Music
Track: Catbells – ‘Fade – Rainy Day Demo’: a bright new talent from rural New England with a feline mask and dreampop delight
WE DON’T know who it is that figuratively and physically dons the mask of Catbells; but we do know that she is rather lovely. Born and raised in New England, we know that the singer-songwriter was introduced to the piano aged 5; and that by seventh grade she was playing the guitar and writing songs …
See: Bruno Bavota – ‘Apartment Loop #6’: a personal experience of lockdown captured in modular electronics
WE LOCKED the door; we waited. We waited, we combed the airwaves; we counted the days some more. The experience is nigh on universal, save those of you lucky enough to be reading in Taiwan, Christchurch, Auckland and elsewhere. Italy was caught by the pandemic earlier than many, and as it swept across the country, …
Track: Bandicoot have the ‘Worried Blues’: another excessively brilliant single from the entertaining Welsh band.
Bandicoot have an attitude and an impeccable sense of theatre and drama that make their releases utterly cathartic and completely mesmerising. We premiered the video for their last single ‘Fuzzy’ – seductive with all the delicacy of a velvet coated sledgehammer – and the band has released a follow up single ‘Worried Blues’: another blast …
Album Review: Gruff Rhys – Seeking New Gods
It’s a tricky thing, judging the solo work of an artist who has had such huge success at the head of a band. Should their albums be considered solely within the context of their solo endeavours or do they have to stand in the spotlight alongside the collective behemoths that preceded them? It’s even trickier …
See: Mattia Cupelli – ‘EGERIA’: propulsive ambient darkwave goes down to the water
MATTIA CUPELLI, the Italian darkwave ambient composer, the cyclical, shadowy prayer call of whose “MONOLITH” we covered in these pages just over a week ago, has dropped another track, this time showcasing a more propulsive dark aesthetic. It’s called “EGERIA” and you can watch the video for it below. Built on the hard rock of …
Premiere: Alice Mary releases a live video for the funky art rock of ‘Too Much’
EAST London musician Alice Mary has returned with a new song, “Too Much”, and we’re delighted to be able to premiere the accompanying live video right here on Backseat Mafia today. Of the song, she told us: “”Too Much came to life in several bedrooms, a shipping container by the Thames and a warehouse in …
News: Lottery Winners announce massive British tour; see the video for ‘Times Are Changing’
OK, OK, the timing wasn’t absolutely spot on, but lovers of anthemic pure pop were surely tickled of tastebud when The Lottery Winners released their self-titled first album right as the virus tore through. That didn’t stop ’em; vocalist and guitarist Thom Rylance, bassist and vocalist Katie Lloyd, guitarist Robert Lally and drummer Joe Singleton …
Album review: Lou Barlow – ‘Reason To Live’: a crisp Americana homecoming that reveals its beauties slowly
NOTHING less than absolute royalty of the US alt.rock scene, Lou Barlow, formerly of Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and Sentridoh, The Folk Implosion, is set to grace our ears with his first solo album in six years. Good things come to he who waits. That album, Reason To Live, will be out this very Friday, May …
Premiere: Jessica unveils the lush and gorgeous video for the haunting track ‘Apparition’
We are very honoured to premiere a new video from Sydney’s Jessica, for the track ‘Apparition’. Last year we reviewed the quite frankly astonishing debut album from her called ‘The Space Between’ in which we wrote it was: …impossibly beautiful – quiet, reflecting vignettes filled with a haunting sadness and an aura that could only …