manage to get your jacket back from the cloakroom – an item essential in combating December’s annoying tendency to be 2 degrees. And if you made it this far, try hailing a free cab for one across town on time and a half fare... with that £4 left in your pocket. Nope, – you’re in it for the long haul.

If you made the bold and seemingly cunning move to stay in on New Year’s, do not reward yourself too soon. You may have avoided being man-handled out of the way of the taxi queue by an unsteady, kebab-wielding heffer for one night, but instead, you can enjoy spending the next 5+ hours being painfully aware of the fact that you are not, indeed, out. When did it come to this? When did you get so old? So boring? So people-hatingly cynical? If you hadn’t plagued yourself with these questions at the time, your non-participation would be swiftly brought to the attention of all fun-loving party-goers on the third of January, for whom ‘back to work/uni’ was actually just a day to investigate your snub of all frivolous festivities on their Fun Inquisition.

Now, whether in or out, the most crucial and mandatory part of the New Year’s Eve celebration is that you should end the night completely intoxicated. Where possible, it is advisable to establish a drunken plateau before midnight. This is useful in many ways. First, it will help ease the awkwardness of the obligatory cross-armed Auld Lang Syne little jig that overcomes us all in the heat of the midnight moment. Indeed, you might even feel inspired to have a bash at the words – effort is rewarded here over accuracy. Secondly, it will also allow you to realise just how GREAT the people are who you have had the pleasure of bringing the New Year in with; loose acquaintances and strangers alike. Maybe 2012 will be the year for an awesome new set of FRIENDS after all? Finally, and most importantly, an abundance of alcohol is vital in blurring what will probably be the first crushing realisation of the year for single folk everywhere: that you have spent the end of last year alone, that you are beginning the new year with no significant leads, and that within the next 3 seconds, you need to find someone – ideally someone not entirely offensive – to snog. Give me strength.

If you stuck to the rules of the New Year’s Eve game, and successfully ended the most unforgettable night of the year in an elated and confused stupor, you will have been able to greet the New Year in its proper way the next morning: Clutching the sides of your bed, sweating profusely, and overcome by frequent waves – nay – tsunamis of nausea. Promptly forgetting the most unforgettable night of last year, of course.

So congratulations on making it to 2012. You might have made some resolutions on how you’d like this year to turn out. These might even be optimistically listed on some social media page.  Sorry to play Judas here girls, but we are largely responsible for this cringe-worthy crime. “2012 is going to be my year!” “Big things coming my way in 2012!” “Can’t wait to lose 2 stone/ travel the world/ land my dream job this year! 2012! Woop!”. Baby-steps, eh? It is important to remind those deluded and dear to us, that midnight on the 31^st December of any year is not magical. It is not the witching hour. All those things that didn’t happen in 2011 aren’t suddenly going to come true in 2012 because you published your aims on Facebook and five people ‘liked’ it. Big changes in your life take effort, so if you have it in you, go for it. You will have truly achieved something, and people will be impressed, even inspired, by your determination. 

Then again, isn’t the world supposed to be ending this year? Oopsies. Bit awkward. HAPPY 2012!

What can one say about Roots Manuva? What can you say that hasn't already been said, printed & blogged, in vain journalistic attempts to get a grip on the music made by one Rodney Smith. Somewhat like Lee Scratch Perry before him; where true pioneers tread architects do follow. Follwed by a parade of like-minded voices & versions of themselves. Roots Manuva was like a sudden gust of fresh air in a stale & smoke filled room, when he first appeared on the UK hip-hop scene over a decade ago. One-part sound-system toaster, one-part pentecostal preacher (but sounding like no other): Mr. Manuva came to my attention on Dobie LP 'The Sound of One Hand Clapping', and then (who could avoid) the relentless 'Dusted'  for Leftfield techno-wizards, finally his reputation was crowned by a UKHH classic DJ Skitz posse-cut 'Fingerprints Of The Gods',  & his contributions to LP 'Countryman' (Ronin). These records cemented my fandom. 

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usaeUUAAnLM Leftfield ft. Roots Manuva 'Dusted' )

Photographed him as soon as I could, one summer, @ Counter Culture. Bought his rough diamond debut LP 'Brand New Second Hand' (1999. Big Dada). To me his strange stream-of-conscious storytelling made mad perfect sense; like following the loony logic of Shaun Ryder, (which I had also once done), heir apparent to a recently-vacated throne, left behind after crack-imploded masterpiece 'Stupid Stupid Stupid' 

 Like everyone else we had heard 'Witness (One Hope)'. Like everyone we had seen it set dance-floors alight. A cross-genre monster, it united people; student unions; hip-hop jams; Notting Hill Carnival went mad for it. I was there in 2001. Saw posters for forthcoming LP, 'Run Come Save Me', and knew if he was coming to Manchester it was bound to be with Friends-&-Family

Quick internet surf where I was staying confirmed it was. Happy Days! Had a 'Brand New Second Hand' CD with me and quickly converted my hosts. I had that familiar feeling in old rock'n'roll bones!

