All Things Blue - VanWyck - Jesse D'Kora - Nice Vice - Oceanator

All Things Blue - Grog Log.

LA dream-punk duo All Things Blue return with new single "Grog Log". The new single teases the release of a new EP from the band, and follows the pair's widely acclaimed debut album Get Bit, released in 2020. Led by singer and guitarist India Coombs and accompanied by longtime songwriting partner Jon Joseph, All Things Blue together create "dream-punk" soundscapes in their most tender form; celebrating life's experiences and wrapping them in the soft tones of 60s analog.

New single "Grog Log" is an escapist, psych-imbued slice of indie-rock, combining the classic teachings of the golden age of pop including The Ronettes and The Beach Boys, with the lucid psych-pop of Melody's Echo Chamber and La Luz.

Speaking on the release of the new single, India Coombs said: "Musically, Grog Log is inspired by Tiki Drinks. Lyrically, it’s inspired by real life, while a beautiful thing, is also filled with let downs and situations that don’t live up to expectations we come up with in our minds.  As a human who likes solutions, I can get a bit addicted to daydreaming. When I can’t figure out people’s nuanced and often nonsensical emotions, I can escape into my mind to live out scenarios the way I wish they really would turn out. May not be real but, I have to say I am a dreamland advocate."

Coombs' composition is impactful; power presented in sound, and the natural depth in her lyrics and melody will have you dancing and thinking of love/life/minds lost (or found). Joseph is the perfect wing-man to Coombs; decorating each story with musical quirks, foxy boxy beats and sun-worn shine to extend their mystical ambience. Dirty riffs, choruses that hook on your brain for days, and stories of lives lived to the fullest remind us all of good times, angst, and of being a little turned on.

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VanWyck - Maybe, Maybe Not.

Amsterdam singer-songwriter, VanWyck, announces the release of her single, “Maybe, Maybe Not,” on February 18. The single is off her fourth album, The Epic Tale of the Stranded Man, due out on April 8 through Excelsior Recordings. ”Maybe, Maybe Not” is an anthem for the indecisive, the loiterers, the unsure, the ones that can’t seem to make up their minds: the one step forward, two-step back people; the maybe, maybe not kind.

The song’s mood is deceptively lighter. It’s a tug of war between a persistent jogging beat and skipping interludes, with VanWyck’s vocals pulling the listener back into a state of suspended indecision. The protagonist’s answer is to keep walking, even if he doesn’t know where to go.

VanWyck says, “I’ve always had this sort of feeling that if all fails, I can just start walking. As a last resort, I could gather my stuff in a backpack and move on, keep walking. In the pandemic, when it looked like all shows would be canceled for a long time, I decided that if that happened I would just start walking and have an adventure. An escapist longing I guess, but maybe also a sincere desire to be some kind of pilgrim, to be truly free. But I stayed put – hence the song.”

Enchanting, moody, and rich, the album vividly reflects these confusing modern times through whispered tones and cavernous themes. It’s a timeless album portraying the different ways in which modern man is lost, scared, stuck in his ways, and searching for a way out of his predicament.  Twelve songs that intertwine both lyrically and harmonically. Together they tell a story about a man who washes up on a wondrous island and doesn’t remember where he came from. Is he a victim or a perpetrator? Has he escaped, or is he imprisoned? Can he be saved, or is his end near? Luckily a woman enters the stage. Will she be able to save him?

The album also speaks of these times in a broader sense: we are living on the brink of epic transitions. We know that the old ways will lead to our destruction but can’t decide on the path forward. VanWyck says, “Sometimes it feels like we are trapped in our own prisons, in our inability to take good care of each other and this wonderful planet, like we are failing in our most epic of struggles, the survival of our humanity.”

VanWyck · Maybe, Maybe Not

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Jesse D'Kora - Cricket.

Background from Jesse - My name is Jesse D’Kora and I write indie / dream pop music with some beachy vibes, with a style that is inherently lofi as I write, record, mix and master all of the music in my spare bedroom in Salford (UK). I have embarked on a musical journey this year whereby I am going to release a single every month, ‘cricket’ is the 2nd instalment and chosen song for February 2022.

