; highlighting
(setq erc-current-nick-highlight-type 'nick)
(setq erc-keywords '("whatever you want to highlight goes here"))

(setq erc-track-faces-priority-list
      '(erc-current-nick-face erc-keyword-face))
(setq erc-track-priority-faces-only 'all)

; disable tracking most events
(setq erc-track-exclude-types '("JOIN" "PART" "QUIT" "NICK" "MODE"))
(setq erc-track-use-faces t)