SHEL have today shared the stirring video for 'Rainbow'. It's related to SHEL's desire to help empower the women of Hope Springz and support their craft shelter, that said it's also a wonderful song. === Originally formed in 1979Inferior Complex today release 'Dome' the bands cinematic sounds resonating beautifully on this instrumental piece. === amini have released their third E.P today which is entitled 'When We Were Kids' a collection of four gorgeous and heartfelt indie pop songs. === Seazoo make their fourth appearance on Beehive Candy with the new song 'The Pleasure' accompanied by a video as the Welsh band once again impress us with their distinctive mixture of indie pop and rock.
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SHEL - Rainbow.
Did you know that in some regions of India, when a woman becomes a widow, she becomes a "bad omen," shunned by friends and family? In fact, Vrindavan, India is home to more than 20,000 abandoned and destitute widows who live in forced exile.
But here's the coolest part--there are locally-run craft shelters like Hope Springz (which was featured in award-winning documentary Beyond Karma) who are empowering the women and teaching them how to support themselves by making jewelry (they're making rainbow colored bracelets for this creative campaign). With their beautiful single and gorgeous video "Rainbow," acclaimed folk-pop outfit SHEL wants to further empower the women of Hope Springz by bringing awareness and telling the world about them.
The video features the women of Hope Springz, and the joy on their faces is unforgettable. SHEL’s Eva Holbrook traveled to India to make the music video for "Rainbow" with a focus on raising much-needed awareness for these vulnerable women. SHEL (sisters Sarah, Hannah, Eva, and Liza Holbrook) hope their partnership with Hope Springz will make a lasting impact.
Led by brothers Andrew and Ray Missons, Inferior Complex was originally formed in 1979 . Andrew plays guitar and keyboards and Ray plays bass and is the vocalist. Original drummer Jimmy Faye left the band late 1980 but the band continued with another drummer and later on with a drum machine until the band split in 1983.
The brothers then played in various other bands together until they reformed the group in January 2011 using an online drum machine. In 2015 they added Paul Jenman on drums to complete the current line up.
Their influences are early Factory Records bands including Section 25, A Certain Ratio, The Wake, Joy Division and New Order.
They self released their album “In Your Life” in June 2017 on Bandcamp and hooked up with German Shepherd in July 2017 for wider distribution. A series of singles and EPs followed. We are pleased to announce the launch of a new single called "Dome". An instrumental, this epic track brings a cinematic feel to the bands trademark post punk sound.
Welsh noise-pop experts Seazoo launch newest quirky indie bop ‘The Pleasure’ and announce details around their forthcoming second album ‘JOY’, set for release 3rd April via BIG TERRY.
Following acclaimed lead single ‘Throw It Up’, with its swaggering, anthemic qualities, and sparkling follow-up ‘Heading Out’, the indie five-piece continue to edge further into the spotlight with each offering from their forthcoming record, mixing unbridled positivity with their trademark charisma to sublime effect.
Discussing their forthcoming single, enigmatic frontman Ben Trow explained: “‘The Pleasure’ is about taking time to enjoy small moments that make you happy – I think it’s really important right now as the world goes completely bonkers! For me it’s my love for writing and recording music, something that I never take for granted; but the tune can be about anything really”.
Heavily influenced by the likes of Yo La Tengo, Courtney Barnett and Grandaddy, the fledgling quintet have already attracted significant critical acclaim (Q, NME, DIY, Dork, Clash, The Line Of Best Fit) and widespread airplay (BBC Radio 1, 6 Music), not to mention a glowing live reputation through appearances at SXSW, The Great Escape and Green Man and supports with IDLES, The Lovely Eggs and Circa Waves; with their profile only set to increase further on their April UK tour in support of the album.
Recorded at Big Jelly Studios and produced by Ben Trow and Mike Collins (Girl Ray, Pip Blom), Seazoo’s ‘The Pleasure’ is out now and available via all digital platforms.
Lilla Parasit were featured a couple of times here towards the end of last year and they return today with 'Eirik', a song that sees them continue to explore differing rock moods with imagination. === Los Angeles based trio Rubaiyat have today released 'Breathers' a distinctive and atmospheric alt rocker. === Another band we shared music from twice last year are Union Duke who now have a video for the fabulous and refined roots rock song 'Left Behind'. === Whilst we are on the subject of artists who made a couple of appearances here last year Jennah Barry is another and has just shared 'Big Universe' accompanied by a video, her gorgeous vocals again shining through ahead of her new album due in March.
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Lilla Parasit - Eirik.
Late 2019, Lilla Parasit signed to Stockholm label family Rama Lama Records (Chez Ali, Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes, Julia Rakel etc.) and introduced themselves with the excellent 'Gaslights' which was followed by 'Feather Soul', both receiving praise from Scandinavian and international sources. Today, new single 'Eirik' is released on all platforms, the third cut from the band's forthcoming, self-titled debut mini album which is out in March.
Lilla Parasit may be a new band, but the members are no strangers for fans of the Swedish psychedelic and indie scene. The band is lead by Are, who's band Melby released their debut album last spring to great acclaim, and made complete by Amanda Lindgren (Systraskap), David Svedmyr (Me and My Kites) and Jessica Klingsell.
The project started out three years ago and has since changed both names and members before finding both the perfect setting and sound. The band's grand semi-psychedelic lo-fi folk is now finally ready to reach the world's ears. Eirik showcases the band's bombastic sides and is an absolute highlight from the upcoming mini album Lilla Parasit, out in March 2020.
Are on Eirik: "I started out with this blunt, kind of stupid guitar riff. Didn’t really think it would go anywhere, but then the verse melody came to me and I felt like the contrast between them had something. You could say the song moves between something fragile, almost embarassingly personal and something bold and pompous. And in the long instrumental parts we dive into that contrast. To me, Pelle Westlins saxophone pushes the whole thing to the limit of how many conflicting moods i can take in at the same time. And I think that’s good for a song."
