Lauran Hibberd - Pantayo - The Modern Society - Hostile Tribes - Beach Scvm

Lauran Hibberd is back for a tenth time on Beehive Candy with the song and video for 'Old Nudes', which sees the slacker pop artist in (as to be expected) splendid form. === Toronto by-way-of Philippines quintet Pantayo share 'V V V (They Lie)', where the driving beats are matched with some fabulous vocals and a haunting musical backdrop. === Our second helping of The Modern Society this year comes in the form of 'Liquid Love' and this annoyingly young band demonstrate plenty of musical maturity and the good humoured video is a bonus. === Hostile Tribes (Paul Baird) has just shared 'Locals' a rhythmic piece where his vocals sway in and out of the track and the video plays into the trippy vibe. === Beach Scvm have shared a new video for 'Forever Sunday' an upbeat dream pop song with a hint or two of shoegaze for good measure.
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Lauran Hibberd - Old Nudes.

Primed to capitalise on growing widespread acclaim, resident slacker pop specialist Lauran Hibberd continues her ascent towards the peak of the indie landscape with playful new cut ‘Old Nudes’, set for release April 23rd.

Producing her most infectious track to date, the hotly-tipped Isle of Wight native’s satirical approach and anthemic tendencies shine through once again, providing the perfect follow-up to pop-infused January release ‘Bang Bang Bang’ and subsequent sold-out UK tour, as she transitions towards bigger audiences and bigger stages.

Occupying a similar space to contemporaries including Phoebe Bridgers and Weezer, Hibberd’s popularity is certainly on the rise, with considerable support across the BBC Radio 1 airwaves (Annie Mac, Huw Stephens, Jack Saunders) and key champions at press (The Line Of Best Fit, Dork, Billboard, Clash, Gigwise) helping her notch gripping UK/EU support tours alongside US heavyweights Hippo Campus and The Regrettes in recent months.

With appearances on the BBC Introducing and The Line Of Best Fit stages at SXSW curtailed earlier this year, the newcomer will be looking to pick up where she left off with a slew of festival appearances and extensive UK dates in the autumn, where she’ll play some of her biggest shows to date.

Detailing her upcoming release, Hibberd revealed: “‘Old Nudes’ is unfortunately based upon a true story. We’ve all been there right!? The track looks back on the ‘mistake’, and almost mocks it using over confidence. It belittles the receiver, and oozes sarcasm and naivety. I keep writing songs about being young because I’m scared of getting too old to joke about these things”.

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Pantayo - V V V (They Lie).

Pantayo, the Vice-tipped Toronto by-way-of Philippines quintet, has just shared their new single, ‘V V V (They Lie)’. The new track is the latest in a string of singles to be lifted from their forthcoming self-titled debut album, set for release via Telephone Explosion Records on May 8, 2020.

‘V V V (They Lie)’ was put together over the course of a single day with the group finding inspiration, to an extent, in bubble tea. “The composition of the song was as a lot like a cup of bubble tea,” says the band. “We added 2 cups of blended percussion as the base, then some analog synth tapioca pearls to keep the texture interesting and fun, and finally topped it off with a few tablespoons of fresh tropical vocal fruits for some added sweetness.”

Pantayo is an audio diary of how the ensemble has grown together as writers and performers. The songwriting process started with members workshopping and performing traditional kulintang pieces whilst adapting kick drums and synths to the modal tuning of the gongs, further expanding Pantayo’s ability to incorporate modern musical expressions. “If you listen to the recordings of our rehearsals and songwriting sessions, you can hear us deconstructing the kulintang parts section-by-section and practicing our songs in different styles,” says keyboardist and vocalist Eirene Cloma.

Grounded in the interpretation of kulintang music, Pantayo can be a vehicle for discussions around diasporic Filipino identity. All five members have different experiences of settling in Canada and with that comes their relationships with music. Kat Estacio, co-founder of Pantayo, says “One way that we can make this world feel like home for folks like us is to mix the kulintang music that we learned with different sounds and song structures that feel familiar to us."


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The Modern Society - Liquid Love.

Cheshire alternative pop fourpiece The Modern Society have announced their new single Liquid Love, which is available to buy and stream now. Aged between only 17, 18 and 19-years-old and forming the band whilst still at school, The Modern Society have a unique sound that blends indie and rock with funk and pop alongside youthful and direct lyrics.

New single Liquid Love follows recently released debut single Bad Thoughts, which was the first introduction to the band’s sound. Produced by Simon Jones (The Verve), Liquid Love is a jazz-inspired indie pop song written about young love, with innocent lyrics backed by a catchy melody full of romance, hazy days and optimism. The track is backed by a humorous video shot in Brighton and featuring the band themselves. The band say;

“Liquid Love is inspired by the summertime & sunshine and the overwhelming power of young and innocent romance. It is a feel-good, organic, summer love song.”

