So, Broken Disco is coming back to Chop Suey with an artful bang, as the well- curated monthly hosts Berlin/Vancouver DIY producer Frivolous (Daniel Gardner), San Francisco tech-house savants the Martin Brothers, and a grip of hungry local DJs.

Brought to you by the promotional experts of Decibel, Fourthcity, Shameless, and Sensory Effect, Broken Disco returns after an unfortunate hiatus, but whatever friction existed before seems to have been vanquished for now.

Alison S., the Shameless crew's copromoter and managing director, relates that BD 2.0 will be "essentially the same as Broken Disco's first run: take four different music/event production crews, select and book electronic dance music artists based on their talents and music—not necessarily the sound, trend, genre, or scene it may be affiliated with, and focus on branding the night as a community dance party."

Broken Disco's principal organizers—Sean Horton/Nordic Soul (Decibel), Matt Moroni/Introcut (Fourthcity), Patrick Haenelt/Electrosect (Sensory Effect), and Recess (Shameless)—all brainstorm and collaborate on booking ideas while Alison (who also DJs under the name Menami) attempts, as she says, "to keep things in check and moving forward as the managing director. With so many crews involved, it's a dynamic process putting together the lineup for a two-room monthly party, but we all understand that the end result is something that couldn't be accomplished alone. We'll also continue to be open to the inclusion of other promoters as we have done in the past (e.g., SunTzu Sound teamed up with us to present King Britt and John Arnold in August 2007 and Innerflight jumped on board for our one-year anniversary party with Tittsworth and Starkey in March of 2008)."

Broken Disco has shows booked through April, but its members prefer to withhold the specifics for now. Regardless, Alison promises some "serious dance-your-pants-off bookings."

Speaking of which, Frivolous's performance at Decibel's Hedfuk showcase in 2007 was a highlight for many of the festival's attendees. His strain of techno and house boing-boings away from the usual rigid grid of those genres, thanks largely to his homemade contraptions, which include an electromagnetic knife (used to manipulate tones not unlike a hand does with a theremin), a bicycle-powered reverb unit, the "broken-ruler music box," and the double "cable-tub" bass. Frivolous sprinkles distorted, often-goofy vocals over pumping tracks adorned with a loony tapestry of tones and textures. He's also not above interpolating Hot Butter's 1972 novelty hit "Popcorn" into his own tracks. The result is sort of like Matthew Herbert, but without the earnest political messages. Along with the Martin Brothers' patented Dirtybird Records levity and lubricity, Broken Disco is seriously—and Frivolous-ly—getting back on the good foot.