San Francisco’s Best Parties This Weekend
Cinco de Mayo comes once a year, but the return dates of the following artists are perhaps more mysterious than the reasons behind getting smashed for Cinco de Mayo. Anyhow, no one ever said you can’t have your tequila with techno.
Get spiced as you see fit. For complete weekend listings, visit SF Station’s Events Calendar.
http://youtu.be/5a2ji4Yvzt4
May 2: No Way Back w/ Timothy J. Fairplay, Scott Fraser at F8 | 1192 Folsom
It’s bound to get onomatopoeic when describing Timothy J. Fairplay. Goopy, chugging and grubby sounds ooze from this former indie guitar player, who ended up as Andrew Weatherall’s studio engineer. Together, alongside Scott Fraser (Fairplay’s Crimes of the Future label/party partner), the three share a London studio crammed with ancient bits of equipment†for their psych-based, electronic experiments. For his productions, Fairplay cites 80s Krautrock, the 70s, cosmic and Chicago house as influences. You can count on a collision of colored textures to squiggle around a 4/4 beat.
May 2: As You Like It presents Official Movement Pre-party w/ DVS1, John Osborn and Keith Kemp at Monarch
A second round of Detroit Movement pre-parties hits the city this weekend with techno purist, DVS1 (Devious One). First surfaced by Ben Klock in 2009, the Minneapolis-based producer is known for his stripped, muscular sound, meticulously sculpted for imprints such as Klockworks, Derrick May’s Transmat, Perc Trax and HUSH, an imprint exclusively for his releases. The last self-contained project illustrates DVS1’s commitment to honing down on a vision and voice, one that already spoke clearly through two decades of DJing prior to his Klock-commenced world touring. First and foremost, DVS1 is an assiduous DJ/promoter, and bolt in Minneapolis’ underground scene. His commitment to keeping that energy alive is unshaken to this day.
May 3: Pantha du Prince at Mezzanine
Spotify’s “Related Artists” for Pantha du Prince talks a big game: Four Tet, Moderat, Nicolas Jaar and Booka Shade. None sound the same. What groups them are their wild differences, both from each other and from the bulk of artistic voices out there. Pantha, a.k.a. Germany’s Hendrik Weber, conceptualizes on the precipice between critics and dancers, introversion and extroversion, assuaging all with misty currents built upon minimal tech’s propulsive pump. The marimba, xylophone and field recordings (e.g. Swiss church bells) make luminous imprints across his three electro-acoustic albums since 2007, though for this tour, Pantha introduces new material as Triad alongside a guitarist and drummer. If you’re drawn to clear nights in cold places, this one’s for you.
May 3: Surface Tension.003 w/ Perc & Shawn O’ Sullivan at Mercer
It’ll be no cookie-cuter, all carbolic techno from Perc at Surface Tension’s third installment. The London-based producer recently dropped his sophomore album, The Power & The Glory, via his own Perc Trax, an honestly uncomfortable gouge into ambient and aggressive territories. For some, it’s arresting; for others, it’s absurd, but Perc favors the noise that knocks stagnant generations into the past. Built upon a subversive, experimental outlook, his DJ set promises a relentless searing of industrial sounds that leave other parties to dwindle in apathy.
May 3: DJ Q Bert at F8 | 1192 Folsom
Though I don’t follow it, I’ve by chance stumbled into a few turntablist shows in my life—twice in other parts of the world, and once in San Francisco, with DJ Q Bert himself. His performance sutured the crowd to the stage. Afterwards, Q handed out fliers for a Kickstarter campaign to back his February 2014 album, Extraterrestria via Thud Rumble, which, I now learn, swiftly surpassed its $100,000 goal. It’s his first release in 16 years from the San Francisco native, who scratched, looped, and pitch-warped his way to three DMC World Championship titles. Turntablism is a bit of an esoteric art these days, though that doesn’t make it any less wild of a show.
