Smooth Ends are a London based band. They have just released their first EP, and to use their fine words it happened - "after lots of hard work and passion. We self produced the whole thing, from the music to the artwork, and everything in between. We are active in the London music scene, with lots of ideas and upcoming events". They continue - "We would like to share our music with you, since we know that you would appreciate the hard work behind it".
Two things really impressed me about Smooth Ends. First of all their short and to the point message actually implied the passion was pretty genuine, secondly, the music. After all is said and no matter how much buzz you create, it's always going to be the music that counts. Well it is for Beehive Candy and we are impressed. (Facebook HERE).
Tiny Rhymes have this to say - We are Tiny Rhymes; a indie/chamber-folk group with members from Canada and Buffalo, NY. We're releasing the lead single "Arrows" off our upcoming album which is out June 23rd.
Sharon Mok continued - I've always played piano, but decided to pick up the guitar for this current batch of songs, and set out to create melodies influenced by my childhood experience with both Chinese opera and classical music.While writing and recording in Buffalo, I met cellist Katie Weissman and we instantly hit it off. Weissman’s diverse technique and smooth, dark melodies added necessary dimension to the songs.
My attention was grabbed with the description 'indie/chamber-folk group'. I mean it just has to work does it not? Well I think it does if the song 'Arrows' is anything to go by. Wonderful. (Facebook HERE).
We have received the following - Melbourne band Magic Bones, release their new single ‘Danger I Am’, a taste of their forthcoming album due for release in 2015. Keeping in tune with their latest releases, ‘Danger I Am’ is a driving garage punk duet, drowning in desire and urges to be drawn in by the unknown.
High energy, no nonsense and exciting, but enough about me, no seriously they come across as all of that. 'Danger I Am' is instant 'play it again' material. Comparisons such as the B52's should be received as positive and complimentary, the driving mayhem is totally theirs to own. (Facebook HERE).
Finally and what a finally! And we quote - Celebrating over 40 years in music, one of the most pivotal reggae bands of all time Third World will release their first major song of the year “YimMasGan” on June 16, 2015 on Ghetto Youths International. The Damian Marley produced song, which will also be accompanied with a new music video directed by Jamaica’s own Ras Kassa, is a fresh take on the 1974 original track by The Abyssinians. Yim mas gan means let him be praised in the ancient Ethiopian Amharic language. This is the second song written by The Abyssinians that Third World recorded. The first was “Satta Massagana,” released in 1975 on Chris Blackwell's Island Records.
One of Reggaes most consistently outstanding bands and an absolute pleasure to feature on Beehive Candy. No real need to add anything else, unless you are extremely late to the party! (Facebook HERE).
What it is? - another page where music videos can also appear. It's just the start, there is no master plan, actually there is no plan, we are making it up as we go along.
What it is not? - original, revolutionary, ground-breaking and definitely not the benchmark.
However somewhere in the back of Beehive Candy's mind lurks the spark of an idea that may just up the game. Not yet though, time is in demand and 'the other page' will just lazily build and alter as and when it does. So take a look if you want, videos will come and go and hopefully some will spark your interest. You never know what might turn up.
Beehive Candy would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the following unashamed plug. Actually that's not strictly true. Paper Garden Records (PGR) have as some of you have no doubt spotted, been a source of some great music that has appeared on this site in recent years.
First of all, PGR have a series of free concerts in Brooklyn this July featuring - Salt Cathedral, Stranger Cat, Zongo Junction, The Love Supreme, Soul Khan, Deuce Ellis, Amani Fela, Arms and Emanuel and The Fear.
In addition to the concerts, there's a chance to listen to some of the acts, to check out just what so many of us will be missing out on! Oh well there will be some with smiling faces, so good for them eh?.
There's a real mixture here, Electronic, Funk/Soul/Jazz, Hip Hop and Indie Rock. I won't pretend everything is to my taste, however a lot is.
So no apologies, just some very fine music. You can find out more HERE.
