Clubbing Highlights Scotland – August 2014

We kick off in Glasgow, with the promise of analogue spontaneity as Cymatic Response debut the live hardware collaboration between Marco Bernardi and Perseus Traxx. Billed as an improvisational journey through each artist’s respective material, the Poetry Club should be in for a rare treat, given the armoury both are able to draw from. Glasgow-bred Bernardi has been a key player in the city’s scene for a number of years, releasing techno and electro as Octogen through Soma, as well as under his own name for a range of top labels such as Crème Organization, Clone and Planet E. Future Flash founder Perseus Traxx is similarly well equipped and perhaps best known for his blistering acid offerings on the likes of M>O>S, Bunker and Snuff Trax (Fri 1 Aug, £5).

It’s off to the Art School next, where Animal Farm have a huge one lined up with their Ostgut Ton label showcase. The release platform of Berlin’s legendary Berghain club, Ostgut needs little introduction. Heading up the bill is Marcel Dettmann, long-running resident of the club, whose sound is dominated by the kind of powerful, stripped-back techno Ostgut has become known for. Headlining the second room is Dutch favourite Martyn, founder of the 3024 label, serving up dub-infused techno, house and bass music. Completing an impressive line-up are Function, Answer Code Request and Ryan Elliot. The Art School has quickly re-positioned itself at the centre of Glasgow’s clubbing scene – nights of this calibre are testament to that (Sat 2 Aug, £25 adv).

On Saturday 9 Aug, SWG3 will play host to the exciting combo of Detroit electro heavyweight Dopplereffekt and bass-sculpting techno purveyor, Objekt – the pairing release a joint EP on Leisure Systems next month. Gerald Donald’s inimitable electro guise Dopplereffekt has seen something of a rebirth with last year’s Tetrahymena EP a hit with critics and DJs alike, continuing a formidable career that saw him partner the late James Stinson under the revered Drexciya name and release a range of inspired futurist electro from Japanese Telecom to Arpanet. Objekt AKA TJ Hertz came to prominence in 2011 with his captivating blend of bass music and techno for Young Turks and his own self-titled imprint (£8/10).

Other highlights in Glasgow include jazz-leaning deep house from Max Graef (Hot Wax @ The Berkley Suite, Fri 15 Aug, £5 adv/£10 door), La Cheetah’s Mood Hut showcase including Pender Street Steppers (Fri 15 Aug, £10) and Sandrien, whose residency at Amsterdam’s Trouw has kept her highly in demand (Tribal Pulse @ Saint Judes, Sat 16 Aug, £5/8).

Moving on to Edinburgh, and the Summerhall Festival Opening Party, which will play host to Awesome Tapes From Africa – a project born out of Brian Shimkovitz’s desire to share the many fruits of his cassette-digging travels in Africa. Bringing together a myriad of styles dating back four decades, ATFA started out as a blog but has quickly evolved into a record label and a vehicle for Shimkovitz to share rare and hidden gems in his DJ sets. Also on the bill are Scotland’s own Golden Teacher, whose early work on Optimo Music has turned many heads, blending elements from house, punk and afro beat. DJ Support includes David Barbarossa and Cry Parrot (Fri 1 Aug, Summerhall, £10).

Later in the month, Studio 24 is taken over by Pulse who this time showcase London’s Perc Trax label. Representing Edinburgh by way of Leeds is Forward Strategy Group, whose stark, grainy techno is tailor-made for dimly lit, sweaty club spaces. Then there’s Truss, AKA MPIA3, a London native with a knack for driving, percussive workouts, often seasoned with acid squelches and atmospheric chords. Rounding things off is label head Perc who, as you may expect, disseminates similarly robust techno cuts (Fri 22 Aug, £10).

Also worth checking out in the capital are Neil Landstrumm and Hobbes (Thu 21 Aug, Sneaky Pete’s, £5), while Aberdeen heads can look forward to the company of Dutch maestro Gerd AKA Geeeman AKA NY Stomp, who plays MWU’s first birthday bash (Sat 30 Aug, The Tunnels, £10/12).