San Francisco’s Best Parties This Weekend

The arrives with an especially wide range of disco, drum & bass and dancing outdoors. Do yourself a favor and get some sun and synth lines.

For a full listing of events, visit SF Station’s Events Calendar.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD3Quu56tj8&w=660&h=90]

Friday, June 13: ADULT. w/ Pictureplane at Mezzanine
ADULT. are electro punk pioneers, multi-disciplinary artists, and married, for 14 years and five albums. The latest of such, Tonight, We Fall via Ghostly this year, kicks up more stylish synth anxiety from Detroit’s Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller for the first time since 2007. Though they’ve made their mark in film, photography and painting in this lifetime, as well, ADULT. as a sound experiment has been in the works since the late 90s. An angst-seeping and aggressive series of clatters, pitches, drum machines, and Kuperus’ nervy, poetic vocals should make for an edgy, though supremely danceable show.

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyYwDKMFVzI&w=660&h=90]

Saturday, June 14: Sunset Island: An Electronic Music Picnic at Treasure Island
It might be bold to say, but signs are pointing to “Yes” for this to be one of the best parties of the year. Specifically, those signs are as follows: Phuture, Kyle Hall, Beautiful Swimmers, Awesome Tapes From Africa, and, last but not least, outdoor sunshine. I’ll summarize: Phuture’s the music history; a Chicago trio formed in the 80s, loosely credited as the originators of acid house, a wild pitching and squelching style created by the 303 that still wires sound today. Kyle Hall, loosely crowned as Detroit’s future, is a remarkable 20-something producer, DJ and label head (Wild Oats), who takes the likes of Huckaby and Omar S, and twists them into slightly askew, innovative funk that’s both lo-fi and crunchy to bright and warmly soulful. He’s one to catch. DJing gets rarefied with D.C. duo, Beautiful Swimmers, whose levitating, eclectic collection encompasses tribal disco flutes to Delroy Edwards, but perhaps is still not as “dug up” as Awesome Tapes From Africa. His all-tape DJ set uses original cassettes from local African music economies. Enough words spilled here; go listen.

 

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Saturday, June 14: Jacques Renault & Conor in the Loft at Public Works
For something thick and flashy, hip-swivel no further than Jacques Renault. Co-heading NYC based party/label, Let’s Play House alongside Nik Mercer, the collective has contributed rather juicy gems for the night—HNNY and Waze & Odyssey releases for the label, disco burning acts such as Horse Meat Disco, Rub N’ Tug and Tiger & Woods for the parties. Take it as a sampler of Renault’s taste. Flared up in full force on tracks like his Midnight Magic remix for “Beam Me Up,” his fervent, vocal flourishing disco-house style earned its way to a Smart Bar Chicago residency and releases on DFA to Rekids. Though we may not be in NYC circa 1972, the Loft at Public Works will certainly do tonight.

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIGaP_zgiLs&w=660&h=90]

Sunday, June 15: Stamina Sundays w/ Seba & Machete at 1192 Folsom
To come clean, I claim little exposure to drum & bass; in fact, I only learned about this party from a stranger I met on BART, did some listening, and decided I’d like to check it out. That’s how new doors are opened though, and I can only hope that columns like this are viewed with a similar sentiment. So onto Seba… The production alias of Sweden’s Sebastian Ahrenberg, Seba’s been in the drum & bass realm since the 90s. From his first release on LTJ Bukem’s Good Looking Records, through this year’s Mesmerism via his own Secret Operations imprint, Seba’s managed to paint a distinctly mellow sound that patters and flows like liquid mercury. Atmospheric and ethereal, my attraction to it has less to do with history than the glassy balance between rhythmic intensity and glowing transience I hadn’t quite discovered before.