northern comfort

October sees us baton down the hatches against the onset of winter by holing up at the Sally with good friends, good tunes and good women. Leave us here ’til spring and we’ll be happy. Brightening up the darkness we have selectors this month as easy on the ear as they are on the eye. First up is Andrea Trout a.k.a. Mrs. Scruff. A deejay of many years standing she’s dropped tunes all over our fair city and beyond. Specialising in the brand of soulful goodness we love so Andrea is a natural choice for Northern Comfort and we look forward to welcoming her with open arms and a large Jack Daniels and Coke.

Next up is Francine Hayfron a.k.a. Lil’ Minx. Fran is Andrea’s former deejay partner who forsook the decks for the desk and has twiddled the knobs on radio shows for such luminaries as The Unabombers, Blood & Fire and Mr. Scruff and Treva Whateva’s Hot Pot show. Still producing shows now on Preston FM she’s going to be busy as the station goes full time so we’re well chuffed to grab her while she still has a minute.

Continuing our females first flavour, the lady behind the lens a.k.a. Elisabeth Kurtis will be putting the camera down long enough to elbow aside some of our male residents and step up with some choices of her own. Standing around feeling slightly redundant NC regulars Robd, Catcalledmorris and Sad Eagle will as ever be in attendance, should a plug need changing or disaster strikes and someone breaks a nail.

Last month was a bit of a cracker with That Amazing Thing; we had breakdancing in the bar, and a Parisian beatbox champion providing beats for an impromptu rap battle in the car park.

September sees us play host to two more DJs forsaking their usual main room antics in favour of musical avenues maybe a little less travelled. Both linked by the Fat City record shop, chances are you will have been flogged a tune or three by one of them if you’ve been in within the last 10-12 years.

First up we have Darren Laws; still a fixture behind the counter today, charming the money out of eager punter’s pockets. His keen ears have also ensured he’s a regular fixture behind the decks at many Friends & Family / Fat City associated events from Manchester to Manhattan, Munich to Mumbai. Relishing the chance to escape the demands of the dancefloor, Darren will be offering a rare glimpse of his mellower side.

Next up is Martin Brew, who managed the shop back in the late ’90s whilst also maintaining a well established recording career; recording as Strangebrew (Robs Records) alongside Jake Purdy and later as J-Walk (Pleasure / East West) with super-producer Martin Desai. Over the years he’s served up gems including “Dubble Agent” ,”Sand Steppin’” (as Martin Brew) and the classic “Soul Vibration”. Still recording as J-Walk (now solo) he’ll be releasing a new LP at some point soon on Peacefrog. As at home behind the decks as he is behind the desk, he too has DJed worldwide and we look forward to hearing him drop some original samples and tracks that have influenced him down the years.

Support as ever comes from the Northern Comfort residents, beer as ever comes from Tim.

The Salutation, Sat 13th September, 8pm-1am. FREE!

This Sunday (24th August), sees Leeds super club New Bohemia land in Manchester, bringing a touch of Carnival spirit with it, hoping to brighten up our (most likely) rainy Bank Holiday weekend. New Bohemia has been going on since 2004, with some fantastic guests over the years, bringing the very best in Hiphop, Funk, Soul, Broken Beat, Dancefloor Jazz, Latin, Reggae, Afrobeat, Dubstep, Disco to the lucky people of Leeds and London, on Sunday they cross over the Pennines into Mancunia, for a night of mayhem at Mint Lounge, featuring Earl Gateshead & MC Superfour from the mighty Trojan Soundsystem, local hero Kelvin Brown (Eyes Down/Electric Chair) and scratch champ and One Self turntablist DJ Woody, along with MC Testament. BUT…The back room will be hosted by ourselves, along with the Last Rites crew. Robd and catcalledmorris will be reppin’ Northern Comfort with Geoff b, Elisabeth and Andy Vee holding it down for LR.

TOP 5 ‘BEST CLUBNIGHTS IN THE COUNTRY’ - BBC RADIO 1 WORLDWIDE AWARDS. (as voted for by the general public)

‘This is one of the best clubs in the UK right now. . . . . God bless New Bohemia’ Rodney Smith aka Roots Manuva

‘4 years strong & counting, new bohemia continues to provide a wide selection of great artists, giving important grassroots support to proper music!’ - Mr Scruff

‘Musically Brilliant’ – The guardian Guide

‘big shout to the New Bohemia massive…keep it up!’ 4hero

Sunday 24th Aug, £10 Adv, Mint Lounge, Oldham St.

New Bohemia Myspace
New Bohemia Facebook group
New Bohemia Facebook Event Details

In the first of a no doubt inconsistent and randomly appearing series of re-edits - here’s a cracker to start us off with. Parappa is a friend of NC and has kindly shared with us a re-edit of Dirty Dozen Brass Band’s cover of Marvin Gaye’s Inner City Life. In Parappa’s words:

I didn’t like playing the original ‘cos I really hated the corny vocal so I’ve ripped it all out and filled out the gaps with appropriate instrumental snippets. It’s a good partner to that new orleans brass band cover of sexual healing which was popular a while back.

So download, share, enjoy and leave a comment! Thanks Parappa!

Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Inner City Life (Parappa re-edit)

Phew! NC vs That Amazing Thing last Saturday was a bit of a cracker, as these pics show! Thanks to Marc Rowlands from The Guardian for bigging us up in the Guide this Saturday too.

