Flashback to early 2020: Maybe it was becoming a new father, the onset of a global pandemic, middle-aged malaise, or all three. A period of introspection led me to reevaluate what I value most in life, what brings me joy.
What I found was something was missing — music. Although a lifelong musician and longtime songwriter, I had let my passion for music take a backseat to my corporate career and other endeavors. I realized I needed to bring music back into the forefront, and that I had something to contribute creatively.
After buying some new equipment, transforming a spare bedroom into my home studio, dusting off some old songs and writing a few new ones, I set out on recording a body of work to represent my unique musical voice. The result is “It Started Last Fall”, my debut album of 11 original songs about love, setbacks and looking forward. I hope you enjoy the music, and greatly appreciate your interest and support!
Whilst Beehive Candy doesn't undertake in depth album reviews we have to say this is one beautiful collection of songs. Mark's distinct and engaging vocals are backed with a fresh and uncluttered musical backdrop. The resulting range of folk & Americana material is a joy to listen to.
ElectroBluesSociety feat Boo Boo Davis - Transatlantic Quarantaine Sessions (Album).
Between 1998 and 2019 Boo Boo Davis used to come and tour in Europe several times each year and most of music was written and recorded during these tours.
The current pandemic put that "tradition' on hold. But with the help of the internet and mutual friend Chris Brown in St Louis, the guys from ElectroBluesSociety (Netherlands) started to exchange idea's and demo's with Boo Boo in East St Louis (USA).
So despite the fact that they had the Atlantic Ocean between them, they were still able to write and record new music. Covid may be able stop live shows (for a while) but it can not stop the creation of new music.
Several of these tracks have been released as single releases earlier this year but here is the complete album. Twelve original tracks plus one remix by Rosé Sunset from France.
Singer/songwriter Tom Freund is set to release his cover of a 1995 song by one of his heroes, legendary U.K. pub-rocker Graham Parker. “Disney’s America” is out now on Spotify and other digital platforms. (The song is part of Freund’s forthcoming album, The Year I Spent in Space, which will be out early next year.)
Says Freund, “To me the song asks, “Where did America go wrong? … It’s a song for a lost Virginia and nation, one consumed with money, brands and division”: ‘Where we drifted apart like runoff into the Chesapeake Bay.’ Singing about it might bring hope and awareness for a better, more connected and conscious America.”
Freund and Parker share quite a history (apart from Tom growing up in New York listening to Squeezing Out Sparks on repeat as a pre-teen). The two first met on a Silos tour opening for Parker; Freund is an alumnus of the Texas-based roots band.
The Astronots share a feisty and powerful rocker softened only by the more melodic layered vocals. Skye Wallace keeps the momentum going with a tornado of pure rock and roll, with storming vocals to match. Boo Boo Davis has been featured on Beehive Candy accompanying The Electro Blues Society, now we have some fresh material from him, where his superb blues vocals and musicianship can be sampled with five songs from the forthcoming album.
The Astronots - Settle Down.
The new single from The Astronots. ‘Settle Down’ narrates the feeling of anxiety and being trapped inside yourself. Featuring resonating guitars, throbbing basslines and eerie layered vocals the track truly packs a punch.
The Astronots are an American rock’n’roll outfit, spearheaded by its founding members, Niko Giaimo (Vocals/Guitar) and Allee Futterer (Vocals/Bass). The two are established musicians in their own right. Futterer has had years of cutting her musical teeth, backing some of the biggest names in the Los Angeles music scene, while Giaimo was an integral member of the scoring team behind productions such as Dexter and Dishonored II. The two come together on The Astronots, combining elements of their quintessential Los Angeles upbringing, classic rock, and west-coast cool. Now completed by guitarist Eddie Campbell, the group continues to wow audiences across the nation.
Inspired by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Alabama Shakes and Kings of Leon, the trio have crafted an EP oozing with gritty guitars, explosive percussion and raw energy. The highly anticipated Cotati is brought to life through its organic instrumentation and authentic lyricism. “We really wanted to capture something honest. The songs cover a variety of issues.. school/public mass shootings, anxiety, drinking, love, pain, passion, cheating.. I think we managed to create individual genuine stories in each song. I think the theme would be honest perspective on many of life’s challenges”, they reveal.
