Madlib, London
As with one-time collaborator J Dilla, Madlib is a hip-hop producer whose sound is rooted in old-school porch step breaks – but who then rubs and scratches those potentially conservative beats until they're smeared into impressionistic daubs. With his Medicine Show series he hopped from scrap to scrap of dog-eared sound – with MCs flowing in and out – while he aired an appreciation of deep jazz with his Yesterdays New Quintet project. His albums with MF Doom (Madvillain) and Freddie Gibbs (Piñata), meanwhile, thrust hard raps into soft and shiny spaces, to legendary effect. All of it is made possible with his ridiculously vast record collection as a sample library, a tiny portion of which will get an airing here. He's joined by similarly wonky boom-bap MC Jeremiah Jae, London's favourite hip-hop selector Kutmah, and also Moiré, whose 4/4 techno walks with a similarly off-kilter gait.
KOKO, NW1, Sat
BB
Cutloose, Manchester
DJ Nature has long held a personal interest in ensuring music travels as far as possible. Originally involved in London's 80s soundsystem culture, he decamped to New York at the height of London's acid peak, where he quickly set up shop shipping the best in independent dance music over to Japan. He gained traction at the time for his production as Nature Boy but the moniker was retired in the mid-90s. Nearly two decades later, Milo Johnson was reborn as DJ Nature. Despite having dropped off the radar, Johnson's exposure to the likes of Larry Levan and Louie Vega stayed with him as he continued to accumulate one of the finest record collections on the circuit. This weekend's punters at Cutloose will find DJ Nature's selections perfectly complement the likes of previous guests such as Moodymann and Theo Parrish, offering a similarly warm and loose vibe, as best demonstrated on his 2012 LP, Return Of The Savage. Residents Wes Hopwood and Paul Jenks will be layering on prime cuts of funk, boogie and disco in support.
The Roadhouse, Sat
JT
Bedmo Disco #001, Bristol
House music forefather Larry Levan used to refer to his sets at the Paradise Garage as "Saturday Mass". If you're still looking to relive the days of those epoch-making clubs in memory of Frankie Knuckles then this is the spot, with Amsterdam-based re-edit man Marcel Vogel sweating out the Big Chill Bar in an inferno of soulful disco, house and more on one of the holiest days of the year no less. Bristol's Bedmo Disco crew will be helping to warm up the pious masses. They're expert DJs proud to promote the wonky charm of Bedminster, the much-maligned area south of the river; under the same banner they run a label releasing fine underground disco, boogie and house.
Big Chill Bar, Sun
GT
Perc Trax Label Party, Belfast
The recent resurgence in hardware-based industrial techno (thanks to acts like Karenn, Trade and Truss) has seen the underground take a harder edge, but it's Perc's rattling jams that are really igniting the clubs. His latest album, The Power And The Glory, is a riotous journey that drives industrial techno forward into new territory. His sound is often challenging, yet always with a playful, tactile edge that keeps you guessing. Alongside the Opal Tapes and Mira-associated Bleaching Agent, this double header is sure to have chests rattling and heads reeling.
Voodoo, Mon
LM
Lost, London
Jeff Mills has ascended so far from his early scratch-happy days as The Wizard that he's now the star of an oblique documentary about his ideas, Man From Tomorrow, which is being screened tonight at the ICA with a Q&A from the man himself. He also headlines a stunning lineup of spiritual techno and house at Fire in Vauxhall, with dreadlocked astronaut Hieroglyphic Being, and there are also sets from early Chicago star Tevo Howard, and New York's classic house preacher François K.
Fire, SW8, Sat
BB