• Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

    December 3, 2020 - By 

    If you have been playing Assassin’s Creed games since their inception thirteen years ago, then you will already know how the franchise has redefined itself multiple times during that period, expanding outward from a relatively straightforward adventure to a more open world approach. Of course, the core storyline is as pleasingly bug-nuts as ever: deep breath… in the modern day, tech rebels enter the “Animus”, an enhanced virtual reality device that allows the user to relive the genetic memories of their ancestors. Through this interface, they can discover information about an ancient secret war that has been waged across the centuries between…

  • Watch: Problem Patterns – Christmas Number One

    December 11, 2020 - By 

    Whether you’re thrilled or dreading the prospect of a quiet Christmas this year, Belfast’s finest feminist punks have a single we’re delighted to let you hear. Its doo wop-via-Breeders harmonies guaranteed to have you grinning from ear to ear, ‘Christmas Number One’ is a refreshingly positive take on coping with expectations of seasonal cheer. Now, don’t let our lazy rhyming couplets put you off – Problem Patterns’ latest single is as earworming as they’ve ever been. Normally, we’re not ones to copy & paste a press release, but as ever, they put it better than we could have: “Known for their feminist punk ethos, Problem have tackled such topics as…

  • Q+A: Nathan O’Regan of Songbook

    December 1, 2020 - By 

    We catch up with Belfast-based musician and promoter Nathan O’Regan about the origins, success and upcoming – downright unmissable – festive installment of monthly invitational session Songbook on Tuesday, December 8th. Hi Nathan. First of all, for those not familiar with Songbook, briefly tell us about your original motivations for starting the night back in the summer of 2017. Songbook began with the intention of filling what I saw to be a massive hole in the Belfast music scene. Having started gigging here in 2013, I was lucky to have fallen in with an incredible group of players but was…

  • Other Voices Announce Christmas Gig at Guinness Storehouse

    November 30, 2020 - By 

    Other Voices have announced details of a star-studded Christmas gig at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. Home From the Guinness Storehouse will take place on Wednesday, December 16th and will feature appearances by Denise Chaila, Conor O’Brien of Villagers, MuRli, God Knows, Mango x Mathman, The Mary Wallopers, Sorcha Richardson, Crash Ensemble, Sean Potts and Doireann Glackin. It will be presented by Loah and will also feature a spoken word by Joseph O’Connor. “It is an honour to present an incredibly special evening of Other Voices at the Guinness Storehouse,” Loah said. “It’s been a difficult year for live performance,…

  • Ciaran Lavery and Joshua Burnside Announce Double A-Side

    November 30, 2020 - By 

    Two of the north’s most acclaimed singer-songwriters, Ciaran Lavery and Joshua Burnside have teamed up for a double A-Side. Raising funds for homelessness charity Welcome Organisation, the Northern Ireland Music Prize winners and friends have come together to re-invent a pair of tracks by Blaze Foley and David Lynch, ‘True Love’s Flame’ and ‘If I Could Only Fly’. In a statement, Ciaran Lavery said, “With the pandemic being a primary focus worldwide, I felt this was an appropriate time to remind people about the plight of homelessness that continues to exist, and the fantastic and selfless work that charities like the…

  • Dublin Digital Radio Announce 4th Birthday Event

    November 30, 2020 - By 

    Dublin Digital Radio have announced details of a big 4th birthday event next month. From midnight on December 12th, DDR will team up with Guerrilla Studios and Box Moon for Four Waves, a 24-hour event, featuring audiovisual livestreams, video gigs, conversations and more. Available to watch via listen.dublindigitalradio.com, the celebration will take place between ddr.’s spiritual home of Jigsaw, Mountjoy Square, in Dublin’s North Inner City, Cork’s Rebel Reads and ddr’s studio in The Complex, also in Dublin city. Among the artists set to take part include R.Kitt, Fears (pictured), Sunken Foal, Eomac, Sim Simma, Natalia Beylis, Eliza and more. Tickets…

  • Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2

    November 17, 2020 - By 

    Back in the day, the Tony Hawk series was one of the most successful videogame franchises around. It is not difficult to see why: released at the tail end of the nineties when console rivalry was beginning to escalate, the original Pro Skater made extreme sports easily accessible to those who lacked either the means or the courage to go grinding through their local park or town centre. With minimal effort, players could quickly pick up basic tricks that, when strung together into combos, made them feel almost superhuman. It was empowering, fun and addictive, even more so with the addition of multiplayer albeit…

  • Myles Manley – Cometh The Softies

    November 27, 2020 - By 

    Myles Manley’s new album has been a long time coming. After a series of EPs earlier in the decade, along with ironically titled compilation Greatest Hits 2012-13, the last few years have only seen occasional singles emerge from the hive, though his live shows have promised plenty, with a string of new songs and a sterling three piece band lineup completed by Chris Barry and Solamh Kelly – the former expertly juggling guitar, bass and keys, while the latter takes his place as one of the country’s most impressive drummers, full of jerky, jazz-inflected rhythms across a kit that even…

  • Video Premiere: Field Trip – Weatherman

    November 27, 2020 - By 

    We’re pleased to present a first look at the video for ‘Weatherman’ by Galway garage-pop band Field Trip. Heartfelt and subtly earworming in all the right places, the single – which is about “drifting apart from friends despite one’s best intentions – was recorded in a primary school at the end of 2019 alongside other tracks that the band will be releasing over the next while. And the video is something special. The band said: “It features clips from a 90s documentary entitled Clear The Streets, a feature on homeless people in Galway. It is co-directed by local legend Mark Kennedy who has since passed…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – November 27th

    November 27, 2020 - By 

    You know how, traditionally, the music industry starts to grind to a halt around this time of year? Irish music is having none of it in 2020. Here’s the very best tracks of the week. Tandem Felix – The Assassination The Assassination by Tandem Felix Ra Gerra – Terrified LAOISE – Movies Ten Past Seven – County Council (Live) NewDad – I Don’t Recognise You Messyng x Post Punk Podge – Still At The Music Proper Micro NV – You Knew Longer Than Me Any Joy – Sun EP Sun by Any Joy Eoin Dolan – Superior Fiction The Love…