Friday
Marcellus Pittman
Wah Wah Club Dublin 11pm €10/€8
soundcloud.com/marcellus-pittman
Detroit calling. Marcellus Pittman is a Motor City veteran, a producer who has been throwing down tough, rugged, crunchy tracks since his releases for Theo Parrish's Sound Signature label back when he was starting his run. Along the way, Pittmann has put out plenty of keepers, including releases for such labels as FXHE and his own Unirhythm as well as the Three Chairs supergroup with Moodymann, Parrish and Rick Wilhite.
Left
Society Belfast 10pm £8/£6
A busy night in store for the Left crew with Hamburg DJ Holger Behn, aka HOSH, at the top of the bill. Clubwise, HOSH has held down well-regarded residencies at such influential European clubs as Watergate in Berlin, Studio 80 in Amsterdam and Ego in Hamburg. Support from Ubblahkan, Hammo + Tumen, Richie Blacker and Sean Munn.
Marquis Hawkes
Pygmalion Dublin 10pm €10
Marquis Hawkes came up trumps with his Social Housing debut album earlier this year. The producer, born Mark Hawkins, has been slinging raw, striking vintage-as-new house tracks our way for a time, via releases for Houndstooth, Clone, Aus and Crème Organization. He's someone with a finely tuned sense of how to deploy and calibrate influences and references from classic US house into the sort of grooves which can work wonders on the dancefloors of today. Support from Colin Perkins.
Huw Warren
Triskel Christchurch, Cork (Friday); Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin (Sunday)
Welsh pianist Huw Warren is a musician of catholic tastes, equally at home running with the avant garde hare or hunting with the mainstream hounds. He wowed the Triskel audience last year as one third of the utterly wonderful Quercus trio with singer June Tabor and saxophonist Iain Ballamy. Now he returns alone for the latest in the piano solo series breaking in the Triskel's new Steinway.
Luck Just Kissed You Hello
Everyman Theatre. Nov 4-5 8pm €20/€18; everymancork.com;
Axis, Ballymun. Nov 8-9 8pm €18/€12; axisballymun.ie
A family drama that unfurls like a mystery story, Amy Conroy's 2015 play, revived for a national tour, puts three figures into a hospital room, preparing a eulogy for a father's inevitable demise. It's an evocative juncture for the long-estranged next of kin, Mark - played by Conroy – a trans man named in the will as his daughter Laura, now tasked with finding shape within a painful past in order to prepare for the future. He is joined by his twin, Gary (Will O'Connell), a successful gay businessman, and Sullivan (Mark Fitzgerald), a blokeishly uncomplicated friend. Conroy's performance subtly 'acts male' in a show that is more engaged with how men act than specifically transgender politics: the characters suggest a spectrum of masculinity where Mark might locate himself. That limits some characters to 'types' rather than people, but it poses fascinating questions about gender and the making of a man.
Saturday
VUE – National Contemporary Art Fair
Sample work from most of the country's major contemporary art galleries (Adm free Until November 6) Rudolf Heltzel: Celebrating 50 years in Ireland (Until November 6) RHA Gallagher Gallery, 15 Ely Place, Dublin rhagallery.ie
A chance to do a whirlwind tour of the vast majority of the country's contemporary art galleries in one convenient location, with a wealth of work on view. As usual, the Irish Arts Review will be there and this year IMMA is represented. Coinciding with VUE, the peerless jewellery-maker and designer Rudolf Heltzel has a show celebrating his 50 years in Ireland since he arrived to set up the gold and silver studio-workshops at Kilkenny Design Workshops.
Alle Farben
Wigwam Dublin 11pm €16/€14
Last seen in these parts over the summer at Castlepalooza, German DJ and producer Alle Farben (left) has spent a lot of this year introducing folks to his latest album Music Is My Best Friend. The follow-up to 2014's Synesthesia, it's another example of the man born Frans Zimmer's sure touch when it comes to infectious house tunes with a poppy edge, as tracks like Please Tell Rosie show. Support from Ian Alvey.
TechnoBash!
Wiley Fox Dublin 11pm €20/€15
From Sao Paulo by way of Berlin, PETDuo will provide the capital a blast of hard techno on this visit. Anne Gelfei and David Merlino have been working together for the guts of two decades, wowing clubs and festivals worldwide with thrills and spills on decks, mixers and effects. Their Cause label has showcased the work of tech producers like DJ Rush, Ben Long, Svetec and O.B.I., while the D&A Music imprint is looking to see what tech can do for their sound. Support from Tony D, Mark Greene and Arte Artur.
Sunday
Peaches
Academy Dublin 8pm €22.90
ticketmaster.ie
Toronto-born musician, songwriter and cross-gender performer, Peaches (once known to her school principal as Merrill Nisker) is one of music's true originals, and so alongside the blur of male/female distinctions you'll get electro-shock tunes as sturdy as the Forth Bridge and as in-your-face as Batman's codpiece. Yes, we like Peaches, we do.
Remembering Louis
JJ Smyths, Aunger St, from 4.30pm, No CC,
jjsmyths.com
The upstairs room at JJ Smyths was Louis Stewart's natural habitat, and the legendary venue (soon to be closed, if unconfirmed rumours of its demise prove true) is throwing open its doors for a day of music in celebration of the life and music of Ireland's great jazz musician, who died in August. Performers include long-standing colleagues of the much-lamented guitarist, including pianist Jim Doherty, bassist Dave Fleming, saxophonist Richie Buckley, and vocalist Honor Heffernan.
