The Steele Syndicate - Uhl - Vera Ellen - Jade Empress

The Steele Syndicate - City of Dread.

A tranquil, subtropical rainforest studio made the perfect setting for Meanjin/Brisbane-based funk/rock octet The Steele Syndicate to record their debut album ‘Weekend’s Coming’. The result is an uplifting, delightfully noise-filled listen brimming with feel-good fun, and is out to enjoy now.

Encompassing the themes of work, love and happiness, 'Weekend's Coming' showcases the band at their raucous and rocking best, with signature doses of funk led by plenty of horns. Each song was recorded using only analogue instruments - so every horn stab, synth note, guitar, organ or kick sound is the real deal. Frontman Steele McMahon divulges:

“I remember tracking the lead guitar line for ‘One Beer (Is Never Enough)’, and having this old Roland Jazz Chorus maxed to the proverbial 11, and there being so much thick noise even when the guitar was not playing, that it sounded like the studio was literally drawing breath.

While it was challenging to utilize only real instruments, in a day where nearly every sound can be achieved with the touch of a button, I think it presented a fun and creative opportunity to embrace limitations, and really allow the nuances and idiosyncrasies of analogue instrumentation to shine.”

The band's feature album opens with the thought-provoking, sway-inducing 'City of Dread'. It sets the scene for next track 'Dance' to steal the spotlight, and amp things up with plenty of brassy fanfare.

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Photo - Zeke Bogusky

Uhl - Haunted Tune.

"Oh what haunted tune can I bring you?" Uhl asks at the opening of "Haunted Tune," the first single from Channels. Her serpentine melodies and operatic storytelling cascade from there in perfectly executed art pop waves that crash over and over, recalling Kate Bush's The Sensual World or Annie Lennox's Diva or Weyes Blood's more recent work. To be sure, this is really not the kind of thing that works if it's only halfheartedly executed or if the artist is anything but exceptional.

And so here's Uhl: fully going for it and fullly pulling it off, supported by the acrobatic production of Peter Murray (Alela Diane, Lisa Crawley). The melodies are memorable, the arrangements are spot on, and the dramatic effect is consuming. Fans of Liz Fraser's and Cindy Sharp's songs on It'll End in Tears, brace yourselves.

Uhl embodies a different character in each song, "channeling" these narratives. In "Haunted Tune," the narrator seems to be singing from the other side, warning that "you can't fool love and you can't cheat fate," but then coolly posing: "Isn’t it a pity / A quick hand deals and suddenly you’re carried away / With all your mistakes / Can’t lose what wasn’t yours to take."

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Photo - Nicola Sandford

Vera Ellen - Homewrecker.

After recently being nominated for 'Best Alternative Artist' at the 2022 Aotearoa Music Awards, Vera Ellen has released her first new music in over a year! It comes in the audio visual form of instant classic 'Homewrecker'.

"Homewrecker is the personification of my inner demon forcing its way in to create chaos where it senses harmony. I'm my own home wrecker. Ain't we all?" - Vera Ellen

The video, directed by Albert River, and made with the support of NZ on Air, is a cheeky tip-of-the-hat to "The King of Cool" Dean Martin, and his 1983 'Since I Met You Baby' video. The high contrast visuals see Vera cheerfully crooning amongst a cast of gorgeous models, despite the bleak and introspective undertones of the song's lyrics.

"I didn't realise it was my dream to dress as Dean Martin and prance about on a roof until a few months ago. Never give up on even your most current dreams!"

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Jade Empress - Madness.

Get swept away by Jade Empress when her powerful electro-pop single 'Madness' came out yesterday October 14. Jade Empress has been gaining steam and collecting accolades over the last few years as a talented songwriter. She was the winner of multiple categories of Songsalive!'s Song Comp in 2017, a finalist in the Australian Songwriters Association Songwriting Contest for three consecutive years, a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition 2021, a participant in Ben Folds’ 2021 songwriting intensive retreat - all while working as a frontline doctor in rural and remote Australia.

Now, the artist is swapping the stethoscope for a microphone, and is ready to share her second single with the world, named 'Madness'. A soaring piece that celebrates the artist's impressive vocal ability, 'Madness' speaks to embracing the chaos of daily life. Produced by Grammy award-winning Kon Kersting (who's worked with the likes of The Jungle Giants, Tones & I, The Reubens and many more), this is a moving, melancholic pop track with emotive piano, converging in a dramatically swirling melody that uplifts and carries the songwriter's compelling voice to even greater heights.

Written in response to the chaos of her life in recent years, she chose to welcome it rather than fight against it. "Routine has always been important for me. I thought the pandemic was bad. Now, suddenly I'm finding myself working in the Pacific, as a doctor alongside the Australian Defence Force, and living day to day in an environment of civil and political unrest, I truly appreciate uncertainty and a certain kind of daily madness."

Jade Empress has already received enthusiastic support for her first release from Triple J, Double J, as well as commercial and community radio stations. 'Golden Hours' has also been featured on international music blogs including Send Me Yours Ears, Roadie Music, Indie Dock Music Blog (UK), PopMuzik (Sweden).

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Listen To BCMR (Beehive Candy Music Radio) streaming 24/7 with all the music featured on Beehive Candy in recent weeks and an eclectic mix of music from days gone by. BCMR-HERE. 

Siv Jakobsen - Deux Furieuses - The Steele Syndicate - Laveda

Siv Jakobsen - Romain's Place.

Acclaimed Norwegian singer-songwriter Siv Jakobsen announces her third album 'Gardening' will be released on 20th January 2023 via The Nordic Mellow and shares new single "Romain's Place". The new single follows recently shared tracks "Birthday" and "Most Of The Time" - all of which are set to feature on new album 'Gardening'.

