Lauran Hibberd - Year of October - Michael Malarkey - Soviet X-Ray Record Club - Kansas Smittys House Band
Lauran Hibberd - Old Head Young Shoulders.Background - Lauran Hibberd’s low-key, beautifully arranged nu-folk single “Old Head Young Shoulders” seems to drift through eardrums and straight into the listeners’ souls. Innocent, soft and with more than a breeze of fresh air around it, it will warmly appeal to the fans of Lucy Rose, Laura Marling or Billie Marten.
In ‘Old Head Young Shoulders’, this Isle of Wight based singer/songwriter manages to convey wisdom and talent well beyond her tender years. At just 19, Lauran is beautifully skewing her love of literature with her ethereal vocal and delicate guitar style.
If The Guardian’s Kitty Empire named Ben Howard ‘a surfing troubadour high on a new wave’, we’d like to hail Lauran Hibberd ‘a truthful spirit high on a low key nu-folk wave’. Why? With the hope this will encourage you to hear this 2:51min sonic window into this genuine teenage girl’s existence.
Already supported by BBC Radio 1, BBC 6Music and Radio X, Lauran says: “To me ‘Old Head Young Shoulders’ is all about losing touch with my youth and the shelter that comes with it. It was one of the first songs I ever wrote, and definitely one of the most honest. I wrote it at a time, where I had no idea what I was feeling, no idea where I was heading and certainly no idea what life was actually all about".
Real is rare, isn’t it? Well, Lauran Hibberd’s child-like love and innocence effortlessly flicker through her new single ‘Old Head Young Shoulders’, which will be available everywhere 1st September. Website here, Facebook here.
Now as I have so many fond memories of holidays and days out on the Isle of Wight, any artist from there is potentially on the receiving end of some rather friendly bias. 'Old Head Young Shoulders' needs none of that, in fact Lauran Hibberd could be from St Kilda Island (UK) albeit that would be impossible (oh just Poogle it) this is just one fabulous vibrant and lovable song.
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Background - Sweltering husband-wife duo, Year of October, are excited to unveil their first official single “Come & Get It”, from the impending 3rd studio LP Trouble Comes, out in (you guessed it!) October. Following the release of their critically acclaimed 2nd album Golden Days, the singer-guitarist duo, Phlecia and Josh, toured throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, and the South.
They have built up a loyal fan-base, and have received raving media attention from outlets like No Depression, PRX.org, Country Fried Rock, and Indie Band Guru. “Come & Get It” is a groovy, distortion-laced track that teeters between aggressive and soulful. Phlecia said of the new project, “We like to take influences from all genres of music. We find inspiration in everything and I think if something is good then it doesn’t necessarily have to sound just like us to be a major influence.”
Formed at University of Kentucky in 2010, Year of October is the passion-project of Phlecia and Josh Sullivan. Mixing their diverse influences of Led Zeppelin and The Beatles for Josh, and Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald for Phlecia, Year of October stands out due to their clawing Nashville-rock edge, and yet soulful, swirling vocals.
Previously, the band has released debut LP Stories and sophomore album Golden Days. Year of October has played over 250 shows across the South, and has built up a devoted community of fans with their cohesive yet genere-elusive style. Check out their brand new single “Come & Get It”, and stay tuned below for the new album out in October! Website here, Facebook here.
'Come & Get It' is a bluesy and potent rocker. The vocals are full of passion and feeling, whilst the band kick out some feisty riffs.
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Michael Malarkey - Mongrels.Background - This is the title track from the forthcoming album, accompanied by a new video shot in the UK. Mongrels will be released 8th September 2017 via Cap On Cat Records and you can catch up with Michael Malarkey on the road shortly after for the next step of the journey.
Quote from Michael: "Mongrels represents the many-faced animal within us that is here but never quite from here; the dreamer within us, stricken with wanderlust, who is tuned to the frequencies of change; the nomad within us whose roots grow not in the ground, but in the wind. It represents the mystery of our vagrant nature, at times a source of weakness and at times a source of power.”
Michael Malarkey rose to fame, appearing in the HBO series The Vampire Diaries where he played the character of ‘Enzo’ up until the series finished last year.
An avid singer/songwriter, Michael has turned his attention back to touring, with more dates still to be announced around the release this fall. Live dates are over on Beehive Candy's tour news page, Facebook here.
The title track and one of twelve songs on the forthcoming album 'Mongrels' helps showcase Michael Malarkey's distinct and somewhat poignant vocals. The album comprises a fine mixture of material, occasionally dark in nature (but only occasionally), the refined melodies and desirable feel of each song, makes for a rich and pleasing listen. This deserves to be heard not because of The Vampire Diaries, but because it is a very affecting album.
