by RAF KATIGBAK

The must-see events this week are of course at the MUTEK festival, but tonight, why not crash a couple of birthday parties as two of the cities most talented jocks celebrate another year of dropping wax? At Stereobar, Montreal electro-tech soldier and resident guy smiley DJ Philgood is blowing out 30 candles on his cake, while over at Parking (downstairs), Christian Pronovost, Pat Boogie and Rob Brown give DR Love and Phil Larochelle the birthday bumps with some jacking Chicago beats, funk, soul and swinging garage. If you've never seen DJs get crunked, it's pretty messy.

Over at the Casa del Popolo tonight, Mile-End party-crashers 1-Speed Bike host another evening of extreme sounds with special guests Roughriders vs. Roughriders, Bottleskup Flenkenkenmike and several other guests whose names are so poo-poo potty-mouthed, I blush just reading them. Needless to say, this will be one helluva ride, so buckle up.

The IDJ Soundsystem (Nitrous, Galaksy, Axionfigga et al.) will be boomin' back atcha' tonight over at Saphir as they join residents Corey K and Pat Davis for some serious D&B break-ology. If on the off chance you're left jonesing for more beats, Corey K and Soundshaper will fix you up with another installment of Shake & Break at O Patro Vys on Saturday. That's drum & bass and breaks on four turntables people, so don't sleep! Five dollars gets you in (absinthe not included).

If you're mobile and ready to rock it all-night rave-party style this Saturday, there are a couple of spots just outside of Montreal you might want to hit. Over in Sorel, the cleverly named Sorave production crew is hosting Tropical Wind with DJs Uppercut, O'Brien, Wizz and Kris. Check www.sorave.com for more info. Over in Trois-Rivières, the First Dream party hosts house and trance DJs Mad, Zed Aksis, Dominic B and a slew of others. Call 819-386-3417 for deets.

In after-hours news, it looks like Circus will now be opened three days a week as they launch a Thursday-night weekly with Frank Famery this week. Also, after years of healthy competition, it looks like 514 Productions (formerly of Sona) and Aria Nightclub have decided to put their perfectly coiffed heads together for the upcoming Cream 2004 party. Considering the promo power of these two afterhour giants, that can mean only one thing, this year is gonna be HUGE! Everyone's a winner. This Friday, DJ Magda will be at Circus, DJ Heather will be at Stereo and, on Saturday, circuit party staple Peter Rauhoffer hits Stereo.

Finally, more heads need to be recognized on the Tuesday choose-day tip: for the height of IDM mixology, you can't do better than Plateau Flexout, the longest running experimental gig in town. Also, DJ Adam Rockit's Garage Sale Tuesdays at Blue Dog have been repping the U.K. garage scene in a big way. And yet another new Tuesday night weekly debuts - it's called Candy, an "artsytrash night" at Parking featuring B-movies and something scary called "porno clowns."

Also, something strange is going on at Korova Bar on Wednesday nights. Juan the DJ of Rock 'n' Roll and DJ Johnson have been reporting everything from all-night jungle rave blast parties to hip hop line-dancing knife fights to random outbursts of celebrity mudwrestling. Hmmm, mental note: must check this out…

Kick 'em in the gift basket… Diskoakimbo@sympatico.ca

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