Just a couple of songs today. First off we have Scary Hours with 'The Real Disease' a song with a message that is conveyed through thoughtful lyrics and some robust musicianship.
Gathering Of Strangers have shared an acoustic live session version of 'Lady' and although I am a little short on info about the band, the video and song stand on their own merit, this is refined alt rock.
Scary Hours - The Real Disease.
Scary Hours create unsettling and raw anti-folk, rich with socio-political humor and the confrontational spirit of punk and hardcore.
Band spearhead Ryan Struck is officially from Jersey, but his songwriting is chock full of references to work life in NYC. The term “Scary Hours” is actually pulled from the Wu Tang Clan track from their 97’ album Forever. It seemed appropriate considering the hours Ryan was working in the city and also references the late hours of a party, when everyone is most intoxicated and you’re not sure what you did the next day. Often Ryan would find voice recordings from those nights that he didn’t remember making and the bones of Scary Hours debut album, Live to Serve, were built on those memos.
Struck cut his teeth in various punk and hardcore bands through his teen years and early 20’s and is currently a sought after multi-instrumentalist who moonlights on bass with The 65’s and drums in Voice of Doom. Reluctant to coin himself as a solo artist, Scary Hours was conceptualized with the intent of writing stripped down acoustic songs, and while it contains some of the jingle and gloss of punk-tinged acoustic pop, Scary Hours debut album is more basement show than coffee shop - Elvis Costello meets Lawrence Arms or possibly a Bukowski-esque Bright Eyes.
MwS have shared 'Moonlight' a smooth, melodic and soulful song with that all important wow factor that makes the piece stand out.
'Sea Will Return You' is from the Southern California folk ensemble Eve & The Vagabond Tales. The vocals are beautifully melodic and the bands musical structure is wonderful and full of Americana refinement.
We don't often feature remixes however Future Rootz have created some really enticing music that is just crammed with quality and fresh creativity, it's just got to be shared, this really is exceptional!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MwS - Moonlight.
Although the pair recount working with other talented musicians and producers, the scene is unquestionably stronger on the British Isles so a move was always on the cards. However, the whole plan was nearly derailed early on as the pair booked tickets into the UK on the very day we decided to leave the European Union. It’s a wound reopened recently with the uncertainty in the air around the subject and growing worry about the position of touring musicians in the UK.
"The Brexit decision made us feel a bit uneasy about heading to the UK only at the beginning... We have a lot of faith in London, which we know is a very open city that somehow needs people from all over the world. We knew that this was the place for our music so we had to make it happen regardless. In the last months though, there is a lot of worry around Brexit for touring musicians."
The duo first graced the airwaves with their debut EP ‘Swim’. Written and produced between the UK and Italy, with a carefully curated roster of different artists and producers.. The project has since racked up over 600K Streams on Spotify and had support from the likes of Complex, Clash, BBC 6 Music, The BBC Introducing Mixtape, Amazing Radio. They followed up with the beachy, pop-soul leaning ‘Island’. Produced by Grammy winning Aamir Yaqub (Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Will.I.Am) - Island was their first release solely created in the UK. Spotify got behind the track again, with support on their influential “Alternative R’n’B” playlist.
Looking forward to 2019, Giulia and Francesco are looking to take their art to the next level with a string of single releases and a full EP in the summer months. Their last singles were both supported on a number of official Spotify Playlists. This led to support from Jamz Supernova on BBC Radio 1Xtra and BBC Introducing London. The duo are looking to expand on their live presence this year, with live dates for Wilderness Festival confirmed, as well as a fast-selling London headline show. Although their next single is titled ‘Moonlight’ - it’s an exquisite piece of sunshine alt-pop, with a disco feel.
On the track, the duo state: “Moonlight was inspired by a dream Giulia had after watching La La Land. Most of the images come straight from the surreal atmosphere of dreams, where you can sometimes meet ‘your self’ and find the courage to break out of your comfort zone. The song is also an invitation to focus on the positive side of things in order to reach your full potential.
Eva & The Vagabond Tales, a folk ensemble based in Southern California and led by charismatic Russian-born Eva Mikhailovna, are set to release a new album, their second in May. Titled Uncharted Ocean, the album features ten original songs that combine western, old folk and ragtime traditions into a musical melting pot, creating a unique and alluring sound that transcends time and continents.
David Fleming of NPR describes their sound as having “the feel of old Europe.” Performing alongside Eva as The Vagabonds are Jake Pflum on percussion, Alan Arteaga on electric guitar, banjo and ukulele, Jasmine Capitulo on accordion and Benjamin Purper on bass. Produced by Charles Newman (The Magnetic Fields, The Bones of J.R. Jones), the album also includes Claudia Chopek (Father John Misty, Moby) on violin and viola, Christian Dupree (Jack Johnson) on cello, and Logan Coale (Natalie Merchant) on upright bass.
The song “Sea Will Return You” was released as a single digitally on May 10. Uncharted Ocean will be released digitally, on CD and on “Sea Green” vinyl on May 17. The band will play a special album release showcase at Hotel Café on May 15. The video was directed by Mikhailovna with the help of Pflum and aerial camera operator Miguel Galindo.
Says Mikhailovna: “This album combines songs from every season in my life. The songs were written over a period of ten years, and some of the instrument tracks we managed to salvage are so ancient that you can almost hear the hours trying to catch up with you as you listen to it. Layering the new crispy clear recordings on top of the older ones gave the album a lot of character.
A lot of these songs have a reoccurring theme of the ocean. There are songs about someone sailing away and never coming back, a mysterious lighthouse where you have to watch your every step, someone who would rather stay comfortable in shallow waters, and a song about memories sinking into the deepest parts of the ocean where nobody can find them. I liked the name “Uncharted Ocean” not only because of the ocean metaphors, but also because this album was like uncharted territory in my own life. This was my first time working with a producer, and my first time letting someone else enhance my songs, pushing them in directions I didn’t think they could go. “
Future Rootz is a collective of Chicago-based mixed media DJs who spin and remix global roots, tropical bass, world electronic and Latin house music. The collective produces events in Chicago highlighting local and international artists and DJs from all over the world. Future Rootz just released its first record as a label, What Goes Up (Remixed), on limited-edition vinyl.
