Tuesday, 17 September 2019

Millington - Kid Bear - Paul Mosley and The Red Meat Orchestra

Millington just released 'I Am That' a fabulous indie pop song where his vocals are simply wonderful and the songs positive and catchy nature just so likable.

With six fine songs we have Kid Bear and 'Ep2'. The collection drifts between rock genres (from roots to alt rock) with a refined feel throughout and the vocals are passionate giving the E.P extra traction.

Back in late 2017 I was mightily impressed by Paul Mosley and The Red Meat Orchestra so their return is more than welcome. Our first taste of the forthcoming album is 'People Are Idiots' and Mr Mosley with his varied companions are already promising something good to savour is on its way.
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Millington - I Am That.

Back from being right there, Millington releases life-affirming single I am that. Like closing your eyes and travelling inward, I am that is an uplifting escape with a soul tingling soundscape, driving pulse and conscious lyrics.

The Melbourne based artist spent 2018 recording his debut album, which is still in production, before relocating back to his home soils of the UK, reconnecting to his music roots. It was recorded in the heart of Stoke-on-Trent, Millington's hometown, at the Riff factory, engineered and mastered by Tom Carter, and produced by them both.

The two have known each other since they were digging for worms and hanging upside down from climbing frames. Like a double helix of creativity their chemistry in I am that is clear to hear. It was in these early years that the young Tom Millington developed a pronounced stammer. Through music and speech therapies, he created a unique relationship with rhythm and song.

‘Music gave me the opportunity to communicate and express myself deeply, work things through whilst telling myself to sort my shit out when things got/get challenging and difficult. I have been speaking and thinking in rhythms for as long as I can remember’

This September and October will see Millington supporting the Melbourne duo, Pierce Brothers, on their 2019 European headline tour; playing at well-known and respected venues in France, Germany, UK, Belgium, Czech Republic, and the Netherlands - with a tour of Australia very much on his mind for the near future. This return to Australia will also mean continuing work towards his evolving debut album.

His previous accolades at SXSW, CLIPPED and SOUNDkilda (St Kilda film fest) include 'People’s Choice' and 'Best Australian music video' for his debut single Being, back in 2017. Being and the EP of the same name went onto rack up streams across all platforms and praise across the globe. He has supported JJJ favourites such as Tash Sultana and Tones and I, effortlessly complimenting their individual command on channeling the spirit of song and amplifying the dynamism.

Stimulated by a pronounced heartbeat and the awakening strum of his guitar, I am that is propelled by compassion and self-confidence. Millington’s underlying magnetism generated by his worldly sympathies and his heartland rock sensibilities.

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Kid Bear - Ep2.

A chance encounter with country legend Steve Earle changed everything for guitarist and songwriter, Matt Neuroth. As Matt tells it, “I was sitting in Matt Umanov Guitars in Greenwich Village and in walks Steve Earle. He picked up an acoustic guitar and just started strumming some chords. And…I don’t know how to put it except to say that, when he played G and C, it was every country song ever written.

When I played G and C, it was just a couple of chords. But, when he did it, it was deep; it had soul and groove and power. It really blew my mind. I’d been touring with all these loud rock bands (including Oh My God) and had all  these chops, but he had the song in every strum. I’ve been chasing that ever since.”

Under the name Kid Bear, Matt continues to pursue that powerful simplicity, both as a full band and as a solo singer-songwriter. The resulting music is somewhere on the rock and roll side of Americana with simple chord changes and melodies married to heartfelt emotions and old-fashioned storytelling.

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Paul Mosley and The Red Meat Orchestra - People Are Idiots.

Riding high after his ground breaking folk opera ‘The Butcher’ (**** The Quietus, **** R2, ‘Album Of The Year’ Resonance.fm) Mosley’s plans for the follow up faltered when his personal life unexpectedly had to take priority for a year. Now he returns with his most personal and striking album to date - and what could have been a dour and contemplative album is a life affirming kaleidoscope of beauty and joy!

‘You’re Going To Die!’ is about grief and what comes after that. 11 songs, 40 minutes, no bullshit. All urgent, vital and full of life. The songs you write once in a lifetime when only the truth will do.

Check out ‘People Are Idiots’. Mosley’s composer credentials (and - let’s be honest - love of Nina Simone) marry with his gift for snappy hooks to keep the 11/8 time signature swinging as the junk percussion, sci-fi synths and pizzicato strings buoy up the all-star singers of the Red Meat Orchestra’s call-and-response backing vocals. It should be a weird mess but it’s an absolute banger.

Mosley utilizes his Red Meat Orchestra (a 16 piece mixture of bluesy bar band, baroque strings ’n’ woodwinds and found junk percussion) with a sparing intelligence reflecting his development as an in demand theatre composer. (He is currently creating the score for Little Angel Theatre’s new adaptation of Julia ‘The Gruffalo’ Donaldson’s ‘The Owl and The Pussycat’ opening November 2019)

He gives the guest singers room to shine too. SXSW New Folk Award winner Jack Harris testifies on bike-wheel led groove ‘Judge Mosley Presiding’, while Rough Trade’s BBC Radio 2 Award winner Josienne Clarke and ex Mediaeval Baebe Esther Dee add celestial harmonies to the retro synths of night-driving nostalgia anthem ‘The 1970s’.

They are joined by Red Meat regulars Catherine Earnshaw and Darren Allford for gang vocal duties on the title track’s twisted tango which Mosley says he wrote after a previous theatre review described him as ‘The Muppets meet Tom Waits’ adding ‘I didn’t think it was quite true before and I really wanted to live up to that!’

The full Red Meat Orchestra launch the album at The Slaughtered Lamb, Farringdon, London on Tuesday October 15th.

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Sunday, 15 September 2019

deux furieuses - Walrus - Mieko Shimizu - The Naked Sun

deux furieuses are back for a third time this year with 'My War Is Your War'. Once again the duo are impressive, the subject matter is conveyed with suitable darkness and a sense of brooding passion.

Garage psych band Walrus have just released 'Half Smoke' where the video matches the song, and the unpretentious rock vibes are just right.

Mieko Shimizu shares a highly creative and imaginative song entitled 'Me My Ghost'. Described as avante-garde electronica, it's all of that and gently but most definitely addictive. 

The Naked Sun new single 'Secret We Don't Know' exudes roots rock beauty, the band describe their music as honest rock, a definition that makes honest sense, they are also honestly talented in their craft.
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deux furieuses - My War Is Your War.

deux furieuses return with ‘My War is Your War’, the third single to be released from their forthcoming album of the same name which follows on 18 October via Xtra Mile Recordings.

deux furieuses describe ‘My War is Your War’ as “Three stories of different worlds colliding, from Gaza Beach to Ukraine to Yemen. The song was written as a way of not normalising the shocking events that stun the world and then are yesterday's news”, with the message that “we can no longer just occupy our own safe space and turn a collective blind eye” reinforced by the song's empathetic refrain of ‘Your war is my war, my war is your war.’

