Eli Raybon - The School Book Depository - Far Caspian

Eli Raybon first appeared with us back in March when we commented on his "sci-fi weirdo auteur" description, however as 'Primitive Man' demonstrates he is also a really fine songwriter and performer. His sci-fi concept album, Supertoys, is due out July 12th, and it's packed with some superb material, it's well worth checking out when you get the chance.

We featured The School Book Depository a couple of times back in 2017 and now we have the new song 'The Trail', where once again the vocals of Fredrik Solfors are so engaging as is the whole atmospheric smooth rock vibe running through this piece.

Having already featured 'Astoria' and 'A Dream Of You' from Far Caspian's brand new E.P. 'The Heights' it's good to be able to include the full collection from this excellent Leeds (UK) trio, in fact this makes it appearance number six on Beehive Candy, clearly they are doing something we really like, how about you?
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Eli Raybon - Primitive Man.

21-yr-old Eli Raybon's sound plays like the lovechild of King Krule & Chromeo - a blissfully weird take on future funk, bathed in 80's pop. He's quickly established himself as a synthwave auteur, with Noisey, Ones to Watch and Earmilk lauding his retro tunage. His ready-to-be-shared single is like a mashup of 80's Bowie, MJ, Devo: "Primitive Man" Eli's sci-fi concept album, Supertoys, is due out July 12th. With only a few releases to his name, 21-year-old Eli Raybon has quickly established himself as a sci-fi weirdo auteur. The staunch non-conformist is now priming his most rebellious release yet: a sci-fi concept album called Supertoys.

Raybon’s work is fueled by an unrestricted imagination, born from a serious case of childhood nostalgia. His formative years were spent exploring small-town Mississippi, writing songs, and directing his own Hi8 tape movies. But as he grew, Eli became keenly aware of the sobering realities that faced him and his peers – a conveyer belt existence where they were destined to become carbon copies of their parents. He himself was on route to New York to study computer science and mathematics, before pulling the emergency brake and changing his plans only two days before freshman orientation.

When the dust settled, Eli began recording his debut LP, The Machine & My Dilemma, which documented his desire to jump off the hamster wheel of life. Following its release, Raybon moved to LA to pursue music full time. Never one to flounder, Eli immediately recorded and released two lauded singles. The track 30 Cents was accompanied by an ambitious music video which was screened at film festivals across the country. He soon followed up with Green, an EP that drew praise from Buzzbands LA, Noisey and Paste.

Eli became infatuated with hardware synthesizers and moved from writing material on the guitar to a more expansive pallet on synths. Feeling his new material called for a producer beyond his skillset, Raybon sought the help of synth guru Prozak Morris, who had transitioned from making bass heavy hip hop to calibrating cutting edge vaporwave. The two collaborated on a remix and Eli quickly realized this was the producer he had been dreaming of. They began work on an album, recording from opposite coasts, Eli on the East and Prozak on the West, connecting through frequent phone calls as they slowly pieced their production together.

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The School Book Depository - The Trail.

The School Book Depository is an imaginary storage facility where the Swedish moniker and songwriter Fredrik Solfors releases his songs and videos. The motto of the project has always been ”It’s my party, I can do whatever I want”, in order to embrace all forms of creative outlet both musically and lyrically. The songs range from groovy, psychedelic hop hop to noisy and catchy garage pop and beautiful, atmospheric post-rock.

In 2017 he released hos self-titled album which got high praise with words like ”classic Americana with a touch of modern electronica” and ” a gem of an album, with philosophical lyrics to be considered and huge melodies to be enjoyed”. Now he’s back with another albumet titled ”Bob and the Pitchfork Mob” due release on the 20th of June.

Fredrik started playing the drums early in his hometown but moved on to vocals, guitar, piano and songwriting in bands as Wagon, The Low Season Combo and Kinetics, appointed best international act by the British magazine Pure M in 2015. He also played drums in Surrounded, a Swedish band signed by American Deep Elm and British One Little Indian. Fredrik is now living in Bollebygd outside of Gothenburg in Sweden.


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Far Caspian - The Heights (E.P).