What Goes Up (Remixed), which includes remixes by Maga Bo, Ron Trent, AfroQbano, Sound Culture, Sol Power Sound, Kevin Ford and Jose Marquez, is a companion piece to 2017’s What Goes Up.
True to its original intent as an evolving musical experiment, Chicago Afrobeat Project now angles its afrobeat roots sideways, pushing a vocal-heavy band that drips with slippery funk and rhythmic hiphop. After years working with Tony Allen, master drummer behind Fela Kuti and the creator of Afrobeat, the group’s grasp of the musical form is uncontested. It’s the deviation from tradition that continues to make the band’s sound contemporary and relevant.
With the addition of male emcee Legit and female vocalist Rhea the Second, tightly executed hip-hop verses scatter across the top of CAbP’s bubbling Afrobeat rhythms. Rhea’s soaring vocal melodies intersect with the full horn section, which at times will either punctuate to emphasize these vocals or intertwine with the vocal melody itself. The sound is rich, and there’s a lot to sink your teeth into whether you’re a fan of Fela or the burgeoning young Chicago hiphop scene.
The group began in 2002 as a collective of musicians sharing a common interest in West African rhythms. Quickly they realized that mixing Afrobeat with Chicago house, indie rock, hip-hop and jazz opened new avenues for experimentation.
Fast-forward hundreds of tour dates and five studio releases later, and the group has found ways of interpreting Afrobeat through American urban sounds. Through it all, CAbP has been at the center of the emergence of the North American Afrobeat scene. On its newest releases, What Goes Up Remixed (2019) and What Goes Up (2017), the band features special guest Tony Allen, as well as many Chicago vocalists and MCs.
Allen, once exclaimed by Brian Eno as “perhaps the greatest drummer who ever lived,” plays kit on all 10 tracks, recording his signature beats behind the band and vocalists. This collaboration makes Chicago Afrobeat Project the first American Afrobeat band to produce a full-length studio record with Tony Allen.
Taking the vocal helm on the album are Akenya (Noname, Chance the Rapper), JC Brooks, Kiara Lanier, Legit (Chance the Rapper), Ugochi, Oranmiyan and Rico Sisney/Maggie Vagle (Sidewalk Chalk). The band’s new vocal-laden approach makes the songs on What Goes Up concise and intentional, and markedly different from CAbP’s prior recordings.
A staple of the American live music scene for years, the band’s live show now combines its historically instrumental style with the new vocal approach. Crowds feed off the spontaneity of the soloists and enthusiasm of the band.
The Curls new single 'Lemon Lime' is a rhythmic psych/indie pop song with bags of originality. The fabulous musical arrangement competes with some slightly quirky but pleasing vocals, all coming together just right.
It's been over a year since we last featured Diamond Thug, this being their forth appearance on Beehive Candy. We have the new video for their recent release 'Tell Me', the band's distinct sound and quality continues to impress and appeal.
Jeanines emphasis on short to the point bursts of indie music are nonetheless very catchy, you just have to play each song twice, that's all!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Curls - Lemon Lime.
Chicago, Psych-Pop band The Curls have debut their new single "Lemon Lime". The track comes off their forthcoming album Bounce House due out June 7th, 2019 on Diversion Records.
The Curls hail from Chicago but seem to mentally reside in outer space or perhaps the lush palm tree lined hills of Hollyweird. An all-star cast of accomplished Chicago musicians led by songwriter Mick Fansler, the group blends genres like these health nuts blend their smoothies. As such, their music has been labeled Psych Pop, Art Rock, Nu-Angular Guitar and even Hardcore Experimental Power Adult Contemporary.
After being praised by Stereogum, Pitchfork, Under The Radar, The 405, and more, and following their 2017 album, Super Unit, The Curls have been avidly playing prominent music festivals including 2018's Pitchfork Music Festival and this year's SXSW, leading them to share stages with popular music greats like Tame Impala, Courtney Barnett, Maps and Atlases, and Post Animal.
Formed in a basement in Kommetjie, a small surf town on the southern tip of Africa, Diamond Thug combine Sub-Saharan rhythms with indie pop dreamscapes, with a vitality and energy bursting from the seams of each track that becomes juxtaposed with melancholic themes.
Lead singer Chantel Van T’s luscious vocals wash over layers of guitar, synth-bass and pounding drums with a certain quiet power. When Chantel was a teenager, she wanted to be a quantum physicist, which may explain some of Diamond Thug’s lyrical subjects.
The band’s debut album Apastron was set within the depths of space, with celestial bodies and laws of planetary motion being used as metaphors for earth-bound problems. New EP Gaiafy turns inward to human experience, pairing nihilism and existential crises with allusions to climate change.
The band tell us that new track ‘Tell Me’ is “an empathetic song, dealing with the acceptance that suffering is a shared experience of all of life, albeit to differing degrees. Through our suffering, we are healed and can offer our healing to others in the form of sharing experiences.”
Brooklyn's Jeanines specialize in ultra-short bursts of energetic but melancholy minor-key pop. With influences that run deep into the most crucial tributaries of DIY pop — Messthethics, the Television Personalities, Marine Girls, early Pastels, Dolly Mixture — they've crafted a style that is as individual as it is just plain pleasurable. Alicia Jeanine's pure, unaffected voice muses wistfully on the illusions of time, while My Teenage Stride/Mick Trouble mastermind Jed Smith's frantic Motown-esque drumming and inventive bass playing provide a thrilling rhythmic foundation.
"Winter In The Dark" and a lovely, jaunty cover of The Siddeleys' "Falling Off Of My Feet Again" provide great insight into what Jeanines are about. 60s-meet-80s melodies combine with timeless guitar jangle in a way that recalls everything from The Aislers Set and Saturday Looks Good To Me to more recent DIY pop groups like Parsnip and Chook Race. Album opener "Either Way," "Hits The Bone" and "Where We Go" hearken back to some of the most intriguing bands of the C86/C88 era, when bands like Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes crafted perfect pop gems enlivened by the inspiration of punk.
