melbourne

Album Review: Naarm/Melbourne’s USER release the delicious electronic late night thrum of ‘Mira Imposta’ ahead of launch dates.
USER have been together around six years and ‘Mira Imposta’ is their third album. Their oeuvre is a fascinating mix of throbbing Euro disco with pure pop sensibilities and an electronic snakiness that shimmers and slithers through the ears like a delicious unguent. And in this album, there is a heart of brooding gothic darkness …

Premiere: Naarm electronic shoegazers Double Happiness gives us an exclusive listen to their thrilling debut album ‘Derealisation’ – a deliciously dark gothic delight.
Not to be confused with Brisbane surfgaze band The Double Happiness, Double Happiness is the work of Naarm/Melbourne based multi-instrumentalist Sam Jemsek and we are ever so pleased to be able to premiere the debut album ‘Derealisation’. ‘Derealisation’ is a dark gothic delight that hums over a throbbing electronica that courses through its sonic veins. …

News: Merpire announces a new album ‘MILK POOL’ with the anthemic, ethereal single ‘Bigger’.
Naarm/Melbourne Merpire, the work of multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt, has long been a source of admiration here at the antipodean outpost of Backseat Mafia, and her new single ‘Bigger’ is another drop of dreamy pop gold in her sonic armoury. Bigger is an indeed appropriate title for a song that is luminescent and …

Track: Rising stars Fade Evare unveil new glittering new track ‘Send Me Out’ after signing to Astral People Recording with live debut ahead.
‘Send Me Out’ by Naarm/Melbourne band Fade Evare is an exquisitely liquid track that positively shimmers and glitters with a gentle fluidity and motorik thrum. The mesmerising vocals are as soft as gossamer silk, weaving as they do through the almost ambient shimmer of the instrumentation. The result is something quite hypnotic and enthralling, with …

Track: Melbourne rising star Bonita Habils releases the gorgeous slow burning, yearning track ‘Underdressed’.
There is a delicious dark pop undertone to the sound of Melbourne artist Bonita Habils in her new single ‘Underdressed’. Habils’s vocals are luscious and whispered with a velvet cloaking, the expression and delivery filled with a deep yearning, with a late night red velvet lounge atmosphere – a absinthe-soaked early morning loucheness. You can …

Premiere: ‘I Wish I Was Wrong (As Usual)’ – Wilding unleashes another pure pop gem infected with gentle humour and a euro-disco thrum.
Wilding is a firm favourite here at the antipodean outpost of Backseat Mafia and we are therefore bursting with pride at being able to premiere his exuberant new single ‘I Wish I Was Wrong (As Usual)’. Always heavily influenced by a particular kind of eighties new wave represented by the more quirky variety of wry …

Track: Radio Free Alice release sparky, angular new single ‘Empty Words’ ahead of debut US tour
We here at the antipodean outpost of Backseat Mafia have had an extensive unreciprocated love affair with the magnificent Radio Free Alice since their early years back in 2023, and the band has just exploded everywhere ever since. Having just been named by a prestigious UK music magazine as one of a 100 bands to watch …

EP Review: Power popsters Hexham Heads release dynamic bursts of sunshine in self-titled EP, ahead of launch gigs.
There’s nothing more essential as an antidote to the current dark climes as a burst of radiant power pop from Naarm/Melbourne outfit Hexham Heads. Their self-titled EP, released on the inimitable Cheersquad Records & Tapes, is out now and it is as bright and fizzy as a soda bottle that’s been shaken around, opened up and …

Track: Call the ‘Deviant Hotline’ – it’s Low Monroe with a deliciously dark and visceral track, with launch date announced.
Low Monroe – the nom de plume of multi-instrumentalist and producer Mark Sergi – has just released a deliciously dark slice of gothic fuzz in the form of ‘Deviant Hotline’. With reverb-soaked, scything guitars and a rhythm section that prowls like a ravenous wolf, the track has a late night/early morning sleazy nightclub vibe filled …

Album Review: Balinese gamelan orchestra Gamelan DanAnda collaborate with electro-jazz fusion group Firetail to release the enchanting album ‘Anglayang’
The collaboration between Naarm/Melbourne-based Balinese gamelan orchestra Gamelan DanAnda and electro-jazz fusion group Firetail has resulted in the fascinating album ‘Anglayang’ which has just been released through Komunitas Records. Creating an absolutely enchanting fusion of modern western jazz music with the traditional gentle sounds of Bali, the mix results in something greater than its constituent …