Stonelove
Digital Fridays
Any indie night that marks its arrival with a live set from Maximo Park is clearly aiming higher than most, but then that wasn’t the start for Stonelove. Already an institution in Newcastle by the time it turned up in Brighton, the night actually started at The Hacienda. Clint Boon even set up a New York edition. That means nothing if it’s not fun down here, but the broad mix of music and a cool crowd means that our version stands up against the legendary outings Stonelove has managed. Of course the killer soundsystem helps. (JK)
Strobe
Ocean Rooms Fridays
It’s all change at the Ocean Rooms, with new nights and a new face – Howie from excellent house night Musika* – in charge of bookings. This Friday seems like a great way to get the place on the clubbing map, with a door tax of just two quid, outrageously cheap drinks and gimmicks to a seriously fun soundtrack of electro, indie, fidget, dubstep and drum’n’bass across the floors. It’s good to have the place back. (JK)
Ozomatli
Concorde 2 Weds 1st
Now admittedly we haven’t seen Ozomatli since they were riding high on their Jurassic 5 offshoot status, but damn they were good then. Weaving their way through the Glastonbury crowd, playing their mix of Latin and hip hop as they made their way to the stage, the excitement was at fever pitch by the time the eight piece left with the same method. In between salsa, cumbia, merengue and funk mesh had everyone dancing and smiling as the sun shone down. Or was it raining? It felt like sunshine anyway. (JK)
Junkbox
Coalition Sat 4th
House music’s renaissance continues with the help of techno as the master of the stripped down, cold as ice groove returns to his former hometown. Radio Slave is the DJ’s DJ – worshipped as a remixer and producer, he’s fresh back from gigs at Sonar and Fabric and will be heading back to Germany to play at Sven Vath’s legendary Coocoon club. Tim Priestley and Yusuf Sebaiti will warm Coalition up with the respect the Rekids boss deserves. (JK)
Felix Da Housecat Coalition Fri 10th
Felix Da Housecat changed everything. Dance music was about as dull as could be when he turned to synth pop and electro to form the backbone of his Kittenz & The Glitz masterpiece. As befits a man who opened up dance music to wider influences, his DJ sets are pretty broad too. Although he went through a time of getting stuck on set pieces, anyone who was at his Ocean Rooms gig in the early part of the century still raves about it like it was The Sex Pistols at the Manchester Free Trade Hall. Including us. (JK)
Supercharged 10th Birthday:
Concorde 2 Fri 10th
Supercharged need a huge pat on the back. Not only are they one of the leading breaks nights of all time – booking all the best DJs in the scene consistently – and are voted as such at mucho awards, but they’ve managed to offer the whole experience up at a cost that everyone can afford. Oh, and midweek too. The celebration sees the Plump DJs do their thing, while a great Wednesday line-up for the rest of the month shows how wide the music policy has grown recently, to incorporate d’n’b, electro, ghetto tech and much more. (JK)
Loop Late
Various Venues Sat 11th
If you’re a bit broke or have commitments for the daytime proceedings, there’s still a way to enjoy Loop Festival without going for the full package. Loop Late is a load of stand-alone events that you can get as part of your ticket price, or just bowl up to on the night. Our picks of these see d’n’b-rock superstars The Qemists joined by Zomby at the Concorde. The latter is specifically who Fink was talking about last month when he said that hearing other people making great tunes gets stressful when you’re a dance producer. His Where Were You In 92? rave retread has destroyed clubland. Elsewhere Blah Blah Blah at Digital grab a DJ set from DFA’s neo-Human League outfit The Juan McLean, maker of one of our albums of the year. (JK)
Anderson Noise
Honeyclub Sat 18th
I’ve done pretty well out of writing about dance music and one day found myself in Brazil on my way to Serena, an incredible club half way between the beach and the rain forest. The bloke who picked me up from the hotel was lovely, really friendly (bear with me here) and in the club the same guy took to the decks to a rapturous reaction. “Jesus,” I exclaimed, “I thought he was just my driver.” “Ha,” laughed the resident DJ, “Anderson Noise is like our Carl Cox. He’s a hero.” And his recent climbing up DJmag’s Top 100 DJs poll has proved that. Good one on Sevensins for booking him. He’s heading worldwide. They’re better at spotting superstar DJs than I am. (JK)
HOT 8 BRASS BAND Coalition Weds 15th
Hailing from the streets of New Orleans comes a force pushing for brass domination. With such a vibrant and energetic attitude to getting things a little funky, the ten-strong members of the Hot 8 Brass Band have created an unmistakably infectious jazz spirit. With their joyous cover of Sexual Healing being one of Tru Thoughts’ most eagerly awaited singles, expect a riotous affair of heartfelt soul and toe tapping, jive-styled licks. (AS)
STAY SICK LIVE!
The Albert Fri 17th
Every so often, Stay Sick! likes to find shockingly good bands, book them to play and stick them in the smallest venue that their ego will fit in. This month is the turn of The Guillotines, Vile Imbeciles and Bijou to squeeze in at The Albert. An interesting mix of sounds tied together nicely with some equally interesting visuals to watch and excellent music in between bands courtesy of the Stay Sick! DJs. Tickets are £5 from all the usual places. (GA)
Greg Wilson
Audio Fri 17th
There’s going to be a SOURCE wedding later this year and it’s a measure of how good a DJ Greg Wilson is that he’s played a part in the service. So euphoric was electro funk pioneer’s dropping of a re-edit of The Turtles Happy Together on his first DJ set in Brighton in over 20 years that it was chosen for the ‘hymn’. That Wilson disappeared for such long time is almost criminal, but thanks to the amazing Credit To The Edit series be back with passion and love. Dancing at 100bpm hasn’t been this much fun since ’84. (JK)
Words by Greg Ackerly, James Kendall, Adam Strandt