Frøkedal - Susie Scurry - Dr Dog - The Goldberg Sisters - Alfred Hall

Frøkedal - I Don't Care.

Background - Oslo, Norway based Frøkedal today announces her long-awaited second album ‘How We Made It’, alongside the release of new single, and album opener ‘I Don’t Care’. The new album ‘How We Made It’, set for release August 31st via Propeller Recordings, follows her Norwegian Grammy-nominated debut LP of 2016, Hold On Dreamer.

An exploration of the process of moving forward in a positive manner, in spite of one's naysayers - ‘I Don’t Care’ is based around the idea of firmly closing the door to the past. "I never really questioned my life / 'til you condescendingly said I’d fail” Frøkedal exclaims in the tracks opening verse, amidst a backdrop of gently strummed guitar work and bustling drums. The song then opens up to its rousing chorus - bringing together crunching guitar lines and soaring strings to stunning effect.

An attempt to demonstrate being triumphant, rather than actually successfully being triumphant - 'I Don't Care', is more mad, than victorious in its execution. Speaking more on the release of the new single, Anne Lise Frøkedal said: "'I Don't Care' contains an energy that I specifically wanted to be present on the new LP. Unfiltered, impulsive thoughts and actions fuelled by everything from fear, love and deep passion - to red hot anger. The song seems to represent the whole spectrum. It's an ambivalent, slightly over the top effort to close the door to the past.”

"I’m ready for a wondrous expansion of life / all over your empty space” she sings as the songs begins to draw to a close, with a clear sense of determination. Frøkedal appears to be resolute in her songwriting and artistic goals, with ‘I Don’t Care’ standing as the perfect song to exemplify those intentions. Far from the acoustic sensibilities of previous singles, Frøkedal's more recent output signals an arguably more “mature” sound – combining full band with folk-leaning string sections. Though the instrumental approach feels more expansive and fully fledged, 'I Don't Care' - along with a lot of the album's lyrical themes represent Frøkedal's more "immature" personal traits, by her own admission.

Despite track-by-track production, Frøkedal’s lyrical output has taken a much more thematic approach with forthcoming album ‘How We Made It’: “When I started writing this new material, I was picturing different ages or stages in our lives when our vision gets a little blurred. I wanted the songs (and the characters) to channel these critical moments when decisions are dominated by emotion and not necessarily by logic,” she says. TWITTER.

Regular visitors to Beehive Candy will probably have noticed our fondness for the music of Anne Lise Frøkedal. 'I Don't Care' is a fresh sounding indie pop song that as we have come to expect is full of hooks and the beautifully definitive vocals. On the strength of the two tracks I have heard from her second album, it's looking like we are in for another very special collection of music.

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Susie Scurry - The Elvis Hour

Background - Melbourne singer-songwriter Susie Scurry, formerly known as 'The Grand Magoozi', returns with a new single and title track to forthcoming EP 'The Elvis Hour'. More than a love letter to The King, this is an autumnal lament about the Sunday night blues, and the anxiety of working a job you don't love. Telling the story of an hourly program on the dusty end of the AM dial (the now defunct Magic 1278) which paid tribute to Elvis every Sunday night, showcasing his prolific career and breadth of styles from Vegas to Hawaii, cowboy to crooner. The Elvis Hour is a homage to the iconic legend and the lonely existence of ‘The King of Rock n' Roll’.

Susie's voice croons over an old-school, toe-tapping soft score of lap steel sighs, bass, percussion and strings, with lyrics reminding us of all that Elvis achieved in his short life - "there wasn't much he didn't do for a man that died at 42".

‘The Elvis Hour’ is the first single from Susie Scurry’s lush new six-track EP of the same name recorded in Sheffield, UK at Yellow Arch Studios with Mercury-nominated producer Colin Elliot (Richard Hawley, Jarvis Cocker, etc). The EP will be released on Friday 8 June.

