It’s been a month since the devastating attacks, but things are finally starting to reach full speed in nightlife. This week several festivals, including the rescheduled (and smaller) CMJ Music Marathon, hit town. CMJ’s never really been a techno affair, and this year is no different. There are a sprinkling of electronic showcases. The very un-subliminal Paul Miller a/k/a DJ Spooky (of Gap ad fame) spinning yarns of confusing illbient noise; he’s joined by the most offensive DJ on the planet, ghetto-tech freaker DJ Assault, and others. Friday @ 9, Lunatarium, DUMBO, Brooklyn, 10 Jay Street, 9th Floor, 718-813-8404. (For more info, see cmj.com)
For a more future-forward musical experience, take refuge in the alternate festival Electroclash. The line-up-which is too long to print here-is a doozy. The highlights: dirty boy and dirty girl Khan and Peaches, weird electro-new-wave-art-fag band Fischerspooner, and another new-wave-ish group, Adult. Way weirder than anything on the CMJ bill, and definitely not for the weakhearted. Various venues, Wednesday through Sunday. See electroclash.com for more complete info.
Not really CMJ-related, but happening at the same time, is the return of the bald-headed one with the funny/cool glasses, a man more commonly known as Richie Hawtin. Hawtin was due to play Centro-Fly the day of the attacks, and when that was canceled, he and few other big-name jocks who were also stranded in town briefly emerged to play a benefit the following Friday at Guernica for the Widows & Children’s Fund. Hawtin’s rescheduled his gig promoting his latest mix CD, DE9: Closer to the Edit, which is pure brilliance—and I will go so far as to say it is the best thing I’ve heard all year. Over 300 tracks mixed with such deftness, even the hardcore trainspotters will have a hard time keeping up. Wednesday @ 10, Centro-Fly, 45 W 21st, 627-7770.