Clubbing Highlights - June
Some snakeoil salesmen types would have you believe that Scotland is an electronic music abyss this month: a George Romero dystopia of Hive flyers and swirling styrofoam containers possessed of an emptiness matched only by the souls and cranial cavities of the retard horde of promoters who spam my inbox with JPEGS of swimsuit girls exhorting me to come to their 75p chaserfest. Chances are that you're also going to be faced with this sort of patter, the volume of which increases exponentially as the summer festival milieu panics said promoters into a Swedish House Mafia soundtracked overdrive. We hereby attempt to sort through this surge of inanity, mostly because this is the only thing we're remotely qualified to pontificate on.
Azari & III spearhead this month's Death Disco with a retro-futurist strain of 4/4 as timeless as Co-Op long-life bread and Thatcher jokes. Typified by voluptuous 90s Chicago rhythms and dark alley funk – Reckless (With Your Love) and Hungry For The Power being two oft-spun examples – the Canadian quartet bring a welcome dose of electro-free house to the Arches. One of the brighter stars in the Ed Banger firmament, DJ Mehdi, also headlines. Catch them both alongside a host of other guests on Sat 18 Jun.
Only a man with plywood legs and arteries forged on a diet of spare rib suppers and Red Kola could fail to be moved by Andrew Weatherall's guest slot on Sat 25 Jun at the Sub Club. Weatherall's reliable stock of techno dubplates is often supplemented by a lingering affection for punk rock, big beat and soundsystem culture, a good precis of which can be found on his debut album of 2009, A Pox On The Pioneers. Should you need any extra incentive, the Subby are offering free entry before 12 for the entire month.
One of the capital's clutch of recently established bass music nights, Witness, hosts Brenmar on Wed 8 Jun. Channelling something between the high-grade R&B lacquer of LuckyMe and a technicolour take on UK funky, the American producer's populist edge is sufficiently warped by his subtle IDM influences to warrant a peek.
Back in Glasgow, more a case of keeping elbows sharp than eyes peeled for the rush that will no doubt greet Melting Pot's 10th anniversary on Sat 4 Jun, hosted by regulars Andrew Pirie and Simon Cordiner at The Admiral. A roll call of previous guests serves to affirm the Pot's mosaic-like music policy, showcasing everything from the diva-disco melange of Horse Meat Disco to the welted, introspective house fissures of Moodymann and the stoic majesty of post-rock titans Mogwai.
Most of this month's techno can be found 4 hours north from our office on a road that would be a stretch to call 'scenic', if the standard coach decor of taupe drapes and pale arsecheeks are anything to go by. That said, Rhadoo's pleasant haze of minimal techno and deep house at the Glasshouse on Sun 19 Jun should tide you over for a while yet.