In the spirit of golden-old classic standards, Susie Scurry's songwriting is clear and precise, original and familiar, honest and romantic. Her voice delivers lament and subtle wit in equal measure, singing about life and death, love lost, and a world gone awry. In 2016 Susie released her debut album, The Grand Magoozi on indie label Little Lake Records / Flippin Yeah Industries. Since that time she has performed and toured Australia extensively. Highlights include Melbourne Music Week, Darwin Festival, Perth Arts Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival and a 26 day tour of the Outback supporting Darren Hanlon. WEBSITE.

'The Elvis Hour' is thankfully not another Elvis impersonator having their moment, rather as mentioned above "this is an autumnal lament about the Sunday night blues, and the anxiety of working a job you don't love." Using The Elvis hour as the vehicle for those feelings is very clever, and the song itself is fabulous with Susie Scurry's vocals deservedly centre stage. One thing's for sure you don't have to be an Elvis fan to enjoy this track, and if you are, I reckon you will still be impressed.

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Dr Dog - Heart Killer.

Background - Philadelphia’s Dr Dog are sharing a new single, ‘Heart Killer’, the latest to be taken from their forthcoming album Critical Equation, due for release via We Buy Gold Records/Thirty Tigers on April 27, 2018. This new single emerging as the latest offering from the new album which find Gus Seyffert (previously The Black Keys, Beck) in the producer’s chair. Dr. Dog will support the new release with autumn 2018 UK tour dates, these to be announced shortly.

The slick psych-rock of ‘Heart Killer’ finds the band lyrically grappling with heart break whilst weaving their penchant for catchy melodies and delicate harmonies throughout the music. Critical Equation broke tradition for the band, opting to record in Los Angeles with Seyffert as opposed to their own ‘Meth Beach’ studios, the path to the record followed an extended break giving time for the band to re-evaluate; "We'd been touring and making records for our entire adult lives, and I think we just needed to take a step back," reflects Leaman. "It was important for all of us to figure out if we were actually doing what we wanted to be doing, or if we were just letting momentum carry us down this path we'd always been on.”

Dr. Dog have achieved multiple Top 50-charting albums in the US, performed on the likes of Letterman, Fallon and Conan and received widespread critical acclaim as well as touring with The Black Keys, Wilco, My Morning Jacket and The Lumineers. WEBSITE.

It's been sometime since I have listened to Dr Dog and 'Heart Killer' is a great reminder of what a fine band they are. The band deliver a polished psych rocker of a song, it's catchy, vibrant and confirms that the band have plenty of innovation and ideas still to offer.

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The Goldberg Sisters - Dear Mr. Nilsson

Background - On May 4th psych-pop artist The Goldberg Sisters will release their new album HOME: A Nice Place To Visit. Known as the musical alter-ego of actor, musician, filmmaker and photographer Adam Goldberg, (and his mythical sister-twin "Celeste") The Goldberg Sisters today have released the new single "Dear Mr. Nilsson," written in the form of a letter to the iconic singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson. Goldberg explains that the track is "about the futility of trying to compose a song that measures up to Nilsson’s work. Somewhat ironically I wrote and recorded the demo for this in about 2 hours."

Goldberg and Lynch teamed up once again in the garage for the new Goldberg Sisters’ album, HOME: A Nice Place To Visit. Goldberg again did all the instrumentation save for violins and trumpet. Goldberg’s elasticity as a multi-instrumentalist and producer is nothing short of astonishing considering he lacks anything in the way of formal training and didn’t even think of seriously making music until his early 20s. “I started playing drums as a kid,” he recalls. “I played along with songs on the radio but mainly Bowie records.”

The music on HOME: A Nice Place To Visit offers listeners a profoundly immersive experience. “I’m really proud of the album,” Goldberg says. “I think I needed to step away from it for a bit to regain some perspective on it, which is always weird because now it’s truly like listening to somebody else... It’s not so much that I want to make music – I feel I have to, as if I have no choice.”

And so, he surrenders to his heart’s most urgent commands on the Goldberg Sisters’ HOME: A Nice Place To Visit, and for that, music fans can be thankful. TWITTER.

