backseat downunder
News: Sydney’s legendary indie giants RATCAT announce 30 year anniversary gig
RATCAT will always have a special place in any indie band’s heart in Australia for the way they muscled their way into the general commercial charts in the early nineties through sheer people power and without any marketing. But then, they were so good. With an insouciant attitude, stunningly good looks, a thundering three chord …
Track: Eilish Gilligan turns up the volume with the delicious dancefloor filler ‘Up All Night’
The last time we visited Eilish Gilligan was in ‘Hospital’ – her epic EP that was a dark and sombre reflection with close and personal imagery born from the claustrophobia and anxiety of a COVID era. In her new single, ‘Up All Night’, co-written with Alex Lahey and Gab Strum (Japanese Wallpaper), Gilligan metaphorically kicks …
See: Brisbane’s iconic The Goon Sax unveil video for track ‘In The Stone’ and announce new album ‘Mirrors II’ and Australian/UK tour
Steeped in the legendary vibes of Brisbane’s proud and influential indie history, The Goon Sax are exemplary standard bearers for the new generation. They have an arch sensibility, a fey and literate approach to their music and in doing so have shrugged off any comparisons to their predecessors and contemporaries: they have forged their own …
Track: Camp 8 unveils the absorbing and immersive single ‘Honey’
Camp 8 is New Zealand born, Melbourne resident Reuben Apirana whose voice should be preserved and used for the future good of humanity in some way. It’s medicine for the mind and soul. Its rich deep mellifluous tones are applied with delicacy and precision to his new track ‘Honey’; a transfixing piece of music that …
See: Restless Leg unveils evocative video for ‘The World’s A Room’ and announces tour dates
Last month we premiered the glorious jingle jangle pop of Restless Leg‘s ‘The World’s A Room’: an archetypal antipodean indie rock classic with its lilting melodies and indelible refrain. Now the band has put some vision to the sound and released a charming video featuring the band performing in the interior of a crumbling mansion …
Premiere: Anatomy Class gives us a shimmering lesson in jangling indie pop with their brilliant single ‘Welcome to the Ages’
‘Welcome to the Ages, by Australian band Anatomy Class is pure and unsullied indie pop that jingles and jangles with harmonious intent. It is a privilege to premiere this little slice of heaven on Backseat Mafia where we are sure you will agree, it is absolutely cooks. All the essential ingredients are there for this …
Track: Sydney’s Heather Maine unveils effervescent indie pop with a dark heart in track ‘Dumb’
Heather Maine is the nom de plume of Olivia Regueira Garcia, a singer-songwriter and producer based in Sydney, Australia, and her new single ‘Dumb’ is an effervescent indie pop treat. While a current of melancholia haunts the delivery, there is a sunshine veneer filled with gorgeous layers of instrumentation – with some unexpected intrusions – …
Album Review: Dead Can Dance’s Lisa Gerrard and Jules Maxwell’s new album ‘Burn’ is an enthralling cinematic vision that mesmerises
Australian duo Dead Can Dance (consisting of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry) were an extraordinarily innovative band signed to the legendary 4AD label (becoming their highest selling artists), fusing medieval music with gothic undertones and ambient textures. The band has disbanded and reformed over the years since it began in 1981 – the most recent being the release of the album …
Track: Brisbane’s Lucy Francesca Dron’s ‘Liquid Numbing Pain’ is a haunting, visceral thing of beauty.
There is a raw visceral edge to the new single ‘Liquid Numbing Pain’ by Brisbane’s Lucy Francesca Dron that is really quite exquisite. Dron’s voice is infused with a late night insouciance, dripping with emotion and pain, soaring magnificently over a sparse rumbling soundtrack – insistent and driving, relentless. You cannot help but think of …
Album: Wilding introduces his impressive catalogue with ‘Hello…My Name is Wilding’ – a glorious compilation of his past, present and future music.
Melbournian troubadour Wilding blew us away last year with his concept album ‘The Death Of Foley’s Mall’ – one of the best Antipodean releases of 2020 in my humble opinion – and for many, well, let’s be honest, for me – it was the first taste of Justin Wilding Stokes’s incomparable songwriting skills. The thing …