"Tired from my teeth on edge like razorblades stuck end to end" - "Breathers is about getting caught up in an abusive relationship where you aren't valued and you struggle against the perpetuation of your own self-deprecating negativity. There's always a part of me that can't help but keep loving someone I've loved before- no matter the state of our current relationship or how they've treated me in the past. There's a fine line, however, between acknowledging some abuse or developing a kind of Stockholm syndrome. It can be hard to see someone in a new light when you've known them another way for so long." - Joel Heinrich
About Rubaiyat: Rubaiyat is a three-Piece doom wop/indie rock band based out of Los Angeles, CA. In April 2018 songwriter Joel Heinrich assembled his friends to sing off-kilter songs that take a darkly honest look at his brushes with love. With undercurrents of alternative rock like Pixies or Sonic Youth, Rubaiyat's lyrical content is focused on distilling moments into morsels of insight of life and love’s hedonistic and nihilistic tendencies.
Heinrich recruited Matt Camgros (drums) and Ian Earley (vocals, bass guitar) and the trio began playing shows around L.A., including spots like The Satellite, Hotel Cafe, Highland Park Bowl, and The Love Song Bar. In late July 2018 Rubaiyat recorded their debut EP, “O” with August Ogren at Petting Zoo in Minneapolis.
Inspired as a modern manifestation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Rubaiyat’s music captures the inevitable dichotomy present in romantic love; sonically embodying, through dissonance and harmony, the conflict and confusion of finding love when it seems impossible and the discord between the bliss of romance and the dread of a life without meaning.
“Left Behind is exactly what you think it is: a song about leaving things behind. We were trying to capture the feeling of loneliness and isolation one can feel when they’re far from the one(s) they love - both lyrically and musically. It’s about the distance often forced between us and the longing to be together again.
It’s the only soft-ish song of the music we’ve released over the last year and once we got in the studio with it we had the opportunity to explore some really cool ideas that are pretty new for us. It was a lot of fun building this tune and taking it from mellow and simmering to a driving banjo-driven sing-along…plus lapsteel!" - Ethan Smith
Based in Toronto, Canada, Union Duke comprise Matt, Ethan, Jim, Will and Rob, genuine friends who take influence from the gems of their parents’ record collections and injecting an extra dose of rock n roll attitude, whilst staying to the traditional roots. Five singers; five songwriters; countless reasons for them to be your new favourite band. With three albums, countless festival stages, and hundreds of thousands of kilometres in the rear-view, the band is excited to be touring new music and winning new fans everywhere they go.
In the two years since their last record Golden Days, Union Duke has been steadily travelling and unravelling across the country, and they’re ready to share the lessons they’ve learned with a slate of new music. Having played at at London’s The Moth Club on 28th January as part of AmericanaFest UK, Union Duke put on a high energy live show complete with soaring harmonies, driving rhythm, chicken pickin' guitar licks and banjo at a breakneck speed. Their humour and infectious enthusiasm will put a grin on your face and have you kicking up dust on the dancefloor. Union Duke are five guys, twenty-four beers, and a half-ton truckload of foot stomping folk rock. Left Behind is the final single to be released from their EP, following Atlas of Love; Ladidadida and 1,2,3.
"There was a period in my life where I read my horoscope not matter how goofy the source was. I was circling the drain a bit and was desperate for someone to tell me what to do. The horoscope writer for US weekly did not help me with this. Big Universe is about that.
And despite the confusion I was feeling in the song (Big Universe) I worked with 3 really great women on the music video and had a very life-affirming experience (something that doesn’t necessarily happen very often in the biz). We went overboard with a haze machine and created a storyline for a woman who plays big for no one".
"Big Universe" comes from the gorgeous Jennah Barry LP Holiday, coming March 2020 on Forward Music Group. Majorly recommended for fans of Andy Shauf, whose bandmate Colin Nealis produced the LP, the songs here are built to last, with echoes of those soft-rock classics often referred to as "AM gold." Barry's vocals are warm and weave through the arrangements with so much skill. The arrangements are full and pillowy but always pull up short of being cloying or overdone, more-so than the source material she's referncing.
Remington Super 60 today share the new E.P simply entitled 'New E.P'. We have all six songs to enjoy below, with each track from the indie pop group sounding gorgeous, sometimes dreamy and always totally engaging. === We featured The Hengles a couple of times last year and they return this week with the new song 'Down To The Water', the Amsterdam based trio's imaginative and timeless pop sounding as good as ever. === From Edmonton, Alberta we have Cayley Thomas with 'Blue Jean Baby' a beautiful song that suggests her upcoming ‘How Else Can I Tell You?’ album will be more than worth checking out. === We finish today's selection with a punchy rocker from Tara Vern called 'Girl With Flashing Eyes' the Australian artist packs some fine hooks into this refined rock track.
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Remington Super 60 - New E.P.
We have a brand new 6 track EP from Norwegian indie-band Remington super 60 simply entitled 'New EP' which has been released today (29th of January 2020).
Remington super 60 is an indie pop group hailing from the town Fredrikstad in Norway. It was founded by the group's songwriter and bedroom producer Christoffer Schou late 1998. Originally set up as a Casio pop band (listen to the first album pling 2001 and you see what I mean) the sound has gone back and forward but always been inspired by Christoffer's musical heroes Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson, Velvet Underground as well as newer bands such as Stereolab, High Llamas, Cornelius, and Yo La Tengo & Eggstone.
The band has released several albums, EPs on various indie labels around the world, and appeared on numerous compilation albums since it's early start. The new material is released on Christoffer's own label Café Superstar Recordings.
Remington super 60 2020 consists mainly of: Christoffer Schou & Elisabeth Thorsen with a little help from long time collobarator Magnus Abelsen.
A new year, a new song! Down To The Water, The Hengles’ 6th consecutive single, takes you on a sonic trip to uncharted musical landscapes. Starting from scratch, adding layer after layer as the music progresses, eventually leading the listener to a blissful serenity.
The distinguished gentlemen of The Hengles have more than earned their musical spurs in the past. The guys from Amsterdam played in illustrious 80s and 90s bands like Fatal Flowers, Treble Spankers, Supersub and Jack Of Hearts. Since 2015 they represent The Hengles, originally specialized in the better cover stuff and in addition active as backing band both live and in the studio of various artists.
Last year The Hengles have taken the next step: writing their own repertoire making pure melodic jingle-jangle Hengle pop with a twist, taking you on a trip down memory lane of more than 50 years of popular music history and blending this into their own style.