Throughout her career, Siv Jakobsen has lived much of her life on the road, in that time supporting and touring with acts including Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Damien Jurado, José González, The Lumineers and Susanne Sundfør. New single "Romain's Place" was written in the midst of one such tour, inadvertently re-opening a door she'd previously thought firmly closed.

A starkly beautiful examination of a previous relationship haunting one's subconscious, Jakobsen's precise and affecting lyrics ("For every time you screamed my way / I’ve kept a bruise / All down along my spine") are sung with a delicacy she's now renowned for, atop a lush backdrop harps, trumpets, soaring string arrangements and Jakobsen's intricate finger picked guitar work.

Speaking more on the lyrical inspiration behind "Romain's Place", Jakobsen said: "Right before the pandemic hit, I was on a small tour and found myself back in a city I used to call home. I hadn’t been back since I left it (and the relationship I had there) behind a good few years ago. I felt quite shocked with how my body and mind reacted to being back, and realised quickly that I had some emotional unpacking to do. I was staying with my friend Romain at the time, and for me my time in his apartment encapsulates this realisation and the start of me dealing with these ghosts from my past that had laid dormant for a while. I was so overwhelmed at the time that it felt as if I was going crazy. I really did feel haunted, as if I had jumped into a time-machine and was somehow back in the past." 

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Deux Furieuses - All We Need Is Sanctuary.

Refusing to compromise on their stirring brand of articulate post punk that tackles issues of injustice with an unflinching attitude and meticulous musicianship, “All We Need Is Sanctuary” is an arms open wide plea for a world whose occupants are all too ready to watch it burn.

As poised as it is punchy, the track pits ringing guitars against big drums with shimmering percussion and imploring vocals as the song contrasts the insanity of city existence during the pandemic lockdown with the sanity of a life in nature. Deux Furieuses explain: “‘All We Need Is Sanctuary’ is our SOS from this scorched Planet Earth. It describes a journey from the pandemic pressure of an overcrowded city to an old world of trees, springs, paths and stars. An SOS from scrambled minds in search of the sanity of sanctuary, as the sanctuary itself is under threat of extinction.”

‘All We Need Is Sanctuary’ follows ‘Know The Score’ and ‘Bring Down The Government’ as strident samplers of what to expect from Deux Furieuses third full-length LP, 'Songs From Planet Earth'. Landing on 11 November, the album is the band’s second with Xtra Mile Recordings and was written over the course of the last two turbulent years.

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The Steele Syndicate - Weekend's Coming.

Did you know that tomorrow is your day off? Even if it's not, that feeling you just experienced, that fleeting moment of sweet relief - that's what this new song ‘Weekend’s Coming’ is all about. This beautiful slow-burner from Brisbane/Meanjin brass-led octet The Steele Syndicate is out now.

With a four-piece horn section and equally-weighted rhythm section, the exceptionally talented group's live raucous energy has made them a festival favourite, with appearances at 2021's Woodford Folk Festival, Caloundra Music Festival, Mitchell Creek Festival, Tablelands Folk Festival and headlining Summer Sounds in Melbourne/Naarm.

The title track from their upcoming album –and the second song to be released after the brilliantly infectious and cheeky 'One Beer (Is Never Enough)'– has the groovy funk-rockers continuing to impress with 'Weekend's Coming'.

Taking us on a more heartfelt journey than ever before, 'Weekend's Coming' is more 'swoon' than high-energy tune. And it's a beauty. Embellished with their signature horn-led magic, the song erupts in cathartic release with blissful harmonies and a singalong outro that feels as uplifting and majestic as a band that is half-brass instruments should.

A sincere and emotive indie-rock number that builds from the mood of a melancholic Monday up to an anthemic cry, it's a desperate plea for the weekend and everything it represents. Steele McMahon elaborates:

"The tune is a cathartic release from the day-to-day grind, and taps into the shared human experience of hard work for something important. Even in the hardest of times, what gets us through is knowing what we're fighting for. And the weekend is always just around the corner."

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Laveda - Surprise.

Chewing through a gauzy blend of 90s-tinted driving guitars, ethereal vocals and glimmering melodies, “Surprise” arrives as another glimpse into Laveda’s awaited second LP ‘A Place You Grew Up In’, due early next year.

Bringing to mind the likes of Alvvays, Soccer Mommy, Big Thief or My Bloody Valentine, the track is a  hazy slice of feel-good dream-pop with a bitter sting in its tail. “Surprise” is gauzy and glittering with sun-drenched rhythms — but its lyrics take a darker turn.

Jake Brooks explains: “The lyrics are meant to juxtapose the happy sunshine feeling throughout the song. “Surprise” is about dealing with loneliness and loss in this modern age. The overall sound represents how bright and happy we present ourselves on social media. But in reality, everyone’s depressed and stressed over the rapidly devolving state of society.”

With murky, despondent lyricism at odds with its upbeat aura, the track taps into the listlessness and loneliness that comes along with young adulthood. Vocalist Ali Genevich adds: “”Sonically, “Surprise” is the bright song on the new record. Lyrically it embodies a lot of my personal feelings that came after I graduated from college in the same year the pandemic hit. I couldn’t help but feel low for a while, and once I came out of my writer’s block everything I wrote had this big sad mood.”

Following on from earlier single “bb”, the track arrives as another gleaming glimpse into the band’s awaited second LP. With much of the record tracking completed in the summer of 2021 while staying on a ranch just outside of Los Angeles, Genevich says: “I think recording the album was a very therapeutic process, and it helped us find some new meaning in a lot of the songs. It definitely did for “Surprise”.”

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