DJ Milktray, Bristol
Hudson Mohawke and Rustie were just the first wave of Glasgow’s post-millennial dance music scene, with S-Type and Eclair Fifi building the city’s reputation further and SOPHIE, on Glasgow label Numbers, sending eyebrows sky-high with aggravatingly sweet freak-pop. Is Glasgow’s DJ Milktray another piece of the puzzle? His hooky vocal cut-ups and fondness for homemade dancefloor edits have plenty in common with the artists on the city’s LuckyMe label. In fact, he takes it back to basics, resurrecting R&G (rhythm and grime), the poppy blip on the grime scene a decade ago. He DJs tonight alongside Fallow in Bristol’s pleasantly seedy Old Market district.
1775 Club, Sat
GT
Tropical Waste, London
London’s best small party continues with another UK debut, this time from Lotic, who grew up amid the slurred cadences of Houston rap before moving to Berlin and its snow-banked techno milieu. Both worlds collide in his work, where samples of Beyoncé, Nicki and Missy get chilled to the bone until their voices chatter, while deranged, impetuous effects whip around them like a Kreuzberg wind. His mixtapes Damsels In Distress and Funny Games are reminiscent of the pan-global digital slop of Arca or Total Freedom, so you can expect his set to be twerk anthems one minute, avant garde electronics the next. As well as residents Iydes and Seb, supporting Lotic is Felicita, who has a similarly ADD approach to J-pop and sugary R&B: tinkling crystal noises bundle into gossip-girl vocals, resulting in arrhythmic kawaii starbursts. A night of bizarre 21st-century collage then, that you can – fitfully – dance to.
The Waiting Room, N16, Thu
BB
Waxxx, Liverpool
Berliner Rødhåd has been mixing a wide variety of techno since he made his name at the tail end of the 90s, his pop-up parties foreshadowing the explosion in popularity of the likes of Berghain. But it wasn’t until releasing his debut record on his own label Dystopian in 2012 that he seemed to catch a larger wave. Ever since, his timely and psychedelic techno sound has gained a much wider audience in sets that are at once both elegant and considered, while retaining the ability to lock a dancefloor in and then systematically demolish it, a task that that open-minded promoters Waxxx have offered him three whole hours to complete with the utmost confidence. Notable for his surprisingly punky aesthetic within the rather clinical world of techno, the uninitiated should check out this year’s Red Rising EP for an insight into his melodic abilities, or an archive Concrete Paris set on YouTube, if you fancy catching a glimpse of him doing the business with his shirt off. Residents Lauren Lo Sung and Allen & Hutch join him here.
Camp And Furnace, Sat
JT
Ninja Tune, London
Ninja Tune made its name in the late 90s with rather plodding breakbeats and acid jazz from the likes of Mr Scruff, but has since branched out, becoming a key force in the digital-industrial sounds of current UK bass. In Kate Tempest and Young Fathers, the label has also nurtured both a Mercury nominee and winner. Bonobo tops the big Ninja names here: his DJ set will likely trade in weird curveballs as well as emotive rollers; Actress brings jaded funk; the Bug and Flowdan’s crushing dub will induce glacial headbanging and perforated eardrums; and Lee Bannon and Machinedrum each take drum’n’bass and infuse it with American soul.
Studio Spaces, E1, Sat
BB
Skream, Glasgow
In his early teens, Oliver Jones started churning out beats in his bedroom at a rate of knots: buoyant melodies and deep basslines that helped craft the dubstep sound. Later, as Skream, he went on to sell out headline slots as part of Magnetic Man with Artwork and Benga. In more recent years he’s shed his dubstep skin and stepped out into house, techno and disco, spun together with a fervour and playfulness that’s come to represent his club night, Skreamizm, which comes to Glasgow for a mid-week blow out.
Sub Club, Thu
LM