Sometimes, you just have to write a song about your favourite sport, don't you? I mean with the world in such a rough place it's the little distractions that can bring you that joy and an escape. Which is essentially a deeper way of saying, I like cricket so I wrote a song about it. Inspired partly by memories of going to see England play and partly by the family impact it has had - my grandad loved it, my dad loves it, me and my brother love it.

Musically, it is as bitesize as the come, it's over 200bpm, less than 3 minutes, and it's a good old pow pow pow and finish. It’s got the jangly guitars and pushing drums that are synonymous with my sound. It’s totally uncomplicated - perhaps in juxtaposition with the game of cricket - but it's the way I like it.

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Nice Vice - Bloom.

Nice Vice just released his debut single, “Bloom.” The single draws inspiration from 90s rock and features melodic guitars, heavy undertones, and honest lyricism. The single is released ahead of a music video that guides audiences through the storytelling and range of emotions that influence the track. “Bloom” is now available to download and stream across all platforms.

Seth Horst, who performs under the alias Nice Vice, spent the better part of two years writing and recording a slew of new songs for his forthcoming EP, First Dose. “‘Bloom’ was the first song written in a large batch of songs over the last year and a half. It was never supposed to be on the EP,” explains Horst. “I had honestly forgotten about it. Sometimes you miss the beauty and potential in something at first; fast forward, and it’s the debut single.” The indie-rock single will be accompanied by a music video shot by Dirty Shot Clean, set for release on February 17th. The visual showcases four friends as they embark on a road trip in an RV and the adventures that ensue along the way. Horst played and recorded every instrument on the single. “It took me a long time to teach myself how to record all of the instruments and really get the sounds that I was looking for.” He recruited Zak Van Zeumeren to mix “Bloom” and Theodore Papadopoulos to master it.

Nice Vice got started in his hometown of Toronto and is currently located in Los Angeles. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Counting Crows, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and Jack White, Nice Vice has been able to capture and reinvent the sound of 90s rock and melodic acoustics, exemplified in the new single “Bloom.” Horst’s songwriting style is a culmination of these artists, along with his own honest and unique flair. Blending sounds of the new and the old, this first release gives the listener a broad range of what he is capable of. With smooth and surprising transitions from soft to heavy, the powerful voice and captivating lyrics touch on themes of new love, lost love, and introspection.

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Oceanator - Bad Brain Daze.

Brooklyn artist Oceanator announces her sophomore album Nothing's Ever Fine, co-produced by Bartees Strange, due out April 8th via Big Scary Monsters / Polyvinyl. Today, she shares new video for the leading single 'Bad Brain Daze', directed by Chris Farren, featuring special appearance by Jeff Rosenstock as 'Saxophone Man'.

Director Chris Farren says about the video: "When Elise asked me to direct a music video for her, I thought “I don’t know how to do that!”, but I said “Yes! I know how to do that!” and quietly panicked for the next 3 weeks. Luckily “how make music video” yields tons of YouTube results. The video we came up with is a fantastical little day-in-the-life tale about anxiety, productivity, dread, and being horrifically ripped in half by cartoon animals."

"The cars break. Everything goes slow motion. There’s disaster and fire,” foretells Elise Okusami, describing her cinematic vision of the end of the world. Apocalypse is a subject she mined in acute detail and to critical acclaim on 2020’s Things I Never Said, her debut full-length as Oceanator. But in her most recent cataclysmic telling, she keeps the camera focused on the people who survive and need to keep on living. A couple escapes the wreckage in a classic pickup truck, their dog riding in the back. They find a new home in the woods and consider how to start over. “It could either be hopeful or negative,” Okusami explains of the tale’s ambiguous ending. “You’re either walking off into a nice sunset or going off into a black hole. For me, it depends on the mood; it can be both ways.

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The Magnettes - The Warp/The Weft - Eric Brace & Last Train Home - VanWyck - Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard

The Magnettes - Monster.

”Uh,-oh, we created a monster!” Pajala’s finest pop trio The Magnettes has stumbled out of the studio, signed a new record deal, and return to form with new single ”Monster” – an upbeat, bass-driven bop blending doo-wop choruses, cut-throat horn stabs, new wave synths and a brushy street shuffle.

