Friday 1/14

TECH YES! ON THE SWEDISH MINIMAL TIP

Swedish-born L.A.-based producer Mikael Stavöstrand headlines the debut of new monthly Tech Yes! (happening every second Friday at Re-bar). Stavöstrand is an alumnus of Mille Plateaux's brainy, experimental Clicks & Cuts compilations, and his productions tend toward the glitchy and minimal strain of techno. In 2001, he released Reduce, a severe collection of dub-inflected minimal techno. Geared more for headphones than hedonism on dance floors, Reduce nonetheless displays Stavöstrand's keen ear for scientifically rigorous, ear-tickling textures and sweetly subliminal grooves that one can imagine making single-cell organisms dance like mad. Since that early phase, Stavöstrand has moved to Los Angeles and leaned toward more extroverted, club-oriented track-making. His productions are now more about making humans sweat than causing insect mandibles to twitch. Re-bar, 10 pm, $10 before midnight/$15 after, 21+.

SATURDAY 1/15

DETROIT TECHNO LEGEND IN THE HOUSE

Detroit techno pioneer Kevin Saunder- son is dropping into town for a two-and-a-half-hour DJ set. Of Detroit's famous original techno triumvirate, Saunderson has been the most commercially oriented producer/DJ—see especially his work for the R&B-tinged Inner City—and he knows how to work a big room with authority, as those who caught his 2010 Decibel Festival performance at Neumos can attest. As a producer, Saunderson sounds best in his E-Dancer guise. The tracks he creates under this rubric crack harder and weirder than those he does under his own name and with Inner City. But no matter which mode he's in, Saunderson has proved himself to be a genius with the acidic Roland TB-303 bass line, using its fabulous elasticity to add an extra layer of awesomeness to his fleet, bumping rhythms. Behind the decks, this disciple of Detroit radio jock the Electrifyin' Mojo has been keeping crowds in thrall to his shrewd selections and dramatic buildups and breakdowns for almost three decades. We're lucky to have this legend return so soon after his triumphant Decibel appearance. Re-bar, 10 pm, $10, 21+.