Wonderful Wednesday: The Legends - Oh Be Clever - Rory Max Kaplan

The Legends - Winter Is The Warmest Season - from the album 'It's Love'.

An expanded version of The Legends "It's love" (originally released on Cascine this summer) is out on Labrador October 16th. One of the new tracks features lead vocals by Sara Carlsson who also happens to be the main subject of the album.

Bio - The Legends from Stockholm have enjoyed a somewhat accidental career. Beginning with Up Against The Legends, their debut album in 2003, the project was comically assumed to be a 9-piece band due to early shows consisting of friends on stage, drunk and generally winging it. In actuality, The Legends has only ever been a personal outlet for one man, Johan Angergård, apart from his other, more focused projects, Club 8 and Acid House Kings.

Following the first LP were two back-to-back full-lengths – Public Radio in 2005, and Facts and Figures in 2006. Both records were well received, providing The Legends a platform to play festivals and tour internationally. The sound of each album was nothing like the one before it. “That’s the result of me needing to say what I want to say and express evolving emotions,” Johan explained. This approach was creatively satisfying, but divisive to fans that expected a more continuous sound across releases. “I didn’t think I’d record any more after Facts and Figures, but after a particularly chaotic stretch in 2008 and some angst, I needed noise and recorded Over and Over. And then I thought I wouldn’t record another album again...”

Fast forward to 2015 and the nearing launch of It’s Love, The Legends’ fifth album. It’s Love details a recent chapter in Johan’s life that saw him wrestle with issues of loss, love and identity. Turning 40 brought with it unexpected emotional distance from things that once mattered very much. Suddenly, his role as Labrador label boss was less important to him, and a relationship with someone he shared a large chunk of his life with lost importance completely. “I felt old and like I didn’t belong anywhere…some sort of no-man’s-land. Free floating.” At the same time, a new love came crashing into his world, bringing with it both infatuation and anxiety.

This is a beautiful album, Swedish electro 'dream' pop, that sends shivers through me. Layers of incredible music and pure sounding vocals that just capture my imagination.

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Oh Be Clever - River.

Bio (and a pretty different one!) - Indie, electro, soul is a category of sound squarely cornered by Salt Lake City's breakout duo Oh, Be Clever. Vocalist and wordsmith Brittney Shields effortlessly uses Cory Scott Layton's refreshing rush of instrumentals as a conduit for spinning tales of love, loss and living in the 21st century. The pair, however, haven't always enjoyed perfect harmony. Prior to Oh, Be Clever the two were members of separate bands which loathed each other to the point of physical violence. Late one night after a show, in the parking lot, a fight broke out between their two bands. 

Having always admired each other, Shields and Layton left the scene of the fight to create their own music. Later that very night, after disappearing together, the two alerted their previous bands that they were done. Oh, Be Clever was born. The goal from the beginning was to create a new sound completely different from their previous efforts. Layton knew that Shields' voice could roll and run, drop and drip, cascade and plunge like no other in Salt Lake City. Together these two set out to create the perfect sound to spark Oh, Be Clever to life.

And quoting Brittney Shields herself - "This song is about seeking validation in all the wrong places. When we wrote this I was very insecure. I'd do almost anything to get someone to like me. It's about the feeling you get when you come to terms your flaws and let go of the baggage holding you back.

"River is about accepting your flaws and living happily with them. There are a million different ways a person could interpret this song, and that's kind of the way we want to keep it. Leave it up to your own life experience and the way you relate to it. We're letting this song stay cryptic."

OK so whilst not endorsing bands brawling and loathing each other, if it leads to a duo who can produce a fine song such as 'River', perhaps we can put it down to artistic temperament. This song is, to be concise, 'epic' what's more you can download 'River' for free.

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Rory Max Kaplan - The Boxer.

Background and Bio - “The Boxer” is the first single from the forthcoming EP by the multi-talented Rory Max Kaplan. The Band included some of the greatest session musicians in the New York City area, Larry "Slappy" Saltzman on guitar (Simon & Garfunkel); Kasim Sulton on bass (Utopia, Meatloaf); Doane Perry on drums (Jethro Tull); Mark Rivera on baritone sax (Billy Joel, Foreigner) and features Inger Hansen on solo lead guitar. Rory’s vocals were produced and recorded by the legendary, Frank Filipetti (James Taylor, Foreigner, KISS, Billy Joel, various Broadway cast albums and more). The song was mixed by Grammy Award winner Larry Alexander (Bruce Springsteen, Janis Ian and more). The track was arranged by keyboardist, Kip Kaplan (Executive Producer for Al DiMeola, Cameo, Omar Hakim, among others).

