Party Radar

All disquiet

1

marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO “There is no previous book to this book. There is no Selected Ambient Works Volume I book, just as there is no record by the musician Aphex Twin bearing the title Selected Ambient Works Volume I. There is, however, a Selected Ambient Works Volume II album, released by the British record label Warp in 1994, and this is a book about that album.”

So begins the latest entry in the great, ongoing 33 1/3 book series from Bloomsbury Press, which unleashes one notable writer on one seminal album and prints the often-poetic results. In this case, the “extravagantly opaque, willfully vaporous” chillout room masterpieces of electronic composer Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin — basically what everyone in the 1990s listened to as they swept up/came down after the rave — get the business from incisive SF writer and archivist Marc Weidenbaum. And really, the pairing couldn’t be any more delicious.

Since 1996, Weidenbaum’s been quietly documenting from the Richmond District all manner of experimental and electronic sounds on his incredible Disquiet.com site. (Some have referenced the site as one of the earliest blogs.) It’s one of our great sonic secrets: Pretty much once a day for the past 18 years he’s been opening ears to everything from random satellite-based sound sculptures and square wave coding antics to looped Sumerian myths and compressed Fugazi-discography experiments.

ego1Named after mysterious early 20th century Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa’s “factless autobiography” The Book of Disquiet, Disquiet.com itself had a disquieting beginning. “When I founded Disquiet, I had quit a job I’d had for seven years,” Weidenbaum told me by email. He’d started at Tower Record’s Pulse! Magazine as an editor, then went on to launch its classical magazine and found its first digital publication. “I’d joined Tower because I wanted to work for a magazine that covered all music, which back then was quite an unusual thing. But in time I realized that my seemingly disparate listening had a core thread: that which I first thought of as electronically mediated sound, but eventually I recognized as ‘technologically’ mediated sound.

“Aphex Twin was part of a new generation of musicians who helped focus my ears. Wagon Christ. Shinjuku Thief. DJ Krush. Skylab. Oval. Spring Heel Jack. DJ Olive. Grassy Knoll. They were layered on top of the earlier generations of electronic experimenters, who I was already fond of: Brian Eno, Gavin Bryars, Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Anderson, Robert Fripp, Nicolas Collins, Ikue Mori…. Recognizing that technological focus gave me the comfort to move on.”

And now he’s written a book channeling his feelings for the technological mediation that Aphex Twin brought to the fore. The tricky thing, of course, is that Aphex Twin — who’s recently reemerged to perform with and produce insane South African zef-rave act Die Antwoord — is known not just for ethereal, era-framing atmospheric ambience, but satanic electronic audiovisual combustions like “Windowlicker” and “Come to Daddy” as well.

“It’s difficult to name direct descendents of Aphex Twins’ work, because his is a difficult template to fill: that mix of conflicting sounds, both unnerving and soothing; a steady retreat from the public eye, despite obvious extrovert tendencies; moving from a hidden subculture to broad awareness. It’s hard to figure out what past figure he was himself a contemporary version of. But so many musicians bridge the worlds of club and art music these days” — Weidenbaum mentions SF-founded duo Matmos and local composer Mason Bates — “and part of the reason is because of the ground that Aphex Twin broke.”

Fitting therefore, that the release party at City Lights bookstore on March 20 will also be a showcase of contemporary electronic music. “I’ve run an online music-making group since the start of 2012, called the Disquiet Junto, and that’s put me in touch with a lot of musicians,” Weidenbaum said. “So I’ve been inviting musicians, many though not all from that association, to perform new, original works informed by the Aphex Twin record, and by my book’s take on the record. Specifically, they’ll be doing electronic work derived from the wind chime, which I single out as an early ‘generative’ instrument. I’ll read from my book, and they’ll play live. At City Lights it will be the incredibly talented Marielle Jakobsons, Jared Smith, and subnaught, all of whom live in the Bay Area.”

EXPLORING THEMES FROM APHEX TWIN WITH MARC WEIDENBAUM AND FRIENDS

Thursday, March 20, 7pm, free

City Lights

261 Columbus, SF.

www.citylights.com

 

SHADOW CHILD

Some smooth house from this UK rising star — his cute remix of AlunaGeorge’s “Best Be Believing” got him places — and a nice Thursday knees up with the Lights Down Low crew.

Thu/13, 10pm, free with some YPlan app download business. Mezzanine, 444 jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

GUI BORRATO

Revered Sao Paulo techno playboy is back to support protégé act Wish, shooting some sunny vibes all over our last winter weekend.

Fri/14, 9pm, $20. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

MARTYN

Ethereal UK bass master Martyn joins house hottie Midland and an insane home team lineup including Ghosts on Tape, Bells & Whistles, Kenneth Scott, and the whole As You Like It crew for a top-notch overload.

Fri/14, 9pm-4:30am, $20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

OSUNLADE

One of my favorite not-so-secret pleasures, Yoruban mystic DJ Osunlade takes listeners on a journey deeper than deep. Straight-up spiritual vibes — and he’s playing with deep LA genius Marques Wyatt, too.

Fri/14, 9:30-3:30am, $15–$20. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

MODULAR ANNIVERSARY

The seriously good Modular deep house crew has been throwing its ace parties for a year now, filling some conspicuous holes in the scene — bu mostly making us dance the right way. This party showcases theGerman Stil Vor Talent label, with founder Oliver Koletzki, Sascha Braemer, and Nicone.

Sat/15, 10pm, $10-$20. Harlot, 46 Minna, SF. www.modularnights.com

 

PORTABLE AKA BODYCODE

Fantastic, complex-yet-totally-jackable electronic music a la mode from this UK underground favorite, who’ll be bringing his live show to the latest Honey Soundsystem shebang.

Sat/15, 9pm-4am, $10–$20. F8, 1192 Folsom, SF. www.feightsf.com

 

RITA MORENO

The first gay-themed movie I saw was 1976’s infamous The Ritz starring the unconquerable Rita Moreno as “Googie” — I grew up thinking all gay men hung out in kooky bathhouses making hilarious jokes and having hilarious sex. Thank goddess! Moreno’s in town for a special Castro showing of the camp milestone with towel-clad go-go dancers and a tap-dance tribute.

Sat/15, doors 7:15, show at 8pm, $38. Castro Theatre, 429 Castro, SF. www.tinyurl.com/RitaRitz

 

MIGHTY REAL

The fantastic deep house monthly showcases essential Bay Area label Moulton Music, with classic NYC DJ Mr. V and our own gorgeous David Harness moving the crowd into the light.

Sat/15, 10pm-late, $10–$20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

Bar none

2

SUPER EGO So a toothy blonde pretend social media exec, a blindingly sequined Latina drag queen, a huge rack of elk antlers with hot-pink panties on them, and a pair of Google Glasses walk into a “punk bar” …

What the holy highballs is happening on our bar scene lately? Rowdy Mission hangout Pop’s Bar closed over the weekend. (Who got all those panties, I wonder?) Last week, 40-year-old Mission gay hangout Esta Noche announced it was shutting down (new owners and a hetero-craft cocktail concept). And then there was that oddball Google Glass kerfuffle at Molotov’s, wherein a social media starlet claims she was the victim of a tech hate crime when the patrons allegedly got in her privacy-violating face.