Gorgeous songs like "Where I Stand," "Too Late" and "In This House" are windows into Alicia's lyrical style and inspiration. She expands: "I'm kind of obsessed with mortality and how weird the passage of time is so I think my lyrics reflect that. I definitely lean into that kind of melancholy state of mind when trying to think of lyrics, while trying to avoid cliches!" The marriage of the minor-key melodies and melancholic lyrics is powerful and make Alicia's songs all the more memorable, especially so on songs like "No Home," with its echoes of girl harmony post-punk groups like Grass Widow and Household.
Clearly, with 16 great songs included, there is a lot at work here on this standout debut album. Jeanines have been compared to such cult pop icons as Dear Nora, Black Tambourine, and more recent acts like Veronica Falls and Girl Ray, but their dark, modal melodies and pensive, philosophical lyrics, along with Smith's versatile but ever-economical musicality, ensure them a place of their own in today's crowded but boisterously healthy DIY pop scene.
'Wild Things' is the debut single from Lookalikes a duo made up of Al Currie and Joel Skurrie. It's an impressive indie piece with plenty of depth, power and some fine vocals.
Diving At Dawn has shared 'The Humbling of a Good Man' an expansive sounding and well arranged song with plenty of melodic hooks and some excellent story line lyrics.
From Lord Sonny The Unifier we have the new album 'Final Notice!' which is accompanied by a short biography (see below) that adds some real insight into the album and it's final arrival. As for the music, well the collection strides across differing rock genres, expect plenty of imagination and a truck load of hooks along the way.
We shared a couple of songs from Nathan & Jessie last month and 'Worse Than Worse' makes for a fabulous third track to include, their infectious warmth and delicious vibes are hard to resist.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lookalikes - Wild Things.
Emerging from Melbourne’s vast musical melting pot, duo Lookalikes prove they are far from ordinary with their unique debut single ‘Wild Things’.
Surging with joy and oozing charm, the electric indie bop swoops in with an onslaught of groovy bass tones, folk-spiked guitar riffs, and gliding harmonies. The first glimpse into their upcoming EP, it’s refreshing to see their inception have such clarity and vision.
Taking pointers from Maurice Sendak’s famous novel, ‘Wild Things’ encourages the listener to stand up for what they believe in, and truly be themselves. “It's about strengthening your character and letting your walls come down in doing so. It’s throwing away the feeling of everyone being against you and throwing down your barricades to express yourself free of judgement,” singer Al Currie explains.
Lookalikes is the project of Al Currie and Joel Skurrie, both of whom have been heavily involved in music since a young age. Beginning their collaboration in 2016, the grand reveal of 'Wild Things' proves that their years of hard work has paid off masterfully.
With the launch of their live shows and debut EP still yet to come, there’s lots to look forward to from the pair; a promise these Lookalikes will be familiar faces in no time.
Featuring an orchestral accompaniment recorded over Skype (potentially the worlds first skype-orchestra), we have the new video to accompany the debut single ‘The Humbling Of A Good Man’ from Diving At Dawn (a new project from Pete Hobbs of The Boy Least Likely To).
Talking about the track, Pete explains "'The Humbling of a Good Man' is a soundtrack to everyday life. Dreams fall by the wayside, ambitions get cut to the quick and lives aren’t lived to the fullest. The song finds the protagonist at the end of a journey, the end of a dream, crash landing back into suburbia and trying to make sense of where he’s been and what’s to come”.
Released just this week, Pete goes on to explain the inspiration for the video. “The Humbling of a Good Man is a song about a guy realising that his dreams and ambitions aren’t going to be fulfilled and contemplating what his future will look like. For the video I moved the character slightly on into the future, hopefully showing that whatever happens in life there is always some light at the end of the tunnel.”
Brooklyn-based alternative rock band Lord Sonny The Unifier is lead by Gregory Jiritano. Jiritano began playing guitar at age 8, formed his first band band at age 12, and began playing in NYC bars at age 16. After the loss of his recording studio a fire in 2015, he had to throw in the towel - and his unfinished album - or regroup. He regrouped. Jiritano conspired with good friend Carmine Covelli to play drums, soon met Tyler Wood, a keyboard-wizard-freak and sound guru, Tyler swore by his good friend Derek Nievergelt on Bass, and thus Lord Sonny the Unifier was formed...and album completed.
"I began playing guitar at age 8 and so I cannot remember life without a guitar in my hands or very nearby. It was a $20 acoustic guitar my mother brought me back from Mexico. After moving on to an electric guitar, I joined a band at age 12 and miraculously we got gigs at schools, local fairs and church basements. At 16 I began playing in bars in NYC and the surrounding boroughs. 2 years later I began writing, and it was at this time I got very interested in the recording process and decided it would be best if I owned my own recording equipment in order to be a self reliant musician and to begin sonic experiments without restrictions, either by studio cost and time restraints or record label handicaps. It was also then that I decided it would be best to concentrate solely on my own songs and projects and not be distracted by playing other peoples music in other bands no matter how lucrative or exciting the prospect might be.
"And so began the real journey. I spent those early years working with John Schumann (who later started an effects pedal company called Schumann Electronics) I isolated this band in the mountains of Massachusetts and wrote and recorded using only modified analog effects and stringed electric instruments aided by John’s electronic wizardry often over dubbing up to 40 guitars. It was a time of extreme sonic experimentation. We worked for 6 years recording there on a 24 track 2inch tape machine using only analog outboard gear and stringed instruments…even the drum sounds were produced by stringed instruments.
"Unfortunately, none of this music was released and due to its’ extreme recording techniques we never performed live and we then went our separate ways. I moved the studio back to Brooklyn and began a solo project playing all the instruments and limiting the guitar tracks to 12 or so and after 3 years that recording was also complete. Misfortune again struck and as I was plotting its’ release and promotion the building the studio was in caught fire and burnt to the ground and everything I had purchased to pursue the dream of recording was gone. I now had no money to promote this just completed album and so it too was abandoned. I needed to regroup in order to plot the next step.
"The next step is this new release FINAL NOTICE! I decided to not purchase a new studio but rather to use ones available to me and to pay up front as in the end it would be a more expedient way to accomplish the recordings. I’d plotted with my good friend Carmine Covelli to play drums and soon thereafter met Tyler Wood who is a keyboard wizard freak and also a sound guru in the studio. It was he who swore by his good friend Derek Nievergelt on Bass and so Lord Sonny the Unifier was created.
