Track: Soap – Memento
Soap have just released their vibrant debut single ‘Memento’ and it augurs well for this young bunch of musicians from Wynnum, a suburb of the outskirts of Brisbane. The band has been playing together for four years since forming at the age of fifteen. ‘Memento’ is a classic slice of indie rock – tight, paced …
Album Review: The Psychedelic Furs – Made of Rain plus tour news
There is something about Richard Butler’s voice in The Psychedelic Furs that induces a warm feeling of nostalgia for a certain era when the Furs were such a unique and distinctive force. But the new album from The Psychedelic Furs, ‘Made of Rain’, has nothing whatsoever to do with nostalgia nor is it in any …
Track: Jack Bratt – The Outsider
The last time we covered Jack Bratt, he had just been awarded the prestigious Grant McLennan Fellowship jointly funded by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and the Australian Performing Rights Association and was looking forward to using the proceeds to fund a three month residency in New York last June. How things have changed. …
Track: Death Bells – Heavenly Bodies
At the core of Death Bells are an Australian duo who relocated to Los Angeles in 2018 and after an initial EP, signed on to Dais Records. They have just released the magnificent single ‘Heavenly Bodies’ in anticipation of their new album, ‘New Signs of Life’ due on 25 September 2020. There is detectable a …
Album Review: Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death
If there is one thing Fontaines D.C. have stressed on the eve of the release of their second album ‘A Hero’s Death’ it is that people should not simply expect part two of their outrageously good debut, ‘Dogrel’. This is a Fontaines D.C. reboot, not a sequel. Singer Grian Chatten puts it quite buntly: I …
See: Moscow Apartment release gorgeous video for ‘Halfway’
Moscow Apartment‘s EP ‘Better Daughter’ (recently reviewed by Backseat Mafia) is packed with brilliant melodies, and the single ‘Halfway’ epitomises what makes this Toronto duo so special. Yearning vocals and a simple but catchy riff that are spine tingling and fresh. Moscow Apartment have just released a video to accompany this song about the bonds …
Backseat Downunder: A Summary of Recent Australian and New Zealand Releases
This is a new section of Backseat Mafia that provides a quick rundown of recent releases from the shores of Australia and New Zealand. Kylie Minogue, the Australian national icon, assumed a mantle of coolness when she collaborated with Manic Street Preachers and Nick Cave and associated with Michael Hutchence from INXS, and it cannot …
News: Babybird to release King of Nothing compilation
Like an albatross around his neck, Babybird (the work of Stephen Jones) will always be known for the massive hit ‘You’re Gorgeous‘ – a song that amusingly featured in many a wedding ceremony without people realising its horrifically dark subject matter of abuse and exploitation. And there is no doubt that this is a magnificent …
Album Review: Silverbacks – Fad
Dublin’s Silverbacks are emerging as one of the most exciting bands coming out of Ireland at the moment: and there are quite a few. Their new album ‘Fad’ is a brilliant collection of raw, visceral and emotive tracks that fuses the punk sensibilities of compatriots like Fontaines D.C. with a more melodic and complex palette. …
Track: Fingerless – Truth
The thing about Fingerless is that whatever direction this genre-busting band from Brisbane decide to take, they kick it out of the field. We have had, as I have pointed out in the review of their last single ‘Sympathetic Love’, styles as diverse as psychedelia, indie rock with Gregorian chants and krautrock in their previous …