Folk
Not Forgotten: The Waterboys – A Pagan Place
Post-punk in a vaguely similar way that U2, Simple Minds and Big Country were post-punk, in the early 80s The Waterboys were a band laden with potential, fronted by an ace songwriter with a distinctive voice. Trouble was on their self-titled debut, The Waterboys consisted of Mike Scott and a saxophone player called Anthony. They …
Premiere: Rich Stephenson releases new visuals for ‘Sometimes’
Backseat Mafia is proud to present the video exclusive of ‘Sometimes’ by Rich Stephenson. Beautiful is an understatement when it comes to this song, presenting an intricate construction of guitar parts and vocal harmonies. More importantly, it feels honest. It’s this honesty that gives it such a great feel and makes it a rewarding listen. What …
See: The Belle Brigade announce new album news, watch “Back Where You Began” video
There’s some good genes at work in the new music from LA duo Belle Brigade. The siblings, Barbara and Ethan Gruska’s father songwriter/composer Jay Gruska while their grandfather is esteemed film composer John Williams. These genes have been successfully passed down, with sugary melodies and skillful arrangements alongside lovely harmonies and clever interplay the order …
See: Nat Johnson releases video for “Not Now, Horse”
I have a couple of confessions to make. Firstly, I wrote some of the brass parts for this song for Sheffield singer-songwriter Nat Johnson – I’m pretty sure that reviewers aren’t supposed to do that sort of thing, but there again, we’ve never been much for doing as we’re told here at Backseat Mafia. The …
Live Review: Ras G, Low Leaf and Zeroh @ Electrowerkz
The continuing popularity of Kiss as a live act demonstrates that live music is about a whole lot more than music, it’s about performance as well. On the London date of their tour the need for performance was made abundantly clear with support acts Low Leaf and, to a lesser extent, Zeroh delivering exciting and …
Album Review: Roo Panes – Little Giant
Debut album from West Country folkie that can’t quite break its slow, soft shackles to reach the heights. Roo Panes has been building up to this moment for a couple of years and that might be part of the problem with “Little Giant”. Essentially this is a majority re-packaging of his three earlier EPs …
Track: Jack Carty releases the gorgeous indie-folk of Be Like the Water
Ahead of the release of his third album, Esk, due out at the end of the month, Bellington, NSW, singer-songwriter Jack Carty has released a new single, Be like the water, out now on Gigpigplet / Inertia Records. It’s a follow up to recent single ‘The Joneses’, which recieved significant airplay on Australian Radio. Be …
Album Review: Martin Austwick – Through Intermittent Rain
Martin Austwick is a man of many talents. Not only is he a supremely talented singer and songwriter, but he’s a physicist and university lecturer, and is also known as “Martin the Sound Man” on the hugely popular comedy podcast Answer Me This!, as well as the Brain Train, Global Lab and The Sound of …
Live Review: Galtres Festival – 16/17.08.2014 plus galleries
A Bank Holidays not a Bank Holiday without a festival right ? We think so, that’s why we thought it would be a good idea to check out Galtres Festival, albeit that we did arrive a bit late. (Click on the pictures to see them in gallery view ) Saturday MORCHEEBA Thankfully we weren’t too …
News: Manchester Orchestra Announce UK Tour Dates & Support
Manchester Orchestra are returning to tour the UK! Manchester Orchestra are an incredible band that sound fantastic in the first place but when you see them live there is so much more to take in. Between the attention grabbing riffs that hook you instantly and the captivating & emotional lyrical content there is so much to …