Showing posts with label Sunshine & The Blue Moon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunshine & The Blue Moon. Show all posts

Belle Tower - Annie Keating - Sunshine & the Blue Moon - Bayleigh Cheek

Belle Tower - Fear.

Belle Tower is the lo-fi indie folk rock project of Isabella Harned, found at the intersection of life experience in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal and Xwilkway/Halfmoon Bay. 

Isolation, solitude, pain, love and healing are key themes at the heart of Belle Tower’s collection; songs that are heavy in their vulnerability, but that simultaneously carry you weightless through the processing of emotions. 

With contributions from main collaborators Ben Robertson (Winona Forever, Schwey), Scott Boudreau (Mauno), and strings from Audreanne Fillion (Lovelet, Crusssh), Belle Tower showcases ethereal vocals, dreamy guitar lines, and varied layered instrumentation resounding a sonic lightness in the new EP ‘tend to’, which was out April 27th, 2021.


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Annie Keating - Kindred Spirit.

"Kindred Spirit," the first single from songcrafter Annie Keating's forthcoming album (Bristol County Tides).

The song is about finding commonality in our humanity and brokenness; the narrator is speaking about someone that has become a special part of the narrator's life, acknowledging that life's experiences have shaped the narrator and the narrator's friend, and finding the common threads of hardship that make the bond formed between them even stronger.

Annie's new LP, Bristol County Tides (out on June 4th), pays tribute to relationships forged in difficult times - Annie, who lives in Brooklyn, relocated herself and her children to coastal Massachusetts to wait out the pandemic.

She was treated with kindness and compassion and inclusion by her new neighbors, her city-raised children became country kids, learning to fish and all of that fun stuff, and she was able to write for the first time in a while. This album tells the stories of the love given and friendships forged in the middle of major hardship and pays homage to the people who embraced her and welcomed her family with open arms.

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Sunshine & the Blue Moon - Good Morning Sunshine.

"Good Morning Sunshine" was inspired by dreary hazy mornings, when you wake up and don't want to do the things you’re supposed to do, with your mind more prone to wander.

Recorded live off the floor in Toronto, it's from our rock n roll-inspired sophomore album, Born 2 Boogie, which will be released on June 25 as we try to make sense of the human experience following our collective anxiety in this uneasy state of the world.

It's important to find time to unwind. The Dutch even have a word for it, niksen, the concept of doing nothing. It's supposed to be a stress reliever.

Let's remember that we're all in the same boat. Different lived experiences, but we all share those introspective humdrum days.

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Bayleigh Cheek - Release Me.

Dallas native Bayleigh Cheek began her love affair with music at an early age thanks to her immersive upbringing. Both parents were in the music scene, exposing her to a variety of sounds ranging from psychedelic and folk to progressive rock and new wave. 

Some of her personal music influences include Patti Smith, P.J. Harvey, Radiohead, and Angel Olsen. Those influences led to the creation of her EP, Immortals, that was self-released in early 2020 which brought her DOMA nominations for Best New Artist and Best EP.

In early 2021, she signed with Red Zeppelin Records, which will re-release Immortals as well as her debut album which is set for release in early 2022.

Cheek has frequently performed venues such as The Kessler Theatre, House of Blues, Three Links, opening for acts including Matthew Sweet, and Dallas natives Medicine Man Revival playing consistently for the past five years.

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BeeVids: Sunshine & The Blue Moon - Royal Canoe - Skinny Girl Diet

Sunshine & The Blue Moon - Welcome to the Future.

Background from the band - News on the detrimental effects that our collective human selves wreak upon our poor planet always get's my mind turning. I notice others are less inclined to want to listen to, or talk about these stories because they're often told to us in a harsh, stark doomsday kind of way, so I thought maybe I would try to write the tragedies into a less alarmist, more upbeat hopeful song, maybe listeners will absorb it and think about it with a more positive tone.

The way the recording ended up, with the horns and bombast, just made me think of some strange long-lost educational TV show, and that's the direction we tried to take with the video. Our debut album is out now via The Hand! Bandcamp here.


