Party 'til you drop

It's the run-up to Christmas, which means the boundaries between weekends and school nights blur into one long hedonistic marathon. In other words, it's silly season and all sorts of zany festive ideas pop up to get your ass out of the pub and shaking in the club.

The pick has to be the Xfm Remix/Wall Of Sound Xmas Special, which has probably assembled one of the finest line-ups London has ever seen, to, er, spell out the alphabet with - an artist for each letter playing a party choon. So that's 26 DJs with Arthur Baker kicking things off and Zoot Woman finishing, all in aid of homeless charity Shelter. In between there's Blak Twang, Coldcut, Gilles Peterson, Erol Alkan and Lottie. We'll leave you to work out who's doing X and Q.

According to the promoters of burlesque cabaret club night Lost Vagueness, it's the boys in particular who are digging the fixing-up and looking sharp: Prohibition-era gangster-style top hats and tails and an Adam Ant dopplegˆnger were sighted at their last event.

Lost Vagueness emerged from Glastonbury to become the focal point of the current burlesque frenzy. Expect cabaret, theatre, casinos, trapeze artists, stage shows, cancan girls and live bands in the imposing surroundings of the Coronet - which could have been purpose-built for Lost Vagueness. If you're wondering what to wear, don't hold back. The bigger and brasher, the better; though costumes are available to hire, too.

Fabric's line-up for its last Friday FabricLive of 2003 is as seductive as ever, with Adam 'We Want Your Soul' Freeland, Zinc (showcasing the breaks repertoire in his armoury) and Dynamite MC in Room One. Metalheadz take care of the d'n'b room with Goldie, Bailey (1Xtra), Storm and Total Science in tow. But it's Room Three that's most interesting as, for the first time, Orchestral World Groove takes on Swaraj.

These two nights have been flying the flag for more underground Asian sounds (breakbeat and electronica) since the late 1990s, and tomorrow you can find ADF's Sun J whipping up a sitar and guitar storm, Radio 1's effusive Bobby Friction playing anything from bhangra to hip hop, Orchestral World Groove's holistic mish-mash of global influences, and Swaraj's Sonik Gurus.

Independent record labels - especially for dance music - are labours of love. Fact. To make money out of an indie takes years of hard work and there are no guarantees, so you know those that do it are motivated by a love of music.

Colony Productions is one such imprint, admirably representing way-out, leftfield electronica - think a more warped Warp - and this weekend's Colony Wars brings together its artists, friends and like-minded people for a Christmas party. Judging by the calibre of guests, it seems Colony is held in high esteem, with the highlight a face-off between electro/techno fiend Radioactive Man and electro industrialist Bass Junkie. Warp and Colony's Cane performs live, and Wang's Lulu and ElectroElvis DJ.

Tonight and Sat, Lost Vagueness, Coronet, 26-28 New Kent Road SE1, tonight 7pm to 3am, Sat 7pm to 6am, tonight £25, Sat £35. Tel: 08700 601 793. Tube: Elephant & Castle

Tomorrow, FabricLive, Fabric, 77a Charterhouse Street EC1, £12, £10 concs. Tel: 020 7336 8898. Tube: Farringdon

Sat, Colony Wars, Egg, 5-13 Vale Royal, off York Way N7, 10pm to 6am, £8 adv, £12 door. Tel: 020 7609 8364. Tube: King's Cross