pop
Track: Kali Uchis – After the Storm
“We can find solace in the fact that we have to go through the bad stuff to truly get to the good,” says Kali Uchis of the title track to be taken from her forthcoming ‘After the storm’ album. “Just because you’re losing at the moment doesn’t mean you’ve lost yet. The storm may be …
News: Sigrid wins BBC sound of 2018
The BBC have been pioneering new music for many years (just like we like we do here at Backseat Mafia towers). Their annual poll artists and bands we can expect to see more of over the next twelve months has always created quite a buzz amongst the music industry and listeners alike. Previous winners have …
Track: Squeeze – Rough Ride
Taken from their 15th studio album, The Knowledge, ‘Rough Ride’ is the new single from Squeeze, and its an ode to the current state of the welfare state, the health service, and a lament to living in the capital (it features the Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir and the Thorntree School Choir) in these times …
News: Charlotte Gainsbourg announces European/Japanese tour dates
With the sound of her current single ‘Songbird in a cage’, co-written by Sir Paul McCartney, rattling around your radios, Charlotte Gainsbourg had revealed a run of European and Japanese tour dates, including a show at London’s Village Underground on March 29th. It’ll be her first appearance on the capital since her acclaimed performance at …
Album Review : No Age’s ‘Snares Like A Haircut’
Randy Randall and Dean Spunt have always come across as a couple art house punks with a hell of a lot of conviction. This Los Angeles noise/art/punk/rock duo known as No Age have never sounded like they’re particularly adept at their instruments, at least at the beginning. They came across as a couple sweaty punks …
A beginners’ guide to Elton John
The 50 year career trajectory of Elton John has remained fascinating if not consistent. Rising to prominence during the singer-songwriter boom of the early 70s, he and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin developed a sound which started in thrall to rootsy Americana (indeed, the USA embraced him before the UK did), before striking out in their …
Not Forgotten: The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band – Gorilla
Released mere months after Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band shook the popular music scene to its core, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band’s Gorilla turned the whole pop culture thing on its head. 1967 saw music at something of a counter culture cross roads. While ‘the kids’ had spent recent years embracing The Beatles, …
A buyers’ guide to Steely Dan 1972-1980
I disagree with Steely Dan. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like them. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that during the period of 1972 – 1980, they released some of the finest albums of that era, and in Walter Becker and Donald Fagen had one of the finest songwriting duos to …
Review: Prides – A Mind Like The Tide pt.1
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from synth-pop duo Prides, but, the first notes of their new EP are a glittering lifeline to the broken hearted, an invitation to share our stories and unite in our personal battles. Part 1 of A Mind Like The Tide is the long-awaited follow-up to the band’s debut …
Track: Chloe Black – Waterbed
Upcoming pop vixen (I actually stole that from the press release, don’t shoot the plagiariser) Chloe Black has revealed her latest single, following on from ’27 club’ and ‘wild at heart’. Called Waterbed, it’s glitzy, shimmering pop thats packed tight with attitude as it stutters through, Black’s vocal cajoling and oozing sassiness. If the first …