Photo by Dave Eckblad

Dan "Ghetto" Cortez DJs tonight

​The countdown is on. Only a handful of hours until most of us peace out of our hum-drum offices and get to our Thanksgiving plans. Hopefully, yours include just a bit of dancing (as all long weekends should). 

A great option tonight is the third annual Get Basted party at the Loft on Hennepin, where four bands, a few dozen DJs, a couple MCs and a gaggle of dance music fans converge for a night of loud techno, electro, house, hip-hop and dubstep stylings (a little pre-Gobble wobble, if you will).  We're most looking forward to a live performance by Villa Rosa and a set by house and techno veteran, Ghetto (pictured).

Plus, proceeds will benefit the Emergency Food Shelf Network (and don't forget those non-perishable items for $2 admission discount).

We've got tickets to this electronic music affair -- a few pair, to be exact.  Would you like them?
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​It is indeed time for the Percolator.  Green Velvet, the favorite DJ of many a house-and-techno head in Minneapolis and a guy who could rightly be called the Prince of dance music, is coming to the Crave rooftop to play a set of the weirdo party jams that made him famous with the club set. More >>

Photo by Nick Patton for City Pages

​This past Saturday, First Avenue transformed into a rattling raver underground and fans across the Midwest came to dance for hours on end to five rooms of national and local DJs. We had three photographers on the scene to capture every outfit, every DJ, every bead of sweat (OK, not that far). After the jump, find a few of our favorite pics and links to the slideshows, as well as an all-access bit with headliner DJ Klever who took a bit of the city home with him... permanently.

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McBride at a rave in 2009

​Techno DJ and Twin Cities promoter Woody McBride announced set times for what he's calling "The Twin Cities Biggest Funnest Electronic Dance Music Super Event" taking place tonight at First Avenue. The event begins at 5 p.m. and ends at 2 a.m.

As of right now, McBride is setting up a circle of speakers he's calling "Basshenge" in the middle of the club, but the setup could change depending on soundcheck.

Two words if you go: Ear plugs.
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The whole crew

​The ever-so-laidback DJ crew known around town as Wants Vs. Needs are picking up their gear and moving across town from Club Jager to First Avenue's Record Room. Starting this Friday, DJs Espada, Booka B., So Gold, Anton, Petey Wheatstraw, and their manager (and Rhymesayers publicist) Jake Shaefer will take over the upstairs room every third Friday with their hip-hop, house, and funk selections, and as usual there will be free t-shirts designed by talented Minneapolis expatriate Adam Garcia (designer behind the Soundset flyers).  Summer at the club just got a little bit hotter.
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BG4: Summer edition at First Avenue

​While all manner of clubbers and ravers throughout this fine state's recent history smile and check their calendars, the inevitable reaction to this announcement from non-dance-music fans will probably be something like, "Really? Another one?"  

But this event isn't necessarily for them (though they're invited).  It's for all the people who like it loud - and we mean loud - from neon colors to the massive "Wall Of Bass" erected by DJ ESP Woody McBride over the last three installments at First Avenue and for that matter, the last 20 years of his internationally-recognized career as a techno DJ.

And so we present Bassgasm 4 on July 22, another brick in the Wall, so to speak.
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​We've written a lot about multi-instrumentalist Jon Davis this year. While he may remain somewhat an obscurity we admire his worker-bee attitude and path to music making, scene building and the all around positive nature of his creative ethic and ability to rise to the challenge of having a hyperactive mind. It's really hard keeping up with everything the man does. That's why we feel it's part of our job to keep you up to date.More >>

​This week, City Pages talked to Morcheeba frontwoman Skye Edwards about rejoining the band after being dismissed by the popular downtempo trio's founding brothers Godfrey in 2003. Edwards gave Morcheeba its trademark sound with her smoky smooth vocals and longtime fans are psyched to have her back.

Over the phone from her U.S. tour and just days away from her stop in Minneapolis at First Avenue, Edwards wasn't shy about sharing the details of the split and what it feels like to come back after many years away.

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Photo by Denis Jeong Plaster

​The days of dancing until dawn in filthy warehouses may be long gone with the 90s, but it seems as though DJ ESP Woody McBride won't ever stop throwing parties where the main goal is to revive the good vibrations and soulful hedonism of 1995.  He doesn't always succeed, but last Friday, Bassgasm 3 might be as close as he's ever come to turning First Ave into a working time machine. At Bassgasm, McBride asks you to check reality at his door along with your coat, and not pick it up until the very end of the night.
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Headlining DJ Reid Speed from LA

​ The third installment of ESP Woody McBride's rave-in-a-club circus is upon us, set to rattle downtown Minneapolis for 9 hours straight this Friday with 60+ DJs of both local and national acclaim and stretching First Avenue to five stages instead of three.

Sponsored and partially hosted by City Pages, the event certainly requires a pocketed set list for even a casual fan of dance music, so print this sucker out and refer to it at will.

In other Bassgasm news: McBride said he is planning a timelapse video of the whole day from 8 a.m. load in to 4 a.m. load out, and we'll make sure to post that here. Also, an afterparty will be announced at closing time.

Want tickets? We're giving them away on our Facebook page this afternoon. 

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