Album Review: Cloud Tangle – Kinds of Sadness
There is an imperial, glacial beauty to Cloud Tangle’s new album ‘Kinds of Sadness’ that is breathtaking and euphoric. Cloud Tangle is the work of Brisbane’s Amber Ramsay and it is hard to comprehend that this album was done almost exclusively in Ramsay’s bedroom, bringing to mind another favourite musical genius, Fazerdaze, from New Zealand. …
Album Review: Impulsive Hearts – Cry All The Time
‘Cry All The Time’, the new album from Chicago band romantically named Impulsive Hearts is an instantly adorable release that captures an indie low fi dynamic adorned by brilliantly exotic instrumental flourishes. The album is exemplified by singer Danielle Sines’s gorgeous expressive voice – loaded with yearning and melancholia, melodic and evocative that pours over …
Track – Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – She’s There plus album news
Currently one of the most exciting contemporary acts coming out of Australia, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (RBCF) have just released a video for their new single ‘She’s There’ in anticipation of a newly announced sophomore album, ‘Sideways to New Italy’ due on 5 June 2020. RBCF preserves a long line of important and influential Australian …
Track: Clwb Fuzz – No Heaven
Cool and assured with just a hint of delicious malevolence, ‘No Heaven’, the new single from Welsh band Clwb Fuzz is an absolute sonic delight. If a reference is needed, there is a Bad Seeds insouciance to the music, a dash of Mazzy Star and Sonic Youth and a quiet/loud ethic that The Jesus and …
Track: Unruly Girls – She Grew Up in a Shotgun Row
It’s been two years since we’ve heard from Southern Italy’s provocative and innovative Unruly Girls and their new single ‘She Grew Up In A Shotgun Row’ displays a sharpening of their incisive and slightly anarchic sound. The single is an aural assault – a pleasant and pulse-quickening one – that is inspired by the upbringing …
Track: Thrillhouse – Lesser
There’s always been something in the water at Brighton which is rapidly solidifying its reputation as a hot bed of unbridled creativity. So it is with ‘Lesser’ from Brighton band Thrillhouse. This is one of the most enthralling singles I’ve heard in a while – it has a bouncy, rippling pace but with a maturity …
Premiere: The Brave Faces – In The Dark
With an insistent, driving beat and crystalline guitars, ‘In The Dark’ is an instant indie anthem that is posed and elegant in its delivery. Astonishingly, this is a debut single from Brighton’s The Brave Faces: it has a pre-installed maturity that augurs well for the future of the band. Here at Backseat Mafia, we are …
Track: The Psychedelic Furs – You’ll Be Mine
If you are like me, the very sound of The Psychedelic Furs‘s singer Richard Butler’s voice increases the pulse and sets free a wave of nostalgia. One of the coolest of the cool post punk new wave bands in the eighties, The Psychedelic Furs had such a distinctive sound and a way with melody and …
Track: Wray – Jogging/Neon Forming
‘Jogging/Neon Sway’ is an absolutely immersive and magic single from Birmingham band Wray – gentle bubbling dream pop with shimmering guitars and haunting melancholic vocals: it hits all the right buttons. And it subverts expectations – distorted voices echo in and out and a synth wash interpolates the structure. The band describes the song as …
Track: Varanasi – Mishima
Formerly known as Japan Suicide, Italy’s Varanasi have re-invented themselves into something slightly more accessible and singing in their native tongue. Their first release under this name was last year’s magnificent ‘Rosemary’s Baby’. They have now released a haunting video for the track ‘Mishima’, now in Italian and it is just as magnificent. Directed by …