The wide-screen story of ‘My War is Your’ is powered by a driving loop that carries the at first sparse instrumentation to a devastating conclusion. Present are elements of the duo’s darker post-punk inspired shades (which has garnered comparisons to PJ Harvey and Savages), but layered with subtle texture. The foreboding drumming and emotive vocal oscillate between brooding menace and impassioned determination, before the song culminates in a big rock sound that runs through the veins of the new long-player from which it’s taken.

‘My War is Your War’ follows the #MeToo inspired ‘Year of Rage’ (July 2019) which premiered on John Kennedy’s Radio X show as his X-Posure Big One and was accompanied by a visual featuring art direction and a cameo from Alannah Currie (ex-Thompson Twins aka Miss Pokeno). Then more recently Instant Grat track ‘Civilians’ (August 2019) where brutalised riffs tackled our post-truth society.

deux furieuses are Scottish vocalist and guitarist Ros Cairney and London Greek drummer Vas Antoniadou. Since their beginnings in 2013 they have earned a reputation for uncompromising politically charged rock which has seen them championed by the likes of Q Magazine, Classic Rock, Louder Than War, aforementioned Radio X DJ John Kennedy and Frank Turner,  with the latter inviting the duo to perform at his Lost Evenings Festival at the Roundhouse, London in 2017.

Raised on a fiery blend of Irish and Greek music, 80’s post-punk and 90’s alt rock, and bonding over a love of early PJ Harvey and Kate Bush, their music is a visceral and impassioned call to arms against the world’s inequalities and rising storms.

‘My War is Your War’ is produced by Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey) and mixed by Mark Freegard (The Breeders), it was released digitally on 13 September. deux furieuses' album My War is Your War follows on 18 October (CD, vinyl and digitally), both released via Xtra Mile Recordings.


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Walrus - Half Smoke.

The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based garage-psych quartet, Walrus, are today sharing the video for their new single, ‘Half-Smoke’, the latest to be taken from their forthcoming second album ‘Cool To Who’, set for release on October 18, 2019 via Outside Music. Directed by the Prism Prize-winning Canadian musician and illustrator, Chad VanGaalen, the new clip trails festival dates alongside Dead Meadow, A Place To Bury Strangers and Orville Peck with UK dates set to follow the new album - to be confirmed shortly.

Drawing on lysergic animations which find neon-tinted aliens warping into diamonds, and goblins contorting into melting castles, the new clip seeks to visually mimic the psychedelic throb of ‘Half-Smoke’, a track that pulls on sinewy guitar lines and a propelling rhythm. Speaking about the track that lyrically documents a time the band were falling into the shambolic throes of a tour, vocalist Justin Murphy, says: “We had been robbed in San Fran after our window was smashed in the van, then after a show in San Diego we had a day and a half to make it to Chicago. We did it. Then we had to play Moline, Illinois after and we had run out of money. I had run out of money, and we had the best band blow-up to date. I was sure it was done. My clothes had been stolen, I was bumming cigarettes. But it could always have been worse.”

“The ‘Half-Smoke’ video started out as a story about life on the road,” says VanGaalen, whose previous clients include Timber Timbre and Daniel Romano. “It then quickly derailed into synchronised psychedelic abstractions. I love it when this happens.” The band adds by saying: “We have been big fans of Chad's work for a long time and had been interested in doing an animated video for a while now, so it seemed like a perfect fit. You could watch it 100 times and you'd probably see something new each time.

Formed in 2012 by two brothers, Justin (vocalist and guitarist) and Jordan (drummer) Murphy, alongside two friends in Truro, Nova Scotia, the band cut their teeth in music via the traditional route of heavy touring. Intense bouts of gigging saw the quartet earn a reputation, not only for their live shows but also for the way they treat the process - on one occasion managing to get banned from Avis Rental Car. Walrus, have been the recipients of some great tutelage along the way, they were signed to Dan Mangan’s Madic Records for their first album which garnered them some immediate attention and most recently, they supported The Sadies across their North American tour.


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Mieko Shimizu - Me My Ghost.

With a career that has seen her as an acclaimed Japanese electronic artist and producer, a trailblazing female drum’n’bass DJ (signed to Haruomi Hosono’s personal label), a collaborator with the likes of MC RIZ (Riz Ahmed) and Mick Karn (JAPAN), and having her own residency at the Southbank, it’s safe to say that Mieko Shimizu is sui generis.

Mieko has just released 'Me My Ghost' - a brooding piece of avante-garde electronica, which opens with a sinister yet simple Koto (Japanese harp) ostinato that builds through the track, as deep electronic pops and glitches begin to take over.

‘Me my ghost was an attempt to explore ways of inhabiting the dark forest beyond my window and talk to the ghosts of the night, to understand their irrational fears, like the dread of the unknown other and so to come closer to accepting the skeletons in my own wardrobe.’

Mieko’s next project ‘I Bloom’, slated for release in early 2020, is a return to Mieko’s now signature avante-garde electronica. Amalgamating haunting melodies with challenging modular-synth-laden landscapes, the record has equal moments of sparsely instrumented beauty and musical entropy, as layers and rhythms clash and collide in polyphony.

In 1993 Mieko arrived in London with her brother (and fellow critically acclaimed musician) Yasuaki Shimizu with a singular goal in mind – to subvert all expectations of her as an artist. A statement of intent, she put out her first record on Chris Cutler (of cult avant-rock group Henry Cow)’s label. In 1998, Mieko broke into the drum’n’bass scene under the moniker of Apache 61, quickly building a name for herself in an underground scene dominated by male contemporaries. DJ Magazine, reviewing one of her shows, said that she was “deconstructing the form so much that the beginning of her set slipped into pure searing, tearing audio art territory.” This press attention saw Mieko sign to Haruomi Hosono’s (Yellow Magic Orchestra) label and led to Mieko remixing a number of YMO tracks in her career.

The turn of the century saw Mieko balance her Apache 61 work with her own brand of electronica, seeing her support the likes of Goldfrapp and in 2008, Massive Attack with Riz MC at Meltdown Festival. She has also worked extensively with dance including scores for contemporary dance company Phoenix Dance Theatre, the Ballet ‘The Red Balloon’ at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre and performing at the London Olympics in 2012.

In every aspect of her career, Mieko has refused to be restrained or placed in a box artistically, and new record I Bloom sees a continuation of that ethos.


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The Naked Sun - Secret We Don't Know.

Philadephia's self-proclaimed "honest rock" band The Naked Sun follows up their 2018 LP War With Shadows with the moody and mysterious new single "Secret We Don't Know." They also announce a new EP titled Avec la Verite', Vous Avez le Droit d'Aimer (With the Truth you Have the Right to Love) out this October.

