dream pop
EP Review: Why Sun – Frugte
Copenhagen trio why sun describe their sound as ‘sleepy noise’. It’s an interesting attempt to coin a new sub-genre, but I can hear little going on here besides straight up dream pop. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. Within their new EP ‘Frugte”s opening moments, it’s clear that the band’s timing of …
Album Review: Gena Rose Bruce – Can’t Make You Love Me
Since covering her single ‘Blazing Radio’ back in 2014, we here at Backseat Mafia have keenly followed the career of Melbourne’s Gena Rose Bruce and it is with great joy to declare her debut album, ‘Can’t Make You Love Me’, a promise strongly delivered. There can be no doubt that Bruce’s style has matured and …
Album Review: The Raft – Abloom
Backseat Mafia has been following with great delight the prolific releases of The Raft for the last few years – a series of brilliant EPs that somehow capture an unique Liverpudlian pop sensibility. The Raft have released a full album, containing the previously released single ‘Xanadu’, and it represents a glorious evolution and development of …
Track: Imperial Daze – People are Animals
Following a brilliant debut last year with one of my favourite singles of last year, ‘Always Settling’, Peckham’s Imperial Daze are back with another fantastic single ‘People are Animals’. Of the release, the band says it “hints at the glaring contradiction that, although we are ever more digitally connected, these digital connections can ultimately be …
Track: Wildhoney – Naive Castle
Slumberland Records have been a mighty presence within the independent community since their formation 30 years ago. This is a label who have worked with such indie luminaries as The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Stereolab, Dum Dum Girls and even Flying Nun alum Robert Scott via. The Bats. Risky to some but perhaps …
Track: Ummagma – Caravan
Dreamy dream pop duo Ummagma take a surprising direction in their new single, ‘Caravan’. It’s a thumpingly percussive missile, tilted forward and racing like a sprinter in a 100m run. With a slight arabic air that is almost reminiscent of Remain in Light-era Talking Heads, there is a sparkling arpeggio with the intertwined vocals of …
Track: Nice Biscuit – Goodbye, Luya plus tour news
There’s something in the water up in the north of Australia and it’s not H2O. Brisbane’s Nice Biscuit have released a gorgeous psychedelic, jangly, kaleidoscope whirligig of a song in ‘Goodbye, Luya’. It is a hallucinogenic seven minutes of glorious harmonies from the two lead singers, Grace Cuell and Billie Star with a hypnotic drive …
Track: Underground Lovers – The Passer-by, plus album news
There can be no greater sense of excitement and anticipation than news of a new release from one of Australia’s best bands, the criminally underrated Underground Lovers from Melbourne. And so it goes a surprise new single has just been released – ‘Passer-by’ – as well as confirmation of the release of their 10th album, …
Track: Syrup, Go On! – Don’t Go (Riding Down The Cosmic Drain)
Yet another blast of creativity from Queensland gets launched to day with the release of the single ‘Don’t Go (Riding Down The Cosmic Drain)’ by the psychedelic upstarts, Gold Coast’s Syrup, Go On!. The title of the song tells you everything: this is a psych-infused stop/start sparkling brilliance surely fueled by substances you wouldn’t want …
Track: Crumb – Ghostride plus tour dates
If you’re in the mood this evening for a leisurely, almost lounge-esque track to ease you into the upcoming weekend, Brooklyn collaborators Crumb is exactly the easy, relaxed group of artists for that. Their single, “Ghostride”, is laid-back, dreamy number taken from their forthcoming album Jinx, scheduled for release June 14th. A sanguine piece from the quartet, the …