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ENTER. has become a household name amongst techno fans since its inception on the White Isle in 2012. The brainchild of both musical and technological pioneer Richie Hawtin was quickly established as and continues to be one of the most important parties on the island. With its roaring success, ENTER. has become the event platform for Hawtin to showcase his and his comrade's much loved Minus sound to the masses globally. Luckily for us, Store Street returned this year, providing the perfect opportunity for ENTER.'s Manchester debut. Unsurprisingly, the two forces combined meant for an unforgettable night.
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Store Street needed little transformation for the simple yet highly effective ENTER. production. A metal girder ring supported strong lighting around the DJ set up, adding to the already industrial effect and over the course of the night, allowing for beams of bright, minimalistic colours to accompany the stripped back techno. As we delved onto the dancefloor for the first time that night, Fabio Florido – who this year became a central resident of the ENTER. at Space Ibiza parties – stood comfortably on stage, focused in delivering deep, dark and punching tracks; the calm before the storm.
As the crowd lapped up the perfectly placed warm-up beats, anticipation across the room was building into something sizeable. Recondite's live sets have been making waves since his introduction to the ENTER. family this year and his ability to immerse the crowd into his sound is unwavering. The incredibly heavy bass provided the foundations, whilst dreamy, melodic synths had hands reaching high into the air as many fell into a state of borderline hypnosis. Highly emotive tracks such as 'Cleric' and 'Caldera' riled the senses and as momentum built, reality began to kick back in and the prospect of the powerhouse that is Gaiser taking over the reigns hit home.
It would be fair to say Gaiser has over the years become somewhat of a Minus veteran, his tunes often placed deep into Hawtin's own sets. Gaiser's sound is synonymous with the label and as such, he has been pivotal to ENTER.'s success from the start. With a firm smile on his face, he took over and immediately picked up the pace. The crowd bounced along as he worked through the recently released 'False Light' album that forms his newest live set. Flavours of rolling, pounding basslines laced with dry synths and squeaky, dark grooves kept us gloriously excited for the duration, and every track had you pulling your best techno face – in particular the cool and funky 'Say What' made for jumping manically around the sweaty warehouse. Luckily for us we were soon being cooled down by blasts from the one-time installed CO2 cannons.
The name on most people's lips was of course the man behind it all, Richie Hawtin. Most sets at The Warehouse Project are an hour and half to two hours long, however a figurehead such as this meant we were treated to a solid two and a half hours of techno. It was typical Hawtin, what everybody had come down for; minimal house and and bouncy techno at its best. The technical maestro laid rolling drumbeats into powerful drops, accentuated by intense reverbs and fast paced fills. As always it wasn't just a DJ set, but a live set in its own right as he manipulated other artists' tracks into his own masterpiece.
Of course the set was laced with the Hawtin delay effect, the futuristic bleeps we all know and love that accompany the build ups so well. From start to finish the crowd were locked in as we were taken along the final leg of the journey into the black hole that is ENTER. Towards the end, the infamous black dot was celebrated with a bang and with a heavy drop we were blasted with one final blast of ice and a shower of black dots that glistened through the air. It was the icing on the cake to the consistently spot on ENTER. production.
Typical of Store Street, within no time the night was being brought to close. Hawtin's delay politely and calmly trickled through the speakers, as the club in its entirety showed its appreciation for the incredible night the ENTER. boss and his team had provided. Tonight was hands down one of the best nights The Warehouse Project has seen and most definitely a very difficult one to top.