Leading single ‘Settle Down’ narrates the feeling of anxiety and being trapped inside yourself. Featuring resonating guitars, throbbing basslines and eerie layered vocals the track truly packs a punch. ‘El Dorado’ further showcases the band’s signature sound of rawkus rock’n’roll with vibrating soundscapes and raspy vocals.
I wrote this song in a building in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland that used to be an old cottage hospital (Bonne Bay Cottage Hospital / Julia Ann Walsh Heritage Center). It was inspired by a story I heard about one of the young folks that used to work in the hospital and the boy that would throw coal at her window at night to beckon her down to their meeting place in the boiler room.
“Coal In Your Window” may be about a specific story, but it’s a truly universal concept of jittery, passionate love and doing whatever it takes to access that fire that another person ignites in you. I wanted to evoke an excited, dangerous, lustful energy that gets the heart pumping.
I’m so excited to put my new record out. It’s been a long time in the making – between writing it during two residencies in Newfoundland and the Yukon, and recording it in Toronto and Montreal. I am fiercely proud of the result. We’re going to tour the heck out of it this year to make sure it reaches as many ears as possible!
With a gorgeous musical arrangement and beautiful vocals Stephanie Rose's 'Luxury' is a timeless country song. South London's Roman Harris has a distinctive and engaging voice that is accompanied by a refined musical backdrop on his latest track. Fling exude psychedelic charm, the vocals add some grit, whilst the band add layers of psych goodness. Once again ElectroBluesSociety and Boo Boo Davis serve up some classic blues rock with their natural take on Little Red Rooster. Odetta Hartman exquisite vocals glide above a stripped back guitar driven soundtrack whilst the hooks dig deep. Melodic and gentle, Small Forward take us on a dreamy indie journey where the vocals and harmonies are notable and the music precise and atmospheric. Finally we have our second helping of Business Of Dreams this month, with a vibrant & catchy indie rocker to conclude today's new music picks.
Stephanie Rose - Luxury.
A storyteller beyond her years, Stephanie Rose is an old soul with a new sound. Her new single Luxury is a perfect example of using real life experiences as fodder to blaze a lyrical trail. Rose embraces the true reality of love amidst the hardships of life.
Nominated for two categories at the 2018 Saskatchewan Country Music Awards, small town Stephanie Rose has had a big year. Releasing her single “Crushed” on February 5th, 2018, she cracked the Top 100 on both the BDS and Trax national radio charts, which was the launching pad to a great season.
Playing multiple shows throughout the spring of 2018, which included a packed-house performance at the Professional Bull Riding circuit in Nipawin, SK. Stephanie shared the stage with her fellow Saskatchewan artists at the Songwriters Café at the 2018 SCMA awards weekend. With the release of her sophomore album EP “Sprout” (Sept. 28th, 2018), produced by RyLee Madison (ECMA Country Recording of the Year) and Clay Krasner (touring bass player for Terri Clark) of 7-17 Music, Stephanie Rose will be bringing her new songs on the road again in 2019 and to both Commercial Country Radio and the international media.
Roman Harris is a singer and songwriter from Brixton, South London. With his guitar in hand, a voice of raw emotion and heart on his sleeve he crafts songs of simplicity enriched with depth and feeling.
In 2016 Roman achieved song writing credits on the Snakehips ‘Money On Me’ EP with the track ‘Falling’ followed up in 2017 with his first feature as an artist on the track ‘Moving Again’ produced by Cr3on & Marcus and released through Dutch record label PM Recordings.
Influenced by Indie, Folk and R&B, Roman now releases his debut single ‘The Smell of Heather’ a truly heartfelt ballad influenced by a poem of the same title from the book ‘Heather’s Book’ written by the poet Vivian Anglin.
Roman is now looking forward to a year in which he intends to let the world hear his sound and warm the ears and hearts of many. That starts with ‘The Smell of Heather’. ‘The Smell of Heather’ will be released on all platforms on 25th January, 2019 with a house concert at a secret location taking place that night in celebration of the release.
