2010FM March Mega Catch Up (Two).

You can accuse me of blatant promotion when it comes to Seasick Steve, in fact I will insist that anyone not already in the know, check him out immediately and hereby order all fans without a copy of his latest album (Man From Another Time) to purchase a copy right now! (OK hopefully you get the point..).

Born in Oakland, CA, Seasick Steve ran away from home at age of 13. He spent his adolescence living rough, grabbing work where an underage labourer could find it. By 16, he was busking and starting to become the musician that close to fifty years later emerged as Seasick Steve. Through this journey, his feet took him through Europe, back to the U.S., and then ultimately back overseas.

While living in the Pacific-Northwest, he opened a small studio in Olympia producing albums for acts as diverse as Bikini Kill and Modest Mouse, and found some success in the Washington music scene. In 2001, at the insistence of his wife, he returned to Oslo with his three sons (he has five children). In 2003, he recorded his first album under the moniker Seasick Steve, titled Cheap; which began to establish a foothold in the UK for him.

With momentum in hand, devastation struck when in 2004 he suffered a heart attack. While home and finding a way of life he could sustain post-heart attack, his wife pressed him to start recording on his 4-track. Those sessions would become the 2006 release, Dog House Music; which was independently released on the Bronzerat label (200,000+ copies sold). His follow up album, I Started Out With Nothin’ And I Still Got Most Of It Left, found Seasick Steve landing his first platinum album and critical success overseas.

Focusing on a “live” analogue sound, the new album, Man From Another Time was produced, written, recorded and engineered by Seasick Steve, with the assistance of engineer Roy Williams.

Listen:
'Diddley Bo'



Website: Official and MySpace.
Buy: (Amazon UK)Man From Another Time.

The U.S. release of Seasick Steve’s Man From Another Time is through Ryko on March 30th, 2010.

The Black Atlantic are from Groningen (The Netherlands), They are an acoustic pop quartet, formed around singer-songwriter and former Shai Hulud front man, Geert van der Velde.

The band’s folk influenced sound is reminiscent of Bon Iver or Sigur Rós. The band pairs lush, dreamy melodies with softly layered vocal harmonies and minimal percussion.

Exuding formidable intimacy and heartfelt urgency, the Black Atlantic are (according to their promo) contenders to be one of the biggest surprises of 2010. I would not be surprised if this happens, put quite simply, I find their music both soothing and moving, as much as I have given Seasick Steve an unashamed plug I heartily recommend giving this band a listen.

AOL Spinner described their sound as “ethereal and evocative”, while Slam Magazine called it “bright and refreshing”, and Drive Wayferer Drive hailed it as “lovely without being precious, ambitious without being alienating”.

Listen:
'Heirloom'



Website: Official. MySpace.
Buy (mp3): Reverence for Fallen Trees

The Black Atlantic are heading out to Austin, TX to perform at the 2010 South by Southwest Music Festival (SXSW) this week. This will mark their maiden trip to SXSW After their five-day stint at SXSW, the band will embark upon a spring tour of the US, making stops at major cities including New York and Chicago.

OK I am going to blast through a few other artist that have come the Beehive way in recent weeks and who have made us look up and take notice!

Zachary "Ulysses Campbell" Wilson is a product of the DIY generation and proud of it. He records primarily on an 8 track, edits with freeware, and plays shows whenever a party is happening. Sometimes there may be two other guys playing with him, sometimes it’s just Ulysses Campbell solo - but it’s always high energy; which in itself mirrors the frantic style of Ulysses Campbell. While maintaining basic pop instincts, Ulysses whirls through an ever changing thrash of electro, drum n bass, 8-bit, dub step, and all around ill beats.

Standout track "Dinosaur Hunting" begins with a bit of a Mt. Eerie/Microphones feel, and about halfway through the beat drops in true Ulysses style. The song was written mere hours before his departure on his six month journey in South Africa; his mood well captured in the vocals and musical progression.

Listen:
'Dinosaur Hunting'


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Recently nominated for Ireland's Choice Music Prize, Belfast's And So I Watch You From Afar are heading across the pond for SXSW as part of their huge Euro/American tour.

They cut their teeth touring around Europe for an incredible 170 shows in 2009 alone, including the Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium and the Novarock Festival in Austria. The year also saw the release of their debut full length and EP in Europe with upcoming street dates yet to be determined in the US. For fans of Explosions in the Sky this will be the band to watch.

Listen:
'The Voiceless'



Website: MySpace.
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FlyinFisch, the new project of modern-day-renaissance-man Adrian Fischer, is set to release its self-titled debut album on March 19th. With each song representing a unique exploration into the experiences and cultural influences that have formed his musical identity, Fischer’s new album is a sonic journey that should not be missed. With tour dates throughout February to support the upcoming release, Adrian is pleased to be hitting the road again, and introducing his material to new audiences.

