Whities, London
Nestled matryoshka-style within XL spin-off label Young Turks, Whities is a new imprint set up by Nic Tasker, a major celestial object in the tastemaker universe of Boiler Room and NTS Radio. Four releases in and there’s already been some wonderful work: Kowton taking a turn for the cosmic, blending his usual percussive attacks with featherweight twinkles; Minor Science’s minimal techno, like a perfectly weighted Alexander Calder mobile knocked to the edge of imbalance; and Terron’s spooked but determined productions. All three play at this showcase alongside Tasker himself, plus a variety of other outsider-techno voices. Bake of the Glaswegian All Caps crew plays alongside NTS jockey Jon Rust, while Beatrice Dillon is perhaps the pick of the bunch – as well as her all-percussion mixtape for The Trilogy Tapes, her album Blues Dances was an overlooked gem last year, full of depopulated vistas and quietly industrious grooves.
Corsica Studios, SE17, Fri
BB
Degree Show Party 2015, Glasgow
In years past, the degree show party at Glasgow School Of Art was a roadblock: the streets winding around the iconic Mackintosh building and its scrubbier sibling the student union, played host to students and pals, singing every song back to the DJ with a release earned after a year of tension. Much has changed since the street parties, though. With the Mackintosh damaged in a savage fire and the union rebuilt in striking glass, the school still has an apt image for a place that’s long given a home to the weird and wonderful undercurrents of the city’s club music. This year, it’s a full house of local oddities. Artists Robbie Thomson and Marianne Wilson create a custom audiovisual show soundtracked by freaky house cuts from Letitia Pleiades, Cleoslaptra and more. There’s “a world made of 100% fresh organic raw plastic” erected as a “PVC Chapel”, with R&B and dancehall from Subcity Radio DJ Deep Brandy Album Cuts, and it’s all anchored by a grime and hip-hop onslaught in the Vic Bar helmed by DJ Milktray.
The Art School, Fri
LM
Banana Hill, Sheffield
No strangers to Sheffield’s labyrinthian Night Kitchen venue – home to three warehouse-style rooms and a rather imposing giant wooden owl – Banana Hill is kissing off Sheffield for the summer with its most ambitious party to date. German selector Move D heads up a bumper lineup with three hours of deep house and disco. Also playing in a somewhat more relentless fashion is current techno favourite Call Super, while cult concern Huntleys & Palmers take over elsewhere, with Auntie Flo, Esa and founder Andrew Thomson playing their unique blend of globe-spanning, experimental cuts held together with a Glasweigan club pulse. Awesome Tapes From Africa rounds off the session.
The Night Kitchen, Fri
JT
Yaslin Bey Plays J Dilla, London
Fresh from revisiting his own history after touring classic LP Black On Both Sides, Yasiin Bey (AKA Mos Def) presents the work of hip-hop’s foremost archeologist J Dilla in this special one-off set. The late Dilla’s beats are like Rauschenberg collages, loosely arranging black American music culture, and they remain almost peerless. Bey, who used a beautiful Dilla beat on his track History, will rap over classic cuts; there’s support from Little Simz, Essa and Mr Thing, plus a Dilla documentary screening.
Indigo At The O2, SE10, Thu
BB
Teknicality Launch Party, Bristol
After taking over the North, the Midlands and then London, deep tech comes to Bristol, with kingpin Lance Morgan. Maligned and misunderstood, the sound of jackin’ house, deep tech, or whatever you want to call it, bears the influence of some historically less cool club genres, particularly the squashed rhythms of latterday tech-house. But its followers have a proper dance energy that so many are missing these days, and it’s often the same people bemoaning that fact who deride the jackin’ sound. Get down.
Timbuk2, Sat
GT
