THURSDAY DECEMBER 30



DJ COLLAGE, PAUL EDWARDS, PLAN B

Recent Seattle transplant DJ Collage (Lawrence Chatman) has lent energized toasting to tracks by studio heavyweights like Meat Beat Manifesto, Sofa Surfers, and Stereotyp. His own music ranges from buoyant dancehall to spacey dub to "Diwali"-rhythmed bashment. Collage's Jamaican patois and positive-kundalini'd flow can't help elevating your mood--and, boy, do we need some mood elevating as 2004 limps into the homestretch. Also, don't miss one of Seattle's smoothest DJs, Paul Edwards. He promises an intelligent array of dub-inflected armchair techno, IDM, old-school reggae, hiphop, and funk. With Plan B and the Fading Collection. Chop Suey, 1325 E Madison St, 324-8000, 9 pm-2 am, 21+, $6.

FRIDAY DECEMBER 31



PARTY OVER HERE

This may be the best NYE deal in the city. Down in the Lower Level, some of Seattle's foremost house selectors (the always entertaining and mischievous Jacob London, Jeromy Nail, and Chris Field) will be keeping it deep and throbbing for your libidinous pleasure. Up in the main room, the Saturday Knights conk together rock and hiphop heads like the Three Stooges after tipping a few 40s; French 75 DJs Miss Margie and Alice Tiara loosen bedheaded and bespectacled rockers' inhibitions with their '80s new wave and indie-rock selections; and the Fitness bring a prickly piquancy and tartly taut tunefulness to synth rock. Their vaguely familiar-sounding songs possess enough of the Fitness' own two-girl/two-boy distinctiveness to elude mere pastiche. With Wesley Holmes and Doug. CHAC, 1621 12th Ave, 388-0500, 9 pm-2 am, 21+, $15 adv.

SATURDAY JANUARY 1



DAHLIA

Dahlia has amassed much good press and a sizable fan base. It's easy to hear why: Jen Folker (vocals) and Keith Schreiner (music) sound like Sheryl Crow or Sarah McLachlan with slightly more danceable beats and edgier electronic textures. Witness the emergence of soccer-mom electronica. Yeesh. Nectar Lounge, 412 N 36th St, 632-2020, 8 pm-2 am, 21+, $7.

JAY TRIPWIRE

Tripwire has been flinging tribal-house hotness for a minute, and damn if his tracks don't leave you feeling trippy and wired. The Vancouver producer/DJ (Jay Gadsby to his accountant) specializes in irrepressible psychedelic house grooves powered by drums that sound like hollowed-out redwoods being thumped with mallets and bass lines that can knock you up. According to XLR8R magazine, Tripwire's now more into his Mr. Barcode guise, which is "an inspired collision of late-'70s space disco sleaze, jacking house and angular electronics." Either way, this should be a stylin' way to bring in '05. SeeSound Lounge, 115 Blanchard St, 374-3733, 9 pm-2 am, 21+, $5.