ONWARD AND DOWNWARD WITH MINIMAL-TECHNO MASTER SILENT SERVANT
Techno music is easy to make, say the skeptics and rockists. Perhaps. But great techno is damn hard to create. You're dealing with the venerable 4/4 rhythm grid, the kicks and hi-hats, maybe an 808 and a 303, a few samples, and perhaps a synthesizer or two. The building blocks are pretty basic and the tonal palette fairly restricted. Plus, this shit's been going since the early stages of Reagan's first term. As someone who's been listening to techno from the beginning, I've noticed a handful of labels have arisen that guarantee the highest quality control. One such company is Sandwell District, which fostered some of the most brutally brilliant techno ever by Regis, Female, Function, and others from 2002 to 2011. One of its main US operatives was Silent Servant (LA producer Juan Mendez), a master of bullshit-free minimal techno with a rugged yet nuanced industrial edge. His 2012 album on Hospital Productions, Negative Fascination, continues Mendez's predilection for black-skied, scything techno, but it's not without a seductive undertow—even with titles like "Utopian Disaster (End)." This is going to be incredible. Kudos to High & Tight for the booking. With Josef Gaard and Tyler Morrison. Kremwerk, 9 pm–4 am, $10 adv, 21+.
SILENT SERVANT TO DJ A POST-PUNK/MINIMAL-SYNTH/INDUSTRIAL SET
Wait, you want more Silent Servant? Okay, you got it. KEXP DJ Sharlese—who runs the False Prophet night at Kremwerk—has convinced the great man to stay in town an extra day to do a DJ set focusing on '80s post-punk, industrial, coldwave, and minimal-synth music. Fans of these styles should cancel all other plans and plant themselves in front of Kremwerk's speakers for this. Opening for SS is Raica (Seattle producer/DJ Chloe Harris, who also co-runs Further Records), whose tenebrous, abstract electronic music etches distinctive patterns in your neurons. She's one of a kind. With Kate. Kremwerk, 8 pm, $7 adv, 21+.
RAISE YOUR PULSE RATE AND IQ WITH UK TECHNO SAVANT MAX COOPER
British producer/DJ Max Cooper is a Decibel Festival–approved favorite, and it's easy to hear why. His music raises your pulse rate and IQ with equal efficiency. Some may know Cooper for his remixes of tracks by Portishead, Ripperton, and Hot Chip, but his own IDM/techno productions demand your respect, too. He expertly balances delicate melodic beauty with scrupulous textural shading and subtly danceable beats, resulting in tracks that are both deceptively odd and smoothly functional. Cooper's new album, Human, is a lushly produced and intricately designed distillation of his skills. With Nordic Soul. Q Nightclub, 9 pm, $13 adv, 21+. 