Psych-rockers Fling are set to release debut album ‘Fling Or Die’ via Dance to the Radio on 22nd February. Ahead of this they tease with one final SoundCloud only single, Revolution, an upbeat fuzz-bass driven psych stomper, with a colourfully cathartic chorus. The quintet’s kitchen-sync approach to instrumentation comes to the fore, a glittery wall of noise ramping up the decibels throughout.
The debut LP release comes off the back of a year of sold-out hometown shows, appearances at Live at Leeds, Swn Festival, Neighbourhood Festival and singles supported by Steve Lamacq (6 Music), Huw Stephens (Radio 1), Gideon Coe (6 Music), Tom Robinson (6 Music) Radio X, Beats 1 across radio, and Wonderland, The Line of Best Fit and Clash at online press.
Describing themselves as ‘Wonky Pop’, the 5-piece from Bradford comprise of Charles McSorley (Vocals), Jack Winn (Guitar), Billy Fielding (Drums), Jake Lees (Bass) and Sam Malynowsky (Keyboards).
The quintet explain the feelings they’re chasing: “This album for us, is a coming together of our collective imaginations, through themes of longing, wonder and hedonism. It feels like an audible representation of a brief moment in our lives and how we evoke the best emotions in each other. There’s an overall positive undertone to the record that definitely reflects on us as people, and it feels good to be able to share it with everyone.”
Following the release of her critically acclaimed album 'Old Rockhounds Never Die', Odetta Hartmam has shared a new video for track 'You You', to mark her return to the UK and Europe at the end of January. Inspired by the fuzzy double vision of first love, 'You You' dances through a pastoral adventure while celebrating a young woman in bloom. In this wild, wonderful and warm landscape, Odetta Hartman explores the superpowers of romance on a sultry summer night.
'Old Rockhounds Never Die' is a bonanza of beautiful contradictions: intimate yet fiercely internationalist, spiritual and yet tangible, sweet and also sexy. It convenes with the ghosts of the past while marching relentlessly forwards.
Drawn from experiences as far-flung as riding a train from San Francisco to Chicago with an old-style, rootin'-tootin' cowboy for company ('Cowboy Song'), to experiencing the intense natural beauty of Icelandic waterfalls ('Dettifoss'), it’s a record that taps into the musical traditions of the past while being a collection of songs about living in the moment.
Raised by pioneering parents on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, NYC, Odetta’s milieu was a “colourful culture of artistry,” that included early exposure to community activism, renegade film screenings, poetry readings and trips to CBGB's. Inchoate punk and hip hop were aural wallpaper, as were the 45s spinning in the household jukebox featuring her dad’s extensive collection of soul and afrobeat records, as well as her Appalachian mother’s classic country selections. A classically trained violinist with a penchant for back-porch banjo, Odetta combines these variegated sounds of her childhood with her personal passion for folk music and the musicological legacy of Alan Lomax. Lomax is writ large on 'Old Rockhounds...' at least in spirit anyway. Odetta plays all the instruments on this and her debut '222'.
While attending college in Los Angeles, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Michael Stevenson and Rounak Maiti converged on a desire to collaborate and meld their love of Americana and pop music. Informal bedroom jam sessions resulted in hours of demos, constructed from the duo’s rudimentary yet textured take on songwriting. After condensing their work down to four downtempo, home-recorded songs, they self-released an eponymous debut EP in 2014. From hazy, forlorn atmospheres to more heart-on-sleeve folk, Stevenson and Maiti worked with Campbell Scott (bass) and Nick Waldram (drums) to craft rich, full band arrangements.
From 2015-16, Small Forward began developing their live act, playing with a full band across the Los Angeles area. During this time, they began recording The Moon You Stand On, the band’s debut full-length album. Here, Maiti and Stevenson’s lush, folk-inspired ideas were rounded out by a prominent rhythm section, where Scott’s dulcet bass tones dot Nick Waldram’s jazzy, intrepid approach to percussion and drums. Together, the four wrote, recorded and produced the album entirely in their shared home, over the better part of a year. Self-released in October 2016, Deli Mag described the album’s sound as “timeless, teeming with multi-layered guitars and chugging beats that lend a uniformity to their quietly resplendent melodies.”
