BEEHIVE CANDY

Hege Nesset - Faces. Background - Hege Nesset is a Norwegian vocalist based in Liverpool, UK. Strongly influenced by blues and jazz as well as pop and electronica, she cites musical theatre and gospel music as shaping her voice. Hege has already earned attention on national TV in Norway, performing with Venke Knutson, a Norwegian pop artist. She's a versatile backing singer performing with two Liverpool based bands, as well as doing session work and top lining. 'We Are' (Haig Records 29 April 2016) marks Hege's debut as a solo artist. The record showcases her distinctive vocals, carried by a delicate melody and brought to life with soaring harmonies. The featured track 'Faces' gives a flavour of what to expect from the forthcoming single 'We Are'. Hege has already gained considerable experience in singing and has a charming versatile voice that deserves to be heard in it's own right, hopefully that's all about to happen. ------------

Finlay Leslie - Reality. Background promo - Finlay Leslie makes up for what she lacks in height with a big voice and a markedly vast range of song writing inspiration, exceeding far beyond her years.  Drawing experience from break-ups, trust, love, being elected Prom Queen alongside her girlfriend and revealing what she would say to her twelve-year-old self, this gifted self-taught storyteller already has a wealth of experience at her song-writing disposal. In her heart-breaking debut single “Reality”, Leslie showcases her poetic storytelling ability recalling times when a lack of belief in her music and herself almost led to giving up. The touchingly reflective “Reality” is released 18th April 2016. Nineteen-year-old Finlay Leslie’s talents were discovered when quickly racking up an impressive 80,000 YouTube plays, providing an early indication of her raw song writing talents with distinctive versions and arrangements of well-known covers before posting incredibly well received

The Veldt - Sanctified. Background - Identical twins Daniel and Danny Chavis may originally hail from Raleigh/ Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but they have been East Village residents for the past 28 years. They are also co-founders of the ground breaking band The Veldt, who lifted their band’s name from a Ray Bradbury science fiction story. Musically reared in the church and juke-joints of their native southern state, the twins have been performing since they were children, listening to music that included gospel, Motown and Pink Floyd. They now make music, together with bassist/programmer Hayato Nakao, returning to their roots with the release of The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur: The Drake Equation Mixtape EP.  The album releases on April 8 and to celebrate, the band is doing a whirlwind tour of Central Canada (see tour dates below) The first single is the emotionally wrought Sanctified, a ballad that perfectly captures the lush sound of Danny’s screeching guitars and decibel

Maria Usbeck - Moai Y Yo. Background promo - Maria Usbeck (former front woman of Selebrities) today announces her debut solo LP and shares lead single, "Moai Y Yo." The album "Amparo", to be released May 27 via Labrador in Europe and Cascine in the US, is a collection of songs written and recorded across the span of three years in Ecuador, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Barcelona, Lisbon, Easter Island, Costa Rica, Florida, L.A. and her home in Brooklyn. Though the songs were composed electronically, Amparo called for an acoustic treatment, so Usbeck spent a winter in the studio recording the arrangements live with producer Caroline Polachek of Chairlift who has also produced Beyoncé and engineer Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson. Fleshed out in full sonic colour on the marimba, xylophone, quena flute, piano, and harp, the album stretched into something hi-fi and expressive, meditative but not meandering. So my native language is English and sadly my grasp of Span

Polyenso - 17 New Years. Background promo - Building off of 2013’s cult-acclaimed “One Big Particular Loop,” Polyenso — Alex Schultz, Brennan Taulbee, and Denny Agosto — has spent the past two years working extensively with producer Jason Pennock. Evolving their particular flavor of indie-rock to include elements of hip-hop, neo-soul, and experimental electronics, they pull influences from acts such as Flying Lotus, The Roots, Bright Eyes, and Bjork, half-jokingly referring to their medley as “urban indie progressive.” Possessing an unrestricted vision for the musical quality in all things, the band operates like sound designers, pairing synthesisers, pianos and guitars with organic noise and everyday objects like spatulas, wooden bowls and packing peanuts. Polyenso’s visionary production is equalled by the freshly unlocked vocal dynamics of Taulbee and Schultz. Led by Taulbee’s soothing and provocative melodies, Schultz is tagged in to bring the sexy back on harmonies, occasional

Used Cassettes - Ducati. Background promo - S unburnt, half-dazed and several piers down from the fluoride tide of the Korean Wave, Used Cassettes are a stomp-and-stagger rock band based in Seoul. Rock n Rills due May 6th on Magic Strawberry Sound. Used Cassettes' tunes are served straight up like the Stones', though maybe a bit sandier, and waterlogged by an unlikely drift of far-flung currents. The group may have met not far from Gangnam, but they hail from South Africa, Canada, and Detroit. Over the past couple years they've broken Korea's rock Top 40, become the first gang of foreigners to ever sign with a top-tier local label, torn it up on the Asian festival circuit, and - inevitably? - starred in a comic book series read by millions. They wanted to make sure they sun-baked their sound nice and crisp before taking it back home. Listening back on their new LP Rock n Rills, they feel pretty good about that. 'Ducati' is a marvellous piece of rock mus

A Dead Forest Index - Myth Retraced. Background promo - A Dead Forest Index has shared the second cut from their debut album In All That Drifts From Summit Down, out April 29th on Sargent House. “Myth Retraced” features guitar contributions from Gemma Thompson of Savages, resulting in a song that is both intense and beautiful. Landscapes both seen and felt, real and imagined, lie at the heart of In All That Drifts From Summit Down, the vast debut full-length release from nomadic duo A Dead Forest Index. Comprised of brothers Adam Sherry (vocals/guitar) and Sam Sherry (drums/piano), the group crafts ethereal and intensely intimate compositions that defy trends and labelling, instead shaping an aural experience as organic as it is unpredictable. Forsaking instrumental complexity in favour of richly dense vocals and an otherwise minimal palette, the band evokes heaviness with the atmosphere they create rather than through blunt force. Teaming-up with Sargent House on the heels of a r

