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Backseat Downunder

New releases from Australia and New Zealand

News: GANGgajang set to headline Nimbin Roots Festival in October 2024

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Premiere: Naarm/Melbourne Twin Sisters, Idol Minds, Enchant with ‘Needed You’ – A Mystical Odyssey Through the Intricacies of Love

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Live Gallery: Warpaint at the Oxford Art Factory 23.10.2023

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Anticipation is building for the new album ‘Fantasy Country’ by Australian shoegaze exponents Flyying Colours, heightened by the release of the track ‘OK’. This shimmering, glowing track offers a tantalizing glimpse of what’s to come: ‘OK’ is an absolutely lovely track with its repeating riffs and layered harmonies – mesmerising and hypnotic psychedelia with a …

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Last year, Marveline, the solo work of Sydney artist Pete Marley, released the debut album ‘Savoury-toothed Tiger’, premiered on Backseat Mafia. It was a pop powered package of good humour and mountainous melodies that really shone during the midst of the bleak pandemic year. Marveline is back with new material, and what a delight it …

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Balcony’s Paradise are premiering their cover of the Toots and the Maytals song ‘It Must Be True Love’ – a version so laid back it’s almost supine. There is a beautiful rawness to this track – background chattering intrude and the structure and framework are relaxed and cool. Balcony’s Paradise have bottled in sound the …

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We are honoured to premiere the new single from Adelaide band Nocturnal Animals, ‘Articuno Makes Waves’, due out on Friday, 19 February 2021. The mysterious masked Nocturnal Animals made their debut last year with the release of four rather tasty singles. ‘Articuno Makes Waves’ is their 2021 reboot and they are upping the ante. A …

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Damien Binder‘s anthemic track ‘Here It is’ was recently premiered by Backseat Mafia – in my review I wrote it was an extremely satisfying indie rock track with a hint of swagger and a dash of melancholic yearning. And I naturally wholeheartedly endorse those views. Binder has followed this up with a really clever and …

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In very exciting news, New Zealand legends Crowded House have made a surprise announcement of a new album called ‘Dreamers are Waiting’. This is their first studio album in more than a decade. This follows the release of the single ‘To The Island’ with its gorgeously shot video infected with the typical humorous style associated …

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I remember feeling deeply uncomfortable in the late eighties when I first heard Black Box’s ‘Ride on Time’. There I was, covered in black and an attitude, wearing Docs and a heavy disdain for anything vaguely resembling commercial radio friendly music when I heard this song. I couldn’t help but fall in love with this …

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If there was any doubt about the ability of The Church’s Steve Kilbey to eat, sleep and dream brilliant music without limit, this new album with long time collaborator Martin Kennedy is proof. Kilbey is without doubt the hardest working musician in the business – but extraordinarily there is absolutely no dilution of quality. One …

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Heligoland began life in Melbourne before adventurously packing up and moving to Paris, where they have produced a series of stunning albums and EPs with the production skills of Cocteau Twins luminary Robyn Guthrie adding a certain lustre. Their new album, ‘This Quiet Fire’, has all the hallmarks of classic dream pop music that bears …

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 MOAT is a fascinating collaboration between Marty Willson-Piper, founding and former member of iconic Australian band The Church and member of goth band All About Eve, and composer and multi-instrumentalist Niko Röhlcke (Weeping Willows). The former comes from an English/Australian jangling guitar pop background, the latter a composer and Swedish indie band member, and they meet somewhere …

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