Nathan & Jessie are chronic world travelers, drawing inspiration from all they’ve encounter on their wayfaring journey. They have played in dive bars around the California desert, in the streets of New Orleans, on the subways of NYC, and listening rooms rooms and performing arts centers across the globe including Mexico City and Paris.
Along the way, they’ve picked up awards for ‘Best Blues’ and ‘Best Country’ Song at the Temecula Valley Music Awards, recorded live sessions for Acoustic Guitar Magazine and Nashville’s WMOT Roots Radio, and played alongside folk luminaries like Handmade Moments and Dustbowl Revival.
Their sophomore release, You’re the Star, is the follow-up to their incredibly self-assured 2018 debut, That’ll Never Be Me. Many of the songs on the new LP were crafted late at night while on tour. Tired and cold, often with nowhere to go, fingerpicking and singing to a new city, Nathan & Jessie comforted each other with their music.
That warmth and sense of well-being can be felt in the resulting recordings. It’s if Django Reinhardt and Peggy Lee decided to pull their material from the Great American Songbook - it’s chock full of style, yet there is little pretense with these two. They are simply sharing their lives through their music and, fortunately for us, these two individuals lead their lives in a very unique way.
We have a pristine Americana song from The W Lovers to kick things off today, 'Time's A Liar' just exudes natural roots beauty, this duo really do have something special going on.
Ellie M has a powerful and fabulously distinct voice, her vocals on 'Losing My Mind' is both captivating and stunning, as is the song as a whole.
'Ceilings' the new single from Eleni Drake might have been written in just fifteen minutes, nonetheless it's lyrics are striking, and with a refined musical arrangement this is one of those pieces that just stands out.
I don't think it's to much of an exaggeration to describe Astrid Holiday's voice as simply outstanding, as is the new song 'Mirror', just watch the video and see if I'm overstating things.
Francine Honey rounds today's collection off with 'Stay' a song immersed in Americana richness, it's a fabulous taster for her new album 'To Be Continued'.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The W Lovers - Time's a Liar.
We have the pleasure of sharing with you some of the most authentic music coming out of the Northwest. The W Lovers are a duo comprised of Fleur and Wesley Wood, who met while Fleur was on tour from New Zealand in 2011, and needed to purchase an amplifier for her North American leg - fate would have it that Wesley was working that day. The two started performing together in 2014, and have been perfecting their brand of rootsy Americana ever since.
Fleur and Wesley Wood have made their mark on the live music scene all over the American West, playing over 100 shows a year, since their inception in 2014. Their debut album, released in 2016, was accompanied by four music videos and a live ‘in-studio’ video from Deep Well Studios (WA), where the album was recorded.
The sophomore album 'This Little Town' - produced by Ryan Hadlock (Lumineers, Brandi Carlile), is set for release in May 2019 Based in Washington State and friends of the road, touring has taken them from from Washington to Colorado and through New Mexico, California and Oregon. They’ve also played internationally in Canada and New Zealand.
Studying people often involves standing to the side and observing in silence. A West London native, Ellie Morgan spent her gap year tending bar in W12's Bush Hall, watching and admiring the artists performing and passing through.
Though never a wallflower, this pensive 20 year old anthropology student is now ready to take centre stage herself. By chance, she met with musical conspirator Antoine Collin in early 2018. Both restless, an offhand remark about heartbreak instantly bound the two together. What better way to soothe the soul than with a song ... or five.
On-stage the pair known as "Ellie M" mix Jazz, Hip-Hop, Reggae and Pop influences into their own dark set drenched in noir and mindful escape. 'Losing My Mind' is the debut single of Ellie M and will be released on May 31st 2019.
Shine your spotlight on these residents of any comfortably dark corner and observe the stark sonic beauty that will fill up any room.
Supple jazz-leaning pop, Eleni’s new single ‘Ceilings’ cuts deeper than most. Wrote in 15 minutes, the new single features Eleni’s signature laidback beguiling, reverb laden vocals and frosty guitar parts. Taken from Eleni’s new EP due out later this month.
"A love song I didn’t ever see myself writing. This took a total of about 15 minutes to write from start to finish. I guess I was feeling overwhelmed by the amount of time I had spent with this one particular person, and they were also the first person I let into my life since my previous relationship. This person made me feel free, helped me experience certain things for the first time, and although for a short time, I felt happy too. I wanted to see them all the time, because of the exaltation they gave me."
Breaking through with her stunning debut EP ‘Blue’ at the start of last year, 2018 proved to be an extremely productive year for London-based singer-songwriter Eleni Drake. Having garnered a sync on Netflix series ‘Black Lightning’ with her single ‘Honey’, as well as working alongside a flurry of influential songwriters including John Foyle (Years & Years, FKA twigs), Freedo (Zara Larsson), Jez Ashurst (Tom Walker) and many more, the frontwoman now looks to cement herself in the new year with the announcement of her sophomore EP ‘’Songs On Sundays’.
Channelling a mixture of her initial influences such as Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, and blending them with the contemporary soul sound of Jorja Smith, ‘Songs On Sundays’ aims to project the frontwoman in a more luxurious light. Keeping the production minimal and her voice the centre of attention, this new release looks to pick up where her debut left off and add a more diverse and captivating chapter to her growing catalogue.
"Mirror": is about someone who only thinks of himself, and because of that he doesn't notice or appreciate the beautiful things in life. "Snow white roses, such a pity you didn't notice a single one, and now they're gone.” - Astrid Holiday
Indie label, RoastingHouse Records based in Malmö, Sweden have just about finished the album with their artist Astrid Holiday.
This follows the great success in Asia with the previous single/MV "New Beginning" (710,978 YouTube views to date) released by S.M. Entertainment, Korea.
Astrid Holiday just released her single and MV, "Mirror" from her debut album.
To Be Continued… is an album that showcases Honey’s most striking and stirring compositions. "I'm so happy," she says. "I'm really proud of this record and how it all came together." Cut in Nashville with Grammy-nominated producer Neilson Hubbard (John Prine, Mary Gauthier, Jason Isbell) and first-call players like guitarists Will Kimbrough and Kris Donegan, pianist Dan Mitchell, bassist Dean Marold and legendary fiddler Eamon McLoughlin, To Be Continued… takes Honey's mix of Americana, Country, Rock, Canadiana and Blues to the next level, capturing the sound she's been chasing for years. "It's hard to articulate what you hear in your head and get it to come to life through other musicians," she says. But after getting Hubbard's name from singer-songwriter Gretchen Peters, she knew she'd found her man. "I looked up the songs he produced and went, 'That's what I've been hearing!'
