Posts in category

Backseat Downunder

New releases from Australia and New Zealand

News: GANGgajang set to headline Nimbin Roots Festival in October 2024

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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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Australia’s sparkling pop duo Holy Holy’s forthcoming album ‘Hello My Beautiful World’ is due out on Friday, 20 August 2021 through Wonderlick Recording Company. Recorded in Victoria and Tasmania, Tim Carroll, part of the duo with Oscar Dawson, says of the album: We were given all the freedom in the world to do whatever we wanted, …

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‘Moral Outage’, from Magnetic Heads, is a sparkling ensemble of eighties-influenced, synth-based tracks that resonate with a darkness and refined intelligence. And when I say eighties, I mean the good stuff. Intertwining threads draw in the synth giants of Heaven 17, Cabaret Voltaire, New Order, The Beloved and even Devo, while the delicate intricacies of …

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If you are in the mood for a bit of psychotic psychedelia with an infusion of chemical cocktails and a backpack full of barely suppressed chaos and self-deprecatory humour – and after all, who isn’t in the current climes – then Bagful of Beez has just the thing for you with the appropriately named single …

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Sydney’s Moody Beach (the work of Melissah Mirage) has been catching the attention of Backseat Mafia this year with her dirty, scuzzy brand of shoegaze dream pop, delivered with a shot glass full of swagger and a black leather jacket draped attitude. Two earlier singles this year, ‘Chance’ and ‘The Other’, set the radar blinking, …

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The shock announcement that veteran indie band You Am I‘s enigmatic Tim Rogers was joining venerable Australian punks The Hard-Ons as a permanent frontman is only matched by the immediate surprise release today of a new single and news of an album from the iconic band. The new album, amusingly entitled ‘I’m Sorry, Sir, That …

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Gliding out of the world’s most remote city, Perth, duo The Money War (Carmen and Dylan Ollivierre)  have today released the ethereal and dreamy track ‘Miles Away’. This is a coasting, sparkling and very delicious slice of melancholy, punctuated by the most languid and evocative breathy saxophones and subtle horns, and gilded by reflective, immersive …

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There is something very distinctive in the air. New Zealand’s Flying Nun signees Sulfate have followed up their debut single ‘Crossing’ (reviewed by me here) with a brilliant brooding, fuzzy ‘There You Are!’: coasting over an insistent bass, barely contained feedback and singer Peter Ruddell’s (Wax Chattels) voice a deep, sonorous ominous rumble. There is …

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Geoffrey O’Connor, who played in iconic Melbourne pop band Crayon Fields, has just released a magnificent solo album, ‘For As Long As I Remember’, and it is a shining beacon of sparkling, intelligent pop that provide aural succour during these dark times. Every song features duets with iconic singers which adds textures and layers that …

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Eilish Gilligan has a voice like a bell – it rings with an authenticity and clarity, imbued with personal expression and personality. Her subject matter has always been raw and personal: detailing the travails of a twenty-something filled with vulnerabilities, anxieties and yet empowered and resilient in that open self-expression. Her new EP, ‘First One …

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Producer and Worldwide FM host Sampology has shared his uptempo new track Reassemble, featuring the soulful vocals of Berlin-based singer James Chatburn. Continuing the live instrumentation from Memories in Flight and Suffer and Swim, ‘Reassemble’ features lush strings, woodwind, xylophone and warm percussion, combined with James Chatburn’s powerful voice. Following a session between the two …

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