Son Little - More Than Ruins - Ned Roberts - Moderate Rebels

Son Little has a new album due out at the end of January and has just released 'Mahalia'. It's getting on for two years since we last featured him, this song reminds me of just how good his mixture of classic soul and timeless R&B is. === More Than Ruins have today released 'Black Lines' the trio came together earlier this year, resulting in this gorgeous indie pop song, with more tracks in the pipeline. === London based Ned Roberts has a new single and a video for 'Wrong Side Of You' a melodic, flowing and refined modern folk song. === A band who we have featured a number of times Moderate Rebels have shared 'Every Cheat You Meet Sings Love Songs' today and it's only around on line until the end of the month, but will return as part of a triple album next year.
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Son Little - Mahalia.

Son Little, the musical nom de plume of LA’s Aaron Earl Livingston, will release his new album, aloha, on January 31st via ANTI- Records. aloha blends classic soul and old-school R&B into a timeless swirl fueled by gritty instrumental virtuosity and raw, raspy vocals.

Recorded at Paris’s iconic Studios Ferber with producer Renaud Letang (Feist, Manu Chao), aloha is Little’s first album to be recorded with an outside producer. The result is his boldest, most self-assured statement yet. It’s an ambitious work of vision and reflection, and an ecstatic testament to the freedom that comes from trusting the currents of life to carry you where you belong.

In order to create aloha, Little began writing and assembling album demos in Petaluma, California. However, after his hard drive fried and he lost nearly a dozen detailed demos, he was forced to begin with a blank slate, leading him to write aloha in only eight days at a tiny house and its adjacent barn. While Little plays nearly every instrument on the album himself, he put his songs in the hands of an outside producer for the first time here. The entire project was an exercise in letting go, in ceding control, in surrendering to fate.

Recognizing the power of our own self-destructive tendencies is a recurring theme on aloha. Little mourns the suicide of a beloved uncle on “suffer,” using addiction and mental illness as a lens to explore forgiveness and empathy, laments the rapidly deteriorating world his two children are set to inherit on “o clever one,” and meditates on the dangers of succumbing to passion at the expense of reason on “belladonna.”

It would be easy to feel helpless in the face of such inexorable forces, to feel as if we are prisoners of fate rather than masters of our own destiny, but Little instead finds peace in perseverance on the album. “Hallelujah,” he sings on the gorgeous “never give up,” “though I’m battered and blue / feel like I’m born to lose…Never will I give up.”

It is a potent reminder that letting go doesn’t mean giving in; in fact, quite the opposite. Letting go can be an act of defiance, of growth, of empowerment. Letting go requires a leap of faith, and, in Son Little’s case, that faith has been richly rewarded. Whether that means this album represents the end of one chapter or the beginning of the next is impossible to know just yet, but in either case, there’s really only one thing to say: aloha.

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More Than Ruins - Black Lines.

More Than Ruins, is a Berlin based band formed in 2019 by songwriter/guitarist Charlie Grant, vocalist Jule Escherhaus, and producer/songwriter Ainsley Adams. Charlie and Jule met at a songwriting session and immediately clicked, writing what will be the group’s first release on the same day of meeting.

Charlie played the song to Ainsley, who instantly loved it and decided to have some fun producing it. Together, the three transformed a sparse acoustic demo into something more cinematic and atmospheric.

Great chemistry and a shared love for dreamy, wide screen pop music was discovered. The trio are currently writing more material.

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Ned Roberts - Wrong Side Of You.

London-based Folk musician Ned Roberts is excited to announce the release of his new single Wrong Side Of You on December 6th 2019. This upbeat track is the first track to be released from his eagerly awaited new album DREAM SWEETHEART due for release next year on Independent record label Aveline Records.

Ned’s music, which has drawn comparisons to the likes of Tim Hardin, Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen, has a timeless quality and a poetic turn of phrase. His songs sit comfortably amongst the classics of the Laurel Canyon era.

The genesis of single Wrong Side Of You began on the road in Germany. “It’s about travelling to escape - yet your mind is still inexorably drawn back home” says Ned. "The song sat around for quite a while, and it was only after a breakup that its meaning began to crystallise. It’s strange how your relation to your own songs can change significantly and mould to a new set of circumstances and feelings. There’s a yearning for the West Coast in there too. It’s where I always record, the sun always shines, and I feel creatively alive”.

