WEDNESDAY 4/22
READY TO LOSE IT AT RICHIE HAWTIN'S CNTRL TOUR?
Besides being an adventurous producer of riveting minimal techno, Richie Hawtin has always been an early adopter with technology. His latest tour, dubbed CNTRL: Individuality & Creativity in Technology-Based Music, includes a free afternoon lecture at UW (3 pm) that dissects the interconnectedness of music and technology, featuring DJ Tech Tools' Ean Golden. At the market fair, aspiring electronic musicians can learn about gear such as Traktor DJ software and Subpac Tactile Bass Systems from pro producers (noon–2 pm). As for Hawtin's musical output, he's still pushing the sort of cerebral, stripped-down techno that made his rep, as evidenced by the 2014 full-length EX, cut under his longstanding pseudonym, Plastikman. Here he continues with the ominous atmospheres, spine-tingling half melodies, and subdued 4/4 beats that have marked his 21st-century works. With a quarter century of deck experience, German DJ/producer Chris Liebing is a reliable font of hard, Nietzschean techno. The bill is rounded out by house producer/DJ Dubfire. Neptune Theatre, 9 pm, $23.50 adv/$26.50 DOS, all ages.
FRIDAY 4/24
BABY, BABY, WHERE DID SHLOHMO'S FUNK GO?
Five years ago, Shlohmo seemed primed to move up to Flying Lotus's level of textural adventurousness and rhythmic dynamism. The California low-end wunderkind combined wonky head-nod-ability and eerie atmospheres with a savviness beyond his years. He had the funk, but weirdly. Recently, though, Shlohmo has been creeping toward a heavier R&B-inflected mode of bass music, and with the newest album, Dark Red, he explores a chillier, glossier sound with beats that skitter and splutter à la Squarepusher rather than funk you up. It's good to see dude challenging himself, even if he's probably going to alienate those who came on board with the Camping EP and Shlomoshun Deluxe. With Purple and Nick Melons. Neumos, 8 pm, $20, all ages.
GET SOME DEEP ZONER VIBES WITH REFRACTED AND WNDFRM
Local techno crew secondnature comes through with another crucial event. Berlin's Refracted mines a deep, throbbing vein of subliminal techno that's inwardly psychedelic. A mysterious unsettling quality pervades his tracks, slotting well into today's current seam of paranoiac techno. Equally as profound if moving at a more methodical tempo, the music of Portland producer wndfrm (aka Tim Westcott) hits that meditative pace at which techno, dub, and ambient coalesce into an idyllic, Arctic lope. Scope out his excellent Formal Variant EP for a permafrosty example. With Archivist. Machine House Brewery, 10:30 pm–4 am, $8 adv/$10 DOS, 21+.
SATURDAY 4/25
CLARK'S ACTION-PACKED IDM STILL THRILLS
The music of Englishman Chris Clark is eruptive and unpredictable. Bonus: It's also almost always exciting. For 14 years, he's been prolifically issuing action-packed IDM records for Warp. If Clark is not quite on labelmates Aphex Twin and Autechre's level of innovation, he's a consistently superb purveyor of hyperactive, abstract funk, off-kilter techno, and questing ambient, as his new Flame Rave EP proves. With Nosaj Thing. Neumos, 8 pm, $15, 21+. 
