Sunday, 18 October 2026

Holly Wild - British Birds - The Legendary Ten Seconds - Saycouth - Eidetic Dreams - The Spongetones

Holly Wild - Technicolour (Album).

Sydney-based indie-pop artist Holly Wild embraces the messiness of life through dreamy guitar, catchy choruses and emotionally honest storytelling on new album ‘Technicolour’, released this weekend.  

Following her debut album 'Fire' released in 2024, Wild continues to discover and shape her own personal sound, drawing from the experiences, relationships and emotions of her own life. Produced with Grammy-winning producers including Brian Forbes, the album channels these familiar experiences into a dynamic and colourful soundscape. 
  
‘Technicolor’ explores the complicated spaces between love, jealousy and self-worth. Wild moves from the extremes of consuming love to the quiet moments of questioning self-worth, turning small, unspoken moments of her life into tracks grounded in emotional honesty. The album celebrates the contradictions of choosing to feel deeply and being many things at once.

The 13-track album paints this vivid portrait of human emotion with catchy indie-pop melodies, bubbly vocals, and infectious hooks. Slower acoustic moments weave throughout, with intimate verses swelling into anthemic choruses. Wild leans into moments of angst and defiance through powerful vocals belts and haunting textures, while stripped-back tracks make room for airy vocals, chiming guitar arrangements and a more unfiltered intimacy. 


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British Birds - Murmurate, Oscillate (Album).

We have had the pleasure of featuring a couple of track from the new album, now we are delighted to feature the full album (released this weekend) on Beehive Candy! ‘Murmurate, Oscillate’ kicks off with Lie Down With Dogs, Stand Up With Fleas, a rousing expression of exasperation at our passivity in the face of lame authority.  British Birds are acute observers of the English political scene, shrouding their observations in humour and surrealism.  Polka Dot Eyes is another piece of sharp social observation: it portrays Lancashire lads – friends from school – who join the Army and return home physically and mentally damaged. The song is simultaneously disturbing, funny and catchy as hell. 

From the fog of disinformation and doubt that surrounds us all in 2020s Britain, British Birds embrace the darkness, but with wit and verve – no slogans, no easy answers – and with an energy that helps us escape the mundanity of a declining island.   This might all sound a bit bleak, but it’s not: every single one of the songs on this album has a chorus as big as a house.  

There are personal songs too: Scary Movies is a poignant description of Bobby and Emma’s grandfather, who delighted in showing them horror films when they were kids – giving them sneak previews of the darkness they’d come to embrace as adults; Just Like Them is a celebration of introversion: it might not be fun, but it’s better than being an idiot. (Paradoxically, any other introverts who hear this song will feel impelled to join in in the chorus.)  

Blame Game and Thunder Claps examine the darkness inherent in relationships: there is always an impending storm, if you recognise the low hum of the imminent thunder.  Once again: the choruses of these songs confound the melancholy sentiment.


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The Legendary Ten Seconds - Our Unfinished Business (Album).

Ian Churchward of The Legendary Ten Seconds continues his musical journey with the new album 'Our Unfinished Business.' The Legendary Ten Seconds is the music project of Ian Churchward who is the former guitarist of The Morrisons, who were featured on John Peel's Radio One show in 1987.

Ian has a deep passion for blending rich historical narratives with his distinctive sound. His musical project took on new life in 2013 when Lord Zarquon joined forces with Ian, bringing additional depth to the recordings. Since then, a talented roster of guest musicians and vocalists have stepped in to contribute to the studio projects, the most recent being Jay Brown, who co-composed and helped to record the evocative Sci Fi Hi Fi album. This is an astronomy/science fiction themed album which includes a song about a rogue planet.

As The Legendary Ten Seconds Ian has made a name for himself in the folk-rock genre, notably for his historically inspired albums. He has received critical acclaim for the work chronicling the Wars of the Roses and the life of Richard III, focusing on England’s 15th century. The music is more than just entertainment; it's a dedication to keeping history alive through story-driven songs that resonate with modern listeners.

In addition to crafting meticulously researched and artistically compelling albums, Ian has donated part of the proceeds from his music sales to a scoliosis charity. In 2018 he took the historical work to new heights with the release of the Mer de Mort album, commissioned by the Mortimer History Society in honour of its tenth anniversary. This album is a historically accurate collection of songs that delve into the fascinating and impactful history of the Mortimer family, from their roots in Normandy before the Battle of Hastings to their role in the 15th century. The album features narrative interludes read by the late actor John Challis—known for his iconic role as Boycie in Only Fools and Horses—who was a proud patron of the Mortimer History Society.


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Saycouth - Heartbreaker.

Saycouth blends elements of Jazz, dance and Soul with storyful lyrics from singer Mikayla DeBassio, creating a lush soundscape underpinned by groove. Saycouth dropped three singles and videos in ’25, along with appearing at Nashville shows & parties. Their charismatic live performances shared the stage with house and soul DJs Soulsixnine and Erica Schultz from WNXP’s the brunch. 

In 2026, Saycouth brought a new set of songs to life at Wild Feather Recordings with producer Zach Kasik. The first single “Where Do We Go” is in equal parts, a dangerous love song and an allegory for our current times…with a decidedly Shakespearean twist. 

The new single "Heartbreaker" was released a few days back along with a lyric video, directed by Jason Stoltzfus. The band are celebrating the release with a free show at Living Waters Brewing in Nashville this coming Wednesday (details 'here').


