Beat Box

Born at the Mission's Hush Hush nearly a year and a half ago, "Knees Up" has now emerged in the Tenderloin as one of the newest, momentum-gaining DJ nights. The party's rotating cast of "unfamous, unknown" DJs lays down consistently impressive nu jazz, house, and old-school hip hop during the happiest of happy hours, Fridays between 6 and 10 p.m. Then, after the gaggles of young professionals stumble their way home, Vertigo's resident DJ Hawthorne takes over, spinning remixes of everyone from PJ Harvey to Michael Jackson, much to the enjoyment of all the pretty and pretty corrupt boys who dominate the bar's intimate dance floor. What makes Hawthorne stand out is his fearless reinventing of the pleasing poppy hits of today. But "Knees Up" manages to walk that fine line between confection and crap, offering the sickly sweet songs you secretly love to sing in the shower while keeping clear of the cloying tunes Top 40 radio is paid to play over and over again. "Knees Up" takes place every first and third Friday of the month at Vertigo, 1160 Polk (at Sutter), S.F. Admission is $2; call 674-1238.
– Brock Keeling

Over the past year, the electronic music scenes of Berlin and San Francisco have cemented a unique kinship, as German post-techno artists like Pole, Ellen Alien, and T.Raumschmiere have played to enthusiastic S.F. crowds. Local promoters Blasthaus keep it going on Saturday at Club Six with a live set by B-town underground rock/ electronica veteran Thomas Fehlman and a DJ set from new-dub maven Daniel Meteo. Fehlman injected dance music into early-'80s post-punk via his band Palais Schaumburg and brought pioneering Detroit techno producers like Eddie "Flashin'" Fowlkes and Juan Atkins to Berlin in the early '90s. His most recent album, 2002's Visions of Blah, masterfully blends compelling ambient with subtly driving dub-techno. Meteo – who runs dub/electronica label Meteosound -- does duty as half of minimalist dub outfit Bus, which has recently released its debut album, Middle of the Road(~Scape Records), featuring dynamite Glasgow-based female MC Soom-T. Get ready for some digital-age easy skanking when Blasthaus presents "Further" with Thomas Fehlman and DJ Daniel Meteo on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 9 p.m. at Club Six, 60 Sixth St. (at Mission), S.F. Admission is $10 in advance, $12-15 at the door; call 863-1221 or go to www.blasthaus.com.
– Ron Nachmann