'Welcome to the Future' is a clever and massively catchy indie rock song. The video adds some colour and fun to the whole thing, the song is more than enough on it's own, so a double helping of delight is ensured.

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Royal Canoe - Bicycle.

Background - Juno Award nominated Royal Canoe have just released sophomore album Something Got Lost Between Here and the Orbit via Embassy of Music (EU), Moorworks (Japan) and Nevado Music.

The band have since followed up with a wonderfully quirky visual accompaniment to 'Bicycle'. The animated video by Matea Radic and  Bill Acheson perfectly complements the band's wildly creative take on music, and will have you smiling and/or uncontrollably tapping your feet.

Royal Canoe has always had an intensively rhythmic heart and that is more the case than ever. Their lyrics grow organically out of an addictive percussive flow and the unique topography of each track. Reinforcing their vocal and percussive core allowed them to be more adventurous with experimentation; more determined in their ongoing pursuit of the elusive musicality that can be found in collisions between digital and analogue worlds. In addition to their their usual buffet of synthesisers, effects pedals and homemade samples, late nights lead to to rabbit-holes of attaching contact mics to water bottles to play them like percussion instruments and convoluting synths through beluga whale field recordings. Website here.


If you like genre defying music then 'Bicycle' may well be a real treat for your ears. The video adds another dimension to the song, which is just so vibrant and engaging. Superbly different!

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Skinny Girl Diet - Bored.

Background - Skinny Girl Diet debut new video "Bored" off their upcoming debut LP "Heavy Flow" and announce USA vinyl pre-order. (HHBTM Records). One of the most eagerly anticipated albums in years, Skinny Girl Diet’s Heavy Flow is already getting regular play on BBC Radio 6 (by Iggy Pop, no less) and the London band’s been featured in just about every music blog/magazine you can imagine. 

The band won’t even be old enough to drink during their upcoming US tour, and yet Delilah Holiday, Ursula Holiday, and Amelia Cutler have been doing this for almost six years now.. SGD is raw, bleeding, and beautiful, a perfect convergence of Angela Carter and Angela Davis and The Powerpuff Girls. Inspired by punk and grunge and being alive & awake in the 21st century, their debut album—self-released in the UK so they can control the product, released in the US on HHBTM Records b/c it’s the only label you can trust—is as cathartic & angry & moving as anything we’ve heard in a long time. ‘OK’ may be the best song ever written about watching a loved one struggle through depression.


'Bored' typifies the bands uncompromising musical stance, as they continue to impress with their brand of grungy punk. Forty years on from the UK punk explosion and Skinny Girl Diet bring a fresh new and urgent sound, ensuring there is life a plenty in the genre today.

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Genre Wander: Rainbow Reservoir - Audience Killers - Sunshine & The Blue Moon - Anna Of The North

Rainbow Reservoir - Coco Sleeps Around

Background promo - Cardiff-based DIY pop imprint Odd Box Records are releasing the brilliant new 7" - Coco Sleeps Around - from Oxford's insatiable Rainbow Reservoir. With the full EP to be released September 10th the band are now sharing the title-track from the new record.

Despite being a relatively new band this is melodic power-pop at it's absolute best and is sure to thrust the band into popular acclaim. On one side the track is sublime, quirky pop but there's a feisty, angst-ridden undercurrent beneath the track. If you're a fan of Tullycraft, Cars Can Be Flue, Waxahatchee and Horowitz then this will definitely be your bag. Vocalist Angela was asked to describe their wistful pop, explaining that "it's punk in spirit and upbeat, has lots of rhythm, and can be romantic but with a dark side".


From the first note 'Coco Sleeps Around' demands attention. Rainbow Reservoir create a measure of punk angst surrounded by melodic hooks, feisty vocals and good old no nonsense rock. The four song EP is more of the bands most welcome and addictive music.

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Audience Killers - Patterns.

