October (Week 5) Clubbing Listings: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee

Carte Blanche

 Featured Club of the Week: Mixed Bizness presents How's Your Party?
Venue: Sub Club
Date: Friday 29th October

Mixed Bizness’ How’s Your Party? celebrate their 3rd birthday the night before at the Sub Club with Carte Blanche (DJ Mehdi and Riton), whose Black Billionaires EP whips up funk and disco with energised electro, and A La Fu returns after a production hiatus to reveal his works.

Sounds like:
 

11pm-3am, £12 / £10 adv.

More info: The very next night at the same venue, Mixed Bizness secure the rest of your weekend with a special live dubstep performance by Magnetic Man, the trio composed of Benga, Skream and Artwork. Boom Monk Ben, Katy B and Profisee support. 7.30pm, £12 advance.

Sounds like:

Edinburgh

Club: She-Bang Rave Unit
Venue: Wee Red Bar
Date: Friday 29th October

For their Halloween ball special, the all-girl She-Bang Rave Unit present The Tokyo Bitches’ (DJ Rob Dylan and Dr Dempsey the ‘Virgin Surgeon’) house and techno, especially reforming for this event. Miss Penny Pornstar performs as She-Bang hostess for the genre-bending night, all supported by the She-Bang DJs Pretty Vacant (Vicki Watson), Mrs Wee (smells like Kirstie Paton), AbadabaDisco (Abi Cornwall), Tracy Island (Tracey Stewart) and M.C.(certainly not squared) Mary Collins. Warning - typing in Tokyo Botches online leads to some seriously pornographic websites; I was expecting techno not anal.

10.30pm-3am, £7 / £5 in fancy dress

Club: Sugarbeat
Venue: Cabaret Voltaire
Date: Friday 29th October

Doorly and Purple Pop join The Utah Saints for Sugarbeat - a sweet mix of breaks, electro, house and anything that tingles the spine.

Sounds like:

11pm-3am, £8

Club: Karnival
Venue: Cabaret Voltaire
Date: Saturday 30th October

It’s difficult to escape the fancy dress parties this weekend - and why would you? Cheaper entry and CDs / future guest lists for best costumes! Karnival and Fuse lockdown Voltaire for a night of ‘haunting house and terrifying techno’. Still, doubt they’ll be playing witch house.

11pm-3am, £8 / £6 before midnight / £5 in fancy dress

Club: Samhuinn Afterparty
Venue: The Bongo Club
Date: Sunday 31st October

If you need to further your Halloween / Samhuinn celebrations, the Beltane Fire Society are hosting an afterparty of not-so-Celtic-traditional dubstep, dnb and balkan dance with DJ Tactus, Covalent and Anonymi.

11pm-3am, £7 / £5

Glasgow

Club: Fortified
Venue: The Glasgow School of Art
Date: Friday 29th October

Two celebrations at once! It’s Electric Eliminators fourth birthday and Halloween (dubstep) Ball with Rinse FM’s Oneman, Ben UFO, Elijah & Skilliam, and of course regulars Electric Eliminators and B.A.S.S. Ethereal dub seems just the ticket for these dark nights.

Sounds like:

11pm-3am, £12 / £10 adv.

Club: Pressure
Venue: The Arches
Date: Friday 29th October

One of the more distinctly non-Halloween clubs of the weekend, Pressure returns with Slam and special guests Ben Sims, Cassy, Fergie and Tricky for five hours of top techno.

Sounds like:

11pm-4am, £13

Club: Huntley & Palmer’s Presents
Venue: Stereo
Date: Saturday 30th October

Huntley & Palmer’s returns from London to its homeland for a one-off special and techno and electro from Oni Ayhun, Alex Smoke, Veronica Vasicka and TVO. Put some wonk on it!

Sounds like:

11pm-4am, £12 / £10 adv.

