Music
Live Review: Smoke Fairies – Hebden Bridge Trades Club, 26.4.15
After their second album got mixed reviews Smoke Fairies had a crisis of confidence questioning whether they should go on but this confident show made you glad they did. One of the reasons the critics turned on them was they lurched from a faintly twee folk duo to a full blown rock band almost overnight. …
Album Review: Tracey Thorn – Songs From ‘The Falling’
My love for Tracey Thorn goes way back. From those early beautifully mellow ballads she did with Everything But The Girl, to the ultra-cool dance tracks such as ‘Missing’. and ‘Walking Wounded’. The thing that has always astonished me about her, is her ability to portray so much raw emotion in her vocals, without even …
Not Forgotten – The Who – Tommy
After the witty, but flawed The Who Sell Out, The Who still hadn’t been really accepted as a serious album act. That was it, if they were going to conquer the world, they were going to have to use the big guns. It was time for the rock opera. While there had been concept albums …
Gallery: The Orielles – Rocking Chair, Sheffield 29.04.2015
Surf-pop trio The Orielles came to Sheffield this week, along with a bunch of other weird bands, to continue their brief headline tour across the UK’s northern cities. Long Limbs were up first, making me laugh more than I thought I would. They’re a fun band, and the fact that lead singer Peter forgot how the penultimate …
Track: Fort Lean – New Hobbies
Brooklyn five piece For Lean return with a new track New Hobbies. They’re a band with a growing reputation,following on from their two early EP’s, and true dates with the likes of HAIM, Future Islands and the Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Taken from their debut album Quiet Day, forthcoming on Ooh La La Records, New Hobbies …
Track: Brontosaurus – Safe to Surface
We’re suckers here at Backseat Mafia for noises duo’s, and so when we discovered Chicago two piece Brontosaurus, aka Nicholas Kelley and Nicholas Papaleo, that mixed up prog, math, chamber pop into one glorious sound, we had to take a look. Well, listen. The duo have a new record, Our Animal Ways out June 9th, …
Track: Maribou State – The Clown, plus tour dates
Ahead of their debut album ‘Portraits’ release, on June 1st via Counter Records, Maribou State have given people a taste of what to expect, in the shape of a new song, Clowns. The London duo, Chris David’s and Liam Ivory have been on the rise due to a string of well received EPs, as well …
Album Review: My Morning Jacket – The Waterfall
After over a decade of following My Morning Jacket’s career, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll prefer some of their albums over others, and oddly enough that’s lead to me anticipating their new albums more keenly than I do most other acts. One of the thing’s I’ve always admired about MMJ is …
Not Forgotten – David Bowie – Station to Station
Station to Station is an odd album for me, in that I feel I would probably have a higher opinion of it than I do were it not for the album that immediately preceded it. It’s not that I prefer Young Americans, far from it, but I feel that if Bowie had been able to …
Live Review: The Gluts & White Hills – Bloom, Mezzago (Milano) 25.04.15
Ever since I had first clapped ears on The Gluts‘ debut LP ‘Warsaw’, I had been longing for the opportunity to see them play live. There was the small matter of their being based in Milan, which is only 1475km from Belfast as the crow flies… No matter, when the opportunity for The Gluts to open for White …