pop
Classic Compilation: Clifford T Ward – Gaye and Other Stories
The aging process is a strange thing and effects us all in different ways. Some of us barely notice it, there are those that do all they can to hold back the ravages of time, and there are those that accept it with a wry smile and open arms. There was a time when the …
Not Forgotten: The Beautiful South – Welcome to the Beautiful South
There are some songs from your childhood that you clearly remember hearing on the radio for the first time. It was summer 1989, and it was a period of change in my life which my ten year old self was feeling pretty optimistic about. My family were about to move house, I was about to …
Classic Album: The Beatles – Abbey Road
Chronologically the final album that The Beatles recorded together, the general public’s appreciation for Abbey Road seems to increase each year, despite it being very much an album of two halves. Side one of Abbey Road is patchy and is unique in the fact that George Harrison’s contributions make for the two strongest tracks here, finally allowing the quiet one …
Album Review: Lizzo – Cuz I Love You
I’m not a Lizzo fan. For starters I’m too white, too male, too middle aged, too cis to appreciate Lizzo on absolutely every level that she deserves to be appreciated on. I am not part of her ‘intended audience’. However, the fact that when I saw the broadcast of her recent appearance at the Glastonbury …
EP Review: Greta Stanley – Sun In My Eyes
It’s the spaces in between the ethereal beauty of Greta Stanley‘s vocals that make her music so mesmerising. Think later stage Radiohead – delicate, sometimes sparse, musical pattering serving and augmenting the song and the voice. Stanley has long impressed us here at Backseat Mafia and ‘Sun in My Eyes’ displays a stunning musical progression, …
Not Forgotten: Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs – Under the Covers Vol. 2
When the Under the Covers collaboration between power pop veteran Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles fame was announced, there must have been a fair bit of head scratching from fans of one but not necessarily the other. Then you hear their voices together and it makes absolute sense. Hoffs, despite her Paisley …
Track: Friendly Fires – Silhouettes, Plus Album News
Friendly Fires have distilled the sounds of summer for new track ‘Silhouettes’ and now share details of their eagerly awaited third album. It’s been eight years since the release of their epic and glorious second album Pala and I had long ago come to terms with the fact that the band I had fallen in …
Not Forgotten: Elton John – Caribou
Bless him, for all his tantrums (and tiara’s), Elton John has enjoyed a career reassessment over the last two decades to the point where he’s now arguably as popular as he’s ever been since the mid 70s. Perhaps more crucially, Elton understands and agrees that his 1970-1975 work is his most popular material, and does …
See: FKA Twigs releases new short film for Cellophane
FKA Twigs has released ‘Practice’, a short film that celebrates the physical training and creative process that culminated in her latest video, ‘Cellophane’. ‘Practice’ launched exclusively on WeTransfer’s editorial platform, WePresent, and delves deep into the making of FKA twigs’ most vulnerable song and ambitious music video to-date. ‘Cellophane’ is FKA Twigs’ first new solo music in over …
Album Review: Madonna – Madame X
I don’t know about you, but I’m beginnning to think Madonna is a Time Lord. In Madame X, Madonna presents yet another regeneration and an album with two themes: the accessible songs based in part on her experiences living in Portugal, and the songs based on her Madame X character. Madame X the character is …