california

PREMIERE: Caroline Kingsbury gives ‘Heaven’s Just A Flight’ the remix treatment
In April of last year, Los Angeles-based Caroline Kingsbury released her great debut album Heaven’s Just A Flight (which, by the way, received a belated vinyl pressing in the back half of 2021), and in keeping with the record telling her story of coming out as queer in a religious family, she’s revisited the source …

PREMIERE: Andy Frasco & the U.N. share loved-up new song ‘Grow Old’
As Paul McCartney once sang, some people want to fill the world with silly love songs. California native Andy Frasco is not that kind of person. At least, he isn’t anymore. Two years of collective pandemic-induced trauma changes people, and reconnecting with oneself takes time. The title of his new album calls to mind the …

NEWS: Boy Scouts announces new album ‘Wayfinder’ with tragicomic lead single ‘That’s Life Honey’
In what is very welcome news for a Tuesday afternoon – or indeed, any other part of your week – the Oakland, CA-based Taylor Vick is back at it. Following the release of Free Company in 2019, she released a standalone single called ‘Wish’ in March of last year, with a high-profile SXSW slot lined …

PREMIERE: Karaboudjan shares the powerful ‘Falling Forwards’, preps debut EP for September
He’s been part of a number of bands including the live setup for Tycho, but Billy Kim has only recently started to embark on a musical venture of his own. Back in March, the artist also known as Karaboudjan (yes, that is a The Adventures of Tintin reference) released his debut single ‘Seems Like’, and …

Say Psych: Album Review: Night Beats – Outlaw R&B
Earlier this month Night Beats released their fifth LP, Outlaw R&B on Fuzz Club Records. In it, Danny Lee Blackwell steers the band back to its raw, acid-fried roots in a blaze of technicolour glory. It follows 2019’s Myth Of A Man LP (Heavenly Recordings) and last year’s ‘That’s All You Got’ 7” featuring Black …

ALBUM REVIEW: Matt Costa – ‘Yellow Coat’: an affair of a decade made song
TO BREATHE a little life into an old cliche, I bet my bottom dollar you’d find Matt Costa in the kitchen at parties. He’s that kinda guy. (And this is, of course, totally a compliment). He’s supremely interesting and interested, you can tell; would charm a small and randomly corkscrew-searching bunch of just-mets with wit …

Say Psych: News: L.A. Witch announce new album & share track ‘I Wanna Lose’
Californian trio L.A. Witch are back with their new album Play With Fire. Packed with reverb-heavy, grunge, punk rock’n’roll, the record is set for release on 21 August via Suicide Squeeze Records. Today they’re sharing the first single from the album, ‘I Wanna Lose’. Speaking about the track, Sade Sanchez of L.A. Witch said “‘I Wanna Lose’ is about feeling free and …

Premiere: The Corner Laughers – The Calculating Boy
Californian indie pop bands The Corner Laughers release their latest single, The Calculating Boy on May 15th, taken from their forthcoming album Temescal Telegraph, due out June 5. We’re delighted to premiere the single today here on Backseat Mafia. The bands frontwoman Karla Kane says of the track “’The Calculating Boy’ takes inspiration from 17th-century witch hunts, …

See: Moon Panda – Rick F***in Dalton
With a title inspired from Tarantino’s recent classic, ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’, the new single ‘Rick F***in Dalton’ from US/Danish duo Moon Panda is not what you’d expect. It is a dreamy and mesmerising single filled with lush instrumentation and a divine melodic spine. This a song for the times, as singer/bassist Maddie …