• Watch: Bouts – Missteps

    August 12, 2015 - By 

    We’ve a lot of time for Dublin indie-rock band Bouts. For us, they personify the best things of the genre: simultaneously perfectly loose and very tight, they tip their collective hat in the general direction of their (largely Nineties, U.S.) influences whilst continuing to carve out their own sound; one that allows seems to place joyousness slap bang in the middle. Taken from their a forthcoming, five-track EP, set for release in January, the band have returned after a nigh on two year break away with ‘Missteps’, a track bursting with the band’s instantly likeable sound. If you’re yet to…

  • Download: Sunburnt Jets – Stare and Pretend/Out of Luck

    November 19, 2014 - By 

    When he’s not busy making music and playing shows as part of Dublin quartet Bouts, Colin Boylan is concocting his own wonderfully earworming brand of lo-fi indie rock as Sunburnt Jets. Having spent “18 months working on them here and there”, he has just released a very impressive double A-side release: ‘Stare and Pretend’/’Out of Luck’. With self-proclaimed nods to shoegaze and dream-pop, the tracks were recorded and mixed in Boylan’s Stoneybatter home-studio, with mastering by Stephen Quinn (Patrick Kelleher, Subplots). According to Boylan, “some of the posters on the studio wall influencing the sounds included Dinosaur Jr, Warpaint and Casiotone…

  • AAA: Patrick Kelleher, Bouts, Fang Club & Psychics @ Grand Social, Dublin

    November 11, 2014 - By 

    In this installment of AAA (Access All Areas) we go behind the scenes at New Natives Presents at the Grand Social in Dublin. Fresh from his support slot with Future Islands last weekend is Patrick Kelleher, Bouts rounding off their last gig of the year, garage-punk quartet Fang Club and Dublin alt-rock duo Psychics. Our photographer Carlos Daly spent the evening with all the bands during soundcheck and set up and even got a few sneaky pints in with Bouts across the road at Gin Palace! Check out the gallery below for more.

  • CQAF: Yuck & Bouts @ Black Box

    May 3, 2014 - By 

    Just over a year since their founding member – and central songwriting force – Daniel Blumberg jumped ship to focus on his own music, English indie rock darlings Yuck make their highly-anticipated return to Belfast tonight something of a wounded but defiant soldier. Indeed, with a new EP, Southern Skies, getting a mixed reaction from critics and aficionados alike, there is an unspoken feeling in the air that the band have both reputation to uphold and repertoire to deliver. One wonders: whether they care to confront the question or not, are they able and set to confound the likely ill-founded theories of the detractors? With the Black Box…

  • Watch: Bouts – Novelty

    April 4, 2014 - By 

    Ahead of a string of Spring live dates, Dublin indie-rock band Bouts have unveiled the video for their latest single, ‘Novelty’. The first track from the quartet’s debut album, the superb Nothing Good Gets Away, this song is an accurate distillation of Bouts’ sublimely starry-eyed craft. The video for the song features the band, ever zealous (as you would be), writing and recording the album. Check out the poster for those Spring dates (including supporting none other than Yuck at this year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival) and the video for ‘Novelty’ below.

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2013 (35-1)

    December 30, 2013 - By 

    Sixty-five increasingly exceptional songs in, we’re pleased to round up our first ever countdown of the Top 100 Irish Tracks of the year. Truth be told, this list could have been much, much longesear – such was the extent and quality of the output from our homegrown musical talent over the last twelve months. From unassuming bedroom artists treading the often very thin line between absolute anonymity and mass recognition to genre-defining, decades-spanning bands that fall comfortably under “legendary” status, we’ve been very happily bombarded with some truly extraordinary Irish music over the last year. Until next time… listen, enjoy…

  • Bouts @ Mr Bradleys, Cork

    November 12, 2013 - By 

    Brid O’Donovan was kind enough to capture Dublin-based indie rock masters Bouts play Mr. Bradley’s as part of their recent Irish tour. Check out her photos below and all hail the finest merch table (box) in Ireland.

  • Under Cover: Darragh Nolan

    November 20, 2013 - By 

    Hi Darragh! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started? My name is Darragh Nolan, I studied Visual Communications in NCAD. I’ve always leaned towards the music side of things regardless of the medium I guess. I’m an artist (musically) myself so I guess it helps to be able to see an album cover from both sides, to be able to put myself in the shoes of the artist I’m creating for and wonder ‘what would fit?’. I’ve just naturally evolved into this area I think through knowing lots of musicians and the kind…

  • Gig of the Week: Bouts, Hurdles, Go Swim

    October 29, 2013 - By 

    Off the back of the release of their stellar debut album – Nothing Good Gets Away – our gig of the week this week will see Dublin indie rock band Bouts return to Belfast for a special album launch party on Friday, November 1. Supported by two of the North’s finest indie bands, Hurdles and Go Swim, the four-piece will play the wonderfully tucked-away Menagerie in the heart of the Holylands –  their first show here since they supported Amateur Historians in the same venue early last year. Go here for the show’s event page, check out our interview with Bouts…

  • Recap: Hello Skinny, Dig, Survival Knife, etc.

    September 9, 2013 - By 

    This week’s installment of Recap – our weekly look back at the best songs released the week previous – is arguably our most diverse collection to date. Featuring three Irish acts of varying stature and attack, and a new track by a band that describe themselves as… wait for it… “post-music”. More Than Conquerors – Try-Antlers Ahead of the release of their debut album next month, Northern Irish four-piece More Than Conquerors released new tracks, ‘Jaw’ and ‘Try-Antlers’, on Wednesday afternoon. My favourite of the two is the latter – a brilliantly brooding distillation of the band’s increasingly inimitable alt-rock shtick. Dig –…