Club: Lost in Space
Venue: Soundhaus
Date: Saturday 30th October

Courtesy of Specialitee, the Soundhaus is having a special Halloween Party featuring DJs from many of its clubs including Camouflage, Off the Records, Shift, Inner City Acid and more. There’s prizes for the best spaceman, alien or superhero to win a prize!

10.30pm-3am, £tbc

Club: Spectrum
Venue: Blackfriars
Date: Saturday 30th October

Renamed Spooktrum for the evening, electroo and technoo will be blasted by residents B-Tone, Leigh Miles and Aymard.

Sounds like:

11pm-3am, £5 / £4 students

Club: Terrorfest
Venue: The Universal
Date: Saturday 30th October

Technofest (the predominant genre is hinted by the title) becomes Terrorfest for Halloween, and usurps its own name by welcoming deep house maestro Silicone Soul as headline guest! Profits go towards the un-ghoulish cause of Cancer Research, and there’s even a pre-party from 8.30pm at the CCA Terrace Bar. Support on the night comes from resident DJs Adrian M, Gary J, Kyle McArthur, and Lee Goomes, while Clyde Productions and Mr Mofis guide the lights and visuals.

Sounds like:

10pm-3am, £10

Aberdeen

Club: Let it Bleed
Venue: The Forum
Date: Friday 29th October

They carved themselves a popular niche in the 90s, firmly imprinting ‘electronique dance Francais’ on awe-struck synth and key enthusiasts and now Cassius make a special Halloween appearance to infuse the north with electro-house.

Sounds like:

10pm-3am, £20 / £15 adv.

Dundee

Club: Neon Nights
Venue: The Reading Rooms
Date: Friday 29th October

Electro dawns on Neon Nights for their Halloween horror party (yep, fancy dress with prizes), with Human Life mashing disco, electro, pop, bassline, house to create monster beats. Residents Beastmaster2000 and Is_Kill support the horror show.

Sounds like:

10.30pm-late, £8 before 11.30pm (more on door)

Genre deconstruction: Witch House Pt 1

First rumblings about the ‘witch house’ genre began spreading on the internet just before Summer 2010 and had finally filtered through to mainstream media such as The Guardian by August. Before it’s even fully taken off, the internet naysayers and musos have begun to rubbish the genre as nonsense and already subverted by advances / devolutions in already established fields.

It’s been listed as goth, library music, drone, doom ambient, ghost trance, glo-fi, post-punk, hauntology, ghost drone, spectral pop, drag, were house, haunted house, and an extension of chill-wave: either way it appears the leaders of the genre-coining movement, or the bands themselves, have been channelling Nathan Barley for inspiration.

It could also be considered Facebook or Myspace music; a genre growing from disparate groups of people who never meet but produce and share ghostly influenced music - like electro-pop in a morphine slurry. First glances show a collective of young artists, and I suspect so young that the full extent of the 80s and 90s music scenes have bypassed them in a rather concrete way. The term ‘drag’ is supposed to reference a Houston sound perpetuated in the 90s by DJ Screw and similar crews: the major addition to their sluggish music was the strong influence of cough-syrup codeine and fizzy juice known as purple drank - it frequently led to deaths, including DJ Screw at the age of 29, who turned down record deals to remain with his purple drank crew.

The music, his crew and codeine came first, and he remained in his working-class lifestyle downing syrup mixed with Sprite until his death. Drug abuse was experienced as culture, and the culture drove on the music - a move away into the shiny world of record deals could have signed the death knell for purple drank beats, and they remained true to their addiction and music vision.


The witch house band Salem jumped on DJ Screw’s legacy and kept the chopped-up, sluggish and ethereal quality while working in synths and vocals along a Boris Karloff theme. Other artists chuck in electro-rock, or dub, or ambient, but the genre seems entirely based on themes of the occult and the paranormal, albeit through a psychedelic aperture. A side-look at dubstep suggests the likes of Burial helped to add some ethereal inspiration to the genre. .

