Arun Kendall, Author at Backseat Mafia

Album Review: The ‘Heathen Sound’ of Big League is a deliciously fuzzy onslaught filled with melody and chainsaws.

Much loved here at Backseat Mafia, Naarm/Melbourne band Big League began as a series of lounge-room recordings by husband and wife team Travis (guitar, vocals) & Marie Velthoven (bass) before expanding into a full band…

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Live Review and Gallery: Pandemonium Rocks Festival, Caribbean Gardens, Melbourne 20.04.2024

It’s been a tough year for Festivals over last few years and after some rather turbulent times leading up to today’s date, the Pandemonium Rocks Festival reached the finishing line,…

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EP Review: ‘Accelerator’ – life speeds up for the brilliant HighSchool in this haunting epic release ahead of European tour.

Today, the imperial HighSchool release their EP ‘Accelerator’ via [PIAS] Australia, and it fulfils all promises made by the series of singles that anticipated its release. Based in London but coming from…

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Live Review and Gallery: The Ronson Hangup, George Lane, Melbourne 19.04.2024

Melbourne psych-pop supergroup The Ronson Hangup – featuring members of The Anyones, Dallas Crane, The Church, Even, Paul Kelly’s band and Courtney Barnett’s band, launched their most recent single ‘SSDD (Same Shit…

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Track: ‘Kiss Me (Kill Me)’ – RINSE and Hatchie team up for a shimmering union in a widescreen epic.

Partners in crime, Naarm/Melbourne-based artists RINSE (Joe Agius) and Hatchie (Harriette Pilbeam) have just delivered another brilliant dream pop/shoegaze delight in ‘Kiss Me (Kill Me)’ – a track that harks…

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News: Titans of rock, Fontaines D.C., announce new album ‘ROMANCE’ and unveil single and video for the brooding, ominous track ‘Starburster’.

Those incomparable saviors of rock, Fontaines D.C., are back after a little radio silence with news of a new album ‘ROMANCE’ set for release through new label XL Recordings and…

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News: After nearly a four year hiatus, dream pop exponents Loma announce new album and unveil the blissful single ‘How It Starts’.

Loma (Emily Cross, Dan Duszynski, Jonathan Meiburg) have announced the release of their third album ‘How Will I Live Without A Body?’ on 28 June 2024 through Sub Pop Records…

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Premiere: Iain T McKelvey exclusively reveals the anthemic rush of new single ‘There Goes Hollywood’.

We are very pleased to premiere the new track ‘There Goes Hollywood’ from indie rocker Iain T. McKelvey, who, in the interests of change and brevity, has shorn the Midnight…

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Album Review: Rowan Smith unveils songs ‘in the key of kintsugi’ – an assemblage of exquisite sonic treasures framed in gold.

Rowan Smith is songwriter and founding member of Melbourne bands Macguffins and Barefoot as well as writing a series of solo albums. The MacGuffins played between 1988 and 1992 before…

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Premiere: Italy’s Varanasi unveil video for the track ‘L’odore della notte’ off their evocative album ‘Cattedrali per principianti’

It’s an irritating side to this reviewing malarkey that you sometimes miss little treasures along the way, and certainly the album release by one of my beloved Italian bands, the…

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