The Naked Sun is a 6-piece roots-rock band from Philadelphia, PA. After releasing their debut album War With Shadows with the band's most moody sonic palette to date they continue in the spirit of their self-branded style of "honest-rock."

The band will release their latest EP, Avec la Verite', Vous Avez le Droit d'Aimer (With the Truth you Have the Right to Love) - in October  2019. Throughout, they explore love’s darker side - betrayal, heartbreak, secrets, lies and the aftermath.

Songwriter Drew Harris was inspired to write these group of songs after witnessing the relationships of some of his closest friends suffer from the effects of secrets and lies. The second single, "Secret We Both Know," begs the question: What’s a secret if we both know? The EP is an authentic examination of romance and -- as the title suggests--honesty in the age of lies.


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Saturday, 14 September 2019

Sofia Härdig - Hazel Mei - Anna Farrow - B.Knox

Sofia Härdig has shared a new song entitled 'Infatuation'. We've had the pleasure of featuring Sofia a few times since 2016, her feisty and passionate rock always stands out, and with a new album on the way (The Big Hush) it's a welcome return for this energised rocker.

From Hazel Mei we have 'It Is(n't) Real' a highly desirable indie folk song. There is a little hint of jazz and indie rock in the mix which gives the piece some real edge as do the musical hooks.

Franco-Brittanic (that's French-English - but you know that) artist Anna Farrow has just released a video for 'Boys & Girls'. It's a vibrant pop song and charming video, I am guessing the original promo was written in "Franco" and even with a little spell checking by us, it still brings a smile to my face.

B.Knox has a new single 'Corners' which includes the B side 'Stars and Burnt Bridges'. His vocals are just perfect for old time roots music right through to modern Americana, and the musical backdrop really does him justice.
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Sofia Härdig - Infatuation.

Swedish-born multi-instrumentalist and producer Sofia Härdig returns with her latest album ‘THIS BIG HUSH’. With squalling guitars and vivid colours Härdig creates a cinematic vignette delivered through the poet’s eccentric palette of rock & roll, playing and producing the entirety of the album. Sofia brings chugging energy, intense lyricism and a chaotic presence; she’s heading for a higher status amongst rock’s elite, and comments on the moment she met Patti Smith; “We met backstage at her gig in Stockholm and she gave me tickets to her show. We spoke about art, music and what it means to be an artist. She was generally very supportive and attentive; it was a beautiful moment sharing poetry and words.”

Talking about her fourth full-length, Sofia said “I recorded this album with the band in less than three days live in Tambourine Studios in Malmö. The vocals were all done in one day, a lot of them are even kept from the original live take. Part of the process is that my electronic demo making has become so thorough and time-consuming that they have been good enough to be released. Since they are out in the world and out of my system, I can break free and do something different with the band, and not the same thing all over again. We never play the same tempo, same length, they follow me where I lead them… this is THIS BIG HUSH”

With heart-pounding guitar riffs, rock & roll sensibilities and Siouxsie and the Banshees-esque vocals, her latest single ‘Infatuation’ pays homage to post-punk pioneers. Sofia tells us “I built this song on a riff that I really loved, building up a groove and then adding backing vocals and playing percussion with whatever I found lying around in the studio and studio kitchen. I used film reels, a serving bowl from IKEA, egg, yar, a knife and fork, to creating an overall feeling of skating down Sunset Boulevard in a Mohikan with a ghetto blaster on your shoulder”.

Having worked with the likes of Stevie Jackson (Belle & Sebastian), a few members of Free Kitten, Sofia is no stranger to the live circuit and previously shared the stage with many other experimental musicians such as Ikue Mori, Yoshimi of The Boredoms, John Tilbury as well as Swedish Grammy Winners bob hund and The Hellacopters, among others.

At the age of nine, Sofia began playing in bands and shortly started touring, even playing a solo performance in New York’s iconic CBGB’s music club.  Hailed ‘the rocktronica queen of experimental music’ in her native country, Sofia remains truthful to her artistic sound, explaining "I find beauty in flaws and that which is not perfect is what excites me, I love the unusual, the unexpected, untrained and unplanned… I hope my music portrays that in its sound"

New album ‘THIS BIG HUSH’ will be available on all platforms, digital and physical, from the 5th November 2019.

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Hazel Mei - It Is(n't) Real.

Floating down in a breath of fresh air, Hazel Mei's angelic blend of indie folk and alternative shines bright on her new single 'It Is(n't) Real'.

Beautifully eclectic, cozy, and quaint, 'It Is(n't) Real' eases listeners into an introspective depiction of  Hazel's inner struggles. Contrasting the soothing, jazz-tinted underlay, Hazel harnesses a raw expression of vulnerability, lamenting on freeing her mind from the insecurity which affects her ability to admire the beauty of her surroundings.

"The lyrics are written from the hopeful side of myself as I prepared to take on the next chapter with more confidence, whilst romanticising the new relationships and experiences that awaited me," Hazel describes.

It seems Hazel was always destined to become a singer/songwriter; from an early age, she was glued to the piano with The Beatles and Norah Jones for inspiration. Now looking to the likes of Thelma Plum and Gretta Ray, her captivating storytelling is a stunning bi-product,  with the maturity of her sound proving to be particularly stirring considering this is only her second release.

Captivating audiences with complex instrumentals, commanding stage presence and a clearly defined sound, listen to this modern songstress' charming new release.


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Anna Farrow - Boys & Girls.

We can now share the latest music video "Boys and Girls" by the French-English singer Anna Farrow.

"In her ambitious new venture with a pristine repertoire the Franco-Brittanic Anna Farrow cares little for convention.

Her natural approach to this heart felt music allows her to choose not to choose : blending exotic perfumes with swaying rhythms, instinctive jazz/folk, neo nude. Anna is smoothly accompanied by the perfectly synchronised trio. The young lady lavishes in vibrant light for her moving after hours presentation."


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B.Knox - Corners / Stars and Burnt Bridges.

B.Knox didn’t just have a hidden talent; he was a hidden talent, until now. A school teacher, who wrote songs for himself, only in 2019 did he consider a career switch to music.

His first single Deep Dark Love gained international attention with airplay on SiriusXM, CBC Radio, placement on top streaming playlists and future in-store airplay in stores like Starbucks (worldwide). He returns this summer with his new single ‘Corners’, a reflection on life and the choices we make. The B-side, ‘Stars and Burnt Bridges’ continues on the thematic and poetic themes of love, loss, and life.

With his debut album Heartbreak & Landscape, a rootsy, imagistic, alt-country masterpiece set for release later this year— a new Canadian storyteller has emerged.


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B.C.M.R. - Beehive Candy Music Radio.