DREAM SWEETHEART is Ned Roberts third album, and his third with producer Luther Russell (Richmond Fontaine, Fabiano do Nascimento, Sarabeth Tucek), recorded in Los Angeles in Electrosound Studios. His eponymous debut was predominantly a solo affair and garnered significant national press, including rave reviews in UNCUT and The Guardian.

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Moderate Rebels - Every Cheat You Meet Sings Love Songs.

Staying true to being anti-everything in their music, the band has decided to drop a political number just before the UK general election.

This is also a taster from their triple album that is coming next year. You heard that correct... triple album, 30 songs.

This taster cut will only be available via SoundCloud for the whole of December and then it's coming down.

"Beware. Beware of the cheats. Singing you love songs, Sing you to SLEEP.

People who have... they want you to just RELAX. People with the cream, want you to know “Life is but... a DREAM”

How come there’s always money, For bombs? But never any money... For the old, Or the young, Or anyone... who isn’t strong?

Beware. Beware of the cheats. Singing you love songs, Sing you to SLEEP".

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Moderate Rebels - Thyla - ElectroBluesSociety feat Boo Boo Davis - Stephen Kellogg

Moderate Rebels - The Value Of Shares.

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!  

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Thyla - Blue.

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.

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ElectroBluesSociety feat Boo Boo Davis - Tell Me.

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.

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Stephen Kellogg - High Highs, Low Lows.

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.


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Moderate Rebels - Far Caspian - Lightfoils - The Ophelias

Moderate Rebels - Faith & Science.

Background - London-based anti-music collective Moderate Rebels – whose members include Mo, Kate, Chris, Nick, Emma, Susan, Bob, Beth, Joe and more (crucially, not all at the same time) – present their new song ‘Faith & Science’ as a further preview of their second album ‘Shared Values’, which is released on 30th November on Everyday Life Recordings.

It follows recent singles ‘I Love Today’ and ‘Beyond Hidden Words’. Moderate Rebels say: “Faith & Science seems to be about the romance of feeling doubts and recognising that there can be mysteries in life… Which is a good thing. We actively have no intentions when writing; music just forms and we guess about any meanings, along with, hopefully, the listener. Language is inclined to be tricksy, and can be looked at from a number of angles. Less chords and words; simple and complicated; direct and vague. We have our mottos.”

As with all Moderate Rebels music so far, Shared Values was recorded in a small studio in South Bermondsey, London, where “you can hear church choirs through the walls – people looking to lift up each other’s spirits. We hope somehow that seeps into the racket we make.” TWITTER.

Upcoming live shows (more to be added soon):
24th Oct @ The Finsbury Manor House, London (For The Rabbits night)
2nd Nov @ The Cause, London
10th Nov @ Sebright Arms, London (w/ Olden Yolk)
25th Nov @ Broadcast, Glasgow.

'Faith & Science' is the brand new Moderate Rebels track and the last single before the album is released on Nov 30th. This is the third track we have shared from the bands the highly anticipated 'Shared Values' album, once again the bands distinct and hypnotic sound is highly compelling, their approach to writing, developing and recording music might be a little nonconformist, but oh boy does it work!

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Far Caspian - Blue.

Background - Leeds, England, quartet Far Caspian unveil new single Blue, the latest cut taken from their forthcoming debut EP Between Days, out via UK label Dance To The Radio. Following on from the majestic Holding On, which turned heads when it drifted into the online sphere’s consciousness, and following singles Let’s Go Outside and The Place, Blue reaffirms the band’s knack for hazy, infectious dream-pop.

Whilst Far Caspian have been based in Leeds since formation, frontman and guitarist Joel Johnston has only recently moved over to England from his native Ireland, and themes of isolation born of relocation pervade his  writing.

Blue however tackles a more intimate theme, yet just as universal. “The track itself is about unrequited love, and being consumed by being so close to a person, yet knowing that your feelings wouldn't be reciprocated” Johnston says, before revealing “My good pal Milhouse Van Houten was the main inspiration for the song.”

