FRIDAY JULY 23



CONTACT

A lot of recent drum 'n' bass sounds like a bunch of video-game FX ricocheting around brutally sped-up "Amen" breaks and bull-moose-orgasm bass lines. It's a macho sound, ideal for shooting shit in the virtual space of your Xbox. This could explain the genre's popularity among young folk; while the rest of us gravitated toward microhouse and folktronica, many youths embraced jungle, the new punk rock of electronic music. These thoughts are spurred by Contact headliner/jungle O.G. AK 1200's At Close Range mix CD (2003, :\Run Recordings). The disc's 17 tracks accrue a hyper-accelerated, will-to-power vibe that's irresistible to ravers looking for ways to channel their excess energy. It's no surprise AK 1200 (Orlando-based Dave Minner) titled an album of his own productions Shoottokill. A veteran of the popular Planet of the Drums tour, AK is joined by hard-house don Jon Bishop, Israeli psy-trance troupe Astral Projection, and many more. Studio-B, 333 Elliott Ave W, 339-7667, 10 pm-5 am, all ages, $15 ltd adv, $20 unltd adv, more at the door. TUESDAY JULY 27



SIMPLY JEFF

When it comes to West Coast funky breaks, nobody's funkier or breakier than L.A.'s Simply Jeff. Dude keeps the excitement off the scales. There's little time for contemplative breakdowns in Jeff's sets; he's too busy cracking your pelvis with whiplashing robot rhythms and a Kraftwerk-meets-Chemical Brothers-on-amphetamines funk. Funk-Da-Fried (1997, City of Angels) is one of the freakiest and funkiest sets of stadium-sized breakbeat crunch I've ever heard. Breakbeat Massive (2002, Moonshine) begins with Jeff's own Kraftwerk-biting "Funkengruven" ("Numbers" by numbers, if you will), but moves steadfastly into gritty post-Big Beat dynamics and Meat Beat Manifesto-esque psych-outs. Jeff's mixes have been scientifically proven to contain 39 percent more funk than other DJs'. With DJ Smile. Liquid Lounge at EMP, 325 Fifth Ave N, 770-2777, 10 pm-2 am, 21+, free.

VINYL



SQUAREPUSHER, Venus No. 17 EP (Warp; warprecords.com)

Don't sleep on this new 12-inch, featuring three tracks not on Squarepusher's recent, flawed masterpiece, Ultravisitor. Tom Jenkinson masterfully slices up some snappy martial snare hits and sprays 'em over old-skool rave-synth stabs and sirens upgraded for our tense new century. More intricately syncopated madness from the master.