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Currently streaming 24/7 everywhere with all the music featured on Beehive Candy from the last twelve months and the occasional eclectic oldie!
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Friday, 13 September 2019

Annabel Allum - Wojtek the bear - Frankiie - The Channel - The Switch

Yep we are featuring Annabel Allum again, this time we have the brand new E.P 'Gravel Not The Grave'. We have already featured three songs from the collection and a couple of days ago she added 'Baby Berlin' as another separate release, anyhow it's good to have the full E.P. from this very talented multi-genre artist.

Wojtek the bear have been featured here in the past and today's release 'slow tv' is a splendid and upbeat pop song where the musical arrangement and vocals are oh so refreshing.

Frankiie return for a third time on Beehive Candy with 'Funny Feelings' and once again their mixture of indie dream rock is notable to say the least, this time there are some surf vibes thrown in for good measure and the hooks are everywhere.

We have the new single 'Days Ind' from The Channel a family band where the music might be produced between work and looking after their young ones, however they create some absolutely charming and extremely professional music. 

Norwegian band The Switch have shared the wonderfully titled song 'Spring In The Forest Of Time'. The music is rightly described as sophisticated pop, it's also full of character and more importantly catchy and addictive listening.
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Annabel Allum - Gravel Not The Grave (E.P).

Annabel Allum’s startling development from punk-folk roots to slacker-pop sensation continues to gather pace as she gears up to release her new EP Gravel Not The Grave, out 13th September via cult London label Killing Moon.

Thematically linked all the way through, Annabel uses each song to tell a short story, all linking together to weave a treatise on personal and societal change. She documents the listen as such: "You are immersed in the process of revolutionising one's life. Conceptually it’s about getting up and changing the thing you’re most miserable about, whether that be an unhealthy relationship, political injustice, or addiction."

Swapping shows at local pubs in her hometown six nights a week for acclaimed performances around the world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the rise of the emerging songwriter. Her glaring potential continues to show few boundaries, with the Guildford native’s fierce indie licks scrawled across an expanding punk repertoire of vital, snarling songs that resonate deeply throughout her growing fan base.

Long marked out as one to watch, the swell of praise for Annabel Allum from all corners is resounding. Long-time championed by BBC Radio 1 (Huw Stephens, Jack Saunders), she’s hit the daytime playlist, performed a live session at the iconic Maida Vale studios and featured on their SXSW stage, a festival she’s now taken by storm twice. Other notable shows include a dream-come-true emotional performance at Reading festival, as well as The Great Escape & Live At Leeds.

Tours with Nadine Shah, Alex Lahey and Beth Ditto have been the perfect way to cut her teeth in the presence of esteemed artists, each offering their own sage advice, with several more opportunities lined up this autumn. She’s now passing on her own influence as a growing artist by curating her own Perceptible Festival in Guildford this September.

Press-wise, commendation is significant, key praise coming from FADER, DIY, The Independent, The Line Of Best Fit, Clash and NME, who named the British singer-songwriter as one of their top discoveries at SXSW earlier this year. Beyond music Annabel keeps a well maintained, genuine aesthetic – leading to deals with indie clothing companies Bastien Classics and Cheap Monday. She has also had acoustic tracks included in feature film Spaceship (BFI, BBC).


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Wojtek the bear - slow tv.

Scottish Fiction are delighted to present slow tv, the new single from Glasgow's five-piece wojtek the bear. slow tv is the third of four singles being released by wojtek the bear during 2019, all of which will be collected on a limited edition 12" vinyl, old names for new shapes, in November 2019.

As with their last two singles, slow tv was once again recorded with acclaimed producer Jamie Savage at Chem19 Studios [The Twilight Sad, Miaoux Miaoux, The Phantom Band, RM Hubbert].  With slow tv, wojtek the bear chart a course through upbeat pop melodies, driven by a C86 influenced guitar line and a chorus hook so infectious it should come with a World Health Organisation warning.  In true Scottish fashion however, the uplifting music is juxtaposed with a somewhat morose underbelly.

The song was inspired, as many are, by past relationships, especially those ones where at their close you no longer have any connection to the other person.  Lead singer, and chief songwriter Tam Killean explains, "I guess the track is a rumination on the total opposite ends of the spectrum you can end up at with people you've been in relationships with.  There are people I've been with before who at the time are your entire world, yet now if they got wiped out by the 267 bus to Possilpark, I'd probably only find out about it if it was in the Evening Times the next day."

Accompanied by a gruesomly hilarious video by Scottish artist David Galletly, slow tv will be released digitally on all platforms on today, 13th September 2019 via Scottish Fiction.


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Frankiie - Funny Feelings.

Frankiie is a Vancouver-based indie dream-rock group. With live shows from Mexico City to Haida Gwaii, an east coast tour supporting The Charlatans UK, and recording with Jason Corbett of Jacknife Sound, their journey over the last year has been non-stop.

Ahead of their upcoming album, Forget Your Head (out on 9/20 via Paper Bag Records), the band have shared new single/video "Funny Feelings."

“Funny Feelings" embraces the surf-rock sound the band found through exploring tone and working with new guitars and pedals, as the ominous yet playful track encourages the listener to “feel your intuition.”

It’s lush, full band instrumentation recalls the group’s live show, where each player imbues the group with strength and the joy they find in performance.


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The Channel - Days Ind.

The Channel is excited to announce their new single "Days Ind" and the release of their fourth album, Multi Goods & Services, which was recorded in various band members’ bedrooms, bathrooms, and closets over the course of the last seven years in Austin, Texas.

The band, comprised of three siblings and their spouses, shares songwriting credits between Brent & Colby Pennington (brothers), Heather McAllister (sister), and Heather’s husband, Andy McAllister. Each songwriter and contributor brings their own unique voice to the mix, with influences ranging from the Everly Brothers to Sebadoh.

Music is a passion and not a profession for The Channel, so recording had to be squeezed in between working their day jobs and taking care of the new babies that were born during the album’s making (five in total). This relaxed and leisurely approach gave the members of The Channel a creative escape during one of life’s busiest seasons, while simultaneously creating their most accomplished album to date.

Lead single "Days Ind" is a song Colby wrote 23 years ago about a long night shift all alone, feeling abandoned in multiple ways, but hoping love could fix it all.

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The Switch - Spring In The Forest Of Time.

Following the outfit’s previous bodies of work “We’re Fooling No-One” and the Norwegian Grammy-awarded “The Switch Album”, they return with fifth full-length “Birds of Paradise”. Lead-vocalist Thomas Sagbråten and co-author of the bulk of the album says “We tried to make a musical universe with slightly different laws of nature than real life. A bit less gravitation. The air is thicker. It’s hyper realistic, but also unreal.”

From budding seeds to the overarching themes of this viridescent volume, the septet hones something every-bit stylistically varied, surrealistically inclined and tactile, like a brightly plumaged exotic bird lost in the upper stretches of the northern hemisphere.

