Sweet Soulful Saturday

You've got two options for where you should be Saturday night. Sure, there's more going on, but you'll have to trust us when we say that these two are where the action is. Anything else just won't be as good...unless it is.

Buzz has been high for the Seattle return of Jamie Lidell. After stealing the show opening for Four Tet last year, the praise has been non-stop, and rightfully so. Lidell manages to make electronic music that avoids many of the trappings of the genre, especially live. Rather than being another man behind the decks or another stoic figure illuminated by his Powerbook, Lidell's performance involves a table full of gear, a laptop, and most importantly, a microphone.

Lidell first gained attention with techno compositions as both a solo artist and as half of Super_Collider, but rather than continue along the more "obvious" path, Lidell pairs his production savvy with Motown-styled vocals. While Matthew Dear's vocal incorporation worked because of its monotone and disaffectedness, Lidell moves in the opposite direction, producing songs that succeed precisely because of his range and conviction. Between the singing, sampling, beat-boxing, looping, and knob-twiddling going on, this live show delivers on all levels, so you'll want to show up to this one even if you don't think electronic music is your thing.

So how would you possibly close out the evening after that sensory onslaught? With John Beltran. He's headlining the first edition of the new SunTzu Sound monthly Safari. Hailing from Detroit, Beltran's been through town before, playing a variety of quality soulful sounds. This time should be no different.

Beltran got his production start with the Detroit techno, releasing on Carl Craig's Retroactive Records, Peacefrog Records, and Derrick May's Transmat. Since then he's gone on to produce tracks for the also-revered Ubiquity Records, before starting his own label, Samurai, while switching his sound to more Brazilian-tinged, jazzy territory. To namecheck some others that have come through town as reference points, Beltran's released tracks by the Lidellian Jeremy Ellis as well as his own remixes of Osunlade and collaborations with John Arnold. John Beltran's built himself quite the record collection over the last few years, so while his presentation may not be as flashy as Lidell's, it should prove no less crowd pleasing.

Jamie Lidell with Jimmy Edgar
Chop Suey, 1325 E Madison
$12 advance
Doors @ 9pm, 21+

Safari: John Beltran with SunTzu Sound
Baltic Room, 1207 Pine St.
$7 before 11pm, 21+