FRIDAY JANUARY 27

MARK FARINA, INLAND KNIGHTSWith the reliability and smooth functionality of a Swiss watch, Chicago house DJ Mark Farina returns to Drizzle City to try to shed some sonic sunshine. The guy who launched the Mushroom Jazz franchise and elevated San Francisco's Om Records to national prominence knows downtempo funk and mellow, chugging house music like Karl Rove knows deception and deviousness. UK duo Inland Knights purvey the kind of deep, funky house that appeals to respected DJs like Fred Everything, Darren Emerson, and... Mark Farina. Both headliners are populists who don't stoop to LCD pandering. With Ramiro and Jeromy Nail. Trinity, 111 Yesler Way, 447-4140, 10 pm–3 am, $20, 21+.

TUESDAY JANUARY 31

RD, BEN MILSTEINOscillate brings the quality goods yet again. Los Angeles DJ/producer RD, who runs his Designed Disorder imprint and records for Andrea Parker's UK label Touchin' Bass, calls his music "experimental broken beat twisted electronics," a description that pushes enough Pavlovian linguistic buttons to get me excited. Both RD—who also founded the Experimental Liquor Museum musicians collective—and Portland's Ben Milstein (AKA Doctor Evil) will be DJing. These artists have strangely atmospheric, Richard Devine–like tracks on the Autonomous Addicts compilation (on Designed Disorder), whichagive one hope for IDM's future, as quixotic as that idea now seems. With Electrosect and Greg Skidmore. Baltic Room, 1207 E Pine St, 625-4444, 9 pm–2 am, $3, 21+.

FOSCIL, SPECS ONEFoscil celebrate the release of their 12-inch with Seattle rapper Specs One at tonight's edition of the Stop Biting weekly. Titled Discuss the Benefits of Said Collaborative Efforts Volume 1 (Fourthcity), the EP is divided between instrumentals and tracks featuring Seattle underground rap legend Specs One's intensely laidback flow, which makes that of Gang Starr's Guru sound overheated. Foscil's productions are alternately chilled, breezy, and starkly paranoid like mid-'90s Tricky. This strong EP peaks on "My Words," which is based around a gorgeous sample from King Crimson's "I Talk to the Wind." Lo_Fi Performance Gallery, 429 Eastlake Ave E, www.lofiseattle.org, 9 pm–2 am, $3, 21+.