by RAF KATIGBAK

Once again, our fair city has given August the boot in style, with more than a few parties going off gangbusters, sending throngs of locals home with a song in their hearts and dangerous amounts of alcohol in their bloodstreams.

I, for one, lost my shit at the Safety Scissors live set/DJ set at Salon Daomé's crazy-packed Dizzy Tuesday two weeks ago, when my man dropped a sick live set (heads were not admittedly ready) - complete with a belligerently messed-up female audience member who kept grabbing the mic and screaming - and later laid some serious Chicago booty, Detroit bounce, Baltimore breaks and Italo disco on the unsuspecting masses. People who stayed to the end were treated to a weird, early electronic version of a calypso song that brought the house down. Riot!

Now, as Montreal nurses its collective hangover and braces itself for the oncoming sweater season, it's time to shake off the drunken cobwebs of dancefloors past and dive headlong into the future of music, or at least, a small Japanese man's idea of future music. I'm talking of course about Merzbow, who's slated to play at la Sala Rossa tonight, Sept. 8. For the last 10 years, Masami "Merzbow" Akita has been dropping some of the most insane noise you've never heard. I'm not talking "make some noise" DJ shout-out bullshit, but literally gut-wrenching, ear-splitting, bone-crushing distortion, screeches, howls and screams. Certainly one of the most prolific experimental artists of all time, with releases on labels like Warp, Mego and Tzadik (peep Merzbox, his 50-plus CD box set of unreleased stuff), his material has also been covered by artists as diverse as Sonic Youth, Autechre, Alec Empire, Boredoms and DJ Spooky. So whether you feel that your ears need a good rinse-out or you're just curious what the sound of evil is like, drop by tonight.

Okay, so maybe being sonically sodomized by a small Japanese man isn't your idea of summer fun. Maybe you just want to hang out with your friends, strap on a good buzz and dance your asses off. Luckily, DJ Philgood's got your back. Every Thursday, Philgood's been holding it down at Mont-Royal's Nuevo bar with a blend of disco, funk and eclectic electronic music. If 3 a.m. rolls around and you still can't get enough of his sounds, don't be afraid to pick up his new promo mix.

For those who slept on the Certified Bananas gig a couple of weeks ago up at Zoobizarre, make sure you come out to the second installment of Ghislain Poirier's Bounce le Gros night. This time, Gizzy-P (as I like to call him) will be manning the decks all night long with his fierce blend of hip hop, dancehall, grime, favela funk and exclusive test tracks. Internet music nerds and blogheads are quickly catching on to this local producer, so come and see what the fuss is all about.

NO MORE YAKITORI! Diskoakimbo@sympatico.ca

>> Music Listings