Fri, 11pm, Volar Volar's monthly bass line night Hype Nasty - hosted by the irrepressible duo Kid Fresh and DJ Enso - returns tomorrow night with Trouble & Bass impresario Drop the Lime headlining. Luca Venezia (above) is the ebullient 26-year-old behind the moniker. A disciple of heavy bass, he exploded onto the music blogosphere in 2006, notably with grimy techno album We Never Sleep. Venezia was on a mission to paint underground dance music with a coat of old rave - sometimes dunking it in non-electronic sounds such as rockabilly - and remarket the product to New York City's club kids. On his MySpace profile, Drop the Lime cites artistic influences running from Brian Eno through to Aphex Twin and Damien Hirst. He says his sound is like 'New York City breathing'. Major Lazer's Diplo and Switch have called him 'the Elvis Presley of dance music'. As well as smashing up parties solo, the DJ often crusades as one of the Trouble & Bass crew, who run an influential club night in New York and, as a label, represent dark internet darlings such as Star Eyes, Jinder and Acid Jacks. A diehard New Yorker and Sicilian-American, Venezia draws from both sides of his heritage. His sound seems to pit Manhattan's hyperactivity against the soulfulness of southern Italy at times - as in his recent club hit Devil's Eyes - when laying raw, jangly bass under pleading vocals. Venezia's musical backbone was forged in a high school gospel choir (Alicia Keys was also a member) and as part of a Sonic Youth-influenced rock band called Out of Whack. As a child, he wooed primary school crushes with mixtapes and indulged in 1950s rock'n'roll. During an interview with Last.fm in 2008, Venezia recalled his electronic music epiphany, which launched a determined but staggered journey to the underground. At a Chemical Brothers rave in Brooklyn, he was seized by the visceral nature of the event as compared to a rock concert: 'Being able to experience the music aurally and physically, feeling the weight of the bass, was so different ... I was just like, 'Wow, I really need to be part of this.'' Drop the Lime lands in Hong Kong on a 34-city summer tour called Worldwide Bass Invasion. If the fever is right - he was recently named the 'most blogged artist on the planet' by super blog Hype Machine - you'll want to be part of this too. Basement 38-44 D'Aguilar Street, Central, free (members), HK$300 (non-members, includes two drinks). Inquiries: 28101510