One of the labels behind the witch house sound is Tri Angle, founded by Robin Carolan. He has been quoted as saying: “Hip-hop and rnb, in essence, is a commercial kind of music. But when you get down to the nitty gritty of it, it’s sonically at least really strange music. And there’s so much you can do with that. I’m surprised it’s taken so long for it to start being experimented with by people who aren’t in that world.”

And for me, that’s the crux of it - “people who aren’t in that world”. Houston’s drag hip-hop / street-rap artists in the 90s ran a merry-go-round with codeine syrup abuse, plenty of whom didn’t survive their ‘muse’, and they were predominantly from poorer African-American backgrounds. Witch house or whatever you want to call it, comes from people who saw little of that era first hand simply due to age differences, and they come from markedly different backgrounds - in some way it reminds me of a marketing plan to extract a culture-specific genre/style and tweak it for the mass market. Strip off the syrup abuse, add in genres tapping a definite trend, and it is reborn with little contemplative thought for the founding fathers who did not survive long enough to see purple drank music without the purple drank aspect.

Tom Ewing of The Guardian disagrees, suggesting: “What witch house tells me is that genres now aren't exercises in innovation or marketing, so much as ways of framing an experience. And if you won't feel open to that experience, your investigation of it won't get far.”

So, underground trend marketing or framing an experience? Stay tuned to this blog for the second part in Witch House deconstruction, where we delve into the artists, their naming conventions and their different interpretations of the sound.

October (Week 4) Clubbing Listings: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee

Marcel Fengler

Featured Club of the Week: Animal Farm

Venue: The Sub Club

Date: Friday 22nd October

Animal Farm feature a showcase of the Ost Gut Ton label, starring Berghain DJ Marcel Fengler for deep and pounding techno - check out the title track from his recent Enigma EP below. The newest signing to Ost Gut Ton, Ryan Elliot, will be running the bassline techno for maximum OGT drenching.

Sounds like:


11pm–3am, £10

Edinburgh

Club: Axis
Venue: Cabaret Voltaire
Date: Friday 22nd October

It doesn’t time travel but it does come in bright colours: Hot Pink Delorean tease in the electro and house at Axis, usually a preserve of techno beats. If you pitch up looking for straight 4/4s you might not be prepared for the funkier and glam melody aspects so remember your party attitude.

Sounds like:

11pm–3am, £5 / £4

Club: Fakin’ It
Venue: Henry’s Cellar Bar
Date: Friday 22nd October

For all your hardcore basement desires, Fakin’ It surfaces with hardtek, breaks, jungle and electro to grind your face off.

11pm–3am, £4 / £3

Club: Four Corners
Venue: The Bongo Club
Date: Friday 22nd October

Always on the pulse for music with world flavours and heritage, Four Corners spins jazz, latin, afro, reggae, funk, soul and everything in between: supported by live percussion.

11pm–3am, £5 / £3 before 12am

Club: Ghantin vs Electikal
Venue: The GRV
Date: Friday 22nd October

Phew seems like a mix of extremes this weekendm ; one night in and hardcore has reared it’s head a few ties. Using the Elecktikal Soundsystem, Ghantin breaks out the breakcore, smashes the dnb, and ramps up the techno with Tekkerz, Tam O Banter and Taz Buckfaster back-to-back with White Noise.

11pm–3am, £3

Club: Bass Syndicate
Venue: Liquid Room
Date: Saturday 23rd October

The Plump DJs have garnered a rep for their one-off specials in the capital, and never fail to move tickets. They’re back once again at the rebuilt Liquid Room to test those new supporting beams with powerful electro house, breaks, house and whatever can raise the heart rate.

Sounds like:

10.30pm–3am, £12 / £10

Club: Big’n’Bashy
Venue: The Bongo Club
Date: Saturday 23rd October

She kicks a lot of ass through heavy beats, and Numbers / LuckyMe’s Eclair FiFi whips up a stormer guest set for Big’n’Bashy, who will spin their four deck mix of dubstep, reggae, dancehall and jungle.

