John Parry, Author at Backseat Mafia

Album Review: Arjuna Oakes – ‘While I’m Distracted’: a lush, sophisticated contemporary pop soundscape, rich in soul-jazz understanding.

Even if you’ve picked up on any of singer-songwriter/pianist Arjuna Oakes’s previous offerings, it’s unlikely you would have predicted the scale and ambition of his debut album ‘While I’m Distracted’.…

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Album Review: Arjuna Oakes – ‘While I’m Distracted’: a lush, sophisticated contemporary pop soundscape rich in soul-jazz understanding

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Album Review : Sami Galbi –‘Ylh Bye Bye’ : fresh and feisty electro-pop from a new voice on the world fusion airwaves.

Genevan label Bongo Joe has been sneaking out singles by Swiss/Moroccan electronic artist Sami Galbi since March last year but now the teasing is over. The full whammy, his debut…

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Album Review: Manuel Pasquinelli – ‘Heartbeat Drumming/ Bellmund Session’: Beyond an experiment, a jazz-rock drummer’s statement from the heart.

And now for something (well almost) completely different- Bern based jazz rock drummer Manuel Pasquinelli is venturing into the world of bio-music on his new album ‘Heartbeat Drumming’. Of course…

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Track/Video: ‘From Belgrade’, the second memorable stop on Passepartout Duo’s ‘Pieces From Places’ sonic travelogue.

Announcing the second stopover on Passepartout Duo’s ‘Pieces From Places’ album, a project which will build incrementally, released as one new track per month for a year, until their epic…

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Album Review: REA-‘Garden Shed’ EP: Fresh folky weave and natural flow from a distinctive new indie-folk voice.

Well Bon Iver had his snowbound cabin in deepest Wisconsin and Brighton based singer songwriter REA had her Dad’s garden shed in rural England. That may not seem quite so…

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Album Review: Be Kind Cadaver –‘The World’s Greatest Mind’ : Epic electronic noise-rock exposes a deeper malaise.

Welcome once again to a rare encounter with the illusive Brighton art-punk duo Be Kind Cadaver. First sighted back in the post-Covid energy surge of 2022 with their debut EP…

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Track/Video : Experimental beats explorer I Am Fya previews her ‘Homeland’ album with the pounding power of ‘i2i’.

It’s seems like quite a while since we’ve had any recorded output from Manchester’s electronic experimentalist I Am Fya. Well over a year ago she delivered The Sun Will Kill…

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Album Review: Penelope Trappes – ‘A Requiem’: Resonant, deeply fulfilling ambient songs which need to be heard.

Penelope Trappes recognises she makes music goes deep and once described her approach as “digging up the underworld with visual motifs, and a mystical, gothic darkness that symbolises my struggles”.…

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Album Review: Emma Rawicz & Gwilym Simcock – ‘Big Visit’: A sax/piano jazz connection that sets new standards.

The similarities in the musical pathways between saxophonist Emma Rawicz and pianist Gwilym Simcock are a bit uncanny. Both studied at Chethams School Of Music and The Royal Academy, both…

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