The Esta Noche situation hits close to my floppy liver’s home most, though. With the recent closures of Marlena’s, Deco, and Ginger’s Trois (and the Transfer, Mister Leeona’s, and practically every gay watering hole on Polk Street shuttering in the past decade), there are hardly any queer bars outside the Castro and SoMa left. Lady, can you pour a fierce cosmo out those Google Glasses of yours? Until then, I won’t have what she’s having. I need my queer space to get sozzled!

 

JAY TRIPWIRE

There are DJs to love, and then there are DJs to love. Fiercely intelligent yet laidback, shaggy in that classic rave-dude way, Vancouverite Jay Tripwire has been honing his deep, deep techno sound for more than two decades and 200 releases. Like every great DJ wizard, he transforms the records on his tables into other beasts entirely. You just hear differently after his masterly sets. At the Housepitality weekly, he’ll get a warm reception.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n7ahLdh8yM

Wed/5, 9pm, free before 11 with RSVP at www.housepitalitysf.com/rsvp, $10 after. F8, 1192 Folsom, SF.

 

BAREM

The splendid Direct to Earth and Public Works crews bring in Buenos Aires- and Berlin-based Mauricio Barembuem, aka Barem of Minus Records, for some good old fashioned Germano-Latin post-minimal techno swing. Bring a couple pairs of (cute) shoes, because he’ll wear your kitten heels right out.

Fri/7, 9pm-4am, $13–$20. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

HOUND SCALES

It’s a great weekend for hard-driving and esoteric techno in the Bay. It’s even getting into our more melodic parties, like the monthly Play It Cool, which is showcasing wiggy Brooklyn-based, SF-native “junta rave” purveyor Hound Scales of the Fifth Wall label. The speaker bins, they will explode I think. Jolly good show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEr-zgTrh7Y

Fri/7, 10pm-3am, $10. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

DRINK

Hey, $35 all you can drink from dozens of local spirits concocters, brew houses, and wineries? Plus: cosmic tunes from Cosmic Amanda (she’s cosmic), tarot readings by the zebra-leotarded Dr. Zebrowski, and one last time to party in the glorious Old Mint building before it gets renovated into the SF History Museum? Why am I still asking questions? Our sister-paper SF Weekly’s Drink event is sloshy, superb.

Sat/8, 2pm-5pm, $35 advance. Old Mint, 88 Fifth St, SF. drink2014.strangertickets.com

 

FOUR TET

Please immediately check out the fantastic new Neneh Cherry album, produced by this wide-eared, super-innovative UK genius, who can jet from bright, ecstatic jazziness to haunting bass apocalypse in the blink of a strobe. A trippy treat in store, indeed.

Sat/8, 9pm, $30. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

POUND PUPPY

Go-go boys are probably my least favorite things at clubs. (We were mercifully mostly free of them until a few years ago: They were “an LA thing” then. Sock’s on the other cock now!). But apparently, once a month, if they are dressed up like leather-fetish puppies, dancing to cutting-edge tunes in cages at the gay biker bar, and being petted by the sexiest characters of the SF queer underground, I’m totally down. I still refuse to say “woof,” though. With DJs Taco Tuesday and Chip Mint, hosted by Blake and Jorge.

Sat/8, 9pm, $7. SF Eagle, 398 12th St, SF. www.sf-eagle.com

 

VOICES FROM THE LAKE

Hyper-atmospheric ambient techno delight from this duo, composed of acclaimed Italian players Donato Dozzy and Neel. Don’t worry, you’ll still end up dancing. With Jason Kendig, Christina Chartfield, Carlos Souffront, and MossMoss at the As You Like It party.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooxO0VaZt9M

Sat/8, 9pm-4am, $20–$25. Monarch, 101 Sixth St, SF. www.monarchsf.com

 

Beathoven

0

marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO A couple of years ago, Muni put out a public safety campaign that showed this gorgeous woman in giant silver headphones texting ferociously right before she stepped into the path of an oncoming train. Tagline: “Do you want Beethoven to be the last thing you hear?

Which was a bit unintentionally hilarious because, yes, I do want Beethoven to be the last thing I hear, specifically the insanely great, otherworldly “late string quartets,” which would be a fine soundtrack with which to finally divest myself from this gorgeous, all-natural, all-me, not-silicone-at-all, nope-definitely-not, personal body.

But I’ll take any Beethoven at all, really — and local contemporary “laptop classical” composer Mason Bates is teaming up with the SF Symphony for a special treat: two nights of great Beethoven works paired with Bates’ electronica-obsessed orchestral pieces (Symphony No. 7 and The B-Sides Jan. 8-11, and Mass in C Major and Liquid Interface Jan. 15-18, www.sfsymphony.org).

If you’re unfamiliar with Bates, he uses digital and electronic instruments to bring lush, eerie dancefloor atmospherics and a leftfield backbeat to a full symphony and chorus setting. Adding Beethoven’s existential and ecstatic works to the mix might start some kind of weird fire.

 

AMBIVALENT

The Berlin-via-NYC favorite, a.k.a. Kevin McHugh, takes a heady, design-oriented approach to techno, reaching back into minimal to tease skeins of pulsing sonic ideas into a more visceral present. And you can dance to it. With Mossmoss, Brian Knarfield, Bob Five, and more.

Fri/10, 9pm-4am, $15. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com

 

HOT SINCE ’82

And he is hot! Out of the current crop of tech house pretty boys, Daley Padley of Leeds is also one of the sharpest, with a thoughtful sound that isn’t afraid to recall your champagne hangovers and long-lost puppy love dreams.

Fri/10, 9:30pm, $15-20. Audio Discotech, 316 11th St., SF. www.audiosf.com

 

MR. TIES

Have you heard this Berlin bearded queer techno wonder’s killer, slow-burn three-hour Boiler Room DJ set? Kind of all you need to hear. He’s coming in from his beloved Homopatik club to play Honey Soundsystem’s “Midi Slave” party, and it will get steamy.

Fri/10, 9pm-4am, $10–$15. F8, 1192 Folsom, SF. mrtieshoneysoundsystem.eventbrite.com

 

CIRCUIT SLAVE

Experimental psychedelic electronic music brings all the kids to the yard for a mini-festival of sorts. Headliners Circuit Slave slice punk angst through the wiring; duo Cry gets emotive with some 4AD-influenced eeriness, Bezier’s loops and arpeggios drive us back to analog days. With Redredred, PSSNGRS, and PowWow.

Sat/11, 9pm, $5, The Holdout, 2313 San Pablo Ave., Oakl. www.tinyurl.com/circuitslaveOAK

 

DJ DEEON

“Let me bang!” The legend of booty bass comes to the jackin’ Two Men Will Move You party for a night of low-low-low.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtBpGqA1mU

Sat/11, 9pm, $8. Amnesia, 853 Valencia, SF.

