Pale Lady - Ben Wood & The Bad Ideas - Final Fiasco

We recommend following Beehive Candy on Twitter @perfectradio1 as we notify there immediately a new post has been uploaded. As mentioned in our last feature....

We are going to be making some changes this year, the first of which is this. Our policy is to only feature new music we really like (& often love). Regulars here will probably take that as a given. So by being featured on Beehive Candy that is our endorsement and recommendation.

To keep this site going we are no longer going to comment on each song, we will just use any promotional material provided to give some background. We will also no longer do any additional research.

We no longer have any income streams and everything is done in our spare time, so these changes are essential. Let's just allow the music to do the talking (or singing)!

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Pale Lady - Lost and Found.

Coming to us from Wellington, New Zealand, alternative pop rock quartet Pale Lady have started 2021 off right - with an energized new single and accompanying music video entitled "Lost and Found". Uptempo and brimming with melody, the new song and visual put on display the band's fun energy and sense of humor.

Musician Names/Instruments:
Conall Ryan - bass/lead vocals
Jack Taylor - Lead guitar/cowbell
Sam Minot - lead guitar/backing vocals
Sam Higham - drums/keyboards/backing vocals

Soon to be the first band to play on the moon, Pale Lady brings you a fresh blend of energy, smiles, and angst to create some Alt Pop-Rock goodness. Since forming in late 2016, Pale Lady has gone on to win the New Zealand national Battle of the Bands competition with two members also winning best guitarist. 

They have opened for international legends such as The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Haken, released five singles and an EP with critical acclaim, and have recently returned from an international tour of Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Watching these rock fanatics live, you can expect to be immersed in lush vocal harmonies, a one-man drums/keyboard combo, inappropriate bass licks, and guitar solos a plenty. With new music and projects in the works, Pale Lady will be on the moon before you can say 'logistics'.

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Ben Wood & The Bad Ideas - Soho.

Whilst starting out as a performer in London and a busker on the London Underground, Ben Wood was offered the unique opportunity to contribute to an X-Ray spex charity album in the US - one of only two UK bands who were offered the privilege. 

Ben had to find a band and put a track together and send it over in 48 hours. Amazingly, he pulled it all together and formed his band, Ben Wood and The Bad Ideas from the experience: the name was a reference to his trepidation about the previous situation. They went on to play many stages: Prince Charles’ Garden Party, the Yes To Life Festival and release their compilation track, Obsessed with You as their debut single. The band’s 2018 release “The Reveal” featured Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Attractions) on bass.

In 2020 the band released a single every month for an entire year. The singles have guest spots from legendary musicians such as Dave Barbarossa of Adam and the Ants/Bow Wow Wow, Billy Ritchie of 60s Prog pioneers 1-2-3/Clouds (Ritchie famously introduced a young David Bowie to Jimi Hendrix) and even a very special guest feature from Paul Cook The Sex Pistols/The Professionals. LA based musician Nick Maybury (Juliette & The Licks/Scott Weiland & The Wildabouts) and Mike Webster of Asylums also featured on guitar. 

The quartet have been enjoying heavy radio play stateside. All of the band’s monthly singles including their new release, “Soho”, have been spun by legendary Los Angeles DJ, Rodney Bingenheimer on 'The Rodney Bingenheimer Show.’ They have also featured on the 'Radio Indie Alliance' chart alongside the likes of Greenday and received airings on Planet Rock Radio and the BBC.
 

Ben Wood & The Bad Ideas’ brand new single “Soho” is available now on all digital platforms.

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Final Fiasco - Hearts On Fire.

We are Final Fiasco an Indie Electropop musical project with Alternative influences, waiting to be discovered by you.

Our main objective is to think outside the box and create music that breaks the traditional musical boundaries, bringing together numerous musical styles, potentially bringing about something that was never heard before.

It all started in the summer of 2017 with Andi Calin's (the band's voice), vision that wanted to bring something new to Romania's musical industry. His dream couldn't get close to reality without the help of drummer Andrei Baciu, and all other people supporting his work and ideas.

Starting in February 2019 with the first single "Save Ourselves", Final Fiasco began releasing music on all public platforms (Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes and many others), preparing for the April 2020 release of their first EP entitled "Unlived Dream".

Besides the fact that we are a team that always goes for gold, we are also good friends who help each other and put fun in the first place, mostly during our jam sessions and rehearsals.

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Keegan Chambers - atmig - Terah Lynn - Kev Gray & The Gravy Train feat Elise Palmer

We are back with a catch up on some recent songs that came our way during our break.

We are going to be making some changes this year, the first of which is this. Our policy is to only feature new music we really like (& often love). Regulars here will probably take that as a given. So by being featured on Beehive Candy that is our endorsement and recommendation. 

To keep this site going we are no longer going to comment on each song, we will just use any promotional material provided to give some background. We will also no longer do any additional research. 

We no longer have any income streams and everything is done in our spare time, so these changes are essential. Let's just allow the music to do the talking (or singing)!

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Keegan Chambers - Not Waiting.

Keegan Chambers’ latest release looks and sounds like it could be the intro to your new favourite HBO series. The alternative pop rock song, titled Not Waiting, was originally written as a ballad. Finding herself at an emotional crossroads, Keegan wrote the song as an exercise in psyching herself up to lay her heart on the line and get some answers, once and for all. Once producer, Daniel Tsourounis, got involved, however, the track took an unexpected turn - which they both agree, was for the better.

They recorded and produced the song during quarantine and the video was shot shortly after phase three opened up, here in Toronto. In an effort to keep the crew small, Keegan took on the roles of hair, makeup, costume, and set design, not to mention fog wafter. Despite the small cast and crew, they wrapped with 15 minutes to spare, having shot more than enough footage to satisfy director, DanielDuguay and editor, Corey Stanton.