If you try to pinpoint where Adrian has been the last ten years, you’ll notice that he hasn’t stayed in one place for very long. Having lived everywhere from Venezuela to New York City, and many places in between, Adrian Fischer’s story is one of travel, exploration, and evolution. The resulting musical sound is as difficult to characterize as Adrian is – influenced by the tones and sounds of each place he has lived, his style is a blend of classical, reggae, pop, and afro-Caribbean influences, with each element representing a snapshot in his decade-long journey.

In FlyinFisch’s debut album, Adrian has brilliantly fused his influences into one solid and united offering. While still clearly referencing the cultures and sounds that inform his music, Adrian has now moved a step further, developing a sound that is uniquely his own. With an interest in the natural world linking many of the songs together, and a desire to promote what Adrian calls “positive consciousness” providing the album’s context, FlyinFisch’s first offering is meant to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages and cultures, who will hopefully be brought together by Adrian’s message of unity and love.

Listen:
'Blueberry Oats'



Website: MySpace.
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San Diego's Tropical Depression (Jordan Thomas and Joe Campesino) have played in a variety of bands together before deciding to form their current indie electronic two-piece, but are already on their third album release in four years. Their sound has been described as "grunge, electronic, nu-gaze, and a hint of 90s emo" by The FMLY.

Their band consists of a twelve string guitar, bass, electronics and vocals. "As multi-instrumentalists we both usually come to the table with ideas," says Thomas, "and follow the songs wherever they go. The single best thing about being in a two piece band is direct one-on-one collaboration." Tropical Depression has just released the album Years On Years (November 2009), which was recorded and produced by Pall Jenkins (The Black Heart Procession, Three Mile Pilot).

Listen:
'Walls'



Website: MySpace.

Elton John - Hammersmith Odeon 1973

This is Elton John live in concert at West London's Hammersmith Odeon back on the 22nd December 1973.

Despite suffering from a heavy cold, Elton John clearly wanted to give this concert his best effort, the results are self evident, both the band and Elton were clearly up for the gig, possibly spurred on by national coverage on BBC radio in the UK.

Looking at the set list not far from four decades on, I remain surprised at the amount of career defining material he had already produced at this stage. As boots go this is better quality, both in terms of audio and performance than a lot of officially released live albums from the early 1970's.

Source: PRE-FM from BBC transcription reels.

Sound Quality: Very good stereo mp3@192kbps.

Genre: Rock and contemporary pop.

Set: Full Set (almost).

Set List:

CD 1:
01 - Intro - Funeral For A Friend - Love Lies Bleeding
02 - Candle In The Wind
03 - Hercules
04 - Rocket Man
05 - Bennie And The Jets
06 - Daniel
07 - This Song Has No Title
08 - Honky Cat

CD 2:
01 - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
02 - The Ballad Of Danny Bailey
03 - Elderberry Wine
04 - I've Seen That Movie Too
05 - All The Young Girls Love Alice
06 - Crocodile Rock
07 - Your Song
08 - Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

Comments:

From Wikipedia: The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel"; the former became his first U.S. number one hit. (Ironically this, like his other famous 1970s solo hits, would be popular in his native land but never top the UK Singles Chart; this achievement would have to wait two decades.)

Both the album and "Crocodile Rock" were the first album and single, respectively on the consolidated MCA Records label in the USA, replacing MCA's other labels including Uni.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at Number One for two months. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock star. It contained the Number One hit "Bennie and the Jets", along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Grey Seal" (originally recorded and released in 1970 as the B-side to the UK-only single, "Rock and Roll Madonna").

Reloaded - 29/May/2015 - download link in comments.

2010FM March Mega Catch Up (One).

Right then and down to business! Loads of great new songs have come our way whilst we have been limited to how often we could update Beehive Candy, so this is an attempt to start catching up. To avoid missing any of the songs that have grabbed our ears, this will be a rapid run through that hopefully has something to appeal to your ears as well!

Friday Mileʼs new release, Good Luck Studio, reveals a truly accessible pop album built on ravishing guy-girl harmonies, contagious melodies, and a vocal chemistry that few artists today can deliver. Reminiscent of The Magic Numbers and Rilo Kiley, these playfully romantic alt-country tunes are seriously worth checking out if the above mentioned acts appeal to you. Seriously good music.

Listen:
'Lives Of Strangers'



Website & Buy: Friday Mile.
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From Portland, Oregon’s famously burgeoning indie music culture, Hello Morning isn’t hoping to mesh perfectly into the scene.