 

KIM ANN FOXMAN

The NYC superfox of house grooves somes to the monthly Isis party, bringing with her a dose of classics with a devilishly danceable helping of transcendent 1980s and early ’90s sound-a-likes. Nice and funky, with a slow-motion vogue-ready twist. With Avalon Emerson, Hi Today, and Brittany B.

Sat/11, 9:30pm-3:30am, $10 advance. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

LESLIE AND THE LYS

Rickshaw Stop celebrates 10 years of rolling us out — wow, remember the insanely fun hipster-glitzy hardcore electro scene there? — with this appearance by the Iowan queen of hyper-ironic dance rap (she made it into art). Grab your gem sweater and let’s reach for the gold!

Sun/12, 8pm, $16, all ages. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. www.rickshawstop.com

 

Candy crush

0

marke@sfbg.com

YEAR IN NIGHTLIFE The drink of the year was the Chinese Mai Tai at Lipo Lounge. It’s $9, but it’s huge and you only need one. Or maybe a half, if you want to remember your pants. Oh, just drink the whole thing.

It was another supersweet, neon-bright yet sonically sophisticated year of clubbing and dance music, full of ups, downs, and twirl-arounds. Celebrated rave cave 222 Hyde and Hayes Valley drag outpost Marlena’s closed (boooo). But Mighty and 1015 got mindblowing new sound systems, Monarch and DNA Lounge expanded, Project One inherited 222’s speakers, Public Works and F8 doubled-down on adventurous bookings, and ambitious venues Audio Discotech and Beaux opened (and are still finding their footing). And we got a new dance music record store, RS94109, and rising dark techno star, Vereker.

As far as music goes: we’ve managed to fend off the worst of pop-EDM, while welcoming the drum ‘n bass and big-room ’90s sound comeback with open underground arms. (Also, there is an actual underground!) San Francisco’s still a major destination for techno up-and-comers — and even though you may stumble across some clueless tech-bros sporting 2k7-wear or novelty rasta wigs on our finer dance floors, give them a hug and hope they improve! It’s all good.

>>Read Emily Savage’s take on the YEAR IN MUSIC 2013 

Before I get into some of my favorite 2013 things, let’s tip a hat to two legends we lost this year: Scott Hardkiss and Cheb i Sabbah. Between them, they brought a whole world’s worth of music to our dance floors and spanned generations. Dancing forever in their honor.

HIP-HOP, Q’ED UP

Hip-hop got so good in 2013, the Year that Twerking Ate the Internet. Trap sounds and molly pops seemed to invigorate the East Bay scene: E-40 dropped a zillion slaps, while Iamsu! and Sage the Gemini (who can totally get it, hellieu) swerved onto the national scene. Buffed-up SF legends Latyrx dropped a nifty disc after two decades. In the bigtime, Kanye bought up every edgy electronic producer he could to impress Pitchfork, while Danny Brown and Kendrick Lamar recontextualized essential ’90s rap tropes — gangsta and concept albums, respectively, but in a party way.

Unfortunately, another ’90s rap trope, tired homophobia, was also revived, with Eminem and Tyler, the Creator fumbling bigtime. This time, however, there was such a huge and thriving queer hip-hop party scene that we could look right past all that lazy ish. Queer rap broke big in 2012 when eye-catching artists blended witch-dark sounds, quantum vogue moves, and afro-surreal poetry with R&B licks, broken bass boost, and neon-bright performance art.

That scene deepened and brightened this year — here, at super parties like Swagger Like Us, 120 Minutes, Fix Yr Hair, and House of Babes and unstoppable homegrown talent like Micahtron, Double Duchess, and even cameo appearances by classic homohop babes Deep Dickollective — proving that spitting flames can still burn down the disco. And queer-rap resistance even grabbed the national spotlight when Daddie$ Pla$tic‘s electro-anarchic “Google Google Apps Apps” went viral.

 

SWEET AND LOW

The Honey Soundsystem crew ended its Sunday night parties at the top of its game with a huge blowout — surprise marriage proposal, performance by fabled ’80s singer Jorge Socarras, and slew of unannounced guest DJs included. Honey was an ostensibly gay club, but that might have just been a feint to pack the floor with hairdressers. While it never ceased brazenly shoving its raw homosexuality in the oft-frigid techno scene’s face, its influence went way beyond the queer sphere. For five years, it was our best weekly in terms of musical guests (Wednesdays’ fantastic Housepitality almost ties it on that score), bringing in a mind-blowing roster of international underground players.

But Honey Sundays were more. Will there ever be a party ballsy enough to take as a month-long theme the skyrocketing real estate market, condo-mapping its venue and printing “luxury house” brochures? Or base the décor of one of its biggest parties around a collection of putrid haters’ comments? What promoters, nowadays, even bother to actually design and print challenging works of art as posters and flyers, or truly transform their venues? (DJ Bus Station John, still our gold standard, is the only one I can think of.)

Fortunately, Honey parties will continue, just not weekly. But SF is full of such amazingly talented crews, both well-established (As You Like It, No Way Back, Sunset, Lights Down Low, Icee Hot, Opel, Pink Mammoth) and burgeoning (Isis, Face, Modular, Mighty Real, Trap City, Odyssey). My wish for 2014 is that many of these really invest themselves in building a whole vibe for their parties, top to bottom, instead of just relying on groovy headliners, online promotions, and audience goodwill. As the changing city chases out its artists and loses its edge, we need entire worlds of freakiness to escape into and call our own.

 

TOP SOUNDS OF 2013

>> Nebakaneza, “Expansion Project, Vols. 1-11

What does our most forward-thinking dubstep DJ do when dubstep’s no longer an option? He deepens his crates, cycling through 12 months-worth of excellent mixes, themed by genres like yacht rock and classic soul, to rediscover his bass roots while transforming his sound into something even more thrilling.

>> Swedish House Mafia, Bill Graham Center, Feb. 16

I finally get it! All you need is a $1 million light rig, 40,000 glowsticks, an indoor fireworks show, and an arena full of half-naked teens. This EDM stuff is actually kind of fun.

>> The Disclosure Effect

Disclosure’s Grammy-nominated debut Settle (Cherrytree) will nest atop most critic’s dance picks this year, and rightly so: the young Lawrence Brothers brought lovely, 2-step-fueled house back into headphones and charts worldwide. But if it also brings more attention to breezy sonic relatives like Bondax, AlunaGeorge, Joe Hertz, the Majestic Casual roster, and the hundreds of bedroom producers who suddenly switched from making EDM and dubstep to deeper house sounds, then so much the better.

>> Deafheaven, Sunbather (Deathwish, Inc.)

Shoegaze plus death metal equals an arctic beauty and burning mystery that transcends even My Bloody Valentine’s wonderful, self-released mbv and, when listened to alongside this year’s icy electronic-ish masterworks like Tim Hecker’s Virgins (Paper Bag Records) and the Haxan Cloak’s Excavations (Tri Angle) — or more emotive ones like Chance of Rain (Hyperdub) by Laurel Halo, Psychic (Matador) by Darkside, or Engravings (Tri Angle) by Forest Swords — makes strange sense of a near future.