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Photo - Meri Björn
Eidetic Dreams - Shields (Album).

Finnish dream pop duo Eidetic Dreams released their long-awaited debut album Shields this weekend via All That Plazz. Four years in the making, the record combines towering walls of guitars, thunderous drums, shimmering pop melodies and an unwavering belief in the importance of tenderness. Formed by singer-songwriter Siiri Kähönen and guitarist-producer Antti Heikkilä, Eidetic Dreams have spent the past four years developing a sound that balances the ethereal beauty of dream pop with the intensity of shoegaze and the emotional immediacy of indie pop.

At the heart of Shields lies a deceptively simple idea. In a world that increasingly rewards cynicism, emotional distance and the appearance of toughness, perhaps softness is a form of strength. The album was born out of idealism, friendship and the belief that good people can still prevail. Kähönen and Heikkilä openly embrace their romantic worldview, rejecting the notion that vulnerability or naivety should be considered weaknesses.

For Eidetic Dreams, romance is more than a musical aesthetic. It is a way of approaching the world, an active choice to remain open to beauty and human connection even when doing so feels increasingly difficult. The album's title reflects this philosophy. Each song becomes a shield of its own, a place of refuge from the noise and harshness of the outside world. Rather than building barriers through emotional detachment, Eidetic Dreams find protection in tenderness.

Musically, Shields is both intimate and expansive. Its sound is built around enormous drums, dark synthesizer basslines and luminous guitar melodies, with influences from 1980s pop production woven into a distinctly contemporary dream pop landscape.


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The Spongetones - Starting To Feel.

The past two years have marked a surprising and welcome renaissance for The Spongetones. Having celebrated their 40th Anniversary with a sold-out concert in their home state of North Carolina – a show preserved for posterity on a hit live album from Big Stir Records – the band has been hard at work pushing forward in the studio ever since. ]

The current lineup of founding singer-songwriters Jamie Hoover (guitar), Steve Stoeckel (bass), Pat Walters (guitar) and recently-inducted drummer Eric Willhelm –not only delivered three new powerhouse studio tracks in support of the live album, but continued on this year with a series of old school standalone guitar pop singles. Each one (“So Long,” “(I Really Need) To Kiss You,” “Lifetimeline” and “The Music At The Close”) has left its mark on indie pop radio and playlists worldwide, and each has showcased a different facet of the band's pop acumen. 

The fifth in the series, “Starting To Feel,” performs the amazing feat of introducing a new voice from among the talent on hand in the band's lineup while preserving everything about The Spongetones' enduring identity. “This is the first time in the band’s history that someone other than Jamie, Pat, or me has sung lead vocal,” says bassist Stoecke. He's referring to Willhelm stepping to the fore to deliver the soaring melody over an emotive backing track (and a wall of signature harmonies) that couldn't be crafted by any band other than The Spongetones. 

It's Willhelm's second co-written song with Spongetones co-founder Hoover, who sang lead on this past June's joyful hit “(I Really Need) To Kiss You,” but his debut in front of the band (while also still manning the drum kit) and he's more than up to the challenge of lending a voice to this lush, moving tale of recovery and rebirth. Willhelm explains, “As with the first co-write with Jamie, this was another series of chords and a melody line I’ve had bouncing around in my head since the early '90s. All this time it’s just been a la-la thing in my head. Jamie remedied the la-la part!”


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Saturday, 17 October 2026

Ava Franks feat. Young Rising Sons - of shapes - Antje Duvekot - Lyal Strickland - Katie And The Bad Sign - Kate Prendergast

Ava Franks feat. Young Rising Sons - Sweetless Surrender.

Ava Franks is an indie pop artist based in New York. She released her first single in 2021. In the years since, her catalog has grown into upbeat, hook-driven indie pop that draws on singer-songwriters across several decades, especially the 1990s.

Ava writes about falling in love and growing up. She's figuring out her early twenties: one song at a time. "Sweetless Surrender," a co-release with Young Rising Sons, is her first collaboration. The single is a folk rock drenched indie pop banger all about the intoxication of love. She shares, '“Sweetless Surrender” was so much fun to create. 

I loved channeling the kind of 90s indie alt energy you’d hear at Lilith Fair. And the fact that Young Rising Sons could be a part of the song just makes the whole thing more special. I’ve been a fan of theirs for a while, from back when I heard “High” on the radio for the first time. This collab feels completely full circle to me, and I’m super grateful!"

About Young Rising Sons: Unapologetic honesty is their thing. That’s what makes Young Rising Sons so captivating and relatable. The Jersey band warmly invites audiences into their personal and creative journey, sharing the highs and lows of life in pursuit of dreams through rich, transcendent, indie pop n’ roll. They’ve accumulated well over 100 million streams, thanks to irresistibly vibrant songs like “SAD (Clap Your Hands),” “King of the World,” “Carry On,” “Tomorrow,” and “Sunday Sunshine.”


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of shapes - Mantis.

Montreal's of Shapes are introducing themselves with “Mantis,” the first single from their upcoming self-titled EP. Formed in early 2026, the four-piece brings together Melissa Charbonneau on vocals, Alex “Speechless” Savard on guitar, Tom James on bass and Charles-André Chamard on drums, united by a shared love of ’80s new wave, post-punk and goth. 

