No such thing as an 'off' night at pumping Baltic Room

The Baltic Room is about as close as Capitol Hill gets, stylistically as well as geographically, to Belltown. The crowd here tends to be quite fashionable, men and women looking like they walked out of magazine pictures into the Pine Street club; even so, there is only a hint of the glam attitude (glamitude?) that comes in such big doses in your Tia Lou's and Club Medusa's.

Most of the Baltic Room patrons come not to see and be seen, not to score "digits" and "hook up" (although if that happens, well, who's complaining?), but because of the music. The DJ's here — and, on the "Jumbalaya" Friday nights (9 p.m., $10), live musicians — regularly pump out some of the most fascinating, forward-pushing music around town.

Any club can have a nice show on the weekend; what sets the Baltic Room apart — one of the things, that is, as this is a marvelous little spot — is that it has exciting, vibrant music shows on typically "off" nights.

On Tuesdays, the classy club at the foot of the hill goes jungle, hosting Sugarshack's drum-and-bass night; at five-plus years, this is one of the longest-running — and most consistently top-notch — shows around Seattle.

The music is fast and thumping, a high beats-per-minute version of techno, with hyper-kinetic drums and wonked-out bass; and, generally, D&B beat-makers like Roni Size, Goldie, Dieselboy and the Jungle Brothers are much more creative than techno/house producers. (Although I'm sure I'll get huge arguments on that point.) Touring DJs from the States and England often sit in for these nights.

Monday nights belong to the "I Heart Shiva" crew, who spin music based around the "Bollywood" Indian film soundtracks. Saturday night, the Baltic celebrated the first anniversary of its Shiva productions, and the room was packed, three deep at the bar, the dance floor swirling to the intoxicating music — ranging from high-pitched traditional songs to house and hip-hop inspired Eastern jams.

With percussionist William Gilchrist adding a live level playing the tablas (Indian hand-drums), blond bombers mixed with Bombay brunettes, varying shades of white and brown skins gliding across the club.

Fridays continue to be a fantastic kick, with Reggie Watts — when he's not touring with Maktub — leading the Jumbalaya live hip-hop/soul night.

On top of the regular entrees, the Baltic Room has some spectacular daily specials. Check out Thursday's double-take inducing headliner: Grandmaster Flash (9 p.m., $20).

That's right, the Flash himself, the beyond-superstar DJ who helped push hip-hop out of the underground into your living room.

After emigrating from Barbados, he started spinning records at block parties in the Bronx. By the time the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" broke hip-hop into the mainstream, Grandmaster Flash was spinning behind Kurtis Blow and the Furious Five — Melle Mel, Rahiem and company.

No disrespect to the Sugarhill Gang, but this was the real deal. Flash and the Furious Five broke big with a few hits, notably "The Message" and the anti-cocaine "White Lines." Great lyrics, tight rapping, mad beats.

"The first record to turn me on to hip-hop was 'The Message,' " DJ Shadow once said — something many others would second.

Flash is credited with originating many of the turntable techniques that have become hip-hop staples, such as scratching and breaking beats. His supergroup busted up in the mid-'80s, and Grandmaster Flash has been relatively quiet since. Now, he's on the comeback trail, with a couple of mix albums released in the past few years.

• Baltic sequel: The owners of the Baltic Room are opening a new lounge/bar in Belltown, Battery Bar, on Second Avenue just off Battery Street. Linda Derschang says she and her partners (who with her turned the Breakroom into Chop Suey, which they recently sold) plan to open in mid-August, and that Battery Bar will have "an intimate, sexy vibe."

The new place is two doors down from the recently renovated — that hardly tells the story, perhaps "rehabilitated" is better — Rendezvous, so there should be some excellent synergism between the two.

• Graceland, usually the rockingest-club around, throws down some hip-hop with veterans the Jungle Brothers and Black Sheep headlining, and the b-boy crew Massive Monkees and DJ Vitamin D representing the local scene, on Tuesday (9 p.m., $15).

Back to normal the next night, when the dis-banding Dismemberment Plan headlines on Wednesday and Thursday ($12 each night), billed as the long-running D.C. experimental-pop band's last Seattle shows.

• Georgetown's latest — and potentially greatest — music venue, Studio Seven, has its liquor license in place. The metal-punk club will still be open to all ages, with a separate bar area.

Tom Scanlon: tscanlon@seattletimes.com