Album Reviews
EP: The implausible combination of Lime Cordiale and Idris Elba release ‘Cordi Elba’: a veritable sunshine-filled aural tonic for the troops.
I don’t know about you, but the past two years have been pretty awful, what with pandemics and blighted putrescent politicians injecting that little extra layer of pain with their hypocritical and commerce fueled anti-arts approach to salvation. And then along comes something like ‘Cordi Elba’ which, while not a complete antidote, does apply a …
Album Review: Overland Inn’s ‘Proxima’ is a sensual, liquid melange of bubbling electronic delights.
The liquidity of movement and sensual overload in French Czech-based duo Overland Inn‘s new album ‘Proxima’ is nothing short of magnificent. Heralded by a series of delectable amuse-bouches over the last 12 months following their signing to the brilliant Brisbane label False Peak Records, Overland Inn have perfected an electronic based dream pop oeuvre that has …
Album review: Die Wilde Jagd – ‘Atem’: a dark, occluding drone masterwork
DIE WILDE JAGD – it translates as “The Wild Hunt”, Anglophones, which will surely be the only possible connection to Swedish troubadour The Tallest Man on Earth we shall ever explore – is the sonic project of producer and songwriter Sebastian Lee Philipp. Across three albums from 2015’s self-titled debut, through 2018’s Uhrwald Orange and …
Premiere: Mako Bron’s ‘cloudbites’ EP is an effervescent and glorious pop masterpiece, with a dark heart and uplifting melodies.
Mako Bron is the brainchild of one musician/producer Chris Brookman, and the single ‘Straight Down’ went to straight up to my top five Australian/New Zealand single releases for 2021. We at Backseat Mafia are therefore absolutely thrilled to be asked to premiere Mako Bron’s new EP, ‘cloudbites’, set for release on 3 January 2022. Brookman …
Album Review: The Scarlet Hour – Blink EP
Formed in 2021 from members of Alternative/Post-Punk trio The Seventh Victim, The Scarlet Hour are a Synth Darkwave duo based in the North East. Delivering brooding bass hooks from Mel Butler, and dystopian lyrics from a tormented mind courtesy of Tim Synistyr, all sprinkled with Synth-Pop melodies. ‘Blink’ is the first release by the band. With …
Album Review: Vis-A-Vis – The Best Of Vis-A-Vis In Congo Style
Remember those stellar studio bands of the late sixties/early seventies – The Meters, The Section, The Wrecking Crew, Muscle Shoals – defining the sound of where a record was made and fuelling the hit factories. Switch over to West Africa and you find the same thing, the tightest groups of session players at the source …
Album Review: Tout Bleu – Otium
London, New York, Paris Munich, everybody’s talking about…well it’s got to be Geneva, home to one of the most vibrant European scenes that gets broadcast to the rest of us through the antennae of Bongo Joe records. The label has offered up some fine home town releases this year from Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, …
Album Review: End Scene’s debut album ‘All My Ghosts’ is a masterpiece that jangles with a dark pop intent and an indelible shimmer.
There is a recognisable antipodean jingle jangle thrum in Sydney band End Scene‘s debut album ‘All My Ghosts’. Essentially, End Scene is James Jennings and Tom Dufficy and together they have produced an indie pop delight with instrumentation that chimes and rings, given a celestial reach by an acerbic and droll undercurrent in the vocals and …
Say Psych: Album Review: The KVB – Unity
The KVB are back with a new album, Unity, which was released recently via Invada Records. Movement – and lack of movement – is a crucial backdrop to the latest album from the audio-visual duo of Wood and Kat Day. The seeds of the album were sown in demo form in Spain, shortly followed by …
Album Review: Dark Sky Burial – Omnis Cum In Tenebris Praesertim Vita Laboret
“Omnis Cum In Tenebris Praesertim Vita Laboret” is the 4th album from Dark Sky Burial, the new musical venture from Napalm Death’s Shane Embury. The album’s title translates as, “Life is one long struggle in the Dark.” The dark ambient soundscapes and unsettling industrial noise textures, with disorientating, electronic moments were composed by Shane Embury …