Next one is on Saturday 13th September - make a date in your diary now.

This month we present ‘That Amazing Thing’. Regular punters at NC over the past few months, we’re looking forward to Mark Haran and Francis Wooff bringing us a taste of the tunes that have made them an irregular but much-loved fixture of Manchester clubland over the past 8 years. Fresh(!) from the Amazing Thing camping trip, and in preparation for the boat trip, we’ll catch them in between spinning some laid back loveliness.

Support as always from the NC residents; music is free, entry is free, good vibes will be free - you have to pay for the beer though.

NC vs That Amazing Thing - Sat 9th August, The Salutation, FREE.

July sees us suffering a little summer madness as we provide not one. not two but three guest selectors for your delight and amusement. For starters we have ‘almost resident after two appearances and comes to every one anyway’ Treva Whateva. The ex-Ninja / Hot Potter / Fat Cityite always relishes the chance to drop the tempo and flex his soul muscle, much like our first helping of main course Mr. Andy Madhatter. The veteran jock regaled us with classics, rare gems and exclusive edits when he headlined back in March and enjoyed himself so much he asked if he come back and do more of the same. How could we possibly refuse?

Topping off our triple-decker selector-sandwich is Kelvin Brown. One half of the long running and very successful Eyes Down night and the definitive muso’s muso Kelvin will be providing us some true connoisseur type beats and will no doubt have many of us reaching for the notepad. Aural canapes and sweet come as ever from the Northern Comfort residents and if that still ain’t fat enough for you then we may just have to spark up the barbie. All round nourishment the Northern Comfort way.

This veritable feast will kick of at 4pm and run until 12.30, or maybe 1 - if we’re still vertical; and entrance is, as ever, gratis.

Northern Comfort at The Salutation featuring Treva Whateva, Andy Madhatter and Kelvin Brown. Saturday, July 12th, The Salutation, Lower Chatham Street, Manchester. 4-12.30ish, Free.

This month, continuing our roll call of top notch selectors, we are excited and hugely proud to announce an appearance from Mancunian DJ royalty. With a career spanning nearly 30 years behind the decks he’s played at seminal Mcr venues such as Berlin, Rafters, Legend, The Playpen and was the very first resident at a certain local club that began with an ‘H’. He’s played all-dayers, all-nighters, shebeens to super clubs and has influenced acts including A Certain Ratio and New Order.

With roots in reggae, soul and jazz he’s gone on to spin anything from Airto to Zapp, Bowie to Yello and is still keeping abreast of current music today. Ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding for Sir Hewan Clarke MBE. (We’ve given him an MBE as Norman Jay’s got one, and if this were London so too would Hewan.) A legendary, though largely unsung figure of local clubland, we’ve provided him the opportunity to return to his pre Hac watering hole, but this time stay, and share some of his vast musical knowledge with a select few lucky patrons.

Whether you’re familiar with him or not, give your ears the treat they deserve and the man the respect he deserves by joining us for what promises to be a very special evening indeed.

Also this month we have the lovely Mojo, and support, as always, comes from residents Robd & Catcalledmorris.

Northern Comfort at The Salutation featuring Hewan Clarke,
Saturday, June 14th, The Salutation, Higher Chatham Street, Manchester. 8-12.30, Free.

Multimap directions

See you there!

As Picadilly Records say; “And while I’m mentioning nights out, you might want to check out Northern Comfort (Sat 10th May, The Salutation, 8pm - 12.30am, free), who continue their monthly playing-nice-music-in-a-pub session, this time inviting Friends & Family / Eyes Down DJ Jon K to spin some discs and sup ale with them. “

The Bears sessions at The Salutation, (Higher Chatham St, Manchester just off Oxford St) on from 8 till half 12 with the usual crew playing fine ‘balearic beats and disco treats’, if you do pop down to that then you can pick up a flyer for discounted entry (a bargain price of just a fiver instead the door price of 9 quid) to Hoya:Hoya, which this months features Marc Mac from 4Hero along with MC MG, Wah Wah 45’s Dom Servini and Simon Goss, and residents Ryan Hunn and Jonny Dub.

Marc Mac will also be appearing on the ever excellent Groovement radio on Unity this sunday 2 till 4. Past shows with The Nextmen, Sharon Jones and the Dapkings, Andy Smith and DJ Format can be heard here.

Thanks to everyone who reached down to our third soiree and especially
to Mr. Scruff and Treva Whateva; who between them whipped up a quiet
riot and our busiest night so far. Both guests remarked on how nice it
was to be able to drop the tempo, fill the dancefloor and give rise to
an undulating sea of grinning faces, powered by nothing more than ale,
crisps and top drawer soulfulness. A classic night. Check the pics here

This month we welcome man-about-town Jon K to our small, happy corner
of the city. You may know him from behind the counter at Fat City
records, spinning at their Friends & Family events or maybe from his
own residency (alongside Kelvin Brown) at the long running Eyes Down
session. Jon will be expressing himself through the mediums of beer
and the type of really good tune that never seems to make it past the
record shop counter. Grrr. A fine selector of many years standing he’s
sure to take full advantage of the wide-open remit - expect some gems!

Quite what this is all about i have no idea. Busta Rhymes is set to visit Manchester next month, but you can forget the MEN arena or the Apollo as busta is playing the Sheridan Suite in Miles Platting on May 25th. Yeah, think i will give that a miss actually.