Sounds like:

11pm–3am, £5


Glasgow

Club: Precision Bass
Venue: Soundhaus
Date: Friday 22nd October

In a way, dnb is a matter of precision - constructing rhythm patterns which confirm and stretch and genre, so definitely you get the club’s name. Rifling the bass rhythms will be Alcane (Symbiosis), Waptek, Totcc, Daddy G, and support from MCs Dazzo and Amense.

11pm-3am, £6

Club: Elevate
Venue: Soundhaus
Date: Saturday 23rd October

So much techno this month! I have a theory that when the nights get darker in Scotland the rate of techno guests goes up in tandem. The Advent and Industrialyzer are in town to throw some acid, detroit and electro techno your way; three months ago they released the Root Key Ep on Advanced Intelligence and this month they bring it directly to your ears.

Sounds like:

10pm–3am, £tbc

Club: Itch!
Venue: The Universal
Date: Saturday 23rd October

Hyperdub’s Ikonika scratches that itch for dubstep, emotive bleeps and sub-bass, and Subcity’s Skinny Rufftrax scratches out the grimy garage. Itch! residents MatthewOneMoreTune, Gnarlyface and Mark David take on all of the above with extra house.

Sounds like:

11pm–3am, £6

Club: The Appreciation Society
Venue: Glasgow School of Art
Date: Saturday 23rd October

It’s a new club launch courtesy of 3rd Abstract Records; where else can you get up close with a homegrown techno-electro label with a regular showcase? (No, really, where? If I’m missing out on a club let me know). With releases due out from Polymath and Dersonna in November and December, start tapping this local night-time resource.

Sounds like:

Polymath - Katana: MP3 short clip, hi-fi play (broadband)
(Released November 1, 2010)

Dersonna - Khaki: MP3 short clip, hi-fi play (broadband)
(Released December 6, 2010)

11pm-3am, £tbc

Club: Subculture
Venue: Sub Club
Date: Saturday 23rd October

If you don’t want to end your evening after the Wee Chill you can hit one of the after parties - Subculture host the longest running event with a 4am licence. Top up your house indulgence with Harri, Domenic and the inkling of a special guest!

11pm–4am, £10

Club: Hung Up!
Venue: Sub Club
Date: Sunday 24th October

New York remixer / re-editor Prince Language joins JD Twitch for light-hearted house, disco and plenty genre-combo moves.

Sounds like:

11pm-3am, £6 / £4 before 12am


Aberdeen
 
Club: Mixtape Presents Jesse Rose
Venue: Snafu
Date: Friday 22nd October

Berlin-based, London-born and spinning a mix of Chicago house and Detroit techno, Jesse Rose joins the nations with warped synth, bass and a minimal touch.

Sounds like:

11pm–3am, £7

Dundee

Club: Autodisco
Venue: Reading Rooms
Date: Saturday 23rd October

Special guests Horse Meat Disco deliver their expertise in the funk and electro veins of disco to get the Dundonian blood pumping.

Sounds like:

10.30pm–2.30am, £10

Incyde: Big Up magazine birthday mix

Fresh in directly from Incyde (Alex from Hotflush Recordings), Lo-Quality received the links and download for his new podcast mix:

"I am proud to announce that Big Up Magazine has asked me to put a DJ mix together in celebration of their 2nd birthday. It's an exploration into the areas of bass music that I find most compelling, traversing an array of rhythms, styles, speeds, and sounds.

Blog post
Download/Stream mix
RSS Feed

Here's the tracklist, and what Big Up had to say...

Big Up Magazine is celebrating two years of hard work and partying hard, and who would have been better to mix our second birthday podcast other than Incyde – our supporter and contributor from the very inception. Residency at the legendary Dub War NYC, radio show on Sub FM, co-running Hotflush Recordings and work with Surefire Agency might explain the diversity of Incyde’s very thoughtful selection. But don’t take our word for it. Check the tracklist, and better yet, click play and let Incyde take you to the level Deep. And then again. And again...