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atmig - Ah Hah.

“Ah Hah” was created by remote collaboration during the pandemic lockdown, focusing on the exploitative nature of business and its consequences.

ATMIG is an indie-folk-rock male/female co-fronted band based in Detroit, Michigan.  We have the honor of being the first non-TMR artist to have its vinyl pressed as Third Man Pressing in Detroit, Michigan.

ATMIG, which stands for "After the Money is Gone," is a band from Detroit Michigan.  ATMIG is Tobias (vocals/guitar), Julia (vocals), Phil (bass/cello/keys/octave mandolin), Dan (guitar), Jamie (drums) and Emily (violin). ATMIG released its first single "Trip" on April 22, 2017, on a vinyl 7 inch.  ATMIG's first album "Wishes" was released on January 19, 2019.  Both albums were pressed by Jack White's Third Man Pressing and recorded at Soundscape Studios in Royal Oak, Michigan.  The music video for Trip, brought to you by Gravity Red Productions, premiered worldwide on 04.20.2017.

ATMIG's music is loud, soft, raw, produced, and heartfelt.  The band would argue ATMIG's sound is cohesive, notwithstanding sometimes sounding like traditional folk, indie-rock, shoegaze, and even a tid-bit rockabilly.  To hear ATMIG, listen to ATMIG's music or come to a show.  If you go to an ATMIG show, ATMIG will be there.

atmig · Ah Hah

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Terah Lynn - Enough.

Terah Lynn hails from the Appalachia. Whether leaning towards country or blues, this 6 foot tall ex-construction worker delivers heartfelt lyrics with a unique, gritty voice.

Terah Lynn re-connects with her country roots in her new single, 'Enough'. The new track is an ode to self worth and being seen, a profession of love and some banjo to boot.

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Kev Gray & The Gravy Train - 2020 Love Song (feat. Elise Palmer).

Kev Gray & The Gravy Train are an alternative pop rock band formed in Tokyo in November 2008, with members from America, Canada, England and Japan. 

After being chosen as a feature band in the government-sponsored, UK-Japan Year 2008, the group achieved mixed success on the Japanese music scene, after signing to Hemlock Music and twice winning the national music award, Gaijin Sounds.

2020 Love Song. Basic theme is a couple separated by lockdown struggling to stay together in 2020. Guess the general message is... Don't give up.. It is duet, between Kev Gray from Tokyo and sweet-voiced Londoner Elise Palmer. Other musicians are from South Africa, Ukraine, Israel , Germany, and Spain. A real lock down story, recorded globally via the internet.

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Were Taking A Break

Its time for a break. How long? Not Sure. It's just time to put our feet up, relax and stop checking our inbox! 

 

In the meantime have some splendid music from Pomplamoose who have released these fine songs and videos in recent times.

Carter Sampson - Jarrod Dickenson - Rama Lama Records 2020

Continental Record Services have shared a few songs this week and we have chosen a couple starting with Carter Sampson and 'There's Always Next Year'. Lyrically timely and poignant, it's also one very fine, melodic and engaging Americana track ===== Secondly we have Jarrod Dickenson and his beautiful cover version of the George Harrison song 'I Live For You'. Packed with natural feeling this is a refined piece which takes the song into a more Americana dimension. ===== For a second year we have a compilation from Rama Lama Records where many of the artists have been featured by us over the past twelve months, such is the quality of the music and artists the Stockholm label manages to work with.

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Carter Sampson - There's Always Next Year.

Continental Record Services write - On the brink of a new year, we hope to please you with some releases that also surprised us. Covid/Corona Quarantines, however much we dislike them, seem to be good for creative processes. 

So here are some singles that may bring you a bit of joy and light in these dark days..........

As Carter Sampson says herself: "Surprise! I hadn't planned on releasing any new music yet but I wrote you a song and think it's better off heard now. My new single now available anywhere you listen and download music! 

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Jarrod Dickenson - I Live For You (George Harrison Cover).

And here is another cover for you, officially available on all streaming services now. Jarrod Dickenson pays tribute to George Harrison.

" 2020 marks 50 years since the release of George Harrison's landmark album, 'All Things Must Pass'. To pay tribute to Harrison and that fantastic record, here is a cover of the song "I Live For You", which was originally recorded during the 'All Things Must Pass' sessions, but was left off the initial track listing. 

The song was finally released on the 30th anniversary of the album's release, and has been a favorite of mine ever since."

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Rama Lama Records 2020 - Various Artists.

Rama Lama Records proudly presents "Rama Lama Records 2020", a compilation of the best music we put out during the notoriously bad year 2020. The album gathers nineteen tracks from Cat Princess, Chez Ali, Guds Pengar, Gula Blend, Kindsight, Kluster B, Lilla Parasit, Loaver, Melby och Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes.

2020 didn't exactly go according to plan. We could be negative and nag about the fact that we've never put on as few live gigs as we did this year, but at the same time we've never released this much music. Music that has helped us not give up during these "strange times".

During 2020, we've had interesting debuts from Kindsight and Gula Blend mixed with follow-ups by Kluster B and Melby, the great return of Chez Ali and debut albums from Lilla Parasit, Guds Pengar, Loaver and Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes. What stands out to us this year is the great and eclectic mix these wonderful acts form when they come together, and we're so glad and proud to have released them all. We hope this compilation can work both as an introduction for the curious and a reminder for the great people who continue to follow and support our little label.

Rama Lama Records 2020 is available on all digital platforms and as a free download on Bandcamp. In 2021, we turn five and we plan to celebrate it a lot, stay tuned!

