Whilst We Were Asleep - Part Two

Some more recent new music that I wanted to share, again in no particular order and genre hopping, however I was reliably told many years ago that 'variety is the spice of life', shame I had such a misspent youth as all that 'variety' seems to have come back with a sting in the tale. Anyway down to business...

Alborosie Meets King Jammy is a historic pairing of one of Jamaica’s most pivotal dub legends King Jammy with the modern day Italian-born dubmaster Alborosie.

Last month they released 'Dub Of Thrones' a mostly instrumental collection of material and very fine music we think. If you like Dub or reggae or anything remotely in that direction this is for you!

Mixed by Alborosie at his Shengen studio and King Jammy at his studio in the Waterhouse district of Kingston, this old-school meets new-school clash delivers an authentic dub reggae listening experience. With speaker-shaking, neighbor-waking and no-prisoner taking bass, this is designed to be played at high volume for maximum effect.

Alborosie and King Jammy plan to tour in support of this release throughout the summer. Dates will be announced at another time. They are already booked for California's 31st Annual Reggae On The River Festival. - Album available from VP Records/Greensleeves.


 ==================================================================

OK I'm quoting here - Los Angeles indie pop favorite Layne has released the moody new video for “Somebody,” her ode to musicians who leave the serenity of rural life for the challenging pursuit of success in the city. “Somebody” is the newest single from Layne's third EP, Warrior.

When Layne was fifteen, she released an album entitled Better Than Me. Two years later she released an EP called Mind Games. By this time she was playing almost every weekend at different venues throughout South Dakota, and was featured twice on public radio and multiple times in the newspaper. Immediately after graduating high school, Layne relocated to Los Angeles.

Layne co-produced Warrior with Devon Corey (Comeback Kid, The Material). The young indie artist has a very clear idea of how she wants it all to sound: “I want people to see the production we’ve spent so much time creating come to life, and to hear the huge wall of sound - even if there are only two or three players on stage.”

The music is what it is, great indie pop that Beehive Candy just happens to love. If you are in the US of A then Layne's spring tour has a few more dates:

May 2015
02 Sat - Charlotte, NC – Muse
05 Tue - Raleigh, NC – The Pour House
09 Sat - Brooklyn, NY – Rock Shop  w/ Zoe Wrenn
12 Tue - New York, NY – Pianos w/Negative Death
14 Thu - Woodbridge/Boston, MA – The Cannery
20 Wed - Rochester, NY – California Brew House Sage

Website HERE & video below.



==================================================================

I am intrigued by The Dirty Bourbon River Show. These guys play bluesy, Lisztian piano-driven ballads, and punk-ish street music, straight out of New Orleans (not my description but it fits, so I will go with it!).

The promo that accompanied the music was rather lengthy however being bone idle here's a copy and paste of some of it -  Step right up. Dirty Bourbon River Show winks at the old-time medicine show, with music to draw in crowds. But there’s no snake oil on offer, just sounds enough to fascinate, enthrall, and heal. Tubas tango with feral-voiced crooners, punkish numbers bump into the sweet plunking of a ballad.

These wonderful madmen play the gospel of New Orleans song, and they preach it loudly on their ninth album, Important Things Humans Should Know (release: April 7, 2015), then taking the word on the road with a four-month U.S. tour.

Band leader and multi-instrumentalist Noah Adams came late to music; he was 20 when he began playing the piano. But it was drifting into the Crescent City that really changed his life. Finding himself in a place where music drips from the pores likes summer sweat, he knew he’d discovered his calling, and began proselytizing like a convert. “I got swept away by amazing players like Dr. John, Fats Waller, Huey Smith,” Adams recalls. “I spent three years just shedding and absorbing stuff.” And from that start the Dirty Bourbon River Show was born in 2009.

“Our very first gig was at Tipitina’s Homegrown Night, where you can get your start,” Adams says. “It’s free, you just try to get people to say your name at the door. We told everyone. It was an hour slot, but we only had 30 minutes of music. We got an amazing turn out, went all out, and it just grew from there.”