Flitting between insular, emotionally engaging bedroom-pop and moments of festival-ready breathlessness across their luscious dream pop sound, Leeds trio Far Caspian’s sonic formula is earning them fans at an exponential rate. From recent single Astoria with its calm, slowly grooving verses clearing the decks for expansive choruses, to previous effort A Dream Of You and its wistful, effervescent undercurrent, the band have delivered once again in sophomore EP The Heights, out June 18th via Dance To The Radio.

Emerging last year with a collection of catchy lo-fi gems on hazy debut EP Between Days, and crafting their self-coined ‘melanjolly’ style to widespread critical praise, the three-piece’s newest material showcases their trademark sound with fresh commercial overtones and a very intentional 80s production sheen. Blending these two shades on a UK tour in support of the debut EP in the spring peaked with thrilling, sold-out debut headline shows in London and Manchester.

Discussing their forthcoming EP release, frontman Joel Johnston reveals: “The Heights has taken us a lot of work to get to where it is. We started with some songs that were brought into a studio and we soon realised we weren’t the sort of band that could work that way. We took the tracks away and then re-recorded it in our house.

The themes on the EP are about embracing the present and enjoying the good times you do have even if you’re struggling through something else. From writing and recording this project we went from a pretty dark place into a place of contentment and I feel like the tracks have that feeling within them”.


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Brother Son - Toby Johnson - Winter Wilson with Fairport Convention - Caracol

Brother Son have a rather distinct brand of Indie Rock partly garnered by their musical influences, however nothing can take away how they have developed some superb songs, where as mentioned in their press release, blues, soul and even jazz styles manifest themselves. As for the new album 'Goodies' I have to say, this is a very fine collection of music (streaming in full below).

From Toby Johnson we have 'Isla' the first of four songs from his forthcoming E.P. It's a fine modern folk song, the musical backdrop is restrained, the vocals just right for the genre, and the overall production exudes quality.

If you dig further back in time on Beehive Candy you will see plenty of evidence for our love of live music and also Sandy Denny. Early in 2018 we featured Winter Wilson a couple of times, and their return with a live album full of original songs from the pair, along with a gorgeous cover version of Sandy Denny's 'It'll Take a Long Time' (performed with Fairport Convention) is just fabulous. Comprised of fifteen songs, this is a must hear for folk music fans.

Finally Caracol has shared 'Flooded Field' (featuring Illa J) a refined song where electro and natural musical sounds and a reggae type rhythm back the beautifully melodic vocals.
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Brother Son - Goodies.

The story of Brother Son begins with four unlikely friends of disparate musical tastes and backgrounds uniting over a shared love of Alabama Shakes, The Strokes, Mac DeMarco, and ganj. Their music reflects this, bringing a unique blend of bluesy soul and jazzy smoothness to indie rock.

And so they began in early 2017 with their debut EP Young & Pretty, the first order of business being to play as many shows in as many midwestern cities as they could.

Rising quickly to local prominence, by the end of that year they began headlining and selling out shows at venues like El Club, The Shelter, and The Loving Touch. Now, with a tour under their belts as well, they've been gearing up to release their second LP, Goodies, with even more tucked away for a third project slated for early 2020.

With all that locked and loaded, their next move will be east and west coast tours this summer.

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Toby Johnson - Isla.

Mahogany Recordings new signing is Toby Johnson, this is the first of four tracks from Toby's forthcoming EP.

Having already performed alongside artists like Lewis Watson, Mahalia and Isaac Gracie, Toby’s debut headline show will take place in Hackney as part of ‘Mahogany Sessions Live’.

The writing process for the EP was a simplistic approach, which drew from pivotal moments and inspirations in Toby's personal life.

Toby expresses “if a song reveals every detail, then it ruins the illusion. It’s like a text message, people absorb information in different ways, a simple text can be misconstrued entirely, that's the beauty of storytelling.”

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Winter Wilson with Fairport Convention - It'll Take a Long Time.

Live & Unconventional the new album from Scots/English duo Winter Wilson, goes on general release in August. Live & Unconventional is the duo's ninth album and was recorded on tour last year with folk rock icons Fairport Convention and it features Fairport on a couple of tracks.

