Annabel Allum - UV - ​Kyle Craft & Showboat Honey - We Are Strangers

It's our fifth feature for Annabel Allum in just over a year and we don't mind! The Guildford (UK) artist continues to deliver impressive and driven songs packed full of hooks, the more the merrier as far as I am concerned.

UV's vocals are striking and emotive whilst the ambient musical backdrop gives them even more exposure on 'Wilt' a powerful and intriguing song.

​Kyle Craft & Showboat Honey have just shared 'Deathwish Blue' along with a video, it's a dreamy, atmospheric and pleasing power ballad and it's hard to resist a second play.

Finally we have seven songs to enjoy on We Are Strangers new E.P. It's hard to categorise the music and yet it also has the conundrum of a timeless feel on some of the songs, whatever, give it a listen this is very good music.
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Annabel Allum - When The Wind Stopped.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the rise of Guildford slacker-pop sensation Annabel Allum. From playing local pubs in her hometown six nights a week, to acclaimed performances around the world, Annabel is certainly approaching the peak of her startling development. From single to single, the emerging songwriter has evolved and added further layers to her trademark punk repertoire, with second EP cut When The Wind Stopped, out via cult London label Killing Moon, proving the latest remarkable addition to her rousing collection of vital, snarling songs.

A common theme throughout her material is the ease with which tracks simmering with steely angst can sit side by side with touchingly sentimental tracks dedicated to friends and family. When The Wind Stopped, with its anthemic tendencies and undercurrent of billowing fury exemplifies this style with aplomb. Discussing the release, Annabel revealed:

"When I was a kid I had such big expectations of how life was gonna be. I think most people do. But somehow we lose track of our dreams and what we really want from life. It’s so easy to shut yourself in a societal box and put your dreams to bed. I say # that. If you want something, go get it. Less moaning, more chasing”.

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, she’s hit the daytime playlist, recorded a live session at the iconic Maida Vale studios and performed 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 with plenty more opportunities lined up this autumn.

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UV - Wilt.

UV is the solo project of London-based artist & award-winning composer Marina Elderton.

Today see’s the release of new single ‘Wilt’.  Following the 2018 single ‘Defender’ and 2019’s ‘Joys Of Pain’, ‘Wilt’ is yet another demonstration of UV’s haunting combination of powerful vocals and hypnotically ambient soundscapes.  Once again co-produced by Knut Jonas Sellevold, ‘Wilt’ sees Elderton's distinct vocals draped over interlaced harmonies, guitar strands, electronic textures and pulsing rhythms.

Previously fronting ethereal-psych band Kull and electronic duo White Russia, Marina Elderton is also co-founder of the female sound artist collective Erinyes, has also composed soundtracks for Film4, Royal Television Society award winning documentaries, and shorts, and commercially for the likes of Lynx, NBA and Cadburys.

Supported by the PRS Women Make Music Foundation, the debut EP ‘Defender’ will be released on July 19th.

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​Kyle Craft & Showboat Honey - Deathwish Blue.

Kyle Craft & Showboat Honey have delivered a very sweet video for “Deathwish Blue,” a highlight from Showboat Honey, the group’s forthcoming album, out July 12th worldwide from Sub Pop and directed by Eleanor Petry.

Craft had this to say of the visual, “I can’t dance and my fiancée Lydia isn’t the biggest fan of it either...we’d actually never danced together before the shoot. We wanted to have fun and aim for a Pulp Fiction vibe. So, I just slicked back the mop, cranked Spirit in the Sky over the bar speakers, and we went for it.”

Showboat Honey was recorded and produced by Kyle Craft, Kevin Clark, and Billy Slater at their own Moonbase Studios in Portland over 2018. The album was mixed by Trevor Spencer and mastered by April Golden at Golden Mastering.

Showboat Honey is now available for preorder through Sub Pop Mega Mart. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, the UK and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on a clear blue translucent mix with spots red hi-melt (while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available.


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We Are Strangers - We Are Strangers (EP).

We Are Strangers is the new music project from Josh Kramon, a talented TV composer who has written scores for The CW’s iZombie and Veronica Mars, Fox’s Lethal Weapon and ABC’s Forever, among many others.

It’s with this background in TV composition that Kramon’s new songs could have only been written by someone who is used to matching sound to pictures and telling stories. Each track is an atmospheric, cinematic short story that exists on its own, but also lends itself to a dramatic scene or an end credit.

Most songs on this project explore his time in recovery, the universal human need for connection, how we often fail in our relationships and find redemption in moving on. He leans heavily on sounds from the late 70's and early 80's fusing together acoustic and electric guitars with lots of atmospheric vintage synths.


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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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