John Parry, Author at Backseat Mafia

Album Review: Maud The Moth – The Distaff : a dramatic, intense avant-rock statement.

Celestial, ethereal, bestial and brutal, woven with beauty and darker mysteries, you need a tapestry of adjectives to describe the music of Maud the moth. The project of Spanish-born /…

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Album Review: Dowdelin –‘Tchenbé!’: Lyon-based Beats and Creole-soul fusionists groove deeper.

It all started when fusion-centric producer/musician David Kiledjian met Martinican singer Olivya Victorin with the notion of sculpting something different, maybe some creole-voiced, beats-informed nu soul and the result… Dowdelin.…

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Album Review: Marton Juhasz-‘Metropolis’: Jazz rock re-imagined and re-vitalised.

Of all new European jazz, the Hungarian scene is the one that just keeps on delivering surprises. The psychedelic beats of Jazzbois’, Mörk’s silky assured nu-soul flavours and Àbáse’s far…

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Album Review: Jupiter & Okwess –‘Ekoya’: The Irrepressible Congolese band deliver a scorching return.

Formed in 1990 by Jupiter Bokondji from within the buzzing Congolese street music scene, Jupiter & Okwess have always been an irrepressible band. From early success across Africa to serious…

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Album Review: Peace Flag Ensemble – ‘Everything Is Possible’: sublime and intimate jazz-toned portraits from the Saskatchewan sextet.

Saskatchewan sound sculptors Peace Flag Ensemble are a band who always seem to go about things quietly. No Fanfares, no bombast, a musical collective whose fluent jazz-toned, post rock dynamics…

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Album Review: Matters Unknown – ‘Silhouettes: A Dream Sphere Journal’ EP’: enriching nu-jazz, poignant and powerful.

Trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Enser is possibly best known as a key member of pioneering global beat collective Nubiyan Twist but away from that thriving collective he’s sculpting his own…

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Album Review: Red Gazelle Trio – ‘On A Human Level’: naturally soulful and melodically warm, a new Nordic jazz gem.

Perceptions and pronouncements about Nordic Jazz can often return to parts of the classic ECM catalogue with its sophisticated coolness, ambient leanings and breathtaking spaciousness. But naturally, the Scandinavian scene…

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Album Review: Lawrence English – ‘Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds’: evocative electronic music which engulfs and surrounds.

Considering theorist, writer, artist, curator and composer Lawrence English’s creative output over the last two decades, the phrase ‘a body of work’ inevitably looms. It’s a descriptor that generally feels…

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Album Review: Être Ensemble – ‘Sans Toi’: Joni Void’s leftfield collective take a looping, twitchy, journey of despair and beauty

Jean Néant aka Joni Void, sonic collagist, producer and beat-maker may be most visible as the persona responsible for three singular Constellation albums (‘Selfless‘, ‘Miss En Abyme’ and 2023’s ‘Everyday…

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Album Review: Lophae – ‘Perfect Strangers’: thrilling, fine-tuned jazz with subtle powers.

There’s a playful irony in both the band and album names chosen by this new London jazz quartet led by guitarist/composer Greg Sanders. For a start this lush, intricately woven…

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