Rama Lama Records · Rama Lama Records 2020

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Another Sky - Bitter Defeat

Another Sky have just shared their latest single 'Was I Unkind?' along with a video of them performing with London Contemporary Voices. We have added a second video which features two extra songs 'Tree' and 'Avalanche’ again with London Contemporary Voices. This is our fourth feature for this exceptional band this year and these superb versions of their music really are something quite special and an absolute pleasure to share. ===== Bitter Defeat are a New Zealand based band and their brand new single 'Better' is a distinctive indie rock song. Gritty and packing some gorgeous hooks, this quickly becomes "sing along" music, and needless to say pretty much a certainty for a good few more listens. 

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Another Sky - Was I Unkind? / Another Sky with London Contemporary Voices

Another Sky releases “Was I Unkind?” taken from 'Music For Winter Vol. 1 EP' out January 1st via Missing Piece Records / Fiction. On the first day of 2021, Another Sky will release their latest body of work, an EP entitled Music For Winter Vol. I. The EP follows their debut full-length I Slept on The Floor, released earlier this year via Fiction / Missing Piece Records. Yesterday, the band released the EP’s third single "Was I Unkind?", following the recently released "It Keeps Coming" and "Sun Seeker". Alongside the studio version of  “Was I Unkind?,” the London-based four piece have also released two very special live performance videos, recorded with London Contemporary Voices at London’s Union Chapel in 2019. The first being a live version of “Was I Unkind?,” and the second a medley of “Was I Unkind?,” “Tree,” and “Avalanche.”

“We wanted to release a song to celebrate Winter Solstice, a significant time of year in many cultures,” Catrin Vincent, vocalist and lyricist of Another Sky says of the new single. “‘Was I Unkind?’ was written about the time I accidentally killed my favourite plant. The plant became symbolic of how I treated myself. I realised I was as trapped in the world as the plant was, at the mercy of myself. Winter Solstice is a time of death and rebirth.”

"Winter is the perfect time for sombre music," she continues. On how the project came together, Catrin explains, "some songs are old, some are new, all are entirely collaborative. After being kept apart because of the lockdown and writing a bunch of our second album separately, we just wanted to get back into our studio and record." The entire EP was recorded, produced and mixed by the band themselves at their South London studio, The Lighthouse, in October 2020.

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Bitter Defeat - Better.

Kirikiriroa Hamilton (Aotearoa New Zealand) based indie-rock band Bitter Defeat today released their third single ‘Better’. One of several tracks recorded at Hamilton’s The Porch Studio (by long-time The Datsuns sound engineer and collaborator Scott Newth), ‘Better’ is the third release from the five-piece, who list the likes of The Wedding Present, Guided By Voices, The Clean, Galaxie 500 and Pavement amongst their influences.
 

"‘Better’ is a happy song about crappy things ending" said Rob Shirlow the songs writer. "More specifically relationships and things in your life that are totally toxic but for some reason you don’t see it or don’t want to see it, or just can’t imagine that this thing which you think you really love or is important to you is actually really bad for you and messing you up and then it ends. The joy that comes from being released from such awful situations can be quite immense, and that’s what this song is about, really. It’s not about one specific relationship, more a theme of past experiences, some work situations of the past, social groups or ‘friends’ you realise were just truly awful things in your life...when they end, the big breathe out and ‘Oh my god what was I thinking!?’ moments.” Shirlow goes on to say “Musically it starts off a bit Britpop of all things, but I like to think we channel The Clash once it gets going. It’s a favourite to play live and is cathartic to sing and just let it all go!”
 

The band also recorded and starred in their second music video. “We worked with a friend of ours again, Kat Waswo, (WAZKAT Productions), in Hamilton one sunny afternoon in early summer. She did an amazing job. We had a bit more of an idea about what we wanted for this, and it’s basically us having a big old mess around outdoors, being very happy and doing mildly odd things for middle aged people. We considered a narrative of someone coming out of a troubled relationship and then being happy, but decided to focus on the ‘being happy’ element of the song, so that’s what you see. We don’t take ourselves particularly seriously, not that the subject matter isn’t serious or from the heart, but portraying that on screen is a different thing altogether. We’re very happy with the result and are grateful for all of Kat’s mahi with the video”

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Rob Kovaks - Dr Schwamp

Rob Kovaks first appeared here just a month ago and left a fine impression with his song 'Here in the Future' . He has followed that up with 'Fizzle' and it's another refined song that showcases both his excellent piano skills and vocals and reinforces Rob's high quality song writing ability. ===== Dr Schwamp has a new album entitled 'Tunes, Tall Tales & Tinctures' from which we have 'Dr Schwamp's Brand New Cure-All Tonic'. Despite the clear overtones of Dr John, this is a thoroughly good eleven track album, with plenty of originality throughout.  

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Rob Kovaks - Fizzle.

With the release of the new single, “Fizzle,” indie-rock singer-songwriter and pianist Rob Kovacs has announced his debut solo album, Let Go, to be released February 18, 2021.

Named “Best Pianist/Keyboardist” by the Cleveland Free Times, Kovacs has been widely hailed for his shape-shifting musical experimentalism, spanning history-making classical feats and audacious recreations of videogame soundtracks to crafting mesmerizing indie rock both as bandleader and now, at long last, solo artist. Kovacs has invested more than a decade in the creation of his debut solo album, a brave and bittersweet song cycle written in the years following an intensely impactful romantic relationship and then recorded over an even longer span. The album tells the story of one relationship, in chronological order. “The songs are about love, longing, loss, desire, confusion, acceptance, pain, the struggle to let go – all that fun stuff,” he states.

“Fizzle” is not only the first song on the album but also the first one written. “It was a rare case where I wrote the melody a cappella first (rather than coming up with piano part first). The melody came to me on the drive home after the first time hanging out with the girl who would ultimately inspire the whole album. I often write a song because I come upon a musical idea that catches my attention. Writing music helps to express a feeling that I may otherwise struggle to express. Through this song, I try to convey the feeling of connecting and falling for someone combined with the anxiety about that feeling and the understanding that, for whatever reason, you can’t be with that person.” 

