Lauren Flax—who’s playing The Castle dungeon in Ybor City on Friday, Aug. 26—considers herself an activist before a producer, thanks to her work with the Last Night A Deejay Saved My Life harm reduction organization which literally saves clubbers’ lives by offering training on opioid overdose response.
And while her clean, usually hard-charging acid techno breaks from formulaic dance music labels shove down the throats of listeners, what you hear on record will be significantly different from what Flax gives you on the dance floor. Don’t expect drops and buildups, but work informed by her travels through dance music strongholds—Flax was born in Detroit and has worked and lived in both Chicago and Brooklyn—and bolstered by classic drum sounds and patterns from the foundations of house and electro.
It’s cerebral stuff that’s satisfying spin after spin, and this show a chance to see a DJ Mag cover star within the walls of what’s perhaps Tampa’s most legendary club.
This article appears in Aug 18-24, 2022.