Chris Sawle, Author at Backseat Mafia

See: SORBET unveils a video for his theatrical tale of our lived purgatory, ‘I Heard His Scythe’

IT WAS just a fortnight ago that Chris W Ryan, the Irish producer and veteran of many bands on the Emerald Isle scene, unveiled the palate-cleanser of his new project,…

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Track: Mischa Blanos unveils a debut album of percussive piano for InFiné with ‘Silicon Road’

INFINÉ, the French label which has a catalogue for which the adjective ‘eclectic’ is truly justifiable – there really can’t be many (any?) labels which can boast releases by both…

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News: Chloe Foy announces her long-awaited debut album; let her hush you with ‘Shining Star’

CHLOE FOY, the Gloucestershire singer-songwriter with a knack for a soul-baring lyric all wrapped in a sweet melodic glide, has announced that her debut album, Where Shall We Begin, will…

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News: Red River Dialect’s David John Morris announces May solo outing – see the video for ‘New Safe’

SINGER with excellent British folkies Red River Dialect; a man who for many years breathed such essential life into the Cornish music scene, snaring artists such as Jack Rose, William…

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See: The video for claire rousay’s ‘Peak Chroma’: Texas improviser’s hazy, wonk-pop collage heralds an April album for American Dreams

LAUDED San Antonio improviser of deep, moving complexity claire rousay has announced she has a new album out in early April for American Dreams, a softer focus, which news will…

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See: TDA drops the dark wilderness-industrial textures of ‘Présence’; his album follows in April

PREVIOUSLY going under the name Trafic des airs, TDA is the newly compressed to initials only, dark industrial mask of Samuel Gougoux, elsewhere a member of Montreal’s no-wave dance-punk band…

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Track: MF Tomlinson – ‘A Long Day’: London psych-folkster brings the flute-filled wonder to a tale of early mornings

MICHAEL TOMLINSON is the main man in the sorta-solo project MF Tomlinson, in which he plys a very neat line in indie folk/roots songcraft with a grainy bearhug of a voice.…

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Album review: El Michels Affair -‘Yeti Season’: Big Crown kingpin proves he’s a 10th dan at soundtrack funk magic

Yeti Season? Pretty stunning. Leon is a soundtrack music 10th dan; an absolute master of the craft. Slip Yeti Season onto the decks, you have the most diverse, exciting, retro-soundtrack waiting there for you; there maybe no one better at this kind of the thing in the world right now. One moment R.D. Burman with Piya his Lata Mangeshkar, another Lalo Schifrin, another Piero Piccioni; all are here, ten short films in themselves, these tracks, scenes from a film so ace you have to make it. In your head. Pick yourself up Adult Themes, grab a giant bucket of popcorn, make it a double bill. Absurdly brilliant. Buy.

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Album review: Renee Reed – ‘Renee Reed’: an excellent, ethereal debut from Louisiana folk chanteuse

Renée Reed's debut is spun from very clever finery; a flow of tracks, folky and so American and yet so European, psychedelic in the way Devendra is, spectral in the way Marissa Nadler so is; Espers, but less mushroomy. Renée: she's such a talent. I'm not sure if I want to wake from this particular spell.

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Track / Video

See: The video for Naoko Sakata’s ‘Improvisation 2’: another fluid, free-flying expression at the solo piano from next week’s album

NAOKO SAKATA, the free improvisational piano talent who Anna von Hausswolff just knew she had to sign to her Pomperirossa Records imprint, has released another flowing, epic, impressionistic improvisation from…

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