As said before, 2019 has been very kind to The Hengles: entries on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist, Apple Music’s New Music Daily playlist, Dutch National Radio NPO 5 playlist and a real Number 1 spot at Dutch IndieXL Indie chart, airplay in Germany, US and The Phillippines, to name but a few!
This new year, The Hengles will continue their quest to bring you more music, more music, more music. More music to your ears! So, follow The Hengles, go Down To The Water and spin it around! Down To The Water is released 31 January 2020.
Cayley Thomas is a singer, guitarist and songwriter from Edmonton, Alberta whose natural affinity for constructing catchy melodies reveals her striking vocal range and character. Under a delirious guise of simplicity, she weaves sensitive eccentricities and cathartic declarations into her own brand of unique, knowledgeable pop.
Cayley’s upcoming album ‘How Else Can I Tell You?’ is a collection of songs that reflect upon a period of subconscious overwhelm and the subsequent shift into conscious thought and awareness. Recorded between Edmonton and Toronto, the album deliberately combines Hi-Fi studio production and Lo-Fi living room charm.
‘How Else Can I Tell You?’ is fresh enough for modern indie rock ears to find familiar, with spells of synth and its modern production, all the while drawing on the fuzzy raw warmth of our favourite sounds from mid-century rock and soul. It features Cayley Thomas at the helm and is tied together by producers Nik Kozub (Shout Out Out Out Out, Humans, The Wet Secrets) and Steve Chahley (U.S. Girls, FRIGS, Badge Époque, Darlene Shrugg.)
Following hot on the tale of her album Feverlurden, Tara Vern has released righteous new single Girl With The Flashing Eyes.
Girl with Flashing Eyes is the lovechild of Pat Benatar and Foo Fighters. Powerful guitar hooks, an 80s aesthetic and demented drumming. With a double hooked chorus and menacing yet plaintive verses, this single is a thank-you letter immortalised in song.
In September 2019 Tara bunkered down in Zen Studios, Sydney, to record her first solo album Feverlurden with engineer Geoff Lee and session drummer Miles Thomas. The album was mastered by Steve Smart at Studios 301, Sydney. Tara’s goal was to create rock you can dance to. With a single guitar track, a single drum track, and single bass track, the music is raw, stripped back, immediate and danceable.
Tara was the singer/guitarist/songwriter in early noughties Sydney band Guddling, which received praise from radio and print for “dark-edged pop melodies, emotive hooks and sorrowful female harmonies” the group which split when various members moved abroad in 2002. After spending several years in the wilderness honing her hunting skills and dallying in electronic music as Noot Records, she has returned to the thing she loves best - Rocking out on the guitar.
Upon a tumult of drums and a ringing two-note-tap to your forehead, Girl With The Flashing Eyes gets your attention and points your gaze towards a future of scuzzy riffs and cheeky twists. Tara Vern a rocker not content to rest.
Kinley has shared a lyric video for 'Washington' a melodic and desirable mixture of indie folk and pop. === Motihari Brigade have a brand new album called 'Power From Below' from which we have 'Talking To Crazy' which gives a good feel for the bands revolution rock. === Taken from her brand new album 'The Darkness Of Birds' we have Amy Petty and 'Sick Of The Radio' where the contemporary pop artist delivers some really fine songs. === Greg Hoy & The Boys have released a music video for 'Green' a vibrant rocker that showcases the San Francisco band very well. === ØZWALD return to Beehive Candy after our first feature just over a month ago, this time we have 'Call off the Doctor' a gently paced, calm and increasingly catchy song. === The first of ten songs on their final album before calling it a day we have 'Water' fromMountain For Clouds and I thinks it's more than fair to say they are leaving on a splendid high.
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Kinley - Washington.
Kinley Dowling is a talented songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who spent ten years touring the world as a member of the band Hey Rosetta!. When not on tour with her friends, she finds time to write and record her own music.
She released her solo debut album 'Letters Never Sent' as KINLEY in October 2016. The album won three Music PEI awards and two East Coast Music Awards for Rising Star of the Year 2018.
For over a decade, KINLEY has appeared on violin with the likes of Jenn Grant, Stars, Matt Mays, In-Flight Safety, Rose Cousins as well as loaning her talents to Classic Albums Live and Anne and Gilbert; The Musical.
Her career has also seen multiple appearances with Grammy-winning artist Anne Murray and as a member of Hey Rosetta!, Kinley has toured Australia, USA, Canada and Europe multiple times, appearing at festivals such as Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Ottawa Bluesfest, and Mumford and Sons Gentlemen of the Road tour. She has recorded violin and viola on over 400 songs for numerous artists across Canada.
Rock-N-Roll began as an expression of youth rebellion. Beautiful bands of outcasts, renegades, and radicals claimed the music as their voice to express ideals of independent human resistance.
But there was always the music industry - plastic robot manufactured culture to distract and placate the masses. Many were hypnotized by the artificial programming flooding their tele-screens.
They may call the tune, but we need not consume what we are fed. We can create our own independent rock-n-roll resistance.
Motihari Brigade creates high-energy revolution rock as a beacon for those seeking their independent lost tribe. The new album Power From Below evokes the encouraging electric sound of “Bernie Sanders meets Helter Skelter.” They are a voice in the wilderness calling “We are on our own, but not alone” - words from the song Waiting For the Revolution and inscribed on the electric guitar from the album’s cover art.
Amy Petty releases "The Darkness of Birds" With pristine production and a powerhouse vocal performance, "The Darkness Of Birds" announces Amy Petty as force to be reckoned with in Adult Contemporary Music.
The eleven song set will evoke comparisons to many of the great divas who have laid the foundation for emotional and introspective modern pop music.
Delivered over an ethereal instrumental bed, developed in concert with producer Andy Reed, Petty provides layers of vocals that waft and wail with passion and grace. Both inspirational and foreboding, "The Darkness Of Birds" in an epic sonic achievement.
San Francisco based, Greg Hoy & The Boys have just debuted their latest music video for their single ‘Green’!
According to frontman Greg, “‘Green’ is about seeing the tip of the iceberg of a person while ignoring the depth below its surface: the cheerful barista, a wistful lover, your dear leaders.