Rob Kovacs · Fizzle

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Dr Schwamp - Dr Schwamp's Brand New Cure-All Tonic.

Dr Schwamp and his ensemble extravaganza release musically invigorating album 'Tunes, Tall Tales & Tinctures', and single 'Cure All Tonic'

Dr Schwamp and his ensemble extravaganza have today released ‘Tunes, Tall Tales & Tinctures’, a mind contorting, sense disorientating and musically invigorating 11-track album, spinning the precarious line between restraint and excess, the ordinary and the extraordinary, betwixt Heaven and Hell… with the wondrous, magnificent and all-curing video for ‘Cure All Tonic’.

For the mysterious, peripatetic Dr Schwamp, every performance is a walk-in surgery, at which he and his highly trained acolytes serve up a thrilling "Cure-All Tonic" involving a secret recipe of blues, funk, gypsy, folk and swing all delivered with poetry, precision and power. 

Dr Schwamp will enthrall you with his combo of gritty vocals, witty lyrics and dizzying facility on violin, blues harp and BAGPIPES! (We kid you not). While his highly skilled team of sonic surgeons perform complicated operations involving finely tuned instruments and fleet-fingered frettings, the album takes you on a sonic journey, uplifting and energetic, and is one to be enjoyed in full.

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Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz - JEWLS

Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz have shared a beautiful Americana song entitled 'Careful Now My Son'. The impassioned vocals cry out for attention and the slow rhythmic musical arrangement just adds to the emotion and feeling this track conveys. ===== JEWLS debut song 'Take It' is a heartfelt and touching piece. Her natural and refined vocals are immersed in a gentle soundscape that seemingly dances around her singing, adding more depth to this gorgeous piece.

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Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz - Careful Now My Son.

"Careful Now My Son" is the first song of the collection Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz have named "music in the time of coronavirus."  Eric decided to have three separate releases for this collection so that each release would be more consistent style-wise.

Everything done for this collection--from songwriting to recording to mastering--was done remotely during shelter in place (Eric in NorCal; Mark and Mike in SoCal).  Most of the songs were inspired by the isolation, anxiety, and cultural upheaval of the pandemic year of 2020.

"Careful Now My Son" is the only song that was done in a truly Americana style, so they've decided to release it as a single. They also thought that its foreboding feel and lyrics worked well to represent how we were feeling during this pandemic--so it would make a good kick-off song.

From the Artist:The song is about both the pandemic and the authoritarian and cultish politics of Trumpism. We were deeply afraid of both infectious diseases during 2020 and as 2021 gets going.  With regard to Trumpism, "Careful Now My Son" can be understood as an Americana companion song to our song, "Wounded Son"on our 2019 album, Ghosts To Ancestors. 

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JEWLS - Take It.

JEWLS released her debut single 'Take It' an alternative pop gem that takes you higher.

JEWLS is a melancholic pop alternative to hold on to. With her debut single 'Take It' she shows her mixture of a husky, sensitive, sometimes even moody voice and heartbreaking honest lyrics. JEWLS her music is predestined to go under the skin. For her, writing and composing music is a way to express what’s underneath. The release comes with a self-directed music video:

JEWLS: Will is lost. The cold has returned. Hearing footsteps above and the rain outside. Blue pretends to be my colour now.  Moments of the past rushing back, cloaked in ice. Everything seems to be a reminder and silence has never been so loud.

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Myths - Big Little Lions

Myths just shared 'When You Go Where You Go When You Die' and it's a catchy, melodic and gorgeous psychedelic song with timeless pop sensibilities and yet still manages to retain a fresh and modern feel. ===== Big Little Lions have also just released a new single entitled 'Turn It Off'. Mixing folk and high class pop the song has refined dual vocals and harmonies and a whole load of musical hooks running throughout this refreshing track.

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Myths - When You Go Where You Go When You Die.

“When You Go Where You Go When You Die” is the latest offering from Australian psychedelic pop band Myths. The song comes as the first single from their
upcoming second LP “The Art of Pretending” – a project over two years in the making, and due for release in 2021. The track is a playful ode to the macabre and surreal experience of trying to reconcile everyday life with unexpected bouts of nihilism. Much like their previous releases “When You Go Where You Go When You Die” is entirely self produced by the band’s songwriters Mike Nutt & Jamie Turner and was recorded throughout the last year in various makeshift home studios.

The track was mixed by Sydney-based producer and musician Jack Mo ffitt (The Preatures, I Know Leopard) who the band is currently working with to put the finishing touches on their new album.

Myths formed in 2017 and are based in Perth, Western Australia. Their music is best described as neo-psychedelia, taking inspiration from the styles and sounds of the 60s and 70s, and merging them with a modern approach to sound design. This comes to the forefront in their new single, opening with an 8-bit collage of old video game death sounds before layers of vintage synthesizers, sitars and more take over. In 2018 the band released their self-produced debut album “Paradigm”, and work on a follow-up has been underway almost immediately.

MYTHS · When You Go Where You Go When You Die

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Big Little Lions - Turn It Off.

Big Little Lions have been described as ‘a blissful marriage of new folk and
sophisticated pop’. Prolific songwriting, infectious folk-pop style, and an
offbeat, memorable live show. This award winning duo consists of Helen Austin and Paul Otten who, despite living thousands of miles apart, have found a way to connect and create music together. Despite being in two different countries, they have found common ground to share their message.

Call it destiny, or call it fate, call it a necessary progression for these modern times. Helen lives in British Columbia, Canada and Paul lives in Cincinnati, OH. But the distance provides the necessity to create in a new way. Using technology as their ally and their differences as their strength.