Palumbo and the Funk - Get It Right. Background words - Boasting a line up from around the world Palumbo and the Funk have been regulars on the London scene with audiences loving their Rock/Funk vibe. BBC Introducing have been early champions along with Gary Crowley who described them as "a musical powerhouse". Palumbo and the Funk  got a kick start in with their award winning self produced EP, Rock The Funk which won the Jazz/Funk/Fusion Category at the Independent Music Awards (IMAS) in 2014. The title of their debut album “All The Rage We Are”, is a take on the famous jazz tune “All the things you are” and encapsulates a “funk rock sound” but the genre becomes more “rock with horns” with each track. Musically, it’s groove with sonic depth and you find more hooks each time you hear the tunes.Lyrically, there’s a story to tell in each song. “All The Rage We Are”was 2 years in the making and features 10 instruments - Drums, bass, keys, guitar, tenor sax, alto sax, tr

ARMS - Keep It Light. Background promo - ARMS and Paper Garden Records have teamed up yet again to release the project's second full-length album, Patterns, which is set to be released worldwide in late May. With influences stemming from David Bowie and German rock band, Neu!, Todd Goldstein says the song 'Keep It Light' is "an open letter to the voices in my head that delight in telling me to tone it down, to rein it in, to not frighten or disturb anyone with my behaviours or feelings." ARMS' Patterns takes the cinematic mood pieces and coy lyricism of previous ARMS records—the noisy, homespun Kids Aflame (2008) and its widescreen sequel Summer Skills (2011)—and cranks the volume: The melodies leap from the speakers, the sound is crackling and urgent. The songs on Patterns are as keenly aware of their place in the continuum of wry, melancholic songwriters (the Cohens, Merritts, Wainwrights, and Stipes that Goldstein likes to cite) as they are willing to

The Blessed Isles - Caroline. Background promo - They say good things come to those who wait, and in the case of Brooklyn’s The Blessed Isles, the adage bears out. After five years of recording in studios across four states, the band stands poised to inject a much-needed dose of substance into the shoegaze bloodstream with their debut LP, Straining Hard Against the Strength of Night. Not satisfied to merely recreate the genre’s trademark textures, vocalist and guitarist Aaron Closson (The Hourly Radio) and multi-instrumentalist Nolan Thies (N?TIONS) put a premium on songcraft, fashioning melodies that seamlessly reinforce the tell tale shoegaze soundscape. At their core, these are finely wrought pop songs that would shine in any genre, but are fully realised in the gossamer intricacies and stentorian pulse of Straining. Lead track “Caroline” encapsulates everything distinctive about the resurgent genre, featuring a tidal wave of guitars that propels the chorus into the stratospher

Meredith - How Could You Believe That. Background promo - Brisbane indiefolk/pop chanteuse Meredith is making her return to the scene in the form of sinister synth-laden slow burner 'How Could You Believe That'. The single is a twinkling yet unsettling exploration of how a toxic relationship can affect not only the sufferer themselves, but also those closest to them.  Meredith's aptitude for catchy, opulent production earned her high praise when her debut single 'Jumpin Beds' was released in 2014. Her most recent single 'Levels' has amassed 200k+ plays on Spotify - making into the UK viral 50 - was played on triple j, and the pastel-tinged accompanying clip was added to rotation on rage. All this attention led to a bevy of enviable support slots with artists such as Machine Age, Avaberee, Timberworlf & The Once (CAN) - and she'll be supporting San Cisco at their upcoming sold out Brisbane show. With an EP release looming large on the horiz

From the Internet Archive this is American Music Club (AMC) Live at Canes, Mission Beach (San Diego), CA, on the 18th November 2005. AMC were opening for Spoon and this was the last show of the tour. As one commentator put it - AMC opening for Spoon? That ain't right. And it sounds like some of those Spooners weren't bothering to hide their disdain, as evidenced by Mr. Eitzel's comment after the first song, "You don't have to like it; I don't care." Despite the audience, this is a great set with lots of stuff from AMC's then new album, including a high-energy performance of "Home." A little about AMC - Their 1985 debut, The Restless Stranger, is widely considered as the first slowcore release, establishing the band as major pioneers of slowcore and an early influence on post-rock. It was later followed by 1987's Engine which saw record producer Tom Mallon as a full-time member. American Music Club earned a solid cult following on th

Twin Haus - I Used To Think. Background words - Recently signed to Brisbane indie label, Bedlam Records, Twin Haus now look to their fourth successful national run this April, bringing an energetic and mesmerising live show to stages around Australia. The band’s diverse brand of psychedelic and ambient rock has recently seen them perform in support of acts such as; Tonstartssbandht (USA), Viet Cong (CAN), Dune Rats, Millions, Gang of Youths, Tijuana Cartel and The Medics, to name a few. 2015 saw them headline Brisbane’s renowned Psych Night, perform at Port Macquarie’s Festival of the Sun, as well their most recent single ‘I Used to Think’ premiered on Rolling Stone Australia which continues to receive attention nation-wide from the likes of Triple J, FBi, Triple R, PBS Melbourne and 4ZZZ. The band’s awaited follow up EP ‘Nothing Lavish' recorded by Steve Kempnich and produced by ARIA award-winning producer Tim G Carr, is scheduled for full release March 2016. One of fou