Sunshine Boys just released their second single 'Summertime Kids' taken from their forthcoming album 'Work and Love'. The Song has fresh positive rock vibes and plenty of musical hooks. === Our second helping of Diners this year comes in the form of the new single and video for 'Big Times' which oozes indie pop charm both musically and visually. === Last Friday The Roseline released their new album 'Good Grief' and it's a refined collection of Americana, folk and country rock beautifully arranged and delivered. === CIEL make their third appearance this year on Beehive Candy with 'Same Old Times With U' and once again the Brighton based band are on top form with this dream pop/rock piece.
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Sunshine Boys - Summertime Kids.
"Summertime Kids" is the second single from the Chicago band's sophomore album Work and Love, which will be released on Friday, May 1 via Room F/Pravda Records (CD and digital) and Cheap Kiss Records (vinyl).
Dag on the formation of the band - "SUNSHINE BOYS started after Freda and I were separately asked to help round out a band being assembled by our friends Brett Neveu (yes, the amazing playwright) and Rich Sparks (yes, the amazing cartoonist), based on their spiky pop tunes.
When Jason Narducy (yes, the famously elbowed musician) was unable to be a part of the team, I leaned in heavily and told Brett and Rich that we HAD to bring in Jackie Schimmel on bass. They kind of had no choice. This five-piece collective (called Sex Ritter: did you ever see us?) gelled quickly and we fleshed out and banged out Brett and Rich’s songs for a couple of really fun gigs. I think I had an ulterior motive, though, and that was to get Freda and Jackie together.
I knew that Jackie’s brilliantly melodic basslines would fit perfectly within the hypnotic and musical gallop of Freda’s drums, as well as the unkempt jangle of my guitar. We knew right away that we had something as soon as we started rehearsing with Sex Ritter, and we decided immediately that the three of us were a band. After more than a few years of not writing songs (I was busy learning a couple hundred songs by other artists for my cover band Expo’76), I began to crank out a bunch of material which Sunshine Boys set about learning in the summer of 2016. Deadlines are great motivators, and we’d asked Brett and Rich if we could open a Sex Ritter show in November (our debut!) and we worked in earnest throughout the fall.
Lauren Records recently announced the new LP from Diners and now they are unveiling a new single and video "Big Times"
Leisure World (out April 24th) is the latest album from singer-songwriter Tyler Blue Broderick, who performs with the project Diners. Not only is it the most eclectic and ambitious album in the songwriter’s (already muscular) catalog to date—it’s one of the catchiest, most realized indie pop records released in years.
"It’s the American Dream: move to Los Angeles with high hopes, scan Craigslist for a little too long, and move away with a trove of songwriting material dealing with the absurdity of the entertainment capital of the world." says Flood Magazine of Diners upcoming LP.
Like all of their work, Leisure World—which Broderick scrapped and rerecorded several times before landing on an aesthetic they found satisfactory—draws on the most enduring aspects of pop’s past. Its 13 tracks bring to mind the technicolored melodies of ‘60s pop icons like the Beatles and Zombies, the
chilled-out pop proficiency of Laurel Canyon legends like Carole King, and the wry, observational story- telling of Jonathan Richman, and, to cite a more recent artist, Jens Lekman.
But Leisure World isn’t merely a puree of a record store clerk archetype’s most coveted possessions; like all the best pop music, it gleefully somersaults across the bridge connecting the past and future, and much of Broderick’s instrumentation and lyrics feel planted firmly in the present. These are bite-sized, mid-fi symphonies replete with glorious Omichord sweeps, second-hand synths, and layers of sun-kissed vocal harmony.
Lawrence, KS-based The Roseline crafts soulful alt country in the vein of Gram Parsons, Neko Case & Conor Oberst.
Spearheaded by singer-songwriter Colin Halliburton, the sixtet has proven themselves to be a prolific, providential and important act over the past decade. They’ve secured sync placements in ABC’s Nashville & Resurrection as well as USA’s Queen of the South, press in NPR, PopMatters and No Depression, and tours all over the US as well as Poland, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium, sharing the stage with Ryan Bingham, Split Lip Rayfield and Dylan LeBlanc.
15 years in and six full-lengths deep, The Roseline are now gearing up to release their most personal record to date, GOOD/GRIEF (released last Friday). The LP was written in reponse to a tramautic year in the life of Halliburton, in which he dealt with the death of his best friend (and keyboardist in The Roseline) as well as the loss of his mother-in-law to suicide. The tracks are flush with millennial existential dread, mashing life experience with fictional narratives, set to soft country shuffles and epic barn-burning rock.
