dream pop
Premiere: Mako Bron’s ‘cloudbites’ EP is an effervescent and glorious pop masterpiece, with a dark heart and uplifting melodies.
Mako Bron is the brainchild of one musician/producer Chris Brookman, and the single ‘Straight Down’ went to straight up to my top five Australian/New Zealand single releases for 2021. We at Backseat Mafia are therefore absolutely thrilled to be asked to premiere Mako Bron’s new EP, ‘cloudbites’, set for release on 3 January 2022. Brookman …
Backseat Downunder: A Personal Top Fifty List of Favourite Australian/New Zealand Albums and Singles from 2021
This has been another extraordinary year which has seen musicians reach peak creativity locked away in their bedrooms, recording studios, recording studios in their bedrooms and all manner of locations – a side effect of the lockdowns that have beset both Australia and New Zealand. The sheer volume of releases seems to me to have …
Track: New Zealand’s enigmatic T.G. Shand gifts us with an exquisite new track ‘Seats’ for the festive season and announces new album for 2022
Ōtautahi/Christchurch resident Annemarie Duff, formerly of the legendary Melbourne shoegaze band Miniatures (on the iconic Saint Marie Records label) is T.G. Shand: the producer of some of the most dreamy velvet textured shoegaze dream pop this year through her singles ‘Lemony‘ and ‘The Ease‘. And with the hint of an album coming out in the new year, Duff is …
Premiere: Fingerless proffer a shimmering fatalistic view of life in the acidic, psychedelic ‘You Are Going To Die’.
We are infinitely pleased to premiere the new single from those chameleons of indie rock, Brisbane band Fingerless. This band continues to defy definition and, in their new single ‘You Are Going To Die’, even gravity, in their fascinating output. Following on from their last single – the magnificent ‘Leaf of Stone’ (see my review …
Album Review: End Scene’s debut album ‘All My Ghosts’ is a masterpiece that jangles with a dark pop intent and an indelible shimmer.
There is a recognisable antipodean jingle jangle thrum in Sydney band End Scene‘s debut album ‘All My Ghosts’. Essentially, End Scene is James Jennings and Tom Dufficy and together they have produced an indie pop delight with instrumentation that chimes and rings, given a celestial reach by an acerbic and droll undercurrent in the vocals and …
Premiere: Spring Skier gently reflect on ‘Six Strings, Eight Legs’ with a dreamy pop elegance.
Brisbane’s dreamy pop duo Spring Skier (Remy Boccalatte and Kane Mazlin) grace the pages of Backseat Mafia again with another stunning premiere, the gentle and reflective ‘Six Stings, Eight Legs’. A wry observation on the ministrations of a spider, Boccalatte’s voice has the sweetest edge, wrought with yearning and imbued with a sort of sadness …
Premiere: Galán/Vogt unveil the hauntingly beautiful video for the mesmerising track ‘Hypnagogia’
Australian born, Paris-based artist Karen Vogt has blessed these pages in the past with her band, the magnificent Heligoland (see our interview and review of their last album ‘This Quiet Fire’ here and recent collaboration with She Owl here). She has now collaborated with ambient experimental composer Pepo Galán, releasing the album entitled ‘The Sweet Wait’ released last month. We are …
Track: Blackbirds FC unveil the sparkling and evocative track ‘Transport Planes’: a dreamy elision of memory and reality.
With an expansive poetic expression, the new track from Blackbirds FC rings with clarity and yearning as it is carried by luminescent harmonies and jangling guitars. Blackbirds FC have a deeply ingrained antipodean genetic make-up that stretches from over the ditch with The Chills and The Bats to The Go-Betweens and all that glorious jangle …
News: New Zealand’s Mild Orange, purveyors of shimmering dream pop magic, announce new album and release double singles ‘What’s Your Fire?’ and ‘Hollywood Dreams’ as a tasty aperitif
There is nothing balmy or equable about Mild Orange‘s musical output. This year has seen a stream of the most sparkling, dreamy pop magic from one of New Zealand’s most formidable and finest music exponents (see our reviews of singles ‘This Kinda Day’ and ‘Time Of Our Lives’). And now, as a joyous finale to …
Track: Terra Pines ‘Harp On’: a dreamy and celestial wander through the clouds
After pleasantly assaulting us with their thumping track ‘Downbeat’ (see my review here) , Brisbane band Terra Pines have pressed ever so gently on the brakes and released the dreamy almost ambient shimmer of ‘Harp On’; a dream-popped sonic landscape with a hypnotic flow and gentle melodies. A muscular bass, shimmering guitars and ethereal keys …