Although she's made music since childhood — "I wrote my first song in 1976" — Honey never dreamed of making it a career. However, along the way, the down-to-earth artist has displayed extraordinary dedication to her craft. Francine’s debut self-produced album An Ordinary Woman came out in 2008 and was followed in 2014 by Re-Drawn, produced by Lang Bliss in Nashville. As a graduate of the Berklee College of Music Professional Singer-Songwriter Certificate Program, Francine regularly makes the nine-hour drive from Ontario, Canada, to song-writing workshops in Nashville, where she has been mentored by icons like Beth Nielsen Chapman (who contributes backup vocals to Honey's Snowflakes On My Eyelashes), Mike Reid (I Can't Make You Love Me), Mary Gauthier (Mercy Now), Verlon Thompson (Boats to Build), Gretchen Peters (Independence Day) and Jonatha Brooke (My Mother has 4 Noses).
Now, To Be Continued takes Francine’s listeners on a journey. Courageously drawing from her own life, Honey's latest songs run the gamut of emotion. Snowflakes on My Eyelashes channels the grief of loss; Can't Break Through to You examines PTSD; and the moving Marilyn documents a harrowing health scare. "That's a very tough subject and a very personal song," she confesses. "The room goes quiet when I play it. But I'll see someone wipe a tear from their eye, and know that song has touched someone." It's not alone: Stay is a finalist in TWO categories in the International Songwriting Competition (Americana and Sing Your Heart Out/Love Songs) and a semi-finalist in the Canada Songwriting Contest and Mamas Take Bad Dreams Away made the top five in the Canada South Songwriting Contest.
Equally laudable are cuts on the lighter side of the roster: The upbeat driving ode Open Road, the sexy come-hither blues of Honey (a semi-finalist in the Blues and Americana categories of the International Songwriting Competition) and the uplifting title cut that chronicles her romance with a friend who re-entered her life at just the right time. "
'Easy As You Care' by Paul Doffing is a beautiful example of how much singer-songwriters still have to offer in terms of creativity and emotional feeling, this really does suggest that his fourth album release is something to anticipate.
We've featured a couple of songs from Trudy and The Romance's debut 'Sandman' album due out later this month and 'That's Not Me' sees the band slow things down a little without losing any of their 50's Mutant Pop sparkle.
Back in 2017 we had the pleasure of featuring a few songs from Jade Jackson and her highly acclaimed 'Gilded' album. 'Bottle It Up' is the first of twelve songs on her second album 'Wilderness' scheduled for release on June 28th, and I have to say each and every track is on a par with the featured piece at the very least. Fans of the first album should love this and personally I think she will add a good few more of them when the new collection hit's the ground!
Paul Doffing - Easy As You Come.
Amidst the speed and uncertainty of modern life, Paul Doffing’s Running in the Dark calls for reflection on the forces that blind our vision and limit our happiness. Doffing’s fourth full-length release, Running in the Dark, is a 36-minute musical odyssey of self-exploration, human connection, and worldly realization.
Doffing, an American singer-songwriter and environmental advocate, explains, “My highest hope is that it is music that touches the listener’s heart. That it takes them somewhere and helps them feel something that maybe they forgot about, or even feel something they didn’t know about.” Doffing’s tone and delivery throughout the guitar-focused Running in the Dark carry a freshness that pushes the release toward the leading edge of the expansive songwriting tradition from which it originates. A notable evolution from Doffing’s previous efforts, Running in the Dark carries broader instrumentation with more focus on bass and percussion; palpably informed by the work of numerous songwriting giants from Leonard Cohen to Patrick Watson throughout.
With both the man and his music rich in sincerity and substance, Running in the Dark is abundant in meaning and sentiment. Doffing, who has considered music a companion since his early youth, has completed nearly 13,000 miles touring on bicycle through 22 U.S. states and 7 countries performing concerts along the way. Paul’s vast pedaled wanderings – paired with two years exploring Central America and Europe, guitar in hand– have culminated in the purposefully layered album that is Running in the Dark, which was written over a six-year span.
Doffing conveys, “There were times when I was making the album where I knew what I was trying to do and some when I didn’t, but I went to each thing that felt like it needed to be there and expanded upon it until it came alive.” Doffing allowed his intuition to lead the way in both the creation and subject matter of the album. Doffing delves into a wide array of themes on Running in the Dark, ranging from the delicate nature of emotion, to bountiful love and the contrasting deterioration of it, and the complex understanding of personal development through human connection.
Trudy and the Romance unveil new single ‘That’s Not Me’, the final teaser trailer ahead of fast-approaching debut album ‘Sandman’, out May 24th.
The track follows retro stomper ‘Doghouse’ around which Noisey profiled the trio as part of their hyped Hitlist series, proclaiming “from happiness to heartbreak, and all the way back again, each of Trudy & The Romance’s songs feels like a Richard Curtis vignette”. Collecting these colourful scenes together is their imminent and eagerly-anticipated debut feature-length, ‘Sandman’, which is out next month, full track listing revealed below.
Vintage ruminations on heartbreak accompanied by swooning backing vocals that play off of Olly Taylor’s arresting vibrato, ‘That’s Not Me’ is a fine example of the trio’s interstellar time-machine tunes. Excellently distilling their flair for dreamboat-pop with nods to Jonathan Richman, Louis Prima, and Brian Wilson’s wall of sound, it also takes influence from film composers Henry Mancini and Bernard Herrmann, and the golden age of Disney.
In celebration of the LP release the three-piece will be treading the boards at London’s Oslo venue, as part of a wobbly-kneed lap of honour tour through May. Their exhilarating live show ranges from hip-swinging rock’n’roll to show-stopping ballads, all delivered with a rag-tag punk ethos – garnering stateside approval with acclaimed sets at this year’s SXSW.