Also one of our PGR favourites Pree, have a new video out featuring the song 'The Dog' from their recently released album RIMA. It's a fine song and a cheerful video.
Finally Little Tybee can also get in on the act. Their song 'For Distant Viewing' from 2013 remains a real favourite of mine and having not seen the video before lets add that to this spontaneous and very, very unashamed plug.
What they say - Sydney based psych-rock trio The Walking Who (Rohin Brown, Jay(Bird) and Paul Mclean) announced a brand new single on Monday 'My Future Wife' alongside the news of a forthcoming UK/EU tour, which includes performing at London's Citadel Festival and a headline show for Communion Presents at The Old Blue Last on 22nd July. This will be the band's first return to Europe since their debut in 2014, which saw Maz Tuppuni of Communion/XFM proclaim it was one of his favourite gigs of the year.
What we say - A psychedelic sixties vibe with alt rock quality, well that's what came into my head, this is an enjoyable track, big thumbs up from the Beehive.
And we quote - ‘Where The River Runs’ is the sumptuous second single from Malpas, due for release on Killing Moon Records on 17th June 2015. One of the highlights from their forthcoming debut album ‘Rain River Sea’, it layers swelling synths, intricate rhythms and mandolins under falsetto vocals to create a compelling slice of folk-tinged electronica. Malpas is singer-songwriter Ali Forbes and producer Andy Savours, who has worked with The Horrors, Sigur Ros and My Bloody Valentine amongst others.
And we reckon - It was the expression 'electric folk duo' that first gained my attention. This just builds and builds, beautiful layers of sound and contrasting dynamic vocals, pretty good eh?
Here we go quoting again - 'Feel Alive', was released on May 15th, is feelgood anthemic pop, perfect listening in the summer sunshine and a great introduction to the music of Aleks Grey. Born in Volda, Norway, Aleks was introduced to music through classical piano lessons when he was just three years old, but he was soon drawn to blues, soul and rock and roll. By the age of ten he was writing his own songs and by twelve he had become an accomplished guitarist.
Beehive comments - Sparing you the rest of Alek's history, the simple summary is, he has developed into an extremely talented performer, as witnessed in the featured video, bringing a real feelgood feeling for us all!
More words from someone else - Prodigious 19-year old singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Tom Misch has given BBC 1Xtra favourite Kiko Bun's Jamaican roots-inspired single 'Where I'm From' the remix treatment, to brilliant effect. With a string of Hype Machine No. 1s to boast of, and support from Majestic Casual, BBC Radio and countless others, this latest rework further confounds and exceeds Tom's reputation.
More words from Beehive - We have featured Kiko Bun before, this remix is stunning, how many superlatives are we allowed to use, absolute talent remixes absolute talent.
Final quote this time around - Follow the Lionare a Leeds based alternative rock band who formed in 2013, quickly gaining a strong following thanks to their energetic and infectious live sets. The band have played a range of venues across the north west of England and will be hitting the festival scene this summer with appearances already confirmed at Live at Leeds, Tramlines and Long Division.
Final words from us - Oh this band are talented. Swirling alt rock music and Daniel Francis has a voice that is just so right for the songs. The others deserve recognition to - Daniel Francis - Lead Vocals and Guitars, Richard Swann - Lead Guitar, Mase - Bass, Paul Smith - Keys and Vocals, Danny Jay Barnett - Drums.
We are not exactly hot off the press with this song which was released in March, with the exception of the new official lyric video of 'Matt Simons - Catch & Release (Deepend Remix)'.
After its release back in March, the track fully exploded on line resulting in millions of views on Soundcloud, Youtube and massive support throughout the blogosphere. The track stormed the Hypem Charts (overall) resulting in one number 3 and two number 1 positions in a row. Plenty of radio airplay as well.
For no other reason than to brighten Beehive Candy up this Tuesday we unashamedly jump on the bandwagon. Better late than never with this excellent song!