Referencing the dichotomy between the often gloomy themes in the lyircs and breeziness of the music with the playful self-nominated tag of ‘melanjolly’, Far Caspian’s wistful sound calls to mind the likes of Local Natives, Real Estate, Grizzly Bear or Band of Horses. However where those bands’ textures lean on the symphonic side, the lo-fi origins of the project in Johnston’s university house, before Nath Sayers (guitar), Alessio Scozzaro (bass) and Jof Cabedo (drums) came in to complete the line-up, lends Far Caspian’s sound a comforting, insular edge. TWITTER.

Our third feature for Far Caspian this year is the new song 'Blue'. The band are consistently producing fabulous indie pop that is crammed full of melodic hooks and delivered with refreshingly bright production and dreamy vibes.

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Lightfoils - Summer Nights (radio edit).

Background - Lightfoils have announced their new album Chambers (Bandcamp pre-order, out November 16th), which is their first taste of new music since the release of their acclaimed 2014 album Hierarchy. To coincide with the long-awaited announcement, Lightfoils is sharing the album’s mesmerizing lead single “Summer Nights”. The song is a gorgeous, richly layered shoegaze track with a calculated build-up that pairs melodic bass with alternately chiming and blanketing guitars, while Lightfoils’ lead singer Jane Zabeth Nicholson's vocals float longingly above.

Formed in 2010, Lightfoils’ sound is decidedly shoegaze, although the band subtly stretches the auditory boundaries of what the term embodies, honing in on a more cosmopolitan and ethereal sound. Their forthcoming album Chambers (advance below) represents a band that has mastered the atmospheric tone they've become synonymous with and continue to occupy, almost a decade after formation. The band is self-releasing the album, both for the autonomy and for the ability to be intimately involved in all aspects of the album’s production and subsequent roll-out. The first track on the album “The Bitter Over” opens with dream-like guitars, transporting the listener away - it's the sound of Lightfoils taking the listener by the hand and leading them into the unknown. Zabeth’s vocals both echo in the background, and dance in the front.

“Duende” sounds like a surf rock wave rolling onto darker shores, with the rhythm section keeping an upbeat tempo, keeping one grounded, while the vocals and guitars provide a loss of gravitational control. This mix of rhythm and reverb-laden guitars, combined with the right amount of bite from classic fuzz distortion is what Lightfoils does best. “This Time is Up” speeds things up with a faster tempo and swirling, distorted guitars, and rattling bass. Zabeth’s vocal melodies are reminiscent of classic 90s rock that has a touch of shoegaze, a touch of grunge, and channels the softness of singers of earlier alternative rock bands. It has an easy comedown, changing in tempo to seduce the listener into the next track. “Honeydew” draws on whirring guitars and crashing cymbals, carrying Zabeth’s vocals through an experience of senses. The track enters an intermittent key change midway, and continues to soar toward a more upbeat, crashing close. WEBSITE. 

'Summer Nights' is a combination of atmospheric shoegaze and lush dream pop. The vocals are set perfectly within the mix allowing their melodic beauty to shine through, the music is creatively textured. As a taster for the album, this ticks pretty much all the right boxes.

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The Ophelias - Moon Like Sour Candy.

Background - The Ophelias have just shared their "Moon Like Sour Candy" video ahead of fall tour dates with WHY? "Moon Like Sour Candy is based on Midwestern longing and all four of the elements. The video takes everyday textures and pushes them into surreal territory." - Spencer and Jo. Through a blend of understated rock, baroque pop and wide-skied atmospheres, The Ophelias explore the juxtapositions of youth on their album, Almost.

Having formed the band while still in high school, bassist Grace Weir, guitarist/lyricist Spencer Peppet, percussionist Micaela Adams, and violinist Andrea Gutmann Fuentes first met at a time when each were independently serving as the “token girl” in various dude-bands from their hometown of Cincinnati, OH. Coming from varied musical backgrounds (ranging from garage-rock, to surf, to opera), the distinct talents and influences of each member collided in unexpected ways at the band’s first rehearsal. It was here the band discovered that their chemistry wasn’t rooted in a shared musical reference point, but in the creative relief from the expected censorship of being a sideperson.

“In the past we had all kind of been the ‘girl in the band,’ in some capacity,” Peppet said. “Having a band of all women eradicates that possibility logistically, but also makes for a really creative environment without the patronization that often comes along with being the ‘girl in the band.’”

