Gruesome Twosome Album Launch (Friday, The Bernard Shaw, Free)
There’s been an awful lot of bluster about the rise of hip-hop in Ireland recently and while it is usually well-meaning and all, the majority of our MCs and beatmakers have a long way to go before they can hold their head high in Compton or the Bronx. Some though, are a little ahead of the game. Brothers Lee and Blake Curran, formerly known as The Bastard, are the Gruesome Twosome and they have been mining the sounds and rhymes of classic, forward-thinking hip-hop for years now. Originally part of the Exxon Valdez crew, they’ve since gone on to be foundational members of the ever-growing, usually impressive Loudmouth Collective. Their new album All Systems Are Unstable is another affirmation of their passion and talent, plus they are fantastic live performers to boot. They’ll be bringing along a crew of friends to help make it all happen live.
http://www.facebook.com/events/184922354970971/
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DVS1 (The Academy, Friday, 11pm, E10)
The Bigfoot crew are back in the Academy’s green room this Friday night with another leading light of stripped down, big-room techno, DVS1. As one the most respected names in US Midwest techno scene, the man born Zak Khutoretsky has built himself a mini-empire via his eternally busy promotions company Hush and a handful of releases on labels such as Ben Klock’s Klockworks and Transmat. Straight-up, no messin’ dance-floor music.
http://www.facebook.com/events/319043381516517/
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Dublin Pride Festival – Parade (Garden Of Remembrance, Saturday, 2pm)
Always bright, colourful and vital, the Dublin Pride Festival Parade is returning to the streets this Saturday, this time headed Grand Marshal, Panti. With Panti’s mission statement of “Show your true colours” lodged firmly in their heads, the vibrant parade participants will be making their way from the top of O’Connell St. through College Green and wrapping up in Merrion Square, where you can expect the party to continue long after the streets are cleared.
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Stop Making Sense Screening (The Twisted Pepper, Saturday, 8pm, Free)
One of the all-time great rock and roll bands made one of the all-time great rock and roll concert videos. It even feels weird to call it that, it’s not just a concert video. Stop Making Sense is one of those oh-so-rare moments when a band at the peak of their powers and popularity is captured in full flow. Beginning with the watershed pop genius of ‘Psychokiller’ and ending on ‘Cross-eyed and Painless’, the set cobbled together from three nights at Hollywood’s Pantages theatre in 1983 reads like a greatest hits: ‘This Must Be The Place’, ‘Slippery People’, ‘Burning Down The House’, ‘Life During Wartime’… You get the idea. Anybody got a match?
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Communion: Katie Kim (Academy 2, Saturday, Free before 8pm)
Few people posses the ability to stun a room in quite the same way as Katie Kim, so when one of the country’s finest songwriters and performers is playing a free show, it’s not the kind of thing you turn your nose up at. Settling into the basement of the Academy for one night only, the Waterford-born singer will be filling that horrible room with the wondrous sounds of her second album, Cover & Flood. The hugely ambitious double LP is one of the albums of the year, Irish or not, and the songs from it take on a deep, intense resonance when performed, perhaps especially when performed solo.
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Speedshow: Never Gonna GIF You Up (Central Internet Cafe, 6-8pm, Free)
If fine art has grown increasingly obsessed with the tasteless or tacky over the past hundred years or so (catalysed by Jeff Koons), it’s now found its ultimate low cultural darling in the form of the GIF. Outdated and often associated with gaudiness, the GIF has become re-appropriated and transformed into an online cultural phenomenon, not least amongst young, aspiring (and occasionally, established) artists. But unfortunately, the traditional gallery format means that the cult of the GIF is rarely allowed to seep into contemporary art exhibitions: artists might make works inspired by digital images, or screen video work on a TV, but seldom is a Graphics Interchange Format image to be seen in a gallery. Nora O’ Murchú, curator of the digital arts festival Tweak, will be rectifying this art world absence on Sunday by reclaiming an O’Connell Street internet cafe as an exhibition space. Each one of the blinking computer screens will become a vehicle for showing digital art contributed by twenty Irish and international artists – including one going by the wonderfully telling name of ‘Mr. GIF’.
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Azzuri magnific! Forza Italo! There’s only one place to watch the final this Sunday, whichever side of the Mediterranean you prefer like to see the Henri Delaunay trophy go. With a barbeque, the match on a big screen, endless cocktail deals and a trio of DJs playing the finest cuts of fresh disco vinyl, there’ll be no shortage of Italo-themed entertainment for all present on the Odessa Terrazza. Super Mario, our hearts and hopes are in your hands.