Steve Reich, “Music for 18 Musicians,” SF Contemporary Music Players, Jan. 28

The fact that there was a near-riot to get into a performance this hypnotic, hyper-complex 50-minute 1974 piece by minimalist icon Reich attests to SF’s ravenous appetite for “contemporary classical.” That the audience sat in stunned silence a full two minutes after the piece concluded before exploding with applause attests to the excellence of our local players. (And while we’re on “classical,” kudos, too, to the SF Opera’s summer production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” — three fantastic hours of the most ravishing singing I’ve ever heard.

>> Patrick Cowley, School Daze 2 x LP (Dark Entries)

The instant Internet popularity of Montag’s trippy “Porn Archives Lo-Fi Mix” earlier this year should have tipped off the coming re-evaluation of porn soundtracks as electronic artworks. But when members of Honey Soundsystem released this two-disc compilation of fascinating, atmospheric early tracks by local electronic wizard Patrick Cowley (1950-1982) used in ’80s gay porn flicks, it became a critical sensation.

>> Regis, As You Like It and Public Works, July 26

Here’s a question: Do you need to actually be at a party to enjoy it? I was out of town when this joint went down. But after witnessing my feeds blow up and listening obsessively to the Soundcloud set, later posted to Youtube, it feels like I was there when the young Brit freaked everyone out with a hard, deep techno set. No FOMO, baby.

>> Throwback monthly, Mighty

I may be fascinatingly elderly, but all the young kids flocked to the ’90s big-room house sound revival this year. This party, a SF reunion brimming with new faces, classic tracks, and legends at the decks, is like Universe plus cool straight people, or maybe the End Up in the East Bay.

>> Jay Tripwire

I fell deep(er) in love with so many DJs this year: Guy Gerber, Kyle Hall, Osunlade, J.Phlip, Greg Wilson, Catz ‘n Dogz, South London Ordnance, Finnebassen, 0Phase, MK, Vakula, Robert Hood, Huerco S., Kastle, Psychemagik, Jeff Mills, Keep Schtum, Stretford Dogs Club — but this revered Canadian DJ’s DJ always sets my (vinyl!) standard, especially with this year’s banging techno DJ Mag and expansive Electronic Groove (best deep house buildup of the year on that one, imho) mixes.

>> Divoli S’vere, Ckuntinomksz Vols. 1-3

Vogue beats continued to come into, er, vogue harder than ever this year, their flashy attitude and underground authenticity influencing musicmakers, like our own up-and-coming Soo Wavey label. Young NYCer Divoli, however, gives you real quantum fishiness to gag on all day — and goes waaay above your wig, hunty. These three volumes of lightning-made bedroom beats might be overload, but take us into some incredible sonic landscapes, beyond the balls.

>> Mexico

Forget Miami, Playa del Carmen is the new Ibiza of North America — with all the tech house festivals, bare white flesh, and urbanizing displacement (and opportunity) that entails. And Mexico’s tech scene, like its economy recently, is coming on strong with players like Rebolledo and White Visitation. But the best nightlife sound in the world still comes from Plaza Garibaldi at 3am in Mexico City, when dozens of spangled mariachi bands play all at once for your attention. Pure musical bliss.

 

 

Liquid spine

0

marke@sfbg.com

Here’s an insane and insanely wonderful San Francisco nightlife life — perhaps the kind of life we’re in danger of seeing no more. Run away from home in the 1950s and join the circus as a male hoochie-coochie dancer in the sideshow. Make your fame in the Midwest as glamorous and naughty drag performer back when men could be jailed for wearing a dress (priests excepted). Move to San Francisco and become a glorious institution, enshrined every weekend at Aunt Charlie’s in the TL, where you perform right up until you pass away at 76 in 2011 — “The Girl with the Liquid Spine,” looking and living fabulous as ever without losing your feisty, gritty edge. Then the accolades, the grand service, the big-screen documentary Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight.

And now, the museum exhibition. Vicki Marlane: I’m Your Lady (opening reception Fri/15, 7-9pm, $5 GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th St., SF. www.glbthistory.org) displays “video, artifacts and photographs from the performer’s estate that tell a remarkable life story.” But maybe it does more than just celebrate the kind of unique personality San Francisco used to make room for. Maybe Vicki’s life can inspire us to take heart that this city, too, has a liquid spine, and can bend itself around (and over) any obstacle that threatens to block us with blandness and smother us in meh. Forever really is gonna start tonight!

Fancy an Oddjob? There are an estimated 15,000 people moving in along Market Street in the next five years. Where will they all eat and drink? That’s the first thing that pops right into my mind. And then: Woah, I need to open a bar or a pop-up exotic flan truck or something and cash in. And then, also: Does this asymmetrical haircut make my butt look flat?

Well, someone has done something at least about the bar part — and I’ll soon be parking my well-rounded (thank you) cheeks at Oddjob (1337 Mission, SF. www.oddjobsf.com), a cute new joint in the old Shine spot from two of my longtime secret boyfriends Jeff Whitmore (Public Works) and Peter Glikshtern of practically every club in town, plus Jordan Langer of my former secret favorite bar, Big, now sadly closed.

Oddjob looks amazing — it has the deconstructed, construction site-like ambiance of Public Works in the front (including a conveyor belt bar top, drafting chair bar stools, and a neato Rube Goldberg-like “Corpse Reviver” automated cocktail maker) and the playfully swanky-swaggy atmosphere of Big at the back (along with Big’s incredible cocktail sensibility). Oddly, the press materials say Oddjob is located in, ugh, “Mid-Market Gulch,” which surely equals “SoMissPo” in catastrophic neighborhood nomenclature. A good stiff drink might erase that.

 

BUTANE

The ever-traveling Alphahouse label head, coming at us via St. Louis, blew me away with a roiling, bass-heavy techno set the old Kontrol party in 2008. But come for the whole evening, which also features phenomenal up-and-comers Stephanie from Brooklyn and Marija Dunn and Amber Reyn from the Bay.

Thu/14, 9pm-3am, $15. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

ALEXI DELANO

As luck would have it, one of Butane’s partners in tech-crime, Swedish-Chilean Alexi Delano (they release the booming EP “What You See Is What There Is” on Nov. 18) is in town at the very same time. Oooh, techno fight! Alexi experiments with dubby, acid effects but still keeping things pounding.

Thu/14, 9:30pm, $10. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com

 

KMFDM

Before the excruciatingly boring hyper-machismo (and hyper-whiny) phase of industrial music kicked in, there was the dark, delicious dance floor stomp of bands like Nitzer Ebb, early Ministry, and this aggressive batch of Germans, KMFDM, who are back and louder than ever.

