Friday
Lisa O'Neill
Coughlans, Cork 9pm
coughlans.ie
Cavan's Lisa O'Neill is a deceptive sort – at first glance, she could be mistaken for the shy singer-songwriter type. But When she steps on stage, a transformation takes place. Next thing you know you are transported to a magical land of the heart-stirring and the head-shaking.
Walk Under the Ladder
Dive Bar, Dublin 10.30pm €12/€10
It's Friday the 13th for all you magpie-watchers, and The Family Tree gather to battle the forces of superstition and shibboleths. The headliner is SNTS, the German techno producer whose releases for Horizontal Ground and his own label have showcased a fondness for dark, shadowy, compulsive sounds. Support comes from Jon Hussey (Komisch), Oli Drakford (Paradigm), Ngoni Egan and Dylan Stephenson (TMM/ Wunderground).
Techno & Cans
The Hangar, Dublin 10.30pm €15/€12/€10
Regal is tonight's big draw. Born in Italy and based in Madrid, Gabriel Cassina has enjoyed recognition for his tough techno released on his own Involve label. The latest EP, Salie, is full of the kind of big-room techno that has contributed to Cassina's growing reputation. Support from Theologue and Eoin Donovan.
Gary Peacock/Marc Copland/Joey Baron
Kevin Barry Room, NCH 7.30pm €30
nch.ie
Bassist Gary Peacock is many things: an innovator on his instrument, a key figure in the US avant-garde, and a collaborator with such giants of the piano as Bill Evans and Paul Bley. But he is best known as one third of the peerless Keith Jarrett trio. Peacock's own trio, with Marc Copland on piano and Joey Baron on drums, is no second fiddle. An intimate, up-close way to experience a master at work.
Pretty Beast
Grand Social, Dublin €10 8pm
thegrandsocial.ie
Fresh off a stint filming in Las Vegas for the video for their new single Afraid to Remember, Dublin four piece Pretty Beast headline a bill, with support from This Other Kingdom and Farah Elle.
Saturday
Telephones
Pallas Studios & Bar Tengu, Dublin from 2pm; and from 10pm. €10/€5
thisistelephones.com
Two parties on one day as Telephones kick off a series of monthly summer sessions. Telephones, a collaboration between Discotekken's Louis Scully and The Locals' John Mahon, will feature a daytime party in the old schoolyard of Pallas Studios in the Coombe before moving the whole kit and caboodle to Bar Tengu on the quays when the sun goes down. DJs will spin disco, soul, Afrobeat, R&B, 1980s pop, house, Italo and more in both locations.
Twitch
The Bunatee, Belfast 10pm £10
twitchbelfast.com
Straight out of New Jersey, DJ Qu is the go-to guy for no-drama, quality deep house music. The man born Ramon Quezada has released a run of great releases on his Strength Music label over the past decade; new album Conjure, a follow-up to Gynmastics (2011) will arrive later this month. As a DJ who was informed by clubs as Wild Pitch and Zanzibar, Qu has a great sense of the soul and substance required to keep a party buzzing. Support from the Twitch residents.
Ewan MacIntyre
Áras Éanna, Inis Oírr, Árainn, Co na Gaillimhe 7pm €12/€6
araseanna.ie
Scottish composer/musician Ewan MacIntyre is no stranger to Ireland – his former band, the award-winning Edinburgh collective Southern Tenant Folk Union, has visited the country many times. MacIntyre, now solo, will this week and next revisit old haunts in order to plug his nicely titled debut solo EP, You Probably Look Better Naked Anyway.
Republik
Project, Waterford 11pm €15/€12
André Boadu has been one dude to watch since he first arrived on the scene as &ME. Releases for labels such as Kompakt, International Deejay Gigolo, Saved and Keinemusik have ensured that an &ME release gets treated with all due respect and attention. He has also worked on releases with Fetisch as Terranova and collaborated with producer Rampa and singer Nomi on the NR& project. If its soulful house and techno music with a blue- chip edge you're after, you're in the right place.
Shakespeare: Here and Elsewhere
DLR Lexicon, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin €5 2pm
info@ria.ie
Prof Mark Thornton Burnett leads an afternoon of Shakespeare, starting with a lecture on Shakespeare in film and Northern Ireland – Hamlet was filmed there in 2005, and Mickey B/Macbeth (2006) was shot in HMP Maghaberry with some of its prisoners. He also reckons Game of Thrones is a "hyper-adaptation of Shakespeare that has provided an alternative set of Northern Irish geographies in the popular consciousness". The second part focuses on Shakespeare and world cinema, assuming the GoT fans don't hijack the whole thing.
Sunday
Out On A Western Plain
Custom House Studios, Westport, Co Mayo Until May 29
customhousestudios.ie
Michael McLaughlin's latest work focuses on the American southwest, inspired by the great US landscape photographers of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Timothy O'Sullivanand Ansel Adams. The product of a road trip through the deserts of Nevada to the Canyons of Utah and the vast wilderness of Yosemite, these 17 images might just rival the landscape outside the gallery.
