There are loads of ways for DJs to rock a party. Many take the monomaniacal route of exploring one style all night, and that can be pleasurable if the selector has deep crates, a wealth of knowledge, and dexterous mixing skills. The obvious counterpoint to the one-track-mind approach is the eclectic path. This way is, paradoxically, both easier and more difficult for DJs to pull off. It's easy to appear half-assed and dilettantish in an anything-goes set, as anyone who's witnessed the fiascos most celebrity "DJs" bring to the turntables (or CDJs) can attest. Transitioning coherently and smoothly through many styles, however, is one of the most impressive feats a jock can master. Which brings us to the Rub, who play with DJ A-Trak and Fourcolorzack Tuesday, May 16, at Chop Suey.

Brooklyn collective the Rub (DJ Ayres, Cosmo Baker, DJ Eleven) rely on spontaneity and on the unlikely synchronicity of records that shouldn't work, but do. Yeah, they're yet more mashup DJs who get mad love from Vice magazine and other tastemaking New York/L.A. media outlets, but quell your antipathy toward trucker-hatted, sleeve-tattooed hipsters for a minute, and dig what the Rub are laying down.

Along with crews like Spank Rock, Hollertronix, Certified Bananas, plus Seattle's own Death of the Party (who include Fourcolorzack, who'll be featured here in the near future) and KRNL.PANIC (ditto), the Rub are striving to make your nights out neon-lit euphoria explosions, but tempered with a record-collector-geek's wry ear for the obscure gem that adds unique frissons to sets. These assets enable both professional hedonists and nerdy trainspotters to get their freak on with equal abandon. The same-old/stale-mold DJ sets that infest many clubs will seem annoying as hell after exposure to performances by these clever New Yorkers.

The Rub, who nabbed a spot in Urb magazine's "Next 100" feature, came up a few years ago championing the long-neglected genre of hip-house (Jungle Brothers, Big Daddy Kane, Chill Rob G, etc.). They've since evolved into the kind of DJs who clearly spend a lot of time in the lab compiling their wide-ranging sets and consequently have earned praise from publications like Village Voice, Spin, and Pitchfork.

It takes keen ears and serious dedication to conceive the heady mashups that pepper Rub mixes. Some of their blends include Bangles vs. Too Short, MOP vs. Queen, R. Kelly's "Feelin' on Your Booty" vs. Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back," and Ghostface vs. Toto. And the way they segue Beginning of the End's "Funky Nassau" into that Boogie Down Productions' track that goes, "Where Brooklyn at?" then shift into Curtis Mayfield's inspirational soul jam "Move on Up" is incredibly slick. Even stranger, Cosmo Baker has re-edited the United States of America's "Love Song for the Dead Ché," a blissed-out psychedelic ballad from 1968. Respect.

The Rub's unpredictability and unerringly impeccable taste ensure that this gig will be an event to remember, no matter your feelings about hype from NYC's hipster mafia. recommended

segal@thestranger.com

More info: www.itstherub.com.