That dance is loved in Manchester is a given. The 'Madchester' raves staged in the English metropolis in the 1980s were hugely romanticized in the decades that followed. The image of thousands of people dancing for hours in an abandoned factory hall is still appealing. DJ Illum Sphere (aka Ryan Hunn) proves that it can also be done on a smaller scale. As owner of the Hoya: Hoya club, he has been
… one of Manchester's pivotal figures of modern dance since 2008. Of course, the DJ is only satisfied when the feet are off the floor and for that he usually uses an eclectic mix of disco, hip-hop and techno. His debut album does not fall within one electro genre either. The tempos and sounds differ per song and that makes Ghosts Of Then And Now exciting. However, it never goes towards hard techno, it stays with a moody mix of ambient, electropop and now jazz. The music also works more on the brain than on the feet. A remarkably unanswerable record for a DJ from a city with a rich dance history. (JE)more