With its soft vocals, and casino-style jazz undertones, ‘Spring in the Forest of Time’ isn’t confined to a single genre, with parts that seem to almost incorporate Muzak – that’s ‘elevator music’ in layman’s terms – through it’s odd time-signature and syncopated instrumental and percussion melodies.

The last single before the release of ‘Birds of Paradise’, the band says it’s the most hi-fi record of the album, and lyrically Peter Vollset daubs surreal brushstrokes; “The forest of time is budding now, tiny moments on every branch, they’re waiting to have their moment in the sunshine of your mind.”

Sound technician and repeat The Switch-collaborator Christian Engfelt (Serena Maneesh, Fieh, Band of Gold etc.) decided to make this his most meticulous work with the band yet, blowing by every self-imposed deadline in a year-long on-and-off series of recording sessions which resulted in an extraordinary sounding album; coherent and tight, but with great attention to detail.

The Switch was formed in 2010, made out of members from Oslo’s jazz, indie, artrock and folk scenes. They started out playing pretty regular pop rock, thinking that Norway, and this part of the world in general, produces an overflow of eclectic and hyphenated quality music, so someone had to deal with the basic stuff. The Switch decided to start in the dead centre, the almost generic, and work their way out from there. Slowly but surely the songs got more ambitious, the arrangements followed, the productions value had to step up and so forth.

Their debut album “Big If” (2014) was an eager meditation on psychedelic west-coast pop, the follow-up “B for the Beast” (2015) was an atmospheric prog homage to their hometown of Oslo, “We’re Fooling No One” (also 2015) made forays into the more painterly and improvised corners of the pop and ““The Switch Album” tried to get at the core of “classic pop-rock”: crystal clear sound, deft melodies, precise harmonies, sheer-drop middle eights and get-to-the-point storytelling. It was the band’s most successful album to date, it was included in several album of the year charts in Norwegian newspapers and got them a Spellemann - the Norwegian Grammy equivalent - in the indie category.

The ‘Birds of Paradise’ LP drops 27th September 2019.

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Wednesday, 11 September 2019

Katie Malco - Phonettes - North Mississippi Allstars

Katie Malco has a brand new single entitled 'Creatures' where the singer-songwriter ups the energy levels with this lyrically personal track that nonetheless rocks away with passion.

If algorithms are your thing then Phonettes latest 'Algorithim Love' might appeal mathematically, for the rest of us Daan Hofman just gets on with sharing a tender and vocally beautiful and quite addictive song.

It's an absolute pleasure to share another track from the North Mississippi Allstars this time we have 'Mean Old World' which features Jason Isbell and Duane Betts, on this bluesy and roots fuelled rocker.
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Katie Malco - Creatures.

Rising singer-songwriter Katie Malco shares her brand new single ‘Creatures’, alongside the news that the artist has signed to US label 6131 Records (Julien Baker, Touché Amoré, Self Defense Family). Malco tours from Thursday 12th September, including appearances at The Garage, Islington (with Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould), and new Norwich festival Wild Paths (Jose Gonzales, Skinny Pelembe, Bess Atwell and more).

The lyrics for the track were written at 3am during a week of mild insomnia. “Creatures is about the thoughts that haunt you at night when you’re trying to sleep. When you think about all the things you’re failing at and it feels like no matter what you do you keep losing the game of life” said Malco.

“It’s about being tired, facing adulthood, leaving youth behind. It’s about pretending to hold it together when at night all the ugliness is plastered across all the walls you stare at from your bed.”

Recorded with Andy Jenkin and Stephen Davidson (lead vocalist of Tellison), ‘Creatures’ is the first track to be released by Malco in some years, since her bold collection of live piano-based songs which formed her Tearing Ventricles EP came out on Alcopop! Records. The lauded EP followed on from the self-produced Four Goodbyes and Katie Malco and the Slow Parade, which was recorded in a North London church with Grammy-nominated producer and artist Iain Archer (Snow Patrol, Reindeer Section). The artist appeared again in Christmas 2017 with a one-off single Be Good at Christmas. Malco is yet to release a debut album.

Katie Malco writes music that sits quietly somewhere between an aching, serene sadness and a hopeful determination. She mourns her past and lays it out on the table for all to see, exposed with twitching nerves. Armed with only an old telecaster that's seen better days and her voice, Malco has toured the UK and mainland Europe extensively, including a sold-out run with Tennessee's Julien Baker (Matador), and a sold-out Union Chapel show, as well as supports with Jenny Lewis, Laura Stevenson, This is the Kit, Laura Veirs, Kevin Devine, Tangled Hair, The Front Bottoms, Adam Torres, PAWS, Potty Mouth and more.

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Phonettes - Algorithim Love.

The love mathematics of Phonettes. Phonettes is the project around the songs of Amsterdam based singer-songwriter and film composer Daan Hofman. About two years ago he started writing material from scratch with only an analog synthesizer, two guitars and a computer. He sings, plays all instruments, and wrote and produced all the tracks of the upcoming EP Algorithm Love.

The songs of Phonettes are shaped by minimalistic beats with dreamy vocal choirs, pickin’ guitars and warm analog synth sounds, even flirting with laid back techno, but preserving the song as its beating heart.

Algorithm Love is the title track of the upcoming Phonettes EP. This ballad on romantic love in the age of online dating, floats in an ambient modular choir towards the edges of the dancefloor.

Algorithm Love is released 13 September 2019 on BERT music (a division of TCBYML)

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North Mississippi Allstars - "Mean Old World" (feat. Jason Isbell and Duane Betts).

North Mississippi Allstars are set to return with new album 'Up and Rolling' on 4th October via New West Records. The 12-song set was produced by Luther and Cody Dickinson and recorded at The Zebra Ranch, their family studio established by their father, the legendary Jim Dickinson in Independence, MS.

The album also features guest appearances from Mavis Staples, Jason Isbell, Cedric Burnside, Duane Betts, and Sharde Thomas. 'Up and Rolling' finds North Mississippi Allstars getting back to their roots and recapturing the communal spirit upon which the band was founded.

The band have now shared new album track “Mean Old World” featuring Jason Isbell & Duane Betts. Rolling Stone calls the song, which was once recorded by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman, an “epic guitar jam.” About the song," Luther says, “Our father recorded ‘Mean Old World’ with Duane Allman and Eric Clapton during the Layla sessions.

Jason invited me to record an acoustic, slide guitar duo version. Cody came up with the new arrangement and wanted to record an electric version with Jason and Duane Betts, using ‘Mean Old World’ as a vehicle to lay down an epic statement about modern-day roots rock guitar.”


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Tuesday, 10 September 2019

Adam & Elvis (Premiere) - Steve Hewitt - The Golden Dregs

It's with pleasure for Beehive Candy to premiere the brand new single for Adam & Elvis namely 'Dr Bad Touch'. We've featured the band a few times in the past and it's fascinating to see how their music has developed. With the latest song we have something of a musical extravaganza, the dark humour, the slow pulsating rhythm and the anthem like chorus line all fuse together beautifully, catch them live if you can.