We had known 'Witness'  would be an underground hit; expected his next LP would get major critical attention & bring him to a much wider audience; we knew he was going to be HUGE when it dropped, but; (much more pressing) I knew that never-again might I get chance to photograph him as up-close as the cramped confines of a crowded Roadhouse allows

(DJ MK & Roots Manuva 'Movements'  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSoceVRGf5k)

Came early to a packed, sold-out venue. Extra backstage security. Usually people drifted in & out of here. Not tonight. Even poor Mr Scruff was roughly pushed back away from side of stage. I stood my ground, weilding my trusted Pentax & can of Red Stripe (-tools of my trade-), one foot on-stage & half an arse-cheek balanced on a bass-bin, and that's how I stayed the rest of the show!

They came on and absolutely blew everyone away, me included. New material like 'Join the Dots', 'Hold It Up', 'Stone the Crows', 'Dreamy Days', (of course) 'Witness'  alongside older tracks 'Clockwork', 'Movements', 'Strange Behaviour' whose more-familiar lyrics I boomed out like a personal P.A.

I was right about his meteoric rise. He came back to Manchester that November to play the University, following year he was at the Apollo. Another 2 original LPs followed, 'Awfully Deep' (2005), 'Slime & Reason' (2008), four out-takes & versions-LPs; major tours with full live band, summer festivals; before then stripping back his sound to a more rootsy digi-dub & dancehall, keeping it fresh with young producers like Breakage, Metronomy, Diplo, Jammer, Toddla T, WrongTom;

(Breakage ft. Roots Manuva 'Run 'Em Out'  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6wOf_Mvb_k)

More recently Lord Gosh added another slice of  brand new material, LP '4everevolution'  (2011) to a pantheon of top-drawer, game-changing music which constitutes his cosmic ouvre

I was wrong about never getting another opportunity to shoot him again (I did) but never like it was that magical night in the Roadhouse cellar. I'm still a huge fan (does it show? can't you tell?)

Roots Manuva exemplifies what makes the very best of British hip-hop: he provides us with genius originality as well as connecting together separate threads of bass culture; Reggae, Hip-Hop, Garage, Dubstep, Dancehall & Dub. Roots Manuva sits in several thrones. Like Lee Scratch Perry. Long May His Reign Continue!

Roots Manuva (+ full live band) '4everevolution' comes to the Ritz, Manchester on January 27th 2012

The end of 2011 brought the curtain down on one of Manchester’s iconic venues. Five years ago the mere thought of an underground car park becoming one of the worlds premiere dance music venues would’ve been considered an extremely unlikely (if not unhinged) proposal, but the Warehouse Project have made sure that the Store Street venue will go down in Mancunian clubbing folklore; and 2011 saw possibly the strongest line-ups ever fill the place again & again over its’ 12 week tenure. Following on from DJ Shadow’s opening party Annie Mac brought an eclectic extravaganza that included great live sets from L-Vis 1990, Ms Dynamite plus a storming session from Jack Beats.

A fortnight later, one of the biggest events on the WHP calendar; the Ape Birthday night. Ape has consistently brought the best showcase of bass-heavy acts to the Warehouse and truly topped themselves this year. Rinse FM’s Oneman kicked things off, his DJ sets span all genres and are perfect to start any party. Then the highlight for myself had to be Hip Hop legends Naughty by Nature who had the crowd bouncing to classic tracks like ‘OPP’. This is what the WHP is all about, acts you’d never see in another club setting. An education in dub followed from David Rodigan. This man truly deserved his recent MBE for dedication to teaching the youth about dub culture. A culmination of beats from Caspa, Nero and the Digital Soundboy crew topped off the night perfectly. Look out for the return of Ape @ the Apollo February 10th!

By mid-October Hospitality brought their all-star show to town. WHP 2012’s first proper D&B spectacle saw a huge album launch from Camo & Krooked, performing live inside a huge cylindrical light-covered cage. High Contrast and London Elektricity proceeded with customary storming sets. The pinnacle of the night had to be the final set from Logistics. This guy quite often falls under the radar compared to some of his flashier Hospital compatriots but on his day there are few better drum & bass DJs on the planet.

My next trip to Store St. was for the mighty Metropolis. There are few promoters of similar stature in the country when it comes to DnB and dubstep and this was going to be their 9^th birthday bash. The main room featured the likes of Sub Focus, Knife Party and True Tiger demonstrating the huge pulling power of big electronic acts these days, and the huge light shows they tour with. The true spectacle of the evening however was Room 2, featuring a big local line-up. The Manchester room was an absolute roadblock for the entire night as we were treated to performances from Virus Syndicate, Jenna G, Chimpo & Trigga, North Base, The Steppahs, Karmic Evolution and Tonn Piper! A true showing of our home city’s wealth of talent!

