Blitzkrieg Bop: Pulsating To The Back Beat

A few years back the concepts of indie disco and a dance club night were conceived as vastly different types of events, yet in today's MySpace and download-obsessed generation the boundaries have been wiped: nights are more about providing good new music and an all round experience instead of a pigeon hole. It is the plethora of crossover nights that now tickle the fancies of Glasgow's clubbers. One night doing that and much more is Blitzkrieg Bop at the Arches, a monthly shimmering explosion of fantastic music that pulls together everything from electro pop to hip-hop and synth with many a reference point in between. Named after the classic song by the Ramones, the night is a visual and aural spectacle on the Arches calendar.

The monthly night is entirely run and programmed by the enthusiasm of Natalia Palombo, a full time art school student, along with the help of the Arches club staff. The night originally began back in February 2005 as a benefit for the Tsunami disaster and took place at the Art School. "We hired The Art School and booked Raising Kain, The Amphetameanies, Flying Matchstick Men, How to Swim, and The Commercials, with Eyes Wide Open and Funhouse DJs. We were only just old enough to be in the club at the time!" explains Natalie, who originally set up Blitzkreig with her friend Lucy Brown.

After further nights at the Art School and Oran Mor, Natalia started the club's residency in a new venue last year. "The Arches kindly took me in permanently, as an in-house club night. I re-launched there in March, and have been there every month since," she enthuses, "We're definitely developing a niche night, with fresh, edgy acts, and programming the night with a very creative head on." This is proven with some of the past booking choices: "We put on one of Data Panik's first gigs, put on 1990's first ever gig, and had Shit Disco in the middle of a bill just before they emerged."

Recent highlights have also included an appearance from Glasgow punk, indie pop anti-scenesters Dananananaykroyd on a night of delightful debauchery. "What's more surreal than hundreds of beautifully put together indie kids letting go and crowd-surfing?" Natalia sums up.

The night is as renowned for its visual approach as it is for the music, and has used work from Art School students and also the Dundee School of Art graduate Sinclair Neeson, who created the Screebson mask that is a fixture of the night and worn by most who enter the club. The pace shows no sign of letting up for Natalia either as the night presents Shit Disco's Glasgow tour date on March 30 as well as Modular Records CD launch party in the near future.

The night is a true challenger to the bigger, more established Arches nights and Natalia's hopes that they will maybe "create a breakthrough in visual clubbing at some point" seems to have the ring of a potential understatement - they might just have achieved it already.