• Fallout 76 (Bethesda, Multiformat)

    January 2, 2019 - By 

    To quote The Big Lebowski, “sometimes you eat the bar… and sometimes the bar eats you.” It is both fair and heartbreaking to say that Fallout 76 has repeatedly eaten the bar since its initial release, largely because the core DNA of the game is so far removed from the traditional Fallout experience expected from fans of the franchise. It has received a drubbing not too dissimilar to the amount of toxic bile that was heaped upon The Last Jedi when it appeared in cinemas. Some of this castigation is justified, and some of it is the usual predictable self-entitled ranting from armchair critics with nothing better…

  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar, Multiformat)

    January 2, 2019 - By 

    After a pack of dynamite fails to ignite, you chase after and then jump onto the top of a speeding locomotive train, hoisting your friend up from the side just before he comes just a hair’s breadth of being cleaned by a passing metal pole. Before you can catch your breath, you are moving through the carriages towards the engine room, picking off enemies with headshots before they can do the same to you. After you halt the train, metal wheels squealing as it comes to a stop, you discover a coach with a hidden room before more bandits arrive…

  • Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (Ubisoft, Multiformat)

    January 2, 2019 - By 

    Just as the creators of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been building for a decade towards the conceptualisation and creation of Avengers: Infinity War, so the designers at Ubisoft have spent the same amount of time visualising the game world at the centre of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. It is arguably the most vividly realised title to date in the long-running series but it also plays fast and loose with concepts that fans have come to love and expect. These changes – some of which are cursory tweaks of basic mechanics, and some are fundamental shifts in the presentation of the virtual world…

  • Turning Pirate NYE Mixtape @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    January 2, 2019 - By 

    Some of the press ahead of the annual Turning Pirate NYE Mixtape, returning for its 9th year, made the bold claim that it’s Ireland’s best New Year’s party. Common sense dictates that this sort of claim that should be met with scepticism, particularly on a date on the calendar synonymous with disappointing nights out. With house parties and the offerings of TV channels are more and more becoming the norm, everyone has a tale of horrific bar queues, taxi nightmares and booze-fuelled drama. The Mixtape, however, undeterred by the cynicism the night has fostered in so many, is a smorgasbord…

  • Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

    December 21, 2018 - By 

    Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is the best super-hero film in at least ten years because it understands what drew our shy, fifteen-year old selves to comics in the first place, and what has been missing, at a fundamental level, from the cinematic work of D.C. and Marvel: delight. Delight in what comics look like and how they move; delight in the rich, weirdo possibilities of the comics universe, where men decked in primary colours make earnest speeches about saving the world; delight in how it feels to be a kid who finds out he can run up the sides of…

  • Aquaman

    December 14, 2018 - By 

    Water disappointment. The party line of D.C. diehards, at least until Wonder Woman’s well-received idealism, was that their films offered “dark” or “serious” stories in contrast to Marvel’s fast-talking raccoons. But that description always fell way short of capturing the fundamental experience of watching films like Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice or Suicide Squad: one of pure bafflement. The folks at D.C.’s film factory have proved themselves, again and again, to be accidental artisans of “wait, what?” cinema. The DCU is basically the Brexit of the modern multiplex: supposedly smart, competent professionals making a series of very bad decisions…

  • Maria Kelly – Notes To Self

    December 13, 2018 - By 

    Have you ever had that feeling of knowing something you shouldn’t? Something so intimate and raw, it creates a discomfort. Whether someone is opening up to you willingly, or passively through virtue of their lyrics, there’s something confronting about it. Maria Kelly confronts you. Her presence is gentle, maybe even unassuming. Her vocals, at times, barely a whisper. But in her delicacy, there is a cutting catharsis that hits with the strength of a train.   The singer-songwriter’s latest EP Notes To Self was written last summer when Kelly moved from Dublin to Berlin and it is the diary that the…

  • Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs

    December 11, 2018 - By 

    Some Rap Songs sees the welcome return of Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, otherwise known as Earl Sweatshirt. Since joining Tyler the Creator’s Odd Future collective as a 15 year old prodigy, the LA-based MC has rightly staked a claim as one of the best in the business, delivering deeply personal rhymes with a level of literacy and complexity that few of his peers can match. Some Rap Songs comes three years after release of his sophomore effort, the highly acclaimed I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside. Earl has had a lot to contend with in that time, including the…

  • The Redneck Manifesto – The How

    December 11, 2018 - By 

    The Redneck Manifesto may not be a household name, but their influence on modern Irish music cannot be understated. Their initial run of releases in the early 2000s, falling somewhere in that uncategorisable gap between post-rock and math-rock, helped to pave the way for the abnormally large influx of instrumental guitar bands on this island. Bands like Adebisi Shank and Enemies bore their influence and long sang their praises, while across the Irish sea, even now-global superstars Foals reportedly worshipped heavily at the TRM alter in their early days, even inspiring frontman Yannis Philippakis’ choice of Travis Bean guitar. Resolutely DIY…

  • Kojaque w/ Luka Palm @ The Academy, Dublin

    December 7, 2018 - By 

    “What the fuck is up Dublin?” screams Luka Palm, as he takes to the stage of The Academy an hour later than expected. The young Dublin rapper carries himself with a boyish swagger, as he marches up and down the stage, with cartoonish intro music blaring in the background. There is certainly a buzz in the air as the show begins, but with that comes an air of uncertainty. Palm has been doing the round on the Irish and UK circuit with his SoftBoy label-mates over the last year, but has not released much music. The audience are unfamiliar with…