GREEN VELVET @ FOOTWORK THIRD ANNIVERSARY
With DJs Lee Osborne, The Roaches. Sat, Apr 26. Footwork, 425 Adelaide W. $25.
Congrats to the crew at Footwork as they celebrate three solid years of running one of T.O.’s finest dance music clubs. Putting their wicked sound system to the test for this anniversary edition is legendary Chicago DJ/producer Curtis Jones, known by his house moniker of Cajmere and his punky tech persona Green Velvet. Since 1991, Jones has turned out many incredible dancefloor smashes, including “Brighter Days,” “La La Land” and “Shake and Pop.” Never one to shy from saying what he thinks, Jones also produced Green Velvet’s commentary on the Iraq war, “Love Peace Not War,” late last year. His DJ sets are as infectious as the man is intriguing.

RUSKO @ SUBTRAC
With XI, Sek, Matt Carl. Sat, Apr 26. Levack Block, 88 Ossington. $10.
Stepping up with the low-end rumble, the Subtrac series hosts British dubstep producer Rusko in one of his only North American dates. With frequent DJ/production partner Caspa, 23-year-old Rusko runs the deep, dark and dirty DubPolice and Sub Soldiers labels, and the duo really made a splash earlier this year with their Fabriclive 37 CD. Filled with glee, the mix showed off their ability to blend dubstep with drum ‘n’ bass, garage and dub proper. The musical links are obvious, but you rarely hear the connections made so well.

STEWART WALKER and [A]PENDICS.SHUFFLE LIVE
With Noah Pred, Intrepid Traveller, DJs evolve, JAP_. Sat, Apr 26. Cervejaria, 842 College. $17 advance tickets at Slinky Music/Moog, Play De Record.
Local techno promo teams Tempo and Breakandenter are joining forces to present two American artists who create innovative, minimalist-minded techno that consciously nods to the genre’s Motor City roots. Currently based in Berlin, Walker has moved away from the hard and fast techno he was initially known for releasing on labels like Mille Plateaux in favour of the melodies and micro-rhythms you can hear both in his releases for Minus and his own Persona. LA-based Kenneth James Gibson a.k.a. [a]pendics.shuffle is equally experimental, but ups the “computer funk” quotient. This evening of mostly live music marks his Toronto debut.

CLAUDE VONSTROKE
With Worthy, DJ Nasty Nav. Sat, Apr 26. Wrongbar, 1279 Queen W. $14.50 advance tickets at Wantickets.com/embrace.
Born Barclay Crenshaw, Claude VonStroke has lived in Cleveland, Detroit, NYC and now resides in San Francisco. All of these locales have rubbed off on his highly original, edgy tech-funk sound. VonStroke’s underground hits — including “Deep Throat,” “Who’s Afraid of Detroit,” “The Whistler” and the recent “Groundhog Day” — have all come via his own dirtybird label, which is also home to the recordings of fellow San Fran DJ/producer Worthy. Both men veer towards tracks that are slinky and subtle, making this gig not only a must for fans of quirky, minimalist tech house, but also anyone seeking something different.

YELLE
With Grand Marnier & TEPR, vitaminsforyou, DJ Vaneska. Wed, Apr 30. The Opera House, 735 Queen E. $17.50 advance tickets at Rotate This, Ticketbreak.com.
There’s something about French electro-pop singer Yelle that inspires people to break out in song, dance and smiles. The fiercely fun feminist broke out career-wise in 2005 after posting “Short Dick Cuizi,” a sassy diss track to TTC rapper Cuizinier, on her MySpace.  The song was later developed into “Je Veux Te Voir,” one of the standouts on her debut album, Pop Up. That song, along with Yelle’s now-ubiquitous “A Cause Des Garçons,” have been featured on TV shows such as The Hills and Entourage. The latter song also became a YouTube smash as umpteen kids have posted videos of themselves busting out in the “tecktonick” dance moves inspired by it.

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