by RAF KATIGBAK

One night, two words: pure magic. The Kompakt crew lived up to the hype as the SAT went absolutely ape-shit over Michael Mayer and Reinhard Voigt Friday night. "It started off a little slow," said Voigt after his sweat-drenched set, "but Michael dropped a hard track and the crowd responded so well, I told him, ‘Listen to the crowd!' After that it was fantastic." Indeed Montreal hasn't whooped and hollered so much over a tag team since the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (pre-Mounties era, of course). Voigt took this as his cue to ham it up on stage, calling out to the crowd for more noise and literally kowtowing to the speaker at every opportunity. This whipped the crowd into a frenzy and in a fit of techno lust, one superfan almost managed to pull his pants off on stage. Mayer also gave a show of his own, starting off with some classic, squelchy, old-school acid and matching Voigt's live hard minimal insanity by dropping some sick, unexpectedly non-minimal tracks including some Depeche Mode, Outkast, a killer digitally distorted remix of the White Stripes, a T-Rex remix and an extended mix of the Rolling Stones' "Miss You" to finish off. They came, they saw, they rocked our asses till 3:30 a.m.

Tonight, Thursday, Oct. 2, is the official launch of DJ Frigid's Kink! night at Unity II, where special guest will be Mira Aroyo from Ladytron dropping some "erotic-electro-rock". Cover is cheap at six bucks with $3 drinks, so no sleeping!

Friday, Oct. 3, Casa del Popolo will be torn a new one by Moooooonooooooculture, Cerkute, Bottleskup Flenkenkenmike, 1-Speed Bike and DJ Anal Bunny Rabbit Banker as they weave some seriously strange techno magic. Expect electronic sounds from every angle and a dancefloor that shouldn't quit.

Saturday's crazy, so buckle up. Just in time to warm up these colder evenings, Oct. 4 marks the return of the Blend as the Kracked Knuckles crew team up with the Cinta Connection to provide a two-pronged attack of delicious beat-trickery. DJs on hand include the Nitrous, Totem, Curtis Star and Mad K. Dial 882-2635 for details. Drum & bass heads should also check out the Contagious party with Fictional & Stalker, Mutante, Sase One and a slew of other DJs. The cover is a tenner, call 897-0327. Or drop by O Patro Vys for Take a Break, an eclectic mix of organic breaks and drum & bass with Corey K and Soundshaper.

Tuesday nights at Laika have a new sound as DJ Frivolous and his Nordic Nomaders inject some live instrumentation and a little light-hearted comedy into the self-serious world of "glitch techno academia." As always it's free, so check it!

Bad news and good news for deep house heads. Bad news is, Christian Pronovost has ended his regular Saturday gig at Exit. Good news is he's started a fresh new night called Freestyle! over at Magnolia every Wednesday. Just as the name suggests, expect a wide variety of deep music from old warehouse classics to '80s dancefloor gems to deep house, soulful disco, hip hop and more from DJs Chris P, LazyBoy and Dominic & Mike. Six dollars gets you in with a free drink.

Da-na na na-na-na-na-na… hey! Diskoakimbo@sympatico.ca

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