San Francisco’s Best Parties This Weekend
The final weekend of May means a broad range of techno, house, electronica, and, of course, a whole new month of summer parties to look forward to.
For a full list of events visit SF Station’s Events Calendar.
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Thursday, May 29: Blasthaus presents: UNTOLD (Live) at Mercer
UK producer Untold (a.k.a. Jack Dunning) has left a traceable, albeit traversing, scorch down the path of what’s come to be known today as bass music. First, there’s the sounds he’s helped spawn as Hemlock’s label boss—breaking Pangaea, Cosmin TRG and James Blake to name a few—but there’s also the sounds he’s hammered and carved himself throughout an exceptionally amorphous production career. Since Dunning’s 2008 debut, he’s been a successful explorer of caverns of the dark, resurfacing time and again with jagged, unclassified chaos for imprints along the lines of Hessle, Hotflush and R&S. Mostly, these involve hard bass, continuously reframed through new discoveries of scrawled texture and tempo. Read an interview with Untold.
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Friday, May 30: Direct to Earth w/ Mike Dehnert at 1192 Folsom
Mike Dehnert is a man of Berlin. He grew up there, uses it as a base for his Fachwerk imprint (alongside childhood friends, Roman Lindau and Sascha Rydell), and spent his formative years as a resident for none other than Tresor. On paper, the man exudes techno, though he is by no means a purist. As a producer and DJ, Dehnert designs enflamed, no-nonsense dance floor material that wields the vigor of both house and techno. Take one album, 2011’s Framework; it runs the spectrum from the sable-swinging groove of “Beatmatching” to the eleven minute, molar-clenching build on “Palindrome.” Dehnert’s groovy though intense, clean yet airy, range ripples throughout ten full-length releases in seven years, plus a slue of heavily charted singles and EPs. Perhaps it’s a bit unexpected then that his recent album, Lichtbedingt via Delsin, goes as far as beatless territory, though fitting for an artist who has always explored the subtle forms of techno.
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Friday, May 30: DJ Dials, 1015 & Fools In The Night present: Animal Collective (DJ Set), Slow Magic (Live), Sophie at 1015 Folsom
Amidst the regular 4/4 knock this week, Animal Collective’s DJ set should provide an alternative spontaneity on the dance floor. The NYC based experimental psychedelia band has always been a prize for the critics and the crowd for their untethered electro-acoustic tessellations. At least in this writer’s experience, those who push the boundaries of non-club focused electronic music, like Bonobo, James Blake, and Nico Jaar, put together cross-genre DJ sets that give light to their array of influences, and singular vision of sound as a whole.
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Friday, May 30: On & On + Base present: Hot Since 82 at Public Works
He’s on the bill for Ibiza’s summer season, a Pete Tong pick, and Mixmag’s dapper cover boy – it’s safe to say that in the last year, Hot Since 82 (a.k.a. Daley Padley) has earned his global status as a “star.” The title makes sense too, since the UK tech house producer has a handle on rather catchy, or even sexy, club tracks (e.g. his remix of Green Velvet’s “Bigger Than Prince”) that seem to crowd please and bring the heat with tense, bass throbbing bangers.
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Saturday, May 31: Lights Down Low SF w/ Maxxi Soundsystem at Monarch
Pretty, pearly, and party are three things that come to mind when dealing with Brighton based Maxxi Soundsystem (a.k.a. Sam Watts). His fly-high house music makes the best of big vocals and bulging basslines, most notably on his 2010 breakout track, “Criticize.” Since then, Watts’ has enjoyed remixes from throwback boogie artists, PBR Streetgang and Hercules & Love Affair, as well as bass bursting, disco-leaning releases for the likes of Needwant, Wolf Music, and Hypercolour.
