Josh Baker: You&Me, Hide&Seek, and the Manchester Build

Josh Baker is a Manchester DJ, producer, and label owner who built his career the slow way: his own party, his own label, his own festival. He began curating You&Me events in 2015, founded the Hide&Seek Festival, launched the SYNTHO learning platform, and was named Breakthrough Producer at the DJ Mag Best of British awards in 2024. The records followed the infrastructure, not the other way round.

Who Josh Baker is

Baker is from Manchester, England, and got into house music at 17, in the city's club circuit around venues like Sankeys. A summer in Ibiza preceded the first You&Me party in 2015, run with co-founders Kurt, Dan, and Dash, in a student bar room in Fallowfield. That party became the label, and the label became the career.

The sound

Baker makes fluid, groove-heavy house that draws on tech house and electro: rolling low end, crisp percussion, and hooks that work at peak time without shouting. His 2025 collaborations show the range: Back It Up with Omar+, You Don't Own Me with Prospa and RAHH, and Dr Feel Right with the Egyptian Lover and Rome Fortune.

The label story: You&Me Records

You&Me started as an events series in 2015 and became a record label, with Scratchcard Luck as an early release on the imprint. Baker has also released on labels including Constant Black, and in 2024 he signed with the Sony-distributed Three Six Zero Recordings for singles including Something to Me. The Hide&Seek Festival, first held on August 31, 2019, is the events arm of the same build: a showcase for the minimal and tech-house sound the label pushes.

Key releases, dated

• 2017: Something for the Terrace, an early tech-house EP.
• 2019: Some Broken Bass, the electro-leaning follow-up.
• 2024: Something to Me and Bass Up to the Top, the singles that took him to larger audiences.
• 2025: Back It Up with Omar+, which reached No. 58 on the UK Singles Chart, plus You Don't Own Me with Prospa and RAHH, and the Come Closer EP.

Live, and why he matters now

In 2026 Baker headlined a season-long You&Me residency at Amnesia in Ibiza, running Thursdays on the Terraza from July 2 to October 1, 2026. The lesson for any party brand is structural as much as musical: a promoter that owns its label and its festival controls its own sound. It is the same instinct behind the BRCH formats, stated as a comparison, not a shared history.

Where to start listening

• Start with Back It Up for the Omar+ collaboration, then Something to Me.
• Play the Come Closer EP for the full 2025 statement, and You Don't Own Me to hear him between Prospa and RAHH.

Sources

Facts in this profile were checked against the Josh Baker entries on Wikipedia and Qobuz (AllMusic), Official Charts coverage, and Amsterdam Dance Event listings, in October 2026. No British Columbia connection is claimed or implied: Josh Baker has no BRCH or BC link, and this profile exists because his catalogue and his label model are reference points this series covers.