House of Techno, October 08

As British as it is to discuss the weather before launching into more serious topics, it’s bloody well going to be winter soon, and rather than accepting in a Zen manner the inevitable cyclical change, I’m going to sulk. The summer euphoria snuck past masked by layers of underwhelming greyness and washed out festivals. Give us noise to vent our fury and dark music to dance to until the perpetual night goes away.
Smear, who we spoke to last month, has a brand new mix up on his Myspace under his Element Abuse moniker. If you want to glean some idea of why names like Surgeon are singing his praises, check this out; from the mechanised rage of PanSonic, to the disturbing aural assault of Chrome, this is an in-depth lesson in extremity and a great way to focus bitterness. It makes your teeth hurt, it makes your hair hurt (is this right? - ed), and it’s hella cathartic.

Okay, so 58 minutes and 41 seconds later, I’m slightly less angry and ready to go dance the night away whatever the world seems like outside. Marco Bailey, Belgium’s finest techno export, plays the Soundhaus on the 3rd (10.30-4, £5 B4 11.30, £8/9 after), whilst Marcel Detmann can be found rocking the decks the next night (11-4, £10/12). For more info on why he's so awesome, see our interview published this month. If you’d rather something more soulful that night, or just happen to live 50 miles too far east to get down, the legendary Joey Negro brings his unique cocktail of bass, funk and house to Ultragroove at the Cab (11-3am, £10/8). Whether he’s rocking a house set or mashing up old 7” singles, this man is legendary for throwing awesome parties.

Giving props on smaller scale, Mount Heart Attack have been quietly building a following at The Ivy on the last Friday of every month, mingling techno, electro and simple great tunes (31 Oct, Free), whilst Mungo’s Hi-Fi pitch the king of digi-dub, Disrupt, against Glasgow’s hottest emcee Soom T in the Art School on the 24th (11-3, £5adv /8). If you managed to catch the man from Jahtari’s set at Optimo lately, you’ll know that 8-bit blips and monster reverb are one sweet combination. Yaas.