Unusually for Winter Wilson the album contains a cover, it's not every day you get invited to perform a Sandy Denny song (It'll take a long time) live in front of several thousand people with Fairport as your backing band. The remaining tracks are all originals, reproduced as they were on the night.

This year Winter Wilson have completed a five-week tour in Australia before heading off again around the UK, Europe and Canada.

If 2019 goes half as well as 2018 they will be delighted. 2018 started with them completing 29 gigs in 32 days around the UK with folk-rock legends Fairport Convention. This lead to them being invited to perform with Fairport in front of twenty thousand people at Cropredy Festival. Recordings from the tour and Cropredy will makeup the duo's forthcoming live album.

The latest album "Far Off on the Horizon" is their best selling to date and has been very well received by both punters and critics alike. But it is their live performance where these two really excel.

Now in their 7th year as full-time musicians, Kip Winter and Dave Wilson bring a sense of intimacy to every venue, blending superb, often hard-hitting original songs, stunning harmonies and musicianship with sometimes hilarious humour and tales of life on the road.


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Caracol - Flooded Field feat. Illa J.

Caracol is a bilingual artist who walks a singular path. Her new album “Symbolism” is the sum of all her past musical experiences: her beginnings as a percussionist and back-up singer in reggae bands, her work as a sound engineer in film music, and more recently, her presence in the songwriting community and pop music writing camps, where she collaborates with some of the best beatmakers from around the world.

Always cultivating her uniqueness, Caracol stands out with her particular vocal tone, her catchy melodies and the daring way in which she uses rhythmic vocal patterns to create original arrangements. This particular blend of electro & organic sounds has given rise to her signature sound, where indie & alternative pop meet modular synths and tribal percussion instruments. Several of her livelooping performance videos have become viral on the web, and she keeps releasing new ones regularly.

The "Symbolism" adventure begins with an encounter with producer Joey Waronker (drummer for Beck, Roger Waters) during a creative trip to Los Angeles. After he fell in love with her demos, he decided to work with her. During the recording process, Caracol reached a new height in authenticity and artistic expression. She then continued the exploration at her Studio de l’Est headquarters in Montreal, with her long time allies Seb Ruban & Toast Dawg, two of Montreal’s most talented producers.

The 1st single from her new record, ”Flooded Field” feat. Illa J had a soft-release on Spotify with immediate impact, claiming spots on Canada’s biggest Spotify playlists (New Music Friday, Indie All Stars, Indie Pop Chillout, Evening Commute, etc) and currently has over 250 000 streams. The unique-sounding indiepop track infused with reggae was written in collaboration with Detroit rapper Illa J (also the brother of the late Jay Dilla). ”Flooded Field” feat. Illa J now features a video and has been released to media world-wide.

Caracol was recently nominated at the Canadian Indie Awards in the ”Electronic Artist of the Year” category, alongside international acts such as Milk & Bone, DVBBS and Rezz. The album also caught the attention of College Radio networks, reaching position #38 on the National Top 200 Earshot Charts in Canada, and was also the #28 most added record in the USA in College Radio charts.


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mimi bay - Hanna Barakat - Corniglia

With songs as good as 'Really' it's hardly surprising that mimi bay has already gained considerable attention, her Bedroom Pop is smooth, dreamy and beautifully arranged.

Just four weeks ago we featured Hanna Barakat and the song 'Damage Done'. Swiftly following on from that we have 'Leave Your Light On' a song that really showcases the power and splendour of her vocals, ahead of August's album release entitled 'Siren'.

It's been a while since we last featured Perth, Australia's Corniglia whose music has evolved into a resplendent mixture of shoegaze, psych rock and darker dream pop, with the new song 'A Lost Forgotten Dream' also demonstrating the quality attached to all of that.
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mimi bay - Really.

Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden, 18-year-old Bedroom Pop artist, Mimi Bergman is set for bigger things. From a young age, the self-taught multi-instrumentalist has been surrounded by music, showcasing it best with her deeply personal songwriting and poetic music. Influenced by many artists, mimi taught herself how to play a variety of instruments and at 14 started to write and self-record her own music in her home recording studio, then sharing it on her YouTube channel Hi I’m Mimi which has grown to near a quarter of a million subs.