Thu/14, 7:30 doors, 8pm show. $30. The Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. www.theindependentsf.com

 

ODYSSEY

The old underground space that housed this incredible house and disco party is now a super-fancy restaurant. But you can’t stop the music. Seriously, one of the cutest affairs going in the city, with a lovely, freaky crowd. Happy birthday DJ Robin Simmons!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGapPeba4is

Fri/15, 9pm-3:30pm, $10. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

MASTERS AT WORK

Oh, honey. If you don’t know, you just don’t know. True masters Kenny Dope and Lil Louie Vega, who brought out one of the most diverse crowds I’d ever seen when they were at 1015 last time, are back to school us on classic house jams, soulful grooves, Latin rhythms, and vinyl wizardry — on the outstanding Mighty sound system. I can’t get no sleep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYxZaLhNpTQ

Fri/15, 9pm-3am, $30. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

BOOGIE NITE

Old-school Chicago-style house mixing and some good ol’ dancefloor fun from Windy City denizen Boogie Nite will light up the funky new Play It Cool party. With Parisian Guillame Galuz, Matthew Favorites, Derek Opperman, and Avalon Emerson.

Sat/16, 9pm, $5. Balancoire, 2565 Mission, SF. www.howtoplayitcool.com

 

ORIGINAL PLUMBING

Hot-hot quarterly mag for transmen and admirers throws a party to celebrate the release of its latest issue — the Party Issue, duh. Hosted by Amos Mac and Rocco Katastrophe, with DJs Rapid Fire and Jenna Riot. Transmazing!

Sat/16, 10pm, $7. The Stud, 399 Ninth St., SF. www.originalplumbing.com

 

Hi, Guy

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Guy Gerber is blowing his nose. A lot. He’s also trying to talk to me, through a massive hangover, over the phone from NYC. His chopped-up vocal snippets, mashed into long expulsions of compressed air, spiked with a woman’s giggle, rustling sheets, and clanking bottles somewhere in the background of his room, could almost be one of his driving, hypnotic, yet always surprisingly human, techno tracks. Good lord, even this protean dance music creator’s phlegmatic exudations are musical.

Honk. “We played somewhere in Brooklyn for Halloween last night, you know, in these ridiculous outfits. And then there were mischiefs,” he says. Brooklyn is a temporary homebase for the constantly on-the-go Supplement Fact label honcho — he’s opening a warehouse club in Williamsburg called Verboten soon — but the hyperactive Israeli underground star, ever restless in style and spirit, can’t stay in one place for long. He’ll be performing a hybrid live-DJ set this weekend at Public Works (Fri/8, 9:30-3:30, $16 advance, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com).

Appropriately for someone who came to techno via Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine, Gerber’s sonic imprint is as peripatetic as his ever-touring lifestyle: from moody, psychedelic electronic grooves and introspective Visionquest-style tech-house to the large-screen, crisply atmospheric “emotive” techno slices like “Stoppage Time” and “Timing” that made his name in the late 2000s. This year has been banner: Gerber was one of the major forces in Ibiza pushing back against EDM commercialization with his deep and surreal Wisdom of the Glove parties; his captivatingly intelligent September BBC Radio1 Essential Mix (my favorite mix of the year so far) refines and expands his dreamy post-minimal sound; and new releases with Clarian (“Claire”) and Dixon (“No Distance”) are gorgeous.

And then there’s that fabled collaboration with P. Diddy(!), 11:11, that may finally see the light of day. “I think Puff Daddy’s at the point where he’s finally ready to release something this deep to the world, and I just keep taking us deeper and weirder. But he completely trusts me,” the hyperproductive Gerber, who can toss off enough quality tunes to fill a stream in a blink, says about the long-delayed album. (The 2011 Jamie Jones remix of 11:11 leak “Tourist Trap” is what I wish pop music sounded like.)

On top of that, there’s the burden/privilege of being the only major Israeli DJ on the underground techno circuit. “It gets lonely. Techno’s supposed to be this global thing and I’m all over the world, even back in Tel Aviv a lot, which is great, but it feels like I’m the only one,” he says. “I’m proud to represent Israel, though of course I don’t agree with everything. I feel I want to represent less the country than the region, which shares these values of love and family while always being honest with their emotions. Sometimes too honest,” he laughs.

And what about the future? Has he composed three tracks and planned another tour while we’re talking on the phone? “Marke, right now my only concern is to get past this hangover.” Honk.

 

SANDRA ELECTRONICS

Karl O’Connor aka Regis and Juan Mendez aka Silent Servant dive into synthy darkness with this stunning live collaborative project, with roots in the 1990s. In Aeternum Vale and Veronica Vasicka round out this Minimal Wave label showcase at the new Surface Tension party.

Fri/8, 10pm, $15. Project One Gallery, 251 Rhode Island, SF. st001.eventbrite.com/

 

BEARS LOVE HONEY

There is a thing called Bear Pride Week going on right now; in typical fashion this Honey Soundsystem party both lauds and gooses the concept, with striking Berlin techno-soul DJ/singer Virginia and randy Roman DJ Hugo Sanchez of Alien Alien.

Fri/8, 10pm-4am, $15 advance. Beatbox, 314 11th St, SF. bearslovehoney.eventbrite.com

 

KAFANA BALKAN

Time once again for this insanely fun Balkan-themed stomp and whirl, where you’ll hear more time-signatures in one night (mostly all at once) than you’ll hear all year. DJ Zeljko leads the mad charge, with the Inspector Gadje brass band and Jill Parker’s bellydancers in tow. Arrive early.

Sat/9, 9pm, $15. Balancoire, 2565 Mission, SF. kafanabalkan.eventbrite.com

 

MAD PROFESSOR

No words to describe my love for the genius Guyanese godfather of dub. The prof’s about to school us, too — his “Roots of Dubstep” tour digs deep, deep into his 30-year DJ and recording career to show what’s what. At the excellent Dub Mission weekly.

Sun/10, 9pm, $15–$20. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. www.dubmissionsf.com

 

SF ALBUM PROJECT

Every two months a wonderfully inventive, theatrical troupe of drag queens performs an entire album you’d never think would benefit from drag treatment (OK Computer, Parade) — but it works! Next up: Roxy Music by Roxy Music.

Sun/10, doors at 8pm, $15. The Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF. www.thechapelsf.com

 

Party Radar: Tiara Sensation Pageant, Body and Soul, Peter Kruder, Castro Street Fair, Octo Octa, more

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According to recent findings, it would take 4.85×10(15) years to teleport a complete human at 30GHz. That’s 350,000 times longer than the universe has existed. And almost as long as the clothes check line at the Powerhouse. 

How will I ever get to all these parties???

Darn you, science. I’m guessing I’ll still at least have one or two out of body experiences at the following, howevs.

>>MAXXI SOUNDSYSTEM

If you’re any kind of dance maven, you’d know Brit Sam Watts’ 2011 hit “Criticize” in three notes, probably — but I adore his remix work and DJ prowess. Hit him up at the neat, super-affordable-for-this-kind-of-talent  weekly Base party, which seems to have reemerged after a little hiatus.

