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.” 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.

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. 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 AllLuke’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. Luke Una Presents É Soul Cultura follows Mr Bongo’s release of The Brkn Record’s The Architecture of Oppression Part 1.

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.”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.” 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.” 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 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. Luke Una is releasing a new compilation, titled Luke Una Presents É Soul Cultura, via Mr Bongo this May.