Some background - Lady Lowis a rock quintet comprised of Jimmy Sweet (vocals, guitar), Rachel Maxann (vocals, synth, bass), Eden Lee (vocals, drums), Kaitlin Wolfberg (violin) and Hannah Blumenfeld (violin). Sweet had always wanted to start a band that combined love’s passion and old school rock and roll. After returning to L.A. by way of London, he formed Lady Low. Maxann found her way to the City of Angels after growing restless in the Big Easy. She brought aboard her old friend Lee, and after enlisting the help of local string talents Wolfberg and Blumenfield, the world’s first romance rock group was born. Lady Low is not the first musical expedition for these romance rock pioneers. Jimmy has been rocking for years, starting out with legendary San Francisco rock band, The Richmond Sluts. He still performs with the Goodtime Boys, a ‘70s cover band, along with members of Hot Hot Heat, Fleet Foxes, The Heavy, and Beachwood Sparks.
Lady Low are new to Beehive Candy, it's a while since we have featured any music that could perhaps be termed 'romance rock', whatever I like their music & that's a good enough reason to share.
Dan Latner has this to say about his new album 'No Fun Intended'.
The album really snowballed accidentally into existence. In 2012, I received a writing grant for a comedy album, and headed out to woodshed in Prince George, BC (Northern Canada), where a long term girlfriend was living. We broke up 2 days into the visit (that's funny right?) and then I moved to Sri Lanka where I wrote most of the songs. I've been bouncing around Asia and Africa ever since. I wrote "In a Hotel" and "Girls with Glasses" in Nepal, so you could say that the album was written mainly during my travels.
You can find out more about Dan over at his website (Here), A fiddle player and very amusing, it's also been sometime since Beehive Candy have featured something a little more light hearted. For me the music and lyrics really work, on the featured song, it's more a gentle parody of what if's. It's different and highly enjoyable.
The Winachi Tribe are introduced to us with the following words - The psychedelic funk of George Clinton, the brooding menace of Massive Attack, the rolling hypnotic beats of Happy Mondays and the vision and flow of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five are all essential ingredients to the sound and style of The Winachi Tribe, a sonic soul, electro funk collective who are unconstrained by boundaries or formula's, musically or culturally. Lyrically explosive and musically diverse, the band were born from the belly of Northern D.Funk collective China White. The Winachi Tribe are an exceptional band of musicians and producers who have collaborated and toured with a range of artists from Ian Brown to Alabama 3, Keith Allen to The Furious Five. Percussion legend Inder Goldfinger was a member of Ian Brown's band for thirteen years, and vocalist Liam and keys player Antony collaborated with Keith Allen in the studio and also toured with him as vocalists in his band 'Fit Les' as part of his Olympic opera 'Will Cliff Be There?'
The bands first single 'Time for Love' is scheduled for release on the 20th July (A1M Records). Well the pedigree is most definitely there and on the strength of the featured piece below, so are all the vital ingredients.
UK Live Dates:
18th July - Single launch at Water Rats, London with 'Alabama 3' DJ set and support from Italian Band La Strange
27th August - Vinyl launch, The Ruby Lounge, supports TBC
29th August - Victorious Festival, Portsmouth, opening for Primal Scream & The Flaming Lips
5th September - Manchester Met Uni, 'The Second Coming' with Aziz Ibrahim, The Clone Roses, Cressa (DJ Set)
7th November - Shiiine On Weekender, Minehead Arena, Somerset with Happy Mondays, Stereo MCs, 808 State.
Abandoned Delta appear to be a no nonsense and to the point band. They are an East Nashville-based Indie Americana group whose self-titled debut record has now been released.
This is how they explain the release - The band wanted to put out a document of songs with no names or production credits attached because "Music is oft-times clouded in politics, over-branding and marketing manifestos that present stories other than the ones the songs tell. Who cares who wrote and performed on it or what label it's on? If it connects with the listener, then the job is done. There should be no other filters preventing that from happening."