”Monster” is about that flirty, sexy, excruciating stage where it’s like ”will-they-won’t-they?”, singer Rebecka Digervall explains. You’re a nervous wreck, trying to downplay your feelings but they’re growing and growing.

We’ve definitely been there, adds Sanna Kalla. The gushing, blood rushing, tingly thing that’s partly sweet, mostly unbearable. The single will feature a 50’s small-screen noir video directed by Martin Åhlin, displaying their flare for playful retro looks and cinematic visuals

The Magnettes hail from Pajala, Sweden and have toured in 19 countries including performances at SXSW, Summerfest, Canadian Music Week, Golden Melody Awards, Eurosonic and Reeperbahn Festival.

Their debut album ”Ugly Youth” dropped in 2017 and featured the singles ”Sad Girls Club”, featured on Netflix’s ”Elite”, and ”Young And Wild”, one of the top-ten most played Swedish tracks on national radio that year. Their single ”American” was in radio rotation throughout the summer, fall and winter of 2020. As of 2021 they’re signed to K51, with ”Monster” being the first joint release.

 
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The Warp/The Weft - It May Not Always Be So.

The Warp/The Weft happily presents a musicalization of "It May Not Always Be So," an e. e. cummings sonnet that explores intense love and, with it, the need to nurture the other's happiness. It's lyrically beautiful and introspective: the type of meditation that could come from a band after two years of very limited contact.

The Warp/The Weft, active since 2012 in and beyond New York's Hudson River Valley, has earned praise for its uniqueness and song-crafting from casual and devoted listeners alike.

Blending traditional and avant-garde styles, the warmth of a good wool sweater and the sometimes-bleak cold of an upstate winter, the progressive folk and psychedelia that the band brings to bear is propelled by poetic lyrics and a "spirit-conjuring" lilting tenor that prompted psych-folk legend Tom Rapp (of Pearls Before Swine) to ask, "Can I have your voice when you're through with it?"

The Warp/The Weft · It May Not Always Be So

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Eric Brace & Last Train Home - Everything Will Be.

Sitting at home in isolation for much of this pandemic has forced us all to wrestle with all kinds of questions. One big one has been: "Why bother?" The question can be applied to most everything, but as performing musicians, we are compelled to wonder why we bother making music if we're not going to be able to get out and play music? To all of us in Last Train Home the answer came loud and clear: Because we love making music and we especially love making music together.

And so, 25 years after forming in Washington D.C., Last Train Home has spent much of 2021 recording an album in lots of different places -- Nashville TN, Alexandria VA, Doylestown PA, Franklin TN, Silver Spring MD, Herndon VA, Washington DC. We sent audio files back and forth, bouncing ideas off of satellites and through underground cables, and thanks to producer/engineer/guitarist Jared Bartlett's uncanny ease at layering myriad soundwaves into a coherent whole, we have album #10, Everything Will Be. 

Released today January 14, 2022, Everything Will Be marks yet another chapter in Last Train Home's ongoing audio explorations, with everything from sambas and New Orleans brass bands, Bakersfield picking and reverse guitar tapeloops, bodhráns and baritone saxes all brought into the mix to render seven songs of band leader Eric Brace's and four perfectly chosen covers.

When you tell someone "everything's going to be okay," you know you're lying, right? But if you steer yourself with open mind and heart toward the best things, the beautiful things, then you're going to capture and create moments that will make you glad to be alive, and, with some luck, you can share those moments. I love producer-mixer Jared Bartlett's layers of guitars and Kevin Cordt's bittersweet-yet-hopeful trumpet. Singing along is the sublime D.C. area singer/songwriter Laura Tsaggaris.

Red Beet Records · 01 Everything Will Be

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VanWyck - I Was Innocent.

Amsterdam singer-songwriter, VanWyck, announces the US release of her single, “I Was Innocent” today January 14. The single is off her fourth album, The Epic Tale of the Stranded Man, due out on April 8 through Excelsior Recordings. A David Lynchian quality permeates “I Was Innocent,” reveling in isolation at the crossroads of denying responsibility and deflecting through blame.