Their monthly single releases are their way of getting through this pandemic
while all the usual album cycle release plans don’t make sense anymore. Their
music is jam-packed with emotion and tight harmonies, the sound of two
people working side-by-side.

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Villages - KodiakArcade - Paper Tapes

Villages recently shared a video for their beautiful song 'Poetry In Motion'. The bands indie folk music has a fresh and pristine feel to it along with some mature pop sensibilities, add in the melodic arrangement and fabulous vocals and this is one special song.  ===== KodiakArcade new single 'Silicon Hill' is a fabulous synth driven instrumental track, where the huge array of musical sounds intertwine and create a mesmerizing piece and at two and a half minutes duration leaves me wanting more. ===== Yesterday Paper Tapes released a video for the song 'You And I' which is taken from the E.P 'Homecoming' that was released in October. Fresh, catchy and with gently delivered vocals, the soundtrack is quite addictive and with the new visuals this is a fine recommendation to check out the E.P if like me you have not done so yet.

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Villages - Poetry In Motion.

Having had their praises internationally sung for their self-titled full-length debut album in 2019, the four members of Villages continue to keep the spirit of their home province, Nova Scotia, in their thoughts, whilst letting their minds escape to their fantasies.

Comprised of Matt Ellis, Travis Ellis, Jon Pearo and Archie Rankin; the quartet have managed to spark a genre-bending sound of indie-folk and experimental pop; standing tall with the likes of Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes and Band of Horses. Taken from their recently released EP ‘Upon the Horizon’, new single ‘Poetry in Motion’ delivers a flavour of the bands next full-length album due in 2021.

Directed by Mel Stone, the new live visuals see’s the band gather together; delivering a hopeful message that things will get better. With the ongoing pandemic restrictions, it’s an outlook that we all need to hear from time to time, especially the live industry.

Mixed by American Indie rock legend Phil Ek, their recently released EP ‘Upon the Horizon’ was written aimed to transcend the sense of isolation and dread that we have all faced this year. Frontman Matt Ellis says, “Being locked up naturally conjured visions of escapism. Escaping to the wilderness has always been a way to find peace, but when even that was not an option it was yet another thing that had been taken for granted.

The songs were written on an old guitar with four dead strings that had been neglected for years. There was something fitting about it, given the current condition of the world. This guitar was once a prized possession and over the years just sat collecting dust. Yet, the moment I picked it up the memories it had amassed over the years flooded my mind. It was the comfort and inspiration that was needed—the feeling of a new instrument yet to be discovered, and of new beginnings and endless possibilities.” 

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KodiakArcade - Silicon Hill.

As a project, Graeme Cornies’ Kodiak Arcade is a hi-fi homage to the lo-fi  sounds of the past. It’s a set of sonic landscapes, where the humanity of the organic performances are intertwined with sounds that can only be created by modern tech.

Graeme spent a lot of time thinking about his own relationship to technology while making Kodiak Arcade’s debut album, Arcade. From the time he spent consumed in the fictional worlds of Sierra games as a kid, and how those stories affected his real-world self.

Focus track, “Silicon Hill,” began with a dream. Two friends sat on a hill at sunset, looking into the distance at a newer sort of Art Deco city skyline. Everything around the city was a desert, though there was no sand in sight. The whole desert was made of a sort of semi-soft silicon with faint lines underneath – like patterns of a motherboard under the desert’s milky surface.

This song title is also a nod to the time Graeme spent in Silicon Valley, at events like the GDC, where he spent many nights year after year talking with passionate artists and programmers in the game industry, getting high on talk of the future, admired artists and the meeting places between art and technology.

KodiakArcade · Silicon Hill - Single

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Paper Tapes - You And I.

GPSs flicker, spirits emancipate themselves from any final destination… PAPER TAPES’ first EP 'Homecoming' was released in October on Geographie.

Native of Lyon (FR), living in Paris and a member of the band Brace ! Brace ! (Howlin’ Banana), Cyril Angleys delivers, under the pseudo PAPER TAPES, an adventurous and immediate pop.

Influenced by the 70s film score, the outsiders that became heroes like Stereolab and Air, the psyched pop from Todd Rundgren or the R’n’B from the first The Neptunes’ albums, he assumes boldly but with finesse his carelessness of time and genres.

It is while composing with Brace! Brace! That he feels the need, this desire to start a solo project. Drum machines, synthesizers… he starts writing and experimenting from home, in his flat during the 2018 summer.

With 'Homecoming', co-produced by Barth Bouveret (Brace ! Brace!, Good Morning TV, Marble Arch) PAPER TAPES offers us a first magnetic and luminous EP. Five little hits nestled between some modern soft rock and emancipated pop, to listen to while traveling or at home… even though we know travels always start home.

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Another Sky - Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin - Charlie Nieland - Whizz Bomb

Another Sky return for a third time this year with another gorgeous song entitled 'Sun Seeker'. The band have garnered plenty of attention and the latest song demonstrates why, it's beauty lies in the subtle and intricately arranged musical backdrop that grows with intensity and the fabulous vocals that add breathtaking emotion. ===== Is there a finer artists name than Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin possibly, but that's not really the point when you take the delicious song and video for 'The Marionettes' into account. It's the ninth video from her second album so lovers of creative and "out there" music have plenty of catching up to do, well I have anyway!  ===== Charlie Nieland has appeared on Beehive Candy a few times as one half of Lusterlit and it's a real pleasure to share the title track for his forthcoming album 'Divisions' which is one hundred percent impressive. ===== Whizz Bomb (Paul Wishart) has released 'All I Want Is You'. From the outset his vocals are just so rich and wonderful as they add intensity and genuine feeling to the song, the musical arrangement adds even more, this is one rather special song.

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Another Sky - Sun Seeker.