Their sound pairs the darker urgency of post-punk with a strong pop sensibility, drawing inspiration from foundational artists like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Killing Joke and The Cure alongside contemporary acts including IDLES and Amyl and the Sniffers. It’s a meeting point between old and new, but one the band intends to make distinctly their own. of Shapes - Presskit 2026

“Mantis” is the first glimpse into that world and opens the band’s forthcoming four-song EP, alongside “Cathedral,” “Limbo” and “Playhouse.” Recorded by Sam Gemme (credits include Corridor, Population II and Choses Sauvages) at Montreal’s Gamma Studio, the EP reaches back to the raw, restless post-punk sounds of the late ’70s while deliberately pushing beyond nostalgia. For of Shapes, the goal is to take those influences and carve out a space of their own: dark, immediate, melodic and intentional. With “Mantis,” the band sets that vision in motion, offering the first taste of a new Montreal group finding its voice while keeping one foot firmly planted in post-punk’s shadowy past.


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Antje Duvekot - NO.

Yesterday the new single and creative music video from the award-winning singer-songwriter (Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition) Antje Duvekot was released. Entitled "NO", the single details the beginning of personal agency: no to shrinking, no to appeasement, no to being endlessly palatable, and no to the idea that a woman’s value depends on how comfortable she makes everyone else.

Originally born in Germany and transplanted to the U.S. as a young teen, Antje Duvekot began honing her observational skills through a lens of biculturalism when she picked up a guitar in high school. Some years later, the confessional folk of Dar Williams and Ani DiFranco gave her license to share those observations, no matter how personal, in her first emerging songs. She has never let go of the tenet of vulnerability, building a celebrated career around songs that transform deeply personal experiences into something universal.

Antje has released six studio albums, including her latest, No, produced by Seth Glier, as well as five previous albums produced by Mark Erelli, Seamus Egan of SOLAS, Richard Shindell, and Scott Petito. Her recordings feature support from Anaïs Mitchell, Dar Williams, Rose Cousins, Heather Maloney, John Gorka, Meg Hutchinson, Lucy Kaplansky, Sean Mullins, Liz Longley, and others.

With No, Duvekot enters a striking new chapter, one fueled by midlife confidence, self-discovery, and a long-overdue refusal to make herself smaller for the sake of keeping others comfortable. The album emerged from a deeply personal period of awakening in her 50th year, when the physical and emotional upheaval surrounding a uterine fibroid and perimenopause brought a lifetime of suppressed anger and frustration to the surface.


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Lyal Strickland - Shooter of Truth (Album).

Shooter of Truth marks Lyal Strickland’s first full-length album in ten years, and it arrives with the weight of a life fully lived in the years between. After the death of his father and a string of hard miles on the road in 2016, Strickland went through an emotional breakdown that left him questioning not only his place in music, but his ability to keep writing honestly. In the decade that followed, life did not stand still. He got married. He became the father of two young daughters. He stayed tied to the land and the cattle that have shaped his family’s story for generations. And in one weekend the songs returned.

The breakthrough came during a Southwest Folk Alliance conference, where Strickland wrote a batch of songs with a new kind of clarity: brutally honest, unguarded, and unwilling to dress up the truth. Those songs became the foundation of 'Shooter of Truth', an album that looks directly at alcohol, depression, old relationships, present love, failure, survival, and the strange grace of still being here.

Across its ten tracks, Shooter of Truth moves between solo acoustic performances ("Another Place And Time" and "Hellbent On A Heartache"), an acoustic guitar and cello backed duet ("Birds"), a couple irreverent fast paced songs and a collection of mid-tempo tunes rooted in country, folk, and Americana. The record is earnest and raw without being polished smooth. This is the Lyal that hasn’t been captured fully on record before. The musicians on the album all hail from the Ozarks, lending the album a sound that feels tied to place: unpretentious, and lived-in. The sound that results is shaped by the same hills, highways, churches , barrooms, and back roads that run through Strickland’s writing.


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Katie And The Bad Sign - Gambler.

Katie and the Bad Sign are a Manchester England based rock band known for their punchy guitar sound, bold attitude, and high-energy live performances. Rooted in the city’s rich alternative and indie heritage, the band mixes gritty riffs with catchy melodies and sharp, honest lyrics. 

Overall to describe them as riff based in your face bluesy rock, with powerful, husky female vocals, seems only reasonable.

Fronted by Katie’s distinctive vocals, their music balances raw rock intensity with moments of emotional depth, creating songs that feel both powerful and relatable. As they continue to play venues and build momentum in the UK and Europe, Katie and the Bad Sign are gaining attention as a band to watch in a new generation of rock acts.


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Kate Prendergast - Growing Pains.

Growing Pains is a bittersweet reflection on growing older and the strange shift in perspective that comes with it. Moving beyond the literal aches of childhood, the song explores nostalgia, uncertainty and the feeling of watching once-fixed ideas begin to change. Growing Pains captures the vulnerability of getting older as new experiences and ambitions begin to challenge the certainties of youth.

Kate Prendergast is a young, rising Irish multi-instrumentalist with a gift for crafting deeply evocative songs, blending indie folk, blues, country and alternative rock. Her music is a raw and soulful mix of personal reflection and sharp storytelling, shaped by influences ranging from Bob Dylan to Radiohead and Hozier.
 