A mix of New Orleans natives and people drawn from farther afield, the show mixes its influences like a roux. Jimmy William’s tuba and Dane "Bootsy" Schindler’s drums on “Animal” make Caribbean vibes collide with a booming brass dirge. “Wicked,” a paean to the Big Easy’s seamy side, tips its hat to songwriters like Dr. John and Randy Newman. The album is a love song to the city on the Gulf Coast.

Phew! and that's not even half of it. Anyhow I am amazed by there music and reassured that somewhere, some people are doing music they love and entertaining many. The video below is but one of many dimensions to this band, so go search YouTube for some more.

Website Here.


==================================================================

I have received getting on for a dozen emails since last November regarding Janine and The Mixtape and when putting this little compilation of artists together, thought maybe if I do a feature I will be left alone. Then I checked back and realised each promo was for a different song, so on a totally selfish level keep sending the songs promo's.

Again plenty of fine variety and all to the highest of standards and very enjoyable may I say.

Website HERE. A few words on their background here - Building up to the release of her new EP (coming May 12), Janine and the Mixtape has been releasing new content every Monday as part of her Little Mixtape Mondays campaign. Starting in February with a Nirvana cover, she drew inspiration from Eckhart Tolle for "This Moment, debuted the video for her buzz single, "Hold Me," and most recently releases "Lose My Mind" audio and visual. 

Now based in Brooklyn, Janine and The Mixtape – known to friends and family as Janine Foster – began performing at open mic nights in her native Auckland when she was but 14 years old. She soon developed her own unique amalgam of pop, indie, R&B, and hip hop, all built around her emotional song craft, otherworldly vocals, and utterly individualistic persona. Released initially by her own Little Mixtapes Records in 2013, her debut EP, Dark Mind immediately shot Janine and The Mixtape into the spotlight – as well as the top 2 on the iTunes Store’s “Top R&B Albums” chart. The EP – which also includes the hit single/video, “Little Bit” (featured on VH1’s Love & Hip Hop Hollywood) – received worldwide applause, with high praise coming from such outlets as MTV, Billboard, VIBE Vixen, Complex, and VIBE, which ranked Janine and The Mixtape among their “R&B Secret Society: 26 Acts You Should Be Listening To.”  The New Zealand-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer's acclaimed debut EP Dark Mind was re-released via US-based DSP’s on November 4th, 2014 (after joint venture with Atlantic Records). 




==================================================================

I remember reading a comment left on Beehive Candy a few years ago that said something along the lines that 'I was just a shameless music promoter'. I remember being a little 'ruffled' by the comment and felt the desire to exact revenge on the anonymous individual. Well maybe I am a promoter of sorts, I do not get any money for it, this remains a labour of love for the most, however yes I do encourage you to checkout these artists and their music. So if that makes me a promoter then I am guilty as charged, however I am most defiantly not shameless! Just enjoying the musical journey, hope you are to.

Whilst We Were Asleep - Part One

I'm sat in front of my computer screen wondering where on earth to start. I could be clever here, do a month by month catch up of all the new music, that has come Beehive Candy's way since the beginning of 2013. I'm not sure who would be put off the quickest by that idea, you or me?

The idea (I think) is to try and get Beehive Candy going again, however two years on and the world of web music coverage has moved on considerably. There are (as you know) some really professional music sites around and as previously mentioned You Tube seems currently, to be a good first port of call for live concerts both official and unofficial.  So I think Beehive Candy will for a while at least, just do it's own thing and see how some new ideas can fit in. It was and still is the new music promos that have made me feel like getting Beehive Candy up and running again.

Therefore, for a while and most definitely in no order whatsoever, 'Whilst We Were Asleep' will feature some of the music that has come our way since we took a rather long siesta. These artists and songs are featured for a mixture of reasons such as, I like the music, it's different in a good way, maybe it tests a few boundaries, or it's just catchy.