Just a month after sharing 'When Or Where Or Why' The Goldberg Sisters are back with the new track 'Dear Mr. Nilsson'. Once again the psych vibes are abundant, as are the hooks, the sixties influences are played out beautifully, this really is a song from the past, with the benefits of today's studio gear, wonderful!

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Alfred Hall - Quite Some Time.

Background - Prefacing their highly anticipated album due in May, Norweigian Indie Pop Duo, Alfred Hall are back with another lighthearted and catchy single, "Quite Some Time." With a style entirely inspired by the staple 60's sound, "Quite Some Time" throws you back in time and satisfies the need for a simple love ballad.

Since 2009, Alfred Hall, the brainchild of Hans Thomas Kiær (guitar) and Bjørn Tveit (vocals), have been serving straight-up indie dream-pop to the masses - combining the lightness of summer sounds and salty sea breeze, with the sylvan dusk of Norwegian frosted forests. Even after their second gig ever, the rave reviews started coming in, and with their first single "So Bright" (Norway), the band quickly became the band to watch out for in 2012. "So Bright" was a hit on international tastemaker radio stations and on Norwegian radio, making way for the album Wilderness, which was released exclusively in Norway in 2013.

The album was nominated for "Best Pop Album" in the Norwegian “Grammy’s", called “Spellemannsprisen." In 2014 the band made their first release worldwide with "Alfred Hall EP," followed by the single "The King of Cape" the year after. At the beginning of last month, they made a comeback with their latest single “Pearl Diver” that gained traction in the US market. Now they’re back again with their next single and are gearing up to release an album in May of this year. FACEBOOK.

'Quite Some Time' is an upbeat song that references pop music form the past and bundles it with more modern indie pop sensibilities. If the charts were full of songs like this I would still be a Top 40 fan, after all that's where this tune belongs.

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The Claudettes - The Magic Numbers - The Goldberg Sisters - Sugar Candy Mountain

The Claudettes - Don't Stay with Me / Pull Closer To Me.

Background - An old upright piano, a snarling electric bass, Phil Spector-ized booming drums and seductive Cool School vocals get into a punk-blues brawl at the studio of Grammy-winning Black Keys producer Mark Neill. On their head-spinning new album, The Claudettes summon vaudeville blues, ’60s soul and Cramps-like psychobilly. Behold Dance Scandal at the Gymnasium!, the band’s third full-length for Yellow Dog Records and first to feature their touring lineup of piano, drums, “Bass VI” guitar and three singers.

Pianist/songwriter Johnny Iguana airs grievances about the numbing and divisive effects of an Internet-dominated world all across these songs. “Nobody knows how to talk to each other these days,” begins the song “Give It All Up for Good,” while “Bill Played Saxophone” follows American political nemeses through periods of smoldering bitterness and revenge fantasies. “Death and Traffic” begs for stories of saved lives and heroism amidst the onslaught of bad news, then “Utterly Absurd” bemoans the age of the hair-trigger Google search: “Thought dies as transmission rise…‘fast and now’ killed ‘I know how.’” And need anything more be said about the prescience of “Naked on the Internet”?

Neill invited the Claudettes to his Georgia studio after being introduced to the band by Dave Cobb (Grammy-winning producer of Sturgill Simpson and Lake Street Dive). The Claudettes recorded at Soil of the South for ten days, taking advantage of Neill's vast knowledge and collection of vintage equipment.

“Mark insisted that, no matter how loudly we crank amps live, we record at conversational level so he could turn his vintage preamps up and use his best old mics,” says band leader Johnny Iguana, who has recorded with Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and a host of other blues giants along with his own punk-organ band oh my god. The result: a big, warm sound straight off the ’60s 45s that Mark spins between takes for inspiration.

The piano-guitar-drums core of each song was recorded in a single take, as were most vocals. Neill, who shuns the practice of building tracks in Pro Tools, had the band run through songs again and again until “The” take arrived. Marxophones, mellotrons, rare fuzz pedals and an array of percussion instruments were broken out to finalize Neill's vision for each track.