Recorded with producer David Pye (Wild Beasts), ‘Sandman’ draws the listener further into the trio’s vibrant world, and follows the latest escapades of central protagonist little Johnny and his inner turmoil. Rocking and reeling through dreamy harmonies and dazzling guitars it’s everything good pop music should be – catchy, clever and brimming with curiously wonderful characters in Trudy’s inimitable realistic-cartoon narrative.
On Jade Jackson’s second full-length album, Wilderness, she casts a light more focused on her own life than ever before. To be released on June 28th via ANTI- Records, Wilderness – like her debut record Gilded - was produced by Mike Ness, the SoCal punk rock legend has carefully helped her hone her craft and sound. “I don’t need a man’s hands to open the jar,” Jackson quips on the charming first single, “Bottle It Up”. Watch Jade and her love interest traverse the deserts of Joshua Tree in the song’s new video.
Gilded (2017) was a masterful, critically acclaimed introduction to her strong soulful stylings as told through the eyes of characters and storytelling, with Jackson keeping any hyper-personal glimpses at arm’s length. But for its follow-up, the singer-songwriter from the Central Coast of California decided to embrace the concept of building her songs from an autobiographical perspective.
Two days after her 20th birthday Jackson was hiking in nearby Sand Canyon when she leaped from a rope swing and fell 15 feet onto a rock – she sustained serious injuries and wasn’t sure if she’d be able to walk again. As she recovered, she realized she was depending more and more on prescription painkillers and after stopping cold turkey by destroying her prescription refills and flushing the remaining pills, her body and brain spiraled into depression. She also developed a control-related eating disorder that would haunt her for several years following. Jackson refers to her mind state during that time as “suicidal.”
“Needless to say, for the first time since I had written my very first song, I didn’t believe in my music anymore,” Jackson says. “Because of my depression I didn’t like myself, so I couldn’t possibly imagine someone else liking what I created. But even that couldn’t stop me from writing, and songwriting remained my therapy through it all.”
The theme of her new work deals heavily with those attitudes and feelings while focusing largely on other true encounters and relationships in her real life. Wilderness is a powerhouse of a record about the in-betweens and stepping stones we dwell in and leap across while coming to terms with our senses of self, and how melancholy can be a powerful weapon to wield—especially in the form of a roots-rock or country song. With Wilderness, Jade Jackson has braved the depths of her soul and figured out a course for survival—though she will be the first to admit that her journey still has miles to go.
“Wilderness as the title of my album is this in-between area I’m in right now as a musician. It’s the unknown—like when we’re touring, you don’t know where you’re gonna play, or sleep, what you’re gonna eat, if you’ll have monitors…there’s so much unknown at this grinding stage in the game. I am incredibly thankful for the way my career has started, but I’ve always had this urge propelling me forward. I know where I want to go—I can visualize it—but right now I’m walking through the wild, still picking up tools, still learning, and making my way.”
Just a couple of artists today starting with Holly Redford Jones and her superb new song 'Bonjour Madame', a sultry country rocker with plenty of feeling. It's our third feature for Cat Princess this year as their good humoured new song 'Rocko's Theme' takes us on a journey into some cinema day's of the eighties.
Holly Redford Jones - Bonjour Madame.
London-based songwriter Holly Redford Jones just released the slow-burner country-rock single "Bonjour Madame." The track displays Redford-Jones' toughness and grit, telling the narrative of the "every-woman" just trying to get by.
Holly Redford Jones defies convention and expectation. Raised in Chesterfield, UK, to a non-musical family, she began playing guitar at age 11. Redford-Jones attended her local high school and struggled to keep up in class due to dyslexia (she really did quit that French GCSE). Nonetheless, she went on to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford “to make a point,” and, upon graduating, swiftly moved to London to pursue a career in music.
The genesis for "Bonjour Madame" was born whilst just about scraping by in London, working in bars and other assorted odd jobs. Both a cynic and a dreamer at heart, Redford-Jones became frustrated at the cycle of rent-paying with seemingly little time for music. Encumbered by the weight of creeping political and cultural shadows, Redford-Jones fantasised about an escape across the English Channel. Despite now splitting her time between the UK and US, her short-lived Parisian dream endures.
Redford-Jones has been compelling audiences in the UK since 2017 with her unassuming, yet striking presence and commanding voice.
Uppsala quintet Cat Princess formed at a New Year's party and debuted only days after playing at guitarist Robin's birthday party. Singer Nils joined the gang after the band heard him sing that same night. Just as spontaneous as the band's birth are their music. Today the new cut Rocko’s Theme is released, their most imaginative and strangest (in a good way) track to date. Rocko’s Theme is the third and last single from Cat Princess' long-awaited debut album Forbidden Items.
Rocko’s Theme follows singles Sweet and Silver Socks released earlier this year, and explores the life of fictional 80s action hero Rocko Morocco on his adventures as a man always on the run, delivered with a natural confidence. Sweet broke about a year of silence from the band since their retro banging single Fly on Your Wall, which was followed by the band's debut London show and a support slot for synth legends OMD. Silver Socks is a fine representation of the band's live intensity and one of the brightest cuts from the upcoming LP which took a majority of 2018 to make. The result is an eclectic art rock mix, equally put together by the bands' influences spanning from 80s new wave to contemporary greats.
The band about Rocko’s Theme: "At one point we decided that music, or at least our music, doesn’t have to be so god damn serious and poetic all the time. Rocko’s Theme is definitely a product of that mentality. Like the name suggests, Rocko’s Theme is quite a cinematic song. Musically we took a lot of inspiration from the funky, groovy songs in old blacksploitation movies. We also tried to write the lyrics kind of like an old movie. Not a good movie mind you. Rocko is a coked up 80:s villain who likes fast cars, speedboats and quick deals. He’s got friends in high places and if you make a wrong move you just might end up on the ocean floor. After finally going too far Rocko is on the run from the law...The rest you’ll have to find out for yourself.."
Hildur Höglind has shared 'Further Apart' a beautifully crafted electronic song accompanied by her tranquil and melodic vocals. 'Something New' is a gorgeous and refined pop song that just eases into our lives, the band Babe Rainbow share their name with a song by Melanie Safka. Casii Stephan has a new video for her song 'Letters' a feisty and stomping piece that's hard to ignore!
