We celebrating turning 1 in September with Firecracker Recordings and Linkwood Family. The guys from the electronic music magazine Random Circuits came down to see what all the fuss was about. Read on.
Manchester over the past year has seen a flurry of club nights come and go. Those that never made it did so with good reason; lack of foresight, vision, creativity and in some cases too much arrogance. Of course I wouldn’t do any better. If truth be told a night run be me would be a disaster of mass proportions, doomed to a catastrophic end that would see me collapse both mentally and financially. It takes a touch of magical wizardry to produce a successful and unique night. Those Manchester nights that have done just that are easily recognisable from their marketing, let alone the parties themselves. Hand crafted simplistic posters and flyers, which advertise their artists and their associated record labels as much as they do their own event.
Cutloose is unmistakeably one such night. A fresh faced one year old, brought into the world by well educated and wise hands. Sound Stream, Theo Parrish, Mark E, Mark Seven, Motor City Drum Ensemble and most recently a trio of artists from the Firecracker Recordings and Linkwood Family (Linkwood, Fudge Fingas and House of Traps) having all played their part. The seemingly hand picked crowd is instrumental too. Rioting with due cause on a monthly rota, they tear down decorations, rip up the floors and pillage the cider stocks from behind the bar with smiles stretched wildly across their faces.
The party started off life at Spektrum but quickly moved (for one night only) to Bookbinders before settling at the Roadhouse, where fortunately it has stayed ever since. Often referred to as the Basement, the venue drops down under a building and opens up into a small square red lit room. The club normally plays host to bands and the likes and therefore is littered with oversized speakers. A line of them protect the decks from any would be stumbler, whilst an untold number of high powered cones hang from various heights around the room. Once wired into to a high powered mixer of some kind, the sound thunders.
It was 11:30 when I arrived, the crowd was a little light but like every other month the numbers rose exponentially over the next hour, by 00:30am the dance floor was fat with Cutloose regulars perpetuating the atmosphere into a freakish momentum. A crowd that doesn’t cry out every time the bass gets cut is no crowd at all in my opinion. I want to literally see people’s thoraxes exploding out of their mouths, which is rather lucky considering the sheer volume that rattles out of the average Cutloose visitor, who seems to have vocal power of a banshee. An intoxicating breed and no mistaking.
This uncontrollable raving horde revels in nights like this one, where the guests take charge for the whole evening, gifting everyone with a fascinating insight into what the label and its key figures are all about. I’ve seen a few examples of this done lately and it’s safe to say that I like it. I often walk away astounded by the sheer diversity of an imprints output and influences. Whilst the Firecracker and Linkwood trio played a lot of tracks reminiscent of the Prime Numbers sound early on, they also drifted into the kind of deep house and techno you’d expect to pick up on labels like Wax and Mojuba. Each of the 3 DJs showcased their own unique catalogue and as they swapped places behind the decks the mood would shift ever so slightly into a different direction but never dropping in pace.
3am closing times are a cruel thing for any human being to bear. Although perhaps the play their part; the vindictive swines, leaving those that remain standing with an unquenchable thirst for more. The end of a Cutloose night is a sad moment that can only be recompensed by a head first plunge into Sunday morning front room fun times where you’re left clucking frantically for next month’s party.