Setting the stage for the rest of the album, “I Was Innocent” tells the tale of how The Stranded Man will try to find a way out of his predicament. Written from the perspective of an imprisoned man stuck in a place of confinement, he tries to claim his innocence but at the same time lists his faults. We don’t know if he is guilty or innocent. We don’t know what his supposed crimes are. Is he a victim or a criminal? Is he imprisoned, or did he escape? Can he be saved, or is his end near? Americana-UK’s Jonathan Aird says, “There’s a real sense of mystery, and an intriguing confusion as to where the truth might really lie, an edgy unease only enhanced by the excellent support playing.”

VanWyck says, “I noticed that people often blame others for what went wrong. Criminals often do this when interviewed in prison, but also normal people, when they talk about their lives, so often it’s about what was inflicted on them, and not about their own role in that specific history.”

Enchanting, moody, and rich, the album vividly reflects these confusing modern times through whispered tones and cavernous themes. It’s a timeless album portraying the different ways in which modern man is lost, scared, stuck in his ways, and searching for a way out of his predicament.  Twelve songs that intertwine both lyrically and harmonically. Together they tell a story about a man who washes up on a wondrous island and doesn’t remember where he came from. Is he a victim or a perpetrator? Has he escaped, or is he imprisoned? Can he be saved, or is his end near? Luckily a woman enters the stage. Will she be able to save him?

The album also speaks of these times in a broader sense: we are living on the brink of epic transitions. We know that the old ways will lead to our destruction but can’t decide on the path forward. VanWyck says, “Sometimes it feels like we are trapped in our own prisons, in our inability to take good care of each other and this wonderful planet, like we are failing in our most epic of struggles, the survival of our humanity.”

VanWyck · I Was Innocent

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Photo - Lily Brown

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard - Break Right In.

The most exciting new band to break out of Wales in recent years, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard have just shared “Break Right In” — a new track taken from their heavily-anticipated debut album Backhand Deals, which will be released on February 25, 2022 via Missing Piece Records / Communion. The band will make their US debut at SXSW this March.

The video for “Break Right In” is the first part of a two-part film, and is the band’s second collaboration with director Will Clark - who also directed the Sunny Delight-inspired video for “You.” Speaking about the video, vocalist and guitarist Tom Rees says: “Nothing quite illuminates the unjust society we live in, riddled with bad actors and nefarious despots seeking to limit our freedoms and starve us economically, like four young men playing dress up in a massive mansion. All joking aside, Will Clark is a genius.” “Break Right In” follows the previous tracks “Yourself,” “You,” “Crescent Man vs Demolition Dan” and “New Age Millennial Magic.”

As presented on their 2020 debut The Non-Stop EP, the band – Rees, guitarist Zac White, drummer Ethan Hurst and Rees’ brother and bassist Eddie – draw from classic ‘70s rock with a distinctly 21st century twist, dragging the sounds of T-Rex and Steely Dan kicking and screaming into the 2020s. With Backhand Deals, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard ripped up the rulebook – a rejection of rock music's more archaic ideals, their debut album plunges into Tom Rees’ exploration of honesty and authenticity, and untangles what it means to be a “rock star.” The key to this demystification is Rees’ sharp wit — using sarcasm and humour to keep the listener in limbo, and in turn, leading their audience to face their own thoughts.

“With the record we’re really obsessed with denying our traditional influences by overwhelming the music with contemporary references so we don’t sound like your dad’s cover band who are really good when they don’t overdo the Guinness and the lead singer remembers his lyric sheet,” says Rees. “We know deep down we love ‘70s music too much to just abandon it in pursuit of being considered relevant, so it seems like the right thing to do to use modern recording techniques and contemporary references to make something inherently new.”

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Berry - VanWyck - Rainbow Reservoir

Berry - Fragments.

Background - The music of Berry is a strange animal. But writing and recording over 100 songs in their 15 years together has resulted in some dense, delicate, graceful pop songs with a certain Searching for Bobby Fischer mentality.

Berry formed in 2002 on Martha’s Vineyard when guitarist/vocalist Joey Lemon and drummer Paul Goodenough connected at an intensive four-month music program. When they returned to the Midwest, the two recruited college friend and keyboardist Matt Aufrecht. Their first LP, Marriage (Right Place Records), was released the following year and was met with critical acclaim, allowing the band to tour extensively throughout the country.