And while it celebrates empathy, it also cautions against believing the facade — seeing what we want to see — by asking what goes on behind closed doors. Sometimes the truth is way, way uglier than it appears.”
Comprised of Jason Wade (Lifehouse) and Steve Stout (former-Lost Beach/Blondfire), Nashville-based ØZWALD doles out everyday wisdom on an indie platter.
A departure from their first record, Sweet Delirium, ØZWALD’s new LP Born In A State is inspired by their environment in the heart of Tennessee. These songs tell stories from the perspective of two creatives pondering the value of art and music in a world of likes and follows. Truly Nashville, this collection is organic, quietly eccentric, and full of nostalgia.
Roughly five years ago, Stout was called in to play as the guitarist on an international Lifehouse tour that would eventually have its US route canceled, but a bond began to form between Stout and Wade on the overseas run. Following the tour, Wade needed an engineer to assist him in his California studio where they both lived at the time and called Stout.
What began as an artist/engineer relationship quickly evolved to an artist/artist partnership and the two immersed themselves in the inspiration of something new as they set a goal of completing three songs in two weeks. The duo amassed a total of twelve songs which made up their first record, Sweet Delirium.
They have since moved from Los Angeles to Nashville and quickly found the change of scenery influencing the way they approach writing songs, with the aesthetic of their surroundings really bleeding into the music. Deeper and more colorful, Born In A State probes the melancholic world of Art Pop and Indie Folk, conjuring up the work of Wilco and Foxwarren while retaining their signature levity.
Mountains for Clouds are calling it quits, but not before giving us one last album as a parting gift - Anxious & Aware showcases all the things that made them great; expansive musical soundscapes and contemplative, emotional vocals. The album sees release February 21 via Count Your Lucky Stars, just prior to their last show February 23 at Chicago's Sleeping Villiage. More details on the event are here.
Bands with expansive names evoking strong imagery rarely live up to their monikers. Fortunately in the case of Mountains for Clouds, we have a band that lives up to their title. Composing huge, soaring pieces that build and layer into a delicate beauty so fragile it threatens to break at a the drop of a pin. While most bands would take this step too far, Mountains for Clouds are masters of their craft, reigning in or pulling the intensity of their music like it was clay in their hands.
On their final album, Anxious and Aware, we can hear their entire decade of playing together culminate into one last masterpiece. We hear the return of their large and sweeping musical palate - guitars that create their own sonic soundscapes that evoke images as majestic as their moniker, bass that weaves in and out like fine stitching on a tapestry, and drums with detail precision that add immense clarity and power. We also can hear something refined- contemplative and emotional vocals that cap the portrait, leaving us with a feeling that we have just heard something special - the final work of a musical life well spent.
All bands come to end, but not all of them bow out as gracefully as they came in. Let’s celebrate the last album instead of mourning their death. They would have wanted it that way.
Suzy and The Lifeguard have released 'Now' a song that twists and turns between melodic and refined pop to a more rocky psychedelic feel as it works wonders. === Alfie has an intriguing video for 'The Easter Song' a simmering and I quote "homage to Tex Mex music", it's also fabulous. === Sandmoon have a brand new single and video entitled 'Angel' the indie folk/rock band have a distinctive and highly engaging musical feel. === Ahead of a new album due in March Clem Snide has shared 'Roger Ebert' a gorgeously arranged piece where the mesmerising vocals exude real personal feeling. === Sammy Miller and The Congregation have released the wonderful song 'It Gets Better' which is a melting pot of delicious sounds. === From Emerald Park we have 'Rules Don't Apply' a vibrant indie rocker accompanied by some suitably matched old film clips. === Having featured the last two songs, today we have the third and final single from The Ah entitled 'Just Relief' ahead of the 'Mere Husk' album release which arrives on Friday.
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Suzy and The Lifeguard - Now.
Suzy & the Lifeguard lures her listeners into a sci-fi dream world immersed in lagoons of swampy jazz and shimmering 1960’s psychedelic pop. Her iridescent lounge-infused vocals are a siren’s call beckoning to a world where all the senses come alive, inspired and reawakened.
Suzy Paradise created Suzy & the Lifeguard as an alter-ego multi-media music project. Award-winning songwriter, producer, and recording artist Bleu McAuley (Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Michelle Branch) co-wrote and produced the self-titled debut EP released in 2015. In 2016, she was nominated in the 14th Annual International Music Awards for “Best Jazz Song with Vocals.”
In 2020 Suzy & the Lifeguard is set to release the record, ANIMA, produced by Grammy award-winning recording and mix engineer, Phil Joly (Patti Smith, Lana Del Rey, Daft Punk). While the self-titled EP flourished in tropical island breeziness, ANIMA, embarks on a shadowed journey of neon nightlife and moody ambiance. Recorded in Kauai at a friend’s chocolate farm/music studio, Paradise says, “It’s vibier than the last record. It’s a bit darker overall, but it’s also still silly and fun. I feel like it’s an honest reflection of not only what I have experienced in the last five years but also the fun and magical space we were in.”
"Easter Song" is the first single from Alfie's full lenght "If She Could Only Remember My Name", just out Jan. 24th 2020 on Seahorse Reordings. The song is a tex mex homage, filled with trumpets, love and religious obsessions, and guitars tremolos.
Long time collaborator with celeb italian jazzists and songrwiters, Alfie (born Alfonso Anagni) gets his inspirations from the likes of Lyle Lovett, John Moreland, Sturgill Simpson and Calexico.
And from movies. He could easily fit in a Paolo Sorrentino's movie (in another of his lives, he plays with a band at posh weddings in dream locations).
"The Easter Song" video - premiered by italian Rolling Stone mag - is kind of "la dolce vita" remake of The Big Lebowski, shoot at Tiam in Rome, the first bowling built by Americans in Italy back in the '50s.
