Club Previews

Bonobo

Simon Green, the English musician better known as Bonobo, has enjoyed a slow-burning career. He makes lush, introspective electronica: the kind that helps people sink into the couch at 5am at a house party, and gives you shivers when you listen to it on big headphones. His music went largely unnoticed for a decade and a half, then he found himself selling out London’s enormous Alexandra Palace after the success of his 2013 album The North Borders. It was a transition Green was not quite ready for: “this is nuts,” he told the crowd that night.

His recent work as Bonobo can make big rooms vibe out, but with 15 years of DJing behind him, Green can make small rooms dance, too. When he’s not seducing theatres and aircraft hangers with his alluring ambient beats, he gets back to his roots – ditching the band, picking up his record crate, and getting face-to-face with his fans. “DJing is kind of my default really, it’s where I come from,” he told Earmilk last year. “To me, DJing is where I’m most comfortable.”

Don’t go expecting to hear The North Borders played in its entirety, though. “You can’t DJ those tunes; they’re not dance floor tunes. It’s the other half of my discography that I can DJ.

“On previous occasions, I’ve been playing 120 bpm, four-to-the-floor house music and the room will be great - everyone is vibing out. But there will be this one kid in the front row who is looking all disappointed and he’ll shout: ‘Play Black Sands, play super-mellow tunes you made 15 years ago!’ I’ll just think: you’ve never been to a nightclub before, have you? Do you know what would happen if I played that? The party would be over.” Don’t be that guy: prepare for house, straight-up techno, and some old-school Bonobo to keep things interesting.

iAM’s Beta supports Bonobo in the TV Studio, while in the Warehouse the Berlin-based techno and house artist George Fitzgerald plays a three-hour set with Sub Rosa residents Spittal and Nowicki on warm-up duties.

• Bonobo (DJ set), Saturday, SWG3, 9pm – 2am, £20

Andy Hart

It’s hard to think of a time when the scorching, barren continent of Australia was a more fertile ground for great music. The days of Jet, Wolfmother and Savage Garden are long gone. In their place, bands like Tame Impala, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Courtney Barnett are putting out incredible garage and psychedelic rock, and Melbourne is establishing itself as one of the southern hemisphere’s dance music capitals. One of its most famous sons is Andy Hart. Hart made the move to Berlin a year and a half ago, but he hasn’t lost the deep, groovy house sound that characterises much of the music that comes from his home town. His sets span smooth soul and, sparkling disco and classic house – ideal fare for a loose Thursday night in the Subbie.

• Andy Hart, tonight, Sub Club, 11pm – 3am, £8

Kode9

Edinburgh crew Electrikal Sound System head west for their second Glasgow party on Saturday and it is an absolute beezer. They have the Glaswegian-born, London-based DJ Kode9 headlining, with support coming from London grime prodigy Novelist.

Kode9 is the alias of Steve Goodman, the dubstep artist and founder of record label Hyperdub, which can boast the likes of Burial, Flying Lotus and DJ Rashad among its roster. His sets bring together beats from disparate genres, but expect to hear some dubstep, some hip-hop, some garage, some R&B, and bass. Lots of bass.

• Kode9, Saturday, The Art School, 11pm – 3am, £12

Shackleton

Amassed by the shipping magnate Sir William Burrell, The Burrell Collection contains over 8000 objects ranging from priceless Islamic art to work by painters like Auguste Rodin. The spotlight-shy local producer The Burrell Connection hasn’t quite garnered the same cultural status as his more illustrious namesake, but if he keeps making gritty, acid-influenced techno tunes like Poolside and Articulate, who knows where he could end up? Support comes from Sub Rosa’s resident strobe addict Oscar, who’s playing his first club set in a while. A night of top local talent at a knockdown price.

• The Burrell Connection, tonight, La Cheetah, 11pm – 3am, £3/£5

Night Moves

17/03/16

The Flying Duck

The only way to express how excited I am for the next couple of weekends at the Flying Duck is by combining two dull clichés into one enormous super-cliché. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night begins with the eternal quote “If music be the food of love, play on” - we all know that. And we all know that variety is the spice of life. Which must mean that this “cheeky wee bar and club” is the city’s foremost destination for an aromatic, mouth-watering array of the spiciest love-fuelling small plates imaginable. Confused? Me too, but let’s roll with it.

Tomorrow night, for example, the club hosts “Give Trance a Chance.” It’s the eleventh outing of Nitric, a night that celebrates acid techno, jungle and gabber, and the Ayrshire duo Chigs and Techip are playing a live analogue set. “Judgement is fascism. Open your mind,” the literature reads, as if trance were a burning political issue. I like it when people are passionate about things, don’t you?

Then on Saturday, Gimme Shelter rocks up, DJs Holly Calder and Craig Reece carrying stacks of garage, psych and freakbeat 45s, and the whole vibe shifts completely. They play the best in old school and present-day rock and roll, and I can’t remember hearing a bad song at any of their nights. They’re outstanding. In a week, the new night Pangaeic Pulsations spins world music including Afrobeat, Cumbia, Bollywood disco and south-east Asian psych rock, which should be no less than interesting. And the night after, Fans Only is a dance party dedicated to the sounds of Glaswegian indie rockers Belle and Sebastian – with all proceeds going to Sarcoma UK. Twee and genteel? I wouldn’t bet on it.

So, there’s your next two weekends mapped out: four intriguing nights, a mouthwatering buffet of music, and it’s all in one venue. They'll have to drag me out.