backseat downunder
Track: The fabulous Mako Bron makes a spectacular return with ‘Hit The Road’: a poignant and yet buoyant pop wonder.
Mako Bron hit us with the pop masterpiece of the EP ‘cloudbites‘ late last year, a release so profound and inspiring we gave it a 9.2 out of 10, making it one of the best 2021 releases (see my review here). ‘Hit The Road’ sees the return of Mako Bron and his ascendant songwriting and …
Live review: Tamikrest play breathtaking set at the Nolan Gallery, MONA, nipaluna/Hobart, 26/10/2022.
I am a relatively recent convert to some of the “desert rock/desert blues” that has come to notice in increasing amounts in Western countries over the past 5 years or so. Bands such as Songhoy Blues, Tinariwen and Mdou Moctar along with Ali Farka Touré and son Vieux Farka Touré come to mind. Given that, …
EP: Salarymen bring a ray of heady sunshine with their ‘Head In The Sand’.
Salarymen have perfected a luminescent sixties-infected pop sunshine buzz in their songs, which have been collected in a dazzling array in their new EP ‘Head In The Sand’. Opening track ‘Summer’s Coming’ is blinding with its light headed optimism and positively bounces as it extols the virtues of sunshine and holidays with tongue-in-cheek anodyne lyrics: …
Album Review: Tanya-Lee Davies is in ‘Dreamland’: a wonderful realm of slow burning vignettes that simmer with a melodic intensity.
The music of Melbourne’s Tanya-Lee Davies has a sixties beehive velvet blush about it – a sort of Dusty Springfield/Nancy Sinatra slow waltz to something powered by Burt Bacharach or Jimmy Webb, with a touch of self-deprecating antipodean humour. Her album ‘Dreamland’ is a wonderful collection of wry, bittersweet tunes that are infused with a …
Premiere: Melbourne’s Blackbirds FC unveil the shimmering atmospheric ‘Magiclands’, title track for their new album, ahead of gig news.
We are honoured to premiere the new single from the brilliant Blackbirds FC, which is the title track for their upcoming album ‘Magiclands’, due out on 18 November 2022. The single is a gorgeous shimmering track: with celestial choruses and an aching, melancholy feel and guitars that jangle like chiming bells. The band has an …
Track: Perth-based Klaude unveils ‘LMK’ – a dark, sinister slice of grooving synth pop.
‘LMK’ is the enigmatic single from Perth-based duo Klaude and it is a dark, foreboding track that nonetheless sparkles with an understated pop sensibility. The deep fuzzy synth bass creates the ominous undercurrent that billows like gathering storm clouds while the vocals are distant with an arctic chill, and yet there is a vibrancy and …
See: Jo Meares releases visually arresting video for the sublime track ‘Faster Than A First Kiss’
I wrote that Jo Meares’s track ‘Faster Than A First Kiss’ (with musical production by Anth Dymke) catches that sense of ephemeral, fleeting beauty, the transience of our very existence as brief sparks in a continuum of life across the immeasurable line of time. He has just released a breathtakingly beautiful video to go with …
Track: Naarm/Melbourne trio Summer Flake wonder who the ‘Stranger’ in the mirror is – an easy slow burning track with a delicate pop sensibility.
‘Stranger’ is a slow burning fuse of a song that floats in the ether with a gorgeous slide guitar motif and layers of glorious harmonies. Summer Flake have that laid back low-fi burnish that brings to mind bands like Mazzy Star or Cowboy Junkies – soft velvet vocals and shimmering guitars that create an evocative …
Premiere: The irrepressible Charlie Needs Braces bounces back with new track ‘Yanoo’ and news of debut album and launch dates.
Charlie Needs Braces has a very fresh, effervescent and quite unique sound and we are ever so delighted to premiere her new track ‘Yanoo’, due out on Thursday, 27 October 2022. This delight is further compounded by news that she will be releasing her debut album, ‘Saltwater People’ in the new year. Charlie Needs Braces …
Gallery: Spring Loaded Festival, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 22.10.2022
It was a rather brilliant return to the nineties with a very special line-up of some of the most engaging Australian indie bands for the Spring Loaded Festival held at Wollongong University. Many old favourites – Grinspoon, You Am I, Regurgitator, Jebediah, Frenzal Rhomb, Tumbleweed, Screamfeeder and Caligula, many who still tread the boards today …