Hobart
Live Review: The Paper Kites/Hollow Coves/Kat Edwards, Odeon Theatre, Hobart 11/02/22.
The grand old Odeon Theatre in Hobart has Chameleon like qualities: changing its colours and nature according to the artists who play there. I’ve seen the place pulsating and exploding with a vibrancy and an atmosphere befitting a stadium ten times its size, and I’ve seen it exuding an intimacy and closeness befitting a private …
Premiere: Robotikus is ‘Out Of Love’ – a shimmering disco pop collaboration with KOWL and Calypso from the outer reaches of the world.
Like rays of sunshine filtering through gum tree branches, the new track ‘Out Of Love’ from Robotikus, collaborating with fellow Hobart residents Cal Young (KOWL) and vocalist Calypso, is a celestial shining beacon of light, leavened with shades of melancholia and tristesse. The inherent sense of yearning provides a delicious counterpoint to the euphoric choruses …
Premiere: Ambient magician All India Radio broadcasts another elegant slice of magnetic electronica in ‘Longevity’, featuring MANNERISMS and Emily Hopkins
We are absolutely over the moon to premiere for Backseat Mafia today the new slice of ambient magic from Martin Kennedy ‘s celestial All India Radio. The single, ‘Longevity’, showcases Kennedy’s capacity to collaborate with some of the most exciting musicians around (witness his collaboration with The Church’s Steve Kilbey ‘Jupiter 13‘ which in my …
Live: Gavin Bryars and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra perform ‘Jesus’ Blood Never Fails Me Yet’ – Dark Mofo Festival 2021
Dark Mofo has been through an abyss, assailed at all sides by a potent cocktail of challenges stemming from its prescient cancellation last year due to COVID, missteps on the way to curating a challenging agenda this year, the virtual ban on overseas tourists and the ever present threat of lockdowns domestically (in fact one …
Album Review: Quivers unveil the epic, jangling, melancholy indie pop masterpiece of ‘Golden Doubt’ and announce Australia-wide tour.
Starting in the tiny southern capital of Hobart at the edge of the world before moving, as bands often do, to Melbourne, Quivers have caught global attention with their unique brand of melancholy indie pop: a classic antipodean style of jangling guitars and yearning vocals, burnished a little more brightly than many peers with a …
Track: All India Radio emits another bright ray of sunshine with the shimmering atmospheric track ‘El Cielo’
Martin Kennedy’s All India Radio released the magnificent album ‘Afterworld’ earlier this year and it still resonates with a shimmering and haunting aura – read my effusive review here. All India Radio has now released a new single from this epic album, ‘El Cielo’, with maestro Gareth Koch on board. Gareth Koch is a multi-talented …
News: The iconic Dark Mofo Festival – Come to the Cross – returns to Hobart from 16–22 June 2021. And there was much rejoicing.
We have been assiduously covering the glorious Dark Mofo Festival in the deepest south of the Southern Hemisphere almost since inception – a record blighted by the festival’s necessary cancellation last year due to COVID. And a bleak winter it was without this shining beacon of darkness. Dark Mofo is back this year with a …
Track: All India Radio unveils the mesmerising single ‘Deep Blue (ft Sasquin)’ and announces new album ‘Afterworld’
All India Radio‘s Martin Kennedy is the musical genius behind the magnificent Kilbey/Kennedy album ‘Jupiter 13’ reviewed by me last month. Already a strong contender for album of the year from me. While responsible for the shimmering instrumentation behind Steve Kilbey’s evocative vocals in this release, Kennedy’s main day job is in All India Radio …
Track: EWAH and the Vision of Paradise – Vultures
EWAH and the Vision of Paradise have the dubious honour of being the last band to be reviewed live on Backseat Mafia before the global lockdown, so it’s nice to return to the band when things are slowly – ever so slowly – returning to normal. ‘Vultures’ is their new single and it is a …
Live: Dark Mofo Festival – Sharon Van Etten
In the creaky, weary, glorious old Odeon Theatre in Hobart, Tasmania, Sharon van Etten made an explosive, incandescent start to the one of the most brilliant festivals in the world today. Her voice, incredible on record, is extraordinary live: ranging from operatic, soaring highs in ‘No-one’s Easy to Love’ to growling exhortations in ‘Seventeen’ where …