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Background - Soviet X-Ray Record Club are set to launch new EP 'Houses' today Wednesday, 9 August 2017. Since the release of their debut album 'Wake', SXRC have incorporated glitch, electro and industrial influences into their established shoegaze, post-punk, surf fuelled sound. More upbeat in comparison to their first bleak album, the new EP ‘Houses’ will be released on 9 August 2017 and will be accompanied by a vinyl release featuring new singles ‘Glasslicker’ and ‘Love So Cold’. 'Houses' will be the band’s first multi-track release since 2015.
Lead single 'Glasslicker' features an aggressive bass and drum track, interspersed with laconic vocals. The track is an observation into the push/pull awkwardness of dancefloor relationships, and is complimented by unique pop/industrial keys to complete the club setting.
'Love So Cold' underscores crooning, decaying vocals and harmonies with an insistent drum track and polystyrene static, bound together by SXRC's signature haunting shoegaze/surf melodies. Lyrics like "I'm living it up, while my family dies" hide amongst the noise-pop guitar-jangle and add to the impact of the song's title, “No list of emerging artists on the Brisbane music scene would be complete without the inclusion of this band… they are deservedly growing in stature on the back of their commendable ability as a live act.” SONAR
SXRC have received acclaim for their intense and explosive live performances, and have toured with Australian and International acts such as Flyying Colours, Hinds, The Belligerents, Raave Tapes, The Peep Temple, The Courtneys, New Gods and Nantes. Facebook here, Bandcamp here.
The new 'Houses' EP is featured in full here, with each track demanding attention as the band drift between a multitude of genres. Sometimes it sounds a little like Ultravox with a bad attitude (OK I know there are more recent references to be had), whatever this is a potent collection of songs, more than worthy of a feature.
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Kansas Smittys House Band - Party Party Party.Background - Leave all your preconceptions at the door this is Kansas Smitty's House Band. Since their last studio album, the band have headlined and sold out shows at Ronnie Scott's, the Jazz Cafe, and the Shoreditch Town Hall and became proprietors of their own bar.
Kansas Smitty’s House Band’s music is not without influence. Imagine a head-on collision of the sonic worlds of Louis Armstrong, Charles Mingus, Curtis Mayfield, Brad Mehldau, and Willie Nelson. Don't get ideas though, this sour mash of jazz genres is steeped to perfection, making the the KSHB's music very much their own.
‘Party Party Party’ is the next track to be taken from the band’s forthcoming new album ‘Movin On’ due later this year and is an infectious summer anthem-in-waiting. Opening with raucous crowd noise and with a gang crowd vocal main hook, the track sums up the band’s incredible flair and taste for live performance with a tropical feel that invites a vibin’ party atmosphere that could potentially be heralded as an instrumental on par with Average White Band’s ‘Pick Up The Pieces’.
Kansas Smitty’s House Band loves company and has inducted a host of performers into their scene down at their East End London bar. The band features leader Giacomo Smith with the KSHB steadfast lineup of Pete Horsfall, Adrian Cox, Theon Cross, Pedro Segundo, Joe Webb, Ferg Ireland and Dave Archer while the shortlist of internationally recognised musicians who've been down to the bar to play or just to dig what the KSHB do include: Louis Cole, Nitin Sawhney, Kit Downes, Nick Mulvey, Laura Marling, Beth Rowley, Michael Janisch, and Shingai Shoniwa to name a few.
The eclecticism in the KSHB's sound is rooted in this diverse buzz around Smitty's Bar. It's the constant flow of people through their home that makes collaborating with artists ranging from Curtis Stigers to Kitty, Daisy And Lewis easy for the band to flit to and from.
Smitty's have also taken the show on the road. When they can, the band likes to bring their bar along with them. Takeovers at the Peckham Liberal Club, Stamford Works, The Vault Festival, four nights at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and for an entire month at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - where they programmed a series of concerts in their pop-up venue featuring Sons of Kemet, Swindle and Ska-legends Bad Manners alongside themselves.
The band continue their exciting touring schedule following a main stage shows at Love Supreme and Cornbury Festival with appearances at Boomtown, Goodlife Experience and a return to Shoreditch Town hall as part of London Jazz Festival. Live dates are over on beehive candy's tour news page, Website here, Facebook here.
Today we can end on a real high! 'Party Party Party' is just so invigorating, wonderful, fun packed and vital! Hopefully you get where I'm coming from....
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