Track: Hushtones emit a radiant beam of sunshine with their new single ‘Sinking’, and announce news of an album ‘Greetings from the Other Side’
‘Sinking’, the new track from Liverpool ensemble Hushtones, is an effervescent and sparkling piece of sunshine: celestial harmonies, chiming guitars and a gravity-defying level of acceleration combine to create a euphoric blast. There is a swinging sixties merry-go-round whirl to the track, liberating, joyous and free wheeling. Duelling, harmonising vocals add to the vaulting chorus. …
EP Review: Perth’s Onslow release an operatic, anthemic and dynamic self-titled debut
Rising Perth debutantes Onslow (duo Sean Harmanis and Scott Kay) have a remarkable breadth in their music: songs that range from jingle jangle melodic delicacy to full-throated metal screaming within seconds, and within one song. The result is something that is quite extraordinary: a hard to define genre that has an anthemic infrastructure with thundering …
Track: Sons of Southern Ulster release a gorgeous version of anthemic track ‘Polaris’, remixed by the legendary Peter Briquette (The Boomtown Rats), and announce new EP
Last year’s album ‘Sinners and Lost Souls’ from Ireland’s Sons of Southern Ulster was a revelation: I wrote: …it is an album that fuses both a folk tradition with a punk sensibility – and after all, both art forms are born from oppression and conflict to provide a cathartic release. There is a bridge here …
Track: Dan Baker’s ‘Freeze Dried Coffee’ thrills with a whiskey soaked baritone soaked in excess and regret
North Queenslander Dan Baker‘s vocals in his new track ‘Freeze Dried Coffee’ are soaked in a luxurious late night excess – red light rich, velvet and full of the vicissitudes of life rolled into just over five minutes of pain and delight. The accompanying instrumentation reeks of bar rooms and regret: distant wailing strings, simply …
Track: flowerkid’s ethereal and deeply personal musical journey continues with the yearning track ‘It’s Happening Again (feat. KUČKA)’
The Sydney prodigy flowerkid (19 year old singer, songwriter and producer Flynn Sant) follows his beautiful single ‘Miss Andry’ (reviewed by me in March) with the new track ‘It’s Happening Again’ featuring LA-based Australian-native KUČKA. Again, deeply personal themes flow through this ethereal track, with the vocal interplay between flowerkid and KUČKA sublime as they sing …
Track: Dublin’s TV People unveil a deliciously dark goth-tinged track ‘Out of the Silence’.
The dark sonorous vocals of TV People have carved out a deliciously icy sculpture resting on the delicate instrumentation of ‘Out of the Silence’. There is an imperious and measured delivery, arctic scaling guitars and a meditative pace that evokes a sense of mystery and enigma. ‘Out of the Silence’ very much springs from the …
See: The Coral follow up their spectacularly successful album ‘Coral Island’ and return to the carnival with the charming video for the sparkling track ‘Change Your Mind’
The new single from The Coral, ‘Change Your Mind’, is a chiming, sparkling track filled with celestial harmonies and a kind of melancholic joy. The guitars swing and canter with a picking and strumming style throughout the melodies and harmonies: it is an absolute joy. The album ‘Coral Island’ is a tale of two seasons …
See: Pond bathe in a luxurious bacchanalia with their video for the fresh track ‘Toast’, and announce a new album ‘9’ plus tour news.
Pond‘s new single ‘Toast’ is a warm and louche slice of psychedelia: replete with a laid back swagger with a tongue planted firmly in the cheek, a twinkle in the eye and a wry, sardonic grin. And yet it bears a serious message about class divide in times of emergency. It also comes bearing news …
Track: New Zealand’s alt.folk royalty Reb Fountain releases video for new single ‘Beastie’ and announces new album ‘Iris’
New Zealand’s Reb Fountain has a distinctive style that matches a folk sensibility with an indie punk swagger: music that is hard to define, is distinctive and powerful. Fountain has announced details of a new album ‘Iris’, out through the inimitable and iconic Flying Nun Records, on 1 October 2021, and she released a video …
Premiere: New Zealand’s Voodoo Bloo reveal explosive, unhinged sledgehammer of a video for ‘MMA’
Back in May, Backseat Mafia reviewed the new single from Voodoo Bloo – essentially the work of Rory McDonald (Sheffield born but Wellington resident). We are honoured to be able to bring to you an exclusive first viewing of the accompanying video to this blistering track. And it is absolutely on fire. We wrote that …