A native New Yorker, Rory Max Kaplan has been performing and creating since the beginning of his existence. Ranging from acting on stage & screen, classical & contemporary dance, cartoon voices, playing in a band or singing in the recording studio, Rory is now ready to hit the world stage with this new major-label distributed release.

Rory made his stage debut in October 2014 in the cast of the hit, award winning Broadway show “Jersey Boys” at the August Wilson Theatre in New York City. He has appeared Off Broadway as the lead in “Nothing But Trash” at the Theatre for the New City in lower Manhattan; in an international tour of “Rock of Ages”, and in numerous theatre productions throughout the United States.

Well if you are going to do a cover version of a song as legendary as Simon and Garfunkel's 'The Boxer', you might as well put a different spin on it, just to get noticed. Having some of the best session musicians around can't hurt either. So a rock version complete with superb backing vocalist's is Rory's answer. In summary, quality, fun, different and yep, it rocks.

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Lillie Lemon - Stardust

Lillie Lemon - Stardust. (Video Premiere).

A creative and imaginative video for a really fine song and a pleasure to have first showing here on Beehive Candy.

So here's the low down on Monterey-based, alternative electro-pop duo, Lillie Lemon.

The group is comprised of Lillie Lemon (vocals/synthesiser) and Erica Wobbles (synthesiser/production). 

Originally from Wisconsin, Lillie Lemon moved to California, where she then met Erica Wobbles. Though the pair began performing small open-mic shows together, it wasn’t until years later that the decision to collaborate came to fruition. 

Their first album, entitled ​ /brāk/, ​was a turning point for the duo, shifting from Lillie Lemon’s acoustic style into a more electronic sound. According to Lillie Lemon,​ “Stardust” is about a relationship gone awry that tragically ends in a car accident.

This is a really fine electro-pop song. Lillie's voice just seems so right for this type of music, which is in my opinion, pretty good in it's own right. Hopefully this gets much wider attention, as I have said before if the Top 40's of today were full of songs of this calibre, just imagine how great radio would be again. There is more about Lillie Lemon on their website HERE.

 
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Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad - Peach Music Festival 2013 (internet Archive)

From the Internet Archive this is Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad live at the Peach Music Festival in Scranton, PA, on the Mushroom Stage, back on the 17th August 2013.

From the bands website bio we learn the following - Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad (GPGDS) is known for folding the aesthetics of the jam band scene into the structures of reggae. In the live setting, the band performs extended jams, while their previous studio albums have blended roots reggae with psychedelia (In These Times, 2012) or diverged from the genre completely, journeying into straight Americana (Country, 2012). On Steady, the band’s fourth studio album (and first on Easy Star Records), GPGDS has synthesised their approach by weaving traditional folk instrumentation into a foundation of reggae, with arrangements that let the reggae breathe in a non-traditional way. While Steady may not be the first record to find inspiration in both old time Appalachia and ‘70s Jamaica, it may be the best.

Giant Panda formed in 2001 in Rochester, New York. A mysteriously fertile area for developing the U.S. reggae scene, the city has ties going back to 1981 when Lee “Scratch” Perry recruited his entire backing band from Rochester. The Upstate NY region became early supporters of GPGDS, while its members were in high school and beginning college, playing weekly gigs to cut their teeth. In these formative years, Giant Panda began to explore their songs with an experimental approach that is stylistically akin to the Grateful Dead, while keeping their roots firmly planted in reggae rhythms and lyrical content. Around 2005 tapers began to notice and soon after one of the band’s first Colorado shows received homepage placement on the popular taper website Archive.org. Almost overnight GPGDS became a mainstay on the jam band festival circuit.

From 2005 – 2013 GPGDS’s three original members (drummer Chris O’Brian, guitarist-singer Dylan Savage, and bassist-singer James Searl) began a touring schedule averaging over 100 shows a year and performing throughout the U.S., Canada, and Jamaica. Their third lead singer, multi-instrumentalist Dan Keller, joined the group a few years back, while keyboardist Tony Gallicchio joined in 2013. Giant Panda’s continuous time on the road hardened the players into monster instrumentalists. Their attention to the studio in later years, along with a unique blending of reggae and rural American music solidified GPGDS as one of the region’s most beloved bands. Like their hometown, they manage to unify an intellectual and creative culture with a hard-working blue-collar past.