After several tours and bass players, Berry moved to Chicago in search of a city that would fit their quirky and idiosyncratic music. There, they began a recording frenzy, releasing a series of six EPs between 2007 and 2008. To promote these releases, the band embarked on a novel idea for a tour. Foregoing the usual cargo van or bus, Berry purchased a 30-day Amtrak pass and booked shows from Chicago to Seattle, relying entirely on the whims of public transport. Carrying a tiny tube amp in a rolling suitcase, a children’s drum set in a single kick drum case, and a full-sized keyboard on rollers, the band took an even more literal approach to their already minimalist styling.

Exhausted by their Odyssey, Berry’s productivity hit a lull until close friend and bass player Shane Bordeau joined the band, revitalizing the group with a jolt of positive energy. Their next LP, Blue Sky, Raging Sun, was recorded and released in 2010 on Joyful Noise Recordings. This record took its inspiration from the Amtrak tour, juxtaposing scenes of epic natural beauty with the ennui of endless train rides where micro societies are formed by a handful of strangers riding coach. 

Despite a devoted following, Blue Sky, Raging Sun saw limited commercial success, and the members of Berry spread out across the country, each pursuing separate professional opportunities. The next few years bore little fruit for Berry, but in 2014, they decided to record again, this time with few expectations about what might transpire. Gathering in a re-purposed pole barn in rural Kansas, the group picked up as if they had never dropped a beat. After writing and recording the skeletons of 11 songs in four days, the album fell into production limbo for more than two years until producer Paul Klimson (John Legend, Erykah Badu, Kirk Douglas of the Roots) offered his services to help complete the album.

The result is a stunning follow-up to Blue Sky, Raging Sun. The new LP, Everything, Compromised, drops in early 2018 on Joyful Noise Recordings. Classic songwriting amidst Rubik's Cube structures -- the music of Berry is a curious hybrid. At once dense and delicate, their blend of forward-thinking indie-pop is as graceful as it is perplexing. In their decade and a half of playing together, Berry has found a way to marry meticulously detailed instrumentation with genuinely alluring pop. FACEBOOK.

The wasteland rock hashtag for 'Fragments' had me intrigued, however after my first listen it really does seem a very apt description for the song. There is a loose unorganised feel running through much of the piece, that both charms and engages the listener, whilst a gentle underlying melody gives the track a beautiful vibe.

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VanWyck - Listen To You Breathe.

Background - "You start with some kind of urgency that is indistinct, and it takes a lifetime to uncover what the thrust of your activity was about. You sing from a kind of thorn in your side, which may just be the human heart aching in its particular predicament. And all art is an effort to address that aching." - Leonard Cohen

Upon first listening to Amsterdam singer songwriter, VanWyck, Leonard Cohen’s quote immediately comes to mind. A hauntingly atmospheric and melodious whisper in her ear, it emerges in the form of smoky soulful vocals aching with lyrical precision of stories untold.

The VanWyck moniker is in itself an untold story of front woman, Christine Oele’s grandmother. An homage to her grandmother’s maiden name, the project makes the invisible, visible. It’s this thread that weaves throughout, from the curiosity of the mystical songwriting process to calling into question the erasure of women’s history, their stories, and their names.

VanWyck says, “Both my grandmothers were strong women (a nurse and a teacher) who came from very humble backgrounds and had to work hard and take care of children. Being creative was a luxury that was often not allowed to them. Being in the foreground was also not something they were allowed to aspire to. One of my grandmothers was very inspirational in making me reach higher and to put all my talents to work. I keep her picture as a young girl on my desktop to remind me of the chances she never had and the way she pushed me to reach higher.”

Her push to reach higher formed into an eclectic musical background that has included training as a classical pianist, becoming a keyboard player and one of the first female rappers in the Netherlands in a jazz dance band, and being half of a trip hop duo. VanWyck launched a year-long project called One Song A Week after releasing her debut solo EP Tanned Legs, with the lead single “The Daughter” lauding critical acclaim from KCRW’s Chris Douridas in 2016. Songs floated in her head, snippets of ideas that needed fruition, and the way she felt she could give them a voice was through the song a week quest. Some of the songs she released were studio recordings with a full band, some came from live shows, some were shot as videos, and others were sung in kitchens. Some spoke of mystical longings, and others of earthy intimacies.

