Luke Una Presents E Soul Cultura

Product Information

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. 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. Prior 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.” It was a culmination of 30-plus year career that saw the production and DJ team of The Unabombers transcend their origins in cult night Electric Chair at Manchester’s long gone venue The Roadhouse, to become festival favourites and hosts of parties still spoken of in breathless terms. But with such massive growth, which later saw the pair moving into the hospitality industry, came the almost inevitable conclusion of burnout just as Covid brought the world to a standstill.

When presented with news of Luke’s newfound sobriety, some of his friends expressed concern that the quality of his DJing might suffer as a result, but the absence of mind-alteration has in no way diminished his set-crafting inspiration. “In the beginning it was scary. You have no props. Nowhere to hide. But actually, I think I’m DJing better than I ever used to because I’m technically better. People say, ‘You don’t take as many risks when you’re sober’ but I dunno if that’s true.” 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. 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.” 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.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. 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.” Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti - Eva / 2. Chêne noir - Le Train / 3. Metropolis - Every Time I See Him / 4. The Brand New Heavies Featuring N'Dea Davenport – Stay This Way (The Lunar Dub) / 5. Typesun - The P.L. (Extended Edit) / 6. King Errisson - Space Queen / 7. Yusef Lateef - Robot Man / 8. Daniel Humair, François Jeanneau, Henri Texier - Le Cyclope / 9. Airto Moreira - O Galho Da Roseira (The Branches Of The Rose Tree) / 10. Francisco - Waché / 11. Nar'Chiveol - Apocalypse Now Ho / 12. On - Southern Freeez / 13. Soylent Green - After All

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.He seemingly revels in the licensing process, too, through which — with the help of the team at Mr Bongo — he was able to secure the rights to so many musical pearls, from shining light on the little-known Yargo B-side ‘Marimba’ to managing to represent the “pre-house, late 70s electronic sound of Japan” in the form of Bach Revolution’s ‘DE 108’. “We started the [licensing] process as soon as the last album was done. You don’t always get all the cherries, but that’s not a bad thing because you need to save some for the next moment.” 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. Luke Una is releasing a new compilation, titled Luke Una Presents É Soul Cultura, via Mr Bongo this May. 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 estate Luke Una Presents É Soul Cultura follows Mr Bongo’s release of The Brkn Record’s The Architecture of Oppression Part 1.

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. Luke’s Friday evening show on Worldwide FM captured imaginations and became a cult four-hour must-listen monthly journey for fans all over the world. Today, Luke remains, asever, at the forefront of a changing milieu, pairing the momentous legacy of Manchester’s 80s and 90s scene with the delivery of what today’s club communities need to get down.Taking a sip of his mushroom soup, Luke Una is pondering how the parlous state of his health pre-Covid has led to clean living, an improved state of mind and an unforeseen career trajectory. “I had a few heart issues come up,” he says. “It was a case of being overweight and eating late and boozing and everything else, not looking after myself and stress and hard work.” 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’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.