With the release of ‘really’, mimi bay explores the feeling of unrequited love, the dreamy heartfelt track is set to bring back memories of a past love that you never seem to get over. mimi will send you into a musical daydream with her sweet soft-pop vocals and emotive guitar playing. To best describe her sound, think beabadobee, Girl In Red and boy pablo. mimi’s debut EP is to be released later this year.

After releasing music on YouTube, the songwriter soon started grabbing attention, gaining a huge amount of support and fans along the way. With over 3 million streams on Spotify, her singles ‘Afraid’, ‘Too Late’ and ‘in your neighbours garden’ – her ever-growing YouTube fanbase has secured her at the forefront of the bedroom-pop.

mimi says that “’really’ is about romanticizing people you see online and spending time thinking of them while they don’t know you exist”

With her keen eye for dreamy aesthetics, mimi bay takes all control of her visual output, creating artwork that fully accompanies her music, assuring a strong and cohesive narrative throughout her work.

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Hanna Barakat - Leave Your Light On.

Austin-based, hard/alternative artist, Hanna Barakat, announces her new single, “Leave Your Light On,” ahead of the upcoming album, Siren, due out August 16, 2019, produced by John Moyer (Disturbed). Born in Texas to an American mother and a Lebanese father, Barakat spent her early years traveling around the world with her family. Barakat pays homage to her roots  on the album.

The album was produced by John Moyer, bassist from famed hard rock band, Disturbed, mixed by Martin Nessi (Michael Jackson estate, Ariana Grande, Josh Groban, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Ricky Martin, Kelly Clarkson), and mastered by Ted Jansen of Sterling Sound (Disturbed, Evanescence, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, Halestorm, Pat Metheny).

Barakat states on "Leave Your Light On:"“Society portrays love like a fairy tale, and if the relationship you’re in is not picture perfect, there’s always someone else out there to sweep you off your feet and ride off into the sunset with. Reality tells us that pairing lives with another soul is one of the hardest things two people can do on this earth. Relationships take constant care, devotion, patience, and a hell of a lot of strength. We all go through periods of depression, weakness, physical or psychological traumas, and we need help. We need people in our lives to lift us up and hold us tight while we recover. Leave Your Light On is an honest plea between two lovers to do just that - be strong for one another in tumultuous times - Be each other’s  light - their pillar of strength - and know that it is an ebb and flow - the roles will most certainly be reversed not long down the road. This is what relationships are built on.”

Barakat beautifully describes the inspiration behind the album: “I chose the title, Siren, for my debut record, after John Moyer and I produced our final song together, which happened to be “Siren.” The power of the music and the lyrics filled me with such fire. It motivated me and inspired me to take this next step in my journey with such confidence. Though the song references the mythical sirens of the sea, I loved the idea of a double meaning: an actual siren, warning call, alarm! The songs on this record were written over a span of 10 years. These songs have been my comfort and my therapy, as I’ve journeyed this world, witnessed injustices, engrossed myself in my ancestral culture, grown within myself, literally travelled the globe, loved, lost, failed, loved again, and struggled to reach the place where I am today.

I want to bring awareness to these situations, not by forcing any political agenda, but by pushing for love, understanding, and acceptance of all the other humans walking this earth together. Throughout history, there have been unnatural walls physically erected, or socially accepted and perpetuated, in order to divide people. I want to tear those walls down. All of them. Through my music, with rock guitars, heavy drums, deep rhythmic bass lines, and my intricate vocal melodic lines and punchy harmony stacks, I have chosen to forge arabic instruments like the oud, kanun, frame drum, riqq, into my sonic landscape, where I feel they so naturally and appropriately belong.”

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Corniglia - A Lost Forgotten Dream.

A Lost Forgotten Dream It's waking in a primordial land. It's waking from a dream. A dream of nature and of man - Conjoined twins long separated - both reunited and at war. It's a rolling psych song. It's dark dream pop. It's the undulating, pulsing flow of surreal lyrics over rolling drums and guitars that drive and release like the rise and fall of the ocean.

