Indie
Track: James anticipate new album with release of the anthemic and transcendent ‘Beautiful Beaches’:
The legendary James have already wet our appetites for their forthcoming sixteenth album ‘All The Colours Of You’ with the release earlier this year of the title track single reviewed here at Backseat Mafia. Hot on the heels of this is another classic James track, ‘Beautiful Beaches’. Written on reflection of the destructive California wildfires, …
Track: E.R. Jurken – ‘John Doe’: a single drop of melodic harrow ahead of Friday’s album
E.R. JURKEN is a singer-songwriter with a deeply moving, beautiful and fragile take on psych-pop with a 1968 Anglophile twist and a Neutral Milk Hotel twirl to his aesthetic, for whom Drag City have initiated a whole new boutique imprint, Country Thyme; you just know they know when they’re on to a good thing. E.R. …
See: The video for the nocturne dreampop glide of Wyldest’s ‘Beggar’: her album’s out late May
WYLDEST, the lyrically acute, gloriously dreampop project of Londoner Zoe Mead, has followed up her intelligent self-empowerment single drop from last month, “Hollow” (which you should so check out too) with “Beggar”, a chiming, nocturnal study that draws on that guitar swoon and glide of early Lush and wraps it up with her vocal verdancy …
EP Review: WA’s Pretty Uglys unleash ‘Party Friends’ – a blistering set of very attractive post punk anthems, executed with sneers, attitude and indelible pose.
Blasting off with ‘Emergency Room’, Western Australian band Pretty Uglys‘ new EP ‘Party Friends’ is a pulsating and vibrant set of magnificent, sneering and imposing tracks. Pure guitar-driven riffs over a thundering rhythm section and with vocals so loaded with attitude you can almost see the arched eyebrows and sneer. It is gratifyingly cathartic and …
Album Review: Electro Indie beauty from R Zak ‘s ‘Dialetcs’
Review : 9/ 10 There’s a certain folkloric quality that’s embedded in your mind, as the music shifts from the nuanced beauty to the darker , more solemn places in between. Portland based singer -songwriter R Zak ‘s album ‘Dialects’ is truly a kind of extended passage of discovery, gentle at times then suddenly haunting …
News: Travis To Release Album The Boy With No Name On Vinyl
The Boy With No Name’s is set to be re-released on vinyl 28th May via Craft recordings. It comes fresh on the heels of the vinyl reissue for Travis’ debut album, Good Feeling (released April 2nd on Craft Recordings). Leading up to the release, all four band members participated in an exclusive Q&A conversation with producer Steve Lillywhite, who they …
Album Review: Bob Evans unveils ‘Tomorrowland’ – a sparkling and shimmering journey through time – along with news of an Australia-wide tour
Australian indie giants Jebediah’s front person was Kevin Mitchell, and Mitchell, in turn, is Bob Evans – a persona created to deliver Mitchell’s solo work. His new album, ‘Tomorrowland’ is a bright, shining and shimmering piece of work fusing an alt. country melancholia with an indie folk rock jangle and yet defies easy labelling throughout. …
Track: Dutch Wine – ‘Whisky’: Glaswegian indie trio mourn a lost love in mantric guitar
BE IN no doubt; the Glaswegian indie scene is one these isles should be thankful for. Having produced so many great bands since the days of the post-punk – c’mon, need we name them all? – the new crop of acts coming through are carrying the proud tradition and knocking out some superb tunes. In …
EP Review: Juice Webster’s ‘More Than Reaction’ is a cinematic, chilling and beautiful masterpiece
Juice Webster‘s spectacular new EP ‘More Than Reaction’ was born during the early months of January 2020 when flames engulfed Australia, serving as a prelude to the COVID lockdown months later – a time that was fraught and unnerving. Elements of the uncertainty and anxiety of this time can be detected, like the indelible smell …
Album Review: Flyte – “This is Really going to Hurt”: modern break-up tale meets vintage sounds
The second full-length album release from London indie trio Flyte is a break-up story spanning the emotional spectrum of heartbreak- from reflective, bitter navel-gazing, to ascerbic pot-shots aimed squarely at ex-lovers. Recorded in Los Angeles, This is Really going to Hurt has a definite, old-school California sound in its infusion of folk and introspection. It …