• Irish Tour: Therapy?

    December 13, 2015 - By 

    With words from Conor Callanan at the former, Ste Murray and Liam Kielt capture the mighty Therapy? at The Button Factory, Dublin and Belfast’s Limelight 1 (AAA). The Button Factory, Dublin One of the main qualities of a band such as Therapy? is their pure and unadulterated unwillingness to compromise. During their 26 year career they’ve never shied away from sticking steadfastly to their guns when it comes to releasing what they’ve wanted. No matter what the response may be from fans or critics alike. With the release of 1994’s Troublegum it seemed like Therapy? were on the cusp of something…

  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Konami, Multiformat)

    November 9, 2015 - By 

    How many videogames offer complete freedom? Sure, RPGs such as the incomparable Skyrim allow access to a seemingly fathomless world of dungeons, crypts, castles, villages and subterranean caves to explore but it is the illusion of freedom rather than freedom itself. As large as this virtual world might seem, there are restrictions placed upon the gameplay, restrictions that have been made necessary by the programmers to reduce graphical pop-in and screen tearing, and to increase resolution, draw distance, frame rate and all of those things that normal people do not talk about in polite conversation. Try to enter particular buildings…

  • Belfast Burlesque Festival Crown Night @ Black Box, Belfast

    December 6, 2015 - By 

    Another year of the Belfast Burlesque Festival and another absolutely knock-out Crown Award Show. As I settle down in my seat for the evening the crowd starts to pour in and the room is filled with excited chatter. Our MC for the evening, Tom Riddle, hits the stage and we begin with the usual Burlesque vocal warm-ups (ooooooh, aaaaaaaaah and wooooooooooo!) Tom is absolutely charming; the audience feeds off his cheeky rapport, giggling back in response to his witty lines. The first half kicks off with Mimi Dubois (below), and her I Dream of Mimi routine. An absolutely charming act…

  • TUSKS – Embers

    December 4, 2015 - By 

    2015 has almost reached its midnight, and filthy, down-tuned rock n’ roll bands are sold in packs of six.  The last five years have been particularly fertile for all things loud, heavy, and based firmly in the blues, and the excitement that would once volleyball around a new act has started to wane and sag. The summer of sludge is over. It is heartening, then, when a group self-identifying as heavy fuzz rock come around to remind you that earth-shuddering grooves are not seasonal, but all-year round. TUSKS from Belfast are one such group. Robbing the swampy casket of the late…

  • The Mad Dalton – Little Belfry EP

    December 2, 2015 - By 

    From the outset, one of the elements of The Mad Dalton’s Little Belfry EP that stands out is its ability to conjure a sense of location. With its lumbering, laboured melodies and guttural sadness, the record constantly evokes images of this kind of ‘Last Chance Saloon’ in the American midwest. A darkness at the edge of town where the shallow husks of self-proclaimed saviours keep knocking back glass after glass before the sun creeps over the horizon to remind them that time is endlessly creeping forward and that the fire water won’t burn away what they’ve done. Their stories are…

  • Wizards of Firetop Mountain – Wizards of Firetop Mountain

    December 1, 2015 - By 

    Having been a staple part of the Irish rock food pyramid for many years, gigging religiously and opening up for titans such as Boris, Sleep, and Red Fang, to name but a few, when Wizards of Firetop Mountain announced their debut LP would finally materialize this November, many would be slapping their knees and roaring “it’s about time!” The band have well proven their mettle over the last four years on the back of a demo, double-sided single, a popular Youtube video, and of course, their rise to furniture-level recurrence in music venues all around the country.  With many of…

  • Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood & The Rajasthan Express – Junun

    November 30, 2015 - By 

    Those coming to this album as the newest project by Jonny Greenwood have been misled. He is on this album, and seems to play a vital role, but it is not his album. It has been a subtle but consistent insinuation that Junun is largely the work of the composer and Radiohead member in collaboration with a few other musicians. Clearly Greenwood’s following has been exploited to try and trump some interest into a project that may have otherwise gone unnoticed but the result may be the actual alienation of fans who would have found this album on their own…

  • Assassins Creed: Syndicate (Ubisoft, Multiformat)

    November 30, 2015 - By 

    There has been a great deal of chatter recently about the negative impact of aggressively building a videogame franchise. Surely, the critics say, the gamers deserve a stream of inventive, original titles along with constant innovation in graphics and gameplay to match the latest generation of high spec consoles. Is it not unfair, they argue, to expect fans to keep shelling out for the new iteration of FIFA or Call Of Duty, particularly when the latest release is not strikingly different from the previous one? This is a silly argument, of course. Each time you eat your favourite pepperoni pizza…

  • Tangerine

    November 27, 2015 - By 

    “Merry Christmas Eve, bitch!” Sin-Dee Rella is fresh out of a month-long jail stint, and she’s pissed. She meets up with her best friend Alexandria, also a trans women turning tricks on the Sunset Strip, at their local donut haunt, who drops the bombshell that Sin-Dee’s boyfriend/pimp has been unfaithful while she’s been away. “No drama!” warns Alexandria, but it’s too late: the revelation sets a vengeful Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) marching up and down Hollywood Boulevard, determined to wring the neck of the cheating Chester and his ‘white fish bitch’, instigated a winding, popping, one-crazy-night farce that will loop all…

  • Chelsea Wolfe @ Button Factory, Dublin

    November 26, 2015 - By 

    Chelsea Wolfe fans at this corner of Europe must have been keeping a close eye on the blogs and Twitter feeds over this tour, one fraught with trouble for the singer. A date in Poznan was cancelled due to Wolfe battling bronchitis. After losing her voice onstage in Budapest, the following night’s Vienna appearance was also cancelled, but the singer managed to gain the upper hand in the battle for the bronchial tubes to honour the rest of the schedule. In The Button Factory tonight, it’s as if each note is precious, each breath a blessing. Nothing is wasted. Wolfe…