“I’m drawn to writing about subjects that are dark but perhaps make the listener feel a little less alone,” Halliburton admits. “My favorite pieces of art always do that for me.”
Brighton-based risers CIEL share reflective new single 'Same Old Times With U' ahead of debut EP ‘Movement’, set for release April 10th.
Delivering moody alt-pop with magnetism, merging shoegaze with post-punk, noir rock and dream pop, ‘Movement’ revolves around a turning point, both physically and mentally, in Dutch frontwoman Michelle Hindriks’ life, as she moved back to her adopted hometown and gained inspiration to write the songs that form the band’s debut EP.
Comprising of acclaimed lead singles ‘The Shore’ and ‘Days’, the trio’s forthcoming EP highlights their early promise and intrinsic mystique, with praise arriving throughout the online community (Clash, Dork, Gigwise) and across the airwaves (BBC 6 Music), alongside welcome comparisons to Alvvays, Cate Le Bon and Our Girl.
Now calling Brighton their home, the cultured quartet have quickly earned kudos for their exquisite live show, with extensive live plans in place for later this year, following slots with the likes of Hatchie, Sasami and Penelope Isles, and accomplished sets at Eurosonic, Le Guess Who and SPOT Festival.
Detailing their EP release, frontwoman Hindriks explained: “The whole EP is about moving away from a more introspective period in which I felt quite distant from other people and moving into a new phase of my life in which I was able to open up. We’re now releasing this EP in a time in which we are forced to distance ourselves from one another; but I feel more connected to the people around me now that I did before”.
CIEL make their second appearance on Beehive Candy with the new track 'Days' and once again the Brighton based band are on top form with this refreshing and dreamy indie pop/rock song. === Were playing catch up with Land of Talk and 'Weight of That Weekend' which was released a week ago but most certainly worth a share by us. === From South London we have Gaygirl and the single 'Mikkel' where the band create a powerful and stirring rocker of a song.
Brighton-based dreamers CIEL share whimsical new offering ‘Days’, the second single taken from the band’s debut EP ‘Movement’ out later this spring.
Delivering moody alt-pop with magnetism, merging shoegaze with post-punk, noir rock dream pop, the trio’s second release builds on the early promise shown in lead single ‘The Shore’, conjuring up innovative and nostalgic ideas and drawing comparisons to Alvvays, Cate Le Bon and Our Girl with their intrinsic mystique.
Now calling Brighton their home, the cultured quartet have quickly earned kudos for their exquisite live show, with upcoming UK/EU supports alongside Eliza Shaddad and Feng Suave following slots with the likes of Hatchie, Sasami and Penelope Isles, and accomplished sets at Eurosonic, Le Guess Who and SPOT Festival.
Detailing their upcoming release, frontwoman Hindriks explained: “‘Days’ is a track about feeling distant from other people, and describes a turning point in which I became more open as a person”. Produced by Penelope Isles’ Jack Wolter, CIEL’s ‘Days’ is out March 4th and will be available via all digital platforms.
Land of Talk—the Montreal-based band led by Elizabeth Powell—today announced its new album Indistinct Conversations will be released on May 15th, 2020, via Saddle Creek. The album’s first single “Weight of That Weekend,” out now, finds Powell delivering a soulful, impassioned plea over an expansive musical terrain. “‘Weight of That Weekend’ is a recognition of having been on the receiving end of a lifetime of sexual coercion, assault, boundary violations, and subsequent gaslighting.
It all just came to light after an especially heavy weekend a few summers back,” explains Powell. “I was so sick of carrying all this weight that wasn't mine to bear. So sick of being owned by all of this. Imposed on me mostly by men. I grew so sick of suffering and being slowed-down by this weight. The song is a prayer for a lightness of being. A prayer for capital ‘L’ Love.”
All 11 songs on Indistinct Conversations were written by Powell (vocals/guitar/keys), and share the hallmarks of the Land of Talk sound: her silvery vocals; masterful, at times cacophonous guitar playing; and a stream-of-conscious lyricism—here perhaps at her most emotionally vulnerable and honest. Powell produced and arranged the tracks together with her bandmates Mark “Bucky” Wheaton (drums/keys) and Christopher McCarron (bass), and the trio recorded the album in a studio built by McCarron in Wheaton’s apartment basement.
