A new hope

Tonight, Thursday, Oct. 22, enjoy an evening with Thunderheist’s Grahmzilla spinning records at Saphir, along with resident Mary Hell. On Friday at Foufounes Électriques, you can catch kitschy, catchy, one-time Kitsuné-comp-featured Londoners We Have Band, who convincingly update classic post-punk nightclub nihilism and mesh in a touch of its new-ish nephew, namely the chaotic digital eclecticism of mid-decade dance-rock.

Also Friday, Frigid launches his new CD, Remix Sessions, at his new weekly, which happens at what used to be Gymnase, and has now apparently been renovated to achieve more of a danceclub vibe, while the name’s been abbreviated to Gym. This is actually quite an interesting point, in that Gymnase always struck me as a tragic venue. It opened to much excitement and potential, lots of local promoters were looking at doing things there, it looked like the interior of the Death Star, it’s right smack-dab in the middle of the Plateau, perfect for luring anglos into a more mixed environment than mid-Main, and it had two distinct floors, one better for bands and one more lounge-y and clubby. But then that fire frigged everything up, and all the events and business migrated to the then-new, now-defunct, and in my opinion far lamer, uglier and sonically crappier Coda. A rebranding effort certainly won’t bring the jubilant optimism of a couple summers ago back to the dance music scene, but here’s hoping they can eke out a new niche. And for all you club promoters starved for mid-sized venues, maybe you should come out on Friday and see if it’s any good.

Moving along, Saturday night, new school French aggro electro kid Danger hits Belmont, while stylish British synth-pop act

La Roux returns that same night, at Studio JPR (sold out). And finally, Albertan vocoding dance-punk crew Shout Out Out Out Out hits Il Motore, also Saturday.

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