Steve Hewitt shares 'Pieces' a sophisticated modern folk piece which includes the complemetary vocal harmonies from country trio Orfila, add in the charming video and this song does indeed stand out.

The Golden Dregs have released 'Clarksdale MS' as a tatse of what to expect from their soon to be released 'Hope is for the Hopeless' album. The distinctive vocals and refined musical backdrop are splendid on this bluesy and relaxed song.
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Adam & Elvis - Dr Bad Touch.

Released today the latest track from Adam & Elvis is called Dr. Badtouch, which, from the very start, is creaking and itching to escape confinement. The explosive moment comes with sludgy guitar, twisted synthesizers and an irresistible sax line. This makes way for a choral, anthemic hook, giving the song a kind of Jekyll-and-Hyde character. Morbid lyrics are delivered by a gruff but composed voice that gradually loses it over the course of the second verse, along with synthesizers redolent of malfunctioning equipment.

Some playful bass and percussive work lift and drive the song towards its outro, where the euphoric hook and grubby vocal converge. As this dies away, we are left like a torn-trousered, shirtless Bruce Banner tentatively waking up and surveying the rage-induced rubble.

Adam & Elvis have grown in the most literal of senses since the release on their lofi debut album Through Snow And Small Talk, with the addition of Female vocalist Martha and Anna on Saxophone.

Their debut gained them attention from Steve Lamacq of BBC 6 Music playing The Artiste and NuWave Hippie on several occasions and remarking on singer Patrick’s wry lyricism as something deserving more attention. Currently the band are finishing up their second album Pub Grub which sees them embrace
more abrasive elements of post punk and the troubadour stylings of singers like Tony Bennet.

The band’s influences are widespread but apocalyptic humour is a recurring trait in all the acts they admire. Think HMLTD, Richard Hell and Leonard Cohen via Derek and Clive and the short stories of George Saunders.

The band are now a seven piece extravaganza pulsating with relentless energy ensuring that every moment of every performance is spectacle the audience will not forget. Each song has a humble beginning. Brothers Thomas and Patrick meet in the studio where Thomas works as a sound engineer in the dark of night whilst the studio lay ghostly empty. Together they craft sardonic songs. Patrick has a background in literature and Thomas in musical production.

Live Dates:
13th September The Victorian , Dalston
20th September Risc, Reading.


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Steve Hewitt - Pieces.

Acoustic singer-songwriter Steve Hewitt delivers news of his animated music video for 'Pieces' . Taken from his 2019 debut album 'Bigger Than Words (Engineer Records) the song and visual draws inspiration from a well-known children's nursery rhyme.

Featuring guest vocals from UK country trio Orfila, 'Pieces' is the follow up single to the folk-dyed and deeply emotive ballad release 'Healing & Hurt'. With a penchant to create music that transcends genre boundaries, Pieces offers an insight into Hewitt's capable pop-leanings - with earworm melodic hooks, lush vocal harmonies and uplifting chorus lines.

For the Kent (UK) based artist who's songcraft fuses aspects of Alternative Folk, Country, Soul, Pop and Americana - 2019 has been an exciting and progressive year for Steve in introducing his music to a wider audience both in the UK and internationally.  His 'Bigger Than Words' debut album has scored huge support from specialist radio outlets around the world along with positive reviews from numerous online music zines and acclaim from one of the UK's leading country music publications - Maverick Magazine.

As an experienced and captivating live performer, Steve has opened stages for a diverse range of artists including Newton Faulker, TopLoader, Emma Stevens, Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets) and many more and can now add recent appearances at events such as Black Deer Festival to his growing list of achievements. Fans can expect new material in the pipeline soon as Steve has already began penning songs for a new album expected to land next year.


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The Golden Dregs - Clarksdale MS.

Gearing up for the release of sophomore album Hope is for the Hopeless later this month, The Golden Dregs has shared yet more evidence of his finely crafted songwriting in latest cut Clarksdale, MS.

“Clarksdale is a crossroads town in Mississippi, widely regarded as the birthplace of the blues”, explained enigmatic songwriter Benjamin Woods. “I spent some time there 10 years ago. I was travelling the States with a friend, who would go on to become my partner for several years. It was an apt location for all the uncertainty and insecurity that comes with the early stages of a relationship. That said, it captures one of the fondest memories of my life”.

The follow-up to 2018 debut LP Lafayette (released via Art Is Hard Records – previously home to Flamingods, Penelope Isles, The Orielles), Hope is for the Hopeless conveys Woods’ general sense of introspection and reflection with aplomb, none more so than in recent singles Just Another Rock, The Queen of Clubs and newest offering Clarksdale, MS.

Having already earned welcome comparisons to the likes of Lou Reed, Tom Waits and Tindersticks, in addition to widespread critical acclaim (The Line Of Best Fit, Clash, Paste, The 405), the rising musician will be marking his album release with a launch show on 27th September at SET Dalston, London (tickets available here), followed by a nationwide UK tour in November.

Preceded by latest single Clarksdale, MS out 9th September, The Golden Dregs’ Hope is for the Hopeless is released 27th September and will be available via all digital platforms.

Live Dates:
27 Sept – SET Dalston, London
11 Nov – The Crafter’s Rights, Bristol
12 Nov – Fish Factory Art Space, Falmouth
13 Nov – The Cavern, Exeter
15 Nov – Port Mahon, Oxford
18 Nov – The Castle Hotel, Manchester
19 Nov – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds
20 Nov – Mono, Glasgow
21 Nov – Cobalt Studios, Newcastle
22 Nov – St James Wine Vault, Bath (w/ Penelope Isles).


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Monday, 9 September 2019

Merival - Arsun - Catherine MacLellan

We featured Merival a couple of times earlier this year and now we have her new music video for 'Sinner'. The atmospheric and gently melodic song is partnered by an equally inspired film, Merival's singer-songwriter abilities are really something special.

Whats in a voice? Well with Arsun I would suggest a considerable amount, as is witnessed with 'Dead Sixty-Six', where the maturity is a little like oak aged bourbon whisky, Cat Power had better be on top form with this artist as the support act!

Catherine MacLellan returns here for a second time this year, with two natural folk gems entitled 'Come Back In' and 'The Tempest'. They are both from her forthcoming 'Coyote' album due in October, and from what we have heard so far, it's going to be rather special to say the least.
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Merival - Sinner.

Toronto-based singer-songwriter, Merival - the moniker for Anna Horvath - is now sharing the video for her bewitching single, ‘Sinner’, the latest to be taken from the critically acclaimed debut album, Lesson which is out now. The new video arrives in-line with news of Merival’s debut UK dates which are set to take in a stop at Lion + Coffee Records, London on September 15, 2019 - see below for the full run of dates.