The band began recording another project, Affections, in early 2017. They channeled 70s psych-rock and AM pop with the first single, “The Reservoir”. The release was met with praise from Gold Flake Paint and Buzzbands LA, the latter describing it as a “soundtrack to (their) reverie.” The resulting collection of 6 songs, released on Forged Artifacts in October 2017, saw left-turns and plenty of new texture, decorated with their customary take on sweet wistfulness. With live performances across the greater Los Angeles area and a southwest tour under their belt, plus two new singles on the way, Small Forward is alive, kicking and ready for 2019.
Following on from the lovely "Keep The Blues Away," Slumberland Records and Business of Dreams are psyched to share another song from their forthcoming album Ripe For Anarchy. "N.R.E.A.M." is a tune about the fashionable negativity that seems rule the mood and discourse of the day.
Says the song's writer Corey: "This song was my attempt to write something fun for the album. Of course it had to be the one song focusing on negativity but I think a dose of cynicism is quite healthy these days. Humanity isn’t exactly passing its classes lately so I decided to poke a little fun at the more coarse side of our nature. It’s my version of “Ring-a-round The Rosies.” Ashes, ashes we all fall down! Wee!"
London-based “anti-music” collective Moderate Rebels’ second album ‘Shared Values’ is like a lot of their music so far – it happened almost by accident. “We went into the studio with a couple of songs to record an EP, and we ended up with an album-length EP. We like to just let things happen and for songs to mostly write themselves. It’s a case of mucking around and seeing what feels right and what doesn’t. We say it all the time, but it’s important to note – we don’t intend anything. We don’t feel like ‘artists’ with grand statements to make.
“We view ourselves as just passing on ideas or questions, which we also enjoy expressing in condensed and concise terms. We think we’re all living in an era when lots of people feel they have lots of questions (perhaps that’s every era?) and we seem to touch upon that. Doubt, uncertainty, vague language, conflicting information and opinions – these are all inspirations. To us, being ‘anti-music’ is about valuing exciting ideas over technical ability. There’s nothing better for a Moderate Rebels song than a bunch of questions that us and others are grappling with. We don’t believe in easy answers, but we believe in asking lots of questions – always.”
Moderate Rebels say they used certain mottos again to develop the ideas for this new album - less chords and words – vague and direct, complicated but simple – and tracks on the album would seem to indicate that.
‘The Value Of Shares’ touches on modern life turning virtual and full of substitutes. ‘Stranded In Brazil’ is a song of confusion about the modern environment via Terry Gilliam, ‘Faith & Science’ seems to illustrate the inspirational feelings of unanswerable questions and the healthy consequences of a position of doubt, as opposed to the ‘I’m 100% right’ attitude that is feeling increasingly common in certain areas of life in 2018. And so on...
Moderate Rebels released their first single ’God Sent Us’ in late 2016, then the 5-song ‘Proxy’ EP & debut album ‘The Sound Of Security’ in 2017. The ‘Shared Values’ album includes 2018’s singles ‘Beyond Hidden Words’, ‘I Love Today’ and latest song, ‘Faith & Science’. Moderate Rebels ‘Shared Values’ album, will be released 30th Nov 2018 on Everyday Life Recordings. TWITTER.
Regulars to Beehive Candy may well recall that Moderate Rebels have consistently impressed me with their music releases over the past year or so and finally their second album 'Shared Values' is about to land, accompanied just ahead of the release by another track from the collection entitled 'The Value Of Shares'.
The first of ten songs on the new album 'The Value Of Shares' is our fourth share (if you excuse the pun) from the new collection and once again, showcases their minimalists lyrics and hypnotic musical style. Despite their unique and readily identifiable sound, the pace and arrangements regularly vary across the album and the hooks are in constant free flow. I remain very impressed!
Brighton post-punk experts Thyla share accomplished new offering Blue, the second adrenaline-fuelled release taken from the band’s eagerly anticipated debut EP What’s On Your Mind out 1st February.
Tipped for big things from the very start of the year, the four-piece found themselves spotlighted amongst NME’s 100 Essential Acts for 2018, and have fast solidified their status as one of the UK’s finest emerging indie acts with a slew of support slots alongside the likes of Slaves, Sunflower Bean, and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever.