The result of that year is An Average Woman, Van Wyck's first solo album calls on the voices of the unsung heroes: the nurse, the teacher, the mother. Everyday women whose mundane tasks emanate into extraordinary outcomes. She's accompanied by the award-winning bass player and arranger Reyer Zwart, and singer Marjolein van der Klauw, whose silvery voice is the perfect counterbalance to VanWyck’s own darker tones.

An Average Woman is about women who are visible and hidden, sacrificing and selfish, ordinary and magical, obligated and free. It's about the mysteries lurking in the everyday. It's about creating your own universe and your own sense of belonging - and stumbling along the way. In this debut album, VanWyck is An Average Woman who's anything but. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.

We featured the track 'An Average Woman' back in October and it's good to be able to follow on from there with 'Listen To You Breathe'. Last time we commented "VanWyck's vocals are melodic, sensitive and carry some notable emotion." The sensitive and stunning musical arrangement and the alluring vocals of VanWyck working together on this song, is put simply, something very special.

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Rainbow Reservoir - Fuzzy.

Background - Odd Box Records are delighted to announce the debut LP by Rainbow Reservoir will be released on 23rd February. The first cut to be shared from the forthcoming LP 'Channel Hanna' is 'Fuzzy' a buzz-saw pop song and a neat introduction to the record and is accompanied by a playful sock puppet video.

'Channel Hanna' finds the bands bite as hard as their bark - the title refers to Riot Grrrl pioneer Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, The Julie Ruin) and Rainbow Reservoir take their cues from the 90s explosion of riot grrrl rock bands but they fuse it with a poppier heart. Anyone who loves the power pop buzz of bands like Cars Can Be Blue, Tullycraft and The Spook School will fall instantly in love with the Rainbow Reservoir buzz pop sound.

With a session recently recorded for cult radio station - Dandelion Radio and numerous pop fest appearances under their belt, Rainbow Reservoir are set for an exciting 2018.

This is the first Odd Box release since we reached out for help at the end of 2017 and we are delighted to say that crowd funding drive has secured the future of the label and we are aiming to be here for many more years to come. BANDCAMP.

'Channel Hanna' is a collection of twelve songs, of which 'Fuzzy' acts as a pretty good indicator of this often feisty album. That said the band can and do tone things down on occasion allowing more melodic moments, however they also explode into life and demand your unreserved attention a whole lot more often!


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The Begowatts - Lower Pink - VanWyck - Mean Motor Scooter - Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - Warbly Jets

The Begowatts - Grand Charade (EP).

Background - The Begowatts craft a distinctive blend of rock & roll, rooted in deep 70’s grooves with an ear toward modern atmospheric aesthetics. Formed in 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin, the band built buzz across the Midwest and honed their live presence through relentless touring and Pabst Blue Ribbon consumption. Along the way, the foursome’s sound evolved at a steady clip. While early Begowatts paid faithful homage to classic rock, the band has matured toward a tighter, more immediate fusion of old and new which they christen, “21st century electric rock & roll.”

Within a short time they went from packing basement parties to being the house band at Madison’s world famous Bike Shop and released their self-titled EP in 2015. The EP’s response gave the band the confidence they needed to pony up for a professionally recorded full length debut, and in June of 2016 they released the LP, Photoelectric, to glowing reviews and nominations for the Madison Area Music Awards “Alternative Album” and “Alternative Performer of the Year.”

The group’s sophomore effort, Grand Charade, is scheduled for release this September. Written during the whirlwind of the 2016 election, their new tunes reflect the great division they bore witness to. Songs like the Clash-esque “Kids On Parole” hark back to the politically-charged rock of the late 70’s, while the closing number "You & I" is drenched in dreamlike tension and disillusion, conjuring up a decidedly brooding Twin Peaks vibe. Yet throughout it all, the sound remains undeniably their own in its signature exuberant, carefree coolness. Begofans will find that the group has grown leaps and bounds on Grand Charade, refining their sound and emerging as new contender in the current post-punk scene. Website here, Facebook here.

