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Backseat Downunder

New releases from Australia and New Zealand

Premiere: Naarm/Melbourne Twin Sisters, Idol Minds, Enchant with ‘Needed You’ – A Mystical Odyssey Through the Intricacies of Love

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Live Gallery: Warpaint at the Oxford Art Factory 23.10.2023

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Live Gallery: Barkaa at SXSW Sydney 20.10.2023

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Having recently returned from a tour throughout the UK, Melbourne power-punk 2-piece, Mannequin Death Squad (El and Dan) took to the stage at Altar here in Hobart and ripped out an explosive set of songs from their catalogue, including new tracks from their just-released album, Super Mental Psycho (which was co-produced by legendary Australian producer, …

Katy Steele is an institution ever since her days in Perth indie darlings Little Birdy, and we recently reviewed her contribution to the Kav Temperley (Eskimo Joe) track “Graduation Day’. Steele now strikes out on her own in her new track ‘Feel So Bad’: an effervescent rollicking track that canters along like an unbridled horse …

With a touch of Lou Reed in its insouciant laid-back dry observational style, the new single ‘Something’ from Ōtepoti/Dunedin four-piece Soaked Oats is a delicious track imbued with a laconic easy style and a huge dollop of panache. Of course, Dunedin has a storied history in producing the very best in indie fare, and clearly …

A collaboration between a trio of Australia’s most engaging pop musicians, Holly Hebe, Ivoris and Zhuli, has seen the delivery of a very zesty track ‘Supervillain’ that pops and fizzles with sardonic glee. When all else around seems dark and gloomy, this is a golden ray of sunshine that lights up the firmament, with their …

We are honoured to be able to present an exclusive look at the video for Perth musician/songwriter Michael Day‘s enigmatic track ‘The Psych or the Priest’, due for release tomorrow (30 September). Day says the track deals with uncertainty: The feeling of sinking. Unsure if you’re the victim or the culprit. Hurting in the midst …

EWAH and the Vision of Paradise (EVoP) released a magnificent album ‘The Warning Birds’ last year (see my 9.2/10 review here) – an album that I described as being a palimpsest for beauty and decay, wild and turbulent landscapes with the intrusion of modernity and the threats and ugliness this can entail. It is an album that …

We are ever so honoured to premiere today the new single ‘Don’t Forget To Breathe’ from central Victorian Steve Lane. Floating on a bed of sweeping, weeping strings and a gentle patter of guitars and piano, ‘Don’t Forget To Breathe’ is breathtakingly elegant and mournful: an air of melancholy oozes from the crystalline cello strings …

We here at Backseat Mafia have been long time fans of Melbourne-based chanteuse Gena Rose Bruce with her smoky, sultry voice and reverb-inflected laconic style that comes across as a melange of Mazzy Star and P.J. Harvey: a femme fatale with a steely spine cloaked in luscious velvet and a smoldering style. Her debut album …