While the Northwest is overflowing with plenty of folk, experimental, electro-pop, and other brilliant (and sometimes accidental) oddities, Hello Morning has developed a big, fresh sound, complete with big drums, cascading guitars and anthemic choruses.

Their debut EP is something more akin to stadium rockers Muse, & Keane, and at times, maybe a little closer to the aesthetics of early U2 and The Editors. OK enough name dropping I love this EP and really hope this band can provide us with a full album in the not to distant future.

Listen:
'Come Home'



Website & Buy: Hello Morning.
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When bands get in touch with Beehive Candy direct I am afraid that more often than not they don't make it to getting featured.

I do feel sorry, but we have to like the material, otherwise we are not being true to our standards. That said I take my (virtual) hat off and applaud the often notable enthusiasm and desire that so many have.

I Am Three sent me a fairly minimal email and a copy of their album. I have copied this from their web site - I Am Three are a British band formed in 2008. Their live set up is made up of multi-instrumentalist Irving on double bass and vocals and Hughes on guitar, vocals, cider bottle and rollies. They have gigged in hundreds of locations throughout Europe from Manchester to Milan and are set to tour the fringe of Russia in 2010.

Dubbed the Northern version of Withnail and I, their music is often described as cult alt-folk rock-emo-rap-blues by those who wish to describe it. Their on stage persona ranges from side-splittingly funny to wistful as a mournful parting in the rain. They are actually a great listen and lets hope they can get noticed some more this year.

Listen:
'Heaven Help'



Website: I Am Three.
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Right then I am copying this from their promo because it actually seem pretty spot on.

With a sound so unique that it deserves its own genre name, Oslo’s Pirate Love takes Scandinavian indie rock to a whole new level. Black Vodoun Space Blues is not only the title of the band’s latest release, but is also the most fitting genre name for Pirate Love’s raw, mind-bending sound.

Signed to Kong Tiki Records, Pirate Love takes its cues not only from 60’s garage punk, rockabilly, and goth, but is also equal parts sex, drugs, and violence. Their signature sound is most reminiscent of Jesus and The Mary Chain, The Cramps, and The Horrors. Well the band are playing SXSW this year along with other US dates this month, and if high energy madness is your thing these guys do the business!

Listen (LOUD):
'Shake It'.

Website: MySpace.
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We will calm things down just a little now. Jersey-based band Like Trains & Taxis is gearing up to self-release their debut full-length album on April 6th, “Tales From A Revolving Door”. Following the D.I.Y. ethos of the New Brunswick, NJ music scene where they formed and developed, Like Trains & Taxis will be releasing the album on their own label, as they did their last two EPs.

Like Trains & Taxis combines a modern indie sensibility with traditional notions of songwriting, and a sound that evokes both the soul of Stevie Wonder and the off-beat nuanced approach of artists like Ben Folds or Fiona Apple.

With a voice that captivates, and piano arrangements that perfectly support the poetic nature of the music, Like Trains & Taxis possesses a level of originality, intelligence, and an ability to move the listener that is rare in today’s music – Metromix NJ recently praised the band, declaring “The EP sounds like what the world would still be listening to had Stevie Wonder not gone all adult contemporary on us a few years back or, to put it in other terms, like a much more soulful version of Spoon.” With so much music in the Beehive In Box at present, artists of this calibre always stand out from the crowd.

Listen:
'Their Eyes Were Watching God'



Website: Official, MySpace.
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Shameless copying and pasting from the promo for our final feature in this edition of Beehive Candy's 2010FM series. That's not a problem because this guy has both the pedigree and the music!

A former member of bands like The Ruby Suns (Sub Pop), The Brunettes and The Reduction Agents as well as a touring member of Okkervil River, Lawrence Arabia – the savant-like songwriting alter ego of James Milne -- is shedding his sideman status and stepping alone into the bright light of the U.S. music scene with Chant Darling. The album is his first full-length on Bella Union, the UK-based label credited with discovering hallmark influencers Fleet Foxes, Midlake, Beach House and Explosions in the Sky among others.

Already receiving four-star reviews from UK tastemakers like Mojo and Uncut, Chant Darling melds irreverent lyrics with West Coast melodies and lush harmonies, playing like a modern take on the work of classic popsmiths like Jonathan Richman, John Lennon and Brian Wilson. Hewn in large part from James’ gradual relocation to London and recorded over 18 months in a studio in Stockholm, three flats in London, a garden shed in Port Chalmers, a car club in Wellington and a studio in Auckland, Chant Darling signals the emergence of a weighty new voice straight from the new pop frontier of the southern hemisphere.

Lawrence will be touring the United States this spring, beginning at SXSW in late March.

Listen:
'Applepie Bed'



Website: Bella Union Records.