Sandmoon, an indie folk/rock band led by Lebanon-based musician Sandra Arslanian, have returned with a new single, “Angel”—a treatise to profound love that seamlessly blends propulsive guitars, feedback, and sweet harmonies, with Arslanian’s rich and emotive anchoring vocals. The song will be released digitally on January 24. Sandmoon has also shared an accompanying video to the song shot in Beirut and directed by Tracy Karam. Sandmoon creates songs that are lyrically hopeful and infused with an unerring sense of melodicism and a unique style that springs from Arslanian’s multi-cultural upbringing—born in Lebanon with Armenian roots and raised in Belgium. Produced by Faddi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios in Lebanon, the song also includes Arslanian on backing vocals, synths and keyboard; Sam Wehbi on guitar, Georgy Flouty on bass and Dani Shukri on drums. “Angel” is the second single taken from their forthcoming album, Put A Gun/Commotion, which will be released later this year.
Arslanian describes the song with emphatic simplicity: “’Angels’ is about absoluteness. It’s listening to your higher self, your angels, and fully living your life, with absolute love. For love is the only true thing that remains when everything else disappears.”
The video was shot in Lebanon and tells the story of a young person played by Daniel Aboushakra who experiences intense grief at the loss of his mother and his eventual transition from shock to acceptance through love. The video was produced by Arslanian and Jihad Saade was the Director of Photography.
Adds Karam: “It’s an emotional video about mourning and absolute love. It portrays a twelve-year-old boy trying to cope with the sudden, devastating loss of a parent by finding his way on his own. The pain forces him to face reality, in all its harshness and brutality. Yet in the midst of the chaos, there are moments of love, sparks of light that help him move on and replenish the emptiness.”
Clem Snide will release their new album Forever Just Beyond on March 27 via Ramseur Records/Thirty Tigers. Produced by Scott Avett, Eef Barzelay’s stunning new album under the Clem Snide moniker may just be the most miraculous of them all.
Today they share the first single "Roger Ebert." Joined by Avett on harmonies, Barzelay spins the famed film critic’s final words into a gorgeous meditation on the mysteries of life and death on the track, which, like much of the album, seeks comfort in the acceptance of the inevitable.
“The last ten years have been a rollercoaster of deep despair and amazing opportunities that somehow present themselves at the last possible second,” says Barzelay. “That this record even exists, as far as I’m concerned, is a genuine miracle.”
“About ten years ago, everything just seemed to fall apart,” he explains. “The band bottomed out, my marriage was crumbling, I lost my house, and I had to declare bankruptcy. That started this process of ego death for me, where I realized the only way to survive would be to transcend myself and to try to find some kind of deeper, spiritual relationship with life.
Sammy Miller and The Congregation - It Gets Better.
Sammy Miller and The Congregation release the latest single from their debut album Leaving Egypt, "It Gets Better," which bursts forth with a loping groove, and cleverly unfolds with moody passages that veer into the sunny side of the street. As Sammy states, “This is a song for the tough time, the tough day, the tough moment. It will get better.”
Sammy Miller, a Grammy-nominated drummer for his work with Joey Alexander, convened The Congregation in 2014 at The Juilliard School in New York City where he was getting his master's in jazz. “We all went to Juilliard and have these credentials, but we didn’t like the insular feeling of the jazz scene. We were seeking warmth and connection,” Sammy says. These misfit creatives descended on venues around NYC where the genre was not played. “I wanted to find a new audience,” Sammy says. “We played in dive bars where people were scared of jazz.”
Their live show grew to be something of a mix between a comedy troupe and a dazzling rock band that played a vigorously reimagined strain of jazz. “We let ourselves be free on the bandstand and we took the audience with us,” Sammy says. The band’s boundless energy, inclusive ideals, catchy songwriting, and revue style presentation made them a word-of-mouth buzz band. The septet expanded its reach through adopting the rock band philosophy of touring endlessly in a van to build a fanbase.
One of Northern Europe’s most successful bands releasing music under a Creative Commons license, Emerald Park are back after about 4 years of silence. Emerald Park found their audience on the dark side of the internet when they released the album “For Tomorrow” (2008) as a free download back in 2010 - a choice that has given them almost 8 million listeners and over 1 million downloads at Jamendo.com. Thousands have also enjoyed their music in commercials and YouTube videos with various themes. This success brought Emerald Park to the Midem Festival in Cannes and led them to gigs in London (The Cavern), Hamburg, and Amsterdam - just to name a few.
The band hit the pause button in 2016 but are now back with their brand-new single “Rules Don’t Apply”.
“Rules Don’t Apply” was recorded by Mattias Larsson and Linus Lindvall of Cub&Wolf who attempted to find the band’s musical roots; this effort led them to the ‘90s with lots of guitars and fewer synths than in their previous works. The mixing was performed by the band members Daniel Gunneberg and Tobias Borelius who were joined by Ola Frick (Moonbabies) during the last stages of the process to rediscover the sound of “For Tomorrow”. With his final touch the band found what they had been searching for.
The lyrics are about being true and honest to yourself. Everyone around you will notice if you’re not. People hide behind computers and pretending to be someone else or buying things to impress their neighbors, scared of showing who they really are. That’s a shame.
The Ah—solo project of composer and musician Jeremy Gustin (Rubblebucket, Okkervil River, Delicate Steve, Marc Ribot, Albert Hammond Jr, etc)—shared the music video for "Just Relief" the hypnotic third and final single from the forthcoming sophomore album Mere Husk, releasing January 31st via NNA Tapes.
The video's director, Yuka C. Honda (of Cibo Matto), shared her process: "I approach music and video in the same way as cooking. For me, it’s all about understanding the ingredients and creating something that uses their character to the fullest extent. In other words, I don’t write the story and look for the performers. I write the story based on the characters I am already aware of, with whom I am working. Jeremy sent me this music and asked me to make a video. I love the song very much. Somehow, it made me think about the last scene of the film "Black Orpheus". When the protagonist dies at the end, children emerge. They pick up the guitar that he dropped, then regard the sunrise and start singing and dancing. Life goes on. Death is heart-wrenching. But there are children who will keep on dancing, playing the guitars that we dropped. I thought, "I can make this video!", because I knew I wouldn't mind listening to this song 600 hundred times while editing."
The release of Mere Husk will be celebrated alongside Gustin's forthcoming photography book Foundscapes (releasing with 11A Records) at Brooklyn NY's Step Bone Cut on February 1st.
