NIKOLA BAYTALA'S SAN FRANCISCO BEATS
San Francisco DJ Nikola Baytala's been spinning unconventionally wicked techno/house records since Bill Clinton was just getting settled in the White House. These days, Baytala's known as a key member of the minimal-techno badasses of Kontrol. Guided by exceptional, diverse musical taste, Baytala zeroes in on techno's most innovative practitioners—e.g., Jeff Mills, Gas, Monolake, Robert Hood, Theo Parrish—in his sets while still keeping the floor pumping. His infectious, energetic demeanor behind the decks matches the music pouring out of the speakers. Praise be the Strobe conglomerate (the Innerflight, Sweatbox, and Uniting Souls crews) for this excellent booking. With Jeromy Nail, Manos, and Rhines. Re-bar, 10 pm, $10, 21+.
CEDAA GOES BASS TO THE FUTURE
I tried and failed to find music by Kingdom online, so let this be a warning to musicians: Name your project something damn near impossible to google and you could lose coverage (horrible!). Bellingham's Cedaa had the brains to call himself something unique—and, bonus, he's a talented producer. He works in the nebulous realm of bass music, fashioning rich, moving melodies over cleverly arrayed, splenetic beats. With Massacooramaan and Total Freedom. Chop Suey, 9 pm, $7, 21+.
MIKEQ IS BACK IN VOGUE
New Jersey's MikeQ is reputed to be one of the foremost DJs of ballroom, an extroverted, high-energy breed of dance music with roots in NYC's vogueing scene. This music has tons of buoyancy and flamboyancy, as you can imagine, and loads of junk in its trunk. Some of the region's cutting-edgiest producer/DJs—214, DJAO, Ill Cosby, qp, Kid Smpl, Cedaa, and flarelight (Splatinum's Adam Houghton)—support. Lo-Fi Performance Gallery, 9 pm, $8, 21+.
WD4D & SUTTIKEEREE
Seattle hiphop mainstays WD4D & Suttikeeree drop the After School EP 2 (on Fourthcity) tonight at weekly b-boy summit meeting Stop Biting. Available on CD and as a download, the five-track After School displays the duo's acute facility with unconventional boom-bap dynamics. They keep things ebullient, but with slightly menacing undertones. The fat-bottomed funk is deep, with the highlight coming on "Satisfaction" (featuring Introcut), a robust, DâM-FunK-like space-boogie jam. The good news continues on March 7, as these guys, along with AbsoluteMadman, head to LA for a gig at the legendary Low End Theory. Lo-Fi Performance Gallery, 9:30 pm, $5, 21+.
