John Parry

1 week ago | backseatmafia.com | John Parry

‘An 424’ is an album rammed with personalities. It’s about people in real places rather than just painterly responses to landscapes. So let’s get philosophical. In the mid-fifties Guy Debord developed the idea of ‘Psychogeography’, the influence a place has on its inhabitants, their attitudes, values and how they go about their day to day.

1 week ago | backseatmafia.com | John Parry

Kosmische undertones seep into the trio’s psyche alongside raga, early music drones and La Monte Young slow music but these influences merge and mingle to feed the album’s singularity. We Are Busy Bodies / Black Sweat Records–8.9If ever there was a singer/song-writer laureate being bandied about then surely James Yorkston would be one of the names in the frame.

3 weeks ago | backseatmafia.com | John Parry

Soul scouring gothic Americana, acoustic songs powered by the same ingrained melodic strength and natural integrity which has been at the core of all his work. With last year taken up with a triptych of expansive Harvest Man albums released to coincide with each new moon, the irrepressible post metal pioneer Steve Von Till might have been expected to take a sabbatical and re-charge, but no.

3 weeks ago | backseatmafia.com | John Parry

‘Land’s End Eternal’ opens out onto a vast plain of music, something you gaze upon, wonder with and see beyond. Saxophonist/composer Cole Pulice often draws on metaphors to describe their alluring electro-acoustic music. For the 2021 solo debut ‘Gloam’ they suggested the music mirrored shifting patterns of a twisting kaleidoscope whereas the follow up ‘Scry’ was closer to gazing at a stained-glass crystal ball from different angles.

4 weeks ago | backseatmafia.com | John Parry

'A voluminous, unabridged double album of soul-jazz seeking excellence where layers of electronica, soundtrack grandeur, smooth funk and even post rock shadows converge'. Even if you’ve picked up on any of singer-songwriter/pianist Arjuna Oakes’s previous offerings, it’s unlikely you would have predicted the scale and ambition of his debut album ‘While I’m Distracted’. Not that the New Zealander’s earlier EP’s lacked flare or impact.