The Modern Society have been building their local following playing shows in and around Cheshire over the last year, including a recent show at Manchester’s Band on the Wall and the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool. The Modern Society are Lucas Humpheys (vocals & piano), Declan Fowles (drums), Jack Varah (guitar & backing vocals) and Connor Loman (bass guitar and backing vocals).

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Hostile Tribes - Locals.

As a young Mancunian teenager, Paul Baird hung around at a recording studio often enough that they eventually gave him a job. This led to Baird being involved in (read: cleaning tape heads, answering the phone and making brews) the recording of Teenage Fanclub's album, Thirteen and the remixing of The Who's seminal live album, Live at Leeds.

Baird soon cut his teeth as a sixteen-year-old guitarist in Manchester punk band, Breather, receiving national press attention and gigging throughout the UK, including an official show at In the City, in Dublin, at the request of the late Tony Wilson, before suddenly departing the group, to paint abstract canvases and study philosophy, no less! Unintentionally scuppering Breather's plans (of signing with RCA Records) in the process.

Baird later went on to front Manchester dream-pop acts; Glass (Soviet Union Records & Caserta Red Records), I See Angels (Mimic This Records) & Just Everywhere (Ramber Records), chalking up A play-listed singles on the likes of NME radio, playing shows at venues such as the 02 Apollo Manchester and The Fuzz Club (Athens, Greece) and found himself the focus of interviews by the BBC, XFM and the Manchester Evening News, before retreating once more, this time to raise a family, just as things were beginning to look promising.

Ever the outsider, Paul Baird is Hostile Tribes these days… His swooning vocal instantly recognisable as it carries gorgeous melodies across otherwise digitally corrupted indie-pop, synth-pop and dream-pop. An accomplished singer, guitarist, and producer, amongst other things, Baird often throws several synth-led bouts of songwriting into his mixes, reverberated vocal loops and fragile harmonies surging alongside electronic loops and classic hip-hop influenced beats, pretty instrumental interludes, the aching hum of ambience and fuzzy guitars.

An aggressive acid eats away at Baird from the inside; his tracks play urgently as a result, whether they’re of the dreamy electronic variety, psychedelic pop, or short stabs of art-punk, periodically running riot with distortion pedals and protesting guitar squeal. Pin Baird down with any precision to a location and his momentum goes haywire. Track his speed and lose the man in space forever.

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Beach Scvm - Forever Sunday.

'Forever Sunday' the new video clip of dreampop band Beach Scvm definitely brings back memories of happier times. Of times when nobody talked about corona yet. When people in front of stage bounced their sorrows away. Moments in which life just raced by, for example when we were skateboarding. But «Forever Sunday» is as well about those worn-out moments when, after a night of partying and performing live, the sun falls through the windows of the small tour bus.

Beach Scvm are convinced that these times return – an optimism that seems specially authentic as they're a band from France, which has been particularly hit strong by corona-crisis. While others would be accused of spreading platitudes, Beach Scvm know perfectly well how to emphasise their wishes of a fun-filled world in musical ways.

Beach Scvm have wrapped their visions into tasty dreampop and shoegaze. They underline the choruses with their Beach Boys-inspired harmonies, which of course support their surfer image. No wonder that Beach Scvm were invited to play at big windsurfing festivals in their home country in the summer. Whether these events can actually really take place is unsure: it is likely that corona-pandemy will stop them.

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Barb Carbon - Nicolas Godin - Lilly Hiatt - The Modern Society - Malena Zavala

Barb Carbon shares 'Patience' a fresh sounding indie rock meets roots rock kind of song with plenty of hooks throughout. === Accompanied by a video filmed around the Palace of Versailles Nicolas Godin has just shared 'Catch Yourself Falling' featuring Alexis Taylor, a relaxing, melodic and smooth song. === Less than a month since her first appearance here Lilly Hiatt returns with another new song entitled 'P Town' a powerful and passionately delivered country rocker. === The Modern Society debut single 'Bad Thoughts' is an impressive affair, the young band packing passion and determination both musically and visually. === Malena Zavala returns to Beehive Candy for a third time with 'I'm Leaving Home' a beautiful song with the mixture of Anglo and Latin influences ensuring originality and subtle splendour once again.
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Barb Carbon - Patience.

Barb Carbon is an independent folk/roots-rock musical artist from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She performs as a solo act, as well as with her musical partner, Arrie Bozeman, in the band The Ain’t Sisters.

