CLUBS : All the Right Grooves : B-Side, formerly Shhh! at the Viper Room, has what the customers want, including deejay Scott Oster.

Young promoter Shane Powers debuted Shhh!, a late-night Wednesday dance party at the Viper Room, in March. Things got so raucous, though, that he cranked up the volume and recently changed the name to B-Side.

Powered by deejay Scott Oster--who also works the Lingerie on Tuesdays and the Playroom on Thursdays--this smoldering hump-day funk fest offers a good night of dancing for those who want some midnight aerobics. As with all “scene”-type affairs, the campers don’t really arrive until it’s technically Thursday (though early arrivals are likely to pay a cheaper cover charge) and about that time, the music is an oozing, grooving blend of contemporary hip-hop and ‘70s soul.

Powers, who worked for promoter Brent Bolthouse for a couple of years before going solo in ‘97, was also behind such dance clubs as Karma at the Opium Den and Purgatory on San Vicente Boulevard. It’s nice to see this up-and-comer graduating to the Sunset Strip. The decision to employ Oster was a wise one; he knows a thing or two about keeping people happy on the dance floor.

From the moment you climb the Viper’s stairwell, you can’t help but get your boogie on. On a recent Wednesday just before midnight, Janet Jackson was breathily crooning, “That’s the way love goes. . . .” By the looks of the dance floor, love was in the air, as couples lapped it up and slinked along to the beat. Oster then switched gears ever so subtly into the head-trip musings of vintage A Tribe Called Quest--always a good choice when you’re trying to inspire some funky flavor. Oster kept dipping back and forth between the more commercial hip-hop of Mase and other Puffy-produced artists and obscure rare groove tracks, all to good effect.

What makes B-Side a scene with at least a modest future in the competitive dance club market is its ability to appeal to a wide-ranging group of club-goers. In an arena that’s often homogenized, B-Side’s appeal stretches beyond the typical Hollywood 20-something set and, instead, hooks in an array of music lovers.

B-Side’s clientele is multiracial, multi-generational (Gen X and Gen Y, anyway) and multi-spasal (there are more than six degrees of separation between those who can dance and those who can’t here). Among B-Side’s admirers are the members of Korn, who showed up about a month ago and didn’t hesitate to get down, and Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst and girl pal Carmen Electra, who revealed that she can still do the hustle.

All in all, B-Side’s place in the scheme of Hollywood things is somewhere between a whisper and a howl--not exactly a bad position in a club scene that thrives on discreetness and overexposure.

BE THERE

B-Side (formerly Shhh!), Wednesdays, at the Viper Room, 8852 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 358-1881. 21 and over, $3 to $5 cover.