shoegaze
EP: Sydney’s Moody Beach unleashes a brilliant, fuzzy, dreamy landscape of gritty pop in ‘Assembly of the Wild’.
Moody Beach‘s new EP ‘Assembly of the Wild’ is a total delight that satisfies any cravings for down and dirty rock’n’roll leavened by a dreamy and at times ambient soundscape. The EP has an outrageous sense of well earned confidence and attitude: a rampant delivery of straight forward scuzzy pop with an arched brow and …
Meet: We have a chat with Remy Boccalatte, head honcho at the ultra chic False Peak Records in Brisbane
As part of our irregular series on the important and often silent figures behind the music scenes – the record labels, promoters and managers – we are today having a chat with venerable Brisbane figure Remy Boccalatte of the shining star that is False Peak Records. We here at Backseat Mafia have covered many bands …
Album Review: Sydney’s Fabels weaves a shimmering and exotic cloak of many colours in their brilliant and evocative new album ‘Minds’.
Deep in the heart of ‘Minds’, the new album from Sydney duo Fabels, is an exotic mysticism and ethereal glow, emanating from the mysterious vocals and the layered sonic landscapes. The result is something that is quite splendid: an electronic classicism that is borderless and transcendent. Fabels are Hiske Weijers, Ben Aylward (plus live, guest …
Track: Inland Murmur release the exquisite ‘Freshwater’: vibrant dream pop with a steel spine.
Cardiff’s Inland Murmur drew our attention with the release of their delicate and fragile single ‘Waterline’ last month (read my review here), and the duo is back with another aquatic themed single ‘Freshwater’. This new track has the same beautiful poised air with a more vibrant and thundering spine that crashes through intermittently and with …
Track: Still Corners release the driving shimmering single ‘Heavy Days’ and announce massive EU/US tour.
‘The Last Exit’ from UK duo Still Corners, released earlier this year (reviewed by me here), was a magnificent and evocative collection of glittering and sparkling songs filled with magic and mystery. Still Corners are back with a new single – ‘Heavy Days’ – and an announcement of a comprehensive tour of the EU and …
Album Review: Nik Brinkman’s debut ‘Secret Stairs’ is an elegant showcase of glittering dreamy dream pop exhibits.
Opening with an instrumental with a spoken dialogue in the track ‘Silent Cities’, the crystalline beauty of New Zealander Nik Brinkman‘s new album ‘Secret Stairs’ become instantly evident. With the shimmering elegance of M83, ‘Silent Cities’ is evocative: bringing to life those late night long distance calls that are filled with yearning and isolation across …
Track: Brisbane’s dream pop queen Hatchie is back with another incandescent shimmering single ‘This Enchanted’ and news of singing with US label Secretly Canadian
There’s a frisson of excitement in Backseat Mafia’s antipodean offices. It’s been two years since Brisbane’s dream pop queen Hatchie graced us with her presence with her album ‘Keepsake’ (see my review here), and while she has raised her head above the parapets with a few collaborations (including her duo on the stunning Rinse single …
EP: Silk Cut shapes a gorgeous, shimmering cloth in debut EP ‘astronaut’, with tracks that sparkle like stars in the firmament
Silk Cut is a magical Auckland dream pop/shoegaze band that has just released their debut EP ‘astronaut’, and while the band is a brand new piece of clothing, it is formed from vintage material. Singer/guitarist Andrew Thorne has played with Modern Chair – a collaboration between him and another veteran of the NZ music scene, Wayne …
News: Indie legend Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean and Britta) announces solo album and unveils a scintillating and evocative video for opening track ‘The Past Is Our Plaything’.
There is no doubting the legendary status of Dean Wareham, whose band Galaxie 500 in the late eighties defined a gentle low-fi poetic brilliance and melodic genius that influenced and enhanced the shoegaze/dream pop genre. After Galaxie 500 burned ever so brightly between 1987 and 1991, releasing three landmark albums in the process, Wareham formed …
Premiere: On the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Pia Fraus give us a sneak listen to their new recording ‘Now You Know, It Still Feels The Same’: fresh interpretations of youthful brilliance.
Hailing from Tallinn, Estonia, Pia Fraus have proven to be one of the most fascinating and enduring shoegaze bands of the past twenty years, made all the more unusual by the fact that they emerged from Eastern Europe, an area not known for this genre. Their debut album, ‘Wonder What it’s Like’, was released in …