The 18^th and 19^th November provided potentially the heaviest weekend from this years’ calendar. Aphex Twin headlined Thrasher on Friday (reviewed separately here) in the only disappointment of the season, Saturday saw a debut from club giant Fabric. It is surely a sign of the reputation of WHP when a huge London-based club brand wants to curate a night here. It was a good show too from the southerners as they brought Andy C’s ‘Alive’ tour to Manchester! The Executioner takes drum & bass to the next level, combining his usual 3 deck madness with a hugely impressive visual show, probably the best set witnessed at Store St. this year.

In December there was possibly the most interesting line-up on the list. Always ending up as a highlight of the Warehouse Project, this year’s Modeselektion night was on the back of their first proper album in 4 years and what an album! If we combine that with a rare appearance from the legendary Squarepusher, plus DJ sets from Four-Tet, Pearson Sound, and an eye-catchingly-labelled 130bpm set from Skream... The night that followed did not disappoint; Skream showed his talents extend beyond mainstream dubstep; Modeselektor took the crowd on a bouncy journey through their new material, transcending sound and tempo; Squarepusher was his typical breaks & glitches, sonically-emphatic self. Nobody failed to impress!

Overall we’ve seen a fitting finale at the Store St venue. Over the past 5 years virtually every major name in dance music has graced a stage beneath these arches, etching many memories into a thousand clubbers minds. The Warehouse Project will be moving onto bigger and better things in 2012, of that there is no doubt, but I’m sure I won’t be the only one who, despite the queues and crowds, the dirt, dust and sweat, will miss that misused & abused car park.

It seems somewhat strange that a man who would describe himself as “Just some irritating, lying ginger kid from Cornwall who should have been locked up in some Youth Detention Centre. I just managed to escape and blag it into music.” And yet others would refer to him as “the most inventive & influential figure in contemporary electronic music.” But this all makes sense if I say we’re talking about Richard D. James, or Aphex Twin, a name now so steeped in folklore it is hard to discern the myth from the man. I gave it a shot though, at the Warehouse Project.

Aphex Twin was headlining the Thrasher line-up at this year’s Warehouse Project. A slightly unusual choice given previous Thrasher’s dubstep-centric line-ups, but it was a pretty well-received choice. When I arrived 1st thing I noticed was that this was definitely the oldest crowd I had seen at WHP in 2012.

A swarm of old ravers and hippies had come out for a rare event on the Manchester scene, although there were some young faces amongst the sea of Warp t-shirts, showing that the kids haven’t all succumbed to Guetta & Co just yet. It was also the quietest night I had seen this year, by quite a way. The cynic in me thinks people had bought tickets purely to sell on the Aphex name, and had swamped the market. I was offered at least 4 tickets in the days preceding the gig.

Second thing I noticed was there was some seriously dry music going down. I’d arrived too late to catch our own Illum Sphere (whom I was assured was well up to his usual high standards), and this Moths guy was doing his best to kill any prior atmosphere with extremely ambient material (even more painful as he replaced the excellent Koreless on the bill). I could only describe it as like being in between bands at a gig, where everyone is just stood around not really giving a fuck. This trend continued with Zavoloka barely raising a smile, let alone a fist, from a bored crowd.

Maybe it was my fault for not bombing 2 grams of MDMA and getting absolutely off my box, but I seem to recall the last Aphex Twin WHP gig I saw featured support from Luke Vibert, who absolutely destroyed the place with breaks & jungle and, in my opinion, upstaged & outshone Aphex Twin himself. Maybe Mr James had told them to hold it down, but I doubt he’s that concerned about other musicians.

It came as a massive relief when the main man snuck on stage and started before anyone had actually noticed. The volume increased, as did the tempo, and (lo-and-behold!) percussion patterns started ringing through the air. The restless crowd, denied a starter, was being fed the main course and boy were they all hungry!

The next 90 minutes of Aphex Twin was a true sonic journey, gradually building-up tempos and frequencies through multiple genres & sounds; from acid house and techno, through to a final 20 minutes of frenetic 808s, jungle breakbeats; executed with expert precision and timing. I could feel the surge of energy each time the tempo began to rise.

Whilst my ears were being seduced the visual show was no less appealing. Aphex Twin has a long affiliation with visual accompaniment; from his Chris Cunningham-directed music videos through to embedding photos of himself within his music. The visuals tonight were as excellently twisted as expected; throbbing Aphex Twin logos, distorted images of celebrities & sporting icons with their faces replaced by that of our host DJ, spread over four huge screens, combined with lasers and flashing lights. It was a fitting combination to the proceedings.

