shoegaze
Premiere: A welcome return to the Big League with their sparkling new single ‘Neverlandfill’ ahead of new EP and launch date.
A favourite outfit at the southern outpost of Backseat Mafia, Naarm/Melbourne band Big League began as a series of lounge-room recordings by husband and wife team Travis (guitar, vocals) & Marie Velthoven (bass) before expanding into a full band and an even fuller sound. We are proud to premiere their new single ‘Neverlandfill’, the first since the release of last year’s album …
News: Dream Pop Queen Hatchie returns with the epic, glittering single ‘Lose It Again’ and announces new album ‘Liquorice’.
It feels like eons since we heard from Meanjin/Brisbane Queen of Dream Pop Hatchie but in fact it was only in April last year that she released ‘Kiss Me (Kill Me)‘ with RINSE (partner Joe Agius). These days based in Naarm/Melbourne, Hatchie (the nome de plume of Harriette Pilbeam) has made a sneak return with …
Track: The enigmatic Parisian-based band SCHØØL release ‘OK <3’ from their forthcoming album ‘I think my life has been OK’.
Ūber cool Parisian-based band SCHØØL, consisting of members from France, the US and Australia, today release their final single ‘OK <3’ off their forthcoming album ‘I think my life has been ok’. Already promising much in their previous singles, ‘NSMLYD‘ (already a contender for single of the past few years for me), ‘The End‘ and …
Album Review: Deep within the ‘Winter Palace’ The Valery Trails unleash an indie pop master class filled with soaring anthemic tracks that jangle and sparkle.
The Valery Trails have today released their new album ‘Winter Palace – their first release since 2022’s ‘The Sky Is Blue’ (reviewed by me here) and absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder with the welcomed return of their indelible melodies and harmonies. Opening track ‘Another Time’ provides an anthemic entry point with its thundering, chiming …
Track: Lisbon-based band pôt-pot return with glittering new single ‘S3xtape’ ahead of debut album release.
Lisbon-based Irish quintet pôt-pot follow up last month’s single ‘WRSW’, covered here by Backseat Mafia, with new single ‘S3xtape’. Of course it’s not written like that but given the tender sensibilities of the faceless corporations in charge, we are loathe to fog up their glasses with anything vaguely considered lewd or risque. But regardless of the …
Track: Fabulous Dreams follow up their debut single with ‘Measured By Mess’ – a glorious hip swinging dreamy pop delight.
New indie supergroup Fabulous Dreams follow up last month’s delicious debut single ‘Strange Incantations’ (see my review here) with new track ‘Measured By Mess’, and things are just getting better. ‘Measure By Mess’ kicks off with a swagger, high strutting and proud before the soft gliding velvet female vocals of Lauren Crew layers sweet honey over …
Album Review: the black watch releases the magnificent double album ‘For All The World’.
Spanning 21 luminescent tracks, the new double album ‘For All The World’ is a magnificent journey through the fertile imagination of John Andrew Frederick and his band the black watch. The common theme throughout is the ear for indelible catchy melodies, infused with a sparkling melancholia and shimmering instrumentation. Incredibly, it is the black watch’s …
Live Review & Gallery: DIIV’s ‘Frog in Boiling Water’ Tour Brings Beautiful, Glorious Grit to Vivid – Eora Land/Sydney, 13.06.25
Touring ‘Frog in Boiling Water‘, their first album in five years, DIIV brought their thick, slow-dripping sound to life with a set that doubled as a collage of cult consumerism, protest, and digital rot. Across the huge screen behind them, ads flickered like computer viruses: Soul-Net, ExxonMobil, fake slogans, anti-slogans. Aesthetics lifted from American mall …
EP Review: Look ‘Yonder’ – Sunsick Daisy unveil the shimmering widescreen wonder of a sophomore release.
Fresh out of school and already finalists in the 2022 JJJ Unearthed competition, Adelaide’s Sunsick Daisy released their spectacular debut EP ‘Breathe In…Breathe Out’ in 2023 (see my review here). They have now followed this up with their new EP entitled ‘Yonder’ and it reflects a greater maturity and growth but with the same exemplary songwriting …
Track: Aotearoa/New Zealand based dream pop/shoegaze exponent T.G. Shand unveils new direction and single ‘The Deadpan Break’
A firm favourite of the antipodean outpost of Backseat Mafia, T.G. Shand is the moniker of Ōtautahi/Christchurch resident Annemarie Duff, formerly of the legendary Melbourne shoegaze band Miniatures (on the iconic Saint Marie Records label), and she has returned after a year away with her new single ‘The Deadpan Break’. It’s a track which explores a whole …