Cutting her teeth as a traveling street performer before taking to the stage, she has spent the past 20 years honing her craft. Now, at long last, she is putting her music out into the world. Her influences are evidenced in her beautifully raw and gritty sound. Shades of Shovels and Rope, The Avett Brothers, and Lucinda Williams punctuate her melodies, while her earnest, inspired songwriting was clearly shaped by early encounters with The Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile. Offering up a catalog of songs that are deeply personal yet refreshingly accessible, Carbon gives us a glimpse into her own experience and then artfully strips away the layers, exposing the nerve and laying her finger on the emotional essence of our shared struggles and hopes.

The Fighter (2019) is the first solo endeavor for the budding troubadour, but as a member of her main outfit, The Ain’t Sisters, Carbon has already begun her ascent. On the heels of their first record, Marrow (2018), the dynamic ensemble has experienced a regional surge, selling out Decatur, Georgia’s renowned Eddie’s Attic, Rattling the walls of Atlanta’s Terminal West, and sharing the stage with such acclaimed acts as Donna the Buffalo, Brad Parsons and Starbird, and Tank and the Bangas.

Garnering the attention of industry legends including Jim Lauderdale, Joe Craven, and Billy Gilmore (The Grass is Dead), the future is certainly bright for this up and coming artist. Keep an eye out for a sophomore effort from The Ain’t Sisters in 2020, and more solo offerings from Carbon in 2021.

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Nicolas Godin - Catch Yourself Falling feat. Alexis Taylor.

Following excellent reviews for his new album Concrete and Glass, out now via Because Music, Nicolas Godin has shared a beguiling video for “Catch Yourself Falling”, one of the standout tracks from the album, which features Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip on vocals. The video was filmed in the gardens and alleys Palace of Versailles and features a goofy young king roaming the gardens and generally surveying his kingdom. Of the video director Joseph Bird says: “I had heard Nicolas grew up in Versailles then all I could imagine when listening to the track is a young boy exploring the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, then to make him a young king with red hair sounded even better!”

In its soft ambient pulse and melting minimalism, lead track “The Border” is a perfect entry-point to Godin’s hymns to buildings, arranged and co-produced with Pierre Rousseau. Elsewhere, current single "The Foundation", which features guest vocals from Cola Boyy sees the Oxnard singer and activist brings soul to the righteously engaged track whilst the squelchy synths and buoyant grooves burn slow, allowing the stealthy arrangements and message room to resonate.

While Godin’s vocoder vocals also hark back to Air’s early work, the album accommodates a diverse spread of guest vocalists. Psychedelic soul singer Kadhja Bonet sings with measured serenity over tremulous synths on “We Forgot Love”, while Russian experi-pop artist Kate NV brings a gracefully aching romanticism to the blissful swoon-pop of “Back to Your Heart”. Additionally, Australian conceptual provocateur Kirin J Callinan contributes a vocal of restrained drama to “Time On My Hands”, a midnight-drift soft-pop ballad with a silky allure.

Between its title-track and the sultry, smoky jazz stylings of closer “Cité Radieuse”, Concrete and Glass is an album that truly travels, in tune with its global pitch. For Godin, it marks another milestone in a musical journey that began when Air’s 1998 debut album, Moon Safari, became the sublimely weightless soundtrack of its time. For Concrete and Glass, Godin builds on his storied past with tremendous finesse, charm and fluency, opening fresh windows of perspective at every lovingly executed turn.

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Lilly Hiatt - P Town.

Lilly Hiatt is set to release Walking Proof on March 27th via New West Records. The 11-song set was produced by former Cage The Elephant member Lincoln Parish (Lucinda Williams, Lissie) and features guest appearances by Amanda Shires, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Luke Schneider, and Lilly’s father, the legendary singer-songwriter John Hiatt. John’s appearance on “Some Kind Of Drug,” marks the first time the pair have appeared together on one of her records. Walking Proof is the anticipated follow up to Lilly’s breakthrough Trinity Lane, which appeared on many year-end “Best Of 2017” lists including NPR Music, Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and more. Lilly also received an “Emerging Act of the Year” nomination from the Americana Music Association.

Following a whirlwind year of touring in support of Trinity Lane, and stripped of the daily rituals and direction of life on the road, Lilly found herself alone with her thoughts for the first time in what felt like ages. “When you’re out there on the road, you’re just kind of living, and you don’t have the chance to stop and think about how everything you’re experiencing is affecting you,” Lilly says. “When I got home, I realized there was a lot I needed to catch up on.” She did what’s always come most natural to her in times of questioning and uncertainty: she picked up a guitar.