She burst onto the scene in 2024 with her debut single ‘Past Letters’, quickly followed by Undergrowth, Lavender Country, Ignition, Retold Tale, Glass and Glue and Exhale produced in collaboration with producer Declan Legge at Big Space Studios under the Stray Dog records label. Her songs have become staples on Irish, UK and International radio, resonating with listeners for their emotional depth and rich sonic textures. Whether performing solo or with a band, Kate captivates audiences with her haunting voice and magnetic stage presence.

Kate has been selected by international jury as an official showcase artist at Folk Alliance International 2027 in Chicago. This follows hot on the heels of an appearance at Your Roots are Showing – Ireland’s Folk Conference 2026, grassroots artist of the week by RTE 2FM, and nominated by Radio Wigwam for Best Folk and Acoustic Act 2026. With two EPs in the works and a rapidly growing list of live performances from Your Roots are Showing to Galway Folk Festival and opening for acts such as Aslan, Mundy, and Lorraine Nash, Kate Prendergast continues to carve out her place in the music world – fearless, introspective, and impossible to ignore.


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Friday, 16 October 2026

This Is The Deep - The Bankes Brothers - Cordelia Gartside - silt. - Johanna Warren - Charlie Parr

This Is The Deep - Never Easy.

London collective This Is The Deep share the gliding new single ‘Never Easy’, taken from the anticipated upcoming debut album  Everything (Dick Herman, The Whale, and The End of the Beginning) via 5dB Records.

Recalling the emotional turmoil and pop classicism of Carole King’s Tapestry era, alongside the melancholic string arrangements of Elbow, ‘Never Easy’ is a whimsical yet emotionally sincere offering that hints at the breadth of This Is The Deep’s sonic palette. Bubbling fuzz gives and swelling wah-wah guitar tones conjuring the spirit of a Hot Chocolate deep cut, while the band’s signature quirks bring their experimental instincts and indie sensibilities together in a song that feels playful and inviting, yet deceptively bittersweet.

The song features dual vocals from Hannah Tilson (vocalist and trombonist) and Ranny Macdonald, with the pair bringing an intimate, conversational quality to the track. The band explain: “Never Easy is a song about a relationship between two people that isn’t working. It’s a story where both sides feel like they’re going round in circles and are so exhausted they’re losing the thread of what exactly they even mean. In the context of our concept album this is a dream vienette, a flashback to our protagonist’s past”

‘Never Easy’ arrives as This Is The Deep prepare to release their debut album Everything (Dick Herman, The Whale, and The End of the Beginning) via 5dB Records (Mould, Martial Arts, anaiis and Ashaine White).


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The Bankes Brothers - Georgia Peaches.

Victoria, BC outfit The Bankes Brothers share “Georgia Peaches,” a catchy, easygoing indie rock track that finds the band discovering confidence in simplicity. Arriving alongside the announcement of their debut full-length album, For the sake of my love I hope I make it, out February 10, 2027 via Blue Heron Music, the single captures the spirit of the forthcoming record through its balance of intimacy, experimentation, and instinctive songwriting.

One of the earliest songs recorded with acclaimed producer Gus van Go (The Beaches, Metric, Arkells) at Toronto’s Boiler Room, “Georgia Peaches” became an early benchmark for how the band would approach the rest of the album. Instead of adding layers simply because they could, The Bankes Brothers adopted a guiding philosophy of “less is more” and, more importantly, “serve the song.”

“This one was one of the earlier recordings we did with Gus and it kind of set the tone for how we were approaching all the songs going forward,” explains Nelson Bankes. “I can’t recall one particular moment when it felt like it all came together, I just remember all of us being so happy with it when we left the studio.”

That understated approach extends to the song’s meaning. Nelson describes “Georgia Peaches” as something of an ode to the “Walter Mitty’s of the world,” but deliberately leaves the rest open to interpretation. Rather than prescribing a particular emotion or message, The Bankes Brothers see the song as something that stops belonging exclusively to them once it reaches listeners.


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Photo - Rhiannon Inman-Simpson
Cordelia Gartside - laura palmer.

Yesterday Alt-rock newcomer Cordelia Gartside announced her debut EP pattern repeating, out 13th November via state51 Distribution and shared new single 'laura palmer'. Following last month’s invigorating EP teaser, 'good', Gartside has also announced an EP launch show at The Shacklewell Arms in London on 25th November.

Taking its title from the high-school student at the centre of Twin Peaks, 'laura palmer' is about being wanted but not understood. Gartside moves between Laura and the first person, exploring what is hidden beneath the image others create of her.

The song turns on a pivotal lyrical transformation: "annihilate her" becomes "illuminate her". That movement from destruction towards recognition is mirrored in an arrangement that patiently builds through an atmosphere of unease, accumulating pressure until Gartside drives the final phrase to the top of her range and the song finally lets go. At is peak, "illuminate her" becomes less an observation than a call to action - a demand that she be seen.

Gartside explains: "two years ago, i started watching twin peaks with a friend. the week before Lynch died we saw 'fire walk with me' at an old cinema. in a peeling room with red velvet curtains i felt it change my life in real time. i had to be very still and quiet for a few days, i felt a lot and wrote a lot, then i wrote this song. i'd never written about a fictional character before, but i'm not sure laura palmer is a fictional character. she's very real to me."


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Photo - Derek Bremner
silt. - frozen over fountain.