Recording Technical Details: Schoeps MK4V's>V2+SBD>SD744t, Lineage sd744t>Nuendo 4>SF11>CDWAV>FLAC.

Sound Quality: Very good soundboard and live Mic's.

Set List:

1. Whatever Costs
2. Wolf at the Door
3. Another Day - Missing You More - Pockets - Healing
4. Steady
5. Every Night? - Seasons Change
6. On The Moon
7. All Night Music
8. Next Best Explosion - Morning Song - All Day Working
9. Ok Ok
(10. Missing last song due to recorder power issue).

Website: Official - Here.

Comments: There are FLAC, Ogg Vorbis and mp3 files along with the streaming material over at the Internet Archive (here).

Stream Below:

Sundays Alternative Take - New, Remixed and Refixed

Synkro - Midnight Sun.

Manchester producer Synkro is set to release his debut album Changes via R&S sister label Apollo Records on September 18th. Background - Having forged his career in the dubstep era, with nearly 40 releases to his name, Synkro AKA Joe McBride has always resisted easy classification - his music winds together such diverse influences as Boards Of Canada, dBridge, Burial and Oneohtrix Point Never, whilst still remaining utterly unique. His trademark warm sonics, and emotive melodies are ever-present on his forthcoming debut album 'Changes' - his much favoured vinyl samples being joined on this record by a new found love of analogue equipment, as he explains "I got addicted to vintage synths after a trip to Japan last year - I came back with a Juno-6 & SH-101 both of which play a big role in the album." 

His recent, lauded work with Indigo under the Akkord name set pulses racing with what Resident Adviser described as the duo's " fiercely technical take on dance music, one that you could dance to or simply admire in all its steel-plated glory". Fittingly, Changes acts as a soothing balm after the intense workouts that Akkord music incites - from the lush pads and rolling arpeggio pulse of the intro, to the understated dubstep meets ambient/balearic glory of the title track to the more muscular 'Let Me go' - awash with cavernous, soulful vocals and melancholic strings, to the epic, hymn like D&B ballad 'Body Close' featuring the dulcet vocals of Lyves, Synkro once again proves his effortless ability to create cinematic textures and surreal sonic vistas in long form.

Joe McBride readily admits his interest in electronic music 'past masters' so not surprisingly there is maturity to this music. The featured track is both sophisticated and an aural delight, a good taster for the album.

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Keep Shelly in Athens - Now I'm Ready (featuring Ocean Hope).

Background - Born in the midst of a creative surge in the pop-leaning underground, Greek act Keep Shelly In Athens have been a force in the indie world for the last half decade, releasing projects on Cascine, Gorilla vs. Bear label arm Forest Family and British heavyweight Planet Mu. Now, the Athens-based duo arrive on Los Angeles outlet Friends of Friends with the Now I'm Ready LP, their second official LP and their most emotionally mature, sonically adventurous effort to date.

At eight songs and 45 minutes, the album strikes a concise, yet imposing figure, each individual effort comprised of enough peaks and valleys to bring the listener to the edge and back again. Lifted off by lead single "Fractals", Now I'm Ready is not your typical indie effort, un-beholden to tempo and style, the album skips across genre tropes with ease,  each track guided by producer RΠЯ's singular aesthetic and vocalist Myrtha's unmistakable crescendos.

And whether you're locked into a long road trip, careening around a city or looking over the Mediterranean, Keep Shelly In Athens bring an arresting pathos to the proceedings, felt everywhere from the break beat-led madness of "Hollow Man" to the ever-building, hypnotic vocal qualities of "Now I'm Ready". It's only the duo's second official LP, but considering their release history on outlets as diverse as Cascine, Forest Family and Planet Mu, it's no surprise that their arrival on Friends of Friends is such an unabated success.

The featured song can have, with honour, Beehive Candy's vary rarely awarded 'Almost As Good as the Cocteau Twins Medal'. Seriously there are some echoes of the Cocteau's on this track, which is absolutely fine as this is an excellent production!

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Major Lazer ft. MØ - Lean On (Tribe Society Refix).

