Anyone can buy in a good guest – although some nights are better at getting creative value time after time – but the real measure of a good club night is whether or not a residents’ evening makes the gig a go-to event in its own right. We’ve got a couple of good ones for you this time, with classic Edinburgh night Trouble making a return after three years away, Sneaky Pete’s ‘rolling residents’ night In Deep back once more, and an old friends’ guest spot at Gasoline Dance Machine which is perfectly in tune with the ethos of the night.
In Deep: Firecracker Recordings with House of Traps and Chuggy – Sneaky Pete’s, Fri May 15
Sneaky Pete’s in-house rolling residents night once more rolls back round to local label and success story Firecracker Recordings’ turn in charge, with the imprint’s boss House of Traps (aka Lindsay Todd, who also runs the Living Mountain pop-up record store at Summerhall) this time being joined by South Londoner Stuart ‘Chuggy’ Leath, head of his own Emotional Recordings label group. Expect techno and house with an obscurist’s passion and a disco-flavoured groove from both.
Trouble: Back For One Night Only! – Bongo Club, Fri May 15
A fixture of Edinburgh’s club scene since it began life at the old Blue Note jazz club on Chambers Street in 2002, Trouble will return here for a one-off date which reunites original residents Hobbes and Erik D’Viking (pictured above) with the eclectic blend of funk, soul, disco, house and world sounds for which the night was known. A mainstay for ten years, Trouble brought such diverse names as Marlena Shaw, Candi Staton, Mr Scruff, Roy Ayers, Quantic, Actress and Dixon to Edinburgh, which should give you some clue as to what the playlist will sound like here.
Gasoline Dance Machine with Adam Port and David Mayer – Cabaret Voltaire, Sat May 16
A long-standing friend of the team behind the Berlin-based Keinemusik label, Gasoline Dance Machine resident Cheap Picasso here holds another showcase featuring two more of the quintet who run the imprint. On the bill this time are Adam Port, whose influences included hardcore punk, hip-hop and dub reggae before he went full techno, and David Mayer, both of whom create music which is perfectly in tune with the excitable blend of house and techno you’ll find at every edition of GDM.