Emerging alt collective silt. have released their new track 'frozen over fountain', the spectral closing song from their upcoming debut EP 'brain like a silent hill', out 13th November. The new single release follows previous EP tasters - 'shadowhands' and debut track 'trauma porn' - which drew praise from Stereogum ("eerie and gripping and intriguing"), The Line of Best Fit ("gorgeous intricate soundscapes") alongside further support from Rolling Stone UK, NME, So Young, BrooklynVegan, BBC 6 Music and more.

Produced alongside Matt Glasbey (Sorry, Bloc Party), 'frozen over fountain' reveals silt. at their most skeletal and exposed. Having introduced the EP through denser, more abrasive material, silt. reduces the palette to acoustic guitar, strings and atmosphere - retaining the project's widescreen scale while placing the songwriting firmly in the foreground.

'frozen over fountain' began as a voice memo vocalist Oliver Beardmore rediscovered on the way to the studio. Recorded immediately to tape without a click, that first acoustic performance became the foundation for an arrangement that seemed to grow around it: counter-melodies emerged almost instinctively before strings, drums and atmosphere gradually widened the song without losing the intimacy of the original take. Lyrically, the song turns emotional stasis into its physical landscape, bargaining with the things that offer temporary comfort even as they deepen the distance between yourself and the life around you.

On 'frozen over fountain', silt. vocalist Oliver Beardmore said: "Life has stopped. There's this sense of looking around at a greyscale city in deep winter and desperately clinging to anything that might shift what you're feeling. Sometimes those things make the immediate passing of time easier, but ultimately drag you further from yourself. The song has evolved for me a few times already, which is something I
always hope to achieve - it feels like it can exist across different times and different versions of your life."

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Photo - Kate Kantur
Johanna Warren - Automatic.

Singer/songwriter and producer Johanna Warren has announced her new album Frog in the Belly of a Snake will release on January 29th through Soul Selects. Her first new album in nearly five years, Frog in the Belly of a Snake is deliberate and meditative, rooted firmly in the healing power of the natural world, with performances that tap into a profound sense of liberation while finding comfort and release in the embrace of our transience. 

Warren unveiled the first look at the album with the lead single “Automatic,” a driving, angsty tune that finds the narrator exhausted by the endless cycle of striving, falling, trying again, and discovering that the only home she can ultimately count on is the one inside herself. The accompanying video features found footage filmed by a teenage Warren with a digital camcorder visualizing excerpts from her dream journal.

“I’ve been on a bit of a mission these last few years to resuscitate within myself a spontaneous, uncomplicated way of making art for pleasure, like children do,” stated Warren, harkening back to her experimental EP The Night of the Wind based on a book she wrote when she was 3 years old. “My high school friend Leora and I recently reconnected out of the blue, and we got to reminiscing about all the weird art we used to make for fun/to stave off the doldrums of suburban adolescence. I remembered this one film in particular and just had an inkling it could make a good music video for ‘Automatic.’ When I put the song over the footage, the way the two things lined up was spooky.”

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Photo - Shelly Mosman
Charlie Parr - Rooming House (Album).

Acclaimed singer, songwriter, and guitarist Charlie Parr today releases Rooming House (Smithsonian Folkways) (October 16), the compelling folk opera that marks his 20th album and arguably the most ambitious work of his celebrated career. 

Comprised of seven songs and featuring the title track as the first single, the conceptual narrative draws listeners into the lives of ordinary people navigating hardship and finding strength within a fragile yet vital sense of community. 

Set in the USA's Upper Midwest and brought to life through Parr's virtuosic, acoustic, blues-rooted guitar style alongside drummer Dave King (The Bad Plus), Rooming House cements Parr as one of the great troubadours of our time with an intimate audio portrait that becomes its own small yet profound offering of care.

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Wednesday, 14 October 2026

Purple Pilgrims - BoxNoise - Eliza Edens - The Boathouse - Tender Youth - Hector Gannet

Photo - Olivia Renouf
Purple Pilgrims - Outside.

Purple Pilgrims share their upcoming record's newest single 'Outside' — a melodic yet melancholic beauty, reminiscent of the trickling, cyclical environment the sisters placed themselves within to make the record, on an off grid retreat in the NZ countryside. “Last year I felt dead inside, now I’m feeling so alive / Looking from the outside in, again”. Given to the Night is out digitally and on silver vinyl LP on November 27th via Flying Nun Records, and all made with the support of NZ on Air.

Says the band: “This song is an ode to outsiders. A term that once felt heavy, now feels like an anointed privilege. Relishing a space of one’s own. The feeling of putting on headphones and walking through the world – of it and others at the same time — is a sacred space that most of us can relate to, we think. From that space, ‘Outside’ ponders some fairly existential feelings in passing — from all of our beginnings as pure energy, where and how could we transcend beyond. How isolating it is to go/grow through something transitional — how it is beautiful too, when broken down into quantum forms.”

In full, Given to the Night translates Purple Pilgrims’ signature kaleidoscopic sound via telepathic sibling connection, focusing on introspective themes of finding light in shadows, and exploring the in-betweens. The record’s previous single 'Innocence Lost' (released September 8) explored the harsh consequences of love amid meticulously layered vocals and swooning guitar.


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BoxNoise - Things I Barely Remember (Album).

Here is a band that contacted Beehive Candy directly and we are so pleased that they did. Released some months back their album 'Things I Barely Remember' has some really impressive material on it, with songs such as 'Don't Wanna Play w/u Anymore' and 'No Kontakt' demanding some listener attention. 

