Wednesday, 16 December 2020

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.

===================================================

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.” 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, 15 December 2020

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.

===================================================

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.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, 13 December 2020

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.

===================================================

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.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, 12 December 2020

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. 

===================================================

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.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Violent Vickie - The Paper Kites - Will Romeo / The 1984 Draft - Mick Clarke - Steel People

Violent Vickie - Open the Door . It's a massive welcome back to Beehive Candy for Violent Vickie who we have had the pleasure of featu...