A post-holiday return to routine tomorrow night, as Slam’s monthly house and techno residency Return to Mono returns to the Sub Club. Their first guest of 2017 is the DJ and producer Ilario Alicante, who hails from the Italian city of Livorno and resides in Berlin, despite his sun-bleached, Costa Blanca-n surname.

With the veteran Glasgow duo away rocking the old Eastern Bloc (not a euphemism, you know: tomorrow sees them playing at Khidi Club in Tblisi, Georgia), Alicante has sole control of the venerable Jamaica Street club for the whole night. It’s an enviable scenario, and one that lesser DJs do not find themselves in. Alicante has the swagger and personality to pull it off, and he has put in the hard yards to get there.

He’s something of a house prodigy: he made his DJing debut at age 15, before becoming the youngest DJ to play at Germany’s infamously debauched Time Warp festival as a fresh-faced 18-year-old in 2008. Not long after, the legendary Sven Väth took the young Italian under his wing and made him a resident on his Cocoon label.

His 2016 banger Aggressive, which was released on Slam’s Soma Records, lives up to its name: it’s a brooding slice of heavyweight techno that builds into something of a monster. And just last month he dropped Virgo Storm: a hunky, muscular track that comes alongside some killer remixes. He comes across as a thinking man’s DJ in interviews, describing a typical Alicante set as “a subtle conversation about energy, happiness and sweating through techno music.” In that case, I look forward to hearing his point of view.

If tomorrow night’s gig doesn’t quench your thirst for Teutonic techno, there’s more where that came from at the Art School on Saturday. There, Berlin-based Mancunian Setaoc Mass makes his Scottish debut at the long-running night Animal Farm. “His releases push a galvanising brand of techno,” says his agency, “steeped in a sense of urgency: ever-propulsive with acute detailing and nods to a futuristic space-age,” while his “extended DJ sets pull from an expansive spectrum of material both new and old.” The young Englishman is a producer of real promise, making this one of the most exciting shows of the weekend.

• Return to Mono with Ilario Alicante, tomorrow, Sub Club, 11pm – 3am, £8/£10

• Animal Farm with Setaoc Mass, Saturday, The Art School, 11pm – 3am, £5

30 Years of Acid House

The first acid house record, Sleazy D’s “I’ve Lost Control,” exploded out of Chicago in 1986 and in an instant, everything changed. The phenomenon swept across Britain in the following months, transforming the fashion of its devotees, their social and cultural habits, and even the law.

“The acid house thing started in 1987, and it blew my mind and it continues to do so,” Noel Gallagher – as unlikely a raver as you’re likely to find – told Vice in 2015. Going by the sheer volume of nostalgia nights dedicated to the movement, he’s not alone in feeling that way. Hardly a week goes by without a neon-splattered throwback rave taking over at least one of the city’s clubs – but despite their ubiquity, they remain effortlessly easy for the acts tasked with DJing them, explains Hacienda resident Dave Haslam.

“When you DJ you’re mostly faced with a crowd waiting to be entertained, and it’s your challenge to whip them up into a frenzy,” he said in 2014, “but that early acid house era was different. You were faced with 2,000 baying people on the verge of such euphoria their heads were almost exploding. You almost felt like you had to hold them back a bit, like trying to guide wild horses.” Unleash your animalistic side and get your filly this beloved genre at this latest celebration of its pleasures, which features Let’s Go Back residents Bosco, Rob Mason and Vasmant spinning the best tunes ever to have been spawned by a Roland TB-303.

• 30 Years of Acid House, Saturday, La Cheetah, 11pm – 3am, £7

We Should Hang Out More in Africa

One of the highlights of last January’s clubbing calendar was We Should Hang out More in Africa: a one-off night which saw Optimo’s JD Twitch pumping out obscure African disco in La Cheetah’s sweatbox basement. All you socially-conscious Afrophiles are in for a treat, because Saturday night sees the night return, with all proceeds once again going to Emferd Morogoro, a charity that helps Tanzanians with disabilities. Support comes from Shahaa Tops and Peter Panther, who’ll be laying the groundwork before the Optimo man slays with a few hours of African disco bangers. Turn up, dance wildly, and give generously.

• We Should Hang Out More in Africa II, Saturday, The Berkeley Suite, 11pm – 3am, £8