Interview
Soundtrack of our Lives: Pixy Jones of El Goodo
YOU MAY not have taken a dive into an El Goodo album; that, I’m afraid, may be a flaw entirely laid at your own door. OK, they don’t work to a Tin Pan Alley rhythm – there’s only been three albums since their eponymous debut for Super Furries’ Placid Casual imprint in 2005, the most …
MEET: Irish queerpunks Strange New Places
BUILDING on the solid foundations of the Northern Irish rock of Stiff Little Fingers and their 70s’ contemporaries, the Belfast punk scene has gone from strength to strength in recent years with bold new artists popping up like an anti-establishment game of whack-a-mole. Strange New Places is one of these groups and just like their …
Droppin’ Knowledge: Behind The Boards With Irie-1
And we back… California’s Irie-1 joins this week’s version of Behind The Boards to drop some science about producing and positivity. Irie-1 creates sample-based music that is good for both neck-snapping and chilling, with a versatility that runs from the dusty to the grimy, and every possible sound variation in between. Irie’s beats seep into …
Meet: We have a chat with Babybird’s Stephen Jones about that hit single, his creative process and the music industry. Plus we review his new album.
While Babybird will always be associated with the global hit ‘You’re Gorgeous‘, the prodigious talent behind the name, Stephen Jones, has never ceased creating sublime indie pop over the course of his career. In a sense, the music industry may have moved away, but Jones’s songwriting magic has remained a constant. Jones might have the …
MEET: Steven Lind of Freak Heat Waves
FROM their eponymous Krautrock debut album in 2012, right through to the futuristic punk of 2018’s Beyond XXXL, Canadian duo Freak Heat Waves have consistently churned out unpredictable, bold and wildly different albums. Originally formed more than a decade ago with bassist James Twiddy as the third member before merging into the current incarnation consisting …
Droppin’ Knowledge: “We All Get A Time To Ball” – Rapper Serengeti Talks New Album The Gentle Fall – Interview & Review
The hip hop artist speaks candidly about his writing, his new album, the meeting of Kenny and Ajai, and his love for the Before Sunrise trilogy. When the evocative rap artist Serengeti offered to send me a digital copy of his new album, The Gentle Fall, I was excited to listen, but unprepared for what …
Meet: We chat with Steve Kilbey from The Church about celebrating 40 years, acting ‘European’, the fruits of isolation and we review his new solo album
If there’s one thing that is patently obvious over the forty years of Steve Kilbey‘s career, he is the maestro of melody and mysticism. Whether fronting The Church, through his many collaborations and solo work, Kilbey captures the kind of melodies that catch like superglue, wrapping his inherent romanticism and wry lyrics in a glorious …
Droppin’ Knowledge: Behind The Boards With Dirty Art Club
We back…Dirty Art Club in the house, y’all. In 2011, Charlotte, North Carolina’s Dirty Art Club started out as a one off, a way to help a friend, who had recently published a book. Heavy Starch was the name of that book, and it was also the name of Dirty Art Club’s first album, a …
Meet: We chat with Jez Williams from Doves about Northern Soul, getting the band back together and the new album, plus we review ‘The Universal Want’
The new album from Doves, ‘The Universal Want’ is a blistering rebirth from the Mancunian band. It’s much more than a return to form – their previous albums were uniformly brilliant – but there is a sense of identifiable development and growth in the intervening eleven years since ‘Kingdom of Rust’ was released. Songs such …
Droppin’ Knowledge: Behind The Boards With Dan.Akill
For today’s edition of Behind The Boards, Backseat Mafia travels to France, to speak with the producer and beatmaker, Dan.Akill, of Pani Problem Production, in Gironde. Dan.Akill is a veteran musician who has worked with a variety of artists in the United States and France. In May, Dan.Akill teamed up with the Nigerian emcee LuGhz, …