BACK TO BASICS Casablanca, Thursdays
Club Casablanca hosts an amazing funky night on Thursdays often using awesome live bands such as Stitched Up – a four-piece who have all enjoyed working all over the world covering everything from early soul and funk to modern rock and pop. The have an awesome ability to get everybody dancing and create a funky atmosphere, couple that with cheap drinks and you have a pretty good night! (PW)
TEEN CREEPS Jazz Rooms 4th Friday
There was a time, oh dwellers of clubland, that clubs played not JUST dubstep, or fidget, but a more heterogenous selection. And not in a “Jump Around, then Queen, then La Roux” kind of a way, but in the way that every other tune you’d have your socks blown off by some forgotten new wave gem, or an underground future classic. Teen Creeps, a new venture from the lads who brought you the Smack That blog, aims to have you up at the booth asking “what the fuck was that?” by shoe-horning together The Only Ones with Vitalic and XTC with ODB. (MB)
SNEAKER SOCIAL CLUB Coalition Fri 5th
This new night from Hypercolour’s Jamie Russell is aiming for the wider booking policy of the early part of the decade when nights like The Boutique would mix things up for a music loving crowd. Trainers are encouraged as they want you to get right into the tunes, and the booking policy reflects that. David ‘Trus’me’ Wolstencroft from Prime Numbers brings soulful beats, while arguably the godfather of UK funky, Roska, supplies a mix of Carl Craig and Todd Edwards sounding 90s US garage. There’s a bin to donate your own sneakers (and shoes) to TRAID too, which is a nice touch. (JK)
FREEMASONS Honeyclub Sat 6th
If you like your house music classy, funky and fun you’ve probably already got this in the diary. Brighton’s big name remixers – Beyonce loved the mix they did for her – and producers, they always bring the party. And now we’ve got ‘Love On My Mind’ stuck in our heads. (JK)
SUNDAY SOCIAL Concorde 2 Sun 7th
Despite their rightly lauded origins as innovators of shivering, bloodless funk noir (their chilling Factory debut ‘All Night Party’ and desiccated take on Banbarra’s ‘Shack Up’ merely the tip of a formidable iceberg), A Certain Ratio’s later diversions into Latin flavoured pop seemingly diluted their personalities to such an extent that they finally evaporated. ACR’s reformation was hardly anticipated, but their set at Beachdown (remember that?) was a festival highlight. Heavily influenced Brighton acolytes Transformer add to a strong, charitable bill tonight that includes Steve Mac (see interview), deep house god Kenny Hawkes and house pioneer Danny Rampling. (SH)
WASTED UV RAVE Honeyclub Fri 12th
After a great night last October, Wasted is back with another UV Rave, now at the Honeyclub. It’s pretty much exactly what it says on the tin – ultraviolet light, UV décor, glowsticks, facepainting and a mash up of electro and indie. It’s only three quid in advance, and there’s cheap drinks all night so you can’t go wrong really. (JK)
EROL ALKAN Digital Sat 13th
Wax On present the original mash-up master (who famously turned his back in the scene at its height for more interesting pastures) as he treks up and down the country before jetsetting off to California for the Coachella Festival. He’s been busy remixing his nips off with the likes of Boys Noize and Yeah Yeah Yeahs so expect to hear some dutty productions of pure electro sexiness. Joining him in the booth will be residents People Get Real bringing their own brand of dance-floor terrorism and Eskimo Twins with their darker electronic sound with twists of pop sensibilities. (ZC)
FORTIES TO THE NOUGHTIES Concorde 2 Sat 13th
Smirnoff had a pretty good idea recently – hold a competition to see who could come up with the best concept for a party and then bung them a shitload of money to make it happen. This one won, for good reason. Staring in the 1940s every decade gets an hour to showcase it’s best bits – burlesque, disco, rave, rock’n’roll. The guys behind it have spunked all Smirnoff’s prize money on the night so expect it to be pretty spectacular, not least as you get six New Year’s Eves in the seven themes. Be warned, the first decade starts at 9pm. (JK)
VITALIC Coalition Thurs 18th
NOISY! That’s Vitalic’s thing. When ‘La Rock 01’ came out in 2001 it was absolutely mind-blowing and ushered in the whole nasty electro sound that still gets a lot of play these days. New LP ‘Flashmob’ is really good too, sort of more of the same – synthy, gnarly – but really polished. The man has got enough anthems to rock the place, even though it’s an early show. Bring tissues to mop up the blood from your ears. (JK)
AUDIO BULLYS Concorde 2 Sat 20th
West Londoners Tom Dinsdale and Simon Franks burst onto the scene in 2002 and coined the catchphrase ‘Hooligan House’ to label their sound of energetic urban beats and rambunctious but socially aware wordplay. So expect the Concorde to be roadblocked with Brighton’s club kids and dancefloor elite knocking their knees, definitely one to get your tickets for in advance. (ZC)
JAMES ZABIELA Digital Sat 20th
Without James Zabiela we’d probably still be playing vinyl. Such a head fuck was his CDJ melting sets when he first blew onto the scene that he opened everyone’s minds to what was possible with this new equipment. A highly technical tech house DJ, we’re keen to see what he can do with the new CDJ 2000. Ready to upgrade your DJ booth Digital? (JK)
BOOTY GALAXY RECORDS LAUNCH Jam Weds 24th
We love PRJCT MYHM and are mighty impressed that amongst all the myhm they have managed to get it together to collect some of Brighton’s best bass-driven artists onto a killer EP. Skwee fella – and :Kinema: member – Boss Kite joins the filthy electro-hop crew alongside the double drumming art grooves of AK/DK and our local dubstep star Riskotheque. Expect serious chaos. (JK)
HERVE Audio Fri 26th
Fidget pioneer…blah blah blah…Count & Sinden member…blah blah blah…ace DJ…blah blah blah…playing at Blah Blah Blah…blah blah blah. (JK)
STICK IT ON Hanbury Sat 27th
When Rob came up with the idea for Stick It On he must have been right pleased with himself. A good day’s work, that one. Because the simple fact is that for all the technicalities and obsession with beat matching DJing is about one thing: playing good tunes, preferably with enthusiasm. Giving regular punters 15 minutes of fame behind the decks means there’s an urgency to the night as the DJs cram in their favourite-record-evah. Never a dull moment. (JK)
Matt Barker, Zac Colbert, Stuart Huggett, James Kendall, The Recommender, Pia Webley