Our third feature for Brooke Benthamahead
of her debut album 'Everyday Nothing' which will be released on
AllPoints on the 28th of February, is 'Control' a song that if anything
raises expectations even further! === Glass Heart String Choir a Seattle based duo have just released their beautiful new single entitled 'Stars', it's fabulously arranged and exudes warmth and natural emotion. === Ahead of the bands fourth studio album 'Stingray' due in March we have the latest taster from Bray and The Dens called 'Enemy Lines', a slick alt pop rocker, that's potent and addictive. === We have a video for the title track from David Cronenberg’s Wife new E.P namely 'Hannity Comes Home'. It's a simmering mixture of flowing rock and in your face vocals and oh boy! does it pack some determination and passion. === North London indie band Weird Milk share a video for 'Time Machine' where keeping a straight face was a challenge for some of the band, not that it takes anything away from this triumphant piece. === === We finish today with folk singer David Philips and his new song release 'In Focus' a gentle, personal and intrinsically beautiful musical work.
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Brooke Bentham - Control.
Brooke
Bentham releases ‘Control’, the explosive third single from debut album
Everyday Nothing which will be released on AllPoints on the 28th of
February.
‘Control’ examines the connected age’s
anxiety-inducing phenomenon of ghosting: “It’s about when someone cuts
you off entirely. It’s weird when someone does that,” she explains. “I
got blocked out with absolutely no reason why, and it makes you question
yourself and you just can’t stop thinking about it. you’re just talking
to a wall; it’s bouncing back and you end up with this mess in your
head.”
Images of loneliness and anxiety pervade the
accompanying video, which is helped along by the introspective ambience
of Brooke’s songwriting. The song’s explosive chorus is a relentless
chiming of internal doubts and insecurities in the wake of being cut
out. Like with anything Brooke writes it’s not without a subtle and dry
sense of humour, images of her burying her head in a cereal bowl or
under curtains give it levity, but the song’s message is unequivocal.
Everyday
Nothing was engineered and produced at Yawn studios with Bill
Ryder-Jones mixed at Dean St studios by Charlie Russell. Brooke writes
sharp and eloquent songs about her experiences as she understands them,
using words and music to resolve and record the tensions of young
adulthood. Confronted with the mundanities of life and caught between
two jobs in London, she finds intense lyricism in the struggle for
purpose and direction.
There is so much frustration in
being young and unsure of what you want, especially when your path is
creative,” says Brooke. “You can only hope that it leads you to
something fulfilling, so you cling on to the everyday details - burning
candles in your bedroom at three AM aged sixteen, or having a bath in
the evening at twenty three, or watching your breath when you step
outside in winter. I was reflecting a lot when I wrote these songs,
romanticising those moments.”
We have the new single from Seattle based duo, Glass Heart String Choir. their new song, and first since 2018, is a grand, cinematic arrangement that pairs rustic acoustic guitars with sweeping strings, adding a widescreen intensity to their longing vocals. In the self-directed video for "Stars", the band explore the elasticity of time, meticulously cutting together hours of timelapsed footage in the sprawling Seattle forest. At times they are superimposed over the shifting landscape, and at other times they are transported along with it.
At first listen, one might assume that the intricate interplay between honeyed vocals and any variety of violin, cello, or harp of a Glass Heart String Choir song would require careful discussion between musical partners, but songs are the one thing Ian Williams and Katie Mosehauer never talk about.
Verbose when discussing the nuances of nature (especially birds) or poetry (especially Russian), Ian is a person prone to long pauses while searching for the perfect word or metaphor to describe his own inner mechanics—a listener may wait indefinitely for sentences that never finish or metaphors that remain unfound. It is songwriting that allows him ample time to plumb the more faceless emotions of life and dredge for exactly the right words to capture them. Recipient of the prestigious Richard Rodgers Award in musical theater, Williams is adept at telling others’ stories, as well as his own through song.
For Katie, music presents a wondrous, wordless reprieve. Spending much of her time crafting public policy, words are a high-stakes game with far reaching implications. “I spend a lot of time in other arenas parsing the meaning of individual words and their intention. When it come to our songs, we seem to have found our own language—Ian never needs to tell me what they mean, and I never need to ask.” Composing allows her to think only in sound and shape and color, to fill in spaces not with what must be said to make the world more just but with what could be heard to make it more beautiful.
In their first release since their project’s debut EP in late 2018, the release of singles "Stars" and "It’s Never Enough" scheduled for early 2020 move on from Light’s themes of leveling doubt to trade in absolutes. Both songs apply surging vocals over baroque musical sheets, weaving together intricate stories with cinematic soundscapes, but to different effect—"Stars" bursts toward the future with a knowing, formative, certainty while "It’s Never Enough" looks back with an equally certain sense of devastation. This paired couplet of songs is day to each other’s night, full of contrast and compliment.
Eclectic alternative rock artist BRAY & THE DENS proudly announce the release of the band’s fourth studio album, Stingray, on March 20.
“Enemy Lines,” is a cut from the album The Aliens are Here, which was released in 2019. The song was produced with Bray’s longtime friend Cam Perridge, and the video was directed by Brazilian filmmaker Piettro Garibaldi and filmed in Dresden and Budapest. “The theme surrounding this video is betrayal,” Bray explains. “In the video, I’m chasing a ghost, which is something I’ve actually done in real life and wanted to address. We aimed to tell this story using layers (hinting at duality or duplicity) and by filming in the goddamn coldest weather! While working on songs for “Aliens,” I decided this song fit the concept of isolation, and reworked it with a much heavier treatment,” he reveals. “The lyrics are pretty straight-forward. I was deeply hurt by a friend, which I now realize was my own part in, which was me believing what I wanted to believe. Still, when our heart longs for something, it hurts when we are denied that thing; when the rug is pulled out from what we thought was real.” Sample lyric: “No power of detection. I was lost in your affection. Upon closer inspection, I couldn't see my own reflection. Behind enemy lines, we looked each other dead in the eyes. Behind enemy lines, you lied.”
Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Bray Gurnari is the principal of his band, employing a rotating array of musicians to round out the Bray & the Dens trio. San Francisco-based Bray’s unique brand of alt pop rock is a mix of Bowie-esque hooks and crisp, driving grooves à la Queens of the Stone Age. The band’s music is a blend of syncopated propulsion, sly hooks and poignant lyricism. It’s rhythmic, hooky guitar-driven rock, to be sure…but it’s also cinematic and clever, with funky beats and lush pop sensibilities thrown into the mix. Bray’s music is heavily influenced by David Bowie and Prince, and has been compared to the Foo Fighters and Arctic Monkeys. “Our sound is more sensual than the Foo Fighters, yet still packs the punch. Perhaps more accurately, it’s the Arctic Monkeys-meets-Matisse; it’s The Police-meets-Zoolander,” he laughs.
“I’m influenced by Renaissance people who make a mark through giving and creating; artists who follow their own muse without apology.” Be sure not to miss Bray & the Dens next upcoming single/video, “Be Your Own Surgeon” due out in mid-February, the release of the full album Stingray on March 20, and stay tuned for U.S. touring news to be announced soon!
David Cronenberg’s Wife release brand new EP Hannity Comes Home via Blang Records on 31st January. The follow up to 2018’s The Octoberman Sequence EP (‘A perfect 10’ - Norman Records), title track Hannity Comes Home is taken from forthcoming 4th album The Ship (Necrologies), while the new EP also features ‘a song written for a play we did the music for and two different versions of old songs we recorded up a mountain in Norway’.
Led by singer, composer, anti-corruption campaigner and 7-fingered guitarist Tom Mayne, DCW’s songs swing between the sweet and the disturbing, with influences ranging from The Birthday Party to Jonathan Richman. The Ship shows the band at their idiosyncratic best, showcasing their flair for cleverly-crafted songwriting, black humoured lyrics and off-the-wall themes.
A key band in the early 2010s UK Antifolk scene, contemporaries of Fat White Family on the Antiantifolk scene, and an influence on current South London guitar bands (Goat Girl, Shame), DCW have supported The Fall, The Nightingales and Jeffrey Lewis, played numerous BBC 6music sessions (Marc Riley, Cerys Matthews), and recently featured on John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. Their live shows are visceral, vital, and whether playing twisted acoustic lullabies or in-your-face electric hollers, they never play the same set twice.
Edging towards the forefront of the emerging indie landscape, North London dreamers Weird Milk share the visuals for pulsating new single Time Machine, out now via American, Austin-based label Big Indie.
Arriving towards the end of a whirlwind 2019, the quintet’s latest effort followed acclaimed singles Anything You Want and Honey, I’m Around, having received widespread praise across the BBC Radio 1/6 Music airwaves (Annie Mac, Jack Saunders, Steve Lamacq) and growing support throughout the online community (NME, DIY, The Line Of Best Fit, Dork) as their profile continues to soar.
With plans already taking shape for 2020, including a support tour alongside fellow risers APRE next month and their debut trip stateside for SXSW & New Colossus Festival (incl. support dates with The Orielles), Weird Milk are certainly primed for the spotlight and look set to take full advantage.
Discussing the visuals, the four-piece explained: “We took a wonderful trip to Wales to film this one. It’s not Paris but it is Abergavenny. Went to a bakery and then pranced about for a bit on camera".
In Focus" is a modern folk ballad, written especially for the Spanish romantic comedy "Te quiero, imbécil."
It's a classic tale of not appreciating what you have until it is gone. Co-written by David Philips with Spanish film score giants Lucas Suarez and Javier Bayon.
David Philips is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer from the UK. So far we released six albums and a few singles from David.
The Claudettes have a brand new album on the way entitled 'High Times In The Dark' and they have just shared 'Bad Babe, Losin' Touch' as a first taste of what's to come. We last featured the band back in March 2018 and I think fair to say were rather impressed to say the least back then. Well fast forward to now and the eleven new tracks and prepare for an upgrade as the Chicago based band deliver some fabulous material. With a couple of more songs scheduled ahead of the album, we hope to dip back in and tempt you even more! ===Highasakite make their fourth appearance on Beehive Candy with today's release 'Under The Sun' where the Norwegian band deliver a dreamy, emotional and melodic piece. === As duo's go Nancy deliver an expansive and richly layered sound as is born out by 'It's Just You' a lush and engaging song. === Last month we featured 'Migration Of Souls from M. Ward who is back with 'Unreal City' a flowing and imaginative song. === Ava Kaydo mix psychedelic vibes with dream pop on 'Lucid' a beautiful and melodic piece. === We have the debut single by Sunbather called 'Softly Spoken' which is described as warm and woozy, I'd just add it's an excellent song to garner deserved attention.
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The Claudettes - Bad Babe, Losin' Touch.
The Claudettes have a new album coming out on April 3 entitled "High Times in the Dark". The first release from the album is the new song available digitally from today 'Bad Babe, Losin' Touch' which is supported by a video. The band intend to share a couple of more songs ahead of the album release.
Johnny Iguana the bands piano player and songwriter commented "I believe it's definitely our best yet". It's produced by Ted Hutt (Violent Femmes, The Devil Makes Three, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lucero) and will be released on Forty Below Records.
The band plan to support the new album with a number of live shows commencing in April.
Critically acclaimed Norwegian outfit Highasakite unveil another slice of intimate pop with ‘Under The Sun’, out now via Propeller Recordings. The new track comes just weeks before the bands fast-approaching-album, ‘The Bare Romantic’ Part 2 will be released on the February 7.
Originally written for a one-off live performance on a Norwegian National TV show raising money for Flyktninghjelpen (The Norwegian Refugee Council), the song has become a fan favourite, with many requests for a recorded version, which the band decided to release this year. The new single is also featured in the end credits of Norwegian movie 'Tunellen', which had its debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Talking about the emotionally charged song the band explains; “at the time the media was filled with news about the Syrian refugees. There was such a contrast in how the public reacted to the images of those people in need. While some people answered with plain hate and rejection, other people put their life on hold to help them out.”
The new mini album sees the involvement of former Jaga Jazzist and Puma’s guitarist Stian Westerhus, traditional and fiddle composer Sarah-Jane Summers, as well as their regular live band members’ Øystein Moen and Kristoffer Bonsaksen, with the latter also sharing production duties with Highasakite’s member Trond Bersu.
