New wave
PREMIERE: My Son the Doctor play with pop-punk tropes on spiky new song ‘Bethany’
Subversions of popular songwriting tropes, if done well, can really speak to an artist’s strengths. In the case of Brooklynite new wave bunch My Son the Doctor, their new song skewers a classic pop-punk fallback: the mutually toxic relationship. Its subject? Er… we’ll let the band explain that one. “We genuinely love pop-punk and thought, …
Track: Sydney’s glorious Johnny Hunter is back for more with an evocative and shimmering slice of ‘Life’
One of the most exciting and dynamic bands in the antipodean region, in my humble opinion, Johnny Hunter, is back with another exciting release ‘Life’. This follows the July release of ‘The Floor’ (reviewed by me here) and last year’s EP ‘Early Trauma’ (reviewed here). ‘Life’ is infused with the same vitality and theatricality we …
Premiere: Versari release chilling, mysterious and enigmatic video for the epic track ‘Brûle’
Versari put on display their cool and arctic nature with the brilliant new video for the track ‘Brûle’, one which we are proud to premiere here on Backseat Mafia today. A clever remix of ‘Brûle’ was recently released in an EP of the same name, premiered by Backseat Mafia recently, and the original track comes …
News: Skids covers album – ‘Songs From a Haunted Ballroom’
Scottish Punk icons, Skids have recorded their first ever covers album. It’s a tribute to the Kinema Ballroom in Dunfermline, which served as both club and venue in their formative years. The choice of tracks is based on the seminal tracks played there and the legendary concerts that took place, often with Skids in the …
News: Live Skull Announce new album ‘Dangerous Visions’ – A collection of new and old recordings, including unreleased tracks from their 1989 Peel Session
NYC’s Live Skull have announced a new album, ‘Dangerous Visions’, to be released via Bronson Recordings on December 11th. Emerging in the early 80s at the end of New York’s legendary No Wave scene alongside Manhattan comrades Sonic Youth and Swans, Live Skull reshaped the aggression of burned-out post-punk into heavy, guitar-driven rock. This new release showcases their evolution, with Side 1 featuring …
TRACK: Keep Dancing Inc – ‘No Milkshakes In Hell’: tough-edged new wave synth-sweep
KEEP DANCING INC are breaking out of the French alternative scene armed with a line in synthy post-punk fire. They’re barely in their twenties but the now-trio – we’ll come back to that later – of Louis, Joseph and Gabrielle, already have power, poise and mastery. They’ve been around for a little while: they released a …
Track: Elvis Costello – ‘Phonographic Memory’
After announcing his new album ‘Hey Clockface’ and new single ‘We are All Cowards Now’ via Concord Records. We get the surprise delivery of Elvis Costello’s new track ‘Phonographic Memory’, described as “the exclusive B-Side of the recently released, “We Are All Cowards Now”. “Phonographic Memory” imagines a post-war ceremony involving an archive recording of …
SEE: Winter Gardens’ ‘Zigzanny’ is a Bladerunner post-punk fuzzbomb
WINTER GARDENS, the Sussex quartet beloved of a big guitar and unafraid of a grandiose statement, even this early in their career – they covered the Cocteaus’ Pearly Dewdrops-Drops on their first, hard-to-find, 7″ – have dropped a lyric video for a second track from their forthcoming Tapestry EP, which is out next month; you …
News: Elvis Costello reveals new album ‘Hey Clockface’ plus releases new single.
The legendary Elvis Costello has confirmed his welcome return to the music scene with the announcement of a new album ‘Hey Clockface’ on 30 October 2020 as he releases a new single ‘We are All Cowards Now’. Of the album itself, Costello says: I wanted the record to be vivid, whether the songs demanded playing …
SEE: Ganser’s ‘Emergency Equipment & Exits’ explores just walking away
ILLINOIS quartet Ganser have just released their second single of 2020, “Emergency Equipment & Exits”, an exploration of that universal human experience, the sudden, instinctual urge to just up and leave; and what would happen if you gave into that urge? The video to the song, beautifully self-directed by the band, finds the quartet in …