As rewarding as Trinity Lane’s success was, the collection came from an emotionally challenging place, and Lilly found herself frequently revisiting the hurt and struggle that inspired it as she spoke candidly to the press about her painful breakup, her struggles with sobriety, and the overwhelming sadness of her mother’s suicide. Rather than succumbing to the weight of it all, Lilly managed to emerge stronger and more serene from the experience, treating it as a foundation from which she could begin the essential work of re-examining her relationships and the world around her. “When I got that little gap in my schedule, it gave me the chance to appreciate some mental stillness,” Lilly says. “I can be a pretty anxious person, but I found a sense of peace by deconstructing all of these interactions and emotions I’d experienced and reconfiguring them into songs. It helped me make sense of everything and learn to relax.”

The resulting eleven songs found on Walking Proof walk the line between Lilly’s rough, rock and roll exterior and her tender, country roots, exuding a bold vulnerability as she takes a deep and unflinching look in the mirror. What emerges is a maturity in her writing, an abiding sense of calm in the face of chaos as she learns that sometimes, you have to let go in order to get what you want most.

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The Modern Society - Bad Thoughts.

Cheshire alternative pop fourpiece The Modern Society have announced their debut single Bad Thoughts, released this weekend. Aged between only 17 and 18-years-old and forming the band whilst still at school, The Modern Society have a unique sound that blends indie and rock with funk and pop alongside youthful and direct lyrics.

Debut single Bad Thoughts, which was produced by Simon Jones (The Verve), opens with subdued pomp before building to a rock chorus backed by vivacious guitars and singer Lucas’ gravelly vocals. Lyrically addressing the dangers of not discussing mental health, the track is backed by a poignant video shot by Cinframe Productions, which features varies guises of the band themselves. The band say;

“Bad Thoughts is about the importance of addressing poor mental health in the 21st century, trying to avoid the distraction from our mental states. The song is accompanied by visuals demonstrating the danger of suffering in silence and how quickly life can turn upside down.”

The Modern Society have been building their local following playing shows in and around Cheshire over the last year, including a recent show at Manchester’s Band on the Wall. They will be performing at the Tivoli in Buckley tonight and the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool on 28th February, with further live dates announced soon. The Modern Society are Lucas Humpheys (vocals & piano), Declan Fowles (drums), Jack Varah (guitar & backing vocals) and Connor Loman (bass guitar and backing vocals).

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Malena Zavala - I'm Leaving Home.

Malena Zavala has today released new single ‘I’m Leaving Home’, and details of her second album, ‘La Yarará’, to be released April 17 on Yucatan Records. Zavala will follow the release with a headline show at London’s Courtyard Theatre on April 23. The follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2018 debut ‘Aliso’, ‘La Yarará’ cements Zavala as a new Anglo-Latin talent, with a unique songwriting perspective on where she’s from, where she’s headed and where her music can take us.

When you’re born in Argentina to parents with Italian passports, then grow up from a young age in Hertfordshire, it’s easy to feel like an outsider. Who are you? Where are you from? What do you sound like? Spanish language, Latin culture, Home Counties – which is the most you? With the gloriously rich and transporting ‘La Yarará’, Malena Zavala has come home. A beautifully-wrought love letter to the culture in her DNA, its ten songs are vivid, vital hymns to the various aspects, colours and shades of Latin music and culture: cumbia, reggaeton, Afro-Cuban, Afro-funk, Andean folk, Argentine folk, bolero-son. And all sung, in a mixture of Spanish and English, in Zavala’s passport-to-paradise voice.

“When I started making music it was more about expressing my emotions, and learning to write and produce music myself,” she explains. “With my first album Aliso, I had to get something off my chest. But now with this second album, it was about exploring and overcoming my identity issues – about not knowing where I belong. That’s something I’ve felt my whole life.”

After the release of ‘Aliso’ – described as “gently warped and beguilingly melancholy guitar pop” by The Guardian in their 4 star review - Zavala toured all over Europe and the UK supporting Lord Huron, Blanco White, and Men I Trust, before hitting the festival circuit. She then spent three months writing her second album in Tarifa, the southernmost point of Spain.

Zavala and her close circle of collaborators recorded ‘La Yarará’ in two weeks last September at Urchin Studios in London Fields, with Zavala producing and Dani Bennett Spragg (Baxter Dury, The Amazons) engineering. “Urchin is a really beautiful, all wooden studio, which was really important for the sound of this album,” says Zavala. “I wanted it to feel like Buena Vista Social Club. I wanted to play the room, to feel the walls and wooden floors.” ‘I’m Leaving Home’ is out now and ‘La Yarará’ will be released on the April 17 on Yucatan Records.

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