Beats Per Week

Portland's Best Dance Music Options, 5/8-14

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The Bubblin' Four Year Anniversary is Friday at Holocene.

In this column, WW music calendar editor and contributing writer Mitch Lillie helps the discerning club-goer put together their weekly calendar by compiling Portland's best dance-music options for the next seven days. Turn up, tune in, drop the bass.

Normally book readings just aren’t quite turnt up enough for Beats Per Week, but for an analysis of one of the best electronic albums of the ‘90s—and possibly the best ever—I’ll make an exception. On Thursday, Mark Weidenbaum is reading selections from his analysis of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II at Powell’s on Hawthorne. (7:30 pm, free, all ages)

This month, Flight visits Berlin for a night of all things techno. On Thursday at the Rose, special guests Sci Fi Sol and Ginkgo will emulate one of legendary club Berghain’s more soulful nights as they imbue their techno with light and even a little funk. (9 pm, $5, 21+)

I’ll have a hard time enjoying progressive house until I own a cliffside mansion in Tenerife accessible only by yellow helicopter. If that time comes before Friday, I’ll definitely head to the Roseland to catch Tritonal and Paris Blohm, part of the new wave of big-room hosue producers. (8 pm, $30 advance, 18+)

For four years, Bubblin’ has been bringing the hottest acts to Portland, irrespective of genre or fame. On Friday they celebrate their anniversary at Holocene with a lineup of artists who could each headline their own night. Filling in for the dearly departed DJ Rashad are fellow Teklife members DJ Spinn and Taso, footwork masters in their own right. Club music—be it Baltimore, Jersey or Philly—owes its existence to Baltimore’s DJ Technics, who has been remixing radio jams into shuffling, twerk-ready bangers for two decades. Bass, grime and club duo Nguzunguzu were an early supporter of Bubblin’, and they support again for the anniversary; Avalon Emerson brings some techno with tribal flair from the warehomes of San Francisco. Oh right, and Ben Tactic and Lincolnup—Bubblin’s steadfast helmsmen—will spin, too. This ain't your parents' anniversary. (9 pm, $10 before 10 pm, $15 after, 21+)

Moombahton is a genre of music created by sprinkling the heads of strike anywhere matches across the dance floor. Take one part house music, one part reggaeton and two parts tequila-based napalm. Shake and spread the mixture across the floor, and click your heels. LA’s 2Deep have been vamping on that recipe for a couple years, sometimes sprinkling a little trap on top. Watch the cooking show live on Saturday at Holocene’s Verified. (9 pm, free before 10 pm with RSVP, $7 after, 21+)

Uniting Souls are a big reason why Seattle’s electronically relevant in this millenia. Since 2000, the label and party has been filling dancefloors with soulful house. Sean Swanky, celebrating the release of Every Time I See Your Face, and Ramiro take the 5 South on Saturday to class up the Rose. (9 pm, $5, 21+)

On Saturday at the Knock Back, Pipedream and DJ Koolaid spin a wide swath of sound, from hip-hop to futuristic bass. (9 pm, free, 21+)

See You Next Tuesday hosts Kid Logic on Tuesday at the Analog. Respect to the Portland producer for exploring jungle, footwork and dubstep styles, genres that have more in common than their monotheistic champions are normally willing to admit. (9 pm, free, 21+)

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