SATURDAY JANUARY 24



DJ ICEY, BABY ANNE

Why are house DJs inevitably plump and ball-capped while techno jocks are thin and shorthaired or bald? It's something to ponder while you get busy on the dance floor to these popular Orlando, Florida-based artists. Icey leveraged the "funky breaks" movement into a franchise in the '90s, and later broadened his repertoire to include big-room trance, house, techno, and electro, as his 2000 Essential Mix CD demonstrates (props to anyone who can maneuver from DJ Godfather to Orbital). Icey's female counterpart in the nu-breaks stakes, Baby Anne, has the skills to back her "lord have mercy" looks, as her 2002 mix disc on Moonshine, I'm About to Break, proves. Showbox, 1426 First Ave, 628-3151, 10 pm-2 am, 18+, $15 adv, $20 DOS.

SOIREE

UK garage/2-step--ruffneck ragga and sugary R&B diva vocals bellowed and cooed over sleekly angular drum 'n' bass rhythms--didn't really blow up in the States like it did in Britain, but that hasn't stopped Soiree's diehards from soldiering on. Thomas Bowman ignites a new biweekly series with DJs Rama, Anchimon, and Dallas' Mundo. Mantra Lounge, 210 S Washington St, 652-0981, 9 pm-2 am, 21+, $5.

SEKSU ROBA, IQU, THE DALMATIANS, DJ MAT GRIESE

Seattle's Asian American/male-female duo IQU has a doppelg...nger--L.A.'s Seksu Roba. Both twosomes feature theremin and purvey the skin-tingling, retro-futurist electro-pop that places tongues in chic. Seksu Roba's trump card, though, is Erector, a dancing robot with a gyrating penis. Other enhancements include a Groovetube installation by Mat Griese (visit www.groovetube.tv to see how this amazing invention works) and live visuals by Sientific American. 562, 562 First Ave S, fourth floor, 9 pm, 21+, $7.