Thu/3, 10pm, $5-$10. Vessel, 85 Campton Pl., SF. www.vesselsf.com

 

>>TIARA SENSATION PAGEANT

All the glorious queens forever! This beloved little underground drag tradition, brought to us by the creators of the great Some Thing party every Friday at the Stud, is going BIGTIME. This year it’s being held at the De Young Museum’s fun Friday evenings (there will be kids there! and a bar!) Of course, it’s a freakishly lovely runway pageant for freakishly freakish queens — and I’ll be one of the celebrity judges, so you know it will be, er, drinky. My fellow judges, far more legendary than I could ever be, are Candis Cayne, Gina La Divina, Lil Miss Hot Mess, and Honey Mahogany. Expect a raucous, wiggy crowd.

Fri/4, 6pm-10pm, FREEEEE. de Young Museum, 50 Hagiwara tea Garden, Golden Gate Park, SF. Info here

 

>>BODY & SOUL

Three of the world’s greatest house (and Latin, and electrofunk, and disco, and soul) DJs return to resurrect the feeling of their NYC party — wihch changed my life, and the lives of pretty much everyone else on the scene 10 years ago. Golly, I love them! Welcome back, Francois, Joe, and Danny.

Fri/4, 10pm-late, $25. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com


>>PETER KRUDER

One half of infamous Austrian sophiticated house duo Kruder and Dorfmeister, Peter headlines the giant Public Works third anniversary. But wait there’s so much more! Also there: Christian Martin, Jackie House, Afrolicious, J-Boogie, Josh Vincent and a hot-hot crowd. Here’s one of my favorite remixes of all time, btw:

Sat/5, 8:30pm-3:30am, $10. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com 

 

>>OCTO OCTA

100% Silk label cutie blends dreamy classic house sounds with effusive but totally danceable concepts at the ever-awesome Push The Feeling party. (Love the track “His Kiss” of his lovely Between Two Selves LP.) He’ll be joined by Matrixxman (who made me dance till I cried at the deviants party last week) and Yr Skull and Epicsauce DJs. Good times. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cz6PkRs4QM

Sat/5, 9pm, $5 advance. UndergroundSF, 424 Haight, SF. octoocta.eventbrite.com

 

>>#ENDHIV DRAG BALL

Balls are all the rage! This one, MCed by Sister Roma and Pat N Leather and DJed by Guy Ruben, raises money for a possible HIV vaccine — and of course will be loaded with colorful characters.It has an “animal” theme!

Sat/5, 7pm-10pm, $40. Beatbox, 314 11th St, SF. itrulycare.com/events/endhiv-sf-drag-ball

 

>>CASTRO STREET FAIR

This 40th edition of the fair has an INSANE nightlife focus: Peaches (yes that Peaches) is doing a Sylvester tribute! There is a Legends dance stage featuring David Harness, Pete Avila, Rolo, Blackstone, and Page Hodel. And Cookie Dough will bring her kookielicious Monster Show drag party as well. It’ll be nuts + dancing + cute.OH! And don’t miss one of the best things ever that happens in SF — the two-step line–dance stage behind Castro Theatre.

Sun/5, 11am-6pm, donatiion requested. 18th Street and Castro, SF. www.castrostreetfair.org

City chicken

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marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO Where are the monkeys? Where are all the freakin’ monkeys?

If you’re a fan of Claude Vonstroke and his prolific dirtybird label — and there are millions of us now — that question might come howling to the fore after your first listen to nifty new album Urban Animal, his third. Vonstroke’s subversively relatable sound is so distinct that as soon as one of the tones of his sui generis sonic palette drops out — hooting monkeys, timpani rolls, zippy whistles, jungle beats, brass interjections, goofy bird puns, calliope synths, sly drops — you begin to wonder if bass music’s über-huggable jester has gotten all introspective on us.

No fear of that, although he has adopted a new way of working: “I didn’t even notice the chimps were missing,” Claude told me with a laugh on the phone from LA, where he’s currently staying (although he still considers SF his home). “But I did make this album in different way in general. Before, I would obsess about one track at a time until it was finished. But now I put down ideas as they come to me and mix them all together — a bass line from here, a drum track from there — from about 20 open folders. It worked out so much better that way.”

Thanks goddess for Vonstroke: he’s our biggest DJ export after Kaskade and Bassnectar — huge enough to play more mainstream gigs like Electric Daisy and HARD, yet his sound is so singular (and brilliant) that massive fest promoters don’t quite know what to do with him. “They usually give us our own space,” Vonstroke chuckles. “So much better than being sandwiched between a post-dubstep duo and a pop-EDM act and wondering what the hell to play.”

But more than that, he and his dirtybird crew bring an almost perfect version of the one thing dance music often gets horribly wrong: wit. They have an endlessly inventive way of mixing booty music’s delicious vulgarity with gorgeous production and a smart dose of melancholy to create a thoughtful, monumental running joke on the dance floor.

The sense of humor remains intact on Urban Animal. Despite lovely cover art collaging the industrial buildings of his Detroit youth into beautiful beasts, and pretty, spaced-out tracks like “The Bridge” and “Can’t Wait,” Vonstroke still buffs your funny bone.

Consider the pumping, woozy, operatic chipmunk-climaxing “Dood”: “I wanted to make a stoned California surfer track, but then the aliens got in there, and it went this kind of ‘beam me up’ way. Like that one friend on the couch at parties always saying ‘Dude, you won’t believe this thing that happened…’ and it’s actually a crazy thing that happened,” Claude told me.

Even the lilting, expansive “Can’t Wait” has its origins in a funny, familiar club moment. “I was outside a party in Ibiza” — where dirtybird just wrapped up a longtime party residency — “and this absolutely breathtaking track started to play as the sun came up. I still don’t know, don’t really want to know, the name of the track. But I resolved I would create something like it if I could. Kind of as a way of passing on that feeling.” (If it weren’t such a part of his DJ repertoire, I’d say that track was Andre Lodemann’s “Where Are You Now?”)

After wrapping up in Ibiza — an endeavor which, added to his monthly parties here at Mezzanine, a hectic appearance schedule, label duties, and mucho recording, sounds exhausting — Claude’s taking a break with his new family down south before hitting town to kick off the Urban Animal tour Fri/4 at the Regency Ballroom (9pm-late, $25–$30. 1290 Sutter, SF. www.theregencyballroom.com), and to spin at SF’s first installment of the great Boiler Room streaming live DJ series.

Expect no bells and whistles beyond those found in the stunning music, however. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to parachute in during a storm of lasers and fire canons,” Claude assures me. “We’re not the kind of ‘big DJs’ who have all these ’90s cartoons or my own name scrolling across humungous screens. I never really understood why you would want to make your party like watching a giant television. It should be about dancing.”

 

Fall go boom

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marke@sfbg.com

FALL ARTS: NIGHTLIFE Heads up, clubbers of the near future, on two new party spots. Audio Discotech (316 11th St, SF. www.audiosf.com) looks retro-fab, with a Funktion-One system — but the crowd retains a spritz of former-occupant Mist’s at-bro-sphere, and the headliners so far have leaned too pop-EDM for my taste. Beaux (2344 Market, SF. www.beauxsf.com), opening mid-September in the Castro, risks this on the gay side — it takes over the Trigger space — but with hip-explosion promoter Joshua J at the helm, a sleek-yet-comfy redesign, and a “soundscape “-oriented approach to its three floors, it might be quite cute.