Regarding Tribe Society we are told - Taking on one of their personal favourites, the band have reworked Major Lazer's electronic smash hit, "Lean On," for a refreshing alternative rock spin. Transforming it with new vocal stylings and a spiced up instrumental arrangement, "Lean On" takes on new life thanks to Tribe, and stands as a unique re imagination of the chart topping hit. 

We featured Tribe Society back in July in another 'Sundays Alternative Take' however this 'refix' of 'Lean On' with guitars, flutes, and a new vocal top line, is fascinating, fun and just deserves a share.

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Touch Sensitive - Pizza Guy (Fantastic Man Remix).

Background - Multi-instrumentalist, self confessed synth-freak and italo-style icon, Michael Di Francesco is Touch Sensitive. Having originally released his notorious single 'Pizza Guy' in his local Australia in 2013 to incredible success (it was the number 3 most played track that year on the country's No. 1 radio station, Triple J and featured a star-studded video with cameos from label mates Flume, Chet Faker and Jagwar Ma), the UK will finally see a release on 9th October through Future Classic.

The single, which will be packaged as a AA-side release alongside 'Show Me' and includes brand new remixes from Melbourne slow-mo disco connoisseur Fantastic Man (the moniker of Mic Newman) and legendary French DJ/producer i:cube.

Already getting considerable attention this new Fantastic Man remix does the original justice. Thoughtful and imaginative and just so listenable.

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World's End Press - Tall Stories.

Background - ‘Tall Stories’ is the brand new single from Melbourne band, World’s End Press. The delectable, soon-to-be dancefloor favourite offers the first peek at the band’s forthcoming EP release of the same name.  It sees World’s End Press carry on from the forward momentum of previous single ‘Spirals (Slide Away)’ which burst from the airwaves all summer long, received a plethora of online love, and saw the band edging into a sweatier, grittier, clubbier realm.

Tall Stories the EP, which was self-produced and mixed by Bruno Ellingham (The Maccabees, Delphic, Goldfrapp) and is due for release on September 25th can best be described as the result of a misspent summer; one spent in lock down in an insulated, bunker-style studio with the PA turned to the max and the lights dimmed. The EP takes its name from the glittering high-rise windows that the band would gaze at on their late night walks home from the studio, and touches on themes of distorted communication, self-deceit, enigma and unconditional love.

World’s End Press recorded their self-titled debut album at Massive Attack Studios in Bristol and released it in 2013 to widespread critical acclaim. The last few years have seen the band touring both nationally and internationally, supporting Primal Scream on their Screamadelica tour, Cut Copy on a North American Tour and Phoenix on their last Australian Tour. Their visceral live sets for Let Them Eat Cake, Meredith, Golden Plains and Falls have left audiences feeling dazed and happy.

Feel good and full of brightness this is just 'good old down to earth', great dance and pop music. Sometimes that is really all that's required.

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Axwell /\ Ingrosso - Sun Is Shining (Marcus Schossow & Years Remix).

You possibly know this - Axwell & Ingrosso's summer smash "Sun Is Shining" has grown to be one of their biggest songs to date. It has earned over 50 million streams on Spotify and over 10 million views on the official video, as well as #1 on iTunes in 9 countries, securing its title as one of the biggest dance songs of the year. The official remix package has just been released (28th August) on Def Jam featuring new mixes from W&W, R3hab, Marcus Schössow & Years, and M-22.

Popular song and my favourite of the remixes, simple as that really.


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Saturday Specials: The Mantles - Limbo Sanctuary - Clara Lofaro

The Mantles - Doorframe.

Everything you could possibly need to know - Bay Area garage-pop band The Mantles announce their latest musical offering, 'All Odds End.' The new album will be released via Slumberland Records on October 16.

What makes the Mantles the Mantles? Maybe it's the idiosyncratic motion and energy of Michael Olivares' vocals, the way they alternately stroll and hop assuredly over the music. Or maybe it's the band's sound itself, familiar and classic yet increasingly distinctive, and growing-with acoustic texture; keyboard hooks and licks; and resonant and representative drumbeats-to its deepest, warmest, fullest, and most colorful on their third album, All Odds End (out October 16th on Slumberland Records), a record that is quintessentially Mantles from the sheer sonic splendour and elation-and biting words-of the album-opening "Island" on through to the final harmony of "Stay."