Indistinct Conversations follows 2017’s acclaimed Life After Youth—at the time Land of Talk’s first album in seven years. The release saw praise from Pitchfork, Paste, The AV Club, and NPR Music, among others, with its singles earning additional highlights from The FADER, NPR Music's All Songs Considered, New York Magazine’s Vulture, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Bandcamp, WXPN, and more.
South London band Gaygirl are today sharing a new single 'Mikkel' and announcing their debut EP Pleasurehead, due for release April 24th via Permanent Creeps. Pairing the raw, emotional grunge of PJ Harvey with the immersive, bold alt-pop moments of early Garbage, each of Gaygirl's 4 band members bring a unique set of influences to the table. As a unit, not only do they create a sound that is hard to pin down, but with every twist and turn – they make an impression that’s unshakable.
Consisting of songwriters Bex Morrison (vocals, guitar) and Lewis Clark (guitar), and completed by Louis Bradshaw (drums) and Tom Coyne (bass) – Gaygirl have earned a reputation for their hypnotic and visceral live performances; playing shows with the likes of Sorry, Automatic and Calva Louise in 2019.
Speaking on the release of new single 'Mikkel', singer Bex said: "Mikkel compares the desperate feelings of confusion at the end of a relationship with a seemingly disastrous tea party amongst bad company. The track came together as a band and we knew early on that it would be a song that doesn't achieve the resolution you would expect - the unresolved building feeling throughout mirrors the lyrical content of covering up feelings and not addressing problems."
With the release of Pleasurehead due in April, Gaygirl are ready to make their mark in 2020. "It was important to us with this EP to show a different side to the band in contrast to our earlier singles and push ourselves as musically as possible, we're all really proud of the finished product," Bex went on to say.
CIEL have just released 'The Shore' and yet another Brighton (England) band comes on to our radar with some excellent dream pop, the seaside town is certainly a hotbed for musical talent these days. === Indie band haha charade share 'Forgotten Words' a refined rocker that carries a good few hooks. === From Kluster B we have 'Counterpart' a genre spanning delight where layers of instrumentation and melodic vocals work so well together. === It took me a while to get into the new LEYA song 'Wave' but it was one of those pieces I kept on going back to & I'm glad I did, it's original, atmospheric & quite creative. === We are not short of talented Scandinavian artist's at the moment and there is plenty of room for Big Fox and the dreamy and seductive song 'Beast'. === Another track that took a couple of plays or so to get, is from13//ali_fawn who makes a second appearance here with 'Mirrorshade', there is plenty going on with what is a musical journey, the song evolving and becoming quite mesmerising. === Icelandic artist Asgeir has shared 'Pictures' along with a fine video, the song is full of simmering emotion, along with some fabulous vocals and a splendid musical backdrop.
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CIEL - The Shore.
Brighton-based newcomers CIEL share mesmeric dream pop jaunt ‘The Shore’, lead single from the band’s debut EP ‘Movement’ out this spring.
Heavily leaning on a collection of interwoven guitars, pulsing bass-lines and intriguing vocal harmonies, the trio’s first release offers a fascinating glimpse into their dreamy world of alt-pop gems, conjuring up innovative and nostalgic ideas which only add to their intrinsic mystique.
Comprising of Dutch musician Michelle Hindriks and the friends she made upon relocation to Brighton, the three-piece have quickly earned kudos for their exquisite live show, having already supported the likes of Hatchie, Sasami and Penelope Isles, as well as working with the latter’s Jack Wolter on their upcoming debut EP.
Discussing their lead single, Hinkdriks explained: “The song is about a moment where you feel stuck in your life and are waiting for it to ‘really’ begin; yet at the same time, you realise it’s just an illusion and your life has already begun, and you’re living it right now. Losing the connection with that essence can feel extremely frustrating”.
Produced by Penelope Isles’ Jack Wolter, CIEL’s ‘The Shore’ is out January 22nd and will be available via all digital platforms.
Forgotten Words is about the abrupt ending to a relationship. The lyrics outline the inability to say how you’re feeling, as if there’s so much to say, you can’t say anything at all. The accompanying music is melodramatic to channel what it feels like processing grief. The climax of the song highlights the visceral explosions of internal rage, juxtaposed with the cadence of the melody, which represents outwardly shutting down because it hurts too much to think about it.