This is the first track from the album, the expression or genre 'Indie Americana' is always going to be a draw with myself, however in the end, it's down to the music. Well for me the music not only matches the description, these are fine old tunes and worthy of a large amount of interest and a bigger audience to enjoy!
Jade The Moon tell us - 5 6 7 8 was written in a two hour session with no preconceived ideas about where the session would go. We had a lot of fun with creating this. I started dancing around the kitchen pretending to be a ballet dancer, singing 5 6 7 8 at the top of my lungs, which eventually became the backbone of the song. The remaining lyrical content can be difficult to hear, but on closer listen you can hear that there is an honest search for something tangible and real. Whether it's a search for love, happiness or just an escape from the everyday we found it for a brief moment.
We say, looking forward to your debut EP this summer, on the strength of this, it's one to watch out for.
Next up we have Alma and her debut EP Dark Matter. The description goes - A self-titled experimental project with producer Virtu, the songs soar with cinematic influence. She first came to the scene with "Avalanches," co-produced by Sound Remedy & Kill Paris.
Alma has a beautiful voice that can smoothly flow across the unobtrusive and yet occasionally powerful and dreamy musical accompaniment. She can also belt out some spine chillingly high notes.
And so to Woodes x Elkkle. They are described as follows - their panache for painting vivid soundscapes has led them to delve deeper into their delicately lush world to create their second single, Cocoon. With the perfect measure of tender swooning to lull you in, coupled with compellingly quirky percussion and sparse instrumentation, Cocoon dabbles in mystic realms, which will leave you with a premonition of what’s to come on their forthcoming EP.
Well that saves us from having to come up with any poetic prose. Much easier just to direct your attention to this delightful track, both the vocals and intricate sounds are pretty special, it has that 'play me again thing going'.
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Finally we have POPOF(nee Alexandre Paounov), - Featuring the handsome voice of Arno Joey, "Words Gone" is a stunning slice of electronic music with crossover appeal, giving us a taste of what is in store for the album. Cadenza boss Luciano’s remix dives into tribal percussion, while main man Jamie Jones flips into a new gear, introducing a new melody, deep pads and emotive keys.
POPOF's forthcoming album Love Somebody out on June 29. A long standing and influential name in dance music, this Jamie Jones remix has already garnered considerable attention. We would add quite rightly so, it's why non dancers like me can still enjoy a little bit of deep house (behind closed curtains of course)...
Reloaded - 06/June/2015 - PJ Harvey's ninth studio album recorded with a studio audience in January is eagerly awaited. Word is that the material is similar in style to the fantastic 'Let England Shake' album, however the lyrics have a more global nature. This featured and probable audience recording (excellent quality) from 2007 is another reminder of how much I simply love her music. Polly Jean has truly earned the respect she has, always surprising, fascinating and always herself.
Some artists can fall into a 'love them' or 'do not love them' category quite comfortably. PJ Harvey has plenty of people who readily claim to love her music. There are probably plenty of music fans that would also say, 'hmmm'.
However I would wage a bet that there are a lot of music lovers out there, who having heard her music wander off thinking 'interesting' and find themselves coming back again and again to hear some more. I am fascinated by PJ Harvey, there is something about some of her songs, that hits home, and yet can I put it in simple terms? Wikipedia lists her genres as - Alternative rock, indie rock, experimental rock, lo-fi, folk rock, electronica, art rock, and punk blues.
Legendary British radio DJ John Peel featured her on a number of occasions in session, on his late night radio programme, sadly he is no longer with us, to perhaps get things in context. Anyhow enough of my personal musical conundrum, this is from the Beacon Theatre show (on Broadway - upper Manhattan New York), and is from her current tour, recorded on the 10th October 2007.
Set List:
01 To bring you my love
02 Send his love to me
03 When under ether
04 The devil
05 White chalk
06 Man-size
07 Angelene/My beautiful leah
08 Nina in ecstasy
09 Electric light
10 Snake
11 Shame
12 Big exit
13 Down by the water
14 Grow grow grow
15 The mountain
16 Silence
17 Rid of me
18 Water
19 The piano
20 The desperate kingdom of love
Sound quality: Very good - the audience audio suggests this is an excellent audience recording, I could be wrong.