But for right now: fall, parties, let’s get into them. (And for Labor Day Weekend party picks, hit up www.sfbg.com/noise.)

 

SENSATION: THE OCEAN OF WHITE

This critic-proof arena spectacle — wear all white! — seems too over-the-top to not devolve into just another writhing mass of fistpumpers waiting for the next drop. However! The surprise is that music coordinators actually have some good taste, and it’s more multimedia art project than quick cash-in — even though it costs a bundle.

Sept. 14, 7pm, $150–$250. Oracle Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakl. http://www.sensation.com

 

THE ORB

Prepare to be beamed aboard the dub-genius starship of Alex Paterson and fellow UK rave pioneer friends at this 25th anniversary live performance. Little Fluffy Clouds for all.

Sept. 18, doors 7pm, show 8pm, $25. Regency Ballroom, 1300 Van Ness, SF. www.theregencyballroom.com

 

SYMBIOSIS GATHERING

Yes, yoga, good vibes, crunchy granola, and astral projection are still on the macrobiotic menu at this mountain music and meditation festival, themed “Year of the Water Snake.” Check out this insane lineup, though: Mount Kimbie, Lunice, Hudson Mohawke, Iamwhoami’s US debut, Thugfucker, Matias Aguayo, Max Cooper, Lee Foss, STS9….

Sept. 19-23, $40–$275. Woodward Reservoir, Oakdale, CA. www.symbiosisgathering.com

 

INDIAN SUMMER BLOCK PARTY

A treasured daytime blackout tradition, with superstar undergrounders Speedy J, Tiger and Woods, Henrik Schwartz, Woolfy. And a block full of happy freaks. No headdresses please.

Sept. 28, 2pm-night, $20–$30. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

THE MAGICIAN

Earth’s reigning feel-good French electro prestidigitator returns to an adoring Bay Area — on Halloween. It’s going to be craziness.

Oct. 31, 9pm, $25. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

FREAKY FRIDAY

The As You Like It party crew brings in wicked young Brit househead Maya Jane Coles and cosmic German techno fave Cosmin TRG (as well as almost a dozen others) for some big fun.

Nov. 1, 9pm-4am, $20. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.ayli-sf.com

 

BEAR PRIDE

Hey, are you fat, hairy, and gay? Can I snag your digits? Also: You’ll be dancing all Veterans Day weekend long at this inaugural week of woofy pride with tons of special guests. (Do people still say, “Woof?” Or is that a ’90s thing?)

Nov. 7-11, various locations, times, and prices. www.sfbearpride.com

 

Hello Sailor

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SUPER EGO A “yacht” sounds like something I spit up after huffing too much Air Wick Crisp Linen Room Freshener, but apparently it’s that boat from the Duran Duran “Rio” video? And America’s Cup isn’t a Simon Cowell-produced fantasy half-naked athletic protectivewear “talent” contest? Harumph. Well, at least we get a party out of it. In all the boat-race branding hysteria, the people at PUMA are pulling together two months of neato, free, and yuppie-free lineups of daytime and evening parties at its America’s Cup PUMA Yard temporary space at Pier 27. Hip-hop queen Jeanine Da Feen on Thu/8, Dub Mission‘s J-Boogie and Sep on Sat/10, Sweater Funk on Sun/11, etc. — all the way through September. Check this thing out: www.pumayardsf.com.

 

‘CUBIC LUST’

You know, us nightlife folks aren’t just stunningly pretty faces, here for you to pump full of drugs and good music and then have your way with us, please! Some of us also write books. (Those are like blogs without Google AdSense). Revered DJ Gavin Hardkiss has written a steamy erotic volume about partying in Hong Kong entitled Cubic Lust, and will be reading from it and spinning records at the long-running Qoöl Happy Hour, now at Harlot.

Wed/7, 6pm-10pm, free. Harlot, 46 Minna, SF. www.cubiclust.com

 

SKRATCHPAD 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY BATTLE

Hot hip-hop vinyl on the decks, four nimble-fingered finalists from up and down the West Coast, a slew of nice gear to the winner, and enough turntable pyrotechnics to heat your summer — hey, all that scratching is making me itch. Johnny Krush hosts, with special guests Teeko, Derrick D, Genie G, DJ Pone, and more.

Thu/8, 9pm-1am, free. Neck of the Woods, 406 Clement, SF. www.skratchpadworldwide.com

 

METRO AREA

Brooklyn-based duo Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani, known as Metro Area, traffic in recombinant house textures and live improvisation, building new grooves out of the classic, funky dance floor samples, sounds, and feelings rattling around in the back of your mind. Opening: Christina Chatfield, one of our most exciting techno talents, also performing live.

Fri/9, 9pm-4am, $10–$20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

DANNY KRIVIT

One of the true masters — and one of my all-time faves, natch. You probably know Mr. Krivit as one-third of the NYC Body and Soul consortium, a DJ unafraid to indulge in the deep-jazz side of house, providing a colorful canvas for complex footwork. Disco and Latin grooves are on the palette, too, as well as some surprising applications of Detroit techno.

Sat/10, 10pm-4am, $10. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

DICK SLAP

A gaggle of freaky-sexy gays — a gaygle, even — will descend upon the Eagle (fast becoming a nightlife go-to beyond its legendary Sunday Beer Bust and Thursday Night Live) for a night of frenzied, furry fun. It’s all courtesy of Seattle’s cute DJ Nark and his raucous Dick Slap crew, but local DJs P-Play and Robert Jeffrey will hit you upside, too.

Sat/10, 9pm, $5. SF Eagle, 398 12th St., SF. dickslaplyfe.tumblr.com

 

SUNSET BOAT PARTY

All aboard for this Sunset party crew annual tradition — this time featuring Toronto’s awesome Stuart Li, aka Basic Soul Unit, who’ll rock us with sparkling house grooves, with jackmaster Sean Hernandez, aka Chicago Skyway, warming up.

Sun/11, 5pm-11pm, $55. San Francisco Spirit, Pier 3, SF. www.tinyurl.com/sunsetboat2013

 

Party Radar: Banjee Report reports on Sat/27

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Last May I “blew through” the huge International Mr. Leather Competition gathering in Chicago and, after I’d cleaned up a bit, had the pleasure of visiting one of the coolest Boystown spots, Wang’s, a tiny, fog-filled opium den of a gay bar which, back then at least (it’s since seen some upscale hetero incursion) was the place to be, at least if you were looking to somewhat escape the macho IML scene and get down to some sweet, sweet music.

One of the things that made Wang’s pop for me was the totally hot guy at the door. “Oh he’s from Banjee Report,” DJ P-Play told me as we entered. “They’re pretty much going to rule the queer hip-hop world in a couple years.” Oh, hi there!

P-Play’s crew Honey Soundsystem put out a pretty killer (and awesomely challenging) Banjee Report mixtape soon afterwards, introducing them to SF. And now here come the three Banjee rappers themselves, to Marco De La Vega’s great 120 Minutes party at the Elbo Room this Sat.