Tracklist

01. Tim Xavier - Ambient Duality [Clink]
02. Incyde - Axis [unreleased]
03. Unknown - HG005A [Horizontal Ground]
04. Voodeux - Enter The Voo [Mothership]
05. Braiden - The Alps [forthcoming Doldrums]
06. A Made Up Sound - Demons [A Made Up Sound]
07. Gaiser - Green Steam [M_nus]
08. Hizatron - Telescope Dope [forthcoming Wigflex]
09. A Made Up Sound - Extra Time [A Made Up Sound]
10. Fis-T - Night Hunter [501]
11. Hem ft. Terrible Shock - On A Mission (Shortstuff Remix) [forthcoming Berkane Sol]
12. Machinedrum - Van Vogue [unreleased]
13. Distal & HxdB - Typewriter VIP [forthcoming Surefire Sound]
14. George FitzGerald - Fernweh [forthcoming Aus]
15. Sepalcure - Our Love [forthcoming Hotflush]
16. XI - Vampires [unreleased]
17. Eleven Tigers - Flux [Soul Motive]
18. Icicle - Anything [Tempa]
19. Mayhem & Distal - Frozen Barnacles [forthcoming Surefire Sound]
20. Phil Kieran - Skyhook (Scuba Remix) [forthcoming Phil Kieran Recordings]
21. Pinch - Elements [Swamp81]
22. Badawi - Anlan 7 [forthcoming The Agriculture]
23. DJG - Plant Food [Voids]

Blog: http://alexincyde.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/incyde
Soundcloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/incyde
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/alexincyde
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/incyde
Incyde live every other Wednesday 7-9pm EST on: http://www.sub.fm

October (Week 3) Clubbing Listings: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee

Edinburgh

Club: Scream!
Venue: The Liquidroom
Date: Thursday 14th October

Jakwob the dubstep wunderkind - fresh out of uni and straight into graduate DJ schedules - visits Scream! to dabble in dub, ghetto, breaks, hip-hop and dnb. Catch him before his debut LP drops on Boom Ting Recordings.

Sounds like:  

10.30pm-3am, £8

Club: Numbers
Venue: Sneaky Pete’s
Date: Friday 15th October

Numbers crosses the East-West border (aka the M8) to bring the club to the Scottish capital for a super-cheap night with residents Jackmaster and Nelson spinning techno, house, electro and so much more.

Sounds like:  

11pm-3am, £3 / £0 members

Club: Telefunken
Venue: Cabaret Voltaire
Date: Friday 15th October

Libra birthdays seem to be a club trend - this time Derrick Carter helps Telefunken mark off six years of top house with Chicago funk, soul and jazz. Head along and see if he can inspire you - something he’s been achieving for three decades.

Sounds like: 

11pm-3am, £tbc

Club: Az-Tech
Venue: The Caves
Date: Friday 15th October

Az-Tech welcomes Bristol breaks Jinx (aka Jinx-in-Dub) for electro, dub beats and digital riddims hosted in a subterranean venue.

Sounds like:  

10.30pm–3am, £tbc

Club: Annie Mac Presents
Venue: Ocean Terminal
Date: Saturday 16th October

Annie Mac doesn’t even need a club to play at - she just invents her own! The Ocean Terminal mall will be turned over to Felix Da Housecat, Caspa, MC Rod Azlan and Ado for house, electro, and dubstep; bringing together some crowds which rarely mix in the Capital. This will be interesting for the sociological experiment alone!

Sounds like:  

9.30pm-3am, £20 / £18

Club: Ultragroove
Venue: Cabaret Voltaire
Date: Saturday 16th October

It’s another (bigger) birthday for Ultragroove when they celebrate 11 years with Frank Tope of Wild Geese and his disco-house charms. Melting Pot in Glasgow also get a look-in, when resident Andrew Pirie supports, with Ultragroove’s Gareth Sommerville, Lel Palfreya, and Carina Ramos.

