New Music
Album Review: Allday’s ‘Drinking With My Smoking Friends’ is an atmospheric masterclass in dreamy, melancholic indie pop
Adelaide born but now Melbourne resident Allday (the moniker of Tom Gaynor) magnificent album ‘Drinking With My Smoking Friends’ has been anticipated by a series of stunning singles that have indicated the presence of a special artist. Known more for rap, this album is a new turn – melodic dream pop that is sparkling. Opening track ‘Void’ is …
lilo surface with the restrained elegance of debut single ‘Change’
London-based duo lilo may only now be getting started in earnest, but the creative partnership between Christie Gardner and Helen Dixon stretches back a decade. You may even have heard some of their music – the lilo’s singles club EP arrived in February, collecting the batch of songs the pair released last year on a …
NEWS: Crime in Stereo lead Amityville Music Hall benefit compilation with first new music in over a decade
In February, the Long Island Emo show promoters collective released The AMH Comp, seeking to raise funds for the Amityville Music Hall, which remains closed due to its intimate capacity of just 75 people, making a permitted reopening unfeasible at the moment. The 26-track compilation featured new music and covers from Long Island scene staples …
NEWS: John Myrtle wants to know “How Can You Tell If You Love Her?”, announces debut album Myrtle Soup
Great news from Birmingham-born Londoner John Myrtle today, from whom we last heard a couple of months ago with the sprightly teaser track from his upcoming debut album, “Get Her Off My Mind”. That was his first new music in more than 18 months, following the mid-2019 release of the Here’s John Myrtle EP. He’s …
Watch: The Elephant Room – Fillipoff
Hailing from Dublin and, by their own admission, rooted within the realms of doing it themselves, indie lo-fi trio The Elephant Room have released their newest single, “Fillipoff.” A melancholic track for a sunny day, “Fillipoff” is a sobering work that manages to create halcyon moments within its melodies. While melodically it may seem downbeat, …
LISTEN: POM POKO SHARE “PRAISE” (PLUS UK TOUR DATES)
Currently getting ready to wow audiences in the United States at SXSW and the New York-based New Colossus Festival (that’s only in its second year but already a fixture on the music calendar), Norwegian quartet Pom Poko have felt that they need to acquaint themselves with audiences once again. Hence the video for “Praise“, a …
Album Review: DZ Deathrays – Positive Rising: Part 1
It would appear some of my fondest memories of Auckland (New Zealand, Aotearoa) have managed to follow me to Backseat Mafia. I recall there was a buzz about a band from over the ditch (Australia. Just Australia) about a noisy three-piece who were of the Blood Brothers ilk. A little bit dance-punk, a touch of …
Album Review: Cassels – The Perfect Ending
Cassels are woke. That’s at least what the media surrounding their new album, The Perfect Ending, centres on. Climate change, victim-blaming, the far-right, millenial liberalism, sexual assault. These are all lightning-rod topics in today’s climate and can either be addressed with a certain nuance, an unbridled rage or, more worryingly, a clumsy heavy-handedness. Thankfully, it’s …
Listen: Mark Lanegan Band – Letter Never Sent plus tour
Fewer voices in music are as recognisable as Mark Lanegan. The ex-Screaming Trees frontman has felt like a sought after collaborator with some of the big names across the decade. Be it his work alongside Afghan Whigs leader Greg Dulli (The Gutter Twins) or his regular appearances alongside Queens of the Stone Age, Lanegan makes …
Album Review: Tracey Thorn – Record
So here’s what we already knew. Firstly, that Tracey Thorn is the queen of cool. In the nineties when her band Everything But The Girl started hanging out with the likes of Massive Attack, Deep Dish and got the remix treatment by Todd Terry, they developed their own brand of laid back electronic pop. Both …