The haha charade story began from humble beginnings of playing in basements, living rooms, and garages. The band's cult following that was growing, lead to haha charade's debut show in the Philadelphia area during the summer of 2018.
haha charade’s ability to merge genres and coin their unique style is attributed to a collaborative artistic approach to everything from songwriting to artwork and performance. haha charade consists of vocalists and guitarists, Alex Wade and Justin Lefler, bassist, Matt Bowe, and drummer, Brendan McBride. With three main songwriters in the group, each writer brings their own independent influences from Punk, Garage Rock, Folk Rock, and Hip Hop, which merges together to create the haha charade sound.
Musical stylings are influenced by a multitude of bands including The Strokes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rebelution, with a mix of cheeky and political lyrics influenced by bands such as Arctic Monkeys and State Radio. This creates the noteworthy, psychedelic, surfy vibe that can be found on their 2020 debut self titled LP.
Kluster B (fka Kluster) was founded by four friends and a virtual drummer in Malmö 2014, a real life drummer joined in shortly afterwards and the gang was complete. Since, the quintet has been active on as well the Malmö indie scene as playing shows in Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, supporting acts such as Frankie Cosmos, Omni and Nicole Sabouné. Debut album 'civic' was released in 2018 and Kluster received praise from Line of Best Fit, BBC Radio 6, major Swedish music magazines and more. The band is now back with new single 'Counterpart', the first taste from their upcoming sophomore album.
Counterpart is yet another glimpse of Kluster's playful sound - a melting pot of broad influences such as pop, punk, noise, lo-fi, indie and jazz. According to the band, 'Counterpart' is a track that begs for humbleness from the counterpart, a wish for ones human shortcomings to be accepted.
The members have a history as academic jazz players, forming Kluster B after longing to find a collective process free from strict genre playbooks and narrow-minded academic rules. A process that resulted in Kluster B's captivating characteristic dynamic and turning points, alternating from melodious to dissonance, complex to simple.
Kluster B consist of Linnea Hall (vocals), Pontus Örnstrand (keyboard), Sebastian Hegedüs (guitar), Adam Jonsson (guitar) and Andreas Pollak (drums) and are available for interviews and other requests. Counterpart is out now, the band's sophomore LP will be out later this spring.
LEYA, the project of Marilu Donovan (Eartheater, Aerial East, Julie Byrne) and Adam Markiewicz (PC Worship, The Dreebs), this week shared a self-directed video for "WAVE," the second single from their forthcoming sophomore album Flood Dream. "The video features our two friends," explain LEYA on their enveloping track, "disciples of 34th generation Shaolin warrior monk and activist Shi Yan Ming, founder of the luminous USA Shaolin Temple in Manhattan, where RZA, Rosie Perez, Wesley Snipes, Jim Jarmusch, and Tricky have all trained.
They are part of the wave." The song follows the album's lead single "WEIGHT," which features the operatic-pop vocalist GABI as well as LEYA's surprise-dropped collaborative EP with Eartheater, Angel Lust, released December 2019 via PAN.
On March 6th, LEYA will celebrate their album release show in New York City with Eartheater and head out on a North America tour, including dates opening for Brooklyn black metal band Liturgy. Flood Dream will be released March 6th on CD/LP/Digital and is available for pre-order via NNA Tapes.
Malmö, Sweden-based artist Charlotta Perers AKA Big Fox returns six years after her last album release with fifth single lifted from upcoming full-length “See How the Light Falls”. Initially due for release in May 2018, Charlotta received some news which derailed the campaign.
“A few weeks before the album was supposed to be released, I was diagnosed with Lymphoma,” she says. “It all happened very quickly and it was almost like entering a parallel world with a different time scale, rules and priorities.”
The process permitted a much deeper sense of perspective to come to light for Perers; “Life suddenly became very intense, very here and now - but that amplified positive experiences too. But it felt good to know that the album was waiting for me on the other side. It was a reminder of something else, the someone I was outside the hospital.”
18 months down the line, Charlotta is better and “slowly reclaiming my life back”. The period of gestation gave the finished album more gravity and significance for the songwriter. “When I listen to it now, I actually like the album even more,” she says. “I have some distance from it. When you’re in the middle of the process, it's easy to get caught up in the details and not really hear the song anymore.”
Charlotta didn’t allow “See How the Light Falls” to be rushed. Taking two and a half years to finish, and five years to release the album, Perers laboured over it, allowing it to unravel and accumulate organically.
“My experience of creativity is that I get this vague feeling of being pointed in a certain direction,” she says. “It rarely explains itself more than that. But I’ve learnt that if I give it time and attention then things slowly start to move and grow into something, like with the lyrics, I can search for the right lyrics for a long time, even give up, and then some months later it’s as if the missing words find me rather than the other way around.”
