John Parry, Author at Backseat Mafia

Album Review: ‘Go-to’ guitarist and collaborator Alessandro ‘Asso’ Stefana delivers a distinctive and tender solo album in his own name.

You could use up a whole review word count with guitarist/producer and multi-instrumentalist Alessandro Stefana’s illustrious CV but some snapshots and name drops will give the flavour. He’s played on…

View Post

View Post

Track/Video: Revered multi-instrumental improviser Colin Fisher previews upcoming new album with the spectacular, guitar sculpted ‘Acts Of Light’.

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Colin Fisher has been energising the Toronto music scene and beyond for around two decades now. A virtuoso guitarist, acclaimed sax player, drummer and more, a brilliant…

View Post

View Post

Album Review : Ghana Special Volume 2 : a thrilling ‘burger-highlife’ compilation charting the roots of today’s afro-beats and so much more…

So, what makes a great compilation album? It so much more than flinging a gaggle of tracks together which have got a loose connection to a time or place or…

View Post

View Post

Track/Video: Exquisite ambient music for a living city – Hong Kong based composer Olivier Cong announces new album ‘Tropical Church’.

A label with discernment is what you need to help you navigate the oceans of ambient electronica. Lawrence English’s Room40 provides such a service, “a beacon of sound…ringing out from…

View Post

View Post

Album Review : Scott Lavene – ‘Disneyland in Dagenham’ : More alt-songs of wit, wisdom, life, love and laughs from the Essex story-teller.

Steve Earle coined the phrase ‘Hard-core Troubadour’ probably with one eye on himself and the other on Townes Van Zandt but it’s a tag you could easily stick into Scott…

View Post

View Post

Album Review: Kee Avil -‘Spine’: experimental pop with a thrilling, raw urgency from the Montreal artist.

Two years ago Montreal producer Kee Avil’s debut for Constellation ‘Crease’ turned heads with its leftfield pop mosaicism, an intricate patterning of vocal, sound and instrumental shapes set with experimental…

View Post

View Post

Track/Video: Groove conscious, Ethio-jazz fusionists Sandman Project step forward to announce debut album ‘Where Did You Go?’

Tel Aviv based, global grooving combo Sandman Project are spot-on calling their new album (due June 7th via the irrepressible Batov Records) ‘Where Did You Go?’ It’s been six years…

View Post

View Post

Album Review : Nubiyan Twist – ‘Find Your Flame’: Pioneering global beats collective on scorching form for album number four.

Nubiyan Twist, the global beats collective lead by guitarist/producer Tom Excell, are in many ways pioneers of a contemporary big band sound. Front runners when it comes to forging afrobeat,…

View Post

View Post

Track/Video: Producer/composer Àbáse previews his re-energised new album ‘Awakening’ with the elevating afro-funk of ‘Menidaso (My Hope)’.

Hungarian keyboardist and producer Szabolcs Bognár aka Àbáse has been on the ‘one to watch’ list for a while now. A cornerstone in the Budapest nu-jazz/ afro-beat scene as a…

View Post

View Post

Album Review: Bill Laurance/The Untold Orchestra-‘Bloom’: Gently moving, deceptively powerful orchestral jazz from the Snarky Puppy mainstay.

It’s tricky to summarise the range and significance of pianist and composer Bill Laurance’s musical CV to date. The chance hook-up as a student in Leeds, backing a young Michael…

View Post

Pages