WEDNESDAY 3/18
CHICAGO TECHNO/HOUSE MASTER LESTER FITZPATRICK KICK-STARTS NEW RELEASE WEEKLY
Seattle techno producer/DJ/Urban Kickz Recording boss Roman Zawodny is starting a new weekly event at the Belltown club Corbu Lounge (formerly See Sound Lounge) called Release, and the schedule looks promising so far. Christening this underground-dance night is Chicago DJ/producer Lester Fitzpatrick, who's excelled in the house and techno spheres for a quarter century. Sampling a few of his mixes on Soundcloud, you'll hear some very soulful house that seemingly banishes all your worries in voluptuous 4/4 time as well as some pressurized, menacing techno that will restore said worries... in punishing 4/4 time. A favorite of techno/house legends like Green Velvet, Dave Clarke, and Carl Cox, Fitzpatrick is a technically precise DJ with superb track selection. It's as simple and essential as that. With Xan Lucero and Cntrl_Alt_Dlt. Corbu Lounge, 10 pm, free till 11 pm/$5 11 pm–midnight/$10 after, 21+.
THURSDAY 3/19
CAN FELIX DA HOUSECAT STILL GET YOU OUT OF YOUR HEAD?
It may be a character flaw on my part, but I haven't paid attention to Chicago house-music outlier Felix da Housecat in about a decade. In 2004, when I previewed his Chop Suey show in Data Breaker, Felix was producing a P. Diddy album and remixing early-'00s tabloid staples like Madonna, Britney Spears, and Kelly Osbourne. His club hit with Miss Kitten (remember her?), "Silver Screen Shower Scene," made him an electroclash star. Such was Felix's clout, LCD Soundsystem main man James Murphy guested on his Devin Dazzle & the Neon Fever LP. After overindulging in mezcal and other substances, Felix took a four-year sabbatical, but he's returned clean and sober and is making slightly skewed dance music again. He has just enough weirdness and wayward talent to keep you interested in his next move. With Nark, Jame$ Ervin, and Tyler Brown. Q Nightclub, 9 pm, $12, 21+.
SATURDAY 3/21
HALO TAKES YOU TO HOUSE-MUSIC HEAVEN
You can go months without catching a Chicago house/techno DJ/producer, and then three will visit you within a week. Halo (aka Brian Varga) came up through the Windy City's scene (according to his Discogs bio, he got his first job at age 9 with Hip House Records, which is nuts, if true), and then eventually moved to San Diego. Still, Chicago shaped his sensibilities, which is an advantage for a house artist, and Halo has assimilated that Midwestern city's lessons of vocal soulfulness and rhythmic hypnotism. If you want to get the gist of Halo's aesthetics, search for "Hear Dis Sound," his 1999 collab with Hipp-e as H Foundation. It's a psychedelic, conga-driven burner, and its delayed-to-infinity vocal samples help to make it a left-field-house classic. Halo's the guy you want on the decks during those hazy, crazy 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. moments. With Nikolay Cloud and Justin Collins. Monkey Loft, 10 pm–4 am, $15, 21+. 
