Manic Mondays: a club for the '80s and the gays who love them

Montreal's DJ A-Trak headlines Fool's Gold vs. Dim Mak: Screaming Bloody Murder tour, leading a crew that swaggers between electro-driven hip-hop and club music (echoes of big beat abound). A-Trak has been catapulted from unbeatable tournament DJ and honorary Skratch Pickl to Kanye West's tour DJ and cofounder of Fool's Gold Records (which found a hit in Kid Sister's acrylic anthem "Pro Nails"). His roster dominates, housing Sammy Bananas' two-step joints for candy kids in high-tops and British DJ Sinden's deconstructed remixes. Not to be outdone, Dim Mak founder DJ Steve Aoki blesses the masses with aggressive, ear-splitting dance beats. The Bay's Trackademicks open. The tour climaxes Saturday, April 19, at 103 Harriet at 9 p.m. Admission is $15-$20; visit www.blasthaus.com for more info. — David MacFadden

Junkie XL has remixed Elvis, Madonna, and Britney into credible techno formation — even landing the King back on the charts in 2002 with a new version of "A Little Less Conversation." The Dutch-born producer has also worked directly with '80s legends Dave Gahan, Gary Numan, and Robert Smith. But Booming Back at You, the fifth album from Junkie XL (aka Tom Holkenborg), is celebrity-free and all the better for it. High-octane beats back vocals from young singers like Lauren Rocket, a punkette who outscreams Siouxsie Sioux on a cover of her "Cities in Dust." Junkie XL performs live on Saturday, April 19, at Mezzanine at 10 p.m. Admission is $20; call 625-8880 or visit www.mezzaninesf.com for more info. — Tamara Palmer

Jeaneen Lund

Junkie XL.

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For readers who spent the '80s in utero, it's never too late to get drunk at a gay bar where the era's music is experiencing an enthusiastic renaissance. Courtesy of DJs Dangerous Dan and Mark Andrus, the offerings at "Manic Mondays" include artists secured within the Alternative Musical Canon for Homosexuals — the Smiths, Siouxsie, the Cure, Dead or Alive, Depeche Mode, New Order, Erasure, Joan Jett, etc. — alongside the singles that somehow end up on every Goodwill store soundtrack across the country (by Prince, Blondie, Madonna, etc.). Cosmopolitan cocktails, meanwhile, are thematically priced at a reasonably dangerous $0.80 apiece, providing the perfect foil to the menacing commencement of a brand-new week. Manic Mondays takes place Monday, April 21, and every Monday at the Bar on Castro at 8 p.m. Admission is free before 10 p.m.; call 626-7220 or visit www.thebarsf.com for more info. — Evan James