Backseat Downunder: Favourite Releases from Australia/New Zealand in 2020
Last week Backseat Mafia released its Top Fifty Albums of 2020 – a incredibly rich and diverse list of albums from across a wide range of writers with different tastes and a huge spread of genres; a magnificent task delivered well. At the end of a particularly challenging year, I wanted to highlight the outstanding …
Track: The Silver Lines release blistering piece of blitzkrieg pop in their new single ‘Skin’
Hailing from Birmingham, The Silver Lines take no prisoners with their new single ‘Skin’, which pelts along at a cantering pace with a louche and insolent delivery. Snotty, brash and driven on sky-scraping riffs and melody, this is good cathartic fun, and just what the doctor ordered to get rid of those isolation blues: You …
Track: The Chills – You’re Immortal
The Chills have provided a very nice end of the year surprise in the form of a new single ‘You’re Immortal’, and all the horrors of 2020 suddenly seem to dissipate ever so slightly, like memories of a bad dream. ‘You’re Immortal’ has that baroque pop elegance full of pomp and circumstance that the The …
Track: EWAH and the Vision of Paradise return with single Vanishing Point
The arctic and chiming sounds of EWAH and the Vision of Paradise somehow echo and reflect the geographical landscapes of Tasmania and the southern climate – wild, unpredictable and ever so cool. The new single ‘Vanishing Point’ is delectable: mesmerising, hypnotic and crystalline with such a posed sense of style. Guitars scythe their way through …
Track: Dumb Whales release another great indie pop single ‘Communication’
Proving that their chiming single ‘The Great Divide’ (premiered by Backseat Mafia last month) was no fluke, Melbourne based indie pop maestros Dumb Whales are back in town with their new blistering single ‘Communication’. Blasting open with a Pixies-blast of guitars and a driving infective beat, this is magnificent indie fare: melodic, sparkling with a …
Meet: We interview Nic Dalton, owner of Sydney’s legendary Half a Cow Records
As a reviewer, from time to time you come across small boutique labels whose enthusiasm and dedication to the music scene is utterly magnificent and completely inspiring. Over the past few years, I’ve reviewed a number of brilliant bands with one common denominator – they were all on the Half a Cow Record label. This …
Album Review: Eskobar rejuvenate and refresh the past with swaggering new album Chapter 2
Nordic groove masters, Eskobar, are a band that isn’t afraid to wear their influences on their sleeve – their debt to the Madchester era, The Stone Roses, Britpop and all things baggy is stated up front and without dissembling. But, as their string of emphatically groove-driven releases over this year has shown, they are no …
Album Review: Glenn Richards (Augie March) releases gorgeous new solo album ‘FIBATTY!’
Augie March are pillar of Australia’s indie music scene and, as such, musical royalty. This year was meant to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their seminal debut album ‘Sunset Studies’, accompanied by an Australian tour. However, other events intervened, and, like many creatives, the band was left somewhat in limbo: exacerbated by the fact that …
EP Review: Tim Burgess – Ascent of the Ascended plus tour news
It has been amazing year for Tim Burgess – a rare species that has bloomed under the claustrophobia of COVID and provided an endless source of entertainment and education through his twitter parties and his solo album ‘I Love the New Sky’ (reviewed by me in May). His creativity is boundless – so much so …
Track: Einstürzende Neubauten return with haunting new track ‘La Guillotine de Magritte’ and news of more gigs in 2021
It’s been a busy and productive year for the eternally brilliant Einstürzende Neubauten, with a slew of singles from their shining album ‘Alles in Allem’ released during the darkest periods of the COVID crisis this year after a 13 year break. And now a new single, ‘La Guillotine De Magritte’. A fine way to celebrate …