Another banging weekend in San Frandisco!

I think that sometimes I take San Francisco for granted and focus on the negative, like you need a six figure salary — or extremely rich parents — to live here and the city has become a haven for increased snootiness and a plethora of schlocky top 40 clubs, a seeming contradiction but it seems to happen nonetheless. However, there’s always been an underground music scene. and though it struggles amid a suffering economy and a dynamic club culture that has gone a little generic and off the boil, to a large degree it maintains.

This week, like many others, it maintains with gusto to spare. I’m not out every night of the week, for various reasons, financial and health wise (cue violins), but I did catch a few cool events this week and there is one to catch tonight for sure. On Sunday I went over to City Hall to the Sunset Get Out The Vote party. Booming tunes in front of City Hall and a finale of Nikola Bayatala knocking out a kicky, deep and atmospheric minimal techno set. Though I’m always rabbiting about how I can’t stand generic sets, Baytala’s style is not generic, it has a feel, and I’m sure he pulls in tunes from a few genres to achieve that feel. It sure sounds like it, and puts him well ahead of the posse when playing this style of techno. Add to this that people were able to register to vote it was a very worthwhile — and free — little do. The crowd was well up for it too, as is the norm at any Sunset shindig.

On Wednesday night I stopped in to Vessel to catch The Glimmers (at last) and Headman on the decks along with Gun Club’s able bodied and eared deck tech Ryan Poulsen. The party was a joint effort between Infatuation (the brainchild of Richard Oh! and Sleazemore) and the Gun Club and Trigger posse. I’ve always wondered why the Glimmers haven’t played here, and now I don’t have to anymore. And I ran into them on Geary the following day, a meeting of three record nerds and I had two crates of records with me at the time. In the morning!!! Records aren’t just for night, they’re for life.

Tonight there’s Miss Kittin and The Hacker live at 103 Harriet Street with support from Nikola Baytala, courtesy of party stalwarts Blasthaus. While Saturday sees Trigger (a Gun Club offshoot) at 111 Minna with live music by Lemonade, Djs Solar and Commodore 69, art and fashion from Karina Michel, Joshu Vela, Shane Orr, Ernesto Ortiz and Derrick Boyd aka Dead Seal, and photography by Jared Harrell. On top of this, electro super party Superego kicks off at DNA Lounge with live action my favs Lilofee, The Frail and PJ Pooterhoots, and dj duties by the likes of Kid Hack, Miles The Intern and Eli Glad.

So there’s plenty going on here in SF this weekend, so check it out and enjoy!

Orr