On the first day of 2021, Another Sky will release their latest body of work, an EP entitled Music For Winter Vol. I. Today, the band released the second single “Sun Seeker.” “Lyrically, ‘Sun Seeker’ is about being the only one who can say who you are,” vocalist and lyricist Catrin Vincent says. “It’s also about letting things self-destruct and then rebuilding. Someone once said they’d tell me when to quit music. This is me saying, I say who I am and I say when I’m done.”

Having confidently stepped into the spotlight with their performance of ”Chillers” on ‘Later… with Jools Holland,' Another Sky has earned praise from Paste, Under the Radar, The FADER, and NPR Music, who invited them in for a Tiny Desk Concert earlier this year. Front woman Catrin wryly credits some of their early success to the fact her distinctive, haunting vocals are frequently mistaken for those of a male singer. “People say I sound like a man - maybe that means they’ll listen.”

On how Music For Winter Vol. I came together, Vincent explains, "some songs are old, some are new, all are entirely collaborative. After being kept apart because of the lockdown and writing a bunch of our second album separately, we just wanted to get back into our studio and record." The entire EP was recorded, produced and mixed by the band themselves at their South London studio, The Lighthouse, in October 2020.

"Where do we find our portable paradises?" - Catrin found herself staring at this very poem by Roger Robinson on the London Underground in March 2020.

For the first time in six years, the band couldn't see each other, and the band's bassist Naomi was able to sit still long enough to confront her intense fear of going to hell for being in a same-sex relationship, due to a Christian upbringing.

Catrin explains, "After lockdown eased, myself and Naomi revisited the opening track ‘Pieces,’ an old track originally sung by Naomi. We wrote lyrics together from an imagined conversation with a loved one telling Naomi she was going to hell."

Naomi’s journey became the lyrical foundation for each of these six songs as Catrin drew universal comparisons with others' lives; "a struggle with identity, walking past churches you are no longer part of and the person you become when you are in pain. If there is no end in sight of struggle, where are our white sands, green hills and fresh fish? If we can't ever truly escape, which is what we were exploring in our debut album I Slept On The Floor, can we carry paradise in ourselves?"

Naomi adds about her experience, "It’s so easy to push things to the back of your mind. You never really know the impact this has on you until it becomes overbearing, and you're forced to address it. I found it incredibly cathartic to tackle these issues head-on by visualising certain situations and being able to say whatever I needed to say, both in therapy and in writing music.”

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Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin - The Marionettes.

It’s a curio to see… It’s a curio indeed! Join Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin as she tells a special holiday tail about her encounters with the magical marionettes. Follow them through their adventures, trials and tribulations. 

With childlike wonder catch a glance behind the curtain of the grandscale show that we all belong to.

Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin is an escaped ghost from an old coloring book that was left out in the rain at some point in the 20th Century. The Marionettes is the ninth video taken from her second album (I Left My Heart in Uncanny Valley). 

She also recently curated a remix album entitled All My Friends Live In Uncanny Valley, featuring the likes of Renaldo & The Loaf and Toxic Chicken gleefully rearranging her songs into strange new forms.

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Charlie Nieland - Divisions.

My heart is full and I made a solo album, Divisions. It will be out early in the new year. The title song was Inspired by The Hidden Life Of Trees by Peter Wohlleben and Charlie is joined on the song as follows.

Charlie Nieland: Lap Steel, Electric Guitars,  Electric Piano, Korg MS20 Synth, Piano, Virtual Mellotron,  Synths, Percussion, Vocals, Brian Geltner: Drums

Musician/producer Charlie Nieland creates a variety of cinematic music. Engaging the boundless creativity within his musical community, including the duo Lusterlit and the Bushwick Book Club, he reaches for an ever widening range of songcraft and textured sound. less

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Whizz Bomb - All I Want Is You.

Growing up in rural Kent, also known as the Garden of England, Paul Wishart (aka Whizz Bomb) learnt classical piano and church organ. In this traditional English environment that viewed any music more modern than Beethoven with extreme distrust, Paul started writing his own music on the piano and organ to amuse himself, and offend others.

At the age of 13, Paul managed to persuade his parents to buy him a Roland SH101 analogue synthesizer as a reward for passing exams, thus starting a love affair with strange noises, nobs, sliders, sequencers, and generally avoiding school studies.

Originally influenced by the early electronic music of Wendy Carlos, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Vangelis, Paul embraced 80’s synth pop when his contemporaries were listening to prog rock, then 90’s shoegaze guitar bands when his friends were twisting their melons.

The dance / rock cross-over acts of the 90’s such as Jesus Jones started to bring an interest in darker and louder electronic music, with Depeche Mode’s move to introducing guitars with synths and Nine Inch Nails ability to use synths and samplers to create alternative music that jumped from loud and discordant noise to quiet and often melodic piano music or even dance-influenced beats, led Paul to believe that much more was achievable with electronic music now. These predominately electronic music influences, though of considerably variation, have influenced Paul and his vision for Whizz Bomb. Paul’s lower-range and slightly raspy voice is a “character” voice for rock music that is “lived in”, and has been favourably compared to those of the late Lou Reed and Nick Cave.

A plan emerged, and all that was required were the financial resources to build a rig that could actually allow reasonable multi-instrument performance,       sequencing, and recording. Paul has had to endure years working, with only brief interludes entertaining friends and family on the piano, to put together all his musical equipment and now release material to an unsuspecting public. His first single, an electronica cover of U2’s All I Want is You, is now released on iTunes and other major online stores and streaming services. There are numerous other works in the pipeline, and will be ready for release from early 2021 onwards. In December 2020 All I Want is You introduces Paul, and his characterful voice to the world.