Some more background from BoxNoise: In 2023, Alt/Rock band BoxNoise was formed by three emo-kids-at-heart in the suburbs of Chicago. The three share a connection to music together dating back to 2016, having played in various different bands together. The struggles of Covid led to an abrupt ending to the musical projects that they had been working on prior, with members ending up states apart. 

This led to a massive loss of identity for the three, but became a loss that they would find they desperately needed. What felt like defeat became a breath of fresh air and a means to disconnect from the expectations and outside voices that had forced their hands into the three's creativity. Over time, music began forcing its way back out of them with a weight lifted and an ability to explore the direction of their music freely that they hadn't been afforded before. At first, ideas were bounced back and forth online from a distance with no intention of releasing music. 

They found themselves happily lost in that what they were creating was the most connected, genuine, and free that the band had ever felt. After they had a number of songs recorded from this new place of freedom, the three felt that they wanted to put this music out into the world and in 2023, vocalist Abbie and guitarist Ethan decided to move to Illinois to live close to drummer Andy, and in that moment, they formed BoxNoise.


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Photo - Emilio Herce
Eliza Edens - Old Home Video.

Eliza Edens has shared the third single from their forthcoming album ‘Death Drive,’ to be released October 30 on First City Artists (Coco, Alexa Rose). “Old Home Video” is an emotional blend of resonating felt piano, tender lyricism, and aching vocals. "I wrote it in the depths of my mom’s journey with dementia," says Edens. "My dad and I had found a home video of her in her thirties. She was so charismatic. I was heartbroken that I'd never meet that version of my mom again, even though she was still physically alive." 

The new release follows focus tracks “Death Drive” and “Hot & Mean.” Since its announcement, ‘Death Drive’ has gathered editorial enthusiasm from the likes of FLOOD Magazine, MAGNET, and Atwood Magazine, landing across more than twenty playlists so far. Edens will celebrate the album release with a handful of East Coast tour dates this fall, including NYC on November 19 at TV Eye. Shows are detailed below.

The Berkshires-born, Brooklyn-based artist’s third studio album emerged from the white-hot intersection of pain and pleasure. In the midst of losing their mother to dementia, Edens—in their late twenties—began exploring their queerness for the first time. Grief and desire coalesced. “It was an intense time,” Edens says. “As I was watching my mom fade, I was also embracing a more reckless and bold side of myself in terms of identity.” The album gets its name from Freud’s theory of the “death drive,” which proposes an innate human instinct towards recklessness and self-destruction in order to release tension—we smoke, we drive fast cars, we blow off steam at the bar. Edens’ parallel experiences of suffering and personal evolution electrified their creative impulses—combusting into their boldest album to date.


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Photo - Dave Gillespie
The Boathouse - Like a Lover.

Toronto yacht-rock influenced quartet The Boathouse share “Like a Lover,” a bombastic new single that pairs the larger-than-life sound of ‘80s AOR and synth-rock with an unexpectedly sincere declaration of romantic commitment. Built around towering guitars, gleaming synthesizers, huge drums and a detour into Prince-inspired funk, the track emerged from a period of housing uncertainty that put a relationship under pressure and ultimately reinforced the feeling that some challenges are easier to face when someone has your back.

The song was written soon after bassist and vocalist Tristan Armstrong and his partner moved into an apartment in Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood. After navigating the city’s fiercely competitive rental market, they had finally found a place they were excited to call home. Just months later, however, their landlord informed them that the property needed to be sold following poor business decisions, abruptly throwing their future into uncertainty.

“This thrust us into a period of disappointment, uncertainty and anxiety,” Tristan explains. “These times can greatly test a relationship, and have a tendency to either strengthen or splinter.”


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Photo - Sandra Vitayarat
Tender Youth - Back and Forth.

London-based art-rock four-piece Tender Youth share the video for ‘Back and Forth’, taken from their sophomore album, Turning Torso, out now. The track captures the band’s shift from the intense, guitar-led art-rock of their earlier releases towards a more post-punk oriented sound palette, with violin replacing almost all of the guitar other than splashes of acoustics across the record.

Originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, the band have built a reputation as an energetic and unconventional live act, touring extensively across Europe before moving to London on a semi-permanent basis. 

Turning Torso marks a significant evolution in the band's sound, one that began with the decision to leave the guitar behind in favour of violin. Still keeping the raw intensity of their sound, the distorted violin, driving rhythms, industrial electronic elements and an increasingly unconventional approach bring interesting musicality and raw, emotionally urgent and theatrical soundscapes comparable to the likes of Opus Kink, Man/ Woman/ Chainsaw, Depeche Mode and Prostitute. 

Across its ten tracks, Turning Torso moves between abrasive, energetic passages and more vulnerable moments, with the band's stripped back instrumental concept allowing the songs to retain a strong sense of physicality while opening up space for experimentation. The sprawling intensity of tracks like ‘Marina Drive’, is echoed by the flourishing, performative expansiveness of tracks like ‘Portugal’ and ‘Erotica’ which highlight an industrial rock undertone with a gritty, textural freedom. 

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Photo - Ian West
Hector Gannet - The Blaydon Races.

OK so the following press release has a little bit of the corporate stuff to start with, however we have been very impressed by Hector Gannet here on Beehive Candy and their version of 'The Blaydon Races' is simply to good to ignore. Here is the background (the final two paragraphs carry the bands input):  To further its already extensive global reach, while cementing its respect for the history and culture of “the Toon”, Newcastle United have entered into the world of music, partnering with Interval Records and emerging North Shields artist Hector Gannet to create a new “reimagining” of “The Blaydon Races”.

