Track: Studio Electrophonique – Buxton Palace Hotel, Plus Album News
Studio Electrophonique is the solo work of Sheffield’s James Leesley – hauntingly sparse and delicately beautiful, recorded in his home studio late at night. He first caught our attention when he supported Richard Hawley earlier this year and we advised to look out for him. Single ‘Buxton Palace Hotel’ perfectly captures the spirit of the …
Track: Mallrat – Charlie plus EP and tour news
Mallrat‘s development as an important and iconic Australian artist is never more apparent than in her exquisite new song, ‘Charlie’. With a formidable live show and a history of what may unfairly be called melodic bubble gum pop, ‘Charlie’ signals a maturity with its deep-felt sense of yearning and nostalgia way beyond Mallrat’s years. Charlie …
Track: Underground Lovers – Seven Day Weekend, plus Album and Tour News
Melbourne’s legendary Underground Lovers have released a new single, ‘Seven Day Weekend’ as well as announcing the release of their tenth album ‘A Left Turn’ on 11 October 2019 along with a tour of Australia. I’m unashamedly a massive fan of this criminally underrated band and it feels like Christmas. ‘Seven Day Weekend’ is a …
Album Review: The Murder Capital – When I Have Fears
The Murder Capital will be releasing their epic debut album ‘When I Have Fears’ on 16 August and it confirms Dublin’s place as a hotbed of blistering new talent. This album is a deeply emotional expression of hurt and pain: sometimes delivered through an anarchic punk blast such as opening track ‘For Everything’, and sometimes …
Obituary: David Berman from Purple Mountains/Silver Jews dies.
It was only last month that Backseat Mafia reviewed the great new album from David Berman’s Purple Mountains project, saying it was: a beautiful album from beginning to end – a bleak vignette of some mid-western USA existence leavened by a twisted sense of humour, a sweet acceptance of the bitterness of a worn out …
EP Review: Greta Stanley – Sun In My Eyes
It’s the spaces in between the ethereal beauty of Greta Stanley‘s vocals that make her music so mesmerising. Think later stage Radiohead – delicate, sometimes sparse, musical pattering serving and augmenting the song and the voice. Stanley has long impressed us here at Backseat Mafia and ‘Sun in My Eyes’ displays a stunning musical progression, …
Track: Jekyll – Marionette
Blackpool’s Jekyll are a band going places – something Backseat Mafia predicted back in 2014 when we reviewed one of their first singles ‘I Do What I Can’. Now, having signed with Fierce Panda Records and booked through International Talent Bookings (ITB) along with bands such as Editors and Kasabian, Jekyll have released a fantastic …
Album Review: Ummagma – Compass
Any preconception about Ummagma being easily slotted into a dream/pop shoegaze label was put on notice with the release of their single ‘Caravan’ earlier this year and has certainly been dispelled for good with their new album ‘Compass’ being released on 26 July. Opening track, ‘Rolling’ has the wide-eyed exuberance of anything released by Pharrel …
Album Review: TC&I – Naked Flames – Live at Swindon Arts Centre
Well this is a delightful surprise. After the release of TC&I‘s welcome ‘Great Aspirations’ EP last year there were murmurings that the project was finished for the moment following some well received gigs last year. It now seems these gigs were recorded, and ‘Naked Flames’ is the result. TC&I is, on record, the legendary Colin …
Track: The Murder Capital – Don’t Cling to Life, plus Album and Tour News
Ireland’s art punk maestros, The Murder Capital, have released a third single off their forthcoming debut album ‘When I Have Fears’ which is due for release on 16 August 2019. And based on the singles released thus far (and an accidental preview), this is an album to look forward to. ‘Don’t Cling to Life’ has …