The album exits with "Stay," so you can loop right back and listen to it all over again, and live for a bit within songs that capture those heightened moments when you (and Olivares' lyrical portraiture often favours a perceptive "you" over a needy. greedy "I") are at the threshold of change. It's right there in the snapshot-vivid lyrics of "Doorframe": "Ooh nothing like standing in a doorframe all day." While it's tempting to see these transitional vignettes-marked by characters who are simultaneously coming and going-as reflective of day-to-day tumult in contemporary Bay Area, Olivares brushes off the idea: "We would have written the same songs even if we weren't here." 

Still, the theme even extends to the making of All Odds End. The band reunited with Jason Quever, song-smith of Papercuts, and master of vintage audio production who recorded The Mantles' much loved early single, "Don't Lie".  Quever had all his boxes packed for a move to L.A. while recording and mixing the album, with his equipment his only belongings out of storage. The situation meant an already attentive, sound-romancing producer had an even more heightened focus on the song's ingredients, and appreciation of how they form a greater whole. It spills right off of the layered "Island," which grows as it goes along, motored and punctuated by the playfully assured interplay between Olivares's vocals and Virginia Weatherby's steadily propulsive, detailed (yes, that is a Vibraslap) drumming. It's apparent in the stark, bracing "Lately," where acoustic guitar has the sharp-to-blind beauty of morning sunlight.

For this album Olivares, Weatherby, and lead guitarist Justin Loney were joined by Matt Bullimore on bass, a New Zealand native and member of Oakland's Legs, and Carly Putnam on keyboard. These two new members energise the band into exploring territory that ranges from the staccato bursts and messy wisdom of "Police My Love" (which draws from a crazy variety of lyrical inspirations), to the country lilt of "Undelivered," to the casually anthemic SF-to-LA tilt of "Best Sides."People move, bands fall apart, cities change, but the Mantles abide and grow stronger, embodying their many-faceted name-planetary core-deep; incandescent; enveloping-a bit more with each new day, year, song and album. The Mantles are more and more the Mantles, and listening with dedication is like getting gifts. All Odds End, but the group continues to bloom.

Warm sounding with every instrument blending to provide a breezy pleasant 'late summer' sound. Add Michael Olivares voice and the whole song is a real special treat.

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Limbo Sanctuary - Lost.

Background - Hailing from New South Wales’ Southern Highlands, Limbo Sanctuary is a three piece Indie band. The band formed after classmates, Nina Therese and Austin Harris met up with Sydney based musician James Phipps in late 2013. The wide range of musical influences amongst the three musicians provides a blend of modern indie tones with a classic folk rock platform. 

With comparisons drawn to musicians as varied as Sarah Blasko, PJ Harvey, Bon Iver and Of Monsters and Men, it’s no surprise that Limbo Sanctuary have attracted a crowd everywhere they’ve been. After some notable gigs in 2014 at venues like Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory, Metro and Factory Theatre, the band has recently spent some time honing their sound, writing and recording and are set for a big end to 2015. 

“At the time that I wrote ‘Lost’, I was listening to a lot of vocal melody based music like Crowded House, You Am I and The Cure. I wrote the song as a nod to what it is like to deal depression and anxiety, and that feeling that you can never get back to something that you enjoy. Once the framework of the song was built, the whole band came together to put their individual touches into the song and what came out of it was something that we all contributed to and something that we are all proud of.” - James from Limbo Sanctuary. .“Lost” will be released 18th of September 2015.

A beautiful song that has just about everything going for it. Enchanting vocals and as mentioned above an indie come folk rock feel, that just charms me through and through.

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Clara Lofaro - Other Side.

Background - Toronto born, Brooklyn based, Clara Lofaro, began singing in a local community church. Realising her abilities for harmonies and composing at an early age, Clara continued to study and perform music throughout her formative and high school years before accepting a scholarship at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Clara Lofaro is a singer/songwriter who performs throughout the world with her band and as a Solo Artist. She is well sought after by her contemporaries to collaborate on their respective projects and her song catalogue has provided television, film and commercials with over 50 song placements spanning many musical formats. When Vanity Fair Napkins was searching for a theme song for their “Wipe On A Smile” National Commercial Campaign, they chose Lofaro's single "Just Smile" (from her Self Titled LP).

Clara Lofaro’s current EP release Other Side (Sept 2015) follows her 2014 “Air Lift Me” EP release, which includes the Billboard Club Hit "Born To Love You”. Lofaro has performed alongside Stevie Nicks, Edwin McCain, Kimberly Locke, and Jeffrey Gaines and was the featured vocalist in the Disney Super Bowl commercial "When You Wish Upon a Star" featuring MVP players of the NFL team.

