News: Sydney’s psychedelic stars WAWAWOW announce ‘Quaranteen Spirit’ tour for July.
Bruised and bloodied by the rude interruption of COVID just as they were releasing their album ‘Pink Elephant’ last year, the Sydney quartet WAWAWOW have just announced a tour to launch the album. Amusingly referencing the bilious past 18 months, the tour is entitled ‘Quaranteen Spirit’: an acknowledgment of the true spirit of endurance collectively …
Track: The iconic Melbourne trio Even return with the jangly, sparkling pop of ‘Six Monkeys’
If you like a bit of jingle jangle guitar pop basted in a lashing of sixties sauce, then the iconic trio Even have just the thing for you – the tasty morsel of ‘Six Monkeys’. This is a bright and brilliant star in the firmament: a swinging, frilled sleeve suede-jacketed vibe with glorious melodies and …
Live: Confidence Man/A. Swayze and the Ghosts/King Stingray – Dark Mofo Festival 2021
I’m not sure I can remember such a brilliant triple line up in one night without attending a full blown musical festival. Three bands just about removed the roof of the Odeon Theatre in Hobart and I left with a rictus grin I couldn’t remove for hours. Actually, it’s still there. Confidence Man and A. …
Live: Gavin Bryars and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra perform ‘Jesus’ Blood Never Fails Me Yet’ – Dark Mofo Festival 2021
Dark Mofo has been through an abyss, assailed at all sides by a potent cocktail of challenges stemming from its prescient cancellation last year due to COVID, missteps on the way to curating a challenging agenda this year, the virtual ban on overseas tourists and the ever present threat of lockdowns domestically (in fact one …
Track: Ron S. Peno & the Superstitions release brilliant double singles ‘The Strangest Feeling’/’Everything Has Changed’ and announce new album ‘Do The Understanding’ for 26 July 2021
It is difficult to express what a profound and integral influence singer/songwriter Ron S. Peno has had on the Australian independent music scene. As co-songwriter writer and frontman for the legendary Died Pretty, the eighties indie scene in Australia was set alight with the band’s inherent ear for pop melodies expressed through Brett Myer’s jangling …
Premiere: Brisbane-based David Rylands’s atmospheric new single ‘Get Heat’ blisters with a haunting euro-disco beat
We are very honoured to premiere the title track of the new EP ‘Get Heat’ from Brisbane artist/songwriter/producer extraordinaire David Rylands, out through that purveyor of good taste, False Peak Records, on Sunday, 20 August 2021. This is quite a tremendous piece of electronica that, for me, brings to mind a meeting between Kraftwerk, Cabaret …
Premiere: Dublin’s Fruitz give us an exclusive listen to their euphoric and anthemic new single ‘Be Like This’
Dublin band Fruitz have announced the release of the anthemic new track ‘Be Like This’ for 18 June 2021, and Backseat Mafia is very honoured to give you an exclusive listen before its release. And it is a rousing and energising track indeed. ‘Be Like This’ is a classic, driving marauding indie pop song with …
Track: Jekyll return with the expansive and shimmering single ‘Tear Ourselves in Two’
We’ve closely followed the career of Blackpool’s finest, Jekyll, since their debut and enthusiastically reviewed their last release – the magnificent EP ‘The Whispering Gallery’ – last year. With only a splendid cover of Japan’s Nightporter released since then (showing exemplary good taste), it is great to see the band back in full post COVID …
Track: Melbourne’s Holy Holy deliver a shimmering, sparkling track ‘Believe Anything’ and announce new album ‘Hello My Beautiful World’ for August
‘Believe Anything’, the new track from the formidable duo Holy Holy, is a gurgling brook of a song – an electronic thrumming provides a bubbling undercurrent over which effervescent synths stream and epic vocals float. Brief interludes provide a moments of string-laden repose, but this is a full throttle blast of energy that is vibrant …
Premiere: Sydney’s pop punk magicians A Swift Farewell set up a ‘Mousetrap’: an effervescent and thumping delight of a track.
We are honoured to premiere the new track from Sydney’s A Swift Farewell – an ebullient and effervescent indie rock track with an inherent vibrancy and scaling choruses. There is a buzz saw punk edge to the indie pop blast, with singer Emma Mather adding a dynamic performance – a soft yet muscular and melodic …