“On/Off”: Album Notes - It’s dark melodic shoegaze. Dark dream pop. Whispery, stunted psych. Surreal and introspective. Disconnection. Discontent. Fraying. A derelict Cyborg Earth. But it is technology overreaching, faltering. The Earth reclaiming power. It’s the future mirroring the distant past. It’s Man and Nature reunited and at war.

Time erodes, swallows everything. Monoliths - cultures, cities, ideas… Buildings inevitably crumble. Become irrelevant. In the face of the enormity of time - our own perceived self importance dissolves away - It’s finding a calmness and contentment in this. This microscopic-ness. This irrelevant-ness. These aren’t sombre thoughts though. These are beautiful and freeing. A freedom in anonymity.

Other possible things to take from the title “On/Off”: Living on autopilot in mindless routine like an appliance - with an on/off switch. The Earth reseting itself like an appliance (when it’s not working properly).

The album is a little different to previous stuff. Was definitely more focussed on a theme this time. The obvious difference though, Chloe not singing on the album………unfortunately. That wasn't planned. She was really busy with Uni the last 12 months, so we decided I’d be left on my own for this one. She’ll definitely be back for the next thing though. The album was recorded at my house. My brother Mitch, played most of the Drums. It was mixed and mastered at Bergerk! Studios in Perth.

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Thandii - Team Me - Julia Rakel - Grace Gillespie

Less than a month since we featured 'Honey' by Thandii they return with 'Tides' where the driving bass line and assortment of sounds blends beautifully with the gorgeous soaring vocals.

Team Me also return for a second time, back in April we shared 'The Future In Your Eyes' and now we have 'Does Anyone Know How To Get To The Heart Of This' a splendid enough song title and equally splendid indie piece the bands knack for creating rousing catchy tunes continues.

We featured Julia Rakel a couple of times back in March and now we have 'Summer Hit' another creative and melodic song where her fabulous vocals and wonderful musical arrangement work wonders.

Finally and pretty much a month to the day since we first featured her, Grace Gillespie has shared the new song 'My Love Surreal', a hook filled pop piece that is just a little off kilter making the track even more engaging.
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Thandii - Tides.

Margate based duo Thandii have released new single ‘Tides’. This will be the final single from upcoming EP ‘Serious Town’, slated for July 5th.

Having gained support for their signature blend of sultry female vocals and upbeat pulsating bass lines on previous singles ‘Company’ and ‘Honey’ Jess and Graham now return with ‘Tides’ where they explore the themes of guilt and how people deal with it. A growing cluster of rhythmic sounds and shuffles, and an ever-present increasing bass line invoke the feeling of being relentlessly chased by guilt. A tribute to Greta Thunberg, the song has a constant nod to her work in raising awareness toward climate change, and uses it as a metaphor for regret. “There’s another heatwave on….” and “I can’t ignore you,” Jess sings with her soaring vocals.

‘Serious Town’, out July 5th on the band's own label Bad Hacker, sees a departure in tonality as well as the way it was recorded from Thandii’s previous works. “For the EP we chose to spend some time in a proper studio, rather than recording at home as we have done before. One of our favourites is a place called ‘Echo Zoo’ down in Eastbourne - it’s an analogue recording haven more akin to the Southern States than the southern coast of the UK.” The duo wrote and produced the EP themselves and took inspiration from the darker side of the psyche. “Imagine if the voice in your head sang at a dystopian disco.” Featuring previous singles ‘Company’ and ‘Honey’ the EP also features 4 new tracks, including upcoming single ‘Tides’.

‘Suits’ is a delicate and floating melody over the stab of reverb bathed synths that laments the aftermath of a fight. It culminates in a distorted guitar solo that perfectly conjures the moment raw passion meets vulnerable emotion.

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Team Me - Does Anyone Know How To Get To The Heart Of This.

After their euphoric return earlier this year, Team Me present the memorable ‘Does Anyone Know How to Get to the Heart of This’, out now via Propeller Recordings (Highasakite, Dagny, Sløtface, Moddi), the third instalment of their upcoming EP.