Clara Lofaro is the winner of 6 Toronto Music Awards and has had numerous nominations in both the U.S. and Canada. She has also been awarded first place, triumphing over 300 bands during Toronto's Indie week, a competition to find the city's best unsigned talent.

The opening piano bars reminded me of Regina Spektor, see that as a positive. Then everything changes and a country rock feel with Clara's distinctive vocals and bags of energy happens. Mainstream sounding, with that certain 'extra' that makes it stand out in a crowd.

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Fridays Three: Street Chant - Betty Moon - Alpha Rev

Street Chant - Pedestrian Support League.

Some words from the band - Emily Littler from Street Chant: "Pedestrian Support League is a song loosely about Auckland life. Coming back from being on tour a lot and moving back into a crummy flat in Grey Lynn I felt an extreme sense of ennui amongst my peers and especially in myself. A few years ago I had felt excitement for the future and now I was paranoid my flatmates were stealing all my margerine. The chorus “enrol to vote and so it goes, everyone dresses like us nowadays..” expresses the amusement and dissatisfaction I felt with my surroundings - amusement because I felt like I was living out some “food for flatties” cookbook cliche, but watching National win another election as well my seemingly endless ability to stagnate bought about an extreme sense of apathy.

The new album Hauora will be released in November 2015 on Arch Hill/Flying Nun.

Kicks off with a nice funky bass line and then a fine Indie tune ensues. Pleasing, accessible and bodes well for the forthcoming album.

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Betty Moon - No Good.

The story so far - Toronto-born songstress Betty Moon began her career as an artist signed to A&M Records in 1990 and released her first LP just a year later. Moon followed up her debut with five critically lauded records that have led to four CASBY Awards nominations including Best Album of the Year, Best Single of the Year, Best Video of the Year, and Best Artist of the Year. Moon has amassed legions of devoted fans by crafting edgy modern rock music in the vein of Portishead, Massive Attack, and Florence and the Machine. She captivates listeners with a powerful, sultry vocal that evokes female legends such as rockers Chrissie Hynde and Grace Slick, and iconic soulstress Sade. Moon released three records after her self-titled debut, including Doll Machine on EMI Music, STIR, and Demon Flowers. 

A former teen model and dancer, Betty Moon took the Toronto music scene by storm upon her arrival. She sold over 10,000 DIY records within a few short months, all while still in school. The buzz caught the attention of A&M/Universal, who quickly signed Betty to a deal and crowned her as Canada's resident Lady of Rock. 

In 2013, she was a featured performer at the world famous Sunset Strip Music Festival alongside Marilyn Manson, Quiet Riot, Black Label Society, and The Offspring. Her last album, “Amourphous,” was released in 2014 and features the first single, “Valentine,” mixed by Grammy Award-winner Chris Lord-Alge. Moon’s music has been featured in a variety of film and television spots including Californication, Dexter, Bounty Hunters, Walking the Dead, and Last Gasp. With a catalog of music now available on iTunes and Pandora Radio, Betty Moon is continuing to play shows in support of her new album. Now residing in sunny Los Angeles, Betty is ready to bring her unique brand of music to the masses on a global scale.

As you can see, this is a Depeche Mode cover. Betty puts her own touch on the song, the music is a respectful nod to the original feel, her vocals lighten the load and make this a pleasing listen. The album has so much more to offer, so if this song gets your attention, your on to a winner.

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Alpha Rev - Names.

Background - Alpha Rev, the infectious alt-pop band from Austin, Texas, isn’t just making an impact musically.  They’re also making an impact socially. The band released their latest single, “Names,” less than a month ago and for the next six months, 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

Additionally, Alpha Rev just completed a successful must-see summer tour that began in Austin, criss-crossed the country and culminated in Dallas.  The tour, called Music Builds, is an exploration of the ongoing poverty crisis, and what Habitat for Humanity is doing to fight it.  The band is working closely with the organization to inform and inspire Americans to take action in the fight against poverty.  Alpha Rev’s Casey McPherson filmed his time volunteering for Habitat, and is using the footage to create both a music video and a PSA to bring in new donors. You can learn more about the campaign at PledgeMusic.