Produced by Yoni Wolf (WHY?), the new album Almost glides between palatial assuredness and pallid introspection, looking back on youthful yearning — the uncertainties, the traumas, the anxieties — without discounting its soft beauty. The Ophelias steer Almost through the lineage of coming-of-age confessionals, and affectionately document their growth into a warm, fractured adulthood. TWITTER.

Tour Dates:
02 Nov.   Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland (OH) *
03 Nov.   Bottom Lounge, Chicago (IL) *
04 Nov.   Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (MN) *
23 Nov.   The Loving Touch, Fernadale (MI) *
24 Nov.   Spirit Hall, Pittsburgh (PA) *
25 Nov.   MOTR Pub, Cincinnati (OH).

We have already shared three tracks from The Ophelias 'Almost' album released a short while back, however with a tour scheduled they have just presented the video for 'Moon Like Sour Candy' and I'm not about to pass up on featuring another enticing song from this very fine collection.


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Moderate Rebels - The Rad Trads

Moderate Rebels - I Love Today.

Background - London-based collective Moderate Rebels release ‘I Love Today’, streaming from 8th August, from their second album ‘Shared Values’, which will be out 30th November on Everyday Life Recordings.

Unlike previous single ‘Beyond Hidden Words’, which can be heard as a defiant, repetitive yet hopeful chant, ‘I Love Today’ is a shift in style. It has some verses, choruses and even a middle eight section… And Moderate Rebels say they "still don’t know if this song is optimistic or not”.

Moderate Rebels: “Both ‘I Love Today’ and ‘Beyond Hidden Words’ were made without us knowing what musically they exactly are… Or even letting that particular question really get involved in their making. We’re quite comfortable saying that we didn’t know what we were doing.”

“To our ears , ‘I Love Today’ is chaotic, falling apart, off at a tangent and nearly glam. Perhaps set in an old fashioned social club. A faint trace of The Equals, The Foundations, Edison Lighthouse etc… An attempt at a big singalong number, but heard through broken, smudged windows and with a sense of tension. But we’re mostly guessing to be honest – there was no conscious intention of any of that by us.”

“The lyrics could be about appreciating and living in the moment, about not being told what you personally should be worrying about by anybody else, and about how you can just about always find chaos and disaster in the world to look at – if that’s what you are looking for. Or not. We really don’t know whether it’s an optimistic song or not, and that’s interesting enough for us, and hopefully others”.

“Some London gigs and a UK tour in November are being planned. We may play ‘I Love Today’ and other new songs for the whole 45 minutes at some shows. We’ve done it before with [MR’s first single] ‘God Sent Us’ and enjoyed it very much… None of us knew what was going on or what would happen. Once you get a taste for that kind of chaotic night… It’s addictive.” TWITTER.

We featured ‘Beyond Hidden Words’ in early July and now we have our second taster for the bands November album release. With an imposing, marching beat 'I Love Today' arrives in a dramatic manner, the spoken vocals are irresistible (and this time around we get a lot more lyrics), this is hypnotic and contagious material. Ever the optimist I am looking forward (hopefully) to a further glimpse of what's on the album ahead of the release date.

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The Rad Trads - Wishing Well.

Background - New York City-based band, The Rad Trads, share the official music video for their new single "Wishing Well." The band just finished up the first leg of their extensive US run, which included select shows with Lake Street Dive, and they'll kick off the next run of national dates,  throughout September and early October, with their On Tap LP release show on Friday, September 14th at Mercury Lounge. In mid-October, the band heads to Spain, for a run of 10 dates throughout the country. See below for details on their tour. On Tap LP is due out September 14th (pre-order here).

On Tap serves as the world's introduction to the diverse possibilities The Rad Trads have to offer from the studio. Revered for their live shows, On Tap sees the five songwriters pull back the curtain on their passion for arrangement and orchestration, introducing a sea of horns, harmonies, gritty grooves, and psychedelic guitar textures.

Songs like "Thumbtack" and "The Little Pie Blues" share a nod towards their playful use of acoustic instruments while powerhouses "Good Luck Unto Ya" and "Wishing Well" make for unbridled bookends. "My Place" and "Key Club" highlight the diverse sonic pallet the band has grown to embrace. The band's contagious fun-loving nature shines throughout, a feeling that their fans will find familiar. WEBSITE.

