If you’re looking for innovation in Electronic Music, here are three letters for you: dOP. Damian Van de Sande, Clement Zemstov and Jonathan Illel – the brains behind the quirky trio. They started out as childhood friends, all with strong musical backgrounds and vibrant personalities. Playing in bands and acts spanning jazz, reggae, hip-hop, and rock & roll, they have always kept a performative quality to their work. To quote them directly, “it’s all about charisma,” and that’s exactly their appeal: charm through eccentricity. They do not use much in the realm of equipment – working off five default pro-tools plug ins and a modest array of acoustic instruments and analog synths, dOP has managed to create an incredible and flavorful collection of music. Their presence always makes for a truly animated party to say the least, and their exceptionally inventive productions allow you to relive the experience over and over. Check out one of their latest mixes here: NIGHTCLUBBER

On Friday the 23rd Blkmarket is bringing in Mr. C of Superfreq. A Londonite who started out as an MC, Mr. C got into the house scene in the late eighties. Founder of Plink Plonk Records, cofounder of End Recordings and owner of Superfreq Records, Mr. C has held a significant place in the Dance music industry. Joining him on the decks in the location yet to be announced is Garth (Grayhound Records), a San Francisco icon, along with Art Department (Crosstown Rebels) who will be playing live as well as a DJ set. The event will begin at 11PM and go ‘til the wee hours of the morning – actually, until the early afternoon, so be sure to get your wired on. RSVP at blksuperfreq@gmail.com.

Gear up this weekend for a major birthday celebration marathon with none other than the ReSolute man himself, Nektarios. On Saturday, July 17th, join your fellow party mates to honor this fête. “Burn It” will be featuring DJ’s Simon Baker, Alexi Delano, Andrea Ferlin, Manik, CEM & RG, Elon and Connie who will be playing a special set with violinist Sarina Suno. Check out the event’s awesome advertisement video made by creative director Yiannis Sochorakis

For a third consecutive year we’ve been lucky enough to have a July 4th weekend, which will be the last for quite some time. Sunday people made their way to the new Long Island City venue where Blk Market Membership in collaboration with Listed Production hosted their July 4th event. The venue had a nice breezy rooftop, evident from the long lines to the top, where chefs had the BBQ going all night while sweat-drenched guests enjoyed the beautiful view. The main room was rather small, hot, but it was quickly packed with energetic dancers. The hall to the bathroom was a comfortable air-conditioned break spot with an open-air smoking area as a plus. The lighting display was exquisite along with projected images to the left wall supplying nice visuals complementing the music quite well. World-renowned DJs Guido Schneider and Konrad Black were the main attractions at the event and bumped sounds that made up for an inadequate sound system. The crowd was inevitably drawn toward the DJ booth, as people ignored the heat in order to enhance the experience.

It is impossible to sum up what techno music can make a person feel and think because it is completely individual. Techno in most cases and from the right djs is musical art that can take the mind in millions of directions to millions of places. Some of its creators can be labeled masterminds taking sounds that might sounds random or even off and mixing them together for an outcome of something wonderful. This aspect of techno makes the label of “Techno Art” to Richard Symons’s metal sculptures appropriate. Metal pieces and shards that individually would be discarded and considered unappealing are melded together to create incredible sculptures.

Dutch dance intellect Joris Voorn brought the heat to New York City’s club Love last Friday, the 11th. The man knows that the key to playing music which affects us is to first learn what our auditory expectations are, and then to defy, disturb, and tantalize those expectations… playfully, of course. We want to be put off guard, be left feeling bewildered, even at moments unsatisfied, in the most satisfying of ways. And that’s why we like to hear Joris. He saturates us with these feelings as he manipulates measures, rhythms, and melodic patterns in ways which continually surprise us. He keeps the floor moving, rolling, basslines like engines turning, maintaining an incessantly deep, soulful flavor. Filters layered on filters create a sense of bottomless depth.

Memorial day weekend means techno, and Made Event brings two titans to Cielo ( 18 Little West 12th Street) for this special Friday night event from 10PM – 4AM. Barcelona’s Paco Osuna and Argentina’s Barem showcase their cutting edge music on Cielo’s top-notch Funktion One system for an intimate night of dynamic electronic sounds. Basic NYC’s Sleepy & Boo get the night started.

No words… Actually, no, a thousand words. Booka Shade came to New York Tuesday night on a mission. This was a business trip. They came with something seductive, mouth-watering, something like a sweet treat that’s no good for you, that mother never let you taste. The venue was their domain for psychodrama, Walter’s hands dancing along his Moog, saturating the space with twinkling melodies, delayed, inducing non-stop tingling sensations. Swooshing pads panned back and forth, circling the room and like some sort of wind from a distant planet, they blew into your right ear and out the left. When they played “Teenage Spaceman” Booka Shade dosed us with that old, forgotten trancey feeling, emotive percussive strings filling us with that inexplicable nostalgia trance gives you. And just after you’ve melted into a puddle of pure euphoria, all of a sudden you’re woken up with a loud grinding bass, resonating until the grinding turns into something like a machine gun, as if Sven Väth were backstage firing shots at the dance floor. And now we’re all brushing our teeth with saw-dust, our minds twisting more and more by the second, our bodies forced to move and indulge in Arno’s percussive rhythms. And just as we’ve settled into this teeth-grinding intoxication, the funky, happy bassline of Body Language kicks in.