Hildur Hoglind - Further Apart.
Growing up in a family of musicians in the small village of Johannishus, Sweden, Höglind has gone from gigging in local clubs she was too young to be in at 15, to playing some of the biggest festivals in Sweden. In her new single, her aching, melancholic vocals float over the top of a cavernous backdrop of thunderous bass synths as drum samples tremor and oscillate.
Alt-pop artist Hildur Höglind is releasing new single ‘Further Apart’, taken from upcoming EP Take Off. The record has an affecting and emotional sound, with lyrics that are unafraid to broach heavier subjects such as mental illness and existential dread.
The new track is a tale of lost love. Hildur tells us it’s the story of “two people who are falling out of love with each other but are reluctant to end the relationship because there’s nothing obviously wrong with it.” Her aching, melancholic vocals float over the top of a cavernous backdrop of thunderous bass synths as drum samples tremor and oscillate.
With a lifelong interest in language and writing, it was when she picked up a guitar that Hildur found an outlet for her words. Literature will always have a place in her creative heart however, with last year’s Poems EP featuring musical interpretations of verse by Dylan Thomas and Edgar Allan Poe.
Cosmic conduits Babe Rainbow are overjoyed to present their latest peace offering, 'Something New'.
The song uncurls with a star shiner swagger, curiously exploring the bands place in sonic space while permaculturally rooted here on planet Earth.
Lifted from the forthcoming third long player, the band have already announced tours in Australia (May), the USA (June) and Europe (August / September).
Babe Rainbow’s charming eco-pop is out of time just enough to feel totally on time for a movement in 2019
The whole video was filmed in Tulsa and it was done by Tulsans. There's so much amazing talent in Tulsa and I'm so proud to have each person be a part of this video. People in Tulsa really helped us out to make sure this video could be the best version it could and I'm so thankful for each gift.”
Stephan states, “The star dancer, Dani Davis, is one of the sweetest young women I've ever met, yet when she dances, she's so fierce. I'm so honored that she could be a part of this video. She brought her A-game to each take and faced some of her own fears in the process. "
Stephan moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2014 with the intent to give up her pursuit of a music career. However, in 2016, she released a single, “I Like The Way,” which won an Independent Music Award for “Best Love Song.” In early 2017, she was named “One of nine Oklahoma musicians to watch” by the Tulsa World Magazine. Stephan also performed at MisFEST (short for Music is She), Tulsa’s first female-driven music festival that she helped found and produce. She was recently featured in American Songwriter Magazine as one of the artists contributing to making Oklahoma “the next big music scene.”
Another single, “GhostShips,” premiered on Atwood Magazine, who raves, “an incredibly dynamic performance that captures an intimate moment of raw, untethered emotion.” She received a genre nomination in the Pop category from the Hollywood Music in Media Awards and received an Honorable Mention Award by the USA Songwriting Competition. In 2017, she did not disappoint, as her band The Midnight Sun, performed an official SXSW Showcase opening for Hanson. Stephan returned as an official artist in 2019’s SXSW, performing at the Tulsa Music Night Showcase.
We have received some fine music through the Microdose single series and 'This Time' from Mirrorball is no exception their dream pop is quite exquisite. Far Caspian return for a fifth time here, the latest song 'Astoria' is once again full of smooth hooks and a fine melodic vibe. The Silver Lake Chorus as you might expect know how to perform a chorus (and some), 'Tabu' is a splendid affair that gives indie music a unique dimension. We have a new video and a recent single from Her Crooked Heart, both are creative pieces and rather addictive. Alt rockers Strangejuice are fascinating, their music is original and just a little quirky, with the lyrics worth a little attention along the way! We finish this selection with South Australia's Corduroy Spaceship and a melodic and extremely catchy indie song 'About Everything'.
Mirrorball - This Time.
Mirrorball have shared a new video for their single "This Time"; a shimmering sinking light show with a hint of 1980s. "This Time" is part of Dangerbird's Microdose single series.
Dangerbird Records is proud to announce the latest artist to feature in their Microdose single series, Los Angeles dream pop upstarts Mirrorball.
Mirrorball is the newly-formed project of singer/songwriter Alexandra Johnstone and guitarist Scott Watson. Johnstone and Watson are both fixtures of the Los Angeles underground music scene. The roots of Johnstone’s songwriting inspiration date back to first hearing Leonard Cohen’s Songs from a Room, prompting her to “put poems to music.” She went on to front the band Monster, later known as White Dove, as a vehicle for her more minimalist, folk-woven leanings, garnering comparisons to the music of Low and Cat Power. Watson’s musical history dates back to playing in various groups in Silver Lake’s early 2000s indie rock heyday.
Johnstone and Watson’s combined efforts in Mirrorball push both musicians into new territory. The Los Angeles band’s otherworldly yet grounded sound evokes imagery of abandoned shopping malls and 1980s coming-of-age movies. Johnstone’s hauntingly memorable vocal lines are supplemented by dense beds of swelling synthesizer and strikingly bare, percussive guitar parts that fuse together into a compelling whole.
The debut A-Side single “This Time” is a more uptempo post-new wave number imbued with mystery and longing. Johnstone’s words ring out with poignancy over a sea of fluttering keyboard arpeggios, culminating with the almost cautionary phrase “never say this time.” The accompanying B-Side “Natural World” slows things down into a pulsing soup of dark Tropicália and slow motion disco. Johnstone reveals her Cohen-esque poetry influence in her plaintive uttering of the song’s opening line – “Think I’ll live the quiet life, stop living by the knife.”
Flitting between insular, emotionally engaging bedroom-pop and moments of festival-ready breathlessness across their iconic hazy sound, Leeds trio Far Caspian’s sonic formula is earning them fans at an exponential rate. New single Astoria epitomises this thrilling contradiction; calm, slowly grooving verses clear the decks for expansive choruses, replete with a timeless synth line. It’s the final preview ahead of imminent sophomore EP The Heights, out June 11th via Dance To The Radio.
Emerging last year with a collection of catchy lo-fi gems on hazy debut EP Between Days, and crafting their self-coined ‘melanjolly’ style to widespread critical praise, the trio’s newest output showcases their trademark sound with fresh commercial overtones and a very intentional 80s production sheen. Blending these two shades on a UK tour in support of the debut EP last month peaked with thrilling, sold-out debut headline shows in London and Manchester.