Produced by Tom Malmros (Alice Boman, This is Head), the full-length explores varying sonic avenues, showcasing instrumental eclecticism in the form of subtle brass blasts, swelling cello and scintillating synthesisers.
On her new single, ‘Beast’, Charlotta interrogates the process of using violence and fear to enforce order, and frames through a plucky-pop lens. She comments on how it’s thematically introspective, and how the track has purposely adopted pop characteristics; “I've been thinking a lot about our need for control, how we justify the use of violence to create order. And my part in that order.
“We're often so good at rationally explaining and justifying our actions that we end up convincing ourselves that we had no other choice. Maybe we didn't. But the heart never forgets the eyes of the one we have betrayed. The heart never forgets. I wasn't sure if I could write this song. Finish it. Balance it. It seemed so fragile, tipped over so easily. But it was almost as if it wanted to be written, needed to be. Sometimes maybe even the difficult subjects need their pop costume.”
Detroit-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Alister Fawnwoda AKA 13//ali_fawn releases ‘Mirrorshade’, second taste of forthcoming album ‘Ruby Beach’, due Summer 2020 and mixed by Welsh powerhouse David Wrench (Caribou, FKA Twigs, Sampha, Shura, The xx, Young Fathers, +++).
Born in Motor City, Fawnwoda cultivated his musicianship through learning violin and piano from a young age. Honing his métier, he studied music, poetry and visual arts at The University of Miami and then the Tibetan Buddhist-founded Naropa University.
In 2016 he moved to LA to work under the tutelage of Hans Zimmer as an intern, and by 2019 Ali had moved back to Detroit to quench a hankering for eclectic collaborations, both as a producer and as a musician. To date, he’s worked on projects with producers Cole M. Greif-Neil (Beck, Ariel Pink), Gordon Raphael (The Strokes), Sonny DiPerri (DIIV, Animal Collective), Marta Salogni (Björk, The xx), and many more. Additionally, he’s joined forces with musicians including Alex Carapetis (Nine Inch Nails, The Voidz), Jenny Lee Lindberg and Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint), Mauro Refosco (Talking Heads, Atoms for Peace), and Philip Peterson (Portugal. The Man).
Ali talks about his newest feat, ‘Mirrorshade’, which features; “The emotional inspiration was to make a song people could make love and babies to.
One of the conceptual ideas was to create a song form that features bursts of drum parts that evolve over time held down by a percussion phrase. The main low instrument in the percussion section is Mauro’s Surdo drum. Mirrorshade is a track featuring Alex Carapetis on drums, Mauro Refosco on percussion, Jenny Lee Lindberg on Bass, Joey Stevens on guitar and me on synthesizers and programming. It was mixed by David Wrench and mastered by John Davis.”
Ásgeir shares another cut from his forthcoming new album ‘Bury The Moon’ – new track ‘Pictures’ arrives with an accompanying video, for which the artist immersed himself in nature in his home country, in a bid to reflect the inspiration of the track. The video illustrates the artist’s connection to his country, its roots and its music – whilst at the same time, it is a representation of inner reflection. Inspired by the Icelandic landscape and traditional Icelandic folk music, Asgeir locked himself away in a summerhouse deep in the countryside to write the new album. Revisiting his acoustic beginnings and taking things back to basics, he conjured up ‘Pictures’, the next single to be released from the highly anticipated album.
Talking about the new track, the introvert artist said: “The lyrics paint pictures of daily life, from when we wake up and go to work and how our dreams come alive in the nighttime. It also depicts the importance of not thinking more of your country than other countries / or yourself over other people, and the importance of unity between people.”
The lauded Icelandic artist makes music that penetrates a little deeper than most. A potent Icelandic songwriter, his debut album soared to success in his native land, before English language edition ‘In The Silence’ connected with an entirely new audience. An artist of rare scope, sincerity, and emotion, his next step might well be his bravest, and his most enduring. ‘Bury The Moon’ – or ‘Sátt’, to give the record its Icelandic title – is out on 7th February on One Little Indian Records.
Asgeir continues; “The director (Einar Egilsson) came up with this idea of doing something with references to old western movies. We felt like the song was kind of split in half, the verses are melancholic and sad while the choruses are more hopeful and so the video expresses those conflicting emotions on the screen. The plot follows a man that is free for a while but is then captured by this sheriff character. The verses show the man when he has lost his freedom, but the choruses show him when he is free.”
