EP: Hugh Kelly – Give Me All Your Love
Busking in the streets of Edinburgh since his teens, Hugh Kelly dropped out of university to concentrate on his music, culminating in the release of his debut single, ‘Give Me All You Love’ in early February. This was followed by a video two weeks later and at the end of February he will release his …
Track: Modern Chair – Can’t Look Back
New Zealand’s Modern Chair have been drip feeding singles all last year, and each release anticipates the next with a mounting sense of excitement. Let’s be clear: I am a huge fan. From their debut, ‘Tokyo Compression’ through to ‘Vampire Squid’ and ‘Sending the Sun’, Modern Chair produces dirty, stomping squalls of pure joy laced …
Track: Careless Sons – Betty
Last year we enthused about North London ‘Pop and Roll’ outfit, Careless Sons. They are back better than ever with their new single ‘Betty’: a more mature, smooth sound yet still emotive and hook-laden: The production is clear and precise, driving the chiming guitars and excellent layered harmonies. I am reminded a little of the …
Track: The High Learys – Letters to Alice
There’s a fresh blast of warm wind coming in from the west coast of Australia to melt the polar ice caps forming around Sydney Harbour (still recovering from the recent lightning visit of Backseat Mafia’s esteemed editor-in-chief). It’s name is The High Learys, and never has there been a more beautiful sound to leaven the …
Track: Melbourne’s Fascinator release new track, Dead of the Night
Melbourne band ‘Children Collide‘ had an altogether too brief moment in the sun: they were a genuinely innovative band with a distinct sound and attidude. Now, singer/guitarist Johnny Mackay is back under the name Fascinator with a single ‘Dead of the Night’ off a forthcoming debut album ‘Man’: It is a throbbing, racing piece of …
See: Paper Kites release new visuals for Electric Indigo
In anticipation of their forthcoming album twelvefour, due out on 28 August, Melbourne indie-folk outfit, Paper Kites, have released a video of the song ‘Electric Indigo’. The song itself is a luscious, sleepy, melancholic song, fitting perfectly into the theme of the album based around the creativity felt after the hours of midnight. The video …
Track: Miles Brown – Apparition
We enthusiastically reviewed a release from Melbourne band Night Terrors late last year – describing it as beautiful, haunting and gothic. Now, one of their members, Miles Brown, has released a solo single entitled ‘Apparition’ and it is a joy to experience. There’s a cold front moving through south eastern Australia, and you can wear …
Track: Why We Run release the melancholic indie of Ignites
We were already mightily impressed by Why We Run’s debut single, ‘Comfortable Lie’, earlier this year and their follow-up release, ‘Ignites’, indicates this Sydney four piece are no flash in the pan. Out today, ‘Ignites’ is another lilting, sparkling and extremely assured song from a band that has created its own fresh, unique sound, and …
Track: Dantevilles – It Might Be Tomorrow
There’s a crisp freshness to the new single from four piece Mancunian band, Dantevilles that recalls, for me, the effervescent and crisp guitar style of Johnny Marr mixed in with London’s Gene from the nineties. It’s a joyful fusion that is uplifting, intelligent and danceable. The single is available as a free download: This is …
New Music: Dreampop quartet I Know Leopard release new single Close My Eyes
I wrote about I Know Leopard, after the release of their debut single, ‘Picture Perfect’ late last year and saw it as a perfect antidote to the Northern Hemisphere’s winter. Now, six months or so later, at my desk at the Backseat Mafia’s antipodean offices in Sydney, it is the Southern Hemisphere’s turn to be …