Six tracks make up 'Grand Charade' an EP we can feature in full. They describe their music as "21st century rock & roll" which seems a more than reasonable summary of the music. Each song has it's hooks, the music is very well crafted and the vocals have plenty of real rock edge. As a whole this is a very likable collection of natural modern rock & roll.


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Lower Pink - Young.

Background - We have the new song "Young" from one of Switzerland's finest Lower Pink. The Swiss music press delivers one rave review after another about the independent troubadour. 

“His intimate & dreamy songs barely let us breathe.”  SRF3 – biggest public radio of Switzerland. “Everything about the songs seems authentic.” Tages Anzeiger

It is not by chance, that we read & hear such praise. “Lower Pink” achieved the creation of his own atmosphere on his new single “Young” – and he fills this atmosphere with voice, synths & spherical pads. On the climax, the song literally erupts over the listener, just to leave behind a barren silence and to disappear. Immediately, his warm voice finds time & space again. 

“Young” is a listening experience and the video, which you can find attached to this, is painting a euphoric feeling through impressive pictures and an unagitated storyline – leaving behind an echo. The video has been shot in the Swiss alps transmits in images, what the music lets us feel: Distance and vicinity – for once unisono. Website here.

As the song gently develops it's the vocals that standout and rightly so. 'Young' is a song where the atmosphere expands beautifully, the music adds some extra layers, however it's the voice that resonates and demands another listen.


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VanWyck - An Average Woman.

Background - Amsterdam singer songwriter, VanWyck, follows up the 2016 single that KCRW’s Chris Douridas called “exquisite” with her new single,“An Average Woman”. The title track is off the album due out on January 19 on Maiden Name Records. Hauntingly atmospheric and melodious, the songs on the album unravel in a spiral of smoky soulful vocals aching with lyrical precision of stories untold. 

An Average Woman is about women who are visible and hidden, sacrificing and selfish, ordinary and magical, obligated and free. It's about the mysteries lurking in the everyday. It's about creating your own universe and your own sense of belonging - and stumbling along the way. 

The lead single is about being braver, bolder, and sometimes selfish. Written in the past tense, it’s almost like a funeral song, burying the average woman in order for the creative woman to emerge. VanWyck says, “Both my grandmothers were strong women (a nurse and a teacher) who came from very humble backgrounds and had to work hard and take care of children. 

Being creative was a luxury that was often not allowed to them. Being in the foreground was also not something they were allowed to aspire to. One of my grandmothers was very inspirational in making me reach higher and to put all my talents to work. I keep her picture as a young girl on my desktop to remind me of the chances she never had and the way she pushed me to reach higher.” Website here., Facebook here.

A slow bluesy vibe is there from the beginning on 'An Average Woman'. VanWyck's vocals are melodic, sensitive and carry some notable emotion. The musical arrangement develops adding even more to a gorgeous soulful song.

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Mean Motor Scooter - Sea Serpent.

Background - Mean Motor Scooter are a fuzzed up, farfed out, Fort Worth quartet of psych-garage goodness firmly rooted in the Texas traditions of The Butthole Surfers, The Dicks, and Roky Erickson with a tab of Scratch Acid. The band was founded in 2015 by singer and guitar player Sammy Kidd, drummer Jeffrey Friedman and bassist Joe Tacke and almost instantly became overnight local and statewide sensations. The trio played 31 shows in 2015 throughout Texas, including shows at the Dallas Music District Festival, with bands like Leopold and His Fiction and Aaron Behrens. 

Mean Motor Scooter released its self-titled EP in August of 2015, which was put out on a limited edition cassette by Dreamy Life Records. In 2016, the band continued the momentum, playing 48 shows, including three unofficial showcases for SXSW and Oaktopia, the Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards Festival, Fort Worth Rock Assembly V and legendary Dallas venue, Trees. In April, Mean Motor Scooter released the singles, “Naked Brunch” and “Such a Seducer,” which received a lot of positive local press and were mentioned in some Best of 2016 lists.

