John Parry, Author at Backseat Mafia

Album Reviews: Jan Nemeček -‘Dissolved’: The Serbian synthesist scales up the ambience with orchestral vision.

Jan Nemeček may drift around the fringes of the bustling Belgrade electronic scene but in many ways he draws from the inner soul of eastern European experimentalism. The sound designer,…

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Album Review: TONN3RR3 X BIKAYE – ‘It’s A Bomb’ : Legendary Congolese vocalist and Parisien dance floor agitators team up and knock out.

So let’s debate – what’s the holy trinity of seminal afro-electronic albums? Anything by Onyeabor would come into it, Konono No 1’s ‘Congotronics’ would be a contender, Manu’s ‘Electric Africa’…

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Album Review : We Are Busy Bodies reissue three mid-seventies SA Jazz gems from sax supremos “Mankunku” and Makhalemele.

The irrepressible curators at We Are Busy Bodies continue to tap into the energised seventies South African jazz eco-system with three more illuminating re-issues in their significant As-shams archival series.…

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Album Review : Anenon – Moons Melt Milk Light : taking its own path to absorbing places.

Electro-acoustic musician Brian Allen Simon (aka Anenon) is an artist who has always absorbed place and context, destinations that have shifted with each release. ‘Petrol’ from 2016 bustled and boomed…

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Album Review : Ben Sloan – Muted Colors Live : re-igniting tracks from his debut with a fresh collective energy.

Percussionist and producer Ben Sloan’s decade plus as collaborator and contributor, drumming with the likes of Moses Sumney, Beth Orton, WHY? and The National, testifies that here we have a…

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Album Review : SHOLTO – ‘The Changing Tides Of Dreams’ EP : Cinematic soul given a fresh new perspective.

You could say producer, composer, drummer and instrumentalist Oscar ‘SHOLTO’ Robertson has always operated under the radar. He was part of the indie/r&b stompers Hidden Charms who in 2015/16 looked…

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Album Review : Maria Grapsa Sextet– Life : The jazz pianist/composer and her band merge melody, power and tradition to break new ground.

As we gear up to indulge in all things jazz for next week’s London Jazz fest, here’s a strong reminder that the UK scene itself remains bustling with new talents.…

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Album Review: Wax Machine : ‘The Sky Unfurls, The Dance Goes On’ : stirring up a whirlpool of psych, folk, bossa and jazz energies.

Brighton’s Wax Machine are a band who thrive on drift. Sometimes cosmic, often psychedelic and frequently exotic, they float between the warming thrill of tropicalia and the misty chill of…

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Album Reviews : Off World – ‘3’ : Illuminating soundscapes and sonic free flow from the illustrious Canadian collective.

Sandro Perri seems like one of those quietly busy people. A touch stone within the Canadian contemporary scene, the guitarist, producer and pioneer of ‘infinite song-writing’ has over the last…

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Album Review: The Offline – ‘La couleur de la mer’ : Ingenious cinematic soul funk with a fresh plot.

So the soundtrack to an imaginary film makes a return in the hands of Hamburg composer/guitarist The Offline (aka Felix Müller) with his new album ‘La couleur de la mer’…

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