Luke Una Presents E Soul Cultura

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Acid house, for me, probably more importantly than the music itself, blew the doors off in terms of my listening experience. Listening to majestic, weird records at 5am at someone’s house in Chorlton, you know. It could be a John Martyn record, it could be a pop record or a Brazilian record. I just suddenly started listening to music differently, and I’ve done that for a very long time.”

Luke Hannam has once again produced the album artwork for DJ Luke Una'smuch anticipated follow up album 'É Soul Cultura Volume 2’. Hannam also produced the artwork for the much acclaimed and award winning first volume last year.True to his newly invigorated intention, the first instalment of É Soul Cultura arrived in the early summer of 2022, instantly gaining affection and repeat listens thanks to the vivid and winding narrative woven into the carefully compiled collection. It should come as little surprise that the second instalment is every bit as engaging as the first, with all manner of tried and tested curios selected and programmed across a gorgeously immersive and non-linear journey. Beginning his career as an original Sheffield house young blood in the mid-1980s, Luke’s move to Manchester and partnership with Justin Crawford saw the birth of Electric Chair, a cornerstone cult night in the UK underground club scene, and later Electric Elephant, a Croatian festival paying homage to their wild eclecticism from Balearic to Brazilian to E soul, house, disco and techno. Luke’s much loved, long-running Homoelectric night and more recently Homobloc sell-out festival for 10,000 souls has been at the forefront of Manchester’s LGBTQ cultural landscape. Beginning his career as an original Sheffield house young blood in the mid 1980s, Luke’s move to Manchester and partnership with Justin Crawford saw the birth of Electric Chair, a cornerstone cult night in the UK underground club scene. Then later Electric Elephant, a Croatian festival paying homage to their wild eclecticism from Balearic to Brazilian to É Soul, house, disco and techno. Luke’s much loved, long-running Homoelectric night and more recently Homobloc sell out festival for 10,000 souls has been at the forefront of Manchester’s LGBTQ+ cultural landscape.

Sheffield’s DJ Parrot – who is on the comp as Crooked Man – describes Una as “a mongrel of the Sheffield and Manchester scenes”, with Una’s sensibilities equally rooted in having his mind blown by hearing Cabaret Voltaire on speed and enjoying early house music on ecstasy. It was like a failed utopia, a hotbed of everything counterculture – a huge influence on British music at the time Luke Una on Manchester's Hulme Crescents estatePrior to his social media fame, Una spent years DJing and running club nights such as Electric Chair and Homoelectric in Manchester, and in 2020 he was approached by Gilles Peterson to do a radio show on Worldwide FM. These became six-hour odysseys with Una raiding his collection and telling stories. “I was getting transcendental by myself,” he recalls. “I got very evangelical because I just fell in love again.”

Beginning his career as an original Sheffield house young blood in the mid 1980s, Luke’s move to Manchester and partnership with Justin Crawford saw the birth of Electric Chair,a cornerstone cult night in the UK underground club scene. Then later Electric Elephant, a Croatian festival paying homage to their wild eclecticism from Balearic to Brazilian to ÉSoul, house, disco and techno. Luke’s much loved, long-running Homoelectric night and more recently Homobloc sell out festival for 10,000 souls has been at the forefront ofManchester’s LGBTQ+ cultural landscape. Known and loved for the Electric Chair events he co-ran with long-time collaborator, Justin Crawford, and later the Electric Elephant Festivals that transplanted the duo’s love of unfettered eclecticism to Croatian shores, these days Luke keeps the fire burning via his Worldwide FM residency, his ongoing Homoelectric nights, and recently founded Homobloc Festival. On top of this, he manages to maintain a tireless touring schedule — though the days of boundless late-night hedonism that accompanied his younger years appear to be a thing of the past. Merging new with old, abstract with burnished, Luke’s seasoned aptitude for audio alchemy permeates every corner of Vol 2. “It’s a bit like making a classic pasta sauce, you know. You don’t want too much garlic, too little onion, and so on.” Luke goes on to explain that he had no intention for the album to occupy the saccharine realms of the coffee table comp. “God forbid,” he says. “No disrespect to those albums, I just didn’t want that. I wanted a real collection of music, I wanted to reflect all the different corners of the pyramid, if you like.”Luke’s Friday evening show on Worldwide FM has captured imaginations and has already become a cult four hour must-listen monthly journey with fans all over the world. Today Luke remains, as ever, at the forefront of a changing scene, pairing the momentous legacy of Manchester’s 80s and 90s scene with the delivery of what today’s club communities need to get down. Now aged 56 — and looking remarkably bushy-tailed for it considering the man hours he’s spent in amongst it — Luke is sober, eating sensibly, and taking care of mind, body and soul. And yet, even without the added enhancement of party favours, his passion for “unifying the diverse” through music burns as brightly as ever. “It’s exactly the same,” he says. “First of all, I have no moralism about people who get cosmic in whatever way they decide. I mean, admittedly, at 4am if someone coked-up is having the seventh looped-up conversation in your ear about how much they love you, it might begin to slightly grate on you, but you know, I’m used to it and I’ve been in that world all my life.” Luke Una is releasing a new compilation, titled Luke Una Presents É Soul Cultura, via Mr Bongo this May. Goods that are faulty or sent in error must be returned to Crash Records Limited, 35 The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 6PU within 7 working days of the item being received by the customer.