Following on last year’s dark and brooding third album ‘Uranium Heart’, the band – whose record-breaking album ‘Silent Treatment’spent over two years on the Norwegian Top 40 chart, whilst their #1 charting successor ‘Camp Echo’ - saw them cementing their status as one the most important names in Norwegian music. Having proved themselves to be a tour de force on the live circuit, Highasakite have become a renowned international live act - topping the bills of legendary festivals including headlining Norway’s five biggest festivals; Glastonbury, Latitude, Roskilde, and Field Day in Australia, alongside sell out tours spanning the UK, US and Australia.
Highasakite have retained their top spot on numerous Nordic charts, with Ingrid Helene Håvik’s alternative approach to pop writing earning multiple Norwegian Grammy Awards and widespread acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork, NME, MOJO, The Guardian and Vogue. The same year, the band performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, were handpicked by Conan O’Brien to perform on his eponymous talk show and made their USA television debut on Conan in 2017 to perform their single ‘5 Million Miles’.
‘Under The Sun’ confirms Highasakite as a band firmly writing their own bright future, one that will see them be back in the UK to play an intimate show at The Garage in London on 16th April 2020.
Stick two disillusioned and frustrated artists in a writing session together and that is when, in 2018 Nancy was born.
In the heart of Shabby Road Studios (the North London flat they recorded their home demos in) both members of the band hit upon something they did not know they were looking for.
“ We never intended to be a band, but the songs came so naturally and quickly. We instantly felt a special connection to the music and knew it had created a world of its own ”.
Following the raw, emotive live recordings of their Three birds E.P (2018) a brief hiatus and a handful of TV Synchs in the US, the band began writing back and forth between London and Berlin. Nancy began cutting their teeth in the bars of the Berlin music scene and enlisted the help of producer Noah Booth (Ratboy) for their new single “It’s Just You.”
With a new EP on the horizon, Nancy are ready to take over and pull on the heart strings in 2020.
M. Ward has shared 'Unreal City', the second single from his latest album 'Migration Stories', to be released on 3rd April via Anti Records. Captivating first track, 'Migration Of Souls, was released in December.
A prolific writer, producer and performer, M. Ward has established himself as one of modern American music’s most unique and versatile voices. For his tenth album, he journeyed to Quebec, Canada to work with Arcade Fire’s Tim Kingsbury, Richard Reed Parry, producer/mixer Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Florence and the Machine) and Teddy Impakt. Together they recorded a collection of 11 songs inspired by stories of human migration. Languid, hazy and often dream-like in narrative, these songs have their origins in pictures from newspaper and television reports, stories told by friends and tales from Ward’s own family history. At Arcade Fire’s Montreal studios the assembled talents recorded what he describes as “11 largely instrumental ballads - a sci-fi fast forward to a more silent night many generations from here to a maybe-era where movement is free again.”
Says Ward of the stories which informed these songs, “Some time went by, the stories wove together and I remember them now closer to characters in a dream of how people could treat each other than any kind of front-page news realism. I think music subconsciously - whether writing or listening - is a filter for me. Helping to process all the bad news into something new to build from. Some records to me are like self-fulfilling prophecies - visualizing change to wish something into being. Those records inspired this one.”
M. Ward’s music has always felt intricate, intimate and otherworldly. With 'Migration Stories' he breathes beautiful life into vignettes of human flight, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy as it reckons with a world that feels more divided than ever before, even as its inhabitants grow more inextricably linked by the day. With a rich, emotive croon - which Uncut Magazine once likened to “honey drizzled onto a dry creekbed” - he conveys a huge depth of emotion, captured in the studio, almost entirely on the very first take.
Soothing and introspective, Yeppoon based trio Ava Kaydo showcase their unique blend of psychedelic dream pop and indie rock with debut single 'Lucid'.
Formed in 2017 and inspired by 'fruit puns and too many beers', Maddy, Ben and Jeremy are ready to take Ava Kaydo out of coastal Central Queensland and spread their track across the indie music scene.
Slow-reverb guitar chords paired with drum progression and hypnotising vocals creating a hazy and aurally blissful soundscape. "We try and achieve a dreamy vibe in all our songs with a groovy beat', and the band have done just that. The track explores the idea of lucid dreaming as a form of escapism from difficult emotions.
"Our single ‘Lucid’ explores the concept of lucid dreaming and how its an escape from shty emotions", explains Maddy Chalk.
Taking notes from Ocean Alley, Tame Impala, Methyl Ethel and DMA’s, Ava Kaydo are a breezy mix of ambient indie rock on the cusp of psychedelia. Amongst creating music, the band are also passionate about keeping the rural Australian music scene alive and have been seen playing alongside names like Kingswood, The Hoodoo Gurus and Tia Gostelow.
Unveiling their intoxicating new indie sound, Brisbane duo Sunbather flourish with the warm and woozy debut single ‘Softly Spoken’.
Using only guitars for their melodic textures, the single drifts seamlessly through a myriad of layered riffs and almost synth-like tones. Paired with upbeat, crisp percussion elements, ‘Softly Spoken’ unfolds into poignant and picturesque indie bliss. Sculpting a dream-like state, singer Sally Latter's vast harmonies transcend, adding a beautiful richness throughout.
Inspired by the painting Twilight Conversation by Ron Hicks, the artwork shows two girls lying on the grass talking to each other, with an ease to their body language that suggests intimacy.
The painting reminds me of the winding conversation that happens between friends, and the value in paying attention. The lyrics to the song explore the small details that make up a life shared, and are a reflection on the need to be gentle with one another,” Sally explains.
Sunbather’s adept sound comes courtesy of ex-OKBADLANDS' Sally Latter on vocals and bass, alongside Mike Todman on guitar, joined by Stu McKenzie (Good Boy, Future Haunts) on drums. With both Sally and Mike's musical background typically in different roles, the idea of Sunbather was to encourage each other in singing and guitar-playing respectively, both out of their comfort zones.
With this the first taste of their upcoming debut EP, 2020 looks to be a busy year for this rising pair. Drift into their first taste of their project, ‘Softly Spoken’ now! 'Softly Spoken' is out everywhere now!