Following on from this absolute audio-visual delight was a set from one of this year’s WHP residents Hudson Mohawke. Sadly, someone gave him the same brief as the other support acts because the lights were turned back down and the energy in the room plummeted. Half the crowd left after Aphex Twin but I wanted to stick around to see Zomby, who had the very last set of the night. Unfortunately the extent to which our listening experience had switched meant I couldn’t take it any more and we left. Maintaining a degree of energy is key to any night and, although it would always be tricky to warm up for (or follow on from) a genius such as Aphex Twin, at least give it a go! Maybe go and listen to Luke Vibert and get some pointers.

Toronto-born San Francisco-based producer, ill.Gates has had a long and prolific career in music. An experienced DJ and black belt electronic music producer, Gates has created a global fan base with his unique beats and forward thinking approach to digital culture. We caught up with him to discuss the rise of dubstep, his music production seminars and the Blue Man Group.

Which 3 ill gates tunes are you most proud of and why?

Fok Julle Naaiers . I finished my new Die Antwoord remix of ‘Fok Julle Naaiers’ the day the original came out and it’s crushed in every city I’ve played it. I really like what I brought to the track. Having that video to work with was great and inspiring too.

Open Your Eyes. I made ‘Open Your Eyes’ in Israel as a parting gift to my old dog Tricky who recently passed. She was great and one of my best friends. I love thinking of her when I see people raging to it. That’s what I would want when I die.

The Friction Labs remix for the BBC. They challenged me to remix this crazy Indian song Aag Da Kariya by Dr. Zeus… waaay outside of my comfort zone. It took a while to find a feel that was a fusion of the two styles but the end result really works well in a live setting.

All three of those tunes are available for free at llgates.com here: illgates.com/music/free-music

Do you think the growth of dubstep has helped the glitch hop scene begin to step out of the shadows in terms of mainstream recognition?

Yes. Definitely. Dubstep has gotten people more accustomed to lower BPM bass music. Now they are more open to hearing other lower BPM bass music and learning to appreciate the sound. Crossover acts like Bassnectar, The Glitch Mob and Pretty Lights have begun to show us what’s really possible and now Skrillex put out that killer Koan Sound EP on Owsla… It’s an exciting time for Glitch Hop, even if most of these new listeners still don’t know that Glitch Hop is a genre.

I have heard about your lecturing and seminars. Whatʼs the core message you try and get across to aspiring producers and musicians?

The core of my message is empowerment. People get so bent out of shape comparing themselves to other people that they nullify 90% of their potential. Think of the history of music. How many times have we seen some upstart kid change the game with cut, copy and paste? I want to help people see what they’re capable of themselves, what they have to offer and how to be empowered and confident enough to go for it.

What’s the biggest mental hurdle a producer needs to overcome to reach a professional level?

Artists need to overcome the idea that some magic fairy in a suit is going to come handle their business and promotion. Until you can make your music into a business, nobody worthwhile is going to want to help.

I heard you met Bill Gates on your travels. What do you think of the changes people like him and the late Steve Jobs have brought to the creative industries around the world?

The work of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs makes everything I do possible. Gotta give respect where respect is due… period.

As someone with a unique perspective on the issue, do you see the global electronic music scene as a vehicle for any future political or social change?

Music has the power to create enthusiasm and curiosity in people and I love to see people use it effectively. In the past bands like Rage Against the Machine, Dead Prez and Public Enemy used great music to teach a lot of people to question what’s going on around them, but Electronic music as such has remained largely apolitical. Dubstep has to an extent opened people to the inherently political sound of Dub music and I think the current situation with The Arab Spring, Occupy, etc. has affected people quite deeply. The time is right for Bass music to step it up politically. Through my sampling, track titles, and the political content on my social media channels I try to be more than just another pretty bass.

Whatʼs the best show you have ever played?

A world record 21 DJ sets in 5 days at Burning Man this year. So so fun… I accidentally set the record at 15 last year and then I heard of a few DJs were going to try to break it so I had to up my game. I was originally going for 19 and then lost a set somewhere in the dust but I ended up with a surprise dawn set on Camp ?uestion Mark’s MASSIVE PK system followed by riding off into the morning dawn playing dancehall on the Purgatory Cruiser. I won’t be forgetting that particular Thursday night of that particular Burning Man anytime soon.

Who should long time glitch hop fans be listening to in 2012?

TED Talks and Alan Watts for a start, and then check out what’s going on in Australia and South Africa. There has been a lot of focus on what the US, UK, and Europe have been making but there is a whole world of Glitch Hop out there that you might miss out on. I’ve been really feeling Spoonbill, Opiuo, Liver, Greg Reve, Sibot, Circuit Bent, The Nam Shub Of Enki, Dj Fuck and MC Totally Rad, Son In Aquarius,  Enig’matik Records, etc.  I’d also watch out for more Glitchy Moombahton, I’ve been hearing it a lot lately.