Album Review: Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth: Tell Me Yours (20th Year Collectors Edition)
I remember moving to London during the peak of the Brit Pop years in the midst of the Blur versus Oasis hyperbole. But the albums from that era that really struck me were Pulp’s “Different Class”, The Verve’s “Urban Hymns” and most of all, “This is My Truth Tell Me Yours” from The Manic Street …
Track: Imperial Daze – Always Settling
Here’s a taste of something quite magnificent. Peckham’s Imperial Daze have all the swagger and attitude of seasoned indie veterans and in their new single ‘Always Settling’ they have created a brilliant instant classic. It’s an insistent, roller-coaster of a ride, throbbing synths, louche studied vocals and a pulse racing drive that thunders on. Ranging …
Album Review: An Early Bird – Of Ghosts and Marvels
Here at Backseat Mafia, we have been following the career of Stefano De Stefano since our very inception when he was the front man for Italian folk/rock band Pipers. He has now ventured out on his own under the moniker An Early Bird and released his first full length album ‘Of Ghosts and Marvels’. Of …
Track: San Mei – Heaven
Following up on her debut single “Wonder” earlier this year, Emily Hamilton, working under the name San Mei, has just released a fitting follow-up in “Heaven”. This is a somewhat more poppy and less abrasive San Mei, yet it still has a spine of fuzz and understated distortion below the surface of synths. “Heaven” is …
EP/Track: The Nature Strip – Past Pacific
Pure power pop harmonies leavened by a self deprecating sense of humour encapsulates the many layered charms of Sydney’s The Nature Strip. Their new EP, Past Pacific maintains an impeccable standard they have set since forming in 2013 and over four previous releases (Stars Turn Inside Out, 2013, EP Plainclothes, 2014, Presents, 2016, and Beetle …
Track: Chakra Efendi – Grow Up
Brisbane-based artist Chakra Efendi came to our attention with his excellent debut single ‘Waste of Space’ earlier this year. He’s back with a new release ‘Grow Up’ which is a fitting companion to the earlier release as it farewells the adolescent themes inherent in ‘Waste of Space’ and welcomes Efendi’s melancholic low-fi somewhat reluctant transformation …
Album Review: Soft Science – Maps
Soft Science warned us with their first two double A singles from ‘Maps’ that something very special was on its way and, in ‘Maps’, something special has been delivered. Hailing from sunny California, Soft Science have gifted an album rooted to some extent in a very British shoegaze cloak that is yet somehow imbued with …
Track: San Mei – Wonder
San Mei is the work of Gold Coast’s Emily Hamilton and her new single, ‘Wonder’, is a fantastic, slightly scuzzy, psych-tinged blast of pop. Incorporating elements of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and little bit of Garbage, ‘Wonder’ is bursting with energy and attitude with just a light dusting of grit to give it an inherent …
Track: Ro – Diary
Hailing originally from Western Australia’s gorgeous Margaret River region, Melbourne-based singer/songwriter Ro has just released a delightful, whimsical debut single called “Diary” that wearily expounds her desire to let her lover read her diary to see what she really thinks. Ro explains: “The chorus has a bit of irony, because I don’t actually recommend giving …
Live: Dark Mofo Festival 2018 – Tanya Tagaq, Soundtrack to Nanook of the North
The extraordinary fare served up in Hobart’s annual Dark Mofo Festival continues to astound and delight. Set in the dark mid-winter Hobart, the southernmost point in Australia, the Festival must be one of the most unique and eclectic festivals in the world, both in terms of its setting, its motifs and its events that deliberately …