indie features
Feature: Art d’Ecco gives the lowdown on new album ‘In Standard Definition’
Out now on Paper Bag Records is the new album, In Standard Definition, from androgynous neo-glam art-rocker Art d’Ecco. It’s a concept record about entertainment and how it affects our everyday lives. Of it, he says “No matter where you live or what language you speak, there’s an entertainment god for you. Whether on TV …
Scratch The Surface: The Jasmine Minks – Scratch the Surface (Creation Records, 1989)
Formed in Aberdeen in 1983 by Jim Shepherd (guitar/vocals), Adam Sanderson (vocals/guitar), Martin Keena(bass guitar), and Tom Reid (drums/vocals), The Jasmine Minks were a staple on the 80s indie scene, and after sending a demon to Melody Maker, were gobbled by Alan McGee’s fledgling Creation Records. From there they released four albums and four singles …
Scratch the Surface: The Passmore Sisters – First Love, Last Rites (Sharp Records, 1988)
Scratch the Surface is a pretty new development in the Backseat cannon, providing long reads of forgotten, under-appreciated or just classic albums from the outskirts of pop music. Bradford’s The Passmore Sisters are a case in point. Formed by Howard Taylor, Martin Sadofski, Peter Richardson and Adrian Lee, they clearly weren’t sisters, but through a …
Her Voice : A playlist for International Women’s Day 2021
Although it has it’s beginnings way back in 1911, International Women’s Day has an increasingly important role to play in our society. Every March 8th, the day is an important day to celebrate Women’s achievements, equality, gender parity and also to fundraise for female-focused charities. This year the focus of the day is #choosetochallenge – …
Feature: The 50 best albums of 2020
Well, it’s been a bit of a year, hasn’t it? Global pandemics, George Floyd, environmental issues, terrorism, dissatisfaction with those in charge, not least in the ongoing (it seems) fallout from the American Presidential election. None of that has stopped artists from all persuasions and genres making some fantastic music over the last 12 months. …
Soundtrack Of Our Lives: Paul Molloy
PAUL MOLLOY is something of a psychedelic pop gentleman around town. He wielded six strings in a later incarnation of The Zutons, who of course gave us that song for Amy Winehouse to conquer just about everything with. He’d come up through the Liverpudlian scene ranks, having previously being a member of both cult buzz …
FEATURE: Soundtracks of our Lives: Liela Moss
BEGINNING back in 2005 with the fine English psych-swamp rock charge of The Duke Spirit, Liela Moss has grown into being one of the UK’s most forthright and potent voices, never afraid to stand up and sing life as she sees it. A quintet of albums with Toby Butler et al preluded a move to …
Backseat Downunder: A Summary of Recent Australian and New Zealand Releases
This is a new section of Backseat Mafia that provides a quick rundown of recent releases from the shores of Australia and New Zealand. Kylie Minogue, the Australian national icon, assumed a mantle of coolness when she collaborated with Manic Street Preachers and Nick Cave and associated with Michael Hutchence from INXS, and it cannot …
Feature: Scratch the Surface: The Wolfhounds albums Bright and Guilty / Blown Away (1989), and an interview with Dave Callahan
THE WOLFHOUNDS formed in Romford, Essex in 1984, plying their trade in the local Rezz Club before playing gigs further afield, notably at The Clarendon in West London. Debut single “Cut The Cake” arrived in February 1986, gaining single of the week status in all three of the main music papers. Sadly, early critical success …
Feature: Soundtrack of Our Lives – The Flatmates
THEY came bursting outta Brizzle on the back of one-foot-in-the-Spector-camp fizzbomb pop classics like “Shimmer” and “I Could Be In Heaven”. And this year, a mere 34 years after their first show, Bristol indie-pop-punk band The Flatmates released their eponymous first studio album and official debut LP on their alma mater, The Subway Organisation. The …