Less than a fortnight since we shared 'Good Luck Unto Ya' from The Rad Trads, they are back with a new music video for 'Wishing Well'. Opening in a slow soulful manner accompanied with some classic blues feeling, the song veers towards southern rock at times, and the magnificent horns, do their stuff in style and even the drummer gets his moment in the spotlight. Two contrasting songs in, and I am very impressed by this band, make that very, very impressed.


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Moderate Rebels - Atlanta Arrival - ilu

Moderate Rebels - Beyond Hidden Words.

Background - London-based “Anti-Music Collective” Moderate Rebels release ‘Beyond Hidden Words’, from their just-completed second album, due out in November on Everyday Life Recordings. Describing it as an ‘un-song’, Moderate Rebels say, “We’re not sure what this music is exactly. It arrived with us as a feeling, then a defiant chant, a repeating half hallucination set to building noise, an invocation of strong communal power and hope, through the confronting of the uncomfortable, and the taking of some personal responsibility for being part of that conversation… The sound of a dream, set to the dream of a sound.”

‘Beyond Hidden Words’ arrived as an experiment, as much Moderate Rebels material has, from posed questions: “Can 3 chords and ‘the truth’ still work in 2018?... At what point does repetition become psychedelic?... Once you lose track of structure and time in music, do you get any sense of the infinite?”

“We know ‘Beyond Hidden Words’ has become important to us, and we find it emotionally stirring, more so as we listen to it, and we do believe these to be the correct words for us to sing, to our bones, and perhaps that’s enough for now”.

“Some London gigs and a UK tour in November are being planned. We may play ‘Beyond Hidden Words’ and some other new songs for the whole 45 minutes at some. We’ve done it before with [MR’s first single] ‘God Sent Us’ and enjoyed it very much… None of us knew what was going on or what would happen. Once you get a taste for that kind of chaotic night… It’s addictive.”

Moderate Rebels follow their debut album ‘The Sound Of Security’ and ‘Proxy’ EP, both released in 2017. The collective’s previously stated approach to their songwriting is “to use as few words and chords as possible”. TWITTER.

We featured Moderate Rebels a couple of times last year including their debut album, and I think it fair to say they were one of my favourites bands of 2017. Returning with 'Beyond Hidden Words' the first taste of their second album due in November, and the bands ethos of using just a few chords and words remains intact, as does their ability to do so with imagination and fascination. The bonus personally is that I can remember all the lyrics, as I sing along (privately that is, you wouldn't want to hear me sing).

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Atlanta Arrival - Colliding Stars (A Tribute To Björn Mertz).

Background - “On 17th May, we had to say goodbye to our dear son, brother, uncle, friend and drummer Björn Mertz. He was a fighter and an optimist, always determined to support his beloved ones instead of burdening them with his own stroke of fate. After months of battling cancer, it seemed like a miracle when he left the hospital cancer-free at the beginning of this year – still full of enthusiasm and joy of living. He enjoyed the time with friends and family and poured all his energy into his music, his one true passion. So, after our former band The Satellite Year split up, we composed an album that was supposed to be our next project.

Björn was about to go to a health resort, so we wanted to record the songs afterwards – but as if he had had a vision, he insisted on finishing the recording of the drums before his leave. And so he did: 9 songs in only 8 hours! At this time there was no way that anybody could have known that he was already developing a number of new tumours. While his friends believed that Björn was at the health resort as planned, really he was staying at the Uniklinik Homburg, a hospital, again fighting a battle against cancer with only his family by his side – and he did fight to the last. There is no rational explanation for what had happened during the last few weeks of his life or why this even had to happen. Similarly, there are no words for the pain and grief we feel. But should pain, emptiness and misery be the only things left? He himself would not have wanted this.

Therefore, it’s the deepest wish of his family and friends that Björn’s music and with it his unique spirit live on. We finished Björn’s favourite song of the album as well as a music video and kindly ask you to donate whatever you want and can afford to give, in order to support the German Cancer Foundation”. FACEBOOK, BANDCAMP.

