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1 week ago | 
backseatmafia.com | Jess Hutton
It’s wild, really – the Sex Pistols only ever released one official studio album. Just one. But what a detonation it was. Nearly fifty years later, the blast radius is still visible – even across the globe at Hordern Pavilion this week. They came out swinging – ‘Holidays in the Sun’, ‘Seventeen’, ‘New York’ – no warm-up, no easing in. Cook walked up to his kit, giving the crowd a casual wave like he was walking into the pub. Matlock moved so stoically but cracked the occasional grin.
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2 weeks ago | 
backseatmafia.com | Jess Hutton
The past few months have brought a hefty flood of alt and punk-rock acts streaming in from the Northern Hemisphere. IDLES came through. So did Soft Play and Fat White Family. We watched Shame’s frontman jump off a 10-foot-high speaker a few weeks ago and Kneecap reemerge the decapitated head of King George V in Naarm/Melbourne. Fontaines D.C. played the goddamn Opera House.
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2 weeks ago | 
backseatmafia.com | Jess Hutton
Naarm/Melbourne trio CLAMM have just released ‘No Idea’, a shredding new single that doubles down on the band’s rawest instincts – fast, furious, and zero facade. It’s the second taste of their upcoming third album ‘Serious Acts’, out May 30 via Meat Machine Records, and it smashes through you like an elbow in a pit where no one’s playing nice.
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2 weeks ago | 
backseatmafia.com | Jess Hutton
The Jungle Giants are back and their sold-out stop at Eora Nation/Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Friday night was exactly like a full-blown, sweat-drenched, sun-soaked day festival condensed into a few hours – minus the overpriced bottles of water. The Meanjin/Brisbane indie-pop heavyweights are midway through their Hold My Hand tour, and they didn’t waste a second easing into it. The second song in ‘Trippin Up’ had bodies flying overhead, and it only escalated from there.
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2 weeks ago | 
backseatmafia.com | Jess Hutton
When Mallrat stepped onto the stage to begin her world tour, it signaled a metamorphosis. Fresh off a run with pop royalty Kylie Minogue, and riding the momentum of her new album ‘Light Hit My Face Like a Straight Right‘, Grace Shaw let the night unfold slowly – vulnerably, wrapped in light that somehow caught everything but her. Before she’d even sung a word, the room was already vibrating thanks to three wildly exciting openers.
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3 weeks ago | 
backseatmafia.com | Jess Hutton
Award-winning jazz singer Gregory Porter is making his long-awaited return to Australia this October for his first major tour here since 2017. Over the past 15 years, the platinum-selling vocalist has steadily built a devoted following across the US, UK, and Europe, winning over audiences with his effortless blend of jazz, soul, gospel, and blues. Porter’s signature cap makes him instantly recognisable, but it’s his music that leaves the most lasting impression.
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3 weeks ago | 
backseatmafia.com | Jess Hutton
Oxford Art Factory’s main room is no stranger to swallowing revelers and spitting them back out in sweaty, chaotic tangles. Low ceilings, packed-in bodies, and just enough space for a proper melty mosh. Psychedelic Porn Crumpets know exactly how to wield that energy, and their set at OAF felt like a swirling, neon-lit vortex of fuzzed-out riffs inside kaleidoscopic microwave. Opening the night was Roxferry, a duo who make a hell of a lot of noise for two people.
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4 weeks ago | 
backseatmafia.com | Jess Hutton
I can’t believe it’s been over a year since Psychedelic Porn Crumpets’ ‘Fronzoli’ ruled over the speakers of this house. The last album from Australia’s favourite psychedelic garage rock group felt like it barely left rotation, like a constant background noise pushing us through the grind of summer 2023 and definitely impressing the neighbours. The big news? They’re back, and they haven’t returned empty-handed.
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1 month ago | 
backseatmafia.com | Jess Hutton
BB Sabina’s latest single, ‘Multitude,’ is a track that lingers. It’s nearly seven minutes long, and honestly, it might not be long enough. Moving through trip-hop’s shadowy corners, it picks up the tension of post-rock and absolutely glows with hypnotism. Beth Uhe’s voice drifts through like a lone ballerina, upstaged by nothing else. It’s layered upon itself in eerie harmonies that reinforce the song’s message: identity is fluid, ever-shifting, and impossible to contain in a single definition.
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1 month ago | 
backseatmafia.com | Jess Hutton
Bliss n Eso are stepping into 2025 with their eighth studio album ‘The Moon (The Light Side)‘ landing on April 11th and a huge 28-date run across Australia. The latest taste of the album comes in the form of ‘Take Me Higher’, a track born from a free-flowing session that saw Bliss and Eso rediscover their signature lyricism. Originally just an instrumental and verses, producer Jon Reichart tied the track together and set the tone for an album opener that promises to be another atmospheric journey.