Buzzing across the airwaves (BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, Radio X, KCRW) and summoning praise from all corners of the press (Pitchfork, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, DIY), the rising rockers’ latest release underlines the captivating vocals and majestic lyricism of frontwoman Millie Duthie, with their rich, anthemic quality adding to the growing excitement surrounding the outfit.
Discussing their upcoming release, the quartet stated: “The lyrics came from a similar place to the themes and ideas found in many of our other songs. Blue as in, I got the blues, hones in on the rapid and unstoppable rate of change in the way we interact with people. Blue as in, the colour of the Twitter and Facebook interface, makes for an ironic double entendre. The things making us sad, is the colour of sad, “I’m blue” is both the cause and the symptom!” WEBSITE.
Our fifth feature for Brighton's Thyla this time with new song 'Blue'. It's opens as a thumping rocker before acquiring a little more refinement as the vocals kick in. A mixture of melodic moments and unashamed full on post punk, once again the band stand out in style.
For this recording ElectroBluesSociety went back to basics and teamed up with Mississippi blues man Boo Boo Davis.
Together they revisited classic Chicago blues and recorded seven songs. These will all be released as singles during the coming months.
For Boo Boo this was also a trip down to memory lane; this Howlin Wolf song was regular in the Davis Brothers Band repertoire during the 18 years that they were the weekend house band in Tabby’s Red Room, a famous juke joint in East St Louis. WEBSITE.
More natural blues that Electro this rendition of 'Tell Me' features some incredible harmonica playing, pure blues vocals and an overall vibe that is just plain addictive.
Stephen Kellogg releases Objects in the Mirror today Friday, November 23. Produced by fellow Americana singer-songwriter Will Hoge, the 12-track set was recorded over the course of a single week in Nashville, TN and tracked live with minimal overdubs. “I wanted to make an album that sounded and felt like the ones I grew up loving," says Kellogg. "Bob Seger and Cat Stevens, Tom Petty and Rod Stewart. Emotional records where the songs relate to each other and the lyrics are front and center.”
Ahead of release, Rolling Stone Country praises, “...Objects in the Mirror captures the talent, spontaneity and humanity of Kellogg’s songwriting and presents it in a soulful, folk-rock packaging that is refreshingly free of pretense and studio polishing,” adding that single “High Highs, Low Lows” “unfolds like John Prine fronting the Heartbreakers.” Proving to be a standout from the album, American Songwriter describes the nostalgic track as “a slowly building folk anthem with chiming piano, gentle pedal steel and a raw, vulnerable vocal performance from Kellogg.”
Among the album’s many underlying themes of nostalgia, family, hope, and hard work, is Kellogg's unwavering respect for the influential women of his life—from his four young daughters (to whom he relays a series of tear-jerking fatherly sentiments in “Song For Daughters”) to his beloved late-Grandmother (immortalized in a beautifully nostalgic soundbite at the title track’s opening) to his wife of 16 years (the subject of his latest single “Love Of My Life”). The Boot recently premiered "Love Of My Life," and the track was later named one of Rolling Stone Country’s “10 Best Country & Americana Songs of the Week.” In an interview with Noisetrade earlier this week, Kellogg divulged that he channeled inspiration from a 1946 Gibson Southern Jumbo guitar to finish the version of the song heard on Objects in the Mirror.
“We were in [Chicago Music Exchange] before the place opened and there was one guitar and one guitar only on a stand in a room of hundreds of guitars,” he explains. “I picked it up and started strumming and it just felt and sounded so perfect...Suddenly the lyrics and melodies that had been missing seemed to be there waiting for me. I know it sounds kind of new age or whatever, but that’s how it goes sometimes. A guitar has a song in it.” Kellogg goes on to share that he traded three of his guitars for the Gibson and left the next day to record Objects in the Mirror in Nashville. Objects in the Mirror will be available everywhere digitally and on vinyl via the Kellogg Family Store.
'High Highs, Low Lows' gently opens with some fine guitar playing and the natural and instinctively Americana vocals. The musical arrangement gradually expands, as this timeless sounding song subtly appeals on so many levels.