Discussing their forthcoming single, frontman Joel Johnston states: “’Astoria’ is the song on the EP that kind of sums up the feeling we wanted to put across, embracing the good things in your life when things aren’t so good.
Before we had started writing any of the songs I had already decided that there would be a track with this name. It's a town in Oregon where the Goonies was shot. The Goonies has been my favourite movie since I was no age, and I've always wished I lived in that neighbourhood – this is me trying to emulate what I heard in my head when I pictured the town.
Me and Alessio were lying in the living room hungover when we wrote the chorus for the song. It came from nowhere and we just went with it.”
The Silver Lake Chorus is celebrating their Los Angeles roots. Partnering with LA-based artists Van Dyke Parks and Lucius, and producer Luke Top (Fools Gold, Cass Mccombs), TSLC is putting out two new tracks that serve as a delicious follow-up to their critically-acclaimed 2015 debut, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, relied on “the beauty and expressiveness of the voices to make its mark.” The same can be said for Lucius’s “Not Not” and Van Dyke Parks’ “Tabu,” which signal a return to the group’s choral roots after their celebrated 2016 remix album, which earned producer starRo a 2017 Grammy nomination for best remixed recording for “Heavy Star Movin’.”
Upon collaborating with The Silver Lake Chorus for the documentary film Markie in Milwaukee, film composer Morgan Z. Whirledge opined, “The power of multiple human voices, there’s nothing like it. You can use software and you can layer one person over and over again, but there’s just really nothing like getting a bunch of people together in a room. It is what it is and it can’t be replicated.” The Silver Lake Chorus figured this out over nine years ago when they first formed as a Los Angeles-based choir that could also be described as an indie rock band... with twenty lead singers. Their latest recordings are even more stripped down than usual, exposing their raw musicianship and vocal talent rather than slick production value. As TSLC’s music director Mikey Wells puts it, “We wanted the recording process to capture our natural choral sound, to have as few layers between the vocals and the listeners’ ears as possible, so we popped a couple mics in a room and pressed record.” The result: two gorgeous tracks that revel in lush harmonies and playful instrumentation and lay bare the irreplicable power and pleasure of multiple human voices.
In “Not Not,” written for the the chorus by indie pop band Lucius, the chorus opted to follow the songwriters’ lead, singing in perfectly aligned unison, as Lucius’s frontwomen Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig are known to do, until the harmonies delicately split then build to a powerful and affecting crescendo. The recurrent phrase “none of this means nothing at all” swells alongside soprano Jett Kwong Kelly’s solitary and evocative guzheng accompaniment, and by the song’s end, the lyrics’ double negative implications leave us with a cleansing sense of loss and clarity.
Her Crooked Heart is the new name; the new music of Rachel Ries - multi-instrumentalist, singer, producer, rock & roll choir director, sideman and singer. Her Crooked Heart’s forthcoming album, To Love To Leave To Live (out May 31st) features members of Bon Iver, Shane Leonard and string arrangements by the inimitable Rob Moose. First single Courthouse was recently released followed by the new video for single Windswept released this week.
With To Love To Leave To Live, Minneapolis-based Her Crooked Heart presents a debut record unique in form, made up of cyclical narratives and intertwining histories, each informing the next. The result is a transformative song cycle, led by a charismatic personality, wholly indifferent to expectations of genre and instrumentation. Rachel Ries, the writer, multi-instrumentalist and producer behind Her Crooked Heart, demonstrates immense vulnerability and multifaceted musical craftsmanship to deliver a personal and profound musical soliloquy on love, leaving and the life that follows after burning it all down.
To bring these songs and this record to the stage (and to the UK for the first time with a full band) Ries has enlisted a powerful group of women; women who can, in their way, take on the feminine, humanist mantle of Her Crooked Heart and make it their own: Siri Undlin (Humbird), Adelyn Strei (Adro), Hilary James (We Are The Willows, Bathtub Cig). The quartet blends classical and electric guitar; piano and vintage synths, cello, woodwinds and drum triggers. This merging of acoustic and synthetic sounds is all in service of the voice: four park vocal harmonies that shift from ether to eat elemental wail, always telling a story of transformation.
The latest full-length album from prolific underground indie rock outfit StrangeJuice entitled "Raising Cannibals", is due for independent release May 10th.
During the writing and creation of this album, nothing was sober, everything was afternoon, and there was a constant background of live chickens. The entire record was conceived and created in roughly two weeks, so nothing had long enough to be overthought, contrived, or to become stale.
Strangejuice is a prolific underground indie outfit who mix absurdist prose with conventional and unconventional musical instruments and artistic approach. With a discography of ten album releases spanning over a decade, StrangeJuice has a small cult following that keep catalogue of StrangeJuice's life's work and purpose here in the universe.
From banjo plucks, screeching birds and shuffling cards, StrangeJuice records and masters all their work in a secret studio in Perth, Western Australia overlooking the mountains where the alcohol flows as free as the natural rivers.
Emerging last month with his loveable debut single 'About Everything', multi-instrumentalist Corduroy Spaceship is now blasting off with the follow-up EP, Corduroy Spaceship & The Custard Gumboot.
Unravelling a sound which screams Summer, Corduroy Spaceship's debut EP cannonballs into a psychedelic pool of reverberated melodies, striking guitar riffs and vast, ethereal soundscapes. Across five sweeping tracks, Corduroy Spaceship & The Custard explores themes of love, life and death through the unique peephole of modern psych pop.
Anthemic yet beautifully laidback, highlight track 'Burden' aligns Corduroy Spaceship with contemporaries such as Tame Impala, Pond and Yellow Days. Driven by a choir of twangy guitar chords and a grooving bass tones, lyrically 'Burden' echos the fragile instrumentation with a introspective narrative. "I was in the friend zone for many years and I let loving this girl ruin me. The track is kinda explaining that and talking about how I'd never be her burden, even though she was mine." Corduroy Spaceship explains.
Hailing from Mount Gambier in rural South Australia, Corduroy Spaceship is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Torsten Gustavsson, who recorded, mixed, and mastered all instrumentation aside from drums on the EP.
