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Despite the hordes of electronic dance music artists living and working out of Berlin -- natives and foreign transplants alike -- few embody the spirit and sound of Berlin's contemporary EDM scene as fully as DJ/producer Cassy. Born Catherine Britton in England to a Caribbean father and Austrian mother, Cassy got her start performing as a guest vocalist on Elin's "Music Takes Me Higher" on Sabotage Records in 1999. Soon after she got bit by the techno bug and began honing her skills behind the decks.

By 2003 she made the move to Berlin, where she's staked her reputation as one of the city's most formidable DJs and most forward-thinking producers, with releases on the Cocoon, Minus, Get Physical, and Perlon imprints. Blending elegant atmospheric textures with understated rhythms and a distinctive soulful vocal style, Cassy sounds something like a futuristic minimal techno Sade. Her residencies at the esteemed Berghain and Panorama Bar nightclubs have made her a staple of Berlin's late-night scene, and in 2006 she was invited to mix Panorama Bar's debut club offering. Fast-forward to 2009 and Cassy is once again spearheading a new compilation mix, In the Mix - Simply Devotion, this time for the prestigious Cocoon label, and supported by a North American tour that fortunately for us includes a stop by the Electric Pickle on Saturday. This one's an early bird special starting in the afternoon, so be sure you make it in time for Cassy's set!

Cassy at Electric Pickle, with Will Renuart, Alejandro Sab, Michael Christopher and Basti. Saturday, November 21. 4 p.m.-10:30 p.m. 2826 N. Miami Ave., Miami.  

Check out Crossfade's brief Q&A with Cassy after the jump.

If you thought that the fact he's only 6 phone calls away from everyone in the world made Kevin Bacon cool, prepare to be blown away. He sings. He and brother Michael (can someone start a 7 degrees of Michael Bacon meme, please) have been performing as The Bacon Brothers all of their lives, but professionally since 1995. While the folk country rock duo may not have crossed your radar yet, they're playing at the historic Lyric Theatre (59 SW Flagler Ave.) Sunday at 4 and 7 p.m. Click here to get acquainted with their sound and here to get reacquainted with Kevin dancing in skinny jeans.

Unmitigated cool never goes outta style. Ever. Especially when said cool comes from one of the originators. See then it's something at once insidious and divine, a thing in and of itself, unexplainable, indefinable and blessed beyond belief.

That kinda cool also tends to be highly emulated. And no one was perhaps more emulated throughout the Swingin' '60s than a dame named Ronnie Spector, front chick of The Ronettes. The beehives, the tight skirts, the black slashes of heavy eyeliner, all spoke bad girl in a time when there really wasn't such a thing. And Ronnie's gang set the stage for all the good female trouble to come.

After Ronnie hooked up and marryied Phil Spector back in '63, she and the Ronettes had a run of Top 40 hits which included "Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You," as well as a slate of Christmas classics that still get played to this day. But by the end of the decade their star had faded and Phil had pretty much lost his mind.

I'm going to resist the urge to use the name of this weekend's festival in question in some ill-conceived pun or a shoddy play on words, and just power through right into the info you seek. I'm also going to try to ignore that little bit of track music that begins to wrack my head from within at the mere mention of this name--you know the one, that incredibly annoying salsa loop that plays any time E, Bravo, Travel, FLN, Food Network or any other cable network does a show in Miami.

Because let's face it. Caliente Music Festival sounds damned corny. But the lineup is smokin' (...damnit, I couldn't resist). Legendary Colombian salsa group Grupo Niche, the "Pavarotti" of salsa Tito Nieves, one of Santo Domingo's greatest merengue exports Hector Acosta "El Torito," and Jerry Rivera, the man behind hits like "Amores Como el Nuestro" and "Cara de Nio," all under one roof? Dare I say that roof will be on fire? No. No, I don't. And I'm ashamed for even attempting it.

Calliente! Music Festival takes place on Saturday, November 21 at 7:00pm in American Airlines Arena. Tickets run $35--103.

The Golden Filter's take on late-'70s downtown glitz has taken Manhattan's club scene (and the blogosphere) by storm. Consisting of record producer Stephen and vocalist Penelope, the duo is notable for its chilly arpeggios, pulsating beats, and plush vocals -- as well as their elusive personas. (No, those aren't their full names.)

What is known about the Ohio-born knob-twister and the Australian chanteuse is that they met in New York through a mutual appreciation for photography. After putting out a sensational debut single, the disco-noir cut "Solid Gold," the Golden FIlter cemented its reputation with brilliant nu disco remixes of Cut Copy's "Far and Away" and Peter, Bjorn and John's "Lay It Down." Couple that with a successful opening slot for the Presets on a recent North American tour, as well as a highly anticipated follow-up single "Thunderbird." In its physical form, it's a limited-edition 12-inch with a glittering disco-pop cover of The White Stripes' "The Hardest Button To Button" on the B-side. 

Crossfade caught up with the enigmatic duo by e-mail a day after they played Iceland's Airwaves Festival. Read the Q&A after the jump.

The Golden Filter. Saturday, December 5. Poplife at Electric Pickle, 2826 N. Miami Ave. Doors open at 10 p.m., tickets cost $10 in advance from wantickets.com. Ages 21+ with ID. 305-456-5613; epoplife.com

One of the most tragicomic moments in the 2004 Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster features not the band itself, but rather Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. In an touchy-feely, on-camera counseling session, Mustaine reveals some seemingly major inferiority issues to Metallica's drummer Lars Ulrich. He even seems to come uncomfortably close to tears as he recalls how fans, in the '80s, would yell "Metallica!" at him on the streets.