Track: Thrillhouse – 2045 plus top ten favourite songs
Brighton’s brightest, Thrillhouse have released another brilliant single ‘2045’ to follow their previously reviewed singles ‘Wild Child’, ‘Ready When You Are’ and ‘Lesser’. Thrillhouse have developed quite a unique sound – danceable, almost funky grooves yet with an indie vibe and an enigmatic attitude. ‘2045’ follows the code: it has a delectable groove and suave …
Meet: We chat with Steve Kilbey from The Church about celebrating 40 years, acting ‘European’, the fruits of isolation and we review his new solo album
If there’s one thing that is patently obvious over the forty years of Steve Kilbey‘s career, he is the maestro of melody and mysticism. Whether fronting The Church, through his many collaborations and solo work, Kilbey captures the kind of melodies that catch like superglue, wrapping his inherent romanticism and wry lyrics in a glorious …
Track: The Electorate – Decades in a Day
The Electorate have individually quite a pedigree and yet little history. The band played together in their twenties without recording, and individual members have played with the legendary Peter Milton Walsh of the Apartments, and recorded recently with The Apartments as well as playing with a range of Australian bands including Big Heavy Stuff, Knievel …
Track: Doves – Cathedrals of the Mind
In my recent interview with Jez Williams from Doves and review of the forthcoming Doves’ album, ‘The Universal Want’, I described the album as immersive. There is no greater example of this than the surprise track just released off the album, the literally vaulting ‘Cathedrals of the Mind’. Shimmering layers of arpeggio, sequencers and sampling …
Meet: We chat with Jez Williams from Doves about Northern Soul, getting the band back together and the new album, plus we review ‘The Universal Want’
The new album from Doves, ‘The Universal Want’ is a blistering rebirth from the Mancunian band. It’s much more than a return to form – their previous albums were uniformly brilliant – but there is a sense of identifiable development and growth in the intervening eleven years since ‘Kingdom of Rust’ was released. Songs such …
See: Even As We Speak release poignant video for ‘Leaves’
‘Adelphi’, the new album from Sydney’s magnificent Even As We Speak has been further bolstered by an absolutely beautiful video for the track ‘Leaves’. A golden thread throughout the album is the theme of the transience of life and our own mortality. And yet this is a band that was born in the eighties and …
Track: Garsa releases the wistful track Ghosts
Garsa is essentially the solo work of Martin Garside who is the maestro of low-fi and beautifully expressed indie pop – veering between a delicate folk strum and a subtle electronic bedrock. The new single, ‘Ghosts’ emphatically continues this thread: it is a testament to strong and impassioned song-writing that floats on ethereal melodies. And, …
Track: Kitten Heel – Needs to Go
Hailing from the industrial port of Wollongong, south of Sydney, the new single from Kitten Heel is a far from that gritty imagery as you can get. ‘Needs to Go’ is a bright, bubbly slice of sunshine that has a dreamy pace and delicate fragility about it. This is very much a synth-centric track that …
News: The Bats announce new album and release single
Legendary and seminal New Zealand band The Bats have made an official announcement of the release of a new album entitled ‘Foothills’ to be released through Flying Nun Records on 13 November 2020. To mark this auspicious occasion, The Bats have released a single, ‘Warwick’, as a very delicious taste of what is to come. …
Premiere: Key Out releases video for haunting single ‘Buildings’ plus list top ten influences
Key Out are a phenomenal Sydney band – I recently rated their brilliant album ‘Anthropomorphia‘ a well deserved nine out of ten. Backseat Mafia is therefore utterly delighted to premiere Key Out’s new double sided single consisting of the opening track from the album, ‘Buildings’ as well as a remix of earlier single ‘Chorus’. ‘Buildings’ …