Joey Daniel at Mantra live Manchester review

Image: Joey Daniel

Celesta and Zinc brought Mexican madness to Manchester with a pinata party at the industrial surroundings of Ancoats' Mantra Live.

Since opening last year, Mantra have been delivering massive house and techno nights with the likes of Function, Ralph Lawson and Alex Arnout topping the bill in the crumbling remains of the city's industrial quarter. 

Only recently the venue has been bolstered by the addition of Mantra Warehouse, an underground space with a capacity of 700 where Covet Events will be based throughout 2016. Their launch party in March was headlined by Just Jorge and the likes of Floating Points and Pete Rock & C.L Smooth will be making appearances in September.

It was outside where the marathon rave began however. The concrete and corrugated iron surroundings of the Mantra Courtyard played host to what could have been a soggy celebration, if it weren't for a last minute marquee that was drafted in to remove any risk of sodden sombreros.

Celesta Recordings and zinc records collaborated musically for the first time, with AJ Christou of the former label enjoying two spells behind the decks both outside and inside later on. His percussive tech house, infused with dreamy latino vocals, sounded massive as smoke machines left the outdoor dancefloor completely engulfed. 

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Zinc called upon two homegrown producers, and the label's founders, Tom Neatis and Fran Fitzgerald to provide further support with bass driven grooves and mood swinging tracks booming around the shabby chic venue.

As midnight came around, Mantra live was swarmed for the appearance of Joey Daniel. The Music On man has made waves in his native country for over a decade and has a penchant for low-end, dubby tech and brought out the likes of Harvey Mckay's 'Lost' (listen above) which reverberated around the bricks and beams nicely.

From a set of speakers that looked like a Dr Seuss creation came ebbs and flows of bass and beats and Daniel built up seismic rhythms, like the Gianni Firmaio remix of 'Easy Care', before dropping them back into endless percussive elements.

There was a lot of love for Oscar Poulsen's Negro Mate, released only a few months ago on Tres 14 music with the minimal techno track summing up a classy performance from Joey Daniel in surroundings that suited his energy perfectly.

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