Workman’s Club, Dublin Tonight 11pm €14 01-6706692; The Pavilion, Cork Tomorrow 11pm €10 021-4276230
Darkstar's Northalbum was another sign of dubstep's expansionist tendencies in 2010. Magentic Man may have taken the sound into the arenas and large halls and James Blake may have demonsrated its more cerebral side, but Darkstar producers James Young and Aiden Whalley and vocalist James Buttery were flying a much different flag. In their hands, dubstep became an art-pop sound with oodles of potential. Northrewarded every single listen, an album composed of beautifully rendered atmospherics, slow- motion, dramatic sounds and twinkling electro-pop nuggets. It also saw The Human League recast as dubstep pioneers via a lovely version of You Remind Me of Gold.
Support in Dublin from Redneck Manifesto synth offshoot VisionAir and Today FM’s Donal Dineen. Jonesy and Ninjabit do the warming up in Cork, where the show is part of the Pavilion’s Dirty Weekender.
CAN'T SEE THAT? CATCH THIS
Berghain style with Ben Klock(Fri, Cork); Egyptian Loverbrings the seminal electro hip-hop bounce to the Grand Social (Fri, Dublin); and don't miss three appointments with Mr Scruff(Fri, Dublin; Sat, Galway; Sun, Cork)
