Going out: The best of what’s on this weekend

PICK OF THE WEEK 

OTHER VOICES

Dingle, Co Kerry, Various venues Friday-Sunday,

[ othervoices.ie ]

Other Voices has developed from a showcase for Irish musicians and bands to something else altogether. There are the stalwart evening gigs in Dingle’s St James Church (which, across this weekend, will include the likes of Lapsley, Jack Garratt, Low, Richard Hawley, Glen Hansard, Gaz Coombes, Gavin James, Otherkin, Ane Brun and Keaton Henson), but over the past three years, the event’s Music Trail has increased in profile and appeal to the point where many music lovers don’t even bother trying to blag a ticket to the church.

Other Voices isn’t all about music, though – voices speak as well as sing, and one of the best new-ish events on the programme is the Banter sessions, at which Irish Times music critic Jim Carroll sits down with a group of people and, well, chats naturally with them. The line-up for this year’s Banter includes music promoter Vince Power, musician Donal Lunny, photo- journalist Jean Curran, Sinn Féin councillor Eoin Ó Broin, film makers Conor Horgan and Katie Holly, and journalist/activist/ author Una Mullally.

FRIDAY

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Sugar Club Dublin 8pm €20

[ thesugarclub.com ]

Also Sat/Sun, Dublin; Thurs, Galway

Funk family group from Chicago – prepare to bop,  hop, skip and jump over the weekend. Special guests include Interskalactic (Friday), Ajo Arkestra (Saturday) and Manden Express (Sunday). There are also two all-ages family shows taking place  on Saturday and Sunday afternoon (2pm-5pm, €35/€27.50/€12.50/€10).

It’s a Wonderful Bleedin’ Life

Bewley’s Café Theatre. Ends Dec 19 1pm €8-€12 (light lunch €4)

[ bewleyscafetheatre.com ]

It’s almost a creative act of “re-gifting”, the many interpretations and retellings that have led us to find Georgie Travers in a bar in Howth. Vulnerable, on edge, and weighing up a series of disappointments while  he considers an awful course of action, the protagonist of Gary Duggan’s seasonal drama can be traced back to Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas classic, certainly, but more squarely to that film’s inspiration, a short story by Philip Van Doren Sterns called The Greatest Gift, which was itself inspired by a dream the author had reminiscent of A Christmas Carol. Here

Duggan directs Stephen Kelly as Travers and Gerard Byrne as an oddball straggler to help review his life and consider a better future.

Octave One

District 8 Dublin 11pm

€18/€15

[ octaveone.com ]

As Octave One, Lenny and Lawrence Burden have been producing pristine, groundbreaking sounds since I Believe appeared on a 10 Records introduction to techno’s new school back in 1990. Since then, the duo – along with a supporting cast of up to three other brothers on occasions – have released many fine cuts. Aside from the blockbuster Black Water, check out some of their mid-1990s releases for 430 West for size, while their live show continues to thrill. Support tonight from Giles Armstrong.

Sam Binga

The Pav Cork 11pm €10

[ facebook.com/sambingamusic ]

Bristol producer Sam Binga has become one of the leading lights when it comes to electronic music which ups the tempo. Blending juke, jungle, footwork, crunk, dancehall and drum’n’bass, Binga’s recent EPs like Nuh Chat and TransAtlantic are chockablock with tracks which are meatier and heavier than anything else around. Support from Mike Fate and Jonezy.

SATURDAY 

Young Hearts Run Free’s Annual Yule 

The CO-OP, 12 Newmarket, D8. €22,

[ youngheartsrunfree.ie  ]

Dublin-based collective Young Hearts Run Free (which has been putting on music and literary events in aid of the Simon Community since 2008) roll out the red carpet once again. Tonight’s performers include Dónal Lunny (right), Paddy Hanna, Land Lovers, Switzerland, The Mess Around, DJ Dandelion, White Collar Boy, Women’s Christmas, Mossy Nolan & Colm McGowan, Stephen James Smith, Young Hearts DJs, and esteemed DJ Dandelion.

Belfast Music Club

The Hudson Belfast 6pm Adm free

[ belfastmusicclub.com ]

2016 is gearing up to be a busy year for David Holmes with the release of an album from his new project, Unloved. Tonight, though, he’s at the helm for Belfast Music Club’s fifth birthday bash, with special guest Noel Watson, a name which should be familiar to all observers of dance music and club culture history. Along with his brother Maurice, Watson was one of the key names in London’s club evolution, with the Belfast natives introducing house music to the UK capital at nights such as Delirium and dodging bottles from angry punters while they were at it. Holmes and Watson are joined tonight by Berlin selector Mo Probs.

Scuba

€15/€12

[ facebook.com/OfficialScuba ]

Paul Rose’s work, both in and out of the studio, has always been highly distinctive.

Under his guidance, the Hotflush label has been a key indicator of shifting moods and perceptions in the underground, though his releases as Scuba have been the most insightful of all. Albums such as Personality, Triangulation and this year’s Claustrophobia are full of great, instinctive tracks that know exactly what will move bodies on the dancefloor, but his sound design moves of late have also been impeccable.

LUDO

Aideen Barry, Cabra Library, Navan Road, Dublin Until Dec 19

This year, Dublin City Council’s CAL (Children’s Art in Libraries) programme commissioned Aideen Barry to make a children’s exhibition.

An artist capable of entering into the imagination of  children, she is a great choice. She drew on responses by nine-year-olds to questions about their lives as part of the survey Growing Up in Ireland. The result is “a world, constructed out of paper, like a pop-up book or an origami object”, plus animated film and optical illusions, all addressing the light and the dark of young lives. AD Button Factory, Dublin 11pm

SUNDAY

Def Leppard/Whitesnake

3Arena Dublin 8pm €59.50 ticketmaster.ie Also Mon, Belfast

Pour Some Sugar On Me? Here I Go Again? Animal? Is This Love? Leppard  lead a double bill of old-school rock and roll with a bit of pop/metal thrown in for good measure? Form an orderly queue, ladies and gentleman. Special guests are Black Star Riders, who may add a classic Thin Lizzy song into the mix.