WOLFGANG VOIGT, The Sugar Club, Friday 25, €16.50.
As the a co-founder of Kompact Records, we can thank Wolfgang Voigt for some of the most compelling, intricate and downright majestic techno of the last two decades.
A pioneer of minimal techno, the Cologne producer is best known for his droney, organic ambient releases as Gas, which stack up against Eno, AFX, KLF and other iconic releases. His most recent project Rückverzauberung is another transcendent, swirling masterpiece.
KATE TEMPEST, Whelans, Dublin, Tuesday, SOLD OUT; Empire, Belfast, Wednesday, €17
With tracks like Europe Is Lost and Ketamine For Breakfast on an album called Let Them Eat Chaos, Kate Tempest is as pissed off with the state of her Britain as the thousands of all the other young citizens slipping through the cracks.
The rapper, performance poet, playwright and author goes beyond mere rage though, flitting between biting and rousing sloganeering and fleeting tales of those left behind by society.
RUSANGANO FAMILY, Whelan’s, Dublin, Saturday 26 , €16
Hip-hop trio secured their spot at the 2016 hype table with their debut album Let the Dead Bury the Dead, with an intense, all-out launch at the Sugar Club and further full-mark slots at summer festivals. They played the Dublin Fringe in September but there’s no chance of overkill – surely Ireland’s best live hip-hop act right now.
HINDS, Academy, Dublin, Tuesday 29, €17.50
On first listen Hinds sound like a classic lo-fi garage-pop or surf rock band that could’ve come out at any time since the 90s, until Carlotta Colsials and Ana Perrote’s Spanish twang slips through the cracks.
In just 18 months, the band formerly known as The Deers have blazed a trail out of the Madrid indie scene, with their joyously ramshackle debut album Leave Me Alone securing them bookings all over Europe.
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS, Limelight, Belfast, Wednesday £27; Olympia, Dublin, Thursday, SOLD OUT
Super Furry Animals haven’t released much material since their 2009 album Dark Days/Light Years, but no one will begrudge them a victory lap on their latest stint on the road.
The Fuzzy Logic/Radiator marks the 20th anniversary of their debut album and its follow-up, when the Welshmen were a brilliantly psychedelic and wry alternative to the Britpop dunces.
They reformed for gigs in 2015 after years off, so it’s been a nostalgia trip so far, and it’ll come to a head with these full back-to-back album shows, and a no-doubt triumphant homecoming at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena the week before Christmas.
Moo Kid 