11pm-3am, £8 / £5 students or before 12am


Glasgow

Club: Wrong Island vs Stay Plastic
Venue: La Cheetah
Date: Friday 15th October

Wrong Island (Dirty Larry and Teamy) and Stay Plastic (Danceaff, Sidrad and Wardy) join forces to vary your electronic clubbing experience with party bangers and bleeps to make your ass shake.

11pm–3am, £5 / £3 before 12am

Club: Jungle Nation
Venue: The Arches
Date: Friday 15th October

Jungle Nation welcomes Chase & Status amongst the dnb flora and fauna for one of their biggest dates. The guitar-loving drum demons are due for a single release on November 8th - entitled Hypest Hype and featuring vocals from Tempa T, so keep an ear out for their new material (or indeed, get stuck in to the youtube vid below). Nero, Hush Hush and Jongerre support.

Sounds like:  

11pm-3am, £15

Club: Point 4
Venue: Soundhaus
Date: Friday 15th October

New event alert! Point 4 is Soundhaus’ newest addition to host four clubs over three rooms with Animal Farm DJs at the selection helm. First up is Kreep Crew, Slabs of the Tabernacle, Hotbox and Animal Farm for a mix of electro, techno, house, electronica and plenty more rhythms where that came from. It’s a clubbing pick ‘n’ mix - brings back fond memories of Edinburgh’s now-defunct Venue Friday nights.

10.30pm–3am, £tbc

Club: Sensu
Venue: Sub Club
Date: Friday 15th October

No it’s not an annoying computer message; Reboot (Cadenza / Cocoon) plays a Scottish exclusive for Sensu’s 6th birthday, and indulges us in ‘the new sound of Frankfurt’* - a combination of techno, house and electronica, fire-stoked for extra warmth and arsch-schlapped for extra bounce.

*I feel a genre deconstruction coming on.

Sounds like:  

11pm-4am, £10

Club: Mungo’s Hi Fi
Venue: Glasgow School of Art
Date: Saturday 16th October

Mungo’s welcome a touch of the Danish this month, with dancehall and digital riddims from Maffi and Firehouse Sound. The heavy dubplates will be coming out so get down to witness the links of culture spanning an ocean!

Sounds like: 

11pm-3am, £8 / £5 advance from http://www.scotchbonnet.net/

Club: Death Disco
Venue: The Arches
Date: Saturday 16th October

Electro-head Erol Alkan must have some stack of frequent visitor points to Death Disco by now - he appears again in October when rave-rock remixers South Central and electro-funky disco tweakers Monarchy are playing special live sets. Support comes from Hush Puppy, Josh Jones, Wavy Graves and Mingo-Go.

Sounds like: 

(Fucking ace; I love Rammstein, they always deserved a dance remix!)

11pm–3am, £14 / £7 with half price pass

More info: You can also catch Erol Alkan at Dundee’s Reading Rooms on Friday 15th October, 9.30pm-3am, £15

Club: Hung Up
Venue: Sub Club
Date: Sunday 17th October

Breaking dubstep out of the boundaries, Mount Kimbie have even referred to their sound as post-dubstep - adding rnb, guitar pop and extra dub vibes. Perfect for an Optimo-curated night and bringing dubstep to a more diversified audience.

Sounds like: 

11pm-3am, £8 / £6 before 12am


Dundee

Club: Devil Disco Club
Venue: Reading Rooms
Date: Saturday 16th October

Devil Disco whip up electro-funk courtesy of Edinburgh settler X-Lion Tamer, armed with a laptop and guitar.

10.30pm-3am, £7 / £5 before 12am

Vinyl & Digital Reviews: Offshore, Jargon V.A feat. Killa P and Narstie, and Manu Harmilapi

Originally reviewed for Clash Magazine, October 2010, 'Electric Selection'

Offshore - Aneurysm EP (Big Dada)
... but not out to sea

Offshore delivers four bass-heavy tracks for Big Dada, with metronomic drum ticks, cues from early Autechre and nods to future funk, crunk and synth-pop. 'Round and Round' is especially interesting, bringing a manga quality of the innocent and childish together with the dark and tainted.