The track marks the club’s arrival on digital platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, giving fans a new way to connect with them. It’s a striking first move, placing a reworking of Tyneside’s own folk anthem, and a North East artist, at the very centre of the club’s first step into digital music. 

Hector Gannet frontman Aaron Duff was the first choice of Interval Records, the label behind the project, for Newcastle United’s reimagining of “The Blaydon Races.” The club wanted a local artist recognised for genuine North East integrity, with a voice that carries the region’s accent honestly and up front. Working alongside producer Alex Blamire, the pair built a completely new arrangement of The Blaydon Races, while keeping the melody and lyrics true to the original, as written by Geordie Ridley in 1862.

Aaron Duff; “The Blaydon Races belongs to the region, to every person that has sung it with passion and love for their home, their team, their family. It’s part of our identity; our past, present and future. We have a duty to celebrate our heritage, to preserve it, to pay it forward and ensure that those words are sung with pride for generations to come. It’s a song that we all have a connection to, it takes us to a time and a place, unique to our own lives. During recording I put everything into it, I was thinking about my son, my Mam and Dad and all the family and friends at home, and all those we’ve lost along the way too, I can almost hear their voices, like they’re with us when we sing this.”


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Monday, 12 October 2026

Mel D - K-Man & The 45s - Aksak Maboul - Sam Burchfield - Song People - Falling Doves

Photo - Noémi Ottilia Szabo
Mel D - Orange.

Zurich-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mel D brings together folk and soul, subtle indie pop inflections and the freedom of electronic music on her new single ‘Orange’, which is set to drop on 9th October via Two Gentlemen.

Mel D has a crystal-clear voice, big melodies and the kind of warm melancholy you want to linger in just a little too long. Following her EP ‘Not Crazy’ and her widely acclaimed debut ‘Young Bones’, her new single ‘Orange’ turns her gaze outwards: towards other people, intimacy and desire and the strange forces at work between all of us. At its heart is the image of a meticulously peeled orange. We take the sweetness and strip away what is bitter – sometimes removing the very parts that hold life itself.

‘Orange’ makes that bittersweetness glow. A shimmering melody, buoyant rhythms, warm bass, electronic textures and voices layered upon voices keep opening the song up. Magnetic, playful, resonant. The song is available on all DSPs and on a limited 300 copies 7” vinyl.


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K-Man & The 45s - Heed The Call (Album).

Montreal ska-punk lifers K-Man & The 45s bring it all home with Heed The Call, their most complete and hard-hitting album to date, out now via Stomp Records. Built on years of relentless touring across Canada, the US, and Europe, the record locks together two-tone ska, punk grit, and rock and roll swagger in the spirit of The Clash, The Specials, and Mad Caddies. It’s a loud, unfiltered, road-built record, the kind that feels less like a studio project and more like a night already in motion, horns up, bodies packed in, and just one chorus away from blowing wide open.

That feeling starts in Montreal. Not the postcard version, the real one. Nights that drift from bar to dep without much thought, DuMauriers burned down to the filter, Labatt 50s sweating through your hand, French and English colliding over the noise. Old punks leaning at the back, kids pressed up front, horns cutting through it all while the floor starts to give. It’s a city that doesn’t try to sell you anything, it just lets you find your way into it, and Heed The Call moves with that same kind of confidence, loose, lived, and completely in its element. “This record feels like the closest we’ve ever come to putting our live show on a disc,” says frontman Frankie. “We’ve always played our songs fast, loud and aggressively on stage, but on previous records we polished that energy and it didn’t always translate. This time, we wanted the dirt, the grit and the attitude to come through—and I think we finally captured what K-Man & the 45s really sound like.”

Across the record, that approach shows up in every direction. Tracks like “We Won’t Stop” and the title cut “Heed The Call” hit with direct, no-frills urgency, calling for unity and change with lines like “We need something to agree on just before we fall.” Elsewhere, the band lets things loosen up and spill over. “Demon Days” dives headfirst into myth-soaked chaos, while “Bankrupt in Berlin” captures the kind of road story that only makes sense at 3am, “drunk and lost… standing hopeless on the corner bankrupt in Berlin,” turning a birthday night gone sideways into a full-blown anthem. 

Closer to home, songs like “Clark St.” and “Oh Yeah Attitude” root themselves firmly in Montreal’s streets, equal parts celebration and side-eye, calling out ego, hype, and the everyday nonsense of city life with a grin and a jab. Meanwhile, “Buzz Off” strips things down to a blunt, personal level, pushing back against noise, opinions, and the constant pressure to play the game on someone else’s terms. It’s the same ethos that’s guided the band from the start, do it your way, do it loud, and don’t wait for permission.



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Photo - Philippe Cornet
Aksak Maboul - Montagne.

Aksak Maboul, is the project that Marc Hollander founded in 1977 and which soon involved Henry Cow's Fred Frith and Chris Cutler (with links to the Canterbury scene as was known back in the early 1970's. Sometime in the 1980s, Aksak Maboul went on a hiatus which lasted 30 years. Marc Hollander eventually became label head of Crammed Discs. 

