Album Review: Bell X1 – ARMS
Intelligent and inventive Irish band Bell X1 return with their new studio album “ARMS”, released in the UK via Belly Up Records. This is the band’s seventh studio album and is a fantastically assured and consistent follow-up to 2013’s acclaimed “Chop Chop”, which became their third #1 album on the Irish Album Charts and their …
Track: The Last Dinosaur – All My Faith
Hewn from the emotional turmoil of personal tragedy and challenge, The Last Dinosaur (aka London-based soundscape artist Jamie Cameron) releases new album “The Nothing” on 7th July via Naim Records. It’s been 8 years since debut release “Hooray! For Happiness” and a triumphant return. The first single from the new album is the beautiful, gentle …
See: Dan Croll releases new video for ‘Bad Boy’, plus US/UK tour dates
Dan Croll, the 26 year old über-talented, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter from Newcastle-under-Lyme, returns with the new single ‘Bad Boy’ from his forthcoming album ‘Emerging Adulthood’. The single and album are both released on July 21st on Communion Records. ‘Bad Boy’ is written by Croll and produced by Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Cee Lo Green) and like …
EP Review: Night Moves – Carl Sagan
Night Moves – Carl Sagan EP Listening to Night Moves’ new EP ‘Carl Sagan’ is a glorious and uplifting experience because their music envelops you in a soft duvet of grand, sweeping, hooky goodness in a style that belies categorisation. As a result, ‘Cosmic Music’ is probably the closest you will get to any …
Live Review: Calexico – Albert Hall, Manchester – 30th April 2015
Calexico made a welcome return to the UK after a couple of years’ absence in support of their brilliant new album – Edge of The Sun – and we were there to see them at Manchester’s Albert Hall. This was only one of three British gigs for Calexico so the venue was packed to the gills with people of …
Live: Champs – Belgrave Music Hall – Leeds – 8th April 2015
We are big fans of Champs here at Backseat Mafia and loved their recent album ‘VAMALA’ which we reviewed here, one of a multitude of rave reviews for the Isle of Wight duo’s album of exquisitely crafted and gorgeously harmonised pop-folk songs. It really is an album of sheer beauty and if you haven’t yet added …
Album Review: Stornoway – Bonxie
Oxford four-piece Stornoway are back with a new album called ‘Bonxie’, released on 13th April through Cooking Vinyl. It’s the first of Stornoway’s albums to take the services of a producer, their previous releases being very much DIY efforts, but not DIY in quality I hasten to add. The producer in question is none other …
Album Review: Hayden – Hey Love
Paul Hayden Desser is a Canadian singer-songwriter with a wide ranging style (folk, grunge, pop, rock, country) that has, over the years, been refined to what is probably best described as Alternative Indie Folk. He has just released his eight album called ‘Hey Love’, a set of songs about his muse – Love. Going by …
Track: Happyness – ‘A Whole New Shape’ and ‘Weird Little Birthday’ Reissue news
If you were lucky enough to have caught South London trio Happyness in one of their support slots for Slow Club in February or JAWS at the start of March then you’ll know what a great band they are. I managed to catch them at their gig at Queen’s Social Club in Sheffield and they looked …
Meet: Champs talk new album, influences and the Isle of Wight
We recently reviewed Vamala, the fabulous new album from Isle of Wight duo Champs, giving it a deserved 9 out of 10. You can see that review in full here. It looks like we are not the only people impressed by Vamala as the album continues to collect overwhelmingly positive accolades from the music press. We managed …