Daniel Avery & Kassem Mosse, Dublin
Gunnar Wendel’s vision of dance music is perhaps best exemplified by his repeated deconstruction of its very foundations. As Kassem Mosse, and occasionally under a cluster of other aliases – Seltene Erden, the Siege Of Troy, and Kareem Moser – his tracks defy clinical brackets of genre, tempo and narrative. They often seem to meander along entirely of their own volition: nebulous 12-inch missives that fluctuate between fraught, dissonant and dark one moment, and loose, cavernous and mellifluous the next. His brilliant, long-awaited debut LP Workshop 19 – released in 2014 – was full of carnal, disjointed rhythms, clogged with the subtle tongue-in-cheek contumaciousness that runs through some of his live performances. He’ll be joined here by Phantasy’s Daniel Avery, whose newly formed collaboration Rote, with BleeD promoter and Volte-Face producer Casper Clark, has been making waves recently with an excellent EP.
District 8, Sat
SC
Superstition X Glegling, London
Initially a club night in Weimar that lasted for just four parties, Giegling has had quite the afterlife. Seven years on, it is now one of the most cherished techno labels in Europe, putting out productions that are unashamedly deep and emotional, even whimsical (the dust from its house parties was scattered on the cover of one release). So don’t expect haunted-foundry doom, but rather delicate pulses, acres of space between the elements, and architects making eyes at each other on the dancefloor. While cornerstones such as Prince Of Denmark and Edward are missing, two of the core crew appear here: DJ Dustin, who lets giddy melodies surge around elegant microhouse; and Konstantin, who as well as DJing plays a live set with his duo Kettenkarussell (expect Villalobos-style minimalism in pastels). Also bringing a live set is headliner Vril, whose work is positively lairy in comparison, with big, uptempo snares and the kind of ravey stabs that accompanied scaremongering early-90s ecstasy documentaries.
Village Underground, EC2, Sat
BB
Awakenings, Manchester
Already an institution in its native Netherlands, Awakenings enters the UK’s competitive clubbing scene with less a toe in the water, more a stamping size-15 foot. Taking over four rooms at the atmospheric Victoria Warehouse, which range in size from cavernous to sweatbox, the lineup includes a mix of classic and contemporary artists, accompanied by the brand’s notoriously hypnotic lighting and production. Highlights include Berlin’s overlord of atmosphere, Rødhåd, warming up for masters Dave Clarke and Chris Liebing. Paco Osuna and Speedy J make appearances, and another corner of the club is dedicated to the rougher sounds of Clouds, Gary Beck and Bleaching Agent.
Victoria Warehouse, Sat
JT
Timedance, Bristol
A spin-off from Bristol producer Batu’s new label of the same name, here he hosts Bruce and Untold, DJ-producers who share his forward-thinking approach to club music. The former is doing brilliant things with abrasive techno, while Untold’s a die-hard experimentalist. His hyped-up rhythms torched dubstep’s wreckage in 2008; he followed that with two albums that took low frequencies into dramatically abstract spaces, one released on a USB stick that came with actual moss. Perhaps that’s what appealed to Björk when she got him to contribute to her Vulnicura remixes last year.
The Island, Sat
GT
The Bunker New York, London
Cult NYC club and label The Bunker is your divemaster for this journey to the deep. Founder Bryan Kasenic is on the bill along with his signing Løt.te, AKA Turkish producer Mehmet Irdel, who’ll break a chair over your head with his pacy bass drums, then soothe you with sustained chords. Headlining with a live set are Romans, the duo of dapper acid-pop producer Tin Man and slamming analogue wrangler Gunnar Haslam.
Pickle Factory, E2, Fri
BB