Here the Claudettes introduce the singer who’s been touring with the band for two years: Berit Ulseth. “Berit went to the New School in NY for jazz vocals, but she’s got a tone you can’t learn,” says Iguana. “Sometimes she reminds me of Carole King and her soulful ‘I Feel the Earth Move’ vocals…but she’s also got this Patsy Cline warmth and lushness to her voice.”

Ulseth urges a lackluster partner to set her free in “Don’t Stay With Me,” propelled by an insistent orchestral bass drum, then reveals the exquisite nuances of her voice on the transfixing ballad “Pull Closer to Me.” Bassist/guitarist Zach Verdoorn yodels the album’s carnival-ready title cut and takes urgent solos on “Total Misfit” and the aforementioned “Naked on the Internet,” a song that sounds like the ’60s but looks to a future where our only lasting legacies are unwanted searchable ones.

What’s traditional on Dance Scandal at the Gymnasium! are the blues, soul and rock ’n’ roll touchstones and the antique instruments and equipment used to document them. What’s new and indescribable are the punk-laced energy and sum total of these songs, musicians and producer Neill, who describes this album thusly: “Haunted cabaret...David Lynch movie music crossed with Allen Toussaint’s driving piano sound! And sort of like when you’re driving late at night in the South and two radio stations are coming in together and it’s perfect!...Like Otis Spann and Mark Sandman from Morphine sitting in with Keely Smith. I'm kind of riffing here but seriously nobody sounds like them...I love this new record, it’s crazy good." WEBSITE, BANDCAMP.

We have two of the twelve songs that make up The Claudettes forthcoming album 'Dance Scandal at the Gymnasium!'. 'Don't Stay with Me' and 'Pull Closer To Me' give the listener some idea of what's in store on the album, the emphasis being on "some idea." The band have a delightfully unique musical sound, the vocals add melody and plenty of feeling to the songs, whilst the bands creative zest ensures each track has some unique attributes, alongside varying levels of energy and attitude. Collectively this works, the musical hooks are everywhere. Not being certain of what each piece might bring, adds to the excitement, this really is an album worth some time digging in to.


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The Magic Numbers - Sweet Divide.

Background - I never wanted to be a part of anything, the cool kids at school, the pretend outlaws. I was always an outsider, we’ve always been an outsider band. We don’t fit in, never have and never will. Especially now. As you get older you realise your strength in not giving a f. You realise what you’ve been trying to do your whole life. Create something that’s yours, your own world, your own views, make something special, start your own gang but always be You within it. Don’t conform. Don’t fall in line. Be free. Be inspired. Inspire. Live & Love. To all the Outsiders – Romeo, The Magic Numbers.

Mercury Prize nominated and multi-platinum selling London quartet The Magic Numbers have just shared the studio-shot video for the recent 6 Music-supported single, 'Sweet Divide'. This is the first piece of new music from the band following a three-year hiatus and taken from their forthcoming album 'Outsiders', available through Role Play Records on May 11, 2018. Outsiders captures The Magic Numbers fired by a renewed sense of purpose, immediately apparent on first single ‘Sweet Divide’, with the band’s melodic facility bolstered by a newfound, grittier sensibility. Watch here. In support of the Outsiders, the band will commence a headline tour of the UK through May - dates below.

Comprising of two sets of siblings, Romeo and Michele Stodart and Angela and Sean Gannon, The Magic Numbers have sold over a million albums worldwide across their career and scored a slew of hit singles. The band quickly shot to media attention after selling out London’s Kentish Town Forum solely on the strength of their loyal fanbase prior to the release of their 2005 self-titled debut - an album that would later go on to pick up a Mercury Music Prize nomination and break into the UK Top 10 Charts.

