Chris Sawle, Author at Backseat Mafia

TRACK: The Notwist feat. Juana Molina – ‘Al Sur’: returning with exploratory pop chops intact

SEVEN years is too long, to paraphrase the northern soul classic; yep. that’s how long it’s been since we’ve heard from Bavaria’s always delightfully off-kilter The Notwist. Since they dropped…

View Post

View Post

SEE: Mike Lazarev – ‘Out Of Time’: a beautiful new compositional voice

MIKE LAZAREV is a London-based, Kyiv-born composer with a real feel for the filmic. Leaving behind a country torn by political upheaval and persecution, he and his family moved to…

View Post

View Post

SEE: Niklas Paschburg feat. Ex Mykah – ‘Cyan’: a lush meshing of two worlds

NIKLAS PASCHBURG is a modern compositional pianist and composer who’s released two rather fine albums for 7K!, K7!’s mirror-image boutique ambient label, namely Oceanic and Svalbard. He’s now opening the…

View Post

View Post

SEE: The Wedding Present feat. Louise Wener – ‘We Should Be Together’

I MEAN, it’s just isn’t stopping, is it, this viral ice age that has a grip on our music scene; but at least musicians are out there creating, bringing us…

View Post

View Post

TRACK: Allison Lorenzen feat. Midwife – ‘VALE’: dark Denver fuzz atmospheres

EXACTLY half of Denver’s percussive synth outfit School Dance, Allison Lorenzen has refined the art of bringing vocal colour and life to stripped back tunes; an aesthetic we can now…

View Post

View Post

PREMIERE: Mute Swan – ‘Sedative Sun’: dazzling Tucson shoegaze tees up for their new album

THINK Arizona, think big, big skies; and maybe we just need to amend that a little, what with Citrus Clouds carving out an impressive shoegaze aesthetic over in Phoenix, and…

View Post

View Post

EP REVIEW: Minotaur Shock – ‘Qi’: exhilarating and complex IDM for Bytes

Freed from the tyranny of production choice, Qi is Minotaur Shock's freest and most beguiling outing since back in his Melodic days

View Post

View Post

TRACKS: Clémentine March – ‘Into The Distance’/’Éternité’

AN ECLECTIC, alt.folk(ish) singer-songwriter with a lovely, raggedy edge to her song fashioning, French-born but London based Clémentine March is close to a perfect match for Johnny Lynch’s Lost Map…

View Post

View Post

TRACK: John Paul Keith – ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’: heartbreak with Memphis grace

WITH his new album, The Rhythm Of The City, droppin’ on February 19th on Wild Honey, and with a video for album opener “How Can You Walk Away” with us…

View Post

View Post

Soundtracks of Our Lives: Farmer Dave Scher

FARMER DAVE SCHER may be better known to you from the string of excellent bands he’s both been in and collaborated with down the years. He was a member of…

View Post