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Jan 8, 2025 | 
backseatmafia.com | Gareth O Malley
Having released a deluxe edition of Slow Violence last year, New York trio Occurrence have barely been out of the spotlight over the past few years, and they’ve got a whole new record on the way. The lead single from it is ‘Feeding Time’, on which Ken Urban ‘calls himself out on his bullshit, with assistance from guitarist Damian Baldet. “I kept hearing a proper guitar solo, so I reached out and Damian brought the riffs.
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Dec 19, 2024 | 
backseatmafia.com | Gareth O Malley
She may only have released her most recent album Survival in Motion in September, but true to the album’s title, Nashville-via-Wellsboro’s Taylor Acorn shows no signs of slowing down. Capping off the year, the Tennessee transplant’s releasing a two-song EP of acoustic reworkings from her new record, featuring another take on title track ‘Greener’ and a fresh spin on ‘People Watching’.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
backseatmafia.com | Gareth O Malley
We’ve all been there: we’re racing against time to do something or go somewhere and struggling to motivate ourselves. Without wanting to make the obvious reference, sometimes you really need to just get it done. Nick Anastasakis wrote a song about that sense of urgency.
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
backseatmafia.com | Gareth O Malley
Oslo-based producer and bassist Magnus Falkenberg is preparing a new record, out two weeks tomorrow and serving as a companion piece to last year’s excellent New Spring; before then, he’s releasing one more single from the record, one of five collaborations that form the backbone of the album, and it could very well be the best single yet. ‘Late Night’ features a guest appearance from Norwegian rapper Pasha, who’s on the outside looking in on the world of Kappekoff.
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Oct 18, 2024 | 
backseatmafia.com | Gareth O Malley
Back in August, we indicated there was further new music to come from the Guatemalan-Italian Chiara Angelicola, who hadn’t released anything as Bird Call since the pandemic outbreak put the skids on touring for her previous record, late 2019’s Year of the Dogfish. She broke her silence with ‘Tiny Transistor’, and today returns in earnest with The Life is Extraordinary, a seven-song EP.
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Oct 10, 2024 | 
backseatmafia.com | Gareth O Malley
Not familiar with Oslo’s Kappekoff? You should be; you’ve got about a month to get your stuff together before his new album arrives, and we’re premiering the new single to give you a hand with that. The new record’s a counterpart to last year’s Old Spring, and was trailed by ‘Right Back to Where We Started’ back in July.
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Oct 4, 2024 | 
backseatmafia.com | Gareth O Malley
That looks like a very comfy fleece. It’s a big day for Graham Ereaux, who’s back with his second album of 2024, and overall his fourth as Devarrow. The Nova Scotian likes to keep busy; on April’s A Long & Distant Wave, he advocated for making art quickly and for the sheer joy of it; a little over five months later (with three teaser singles!) he returns with Heart Shaped Rock, which is a product of that philosophy as much as anything else.
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Sep 26, 2024 | 
backseatmafia.com | Gareth O Malley
In his previous guise as Coast Modern band leader, Coleman Trapp displayed a serious knack for a hook, and it’s something on full display on his second new song in less than a month. Following on from reintroductory singles ‘Ahoy’ and ‘Knowing’, the California native draws from his surroundings on the agitated, restless ‘Cali’. Despite running just over the two-minute mark, Coleman‘s latest offering packs a lot into proceedings; two verses, two choruses and a whole lot of drive.
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Aug 27, 2024 | 
backseatmafia.com | Gareth O Malley
After releasing the loosie ‘Let Me In Your Band’ earlier this year, Kit Major has her sights set on bigger things, with the follow-up to 2022’s Vampire Saturday EP pencilled in for the end of October. The lead single from her forthcoming Love.Sick.Major. EP finds the Los Angeles artist doing her best to accept herself, set to a typically hooky alt-pop soundtrack. Of ‘Garbage Planet’, Major says: “[It’s] a real place and I visit it often.
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Aug 20, 2024 | 
backseatmafia.com | Gareth O Malley
There’s a moment, about two-and-a-half minutes into the title track from Burr Oak‘s new EP, where everything drops out except a nervous, agitated guitar line—then, chaos and an almighty musical roar, coupled with a lurch into half-time for added effect. It’s a most unexpected twist, the entire song hinging around this extreme dynamic shift, and the payoff is nothing short of extraordinary.
