BEEHIVE CANDY

John Edge Feat. Blackmill - Emerald City. Background - Blackmill’s Robbie Card is one of the pioneers of melodic dub-step. After reaching number one on Hype Machine with his remix of 'Your Song' by Ellie Goulding a few years back, and (fast forward to today) has since got over 500,000 single sales under his belt, 250,000 album sales as well as 70 million streams (and growing). With a vast cult following, this enigmatic producer is back again! This time the Watford-born dub-step prince dabbles in a whole different sonic spectrum than before, and having teamed up with his long-time friend and fellow Scottish musician John Edge, he enters into the Americana indie folk genre. “Emerald City” is the fruit of their collaboration. Opening softly with the eerie Fleet Foxes-like harmonies, the track immediately brings nostalgia and melancholy into play. There’s a slight country-ish twang to Edge’s way of singing, which topped with Blackmill’s powerful usage of space within the ins

Lonely The Brave - What If You Fall In (Redux). Background - Lonely The Brave have been deliberately quiet these last few months, working on new material and reassessing what has come before. This has been all the more noticeable because before then, they had never stopped: last year alone saw them secure a no.1 on the rock chart with their second LP “Things Will Matter”, sell-out a headline tour and play main support on a hugely successful European tour with Biffy Clyro, followed with a thematically linked series of EP’s which have shown the sheer depth of strong material that was available to them around that second record. But despite their successes, Lonely The Brave have never been like their peers, never calculated the game in quite the same way they have, never shot from the same angle. From their stage dynamics, to their influences, to covering the likes of Bjork, Pink Floyd and Antony & The Johnsons, they have always been proud of their differences and in what has sta

Pageants - Cacti for Clothes. Background - The new Pageants single "Cacti For Clothes" has just been released. The single teases the band's upcoming release 'Forever' and follows the lead single "Chai ( חַי)". Pageants were formed by Rebecca Coleman in the aftermath of leaving Avi Buffalo (Sub Pop) in 2010, a band in which she was a founding member at the age of sixteen. Frustrated with clashing personalities and differences in musical sensibility, she, along with two other Avi Buffalo defectors, set out to revive the simplicity and spirit of earlier days. Diaristic yet dreamy and abstract in nature, her songs merge pop levity with melancholic lyrical undercurrents.  Collaborating with boyfriend Devin O’Brien to flush out demos, their debut LP, ‘Forever’ was close to completion in 2015. When label interest around the album hit a wall, the band decided to hold off on finishing the record while pursuing other opportunities. Coleman continued to writ

Candace - Greys. Background - Candace (formerly known as Is/Is) can be traced back to the summer of 2009 when Sarah Rose (guitar/bass/vocals), Sarah Nienaber (guitar/bass/vocals), and Mara Appel DesLauriers (drums/vocals) came up with the great idea to make music together.  The band released the This Happening EP (2010), the “Vowel Movements/Blackest Beat” 7” (2011), their full-length debut, III, in 2012, Is/Is (2014), and a number of single before announcing their name change to Candace in 2016. New Future, the band’s first official release under the new name, was produced, recorded, and mixed by Neil Weir and Candace at Jackpot! Recording Studio in Portland, Oregon, where the band all lives. Writing momentum stayed steady following the release of New Future so the band took a trip to Iowa just a few days after Trump was elected to work on some new material. Working with long-time collaborator Neil Weir, at Flat Black Studios, built in an old barn in the middle of nowhere outsi

New Sincerity Works - Just Like Vapor / Love To Love The Love. Background - New Sincerity Works was formed in the summer of 2014 by creative powerhouse Mike Tittel (ex-Loud Family, current drummer for Roger Klug Power Trio, photographer, artist, and music producer). The band was created in the image of what all bands should look like, themselves. The songs combine modest, heart on your sleeve themes with indie-pop, Americana, and 1980's guitar/synth driven new wave. A decidedly familiar, yet fresh presentation. The band has invited comparisons to a second distant cousin of Alex Chilton as well as Guided By Voices, Paul Westerberg, Phoenix, and The Postal Service. Perhaps best summarized by a fan from North Carolina "The music is like hearing your best friend sing. And who wouldn't want to hear that?" "I always wanted to be in this kind of band, playing guitar and singing, but nobody ever asked me because I'm a drummer. I've played drums since I was e

The Desert - Soulmates / Playing Dead. Background - The Desert is a collaboration between singer-songwriter Gina Leonard and guitarist & producer Tom Fryer. Tom’s atmospheric production style which plays with big spaces and other worldly sounds, lives in the space between Gina’s honest and poetic lyrics, allowing her songs to shine that little bit brighter.  The pair first met at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2014 where Gina played a set for The People’s Front Room, a collective that Tom is a part of. Tom went on to record and produce a few of Gina’s tracks, however it wasn’t until late 2016 that The Desert officially came together to write and record their first collection of songs.  ‘I find it difficult working with other people, it has always just been me and my guitar behind closed doors.’ Gina explains. ‘It was so exciting to find someone I could trust to develop my songs with. We’re pretty different but we work well together’  Facebook here . We first featured The De

Ella Grace - Here We Are Again. Background - Indie folk artist Ella Grace has announced the release of her brand new single Here We Are Again, telling of a love lost to depression and the journey onward from that space. Using music to sooth and heal, Ella writes as if the future of this lost love were the present. A story of love in her twenties and the attempt to cope with mental health struggles, heartache, and personal growth at such a young age. Discussing the inspiration for her music, Ella states: “I think sometimes we have to let go of love, and not always because the love is lost, sometimes it’s because the people in it have lost themselves”. The bass that underpins the hypnotic soundscape of natural elements takes us on a journey through this relationship; past, present and future. Ella discusses why she believes there is importance to building a unique soundscape around her music. “It’s really important to me that when we go into the studio to build the track, we build

Courtney Farren - Hard to Tell. Background -  Ahead of the release of her debut album 'Nothing Like It' and following the release for the track by the same name, singer-songwriter Courtney Farren has revealed the new video for 'Hard To Tell'. This first collection of tracks she has released features guitar and piano songs recorded earlier in spring of this year. "Out of all the songs on this record, Hard to Tell is my favorite for a few reasons. The main reason being that I so vividly remember the time and place I wrote it. I was in my friend's apartment in Woodside, Queens, and it was around 4 in the morning. And the imagery in the song is so literally what I was feeling and doing. So maybe I didn't actually put a tape of snoring on to wake up to (maybe I did), but the sentiment of all of the scenarios I describe in the song rang so true to how I was feeling that night," says Courtney Farren. "I really love this song, and it means a lot to me.

Beatrix Players - All That Thinking / Hurt. Background - London-based all-female trio Beatrix Players have been announced as winners of the Prog Magazine Limelight Award for 2017 at the ceremony last week. The band are celebrating the win with the release of their new, double A side single All That Thinking / Hurt, plus a single launch being held at London's St Pancras Old Church on Thursday 5th October where they will be joined for the evening by the SOUND choir. The Limelight Award highlights the "emerging talent that's risen to the top of the prog ocean over the past 12 months". All That Thinking is taken from their 2017 debut album Magnified, and is a song about the difficulty of having a child and the blame that goes on between partners, and the band are delighted to have joined forces with leading national charity Fertility Network UK to help raise awareness of National Fertility Awareness Week which takes place on 30th October - 5th November. This years they