A sad background with plenty of reasons to feature this music video regardless of the quality. However 'Colliding Stars' is a fine song that deserves to be shared on it's own merit. Only featuring music we like, enables Beehive Candy to be positive about all we share, and in it's own minor way hopefully that understanding provides a small tribute, to a drummer we never personally knew and clearly, a naturally talented musician. 


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ilu - Graffiti Hen Ewrop.

Background - Hymns of heartbreak and poetic reflections on grief and loss all dressed in music, steeped in the infectious energy and experimentation of 70s West Germany (Neu! Can, Faust). ilu also possesses a modernist European perspective that at first seemed at odds with their organic song-craft, yet it all coalesces into one coherent moving sound. 

Krautrock, motoric grooves propel their songs, songs that are also informed by a love for spiky post-punk and its melancholic longing, evident in ilu's rain soaked chords that sit comfortably on these city rhythms. Splitting their time recording between Tallinn, Estonia and rural Wales, ilu will be releasing their debut single 'Graffiti Hen Ewrop' on August 3rd. This singular reclusive band are well worth the wait.

'Graffiti Hen Ewrop' - The lyrics came in one go, driving around a snowy Tallinn on Christmas day, throwing grief and sadness into the night that is falling around the city. "I had just lost my father a few months before moving to Tallinn and I was dealing with my grief and my own confusion that was crippling at the time. The album was written and recorded there in a small flat in Merivälja looking across the harbour over at the old medieval town, it is very much a journey back into the light”.

The rest of the recording and mixing were done under the guidance of Producer Tim Lewis (Coil, Julian Cope, Spiritualized) from his studio in rural Carmarthenshire, Wales. Mastering is by Iwan Morgan (Euros Childs, Gruff Rhys, Cate Le Bon, Sweet Baboo). TWITTER.

If you have been here often enough you may well have noted we have a thing about Krautrock. It's a very positive thing at that, and 'Graffiti Hen Ewrop' is one of those tracks that satisfies, as it also promises more! ilu have nailed it with this song.

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Moderate Rebels - The Echo Friendly - Faces on TV

Moderate Rebels - The Sound of Security (Album).

Background -  London post-psych collective Moderate Rebels now unveil their debut full-length album, ‘The Sound of Security’, which further pursues their sonic manifesto of “using as few words and chords as possible”.

“We tried to create conditions where the songs could write themselves with minimum resistance; an automatic writing situation,” say Moderate Rebels. “The point was to remove ourselves, our beliefs and our intentions as much as possible; to just let it happen. It’s never been about us, we want to make music that aims at being more important than that.”

 Having set out their hypnotically brutalist improv with prior releases ‘God Sent Us’ (Nov 2016) and the ‘Proxy’ EP (June 2017), which garnered huge acclaim, not least from the aforementioned broadcasting luminaries, the group decamped to a small Bermondsey studio to cut an album influenced by (but by no means limited to) Spacemen 3, La Dusseldorf, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Roxy Music, Black Box Recorder, Jenny Hval, Death In Vegas and MGMT. These artists were not the only thing that impacted on the final record, however.

“There were churches on either side, so we’d hear the congregations singing and playing all day, celebrating their spiritual beliefs with a jubilant and communal noise. Without getting too much into psychogeography, that couldn’t help but bleed into what we were putting together. It’s powerful and uplifting stuff, no matter what your own particular philosophy may be. At the very least, it explains all the handclaps on the album!”

The resulting 13 tracks, released as ‘The Sound of Security’ on Everyday Life Recordings last Friday, are as fascinating and exhilarating as such contrary stimuli would suggest, being energetic, intoxicating and ruthless in their stark approach, yet imbued with all the freedom of a group utterly at ease. “Our music seems to be all about turning weaknesses into strengths,” say Moderate Rebels, a little modestly. “We decided to not try to gloss over our musical limitations and imperfections, and just embrace them.” TWITTER, BANDCAMP.

See Moderate Rebels live:
12-14 January 2018: Rockaway Beach, Butlin’s Bognor Regis
10 February: Tooting Tram & Social, London SW17
24 February: The Finsbury, London N4.

Occasionally we get to share an entire album as is the case now with Moderate Rebels and the newly released 'The Sound of Security'. We featured the band back in June with the song Liberate which we described this way "The vocals and harmonies on 'Liberate' are seemingly detached from the tight and efficient rhythm that drives the song forward, yet collectively the song is quite heady and oozes an inviting level of cool liberation." Now we have twelve more songs to become engrossed in, and I have to say, that's the effect this gorgeous juxtaposition of power and minimalism is having on me.


