New Music: O Emperor – Holy Fool
It’s Sunday morning and I’m about to have my first cup of coffee. I’ve had five minutes to spare so I spent them wandering around bandcamp. I got pretty lost. There’s just so much in there. I had to adopt the same approach that I take when trying to decide what beer or wine to …
Interview: The Handsome Family
14 May, people, 14 May. You don’t have long to wait to get your ears around the new album from Albuquerque, New Mexico’s The Handsome Family. But in the meantime, you can console yourselves with these words direct from the Family themselves, Rennie and Brett Sparks. If you care to whet your appetites some more, …
Meet: an interview with Vinyl Floor
There’s nowhere in the world that we can’t go. There’s music everywhere. Including Denmark. And from Denmark come the three-piece rock band Vinyl Floor. Thomas Charlie Pedersen (vocals, guitar), Rasmus Bruun (guitar), and Daniel Pedersen (drums, vocals) are the men in the band. They spoke to us yesterday and this is what they had to say… Backseat …
Album review: The Handsome Family – Wilderness
You know how it goes: you’re listening to the Gideon Coe Show on 6Music (I have GOT to get some new sources) and The Handsome Family come on. You’re stopped in your tracks, never having thought to hear this amazing duo on the wireless. But there they are. A new album, they say ? You …
Album Review: Johnny Hates Jazz – Magnetized
You heard right: Johnny Hates Jazz have a new album out. Radio 2 are playing their new single. It’s technically their third studio album, although only the second with the original singer, Clark Datchler. This time round they’re a two-piece, just Clark and bassist/producer Mike Nocito, returning without drummer Calvin Hayes. The story of JHJ is …
Interview: Foreign Talks
Continuing our love affair here on Backseat Mafia with the Vancouver, Washington band Foreign Talks we recently interviewed drummer Kevin Downes and guitarist Tanner Steinmetz. The release of that debut album is getting ever closer by the way – only a week or so to go…. Backseat Mafia: What made you start playing music ? …
Album Review: Dot Dash – Winter Garden Light (plus free “Countdown” download)
This is the sort of music that really pushes my buttons. I’m not saying it’s perfect (sorry guys) but when you put guitars, bass, drums and voice together, give them some licence to be loud, and add in songs with pace and hooks, with a classic indie sensibility at the core, I’m in. This is …
Discover: “Are you ready for the country ?”
***WARNING: IMPENDING PIGEONHOLING OF COMPLEX GENRE IN ORDER TO A) USE A FAVOURITE QUOTE B) AVOID HAVING TO ENGAGE IN LENGTHY AND POTENTIALLY ILL-INFORMED/WRONG CONSIDERATIONS OF WHAT THE GENRE ACTUALLY IS AND C) BECAUSE I CAN’T THINK OF ANY OTHER WAY TO GET INTO THIS. WARNING OVER.*** “Just gonna go home, lie down, and listen …
Remembering The Lucksmiths
One thing I struggle to understand whenever I meet an Australian is how they never seem to have heard of The Lucksmiths. Lunacy. For a time, it was also incredibly frustrating. “But they’re yours !” I used to think, “How can you not know EVERYTHING about them ?”. I was just hoping I would meet …
Album Review: Foreign Talks – Foreign Talks
Here it is then*, the album you have all been waiting for: Foreign Talks‘ debut LP. The Portland, Oregon four-piece have delivered a tight, 10-song set that barely breaks 30 minutes in length. Replete with deft instrumentation, four-part harmonies, spacious production that transports us into the breezy open-air, and copious confidence, this is a compelling …