Music
Not Forgotten: Super Furry Animals – Rings Around the World
Rings Around the World was released to no little fanfare and received widespread acclaim back in 2001. Fifteen years after its release, it remains one of the key releases in the Super Furry Animals discography. Having signed to Sony / Epic following the collapse of Creation Records, SFA took full advantage of much-increased production and …
Soundtrack of our lives: River Nelson picks his all time favourite hip-hop playlist
Hot on the back of his third album, US hip-hop artist River Nelson has picked out some of his favourite hip-hop records into a playlist for us here at Backseat Mafia. ‘How to dream’ is the follow up to his acclaimed albums The Rise and Fall of River Nelson and The Shape of the …
Meet: Gangs, and listen to their new single, Theives
When we first heard Scottish quartet Gangs, we were a little intimidated. Despite the fact that we loved the driving, hard edged indie/punk rock of their new single Thieves, there was this sense of malevolence and anger about it that just kept us, as it keeps the track, on edge. It’s a pulsating affair, that …
Not Forgotten: Tom Waits – Small Change
Sometimes you dismiss an entire era of an established artist’s career for what you convince yourself is a good reason. As much as I love Tom Waits’ debut, Closing Time, and the albums he recorded since joining Island Records in the early 80s, I dismissed the rest of his 70s material for one reason alone. …
Say Psych: Playlist 15/2016
A mixture of new releases and sounds that have been out a while, but are new to me. I continue to be astounded by just how much good music is out there. Check it out and enjoy! Higher Now by Drakkar Nowhere When I first heard the debut, eponymously titled, album from the Phenomenal …
Track: Ablebody – Backseat Heart
Like we weren’t going to cover something that utilised (albeit completely independently, naturally) Backseat, right? Ablebody are LA based identical twind Christoph and Anton Hochheim, members of Pains Of Being Pure At Heart / Depreciation Guild, and they’ve been releasing records under this moniker since 2013. They’ve now stepping things up, moving from bedroom to …
See: Maiians release video for Parasaur
We’ve long been fans of Oxford instrumental five piece Maiians, so we’re delighted they’re about to furnish us (and the rest of the world) with an debut, self-titled album. Mixing up post-rock and electronica, and making it work in a live setting (and with two drummers…) is what the band set out to do, and …
See: The Kitchen Sink Drama release video for debut single Idiot
Belgian based The Kitchen Sink Drama, formed around singer Claire Wilcock have released a new video for their debut single, Idiot. Veterans of the pop game, and boasting (among others) a former member of Poisoned Electrick Head (now there was a band) they describe their sound as being “cautionary tales of domestic bliss gone sour, …
See: Fews release new video for 10 things, plus UK tour dates
Swedish/US quartet FEWS have accompanied the announcement of their first UK headline tour, with a video for their new single 1q0 things, which has already proved its popularity in the bands live shows. Citing influences, apart from musical, including Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy, surrealist painter Rene Maigritte and Swedish football idol Zlatan Ibrahimovic, immortalised …
Album Review: Purple – Bodacious
Texas three piece Purple have released their latest album Bodacious, through PIAS. If you’re unfamiliar with their work, think noisey, frayed at the edges power-pop, with a heap of punk attitude and some wonky arty chord progressions thrown in for good measure. It’s this mixture of the quirky and the catchy and the sour that …