Monday night is typically the deadest night of the week for night clubs, yet DJ Casp3R has managed to build a loyal following over the past three years with his Monday Night ReToXx dance parties, originally at the Cardiff Lounge in Campbell, now at Johnny V’s in downtown San Jose.

He also hosts TH3RMAL on Thursdays with ViLLAN at Fahrenheit. Here are his his favorite dance tracks of 2013:

The Bangerz – “Stars”
By far, one of my favorite high-energy rager tracks of the year. It’s catchy, melodic and just an explosion of energy after the buildup. Personally, I’m a big fan of songs that can change into a down-tempo beat and then bring the energy right back up seamlessly, and this one has that in spades. The whole album is fantastic, and I really can’t wait to see the live show in Vegas.

In 1997, Latyrx’s debut Latyrx (The Album) changed the very idea of what Bay Area underground hip-hop could sound like. Fifteen years later, Lyrics Born is still changing minds and waking up ears as a solo artist, and still working with the other half of the Latyrx duo, Lateef the Truthspeaker, who guests on his new mixtape, Variety Show Season Five.

Set to drop at the end of this month, Season Five is unlike any of Lyrics Born’s previous Variety Show mixes. All of the remixes are two-step and boogie, mixed by DJ Icewater. The Japanese-born, Berkeley-raised rapper revisits songs like “Later That Day,” “As You Were,” “Overnight Encore,” and “The Bay.”

Besides his former partner in Latryx, Lyric Born’s guests on the new one include Far East Movement’s Proh, Sam Sparro (their collaboration “Coulda Woulda Shoulda” is mashed up here with Teena Marie’s “Square Biz”), Trackademicks, Francis & the Lights and more.

Lyrics Born plays Club Fox in Redwood City on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 9pm; $20.

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