Release date: 18 October 2010

Jargon V.A featuring Killa P and Narstie - Crime Scene / Shottah (Cheese on Bread)
... chaotic yet likeable

Jargon V.A and Killa P collaborate for 'Crime Scene', akin to sped-up dubstep and grimy hip-hop thundering away: the chaotic quality is quite likeable. Narstie helps rub stadium rock guitar on grimy and gruff vocals for 'Shottah'; always a welcome break from the polished vocals saturating music.

Release date: October 2010

Manu Harmilapi - Drei (Elektronik Milieu)
... ein, zwei

The Elektronik Milieu debut delivers sound designer techno, bringing a banging British quality of unrepentant movement to 'Something's Gonna Happen', and jittery beats for the aerodrome texture of 'Don't Call Me'. Title track 'Drei' - meaning three - clarifies the triplet beats, building intensity to melodic tinkles of emotion.

Release date: 1 October 2010

October (Week 2) Clubbing Listings: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee

Inigo Kennedy

Featured Club of the Week: TrusT Label Launch
Venue: The GRV
Date: Friday 8th October 

Hemlock Nights and MAPt take Edinburgh for the first time, with ramped-up electro and techno with Inigo Kennedy, Ben Wollard, Casual Violence, and Siege in the main room, and Neil Templar, Honky Shuffle and Pyz in the back room. This is the launch party for new TrusT LP ‘Acceptance’, though for the life of Lo-Quality I can’t find out whose LP!

Sounds like:

11pm–3am, £10

Edinburgh

Club: Departure Lounge
Venue: The Caves
Date: Friday 8th October

To begin their 8th year on the go Departure Lounge presents Floating Points featuring Fatima as MC (live PA). Despite studying for his PhD in Pharmacology, Floating Points successfully indulges in a side-career of beats circling hip-hop, dubstep, jazz and house for an ambient and soulful feel. Full live band Digital Jones (fresh from releasing their debut album) deliver the funk and DJ residents Astroboy, Jiminez and Mr Zimbabwe support.

Sounds like:

10pm–3am, £10 / £9 students / £8 adv.

Club: Hot Mess
Venue: Wee Red Bar
Date: Friday 8th October 

New club night ahoy! DJ Simonotron of Club for Heroes and Devil Disco Club launches new gay-friendly night, Hot Mess, which promises to mix up the best disco, acid house, electro and italo.

11pm-3am, £5 / £3

Club: This is Sick!
Venue: Cabaret Voltaire
Date: Friday 8th October 

Lee Mortimer has developed a rep for bass-fuelled house and now he intends to infuse This is Sick! with the rumbles. He is joined by Last Japan for full-on electro and daubs of ghetto-techno.

Sounds like:

11pm–3am, £6-£9

Club: Musika
Venue: Liquidroom
Date: Saturday 9th October

House legend (and Space club legend) Steve Lawler spreads his deep and disco sound around the revamped Liquid Room, dashing. Derek Martin and Kirk Douglas support.

Sounds like:

11pm-3am, £15

Club: Substance
Venue: The GRV
Date: Saturday 9th October

Wow, late nights do scramble the brain, I thought I was at Substance’s third birthday this year! The fourth birthday is upon us already with special guest Paul Daley of Leftfield to bring royal house and techno heritage to proceedings.

Sounds like:

10.30pm-3am, £12

Glasgow

Club: Muck and Dirty Noise
Venue: Stereo
Date: Friday 8th October

Cherish the Scottish electro and techno; Perth’s Clouds traverse to a grittier landscape to bleep their way into your hearts this month and show you the reason why they’re the first release on Fake Blood’s label. Residents PMcQ, Go-Dirty, Digital Stitch, Martin What?, Joe Crogan and Mediaheroic spin support and tweak visuals.

