Music

These days you’re lucky if your club doesn’t get shut down after two months, let alone your party surviving a whole year. So, Roots’ Louie Vega and Kevin Hedge can count themselves double lucky. The party celebrates its second anniversary this week. In addition to Masters at Work colleagues Hedge and Vega, there’s a “surprise performance” (not divulged). Those who’ve become accustomed to the dance-rock–electro–microhouse movements may be thrown for a loop when hearing a Hedge or Vega record—the fullness, the layers of rhythms, the different percussive tics—makes you remember maximalism is good for you. Eat it with a side of soul. Wed @ 10, Cielo,18 Little W 12th, 212-645-5700

When I was a wee club kid (in between the raver and the junglist stages) Seattle-by-way-of-London DJ Nasir Rasheed told me about Norman Jay, who makes someone like Gilles Peterson—who has his own devoted following—bow down with respect. That’s because Jay, a founder of the revered label Talkin’ Loud and pusher of the “rare groove” sound (a term he coined) was influential on so many Brits. He’s still got a radio show (Giant 45), a sound system (Good Times), and a CD comp (Good Times Volume 4), so don’t write off the geezer yet. Sun @ 10 Cielo,18 Little W 12th, 212-645-5700

The fierce, unstoppable Phono series keeps on blazing (it couldn’t even be stopped the week Avalon shut down), with a Detroit techno legend who might be lesser known than the Mays and Pullens of the world, but no less respected. Robert Hood, a co-founder of the baddest techno label ever (move over, Perlon pussies), Underground Resistance, recalls an era when techno was fast and furious. Go and kiss the king’s ring. With Steve Rachmad, Function, and Tim Xavier. Sat @ 10, Avalon, 662 Sixth Ave, 212-807-7780

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