Boys Noize Records, London
Step back to the heady days of blog house with this lineup, which could have come straight from 2006, dressed in skinny jeans and checking Hype Machine on a 3G connection. Back then a crop of DJs – many of them French and looking like they’d smoked Gauloises since they were eight – gave dance the jolt of punk it had been missing since electroclash. Sure, it bred many abysmal records full of compression and shouting, but the best ones – Justice’s Waters Of Nazareth, DJ Mehdi’s Signatune – endure as fizzing balls of energy. Here, Boys Noize is your host and goes back-to-back with Tiga, the man who taught the whole scene how to do the “aloof Eurotrash playboy” thing. There’s also Justice man Xavier de Rosnay, Ed Banger boss Busy P, neo-Miami bass crew Spank Rock, and minor scene throwbacks such as Feadz (remember his tracks for failed pop princess Uffie?). Here’s hoping everyone plays 128kbps MP3s for authenticity.
Heaven, WC2, Sun
BB
Levelz, Bristol
Half-baked “conscious” lyrics, estuary accents, and trust-funded crack deal brags? Forget everything you thought you knew about contemporary UK hip-hop; Manchester’s back in the house with the most formidable squad since Ruthless Rap Assassins. Levelz are a hip-hop/grime/dubstep supergroup featuring MCs, producers and DJs Biome, Black Josh, Bricks, Chimpo, Chunky, Dub Phizix, Fox, Jonny Dub. Metrodome, Rich Reason, Skittles, Sparkz, Truthos Mufasa and T-Man. The team have won many fans in their home town due to their individual reputations, and their big video debut for the explosive single LVL 07 is taking them way further, showcasing their toolkit of floor-crumbling beats and bass alongside a plethora of distinct and impressive lyrics and flows, with lashings of off-the-wall Mancunian humour. Their first nationwide tour takes in Bristol’s Black Swan, a pub moonlighting as a spit’n’sawdust club specialising in the more debauched styles of electronic music, from breakcore to psytrance.
Black Swan, Sun
GT
The Filthy Series, Belfast
Now that it’s officially spring, the all-day party crews are coming out of hibernation. The Filthy Series, a new weekender in Belfast, has a capacity of 4,000, and there will definitely be enough sun-worshipping clubbers to get loose-limbed for the lineup. Headlining across the weekend are electro-house mash-up greats 2 Many DJs (whose As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt 2 is still as playful as ever), NYC’s Hercules & Love Affair, XL Recordings’ Jungle, grime MC Wretch 32, and singer Katy B. Katy really knows how to work a crowd; after holding down Rinse FM’s stage at last year’s Notting Hill Carnival, she’s an ideal figure to bring underground sounds on to a pop stage.
The Filthy Quarter, Sat & Sun
LM
Lex Luger, London
A rare London DJ set for Lex Luger, who – while overtaken by Mike WiLL Made-It then DJ Mustard then Metro Boomin as rap production’s flavour of the month – is still rolling out enjoyably cacophonous bangers. Ghetto credentials boosted by first making tracks on a PlayStation, he then used the 808’s palette of booming bass and crisp snaps, topped with comically cheap brass; productions for HAM and Hard In Da Paint soon followed. Luger also plays Dalston’s multi-venue Land Of Kings festival on Sunday, with Brolin, Chloe Black and Esther Joy Lane also on the Birthdays bill.
Birthdays, N16, Fri
BB
Ben UFO & Gerd Janson, Leeds
Widely regarded as two of the world’s most respected selectors in their individual rights, Ben UFO and Gerd Janson join forces at this monumental edition of Acetate, using a 1970s rotary mixer to filter the club night’s strictly vinyl-only selections. Janson’s own label, Running Back, remains the superior choice for house and disco aficionados, while UFO has been known to spend days in archive lock-ups, searching for that perfect rarity. Expect a lofty and versatile evening of music covering all corners.
Wire, Sun
JT
