by RAF KATIGBAK

It's no surprise that the U.K.'s Dave Tipper has been called the "Global Nomad of Breakbeat." After shows on both North American coasts (and everywhere in between), Eastern and Western Europe, and with upcoming bookings all over Asia and Australia, tonight, Thursday, Oct. 14, Tipper will find himself at Blizzarts Broken weekly. With breakbeats funkier than three-week-old travel socks, turntable skills more wicked than the customs officer who confiscated your toenail clipper and basslines heavier than two suitcases full of contraband, Tipper will no doubt rock Montreal the same way he's done Budapest, Tasmania, Santa Cruz, Bellingen and Birmingham. Eight dollars cover.

Also tonight, U.K. label Knowledge & Wisdom UK will be representing at the Kops Crew's latest shindig (5390 St-Laurent) as ragga MCs Million Dan and Demolition Man will be toasting over some original junglist anthems. Also on hand will be Kops residents Maysr and Saigon. While $10 will definitely get you in, their rumoured offer of complimentary chicken wings and cigarettes is still unconfirmed.

Friday night, make sure you make the trek to Le Local (7154 St-Urbain) for the CD launch of Lesbians On Ecstasy's new self-titled album. If y'all haven't seen these gals in action yet, then make sure you peep their live show. It's all about high-octane dance music that's actually got a message, if your ass can stop shaking long enough for a listen. Fruity Frankie (aka DJ Lynne T) will provide the hyperactive front on the mic, as Bernie Bankrupt rules the laptop and Ensonique keyboard, Véronique Mystique and Jackie the Jackhammer bring the rhythmic drive as live bass and electronic/acoustic beats respectively. The lezzies on x launch will also feature openers Toronto's Kids On TV and DJs Slutsky and Hamburger Helper.

This Saturday Moondata Productions will be hosting another LABProjects (Live Ambience & Beats) event at O Patro Vys. This time the live jam will include members of The Unicorns, Torngat, Pharmakon, Kincardine, Moondata and IKS. Expect the same wild musical movements that move from abstract to accessible and from groovy to granulated.

In an event his unofficial Web site declares as the most talked about tour in Canada since the Monkees or Petula Clark, "America's Funnyman" Neil Hamburger brings his painfully awkward brand of humour to the Casa del Popolo. "Don't worry if your sides split from laughing," reads the site, "they have free medical care up there and they can fix you up the best way. Also the pain pills they make up there are cheap and good and addictive!!!"

Finally, in Canadian electronic music news, Toronto producer Dan Snaith, aka Manitoba (he of the wonderful 2003 Up in Flames album), is now changing his moniker to Caribou after getting his ass sued by punk pioneers the Dictators' frontman Handsome Dick Manitoba. The lawsuit came as an utter surprise to many, considering Handsome Dick never released any albums under the name Manitoba or even Handsome Dick Manitoba. In a press release, Snaith, who's currently working on a new album tentatively titled The Milk Of Human Kindness, was quoted as saying, "I'm of the opinion that every second I spend talking about this Dick guy is a waste of my time."

Handsome Dick eh? Well… he's half right. Diskoakimbo@sympatico.ca

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