Bucking the trend

Red Alert is synonymous with an all-over-the-place playlist (past guests include Lemon Jelly, Audio Bullys and Roots Manuva) and this ethos remains intact: the launch night brings cheeky, twisted electro from Keith Tenniswood (Two Lone Swordsmen), electronic beats and visual treats from Ninja Tune's AV agitators Hexstatic, Red Snapper drummer/producer Richard Thair, Groove Armada's percussionist extraordinaire Patrick Dawes and Don Letts with punk and reggae. Future Red Alert nights feature Jazzy B and Soul II Soul (Jun 19) and Grand Central's Mark Rae (Jun 26).

Summer in the city - and London in particular - wouldn't be complete without lazing in a park, swimming in a lido and wobbling a night away on a boat chugging along the Thames. There could be few better choices for wigging out in full view of Westminster than the Batmacumba Summer Boat Party, which has proved so popular (July's sold out in a flash) that another's scheduled for Saturday.

Batmacumba is, of course, the club night which has been flying the flag for Brazilian music since waaaaay before its renaissance in recent years. On Saturday, the respected bossa jazz crew Jazzinho perform live with beguiling vocalist Guida De Palma. DJ support comes from Batmacumba main man Cliffy, playing anything from classic bossa nova to Latin funk and more contemporary styles (d'n'b, sambadriven soul and broken beats), which proved such a fillip in postmillennium clubland.

There's something to be said for kicking off the weekend on a Thursday: for a start, you don't get half as wrecked as you do on Fridays when the working week is over; it's less hectic but still buzzing; and it's when some of the capital's more alluring club nights take place, like

Druzzi's (Baltimore Rave Club).

Druzzi's... is about electro, punk funk and acid house but also encourages DJs to dust off records which don't get an airing at weekends. Residents are the Gucci Soundsystem (Ben Rymer of electropunkers Fat Truckers and Riton). This week's guests include Erol Alkan, who's as adept with urban pop (Beyonce, N*E*R*D) as dirty, shimmering electro and pioneering 'bastard pop'/bootleg duo 2manyDJs.

Fancy yourself as a producer? Then get down to tonight's CDR at that consistent supporter of upandcoming music, Plastic People. CDR is an excellent idea, providing a platform to the legion of bedroom producers burrowing away on PlayStations, PCs and Macs hoping to emulate The Neptunes. It's the brainchild of Attica Blues' Tony Nwachukwu and budding producers are asked to submit demos before 10pm to be played on one of the capital's finest soundsystems before the audience decides which is best. Now that's democracy.

Tonight, CDR, Plastic People, Curtain Road EC1, 9pm to 2am, free. Tel: 020 7739 6471. Tube: Old Street

Sat, Batmacumba Summer Boat Party, Westminster Pier SW1, 8.30pm to 1am, £15 adv. Tel: 020 7930 3647. Tube: Westminster

Sat, Red Alert, Islington Academy, N1 Centre, 16 Parkfield Street N1, 10pm to 4am, £8 before 1am, £10 after. Tel: 020 7288 4400. Tube: Angel