That same year, the Fort Worth Weekly awarded Mean Motor Scooter “Rock Band of the Year.” Mean Motor Scooter began recording their first full-length album, Hindu Flying Machine at Cloudland Recording Studio in Fort Worth, October 2016. During that time they we asked to record songs for both the Dreamy Life Records’ Group Therapy Vol. 4 compilation and the Fort Worth Weekly’s Frequencies Vol. 8, the Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards’ compilation. The group recorded “Mechanical Man” for Group Therapy Vol. 4 and “Surfing Pizza” for Frequencies Vol. 8. Both were released in 2017.

Before finishing the recording of Hindu Flying Machine the trio decided it was time to bring in another member. Rebekah Elizabeth (I Happy Am) was added on the combo organ. Mean Motor Scooter played their 100th live show in July of 2017, at the newly opened Main at South Side. In June the band was awarded “E.P. of the Year,” “Band of the Year” and “Artist of the Year” by Fort Worth Weekly. Hindu Flying Machine will be released in October 2017 by Dirty Water Records USA and the band will be touring in November with The Darts and Escobar. Facebook here.

Psych garage with just a hint of insanity ensures 'Sea Serpent' a timeless feast of music registers within a nano second. Play it loud & leap about!

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Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - The Cypher.

Background - Grammy nominated trumpeter, composer, and producer Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah will release the third installment of a trio of albums commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first jazz recordings. Collectively titled The Centennial Trilogy, the final album in the series The Emancipation Procrastination will be released on October 20th via Ropeadope.

The Emancipation Procrastination the third and final chapter in the trilogy deals directly with the social and political issues of the day. Rather than descend into identity politics, Adjuah sees many disparate cultures in New Orleans being underserved and exploited. This worldview transcends New Orleans, as Christian has traveled and toured the world for almost 20 years, starting as a child and performing with extraordinary players (McCoy Tyner, Donald Harrison, Eddie Palmieri).

The scope of The Centennial Trilogy is not limited to the music; Adjuah uses broad strokes to present his vision of the world. Growing up in New Orleans' Upper Ninth Ward, he witnessed people enduring the same challenges regardless of their race or ethnic background: He saw a community of people undereducated to serve the tourist culture, facing food insecurity, yet viewing each other as different through the lens of race. Seeing this around him, Adjuah came to understand that race is a social construct, and that people could work together to build and move forward.

"I’m not interested in harming anyone," Adjuah says. "I have a responsibility as an artist to create a space where people feel welcome. When I walk outside this hotel room, that is not the reality. There is a difference when music is made with love. When people come into my space they are going to feel that. We are trying to figure out a way to treat each other better. We are all responsible for healing each other.”

The vision of Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah is clear – that this is an opportunity for all of US to come together and address issues that affect ALL of us. Emancipation Procrastination means that we all have an opportunity to liberate ourselves from old world ideas. Let the healing begin. Website here, Facebook here.

Whilst Jazz is not a genre that often appears on Beehive Candy, when the music is this good it would be a crime of sorts not to feature it. 'The Cypher' is a superb track where for me some fairly cliche images come to mind, a hot late night urban scenario for example. When I hear music this good I feel I should know a lot more about the genre, perhaps one day...

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Warbly Jets - Ride.

Background - Warbly Jets play synth-driven guitar rock that is a genre-bending blend of punk balladry, wide-screen production and unflinching attitude. The LA quartet will release its self-titled debut album on October 20 but this week they debut the genre-bending churner, "Ride".

Despite a lack of allegiance to any sound or place, since the release of their debut single "Alive", the slithering music industry indictment "The Lowdown", the hip-swaying "4th Coming Bomb" and the maniacle "Shapeshifter", the four piece has grown explosively and earned praise from a number of music sites, radio and the press. The band is climbing the charts at Spotify, VEVO and Apple Music and were announced this morning in the first round of performers for SXSW 2018.

Warbly Jets just completed a massive European tour, including dates with Rival Sons and are returning home to LA for an album release show at The Moroccan Lounge next Thursday, October 19. They then head to Vegas to showcase at Emerge in November. Website here, Facebook here.

I was impressed by Warbly Jets back in July when we first featured them. 'Ride' is another fabulous genre defying song that is loosely alt rock based, the band have psychedelic vibes and the music just gets better!

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