Sonically rubbing shoulders with the likes of Adrianne Lenker, Julia Jacklin and Haley Heynderickx, ‘Sinner’, perhaps the album’s most tender track which comes produced by Sam Gleason (Charlotte Cornfield, Omhouse), finds Merival fusing her penchant for tranquil vocals with a soaring orchestral backing. Shot with director, Adrienne McLaren, the video finds Anna drifting through a dreamlike scenario whilst thematically the track touches on a time when Anna felt the all-consuming guilt of falling in love with someone else whilst in a relationship.

“I sobbed and sobbed immediately after writing this song,” says Anna of ‘Sinner’, perhaps the most heartfelt example on the album of Anna’s profound sense of emotion. “I was dating someone, fell in love with someone else, enter all-consuming guilt. As someone who feels things very deeply, I was distraught at having these destructively exciting thoughts of someone else.”

Merival, who has previously collaborated with names including Swim Good Now (Ryan Hemsworth, Teen Daze), Luke Lalonde (Born Ruffians) and Toronto’s DCF, earned a string of domestic support from the likes of CBC Radio and Exclaim! for earlier releases. Lesson will now be supported with a run of UK dates, the first stop in the country for the Canadian artist.

UK Dates:
September 12 – The Eagle Inn, Manchester
September 13 – Heaton Perk, Newcastle
September 14 – Rhôs-on-Sea, Pie Records
September 15 – Lion + Coffee Records, London (w/ Christof van der Ven of Bear’s Den)
September 18 – Sofar Sounds, Cardiff
September 19 – Nosda, Cardiff
September 20 – The Exchange, Bristol.


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Arsun - Dead Sixty-Six.

NYC-based artist Arsun released a video for his new single “Dead Sixty-Six” on Missing Piece Records. With a sound beyond his 20 years, he has been compared him to “a young, less baritoned Iggy Pop.” Next week Arsun will embark on an east coast tour with Cat Power, including a September 22nd show at Webster Hall.

“I’m excited to put this song out right around the time of my East Coast tour with Cat Power,” Arusn says. “My last tour supporting her on the West Coast was an absolute honor. Chan, her band and her crew are the sweetest people and all exceptional at what they do. ‘Dead Sixty-Six’ was a favorite amongst Cat Power’s drummer Alianna and guitarist Adeline. It’s an amazing opportunity to tour with such a legendary band and to learn and grow from playing alongside them.”

Tour Dates With Cat Power:
9/12 - Fort Lauderdale, FL - Revolution Live
9/13 - Tampa, FL - The RITZ Ybor
9/14 - Orlando, FL - The Beacham
9/16 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
9/17 - Charlotte, NC - The Underground at the Fillmore Charlotte
9/18 - Charlottesville, VA - The Jefferson Theater
9/20 - Northampton, MA - Academy of Music Theatre
9/22 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
9/24 - Boston, MA - ROYALE
9/25 - Washington, DC - The Lincoln Theatre
9/27 - Niagara Falls, NY - The Rapids Theatre
9/28 - Ithaca, NY - State Theatre of Ithac


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Catherine MacLellan - Come Back In / The Tempest.

Catherine MacLellan, one of Canadian folk music’s true gems, returns today with another double release from her forthcoming COYOTE LP (set for release on October 11). The self-produced release is a travelogue through heartbreak, loss and the joy of life.

Some thoughts from Catherine on the new singles: Sometimes it can take a while to notice your relationship is falling apart. It can take a lot of effort to bring it back, but that can only work if both of you are actively trying to come back to centre. I "Come On In" long before the relationship was over, and when I still had hope for it. The winter PEI landscape is the perfect, haunted setting for longing and the sense of loss. For the video, I love the idea of using archived footage to evoke a sense of nostalgia, at the same time, a feeling of time moving on. Ultimately, it is a breakup song and breakups often trigger cherished memories.

"The Tempest" was based off an old Irish traditional tune. I had been learning it on the guitar for years and one day the words and melody came out with it. In the literal sense, it is a song about being out at sea, adrift and far from shore hoping the storm will pass and you’ll get home. For me, it’s a tribute to the countless fishermen who have been lost to the ocean while trying to make their living.


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Sunday, 8 September 2019

The Rightly So - Tuvaband - Ora The Molecule - Marinho

The Rightly So have just released 'Vandura' an album comprising of eleven songs where the duo explore a variety of folk and Americana styles. It's a refreshing collection of material, your never quite sure where the next track will take you, be assured this really is a refined and captivating collection of songs, a must for modern folk and all things Americana fans.

From Tuvaband we have a new music video for 'I Entered The Void'. The song is highly creative and I would suggest quite mesmerising. The cinematic video complements the piece and Tuva Hellum Marschhäuseris is most definitely on our one to watch out for radar.

Ora The Molecule have shared 'When Earth Took A Breath' accompanied by a fascinating video that works so well with this majestic alt pop song.

If you fancy going for a night drive then Marinho has a music video for 'Freckles' that's also just for you. Actually it's well matched to the songs lyrics and her folk rock style is highly notable.
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The Rightly So - Vandura (album).

Buffalo NY-based Americana/Folk duo The Rightly So have just released their brand new album "Vandura". Not a pair to stay on the couch, The Rightly So have been touring relentlessly, living on the road, and in fact, that lifestyle and new perspective has become inspiration for this new release.

"We've spent the last year and a half living out of our homemade RV built inside an old Verizon work truck, traveling over 40,000 miles and playing shows in over 20 states. "Vandura" is the culmination of 18 months of adventures, a collection of stories we've watched unfold and all of the places we've been. Living on the road has given us an entirely new perspective that has permeated this album to its core. It's a layered look into the many facets of what it's like to travel the back roads of America in an old van for a living, and our love for this new lifestyle that we've embraced is a constant theme."

Born in the heart of the Buffalo rust belt, The Rightly So brings a vibrant energy to Americana music. The young acoustic duo is comprised of esteemed guitarist and performer Gregory Zeis, and award-winning singer/songwriter Jess Chizuk. Likened to The Milk Carton Kids and The Secret Sisters, The Rightly So has developed a unique style of captivating acoustic music carried by perfectly blended harmonies by voices that have been described as “electric and deeply in tune.”

Combined, Jess and Greg have nearly 20 years of performing experience while still in their early 20's themselves. The duo has played 100+ shows each year for the last 4 years and orchestrated three nationwide tours. They have performed with Howie Day, Phoebe Hunt & The Gatherers, Sean Patrick McGraw, Dylan Jakobsen, and Davina and the Vagabonds, and have been featured in The Huffington Post, No Depression Magazine, and NPR affiliates in Amarillo (TX) and Grand Junction (CO). The Rightly So’s music combines the nostalgia of classic, down-home Americana with the sounds of contemporary folk. Their self-titled album provides an honest look into what a live performance from this duo is like; two guitars, two voices and a batch of well-crafted songs, full of vibrant energy and chemistry without losing any musical integrity. Their tasteful guitar riffs, singable melodies and storytelling lyrics have won them a number of accolades and awards alike.