Leading man, Marius Drogås Hagen of Team Me tells of the track, “‘DAKHTGTTHOT’ teleports us back into the post-apocalyptic world. A future where our cyborg heroes are fighting a losing battle. A battle for love, lost in a sea of flames”, continuing the harrowing and poignant narrative from it’s predecessor ‘The Future In Your Eyes’.

Capturing the anguish and romantic longing in the sonic soundscape, paired with Marius’ soft vocals, Team Me have taken a gentle and thoughtful approach on ‘Does Anyone Know How to Get to the Heart of This’. The single demonstrates the band’s capacity to create versatile sounds, showcasing their artistry while cementing Team Me’s reputation for manufacturing cinematic indie bangers in all forms.

When speaking of the band’s new chapter, Marius tells “as for the music, I really want to be more focused on documenting this time, rather than releasing an album and touring for three years on a campaign. I want the project to just be a way to let things out of my system.”

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Julia Rakel - Summer Hit.

Umeå-via-Malmö Swedish musician and producer Julia Rakel is the latest addition to Stockholm indie label Rama Lama Records' (Melby, Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes, Chez Ali etc.) roster. Debut EP indie fEELz was just released in march and Julia is already back with a new single called Summer hit, out now on all platforms

Julia works at the well-known Malmö studio Tambourine and her credits include sound design and music for the award-winning short film Plankton. With her expertise as a producer she's refined her stripped-down sketches to a daydreaming beautiful soundscape that develops with every listen. This, put together with Julia's individual vocals and often ironic lyrics, create a intimate and memorable sound. A sound that has been described as “a laid-back, dreamy, DIY aesthetic provided with some wonderfully candid and vulnerable music”.

Julia Rakel's own words about the single: "Man, I’ve had such a shitty 2019 so far. So frickin’ long and dark. But then April comes along and is really warm and sunny, and I thought. YES. It’s finally going my way. So I took a longer route to work, smelled a flower, all that jazz. The day after I wrote and recorded this little jam! The lyrics are super depressive, but the song is happy! My favorite combination."

Debut EP indie fEElz is six track creation that according to Julia is a try to deal with the very different kinds of relationships we have with each other and ourselves through "a lot of irony, drum machines and way too many choirs parts". The tracks treat universal topics such as forced acquaintances, love, desperate attempts to be understood, how we feel about our egos and sad celebrations of friendships.

“Summer hit” is out now on all platforms via Stockholm independent label Rama Lama Records. Julia Rakel made her live debut in October last year and have since supported Molly Nilsson amongst others, more live dates to be expected.

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Grace Gillespie - My Love Surreal.

Grace Gillespie follows the infectious 'I'm Your Man' with the off-kilter pop track ‘My Love Surreal’, from her debut EP ‘Pretending’.

It’s South London based Grace’s exploration into solo psych-pop material after touring as part of Pixx’s live line up, supporting names such as Nilüfer Yanya, Cosmo Pyke and Trudy and The Romance.

Diverging from her previous romantic ballad, ‘My Love Surreal’ reveals the playful element of Grace’s sound, with discordant synth patterns that feel like the “cool blue light refracted” she’s singing about. Layered upon an almost-sinister plucky guitar riff and doused in her ethereal, vintage sound, the track is the epitome Grace’s individual pop vision.

Summarising the push-pull feeling of the charm of the track with the unexpectedness of dissonant chords, she describes the track as a “summer dysphoria”. With references to “blue light” and “day-glo”, “everything is vivid, patterned and bright - and yet entirely out of reach.”

Grace wrote the track in the peak of the hot concrete London summer, feeling frustrated, as “the circular synth patterns reflect little repetitive, negative patterns of thought, born out of a sense of isolation, being stuck indoors, being stuck creatively.” Anyone who lives in a big city will understand the confusing feeling of loneliness matched with endless potential.

In the end, the track comes full circle to remind Grace that her “love is real”: “It’s easy to be critical and get stuck in these relentless little cycles of negativity - I suppose the song was me trying to win myself over.”

It's yet another demonstration of Grace Gillespie’s ability to craft captivating pop songs whilst keeping listeners on their toes, a reminder to “get out of your head - it’s beautiful out there!”

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