We are informed that - Seven-piece, New Orleans rock hybrids The Revivalists announced their upcoming studio offering, Men Amongst Mountains set for release on July 17th 2015 via Wind-up Records. The band, known for their enigmatic live shows, continue to tour across the country this summer, with a slew of upcoming dates and festival appearances, including two album release shows in NYC on July 15th and 16th at Bowery Ballroom and The Music Hall of Williamsburg.
We say The Revivalists are aptly so called, there is a depth to their music that is so rich. Funky and Soulful and yet Alt Rocking, a crazy mixture that simply put, works. More HERE.
MAYE has teamed up with Simon Field on a release, reworking Night Bus by Lucy Rose, resulting in an amazingly warm production with tastes of deep house and indie dance adding a very current feel still honouring the original. Can we tell you more? No, nothing like a little minimalism, that's all they told us, so that's enough. Excellent track though.
Their bio tells us - San Francisco based blues/indie rock trio Fritz Montana formed in early 2013 with the goal to create music that keeps your feet dancing and your head banging. Growing up as products of the Bay Area’s suburbs, three ambitious and passionate young men met on a whim and haven’t looked back since. With their minds set on proving that rock and roll isn’t dead.
All I will say is this band are natural blues rockers, engaging from the first riff, rock and roll has another pair of safe hands to bang your heads to.
The story goes - It’s not often you come across an artist that truly grabs you and takes hold. Emerging from the chaos of New York, Julietta shines through as a dramatic and heartfelt siren, like a warrior suited for battle. It's no wonder her music is able to tell such a captivating story; lyrics seamlessly turn to visuals as her voice articulates the narrative. A universally relative theme of love and loss is a huge part of Julietta’s context, and is something she wears on her sleeve.
As I read the above words I wondered which direction this song would follow. Well in fairness, I was happily surprised, if you set the bar high you have a long way to fall, this one just soared away leaving some 'Goosebumps' as promised.
Finally we are informed - Brisbane 4-piece rock outfit The Bacchanales have been very busy for the past year, growing a dedicated fan base on the streets of Brisbane with their heavy and groove-laden 90-style rock. Since the release of their debut EP in 2014 they have been lucky enough to play with Holy Holy, Bad Dreems, Harts and The Belligerents, and now they are ready to release the first single 'Sandcastles' from their forthcoming sophomore EP.
What a band! The single is an edit from a nine minute track on the E.P. and it is gorgeous. It has been available for a week or so. I'm to old to get excited about forthcoming releases, what is this band trying to do to me, excitement at my age!
Closet Straights we are told are - a young, scrappy team of talented multi-instrumentalists from Melbourne, Australia. The quintet were born out of troubadour front man Alex Lashlie's desire to have his ethereal compositions fleshed out for a live environment. Individually, each member of Closet Straights brings their own inspirations and inclinations that reach from the far out regions of jangle-pop to the vast plains of true-country ramblers. As a unit however, these differences cum together to create a melting pot of true fusion.
They first worked together in late 2013 and have now arrived at a point where their music has been described as 'heavy pop'. Well heavy, jangly, or whatever else, their recent single release 'Zadie' is a fine song to kick off this edition. It has that ethereal feel around it, I like the word ethereal, so only award it when justified, yep - ethereal heavy pop will do nicely. Bandcamp HERE.
So what do we know about Bunnygrunt? Well first of all we know that whoever wrote their promo has a superb way with words, we read - They started off twee but spent so much time on the road that they learned how to rock. The missing link between Teenage Fanclub and Teenage Wasteland, like a bat out of hell baby, Bunnygrunt was born to run. They’ve been tearing it up for years now—legends of the underground teaching the indie kids how to rock and the rockers how to weep. Fueled by the kindest dog in St. Louis, the immortal Rusty, Bunnygrunt’s spent their lives stuck in the middle of a nowhere that used to be a somewhere (the gateway to the west that’s now seen as a hateway to the rest), and you can hear it in every note of their beer-soaked, hopefully desperate and hopelessly hopeful, music. And just like the union men who built the schools and the fire stations of St. Louis all those years ago, Bunnygrunt does their work and moves on. No glory necessary, no need to thank them.
