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North Arm unveils the shimmering, reflective track ‘Everything You’ ahead of album ‘Stay Young’ – Backseat Mafia
We are honoured to bring you an early exclusive listen to the new single ‘Everything You’ from North Arm – essentially the work of Roderick Smith, the Newcastle-raised songwriter. It heralds a new album ‘Stay Young’ due out on 25 October 2025 through through Broken Stone Records/Remote Control Records. ‘Everything You’ floats like a cotton wool cloud in the blue sky – dreamy ethereal instrumentation that bears Smith’s velvet vocals along the slipstream, with faint etchings of mysterious sounds swirling in the ether – perhaps voices – in the distance. This creates a mesmerising melange – something yearning and reflective filled with emotion. It is like Sufjan Stevens and Simon and…
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California’s Matthew Nowhere unveils the brilliant sparkle and luscious beauty of track ‘Love is Only What We Are’. – Backseat Mafia
We are immeasurably honoured to premiere the new single ‘Love Is Only What We Are’ from multi-instrumentalist and producer Matthew Nowhere. Set afloat in a star filled expanse with crystalline guitars piercing the skies on a bed of bubbling aquatic synths, this is a glorious track: cinematic and threaded through with melancholia as any good pop song should be. If comparisons must be made, there is an undeniable genetic thread to bands like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and that rich thread of synth bands from the eighties: creating layered soundscapes in which you can lose yourself as if in a float tank. The lyrics evoke a certain sense of…
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Kele Okereke Announces New Solo Album ‘The Singing Winds Pt. 3’; Hear New Single ‘It Wasn’t Meant To Be’ – Backseat Mafia
Kele (Kele Okereke) has revealed the details of his new solo album ‘The Singing Winds Pt. 3’, due for release on 17th January 2025 via KOLA Records / !K7. Lead single ‘It Wasn’t Meant To Be’ is available to stream now. ‘The Singing Winds Pt. 3’ is the third in Kele’s series of solo albums ‘The Elements’, which originated during lockdown. Each of the records embodies a different texture and quality, embodying the sound of the flexibility he has required throughout two years of upheaval in his personal life. In his own words, “Old ways have come to an end, and new rhythms have had to start.” Joining the previously released ‘Hometown Edge’, which followed a debauched night…
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A Place to Bury Strangers @ Deaf Institute, Manchester 26.09.2024 – Backseat Mafia
A Place to Bury Strangers are infamous for the furosity of their live shows. To celebrate the forthcoming release of Synthesizer, the band are on back on the road. Formed in 2002, in New York City, they specialise in a wall of pulsating sound which uniquely blends noise rock, shoegaze and space rock, with just a hint of psychedelia every now and then. With a new lineup for this release, with Ackermann still at the helm. Tonight at Manchester’s Deaf Institute, they once again captivate and show exactly why they are top of their game. Opening with ‘You are the One’ from 2015’s Transfixition LP, they ease into their surroundings…
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Rising Bassist Blu DeTiger Brings Her Powerful Sound to Australia – Backseat Mafia
Blu DeTiger is the kind of artist who doesn’t ask for permission to take centre stage—she just picks up her bass and commands it. For a long time, bassists were sidelined, the steady undercurrent beneath the flash of lead guitars and vocalists, but Blu rewrites that narrative with every slick groove. Her Australian debut tour, with stops at intimate venues and a spot at Changing Tides Festival, feels less like a formal introduction and more like a homecoming to those who’ve already felt the pulse of her sound. Born and raised in New York City, Blu has the kind of grit that only comes from playing your first gig at…
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Leon Bridges returns to Australia in January 2025 for his biggest headline dates yet! – Backseat Mafia
Leon Bridges is set to return to Australia in January 2025, a soulful arrival that feels less like a tour and more like an overdue reunion. After a three-year absence, the Texan singer-songwriter brings with him not just the smooth R&B that made him a name, but the weight of a career that has grown more nuanced, more reflective since his first foray into the spotlight. His sound—rooted in old-school soul but evolved through years of navigating his place in modern music—invites audiences to step inside the stories, the ache, and the quiet moments that pulse beneath each song. Leon’s all-ages tour will take him to two of Australia’s most…
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Fleshwater’s Gritty Grungegaze Finally Hits Australia This November – Backseat Mafia
Fleshwater’s long-awaited arrival in Australia has finally become reality. After a false start earlier this year when they had to pull out of the New Bloom Festival, the American grungegaze band will make good on their promise this November. The band, which started as a side project for members of Vein.fm, will kick off their debut Australian tour on November 13 in Brisbane, moving through Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong, Melbourne, Adelaide, and wrapping up in Perth on November 22. Born in 2017, Fleshwater’s origins are gritty and unpolished, much like their sound. Their 2020 debut, demo2020, hit the scene like a punch in the gut, with the single “Linda Claire” amassing…
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Love As Fiction Records announces re-release of the final glorious album from the iconic Big Heavy Stuff – Backseat Mafia
Love As Fiction Records have announced that iconic Sydney band Big Heavy Stuff‘s final 2004 album is available for pre-order today. The 20th Anniversary Edition of the album will be released on Vinyl, CD and Cassette in limited editions. For the first time it also includes a previously unreleased version of the album, titled ‘Naked Friends and Enemies’ which is an earlier raw version of the album mixed by the legendary Wayne Connolly. The album has been remastered by Chris Hanzsek and artwork refreshed and re-designed by Matt W Bayes. It has been curated directly with the band in collaboration with Nick Kennedy. There will be a Double Vinyl LP,…
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Beijing Bikini unveil double singles ‘Big Cheese’ and ‘Allegro’ ahead of album and live dates – Backseat Mafia
Beijing Bikini are undoubtedly members of an elite club that I call the Marrickville Sound – bands that are more experienced, often in their second or third iteration after a long career in the industry, exercising their undimmed creative muscles and producing great, often guitar-driven music. Named after an inner city suburb of Sydney that seems to excel in this type of music, it has seen a resurgence in brilliant music from older musicians, proving the old adage that creativity has no use by date. Beijing Bikini consists of alumni from various bands from the past (The Bacchantes, MoMos, The Baddies) and they have just release a dynamic pair of…
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Crash & the Crapenters Twist Nostalgia into Something Dark and Modern on ‘Depression’ – Backseat Mafia
Crash & the Crapenters aren’t interested in nostalgia—they’re here to dissect it, bend it, and spit it back at you in the form of their latest single ‘Depression.’ Sydney’s punk-rock veterans have always worn their influences on their sleeves, pulling from punk, ska, reggae, and whatever else has kept them grounded in rock’s wild, rebellious spirit since their debut in 2016. But this? This is something different. After three albums of gritty, genre-hopping anthems, they’ve hit a grunge-psych crossroads with ‘Depression,’ a song that leans into its own existential weight. The bass throbs in a druggy haze, the vocals stretch out like a sermon delivered in slow motion, and the…