“Names is all about being able to change,” explains McPherson. “We’re all born with a name, born into an environment that we had no say in creating. For most of us, we see our situations as the way things must always be, but we forget that we are in charge of the life before us, and we can be given a new name, so to speak, if we choose. For those of us born into poverty, abuse, chaos, or whatever the negative attribute may be, we don’t have to stay there! This is what Habitat for Humanity is doing, and they have inspired this song.”

“Names” was recorded at Pierre de Reeder’s (Rilo Kiley) studio with input from several notable musicians including: Jason Faulkner (Beck/Jellyfish) on guitar, Roger Manning Jr. (Jellyfish/Beck) on keyboard and Kiefo Nilsson on bass. Steve Hardy (Pink, Alicia Keys) provided mixing, and Andy Vandette (Uncle Kracker, Dear Hunter) punctuated the song with superb mastering.

Fronted by Casey McPherson, formerly of Endochine, Alpha Rev released their debut album, The Greatest Thing I’ve Ever Learned, in March of 2007.  McPherson’s honey-laden vocals, along with with Zack Loy’s impressive guitar work and Tabber Millard’s memorable drumming, helped gain the band significant buzz and a spot as the #1 indie band from Texas on the Myspace.com charts.

A lively music track backs Casy McPherson's notable and enticing vocals. This is a great song which has so many fine hooks, one that will be on repeat for me this weekend.


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Thursdays Australian Double Play

Dubarray - Serendipity.

Background words provided - Fresh off the back of a finalist nomination in the Q-music awards, Sunshine Coast’s Dubarray have revealed their new single 'Serendipity' to keep them on the road this Spring/Summer. Taken from their sophomore album 'Visions Collide’, 'Serendipity' boasts the band’s signature drum and bass sound that combines worldly textures and progressive flow with smooth vocal hooks.

Dubarray are a unique story of an Australian act who kicked off their journey in Europe four years ago, building solid foundations within many countries thanks to a hectic live schedule. During that time the band have released two albums, returned to tour Europe four times, have hit the Australian road for three national tours and have been nominated for various Music Oz and Queensland Music awards. Radio buzz so far has come from community and college stations in Australia, UK, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Bali. 

While Dubarray have plans to return overseas soon, all of the live action is currently happening in Oz with launch shows for ‘Serendipity’ and festivals booked for the rest of 2015. The new single version of 'Serendipity' is out now via all good digital retailers.

Upcoming Shows:

September 4 - Miami Marketta - Gold Coast
September 5 - Sheoak Shack - Fingal Head
September 11 - Solbar - Maroochydore
September 13 - Peregian Originals - Peregian Beach
October 2 - Caloundra Music Festival - Sunshine Coast
October 3 - Faraway Festival - Stanthorpe
October 16 - Wanderlust Festival - Coolum
October 31 - Conscious Life Festival - Kawana
November 13 - Motor Room - Brisbane
November 14- Paradise One - Mullumbimby
December 12 - Settlers Tavern - Margaret River
December 13 - Caves House - Dunsborough

Pleasantly different 'Serendipity' has so many good things going on, both simultaneously and in harmony. One of those tracks where asking you to listen is a whole lot easier than describing things, and in my opinion worth your while.

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Mabel - Rachel.

Background words provided - Mabel are a 50’s & 60’s inspired indie rock band from Sydney, Australia.  With influences ranging from The Beach Boys & Roy Orbison to The Black Keys & Stones, their jangly, psychedelic, upbeat mix is the perfect marriage of pop melodies & dirty rock sounds leaving nothing but toes-a-tapping, mouths-a-humming & hips-a-shaking. 

Individually the band have toured with Aussie greats INXS, performed at Bluesfest (Aus) & Wickerman (UK) & had tunes synced on The Vampire Diaries (TV) & Step It Up 2 (Film). Having cut their teeth in numerous bands worldwide, Mabel have honed their ability to speak directly to an audience, bringing unparalleled energy, raw excitement & extreme bouts of great times to both their recorded music & live shows.
  
Mabel’s debut 'Rachel' to be released 14th of September 2015 on iTunes, Bandcamp, Pandora and other services worldwide. The band are - Michael Votano - Vocals, Daniel Romeo - Guitar, Alvin Ash -  Bass, Jeff Doukakis - Drums.

'Rachel' has an edgy blend of indie rock and punk energy that demands you move. It spans the decades and only the audio quality gives away how new the song is.

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