RECOMMENDED

Smart Bar’s January bookings indicate that (fortunately) the club will remain dedicated to hosting returning, longtime-favored Midwest artists alongside the many performers making their Chicago debuts. (See upcoming events with Omar S., Fairmont, Seth Troxler, etc.) Iconic Minneapolis producer and DJ Woody McBride, aka DJ ESP, returns to rock Smart Bar’s sound system with plenty of techno and mind-bending acid house. Along with producing and DJing, Woody McBride spent the early part of his nearly thirty-year-long career organizing many of the Midwest’s most legendary raves. He currently keeps busy running Communiqué Records and nearly a dozen associated sub-labels while releasing music and performing around the world. And who better poised to perform alongside a Midwest techno innovator than three Milwaukee DJs currently changing the face of Midwest techno scene? Returning to Smart Bar is Projekt Soundsystem, better known as DJs Dela, Screendoor and Sir Fice. In the last few years, Projekt has shown serious commitment to its “future forward music” motto through DJing around the Midwest and throwing impressive underground and club events around Milwaukee. Through booking forward-thinking artists for events and sharing their collective musical taste covering the spectrum of techno and avant house music, the DJs of Projekt Soundsystem have evolved Milwaukee’s electronic-music scene and exposed it to an international audience. (Elly Rifkin)

Woody McBride and Projekt Soundsystem perform January 8 at Smart Bar, 3730 N. Clark, (773)549-0203, at 10pm.