Indie pop
Live Review: Tuff Love – The Victoria Dalston, 12 November 2015
If the crowd’s reaction to Tuff Love’s fuzzy indie pop at this east London pub is anything to go by, they could shortly be the band name on everyone’s lips. A lot of music writers are talking about Tuff Love, and rightly so, but you may not have heard of them. You will soon. 2015 …
Obituary: Carey Lander – Paradoxically Modest and Truly Brilliant (1982 -2015)
Some musicians surprise fans by not knowing how to deal with appreciation and disarm reviewers by willing to absorb criticism of their music. Carey Lander, the keyboard player with Glaswegian indie pop band Camera Obscura from 2001 until her death in October 2015, did both. Erudite and demure offstage but ironically confident in projecting her …
Premiere: Stutter Steps release video for Fog
Stutter Steps, the Pittsburgh indie pop six piece outfit, are today premiering their debut video Fog right here on Backseat Mafia. Taken from their forthcoming self titled debut album, it features Dean Wareham from Galaxie 500/Luna on slide guitar. Singer/Guitarist Ben Harrison met the indie luminary through his job at the Warhol Museum, where he …
Track: The Legends – Up and Away
Perhaps more familiar for his other projects, Club 8 and Acid House Kings, Johan Angergård has reconvened his The Legends project, fairly easy as it turns out, because its only him, much to some people’s surprise. Their first album in six years is out now via revered Swedish indie pop label Labrador records, and this …
News: Lisbon announce new UK tour
Up and coming north east band Lisbon are set to hit the road again in 2016, bringing their vibrant slices of electronic pop to the masses once more. They completed a successful tour of UK venues earlier this year and saw the release of their “Life is Good” EP which featured amongst its indie pop …
Track: Abby – Hexagon
Hexagon is the second album from the German four-piece band Abby, here we see Abby venture into a more electronic spectrum throughout the album, a departure from their Indie Pop labeling which sees them more than comfortable in their new surroundings. This is first present on the third track ‘Halo’ with some nice vocal manipulation, it’s …
Album Review: McCarthy – I am a Wallet (reissue)
Trust me, there was a time before you’re average indie band shied away from politics, because it might affect their ‘careers’. Today it seems that more bands are worried about saying the wrong thing, than maybe saying the right thing. It seems rather just, that at a time where Jeremy Corbyn, the almost antithesis of …
News: Lush reform for London gig
4AD lovers have been rejoicing today with the deluxe news that early nineties label stalwarts Lush are reforming to play the London Roundhouse in May 2016 as well as releasing a new compilation. Lush have announced details of their first live show in almost twenty years, playing London’s prestigious Roundhouse venue on Friday 6th May …
See: The Crookes – Before The Night Falls
It’s been a quiet year for The Crookes. February saw the departure of their drummer Russell Bates but the boys were back and recording their 4th studio album before we’d seen too many April showers. It wasn’t until July when the band returned to live shows – a warm-up gig in sunny Scunthorpe before their big Tramlines show …
Album Review: Mammoth Penguins – Hide and Seek
Cards on the table before we even start this review. I love Emma Kupa. Well, her songwriting at least. It was lucky that her six song mini album Home Cinema lifted me from my depressive slumber following the split of Standard Fare, one of,if not the first, group ever to appear on Backseat Mafia. A …