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Sun June - Palberta - SLUGS

Sun June have shared 'Bad Girl' and the song has been getting plenty of attention over the past two days since it's release. Accompanied with a video this gently melodic and dreamy song still packs plenty of emotion and is an excellent foretaste for their upcoming album 'Somewhere'. ===== Palberta return for a fourth time on Beehive Candy with the final pre-release song 'The Way That You Do' ahead of the album 'Palberta5000' due on January 22nd. As always their vocals and harmonies are exquisite and juxtapose a somewhat quirky musical backdrop wonderfully. ===== From SLUGS we have 'Super Sane' and the four piece alt rock outfit out of Los Angeles really do impress. This is fine and original track, the music arrangement is notable as are the refined vocals.

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Sun June - Bad Girl.

Austin, Texas' Sun June have shared a stunning video for their new single "Bad Girl," the latest from their upcoming new album Somewhere. Of the song and video, Sun June's Laura Colwell says "Bad Girl is about a deep manic drive to regress into the person I used to be - back when being bad was cool and being cool was everything. 

I was given a lot of freedom as a teenager and always took advantage of it. After I lost a good friend in high school, my fear of death was overwhelming. The song reflects on how that fear combined with my own thrill-seeking affected my decisions since. It cycles through self-destructive choices I've made in relationships to avoid responsibility, and how my fear of loss has lead me down some dumb paths. The tone is sad and resigned, but also self-righteous somehow.

There's something pushing and pulling between the lyrics and the beat, so we thought a dance video might draw out some internal tension. We filmed around Lockhart, TX, where we recorded the album, because there are so many farms and fields out there that are unchanged despite the area's growth. We took some inspiration from films like "Blood Simple" and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," which were also shot in rural towns just outside of Austin. Basically, we tried to channel Frances McDormand, Willie Nelson, and Haim (if Haim were an only child)."

Somewhere showcases a gentle but eminently pronounced maturation of Sun June's sound, a record full of quiet revelation, eleven songs that bristle with love and longing. It finds a band at the height of their collective potency, a marked stride forward that is able to transport the listener into a fascinating new landscape, one that lies somewhere between the town and the city, between the head and the heart; neither here nor there, but certainly somewhere.

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Palberta - The Way That You Do.

Palberta's upcoming LP Palberta5000 is due out in a little over a month on January 22nd, 2021 via Wharf Cat Records, and so far has seen high praise on a level unmatched in the band's already celebrated career. After being announced with a deep-dive feature on Stereogum that explored the more expansive and pop-forward style on this new release from a band long-heralded as one of the most idiosyncratic bands in the East Coast DIY scene, the album's early singles have earned comparisons to ESG and Delta 5 in The New York Times, being described as "everything great about Palberta" on NPR's All Songs Considered, and garnering glowing coverage from spots like Pitchfork, NYLON, Paste, Consequence of Sound and BrooklynVegan among many others.

The band are returning with a final pre-release single entitled "The Way That You Do," accompanied by a video directed by band member Ani Ivry-Block. For a band that have always projected an anarchic energy and historically been associated with a punk-adjacent DIY scene (if never quite being what could be called a punk band themselves) the track explores a gentler tone than has been typical for the band, as it focues on the penchant for harmony arrangements that often sets them apart from their contemporaries, but links these vocal forward sections together with a fanciful, and deceptively complex guitar and bass interplay that only Palberta could have created.

"In 'The Way That You Do' we essentially repeat the same phrase over and over with the exception of Ani's passionate 'I been lyyyyying," Palberta's Lily Konigsberg explains. "I've never really thought about the meaning behind the lyrics, but when I think about them now it seems like someone accusing another of deception and trickery. Also the harmonies are sick. It’s our waltz!”

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SLUGS - Super Sane.

SLUGS is a 4 piece alt rock outfit out of Los Angeles comprised of singer, songwriter and guitarist Marissa Longstreet, Sarsten Noice (bass/vocals), Josh Beavers (lead guitar) and Dash Hutton (drums). 

Their influences range from Linda Perhacs with their melodic harmonies and tenderness to Thee Oh Sees with their high energy, spitfire performances.

Their latest single “Super Sane” features high voltage expression along with a calmer wash, showcasing restrained strums of electric guitar which is both divinely gripping and atmospheric. 

The delicate lower harmonies are so haunting, while the intimate vocals are gentle and totally skeletal in their honesty. Somewhat warm and somewhat cold, the overall feel is wonderfully juxtaposed with feelings of healing and acceptance. The minimalist sound is also vividly complex in its dynamics and meticulously placed elements.

SLUGS · Super Sane

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All Things Blue - Tacsidermi - The Hempolics - The Highway Women - Silent Forum

All Things Blue make their fourth appearance on Beehive Candy this year with the new single 'Buddha & Penelope'. The Los Angeles psych pop (& more) band have been consistently creative with each track they have shared ahead of their debut album, this final taster being another fabulous affair. ===== From Wales we have Tacsidermi and their debut single 'Gwir'. If you read the background piece below you may notice we have already shared some music from their Welsh counterparts and as a new duo they have created a wonderfully beautiful new song. ===== During the latter part of last year and the early part of this The Hempolics really impressed us and it's great to have a new video for 'In the Night' which is the final individual piece from their last album. Reggae and Dub fans may now indulge once again to this superb band. ===== We featured The Highway Women back in July with a video for 'Shake The Dust'. Now they have produced a new video for 'The Highway' and it's another powerful track from these fabulous country rockers. ===== We indulged with Silent Forum a number of times last year culminating with a full share of their Welsh Music Prize nominated debut album 'Everything Solved at Once'. Celebrating the first anniversary of said release they are back with a Charlie Francis Smokehouse remix of 'How I Faked The Moon Landing' along with an unreleased song 'Don't Overcook It'. Both songs more than deserve a good listen. 

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All Things Blue - Buddha & Penelope.