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Tuvaband - I Entered The Void.

Tuvaband is the work of Norwegian artist Tuva Hellum Marschhäuser. Tuva has a rare knack for capturing a strange magic in her songs, delicate compositions that range from delicate, piano-led folk to softly-soaring, post-rock that wraps the listener up in its own special atmosphere, held spellbound by the sounds swirling around her captivating, feather-light vocal.

‘I Entered The Void’ is a perfect introduction to both Tuvaband’s strange blend of magic, but also to the themes and tones found specifically within the forthcoming album of the same name. The single is gorgeously decorated with its instruments, its synth-line descending like rainfall and paired with choppy guitar waves, that musical beauty builds a world for Tuva’s vocal character to inhabit. In the verses, she’s a little restrained, singing under the weight of the feelings she’s carrying, rolling from barbed lyrics “her guts leaked, I was the retainer”, to aggressive then to wounded, before the chorus soars up through the song, and provides the release, the escape of falling into the Void. As Tuva expands:

“‘I Entered The Void’ is about realizing that you feel like an overflowing container of the emotions of others. And then what it feels like when the container suddenly becomes empty. It’s a song about getting lost in a void. This song was the first song I wrote for this album.” Tuvaband’s forthcoming long-player I Entered The Void follows their critically acclaimed debut album Soft Drop (2018, Brilliance Records) which garnered acclaim both in Tuva’s homeland of Norway and internationally, with Tuvaband being named ‘Ones to Watch’ twice by The Guardian, and the band’s SXSW Austin showcase of the same year garnering a flurry of attention from the likes of Brooklyn Vegan and IMPOSE.

I Entered The Void is a slight departure from Tuvaband’s previous style, inspired in part by Tuva’s personal life after a relocation to Berlin. Sonically the new record moves away from the deliberate minimalism of its predecessor Soft Drop with I Entered The Void offering a weightier and fuller sound. It was recorded with Tuvaband’s current live band to add more muscle, and it was a change in Tuvaband’s live sound that inspired the shift of style in the recorded work, as Tuva explains:

“I wanted a more distorted sound, and live, my band and I really tried to push the boundaries from my released music by moving from stripped down and vulnerable, to trying to sound like a punk/rock band. I felt like we were able to sound really rough and tough in parts of our sets. I really wanted people to hear this new side of the project, so there was no doubt I wanted this live version to be on my new album”. Elsewhere on the album, in its title and much of its lyrical themes, there is a much more introspective influence, with the record inspired by Tuva’s experience of newly moving to Berlin, as she expands:

“After a few months in Berlin, I was in this space I called ‘The Void’, a place between old and new. Like a waiting room. The album is about the reflections, thoughts and feelings that can appear in an empty space - a void - a break - with a distance from my earlier life, relations and society.”


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Ora The Molecule - When Earth Took A Breath.

‘When Earth Took A Breath (Are You There?)’ is the mesmerising alt-pop cut from Ora the Molecule, following global dance anthem ‘Salé’. Mixed by Erin Tonkon (David Bowie, PIXX) and underlined by bubbling synthesizers, ‘When Earth Took A Breath’ builds to a moving crescendo of guitar and crashing drums, somewhere between Cocteau Twins and Beach House.

Written as a stream of consciousness, the track is rooted in vocalist Nora’s recurring childhood dream of a ghost chasing her: “One night I realised that it was a dream, so I turned around and spoke to the ghost. He then disappeared, I woke up and I never had the dream again, as if confronting him broke the illusion, and that he could only exist as long as I feared him.”

Ora the Molecule translated this dream into civilisation’s relationship with nature. When misunderstood, it’s seen as fearfully omnipresent and powerful, disturbing our “need to learn to live in harmony with it.” The video parallels the sonic vastness of the track. Directed by Lambert Grand it’s a cinematic film following the journey of twins escaping imprisonment from something unknown, drenched with lush visuals.

Grand describes the methods that create this vibrancy: "I shot this video using what’s called a Full Spectrum Camera, and I used a specific filter that is able to see a certain type of infrared. The result is what you saw: everything that highly reflects infrared like plants appear red. What makes this project great is that so far no film or music video have been done using this technology and filter.”

Ora the Molecule are united by a mutual love of dance music, all three of them DJing italo, electronica and techno. These electronic sounds are blended with the 80s influences of Kraftwerk and Suzanne Vega, the result is their own unique strain of alt-pop.

With roots in Norway, Germany and Slovakia, they formed by chance in LA, consisting of vocalist Nora (who was searching for her estranged father at the time), drummer Sju and synth player Jan. They now record their distinctive dance-pop between the English countryside and the Andalusian mountains.


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Marinho - Freckles.

Portuguese alternative folk-rock artist, Marinho, has released her latest single, “Freckles,” in anticipation of her debut LP, ~ (read tilde), to be released October 18th on Street Mission Records. “‘Freckles’ was the most difficult track [on the album] to put together in the studio and it was also the most rewarding one to record,” Marinho says. “It was born out of the bass riff that had been stuck in my head for years. It’s also a very personal song about growing up at the hands of people not mature enough to raise kids, working out childhood traumas and lack of acceptance, feeling emotionally faulted or bankrupt. I'm particularly vulnerable and exposed at the end of the song when I say, ‘Dad pushes everyone away, Mom pulled away from everyone, And life is like a tilde sign with ups and downs, not a straight line.’”

Born in Lisbon and raised in front of the TV, Filipa Marinho had plenty of early exposure to American cartoons and mid-90's movies, as well as a growing intimacy with Hollywood’s views on love, relationships, and overall human nature. Now, as a young adult using her last name as her moniker, she tries to come to terms with what lies between overly romanticized expectations and real non-sitcom life. Resolutions come in the form of the songs which she has written and assembled over the years which make up ~.

Recorded at Black Sheep Studios and mastered by Philip Shaw Bova (Father John Misty, Marlon Williams, Feist, Andy Shauf), ~ is constructed from the simplicity of the roots of American folk music, with lush, cinematic tinges. The first single, “Ghost Notes,” made a splash on major Portuguese radio stations as well as Spotify and Apple Music playlists such as “Fresh Finds: Six Strings” and “New Music Friday,” and “Breaking Alternative,” respectively. The momentum continued to build with the release of “Window Pain,” which premiered on VICE Portugal, and Marinho spent the spring and summer touring in anticipation of the album.

Marinho will be dropping more singles and videos throughout the fall of 2019, surrounding the release of ~ on October 18th.


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Greta Gaines - Pharmacists - Nelson Bragg

Photo - Stacie Huckeba Greta Gaines - Coming to Fruition. Greta Gaines is excited to announce the August 29th release of her new album. Bird...