SEE: Cory Hanson – ‘Angeles’: mellow LA country-psych with the darkest heart
BY DAY Cory Hanson is singer-guitarist with LA psych quintet Wand, but he also pursues a rather seductive solo vision: a very LA blur of blissful, rootsy psych, part-Laurel Canyon, part-peyote in the deserts out past city limits. He’s got only his second full-length solo outing, Pale Horse Rider, due for release on Drag City …
NEWS: Come ‘see’ Skinshape – he’s live streaming a free gig tomorrow
AFTER a brace of luscious albums in the latter half of last year, Umoja and Arrogance Is The Death Of Men (check out our reviews here and here, respectively), Will Dorsey, aka Skinshape, is throwing open the curtains on 2021 with his very first Instagram live performance tomorrow, Thursday, January 14th, at 7pm Central European …
Lizzie Reid – ‘Been Thinking About You’: jazzy swing with real heart, soul and devil-may-care
LIZZIE REID, the young Glaswegian songwriter who is a massive, massive new talent – no dissent now at the back, this is just how it is – has been melting hearts at Backseat Mafia over the past few months as she’s hashed out a little trail of candid and heartfelt tunesmithery en route to her …
SEE: Visionist preludes his March album for Mute with ‘The Fold’
LONDON’S musical scryer Visionist has announced details of a new album, A Call To Arms which, after his 2017 LP Value for Big Dada, will be his debut for Mute. The album, which will be released come March 5th, sees a departure in aesthetic methods as for the first time he brings his own voice to …
SEE: The video for Ben Harper’s ‘Black Beauty’: a proud, gospel soul rush
“IT WAS an honor to have been asked to write a song for this culturally vital documentary,” says singer-songwriting legend Ben Harper of “Black Beauty”, the song he’s dropped the video for today. “After watching Black Boys and discussing it in-depth with [director] Sonia Lowman, I went immediately to work on composing ‘Black Beauty.’ “I’m old-school …
Home Counties – ‘Modern Yuppies’: angular punk-funk takes on the consumerist dream
HOME COUNTIES who, despite the name, are a five-piece happy to gaze askance at all the weird doings of modernity from the safety of Bristol, release their third, three-minute dose of angular commentary, “Modern Yuppies”, today. Us humble folks at Backseat Mafia feel embracing their particular wonky vision of the truth is a necessary step. …
SEE: John Paul Keith – ‘How Can You Walk Away’: raunchy soul blues lament gets visuals
WE’VE taken a look at this before here at Backseat Mafia, but at that point it was visually denuded as you might say: and given it’s a bit of a raunchy simmer in terms of tuneage, we’ve more than happy to go around the block one more time for John Paul Keith’s “How Can You …
TRACK: Neighbourhood Watch – ‘Focus Up’: Toronto quintet telling indie-rock tales of growing up
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH are a young five-piece outta Toronto with a really simple mission: they love making music about growing up. Clear, concise and ready in your ‘hood with melody and storytelling. Singer-guitarist Tristan Surman – who’s joined in the Neigbourhood Watch, keeping an eye on your endz, by pianist Tyler Moretti, bassist Thom Elgie, lead …
SEE: Danny Elfman – ‘Sorry’: high, scouring prog-industrial from soundtrack giant
IT WAS quite a thing when ANTI- secured the signature of globe-straddling modern soundtrack composer extraordinaire Danny Elfman last year; yep, the Sunset Boulevard-based label which brings us Andy Shauf, Yves Jarvis, M. Ward, Jolie Holland, Fleet Foxes et al, teaming up with the man behind the theme from The Simpsons and soundtracks to such …
TRACK: Rachika Nayar – ‘The Trembling Of Glass’: an exciting voice in experimental guitar
HAILING from the borough of Brooklyn, ambient composer Rachika Nayar has left her previous nominative chrysalis as Rachika S behind to spread her wings as a potent ambient guitar sound artist; as wholly witnessed by this first single, “The Trembling Of Glass”, taken from her March debut album, Our Hands Against The Dusk. Take a …