Los Angeles band All Things Blue have released the final taster of their upcoming debut album Get Bit – new psych-pop single "Buddha & Penelope". All Things Blue will also be streaming an album release show from LA venue Non Plus Ultra on December 10th. The show will be ticketed on a Pay What You Want basis, with all proceeds going to Bail Project.

The project of singer-songwriter India Coombs (aka Blue) and guitarist Jon Joseph, All Things Blue’s much-anticipated debut album Get Bit (out December 11th via Terrible Records) follows a series of hype-building EPs and singles, tackling the personal and the political with equal vigour.

New single "Buddha & Penelope" is accompanied by a stop-motion animated video created by Kat Bing. The track drifts in on the back of a lilting guitar line and relaxed drums, with the lyrics asking "How long ago were you someone's baby? / Your belly full, wrapped in warmth and safety". Directly highlighting the disparity between the wealthy and the homeless, especially in places like Los Angeles – the track's blissful psych-infused instrumentals offer up the perfect backdrop for India Coombs's sharp lyrics and sweet vocal tone.

Speaking on the release of the new single, Coombs said: “When I first moved to Los Angeles I met a houseless man named Buddha and his sweet pitbull Penelope. I saw them every Sunday for a few years and we came to know each other well. Having a relationship with someone so open and loving despite their circumstances created a deeper wonderment in my mind. It created a heartfelt realization of this morbid disparity between the rich and poor in cities such as LA. This song is an ode to people like Buddha and Penelope and how they deal with our shared reality.”

Taking inspiration from the weirder, psych-leaning corners of indie-rock, and especially Aussie psych legends Pond, whose latest album Tasmania tackles Australia’s own brand of climate change-related horrors, Get Bit brings together influences from across the guitar music spectrum. “Tipsy” is a loose, lo-fi romp that recreates the feeling of its title, while “Scratch" is a blistering 40-second tirade against unrealistic expectations, which sees All Things Blue bare their teeth and take cues from gutsy garage rock.

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Tacsidermi - Gwir.

Tacsidermi could only have come to fruition as a project during the strange and uncertain year that was 2020!! It’s a positive reaction to all of the years negativity by simply channeling boundless creative energy into writing / recording songs to inhabit and escape within.

Gwenllian Anthony from the ‘Welsh Music Prize’ winning band Adwaith has been jamming and writing on and off over the last few years with Matthew Kilgariff. Matthew toured as a session musician with Adwaith during their post ‘Melin’ tours. It took lockdown for them to decide to form a bubble and move into Matthew’s studio in rural Carmarthenshire and start recording. 

‘Gwir’ their debut single is a perfect marriage of both of their influences. With its 90s baggy grove and Flaming Lips twisted popness this is a bold first statement. The Brian Jonestown Massacre psychedelic textures, dancing along to a low-slung Breeders inspired driving bass brings a darkness to the song. It mirrors the uncertainty and emotional vulnerability of the lyrics and Gwenllian’s beautiful restrained delivery.

‘Gwir’ was supported by David Newington (Boy Azooga) on drums and mixed by Matthew Evans (KEYS). Expect new Tacsidermi material to follow quickly in early 2021.

Libertino · Tacsidermi - Gwir

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The Hempolics - In the Night.

The Hempolics release their official video for 'In The Night', which is taken from their sophomore album 'Kiss, Cuddle & Torture Volume 2'.

Vocalist Nubiya Brandon sojourned to Joshua Tree, California to direct and star in the video with the desert scenes at dusk complementing a dark slant on the end of a relationship. The vintage surroundings of time-frozen Americana are combined with the fresh yet backwards looking sound of The Hempolics to present an audio visual treat.

The album was featured by BBC 6 Music as their ‘Album of The Day’, was included in Rough Trade’s ‘Edit’, and its singles saw support at radio from BBC 1Xtra’s David Rodigan, 6Music’s Steve Lamacq, Don Letts, Chris Hawkins and 6Music Recommends, BBC 6 Music Mix Tape with Tom Robinson and BBC Scotland’s Vic Galloway.

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The Highway Women - The Highway.

Inspired by their own movement “Be a Highway Woman”, Kristen Kae, Bonnie Dymond (Warner Chappel and BAHW Member) and The Highway Women’s Guitarist Dallas Duff, penned a song that embodies their fierce determination to make their mark in the music industry. 

"The Highway" which released on October 30, 2020 generated a great response from their fans, so The Highway Women partnered up with Cowgirl Magazine to release a surprise music video celebrating  their fans continuous support of their journey. The Highway Women dropped their EP "The Highway" on November 27th and is featured on iTunes New Releases "Country".

The video depicts a fun road trip with The Highway Women (Kristen Kae, Drew Haley, Jess Paige & Bailey James). They celebrate their music and journey as a band on the road together. True to real life, their personalities shine through in the various scenes and showcase their sisterhood. 

The Highway Women wanted to pay homage to their beautiful home city and state of Nashville, TN by featuring famous landmarks such as The Loveless Cafe (yes, they had biscuits) on the infamous Natchez Trail. With scenic drone footage, a cliche cruise in a convertible, a snack grab stop at a convenience store, they really bring their fans along for the ride. The girls bring their humor, charm and talent to the table with the creation of this music video produced by James McGettrick (Nashville).

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Silent Forum - How I Faked The Moon Landing (Charlie Francis Smokehouse remix) / Don't Overcook It.

To celebrate the first anniversary of our Welsh Music Prize nominated debut album Everything Solved at Once, our producer Charlie Francis has created a bonkers dance pop remix of 'How I Faked the Moon Landing'. 

We’ve also slipped in a previously unreleased song 'Don't Overcook It' which was recorded during the same sessions as our debut.

It feels good to be releasing something in 2020, a year where we have managed to (in between lockdowns) write a lot of material but have been unable to record or gig due to social distancing. We hope these two songs go a small way towards capping a crappy year off nicely!

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