Upon reemerging, the group, revolving around Hollander and vocalist Véronique Vincent, entered into their most productive phase to date, and Fifteen Ways of Looking at It is a continuation of that productivity, but also a sad end to a certain phase. Véronique Vincent managed to complete the writing and recording of her parts during the summer of 2025, towards the end of the illness which led to her death in October 2025. 

This is the first taste of a forthcoming album due out February 5 2027. All the music was written & arranged by Marc Hollander and features his characteristic genre-hopping tendencies: strands of electronica, pop melodies, jazz, found objects & sound collage sometime conjuring quasi filmic atmospheres, whiffs of improv, krautrock, ambient, contemporary classical & systems music, all merrily woven together, in the hard-to-pin-down yet inimitable Aksak Maboul style.


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Sam Burchfield - Judah Blue. 

Sam Burchfield has shared a new single from his recently announced album ‘Every Season’ to be released October 23 on Cloverdale Records. "Every season comes to teach us," says the indie folk songwriter. "And when we find ourselves in valleys of suffering and pain, it’s just part of the growth." Written mostly about love—for his wife, his kids, and his own spiritual evolution—Burchfield's eighth full-length 'Every Season' shimmers with Burchfield’s sandy and psychedelic signature sound, ignited with orchestral flair, wonderfully cinematic in moments. "Love is beautiful and wonderful, but part of that is because it’s fleeting," he shares. 

Burchfield wrote “Judah Blue” the day before his second child was born. “Such a beautiful memory walking through the park with my wife, getting the home ready,” he shares. Tender and adoring as a lullaby, it’s a testament to the songwriter’s ability to bottle a delicate moment, and to the radiant commitment to family that glows throughout the album. Burchfield’s wife Erin Burchfield also contributed vocals to the track. Burchfield will join Evan Honer on US tour dates later this year.

‘Every Season’ was produced by Ryan Plumley and Jason Kingsland (Delta Spirit, Deerhunter) at Studio 1093 in Athens, Georgia, and recorded with a full band including players ​​Ben Hackett (Drive-By Truckers), Robby Handley (Larkin Poe), and Marlon Patton (Mitski) among others.


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Photo - Ian Maley
Song People - Tho I Seem Tame (Album).

Song People was formed in December of 2022 by core members Shaina Kapeluck, Darian Scatton, and Benjamin Schurr. Having played in each other's bands for over twelve years, they’ve settled into a comfortable songwriting cabal made fruitful by over a decade of collaboration. Shaina began her music life as a ballad singer, drawing from traditions of the British Isles, the US and Maritime Canada. Darian's rhythmic, arpeggiated guitar melodies are informed by his background as a pedal harpist, and Ben has one foot in industrial post punk and the other in Motown. 

Tho I See Tamesees the band diving deeper into more 80's jangle and dream pop elements that were hinted at on their first record "Like Somebody Calling Your Name" and utilizing richer, more nuanced production techniques. 

Song People recorded the album's initial tracks with Dan Angel (They Are Gutting a Body Of Water, Pile, My Wife's an Angel) above a fabric workshop in Germantown before completing the album with Josh Meakim (A Sunny Day in Glasgow). The crisp production allows guitarist Darian Scatton's arpeggiated guitar playing to become a hypnotic symphonic atmosphere for bass player Benjamin Schurr's muscular melodic bass lines to growl and groove under and for singer Shaina Kapeluck's singular vocal and lyrical style to float upon. 

The album takes its title from the closing line in Sir Thomas Wyatt’s Petrarchan sonnet “Whoso List to Hunt,” paraphrased in Middle English about his childhood friend Anne Boleyn. The opening track of side B, “Touch Me Not,” is Shaina’s modern English translation, a meditation on containment, emotional security, the risks and rewards of intimacy. 


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Falling Doves - Blinded By Your Love.

International rock band the Falling Doves are set to return to the United Kingdom and Europe in 2026 for an extensive international tour, bringing their distinctive blend of British rock, Hollywood glamour, dark glam, indie and pop to audiences across the UK, Ireland and Spain.

The tour will be raising funds for the Kibou Foundation, founded by entrepreneur Raechel Kadoya. The foundation is dedicated to empowering women through inclusive events that foster unity, growth, and resilience. Inspired by the remarkable recovery of Rikuzentakata following the devastation of natural disaster, Kibou supports women-led businesses and organisations by providing the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.

The foundation has also supported musicians facing mental health challenges- a cause that is particularly close to The Falling Doves’ hearts. Through this partnership, the tour hopes to help raise awareness and support for these important issues while contributing to Kibou’s wider mission of creating positive change. 

Coinciding with the tour, the Falling Doves have released their new single, ‘Blinded By Your Love’ — an infectious track that fuses the spirit of classic British rock with the cinematic energy of Los Angeles. With its anthemic sound and memorable hooks, the track is made for the stage and the open road, offering a glimpse of what’s to come as the band enters an exciting new chapter. “I think after a decade of touring, releases, and singles, I have always wanted to have a constant co-writer and collaborator”, says frontman Christopher Leyva. “I think musicians were always afraid of anything that could sound remotely commercial. It has been a fun experience making records with Katie, as there hasn’t been one lyric on this new record that has gone untouched or unreviewed by her, and the passion in her vocal delivery shows”, he further adds.


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Holly Wild - British Birds - The Legendary Ten Seconds - Saycouth - Eidetic Dreams - The Spongetones

Holly Wild - Technicolour (Album). Sydney-based indie-pop artist Holly Wild embraces the messiness of life through dreamy guitar, catchy ch...