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The Echo Friendly - Power Through.

Background - The Echo Friendly shares their new single "Power Through." The track is from their forthcoming album Surveying The Damage, out today. The band explains that "it's a song about loving your partner and your band mates enough to survive the constant anxiety of life under late capitalism."

The Echo Friendly are a rock band from Brooklyn made up of married couple Shannon Esper and Jake Rabinbach as well as their friends Jake Vest and Greg Faison. Placing frank diary-like lyrics over propulsive drums and distorted guitars, they make anxiety and romantic confusion something you can sing along to. 

Their songs have been featured on HBO’s Grls and Looking, as well as the films “Sleeping with Other People” and “Goodbye World.” Their debut album “Love Panic”was released in 2014 and their new album will be out before the apocalypse, godwilling. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.

'Power Through' is a catchy indie rocker with a beautiful mixture of jangly guitars, feisty rhythm and totally hook laden vocals.

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Faces on TV - The Image of Boy Wonder.

Background - Faces On TV have announced their upcoming album with the release of the brilliant first single to be taken from it, 'The Image of Boy Wonder'. To celebrate, Faces On TV have released a mind-bending video for it.

Belgian artist, Jasper Maekelberg, the front man of Faces On TV, is a multi-talent. He has produced top 10 records, toured as part of Warhaus, as well as leading Faces On TV. In the past, the band have supported the likes of dEUS, Yeasayer, and Balthazar.

They have gained many fans since and their previous single ‘Love/Dead’ has now had more than 1.3 million streams on Spotify. Having also performed at a variety of festivals such as Pukkelpop, Xpo North, and Here Comes the Summer they have now been chosen to perform at this year's Eurosonic festival in The Netherlands, too.

'The Image of Boy Wonder' is the first single taken from the debut album by Faces On TV, which is due out in April 2018 via Unday Records. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.

'The Image of Boy Wonder' is an attention grabbing song title, and thankfully my intrigue is quickly rewarded. With a mysterious opening the piece gradually leads us into a superb chorus line, from which the track builds into something imaginative and splendid.


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Moderate Rebels - Bell X1 - Katie Buchanan

Moderate Rebels - Liberate.

Background - Pursuing their sonic manifesto “to use as few words and chords as possible”, London four-piece Moderate Rebels have followed their debut single ‘God Sent Us’ – a ‘Lamacq Livener’ frequently spun on BBC 6Music and Radio X – with a blistering five-track EP to be released on 2 June on Everyday Life Recordings.

“We want to acknowledge the conditions of the era we find ourselves in and generate feelings of transcending them,” say the band. To this end, ‘Proxy’ was recorded in a small South Bermondsey studio while Moderate Rebels were reacting to stimuli including (but by no means limited to) Spacemen 3, La Dusseldorf, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Roxy Music, Black Box Recorder, Jenny Hval, Death In Vegas and MGMT.

The resulting five tracks, each stamped with the quartet’s muscular hypnotic euphony, lend themselves to expansion and are being showcased at gigs via extended 15-minute versions (two per show). The second of these nights is at The Finsbury, Manor House, London on Saturday 3 June.

Moderate Rebels are among the first wave of acts to be announced for Rockaway Beach at Butlin’s Bognor Regis next January, alongside the likes of Wild Beasts, The Orb and Honeyblood. The band are currently mixing their debut album, due for release in summer 2017.

Pulsing with all the energy of Moderate Rebels’ mesmeric live shows, ‘Liberate’ sets in motion a contagious riff that surges forwards while tributaries of guitar flow over, under and through pounding motorik rhythms and a precise, gloriously aloof, vocal. “What’s intriguing about the word ‘Liberate’ is how flexible it is,” say Moderate Rebels, a band striving to achieve their own version of liberation through this intoxicating new release. The Picta here, Bandcamp here.

The vocals and harmonies on 'Liberate' are seemingly detached from the tight and efficient rhythm that drives the song forward, yet collectively the song is quite heady and oozes an inviting level of cool liberation.

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Bell X1 - The Upswing.

