Holy beat-bevy Batman: Cut Chemist, Z-Trip, Radar, Faust, Romanowski, dead prez, Marques Wyatt, Lisa Shaw, and "The Rootdown SF."

The first two volumes of Bomb Hip-Hop's Return of the DJ compilation often get credit for reviving the art of vinyl manipulation in the latter part of the '90s, but local promoter Mark Herlihy and his Future Primitive Sound collective did just as much to spread the gospel of modern turntable science. Featuring creatively paired DJs on multiple decks for the past decade, Future Primitive parties never sacrifice dance-floor momentum for the sake of showboating scratch gymnastics. And though the music always takes center stage, Herlihy has a knack for bringing together traditional club elements (break dancers, live graffiti painting, and projected visuals) with more eclectic ingredients like martial artists, capoeira troupes, and, on one memorable occasion, a drunk and belligerent Extra Action Marching Band. Besides organizing the kinetic and still-classic live recordings of Future Primitive Soundsessions featuring Cut Chemist with Shortkut and Bombshelter DJs Z-Trip and Radar, Future Primitive also inspired Cut Chemist's all-7-inch-singles collaboration with DJ Shadow -- the legendary Brainfreeze CD was actually a recorded practice session for a 1999 FPS party -- and kicked off a veritable cottage industry of bootlegs and 45 reissues. Herlihy and company celebrate the "Future Primitive Soundsession 10 Year Anniversary" this Friday, Dec. 16, at Mighty, with a party featuring a reunion of Z-Trip and Radar (performing with the Arts in Motion String Quartet) as well as perennial Soundsession guests Faust, Shortee, Romanowski, and graffiti hero Doze Green painting live; call 762-0151 or visit www.mighty119.com for more info.-- Dave Pehling

The name of New York's dead prez should give some idea as to the hip hop duo's political leanings. M-1 and stic.man's anti-corporate stance keeps them off the radio, which is just fine by them, but as outspoken as they are about almost everything, they also know how to make banging records, like last year's RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta. Ten 15 Folsom may unwittingly find itself to be ground zero for black and brown pride as the two MCs unveil new material and just plain speak their minds. Dead prez takes over for a session of street CNN on Friday, Dec. 16; visit www.1015.com for more info. -- Tamara Palmer

When it comes to nightlife in Los Angeles, trends come and go, and yet the weekly club night "The Rootdown" has managed to deliver inventive DJ sets and brilliant live funk bands to revelers for nearly a decade. The party's main ambassadors appreciate the jazz-funk culture of the Bay Area and are once again taking their show on the road. The chief operatives for the evening: live funk band Breakestra, Jurassic 5 DJ Cut Chemist, and "Rootdown" residents Miles and Dusk. While you're certain to hear selections from Breakestra's new release, Hit the Floor, spontaneity is part of this group's lifeblood, so expect plenty of surprises, especially when guest MCs such as Jurassic 5's instantly lovable Chali 2na drop by, as he will when "The Rootdown SF" gets going on Friday, Dec. 16, at the DNA Lounge; call 626-1409 or visit www.dnalounge.com for more info. -- Tamara Palmer

This week's installment of the monthly club "Salted" boasts two very special guests: Lisa Shaw and Marques Wyatt. It's almost impossible to believe that Shaw only recently released her debut, Cherry, as the New York singer's voice has been a staple on house and modern soul dance floors for years, largely through her collaborations with fellow Naked Music labelmates. L.A.'s Wyatt is internationally respected as a house music guru. But though his travels have taken him around the world and back, this writer remembers him most fondly from the days of his notorious '90s L.A. after-hours club "Does Your Momma Know?" And while these might not be your momma's grooves, Shaw's lovely voice and Wyatt's free-flowing mixes hit just the right notes to transcend the generational boogie divide. The superstar guests join resident DJs Miguel Migs and Julius Papp as "Salted" gets shaking this Saturday, Dec. 17, at Mighty; call 762-0151 or visit www.mighty119.com for more info.-- Tamara Palmer