John Parry, Author at Backseat Mafia

Album Review: Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead” : intense, probing and cathartic contemporary rock.

Let’s start with some facts. Godspeed You! Black Emperor are a seminal alt rock, orchestral collective formed 1994 in Montreal. People who write about contemporary music see their early noughties…

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Album Review: Mörk – Still Dreamin’: shape-shifting soul-jazz energy from the Budapest band.

Okay so we know that as far as new scenes go Rio gets touted as the upcoming centre of 21st century tropicalia pop and Geneva continues to excel in pushing…

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Album Review: Iván Muela –‘Ether’: a subtle and sublime merging of neo-classical and experimental music.

Writing a review of pianist/composer Iván Muela’s latest album ‘Ether’ feels almost like a redundant endeavour. Here is a recording likely to affect the listener differently each time they tune…

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Album Review: Anna Erhard –‘Botanical Garden’: jibing, jiving joy to be found in this slacker pop gem.

There’s something actually refreshing about a singer/songwriter who describes their ‘creative process’ as “…something makes me frustrated, and then I turn it into a little passive-aggressive song…just obsessing about stuff…

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Track: Restless ambient artist Earthen Sea announces new album ‘Recollection’ with a luscious and loose double preview.

You may recall the name Jacob Long as a member of the seminal Dischord band Black Eyes, a group who defined post-hardcore’s in-built non-conformity. Such a starting point inevitably embedded…

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Album Review: Raffy Bushman – ‘Here Today Gone Tomorrow’: More thrilling post-bop nu jazz from the London pianist and composer.

For a musician who puts out an annual album release, pianist, cellist and composer Raffy Bushman manages to keep surprisingly under the muso-radar but you sense that’s just how he…

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Album Review: Ross McHenry – ‘Waves’: A deep and dynamic set from the renowned Aus-jazz bassist/composer.

It’s sobering to think that it was way back in 2013 that Ross McHenry was landed with the ‘future of Australian Jazz’ strapline. If that was then then what is…

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Track/Video : Guitarist/Producer Gitkin previews new album ‘Golden Age’ with the rocking global grooves of ‘The One’.

Since the days of Dick, Duane and Hank the twang has never settled on a single sound, it’s been the vehicle for numerous destinations. Link Wray took the rockabilly to…

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Track/Video : MPB new wave mover Dora Morelenbaum previews incoming album with the lush and lyrical ‘Essa Confusão’.

The jet-stream of MPB may stretch right back to the sixties but it keeps powering onwards with singer/songwriter Dora Morelenbaum right there at the epicentre of this latest surge. She’s…

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Album Review: WE ARE WINTER’S BLUE AND RADIANT CHILDREN –’No More Apocalypse Father’: A probing, poetic and profound alt-rock record of today.

While much contemporary music of today seems required to focus on the ‘me’ some artists continue to probe wider into the things that ‘we’ do collectively, the injustices, the inhumanities,…

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