What can we add to that, other than listen, no even better, turn in up unsociably loud and share with your neighbours. Bunnygrunt Volume 4 is released July 17th 2015 and it's a corker!
Fox And Fowl are a Brisbane based indie pop trio. They have a really catchy song 'Spark' that we are able to share, one with a little storyline as follows - A song with a surprising meaning, singer and keyboard player Lachlan explains that 'Spark' is based on the worldwide uproar surrounding Brazil's preparation prior to hosting the FIFA World Cup last year. "We wanted to highlight the fact that the Brazilian government and FIFA were spending millions of dollars on Cup, while millions of Brazilians were living below the poverty line and struggling with their every day life. The country was "just a spark away" from igniting in uproar and riots," he says.
'Spark' is the next step in an exciting new direction for Fox & Fowl with politically charged undercurrents and a fresh new sound emanating from the trio. Whatever the story this song hooked me in straight away, so enjoy!
The band have some live dates:
Friday June 5 | Brighton Up Bar, Sydney - w/Polish Club and Special Guests
Saturday June 6 | Grace Darling Hotel, Melbourne - w/The Sand Dollars, DIET. and Louis Spoils
Saturday June 27 | Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane - FREE SHOW w/Denpasar.
Sometimes just the background to a band that we receive sets the tone and expectation very high, so when I read the following about The Cheap Thrills, I was hoping for something exciting.
The Cheap Thrills' release their new single 'Rusty' on July 13th, encapsulating the band's energy and youth with an added Psych/Pop vibe. Aged just eighteen and nineteen, the band have already headlined 02 Academy shows, have been selected as winners of the coveted Liverpool Sound City Youth Award 2012 and played the Calling Out stage of Kendal Calling in the same year. Since then, The Cheap Thrills have played successful gigs in London, as well as supporting Cast, The Rifles, The Moons, The Jezabels, Wave Machines, Skaters and Superfood. Regulars on BBC Introducing Merseyside, the band have also been featured in The Guardian's 'Breaking Bands Column'.
No anti-climax with this band, the featured song has a level of maturity that surprises, they have that 'natural energy level' that carries on after the song has ended.
We have been hearing quite a lot about Sasha McVeigh this year and share the excitement around her album release 'I Stand Alone' due out imminently on June 8th. Just some of the notable points regarding Sasha are:
· Tipped as one to watch by Taste of Country. UK country singer who has been embraced by the US country scene. · Performing alongside some of the biggest names on the circuit in America (inc. Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban) · Recently played to a packed crowd at C2C at the O2. Sold out main stage performance at Hay Festival, screened by BBC Worldwide. · Chosen as Best of the Best by Mark Forrest & BBC Introducing. · Been booked for six main stage slots at country music festivals this summer in the US. · Opened the ACM awards kick-off concert in Las Vegas with Hunter Hayes. · Announced by anti-bullying designers Amour Propre as their new ambassador.
Not bad eh? so enjoy the video for 'Someone To Break My Heart' if the video appeals, the album's a must!
There has been some real 'buzz' around May, who is based in Melbourne, Australia. Yesterday was the release day of her new single 'I Could Have Been Someone' (written by May), her second release for 2015.
The press release quite rightly describes May's singing and musical accompaniment - With orchestral blends of contemporary soul and dark pop, May pairs hauntingly beautiful melodies with evocative vocals to create a distinct and powerful sound.
This is one of those songs that casts it's shadow across a range of musical styles and genres and yet flows along with grace and beauty. You can gather from that, I like it. It's on iTunes HERE.
