John Parry, Author at Backseat Mafia

Album Review: Charbel Haber – ‘May a soft sun bless your sky while you wait for the inevitable’: A serene ambient soundtrack of beauty and bewilderment.

From its very first notes this is an album which treads the finest line between peaceful serenity and poignant fragility. That’s a balance that only a musician of Charbel Haber’s…

View Post

View Post

Album Review: The Melvins with Napalm Death – ‘Savage Imperial Death March’: A mind-shredding collaboration from two peerless noise rock pioneers.

The mutual admiration between these two noise/grind totems has never been disguised. The bands have toured together, their joint 2015 and 2025 expeditions coining the title for this album, and…

View Post

View Post

Album Review: Carol Maia & Jeremy Gustin – ‘it’s nice to see a lake in your eyes’: an mpb moment to treasure from the Rio/Brooklyn partnership.

Shaped by online exchanges between Rio and Brooklyn, ‘it’s nice to see a lake in your eyes’ by Carol Maia and Jeremy Gustin leaves no doubt about their shared sense…

View Post

View Post

Album Review : Benjamin Herman – ‘The Tokyo Sessions’ : A high energy trip to Japan with the Dutch jazz legend and his dynamic band.

Much celebrated Dutch alto-saxophonist, Benjamin Herman, sounds like the right kind of music obsessive. Not the drill-down, detail driven, relentless refiner of his craft but a musician who restlessly seeks…

View Post

View Post

Album Review: Pan•American – ‘Fly The Ocean In A Silver Plane’: An intricate set of guitar blessed ambience which steer the emotions.

It’s sobering to think that Mark Nelson aka Pan•American has been diligently considering and creating musical radiance for over twenty-five years now. Guitarist, vocalist and founder member of post-rock, ambient…

View Post

View Post

Album Review: New Age Doom & H.R.– ‘Angels Against Angels’: Metal experimentalists meet Bad Brains legend and shape one massive rock/dub prophesy.

Experimental rock duo New Age Doom, drummer Eric Breitenbach and guitarist Greg Valou, thrive on collaboration and collectivism. Since the early drone metal improv of their debut, their approach has…

View Post

View Post

Album Review : Huw Marc Bennett – ‘Heol Las’: re-imagining bygone songs through a unique folktronica gaze.

Over the last few years producer and multi-instrumentalist Huw Marc Bennett’s solo releases has traced his deepening fascination in the music of his home-land, Wales. In 2020 the ‘Tresilian Bay’…

View Post

View Post

Album Review: Jesse Hackett – ‘Nocturnes’ : An electro-acoustic tapestry with heart-felt depth.

Keyboardist, producer, songwriter, vocalist and sonic explorer, Jesse Hackett is a name you think you’ve seen on some record sleeve before and most likely have. An illusive but prolific genre…

View Post

View Post

Album Review: Mammal Hands- ‘Circadia’: The inventive UK nu-jazz trio absorb change and still deliver.

Things have shifted recently for those stalwarts of the UK nu-jazz scene Mammal Hands. Since their debut album ‘Animalia’ turned heads in 2014 ,the Norwich based trio, brothers Nick and…

View Post

View Post

Album Review: Isabel Pine – ‘Fables’: An absorbing sonic journey at one with the wilderness.

The quality and concentration of ambient/classical leaning releases these days means that musicians need to create something with a little extra substance to make more than just a ripple. Well…

View Post

Pages