Weekender : |wiːkˈɛndə|– noun – what to do in Dublin this weekend.
SLEATER-KINNEY
Thursday 26 March | Vicar Street | 8pm, €30
Sleater-Kinney’s welcome return to action gave new life to the phrase ‘near decade long hiatus’ and to rock and roll music in general. A once in a life-time band have defied the odds and become a twice in a life-time band, reforming to make No Cities To Love, a record as pertinent and vital as those made before they did non S-K things for nine years. Fronted by twin rasping vocalist/guitarists Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker and held together one of the best drummers in rock music in Janet Weiss, Sleater-Kinney are a vicious livewire of taut adrenaline, angst and awesomeness.
CLOUD CASTLE LAKE
Friday 27 March | Workman’s Club | 8pm, €12.50
London buses, yadda yadda yadda: You wait years for Cloud Castle Lake to release something and no sooner than they release their excellent debut EP Dandelion, than they’ve followed it up with a belting single in Glacier, which hasn’t so much as expanded their pallet as it has smushed it all over the canvas, bringing in hints of Jaki Liebezeit drums under the spaciousness of late-era Talk Talk and a smattering of My Bloody Valentine for good measure. Workman’s will be rammed for these hometown faves so get on it early.
THE GIRL WHO BELIEVED IN MAGIC
Saturday 28 March – Saturday 11 April | Project Arts Centre | 7.30pm, €18/16
Created and performed by Julie Feeney, directed by Mikel Murfi and with costumery by Umit Kutluk, The Girl Who Believed In Magic is a crossover of music and theatre that looks sure to be a roaring success. Feeney is known for her unique creative approach having worked with a huge variety of ensembles and performed solo (and is even in the process of composing an opera), and this collaborative show at the Project seems destined to be as idiosyncratic as the rest of her oeuvre. There are additional 9.30pm performances on Fridays and Saturdays during the run.
OUT TO LUNCH
Saturday 28 March | Yamamori Sushi, Ormond Quay| 9pm, €10/13
Con Artist and Major Problems love good party split over two floors, as we know from their Forza days. This time its a new venue for them in the back of Yamamori Sushi, better known as Bar Tengu. There’s a 4-hour epic set from Traxx while in Ping Pong there’s sets from Morgan Buckley (responsible for a cracking EP called Shout Out To All The Weirdos In Rathmines last year) and Lambo and Lolz from Galway, as well as Yamamori grub, cocktails (try the whiskey sours) and filthy gossip all night long. Tickets here.
The Discotekken Space Jam Party w/ Space Dimension Controller
Saturday 28 March | The Sugar Club | 9pm €15
Discotekken are at it again, livening up the Dublin club scene with their own brand of nostalgically themed yet forward thinking club nights. This time a slew of phenomenal, vinyl spinning, local talent along with much lauded nordie house mon-star ,Space Dimension Controller, will be leading us down the rabbit hole into Tune Land for a celebration of one the most inspirational sporting stories ever committed to celluloid, Space Jam. As ever, Discotekken are ensuring this is going to be an event with more to offer than your traditional clubnight. Proceedings will kick off with a screening of Space Jam (of course), there’s a full BBQ going on the terrace all evening, limited edition tank tops on sale and further surprises promised on the night. Rumor has, following the success of Discotekken’s recent Jungle Book themed party; tickets are flying out the door for this one. Best snap ticket before they say that’s all folks.
ENSEMBLE ASSEMBLY #001 :: Niwel Tsumbu’s RiZA + AnTara [Tommy Hayes + Matthew Noone]
Friday 27 March | Block T| 8pm| €12.50 or €10 online at ensemble.com/assembly
The good folks behind ensemble music have teamed with Block T to further their campaign of opening Dubliners ears to the wealth of domestic acts providing a little something different in our oft-homogenous music scene. This, the first show of their Ensemble Assembly monthly residency, will showcase two exciting new projects. RiZA, the new guise of incredibly talented Congolese Guitarist Niwel Tsumbu operating in collaboration with Loah, Feather, members of Ensemble Ériu, Treelan, and more aims to showcase the sounds of their rich, African musical heritage paired with Western Pop sensibilities, will be making their debut performance. Also taking to the stage will be AnTarra, A unique duo comprising of the legendary bodhrán player Tommy Hayes and sarode (a 25 stringed Indian lute-style instrument) player Matthew Noone, drawing on the slow lyrical style of East Clare traditional fare in combination with Indian classical music. Opening proceedings is a sure to be fascinating discussion between Tsumbu himself and old friend, sometime collaborator Donal Dineen.