Background - Latvian synth-pop trio, Audience Killers, release the music video for their next single, "Patterns". The track is from the group's debut album, Floating Islands, which was released in May 2016.

Audience Killers create a fluid blend of synth-pop and electro-pop that often draws comparisons to Mew and Passion Pit. Their debut album Floating Islands delivers this and more with warm, inviting synths, dreamy guitar lines, and ethereal vocals. Petrovs's striking falsetto is sure to bring to mind flashes of M83's Anthony Gonzalez. Lyrically, Floating Islands acknowledges the idea that one person has the ability to affect the lives of many with positivity and inclination.

Childhood friends Normunds Petrovs (vocals/guitar) and Arletta Supe (keyboards/backing vocals) only began writing and making music in 2009. Rounding out the trio, Petrovs and Supe met Edgars Oplucans (drums) during a live studio session in early 2010 and swiftly released their first two singles.

Audience Killers then released their debut EP Footprints And Heart in July 2012 and have since performed across much of Europe at The Great Escape, Reeperbahn Music Festival, and Tallinn Music Week, and released a standalone single, "Two Bare Feet," to much acclaim. This year's debut album release marks a major step for the promising Latvian band.


'Patterns' is a dreamy, atmospheric song that gently glides along, slowly building momentum until it becomes a melodic and vibrant piece (almost a case of three songs in one). The music video really is an ideal match.

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Sunshine & The Blue Moon - Sunshine & Lucy.

Background from the band - I'm a bit of a sap, I love the idea of Love. Is there true love? Do we create this love based on instincts or fantasies, or is love itself an instinct? When it comes to how love is created, I don't mind any which way, I'm just happy to have experienced, or at least to have witnessed it. I wanted to try to capture that with a warm music video shot on film, giving the impression of a long lost burgeoning romance captured on warm film, maybe found in a dusty box, on a dusty shelf somewhere, to be viewed with a smile, as a reminder, a vignette of the very thing that drives us. Our debut album comes out on September 16th via The Hand, we're calling it 'Welcome To The Future'.

Sunshine & the Blue Moon choose to experiment not only with sound, but mood as well, expanding their aural landscape beyond common signifiers. Blending influences and ideas from across genres and eras spanning from early blues, folk and country, to 60's rock and soul, through eclectic 90's grooves. One listen may place you on a rural road with your sweetheart, feeling the summer breeze as it rolls through the trembling leaves. While another might place you in a pulsing dream wanting nothing more than to escape the hot city streets, to shake and dance the through the night.


One of nine songs on the debut album, 'Sunshine & Lucy' gives a flavour of where the band go with their music, it's certainly not the only style you will hear though. For example the following song (Depression) is a mixture of funk, blues and energy. What's consistent is the really tight musicianship and some exceptional vocal styles. As debut albums go, this is of a very high standard, the band have set expectations high, and I reckon they will deliver on that.

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Anna Of The North - Us.

Background - Anna of the North is the music project of Norwegian singer Anna Lotterud and her producer Brady. She has just got off tour with Kygo and is a staple on Spotify playlists.

Originally from a small town north of Oslo, it was in Melbourne that she met Brady, and gained the Anna of the North moniker.

Two songs The Dreamer and Baby, have gained the top spot on Hype Machine, establishing a sizable listenership and following. The new song 'Us' confirms that Anna of the North are far more than a one two hit wonder!

Live Date:
Sep 20th 2016 - The Lexington, London, United Kingdom.

'Us' is a smooth electro song with a hypnotic groove and Anna Lotterud wonderful vocals. In what is a crowded part of the music world, Anna Of The North stand out, in part because they focus on the key ingredients of the song and deliver an uncluttered and yet expansive pop sound.

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Bumper Catch Up featuring: Rubblebucket - Mollie Elizabeth - Lilly Hiatt - The Kearns Family - WILDES and St Francis Hotel - Lucette - Caroline Strickland - Mon Rayon - Lala Salama

Keeping the comments a little shorter so we can cram a few more songs in than usual, this is our first bumper catch up of some really fine r...