"Meat" Mixes Seared Flesh and an Industrialized Dancefloor

The bane of Bay Area vegans for nearly six years, monthly electro-industrial event Meat takes its name literally, barbecuing a Viking-sized appetite's worth of free hide on the 11th St. sidewalk. Because, really, how can you enjoy yourself at a nightclub without a buffet table piled high with steaming animal flesh? Oh yeah — dancing. There's that, too. Fortunately for noncarnivores, the Meat DJs also cook up some of the city's more progressive electronic playlists, eschewing stale '80s leftovers (or, heaven forbid, house music) in favor of steak-knife-sharp EBM, dark trance, and distorted terrorbeat to match the chains-and-hooks abattoir decor. Hungry yet? Then drag your evil carcass down to the DNA Lounge on Thursday, Jan. 31. Doors open at 9:30 p.m., and a $5 cover is charged starting at 10 p.m.; call 626-1409 or visit www.dnalounge.com for more info. — John Graham

The work of MC Adam "Doseone" Drucker and beat-maker Jeffrey "Jel" Logan — collectively known as Themselves — is a shot to hip-hop's arm. Jel's soundscapes come across like the dark, wilting bleeps of Radiohead's Amnesiac colliding head-on with the cement truck-heavy production of Public Enemy's Bomb Squad. Dose has blossomed from a venomous battle rapper into a complex, introverted lyricist. Tailoring the structure of his poetry to Jel's unpredictable production, Dose spouts paragraphs at undecipherable speeds or assumes a slow, navel-gazing style not unlike that of Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stuart. Since their debut album Them in 1999, the duo has released a number of live recordings and the breakthrough LP, The No Music, in 2003. Fans have to flock to the pair's performances to glimpse new material, so hopefully we'll find some fresh gems when Doseone and Jel perform on Friday, Feb. 1, at Café du Nord at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $10; call 861-5016 or visit www.cafedunord.com for more info. — Peter Madsen

Much of the electronic music underground has been stuck in a locked-groove loop for the past decade or longer, but lately an aggressive band of insurgents has been making itself heard with ever-increasing force. Artists like Scrap.EDX, Cenotype, and End.user scrape the rusty edges of industrial machinebeat, drum 'n' bass, black ambient, gabba techno, and breakcore, then fuse the pieces into a robotic monstrosity that's varyingly described as "power noise," "darkstep," or "that weird pounding shit my roommate listens to." In short, it sounds like a combination pile-driver-slash-pulp-grinder that's been run over by a M1A2 Abrams tank, then rebuilt, rewired, and juiced with some electro oontz to make it discotheque-friendly. Fans of happy dance music should steer clear. All others are encouraged to submit to the rhythm on Sunday, Feb. 3, at the DNA Lounge at 8 p.m. Admission is $10; call 626-1409 or visit www.dnalounge.com for more info. — J.G.