backseat downunder
EP Review: Perth’s Onslow release an operatic, anthemic and dynamic self-titled debut
Rising Perth debutantes Onslow (duo Sean Harmanis and Scott Kay) have a remarkable breadth in their music: songs that range from jingle jangle melodic delicacy to full-throated metal screaming within seconds, and within one song. The result is something that is quite extraordinary: a hard to define genre that has an anthemic infrastructure with thundering …
Track: Dan Baker’s ‘Freeze Dried Coffee’ thrills with a whiskey soaked baritone soaked in excess and regret
North Queenslander Dan Baker‘s vocals in his new track ‘Freeze Dried Coffee’ are soaked in a luxurious late night excess – red light rich, velvet and full of the vicissitudes of life rolled into just over five minutes of pain and delight. The accompanying instrumentation reeks of bar rooms and regret: distant wailing strings, simply …
Track: flowerkid’s ethereal and deeply personal musical journey continues with the yearning track ‘It’s Happening Again (feat. KUČKA)’
The Sydney prodigy flowerkid (19 year old singer, songwriter and producer Flynn Sant) follows his beautiful single ‘Miss Andry’ (reviewed by me in March) with the new track ‘It’s Happening Again’ featuring LA-based Australian-native KUČKA. Again, deeply personal themes flow through this ethereal track, with the vocal interplay between flowerkid and KUČKA sublime as they sing …
See: Pond bathe in a luxurious bacchanalia with their video for the fresh track ‘Toast’, and announce a new album ‘9’ plus tour news.
Pond‘s new single ‘Toast’ is a warm and louche slice of psychedelia: replete with a laid back swagger with a tongue planted firmly in the cheek, a twinkle in the eye and a wry, sardonic grin. And yet it bears a serious message about class divide in times of emergency. It also comes bearing news …
Track: New Zealand’s alt.folk royalty Reb Fountain releases video for new single ‘Beastie’ and announces new album ‘Iris’
New Zealand’s Reb Fountain has a distinctive style that matches a folk sensibility with an indie punk swagger: music that is hard to define, is distinctive and powerful. Fountain has announced details of a new album ‘Iris’, out through the inimitable and iconic Flying Nun Records, on 1 October 2021, and she released a video …
Premiere: New Zealand’s Voodoo Bloo reveal explosive, unhinged sledgehammer of a video for ‘MMA’
Back in May, Backseat Mafia reviewed the new single from Voodoo Bloo – essentially the work of Rory McDonald (Sheffield born but Wellington resident). We are honoured to be able to bring to you an exclusive first viewing of the accompanying video to this blistering track. And it is absolutely on fire. We wrote that …
See: Adelaide’s Teenage Joans release a dynamic video for the effervescent single ‘Wine’, and announce Australian tour
Adelaide duo Teenage Joans mix a hard edge guitar drive with scaling choruses and exuberant melodies in their single ‘Wine’. Steeped in an unashamed Australian accent expressed through vocals that range from emotive, whiskey-soaked rawness to celestial heights, ‘Wine’ is a satisfying mix of grunge and sixties pop sensibilities with lyrics that reflect youth and …
Track: Marveline’s pop sensibilities and inherent whimsy are on display in the delightful new single ‘Fly By Instruments’
Last year we shone a bright light on the debut album ‘Savoury-toothed Tiger‘ from Sydney go-to musician Pete Marley’s outfit Marveline, calling it: …a pocketful of pure pop, with some sunshine and humour for the age of isolation and yet leavened by darker observations and the odd touch of melancholia. It was a buoyant piece …
Premiere: Infinity Broke release ‘Dragon’s Breath’: a fiery, passionate, anthemic delight.
Infinity Broke, with a breath of fresh air forcefully expelled, cleared out our collective cobwebs with their last single ‘Death of a Tourist’ (premiered by us in May). We are again honoured to be able to premiere their follow up single ‘Dragon’s Breath’: a track with slightly less propulsion but just as much impact. Highly …
Track: Fremantle’s Spacey Jane unveil the melodic blissed out track ‘Lots of Nothing’
Spacey Jane have been developing quite a reputation in Australia since their debut album ‘Sunlight’ was released last year, and on the basis of their new track ‘Lots of Nothing’, you can see something intergalactic on the boil. ‘Lots of Nothing’ is a blissed out jangling sparkling beauty of a track filled with yearning and …