Background - Irish band, Bell X1, undoubtedly one of Ireland’s most beloved bands, is back with their seventh studio album, Arms, out in the UK on July 21st 2017.  Arms is the follow up to their 2013 critically acclaimed album Chop Chop, which became the trio’s third #1 album on the Irish Album Charts and their fourth consecutive album to be nominated for a Choice Music Prize for “Irish Album of the Year.”

Arms is a nine-song collection radiating with shabby grace and soft-focus elegance, but there’s also a bruised, bittersweet, romantic mood throughout. Melancholic and lovelorn in places but also spirited, determined and optimistic which speaks volumes about how the band has grown sonically over their storied career.  “This has been the most difficult record we’ve made, in terms of feeling like it was good enough to share, to let it go and no longer be just ours. That we’d made something different to what’s come before” says Noonan. “I know we’ve been crazed with doubt, occasional bum steers and misguided conviction along the way and we say thank you to those who’ve calmed the waters…”

Produced by the band and recorded in Dublin and Donegal by Tommy McLoughlin (from the Villagers) and Glenn Keating (from Jape), Arms was mixed by Peter Katis (The National, Jónsi) with Ross Dowling mixing the song “Out of Love.”  “The title Arms is about the idea that, as the world feels like it’s becoming a harsher place (maybe there’s just more damn noise?),” says singer Paul Noonan. “We seek out the comfort of the familiar and familial…arms.”

Bell X1 will be on tour throughout Ireland, The UK (in support of Tori Amos) and Australia for the rest of the year, with more dates to be announced.  This year, they’ve headlined sold out shows at Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens and Galway Arts Festival and had top billing at the 2016 Indiependence Festival in Cork. In 2015, Bell X1 played a fully sold out acoustic tour and supported Ed Sheeran for two big shows at Croke Park, one of the largest stadiums in Europe. Website here, Facebook here.

The new album 'Arms' includes 'The Upswing' which as an individual piece was recorded at least a year ago. No wonder the promo describes Bell X1 as one of Ireland's most beloved bands, the new album is just full of great songs, the featured track is just an indicator of this highly recommended new release.


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Katie Buchanan - Stand with Me.

Background - NYC-based, guitar-driven singer and songwriter, Katie Buchanan sophomore album, Who We Are When We're Standing, is due out Friday, June 9, 2017. The record is written and produced by Buchanan, mixed by Doug Schadt (Maggie Rogers, Wet, Emmy the Great) and mastered by Heba Kadry (Neon Indian, The Sea and Cake, The Mars Volta, Trust).

The indie pop troubadour “deserves a prime spot on your daily playlist,” praises City Of Tenants, and they aren’t alone in their admiration. No Depression says, “it’s these under the radar artists like Katie Buchanan that renew my belief that in the right hands rock is not dead.” Buchanan’s music is guitar-driven pop with Americana roots and a slight electro spin. Honing her production skills while studying at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and combining them with those homegrown roots, her music is “presented on a plate of spicy true blues tradition with just the right garnish of folk, roots, country and yes - a little electronica,” No Depression continues, “The Americana will follow and it will embellish it beautifully.”

The Kansas-native grew up surrounded by music, having been born into a long line of musicians. With childhood memories of learning the blues around a campfire, you could say that songwriting is in Buchanan’s blood and comes almost as a second nature.

2014’s EP Go received praise from Surf Rock Music (“you will never get tired of hearing it”) and Guitar World (“power vocal delivery conjures up an entrancing and magical experience.”) In 2015, Buchanan released her debut album, Glow, which earned her comparisons to Bonnie Raitt and Fiona Apple from The Revue. Elmore Magazine draws comparison to “a lost peak-Tears For Fears track” in regards to the album’s stunning track “Gold.” Glow’s shimmering lead single “Honey, Don’t” was premiered by The Vinyl District, who say they found themselves “in the arms of a wide-open pop song equipped with a stuttering electronic beat and moody chorus.” No Depression says the single “has the power to draw a listener into a vacuum of colorful melody.” Website here, Facebook here.

Our second feature for Katie Buchanan this year is 'Stand with Me.' Plenty of other music reviewers have enthused over her music as can be seen by the words above. Katie does not sit comfortably in any particular genre, she does however create very desirable music, whether indie or Americana, and plenty of other styles.

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