This Halloween weekend will be a big one in Edinburgh, and even clubbers with a bit of taste and discretion will be spoiled for choice from Thursday to Saturday. We’ve chosen a small club show featuring icons of London and Glasgow’s recent club scenes, a techno night with a renowned German producer and DJ who’s well-suited to the occasion, and Edinburgh’s newest clubbing brand in the company of Ralph Lawson.
Erol Alkan & JD Twitch at Juice – Sneaky Pete’s, Thu Oct 30
A DJ pioneer of the electroclash and bootleg scenes at the turn of the 2000s with his London night Trash, Erol Alkan has morphed over the years into an elder renaissance man of genre-hopping contemporary dance music. His recent exploits include this year’s Fabriclive 77 mix and production duties on Daniel Avery’s mighty 2013 acid techno revival album ‘Drone Logic’ on Alkan’s own Phantasy label. Support in one of Edinburgh’s most sweatily atmospheric small venues comes from JD Twitch, an iconic figure himself through his years running Glasgow’s seminal bracket-defying Sunday-nighter Optimo (Espacio).
Zombie Nation at IAM Hallowe’en Special – Cabaret Voltaire, Thu Oct 30
Our pick of the Hallowe’en themed visitors appearing over the course of the next few days is the one selected by the Edinburgh wing of Glasgow house and techno night I AM. And what a guest to pick, if only for the seasonal flyer potential – Munich-based DJ and producer Florian Senfter, aka Zombie Nation, whose sound was defined in the public consciousness by 1999’s crossover techno hit ‘Kernkraft 400’. Since those early days on the International Deejay Gigolos label, Senfter’s sound has become more underground even as it’s become more diverse, including releases on Cocoon and Turbo and a collaboration with Tiga, with his live show being an important part of his brand.
Nightvision presents 2020Vision Takeover – La Belle Angele, Sat Nov 1
Founded this autumn by the union of Edinburgh’s two biggest clubbing brands, Musika and Xplicit, Nightvision has made a big impact on the city’s scene with a range of high-end international guests playing house, techno and bass music. For this Hallowe’en special they also get to show off the new La Belle Angele, reopened last week on the site of the original venue following its destruction by fire twelve years ago, in the presence of 2020Vision label boss Ralph Lawson and one of his freshest new signings, Belfast’s Ejeca.