If you want to see what’s going on in the queer hip-hop world, beyond the incredibly diverse Mykki Blanco (multigender artsy), Le1f (avante-dark musing), Frank Ocean (ambiguous pop soul), and Big Dipper (novelty sex-rap) styles, Banjee’s great combo of vogue sensibility, street delivery, and sexy swagger may turn up your boots.

Also, I’m sorry for objectifying them but they are really cute, so wut. 

Read a neat inteview with Banjee Report here.

BANJEE REPORT

with Matrixxman and oOoOO

at 120 Minutes

Sat/27, 10pm, $5-$10

Elbo Room

647 Valencia

Party Radar: Quick, dirty Dore Alley Fair guide

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Up Your Alley Fair, happening this Sun/28, is the scruffier, cruisier, gayer (yes, it’s possible) version of Folsom Street Fair. It has a wonderful history, but will forever be known to a certain generation, ahem, as Dore Alley Fair — as it was known in the ’90s, before it expanded into the several-block to-do it is today.

It also, of late, has attracted a filthy halo of fun parties. Besides the huge, official Bay of Pigs fundraiser party on Sat/27 (usually just a mite too shirtless and circuit music-y for me, but hey, whatever floats your rimseat!) here are some tasty-nasty treats for your “manly” perusal. 

Thu/25 (tonight) night sees a special Thursday Night Live: Dore Alley Edition of live bands at the Eagle (Thursday nights at the Eagle are one of the coolest things going, for all sexualities) with “down and dirty” performances by Beard Summit, Dramady, Everyone Is Dirty, and RLLRBLL. Also Thursday night, if you’re more into reliving the gloryhole days of the Miracle Mile cruising and bathhouse scene, Bus Station John’s weekly Tubesteak Connection at Aunt Charlie’s in the Tenderloin brings you steamy underground disco and Hi-NRG classics. Or truss yourself up in your favorite fetish suit and hop to Powerhouse for Gearwear, at which one of our favorite bootblacks, Luna, will shine up your kicks real good.

Speaking of steamy, Fri/26 gives us Steam Goes Up You Alley, in which spunky promoter Walter Gomez’s monthly Steam party takes a turn for dirty disco with DJ Juan Garcia, probably my one gym-going amigo with the biggest pecs. Will he use them to cue up his records? Find out with a couple hundred sexy, cool people. Meanwhile, over at the Eagle, Flag gives you a chance to fly your freak flap according to the ancient signals of the Hanky Code. It’s like the Da Vinci Code, but with more priests and Crisco.

While the big boys are playing at Bay of Pigs on Sat/27, get a little dark electronic action of the dance floor variety at Dark Room, which not only biasts Ladytron DJ Ruben Wu, but a big performance by the fierce chanteuse San Cha, launching her new album Off Her Throne with a full band.

On Sun/28, don’t miss mysterious deep-n-hard techno entity LUTHER‘s set, 2pm-4pm, at the dance area of the Fair itself. LUTHER is excellent. And feel free and breezy to take a break from the fair at Walter Gomez’s nearby awesome-sounding all day party Glory Hole, which has an unlikely and exciting location: Tank 18, the huge new winery and BYOB meeting hall in SoMa. Awesome DJs like Rolo and Robin Malone Simmons of Odyssey will spin, accompanied by some fabulously fucked-up drag performances. Afterward, roll on down to Honey Soundsystem, where one of my favorite people (and DJs), Bil Todd from DC, will spin you right out of your sling, with deep disco edits and cutting edge house.

Truly, it is the time of the season for loving.

For more party picks this week, check this out

.

Party Radar: Disco Daddy, Ed Rush, Dimitri from Paris, James Holden, BiBi, Fake Blood, more

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There is absolutely no way I am going to shoehorn my bowlful of Jell-O into that sparkly rainbow thong next weekend — and that’s cool, pigging out on Turtle Tower pho and Bob’s crullers is my way of dealing with stress, and Pride season brings no shortage of that! (Also I heart chubbies, so no prob.)

Luckily, Pride also brings a ton of opportunities to dance, on top of the already insane dance card SF scrawls out on the regular, so I’ll be sweatin’ like the oldies and giving you booty for daaaays (no twerking please) at these hella gay and not-so-gay-yet-still-gay-friendly pre-Pride joints:

    

>>JAMES HOLDEN

The Border Community label head honcho casts a deep electronic spell, charming your feet while binding your mind. At the As You Like It party with Bells and Whistles, MossMoss, more.

Fri/21, 9pm-4am, $20. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com

 

>>ED RUSH & OPTICAL 

Heck yes, as ’90s retro progresses, drum ‘n bass is having its return-to-jiggly-spotlight moment. These two bigtime old school, hard school daddies will have you jumping for joy. (Can a boy hope that this also augurs the return of actual crazy, arms-waving dancing in clubs? Tired of this slopey-dopey-boppy thing that’s been going.) Supported by the cream of SF’s classic dnb scene, don’t miss.

Fri/21, 9pm-3am, $15-$20. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

>>INNERSPACE HALFLIFE

Heady, deep ‘n groovy Chicago duo perform live, as does cool-kid extraordinaire Ital (you may know him from a little band called Mi Ami) at the always surprising, consistently yummy Icee Hot party

Fri/21, 10pm-3am, $10-$15. Public Works Loft, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

>>FAKE BLOOD

UK funboy Fake Blood was alsways one of the most promising producers at the tail end of hardcore electro era, but lately he’s blasted off into sheer brilliance, making some real poetry of the remains of that party-hearty sound which, alas, was co-opted to death by the pop-EDM crowd. Fake found a way out. Supported by the energetic Alex Metric. 

Sat/22, 10pm-late, $15 advance. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.blasthaus.com

 

>>DIMITRI FROM PARIS

High on the list of parties that changed my life: The Playboy Mansion party at WMC 2000 in Miami. Upon entrance, someone handed me an egg-shaped maraca, Dimitri hit the decks, and I was gone for six hours. I had never heard disco mixed with house like that — Dimitri was the king of re-edit sophistication long before it became a laptop whip-up thing. I mean, I melt: 

Sat/22, 10pm-late, $20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

>>BIBI

Middle Eastern queers (and friends of all rainbow backgrounds) unite: This annual Pride kick-off party is a truly special event, packed with unfamilair hotties, sweet tunes, and drums and belly dancers even. “Shake those hips” with DJs Emancipacion and Nile, and the Shabnam Dace Company. 

Sat/22, 9pm, $10-$12. Club OMG, 43 Sixth St., SF. Advance tickets here.

 

>>DISCO DADDY

More Pride kick-off shenanigans, this time in the form of beloved rare-find bathhouse disco king DJ Bus Station John taking to the decks all Sunday evening at the Eagle! Disco at the Eagle — somehow it makes sense but breaks the brain. Sweaty tunes (hi-NRG!) ‘n cruisy men — what more could you ask for? Oh yes, cheap beer. And menergy.

Sun/23, 7pm-midnight, $5. SF Eagle, 398 12th St., SF. www.sf-eagle.com