Rephlex Party @ Warehouse Project Review

Warehouse Project in Manchester is situated underneath Piccadilly train station in the old arches. What is now by day a car park and by night probably my favourite dance music venue. I last saw Aphex Twin here back in 2007 when I was really disappointed as he bored the pants off me - this time it was a different matter... 

I spent the day slowly getting more and more excited. Rephlex Records is one of the few labels that I know I can pick up any record and I will like it in some way. Be it full on mental noise, chilled out melodic stuff or sounds capes. As I got into the venue DJ Rephlex kicked off the proceedings with plenty of Rephlex style Acid. He was going down well, but with people still arriving the place still wasn’t in full swing.

I had interviewed DJ Rephlex earlier in the day and I asked him if there were any new acts I should check out. He said "Yes! Check out Wisp, he is the best new talent for at least 10 years. I’m serious!" Luckily he was on the bill for the night so I thought I would check him out! Wisp comes on sounding like some of Aphex Twins lighter tracks. I think he even played a couple of tracks from Aphex Twin's Analord series. If he didn’t then they were of a similar sound and style. By this point everyone is getting going a bit more, they know what's coming up next. You guessed it - Aphex Twin!

Everyone packs into the main room. I could hardly move as I was wedged between so many people wanting to get a glimpse of the man himself! I didn't know what to expect after not enjoying him last time. But no need to fret, tonight was the night! The whole set was a huge crescendo of 'one-upmanship' starting off with acid into all out Rephlex rave. He dropped 'Didgeridoo' and everyone went mental! He ended with some seriously hardcore industrial speed core. Any other time in the world I would have said 'Speed core is rubbish', but because it was the climax of the set and everyone around me was getting into it I was saying quite the opposite! This was a serious sweat fest; me and my friends had to retire to the bar to regroup ourselves after the onslaught!

Next to the stage comes Luke Vibert. I've seen him many times and he never disappoints. When DJing he's like the jukebox of Warp/Rephlex/Ninja Tune, a large mix of Acid/Techno/Glitch/Jungle/Hip Hop/Rave. On the night he mostly went down the Jungle route. I didn't recognise any of his tunes but I was getting my groove on and enjoying them a lot.

It was a brilliant night and as usual the Rephlex crowd are a nice type of people with lots of energy giving the place a brilliant atmosphere! This has pumped me; I can’t wait to go to more Warehouse Projects this year!

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Charles Heap