Sounds like: Maulful Sir EP

11pm–3am, £5

Club: Return to Mono
Venue: The Sub Club
Date: Friday 8th October 

Berlin heavin’ house and crispy techno from Pan-Pot (Mobilee) at RTM this month, who also happen to star on hosts and residents Slam’s Paragraph label with their remixes of ‘Room 2’. If you like it heavy but clever, check it out.


Sounds like:

11pm–3am, £12 / £10 students

Club: One More Tune
Venue: Glasgow School of Art
Date: Saturday 9th October

Fasten your seatbelt for Brackles (Applepips / Planet Mu) at a bargain fiver, as he prepares to devastate your comprehension of dubstep when it gets up close and personal with electro, techno and British bass. Residents Define Define and Patchwork Visuals support.

Sounds like:

11pm-3am, £5

Club: Supernova
Venue: The Arches
Date: Saturday 9th October

The man with a penchant for vomiting electrical wires in photoshoots returns to Glasgow for more cosmic-themed fun; Stephan Bodzin delivers the minimal techno safe in the knowledge that he’s managed to come a very long way in such a short space of time – and proof that you don’t have to be a foetus to start your career behind the decks!

Sounds like:

11pm-3am, £12

Aberdeen

Club: Mixtape
Venue: Snafu
Date: Friday 8th October

Funk D’Void takes it deep and funky on a techno and house tip for Mixtape’s regular appearance as one of the only three clubs to maintain a strong dance thread in Aberdeen.

Sounds like:

11pm–3am, £7

Club: The Mothership & Let It Bleed
Venue: Snafu
Date: Saturday 9th October

Speaking of which, here are the other two dance clubs of Aberdeen! Mothership and Let it Bleed are collaborating to bring you Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac for electro, dubstep and techno with promises of up and coming tracks that have yet to interfere with your ears.

Sounds like:
10pm–3am, £18 / £14 

Dundee

Club: Glitch
Venue: Reading Rooms
Date: Friday 8th October

Freerange Records’ Jimpster joins Glitch for deep electronic house that doesn't mind giving you a few whacks right between the eyes.


Sounds like:

11pm-3am, £tbc

Genre deconstruction: your pick

Ok, if you're vaguely like me, there will be a plethora of genres you've seen scattered across reviews and features and thought 'what the hell are they talking about'? Names seem to be pulled from nowhere and can often be misleading - I'm still musing over 'Tropical' given that I instantly think of Calypso music and fresh coconut milk. With this in mind I'm putting it to my readers (however few or many there are*) to nominate the next genres to deconstruct with reckless abandon and music bytes. Every genre will be written about, so get commenting on this post to tear apart the style confusing you.


*checking this week's blog stats, I have to give a shout out to the people of Brazil and Serbia for their sudden interest!

Vinyl and Digital Reviews: Karton, Riva Starr and Ninja Tunes XX

Originally reviewed for Clash Magazine, September 2010, 'Electric Selection'

Karton - For All Seasons (Sound of Habib)
... for outside and inside

15 tracks designed 'For All Seasons'; Karton take their breakbeat, dnb and electronica sound and spread their vision further than the dancefloor, without losing energy. The result steps around interesting blends, reining in lamenting guitars, poppish riffs, and indulgent strings. Pendulum fans will definitely dig.

Release date: September 2010

Riva Starr feat Noze - I Was Drunk (Positiva)
... Eurovision house!

Riva Starr has invented a new genre: Eurovision house. A mix of bouncy French and Greek traditions (heavy on the accordion and 'oompahs') mingling with upbeat house and accented vocals about drinking with girls in a club; we await the follow-up hit, 'I took an antacid'.

Release date: 23rd August 2010

V/A - Ninja Tune XX (Ninja Tune)
... 20 years representin'

This 20th anniversary representin' box-set is a must for collectors, fanboys and a goldmine for apt mixes (parties, chilling, entering another dimension, etc.). Like this reviewer you may listen for hours while interspersing tracks with exhilarated shouts of 'why haven't I heard this until now?'.

Release date: 20th September 2010