Fotheringay - Plumpton Festival 1970

Hopefully Beehive Candy will be back to normal from now on, following a series of broadband problems, and illness in recent weeks. One individual left a comment that we are shameless promoters and because of the existence of torrents and so forth we are hardly doing anything special here! Well we are happy to support new artists we like, and share old boots, regardless of the odd (very odd) persons snide remarks, perhaps they are a bit sad & lonely..

This is a must for fans of Sandy Denny or Fotheringay, and whilst the audio quality is only average, it is quite listenable and a wonderful piece of history from the short lived band.

Fotheringay was formed in 1970 by singer Sandy Denny upon her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from Fotheringhay Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in England. The castle was also the inspiration for the song "Fotheringay", which Fairport Convention had included on their 1969 album, 'What We Did on Our Holidays', before Sandy Denny's departure from that group.

This then is Fotheringay performing at the Tenth National Jazz and Blues Festival, held at Plumpton Race Track, Streat, East Sussex, (England) sometime between the 6th-9th Aug 1970.

Source: Audience

Sound Quality: Average mp3@192kbps.

Genre: Folk, folk rock.

Set: Part Set

Set List:

01 - Eppy Moray
02 - The Sea
03 - Ballad Of Ned Kelly
04 - Two Weeks Last Summer
05 - The Way I Feel
06 - John The Gun

Line Up:

Sandy Denny - guitar, piano
Trevor Lucas - guitar
Jerry Donahue - guitar
Pat Donaldson - bass
Gerry Conway - drums

Links: Plumpton Festival History HERE. MySpace HERE.

Comments:

From Wikipedia: Two former members of Eclection, Trevor Lucas and Gerry Conway, and two former members of Poet and the One Man Band, Jerry Donahue and Pat Donaldson (bass), completed the line-up responsible for what was long assumed to be the quintet's only album. This folk-based set included several Sandy Denny originals, notably "Nothing More", "The Sea" and "The Pond and The Stream", as well as meticulous readings of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Way I Feel" and Bob Dylan's "Too Much of Nothing". During the year of its original release, the album failed to match commercial expectations, and pressures on Denny to undertake a solo career, she was voted Britain's number 1 singer (two years consecutively) in Melody Maker's readers poll increased.

Fotheringay disbanded in January 1971 during sessions for a projected second album. Some of its songs surfaced on Sandy Denny's 1971 debut album, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Lucas, Conway and Donahue resurfaced in Fairport Convention in 1972 to record the Rosie album (on which some Fotheringay material was also used). However, Conway played on three tracks only and began session work afterwards. Both Conway and Donaldson have worked with Richard Thompson, among many others. Lucas and Donahue stayed with Fairport (the Nine album came out in 1973) for another couple of years, with Denny rejoining in 1974. This line-up recorded two additional albums: Fairport Live Convention (re-titled A Movable Feast in the U.S.) and Rising for the Moon. Denny, along with Donahue and Lucas, left the band in December 1975. Conway eventually joined a reformed Fairport in 1997.

In 2007 the BBC announced that Donahue would be attempting to complete the abandoned project (which he accomplished using previously unheard takes from the original archived tapes). Permission had finally been granted and the work was completed by summer of the following year. The resulting album, titled Fotheringay 2, was released by Fledg'ling Records on 29 September 2008.

Download link is in comments below or click on the picture.

Frankie Valli - Live in Atlantic City USA 1986

Due to technical problems we have not been able to up date Beehive Candy for a few days (normal service should resume later this week!). In the meantime...

This is Frankie Valli live in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the Tropicana Casino, back on September 11th 1986.

Source: Soundboard

Sound Quality: Very good stereo mp3@192kbps.

Genre: Pop, Rock, Disco.

Set: Full Set

Set List:

01. Who Loves You
02. Dawn (Go Away)
03. Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
04. Opus 17 (Don’t You Worry ’bout Me)
05. I’ve Got You Under My Skin
06. Frankie Valli talks
07. Book Of Love
08. My Eyes Adored You
09. Grease
10. Remember Then
11. December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)
12. Swearin’ To God
13. Horn section intro
14. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
15. Sherry
16. Walk Like A Man
17. Big Girls Don’t Cry
18. Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby Goodbye)
19. Instrumental
20. Streetfighter
21. More band intros
22. Frankie Valli talks
23. They Don’t Make Love Like They Used To
24. Let’s Hang On

Comments:

For the record Frankie Valli scored twenty nine Top 40 hits with The Four Seasons, one Top 40 hit under The Four Seasons' alias 'The Wonder Who?', and nine Top 40 hits as a solo artist. As set lists go this includes some of the greats, and reminds us of the considerable repertoire he has to draw from.

Download link is in comments below or click on the picture.