Awesome Tapes from Africa | Thu 29 Mar | Hare & Hounds | £11
Now this is a truly unique proposition: a celebration of rare musical gems unearthed amongst marketplaces dotted around West Africa. DJ Brian Shimkovitz was first swept up in West Africa’s cassette culture while on a Fulbright scholarship in Ghana, quickly becoming hooked on the raw, passionate music made by the local Ghanaian musicians. Having whet his appetite, Shimkovitz immersed himself in this exciting new sonic territory, exploring Africa’s take on genres as diverse as hip hop, disco and soul. In electronic music, there’s a lot of talk about obscure dubplates, but believe us when we say you’ll never hear this music anywhere else. See our feature here. www.skiddle.com

GLAS Easter Rave | Sun 1 Apr | Lab11 | £22.25
Finish your egg hunts, don your Easter bonnets and head down to Lab11 for GLAS’s annual Resurrection Sunday bash. As ever, this is a day-night affair chock full of big tunes, balmy spring vibes and a whole host of world class selectors to soundtrack it all, with versatile DJ and producer Toddla T taking charge alongside uplifting house extraordinaire Sam Divine, refined mixing wizard Doorly and UK bass heavyweight Cause & Affect. This is every Brummie raver’s first stop on their journey to a hazy summer of daytime drinking and sun-soaked skanking, so, assuming hay fever isn’t already giving you gyp, head on down and start your summer right. www.skiddle.com

Sub Focus | Fri 30 Mar | Boxxed | from £22
Drum & bass superstar Sub Focus, aka Nicolaas Douwma, comes to Birmingham with a gaggle of other rowdy selectors in tow – including Holy Goof, Friction and Darkzy – who arrive ready to shake the foundations of Boxxed with their volcanic, bass-heavy music. Yes, this is an aggressive line-up, but with Sub Focus at the helm there’s still bound to be plenty of variety on show: Douwma’s music is made for the internet generation, an audience with little regard for genre boundaries, who like their music served with lashings of just about everything. This is bass music with a twist. www.skiddle.com

Afta Dark: Opening Party | Sun 1 Apr | TWENTY2 | Membership
Brand new after-hours crack-on Afta Dark meets brand new venue TWENTY2. Finishing up at 9am, this is for the true zealots amongst the raving congregation, the fiends who prostrate themselves on the altar of dance music, live for the weekend, dream of the eternal sesh… Secrecy is the name of the game here, so there’s a strict no-photos rule (stickers to cover your phone camera will be provided), and you’re not getting in unless you apply to become a member (which you can do here). Remember, what happens at Afta Dark stays at Afta Dark – which is probably for the best.