Hit singles – including ‘Forever Lost’, ‘Love Me Like You’, ‘Love’s A Game’ and ‘Take A Chance’ – and three hit albums followed. Alongside the band’s success, the Stodart’s have lent a hand to projects including releases from Jane Birkin, Spiritualized, Chemical Brothers, Kathryn Williams and Ed Harcourt, plus Damon Albarn’s Africa Express, with Michele Stodart releasing two solo albums to date, duetting with Conor O’Brien of Villagers along the way. FACEBOOK.

It's been a while since I last listened to The Magic Numbers and the latest song will have me digging out their debut album which was a real favourite of mine at the time. 'Sweet Divide' is a driving rocker from the opening moments, the guitars are powerful, the vocals and harmonies add even more rock swagger, this is one very addictive "play me again" track, and some!


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The Goldberg Sisters - When Or Where Or Why.

Background - On May 4th psych-pop artist The Goldberg Sisters will release their new album HOME: A Nice Place To Visit. Known as the musical alter-ego of actor, musician, filmmaker and photographer Adam Goldberg, (and his mythical sister-twin "Celeste") The Goldberg Sisters have shared a new song "Where Or When Or Why."

Movie audiences got to know Goldberg from his performances in films such as Dazed and Confused, Saving Private Ryan, The Hebrew Hammer, A Beautiful Mind, and 2 Days in Paris as well as from equally memorable appearances in TV shows like Friends, Entourage and Fargo. Music fans, however, haven’t always found him so easy to pin down. This year they‘ll have his brilliant new album, HOME: A Nice Place To Visit.

Goldberg recorded the 2009 dream-pop album Eros and Omissions over a six-year period with a variety of musicians, including Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips. But the pace quickened on the first two albums issued under the Goldberg Sisters moniker, 2011’s self-titled offering and Stranger’s Morning from 2013, on which Goldberg played all the instruments and which was recorded by engineer and longtime collaborator, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Andrew Lynch (Nav/Attack) in Goldberg’s garage.

Goldberg and Lynch teamed up once again in the garage for the new Goldberg Sisters’ album, HOME: A Nice Place To Visit. Goldberg again did all the instrumentation save for violins and trumpet. Goldberg’s elasticity as a multi-instrumentalist and producer is nothing short of astonishing considering he lacks anything in the way of formal training and didn’t even think of seriously making music until his early 20s. “I started playing drums as a kid,” he recalls. “I played along with songs on the radio but mainly Bowie records.” WEBSITE, TWITTER.

Psych pop is the description and psych pop it is! 'When Or Where Or Why' has an energetic, upbeat musical backdrop, the piano is delightful and the vocals ensure the song stands out, adding melodic hooks and extra vibrancy.

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Sugar Candy Mountain - Split In Two.

Background - Sugar Candy Mountain shares the first track and video for "Split in Two" off their upcoming album. "Split in Two" was produced by Jason Quever of Papercuts and the video was directed by TG Eaton. Do Right is due May 4 on PIAPTK Records.

Part travelogue, part response to the current, turbulent climate, Do Right gives voice to the deeply nested anxiety of modern times attempting to offer a balm.  Nature it seems, is where the band often goes to calibrate it’s moral compass so frequently upended by the daily news-cycle.  Sugar Candy Mountain invites you to join them on this journey singing “There’s a quiet place I go when I need to find my way/ There’s a quiet place inside/ Come on in just knock and a door will open”.

Musically, the band remains rooted in 60’s and 70’s rock, with their signature honey sweet vocals. Do Right leans more heavily on synthesizer than the band’s previous records lending the album a more modern feel.  The album pairs the ephemeral orchestral arrangements of The Beach Boys with the pop sensibility of George Harrison on “All Things Must Pass”.  

Oscillating between the hazy psychedelic pop of Mild High Club, the driving energy of Dungen and the danceable familiarity of The Supremes, Do Right is a perfect cocktail of old and new, imploring the listener to take a ride into the sunset with Sugar Candy Mountain. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.

Atmospheric and yet sprightly 'Split In Two' has dreamy melodic vocals and a soundtrack that adds some swirling vibes, for want of a better expression. It's catchy and imaginative, which is a pretty good combination to start off from.


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