So in no order at all lets start with Vienna Ditto. This song was released in February and they are due a new album any time now.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lexie Roth gained my attention in 2013. Lexie has been playing music since she was eight years old. Just ten years later, her debut album One Long Blink was released and gained attention as far as Japan. Since then, she has appeared on two of her father’s albums, Toolin’ Around Woodstock featuring Levon Helm on drums and his previous album Landscape. Most recently, "Call You My Hon" off her self-titled album was featured in the independent film shown in the Tribeca Film Festival "Maria My Love" produced and directed by Jasmine McGlade Chazelle in which starred the late Karen Black.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is more recent. Annie Woodward has an album due out around now, I'm often playing it, there something that just works for me.


Annie Woodward is a grunge folk-rocker born and raised in Scandinavia who originally set out to write lyrics for other bands. Through her projects in theatre Annie found her own voice in music and has been performing ever since. She has played two independent tours, one European and one in Northern America. Annie spent most of 2014 couch surfing and taking trains and buses across the US playing shows and making her first album.

This album, 2 faces on a clown is released on AmpÆr records, a small independent label founded by Annie and one of her childhood friends. Half of the record was produced by Mike Davidson in Boston and half by Sean Bloom in Los Angeles with the title-track produced by rock-singer Alexa Melo and mixed by Christian Hand who was the man behind the first Mowglis record. Annie's first album is the result of crowd-funding, luck and "really good friends".

The first single from 2 faces on a clown, Eager to talk debuted on Norwegian national radio summer of 2014. As of 2015 Woodward is again based in Oslo, Norway working with a full band and also writing and directing theatre for her company Playroom.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back last September Rich Hopkins and The Luminarios released Tombstone. The promo at the time had this to say -

"Tombstone," from Rich Hopkins and The Luminarios, showcases a "wall of guitar" trademark style that alerts the listener that classic rock is alive and well. As the album unfolds, catchy pop hooks and epic rock harmonies are unveiled in a ceremony of searing sound. Complete with social commentary and a defined style, once described by Magnet  as a "blend of power pop, folk rock and Tom Petty/Neil Young classicism," listeners are reminded of the individuality of a Rich Hopkins and The Luminarios record upon first hearing "Tombstone."

Hopkins, who has been a part of the American music scene since 1985, is, amazingly, still an undiscovered talent to some.  Founding the Tucson, Ariz. based Sidewinders (RCA 1989-91)/Sand Rubies (Polygram 1993), Hopkins toured the U.S. and celebrated success with college/indie rock classics "Witchdoctor" and "We Don't Do That Anymore" (both went to #5 on the CMJ charts). In 1991, Hopkins formed Rich Hopkins and The Luminarios as a side project; it soon became his full time band when the Sand Rubies stopped touring. He has consistently cranked out new records and tours yearly in Germany/Europe (25 tours) where, in 1996, he was one of the first artists signed to Germany's Blue Rose Records.

A new member of the Tucson Musicians Museum (Class of 2013), Hopkins enters music history as the quintessential desert rocker, a constant in the bedrock of alternative music. As evidenced on "Tombstone," Hopkins possesses an ability to create unmistakable guitar tones that drive a hallmark sound and, as the years pass, he continues to reinvent and motivate himself for yet another album and tour.




The mention of Classic Rock usually leave me cold, bands that should have quit or moved on, seem to fill my mind, although rationally, I know there are some good bands today that have that label. If this si classic rock, then classic rock is alive and well.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to 2014 again and Eilidh McKellar. The promo had this to say - When trying to describe Eilidh McKellar, BBC Radio may have said it best: “No silly overplaying, just quiet confidence and genuine virtuosity.”

McKellar, a dazzling 20-year-old phenom from Edinburgh, Scotland, seems to be taking the industry by storm with her smoky rasp and astounding guitar chops. Her highly anticipated debut album, Delta Devil Dreams, was released on October 7, 2014.  The album is a collection of meticulously crafted songs that rock hard, go down easy and expose young Eilidh’s bluesy old soul.

Produced by Grammy award-winning Guy Eckstine, Delta Devil Dreams maintains a contemporary, indie feel while paying tribute to British rock royalty like Humble Pie, Led Zeppelin and The Yardbirds.

In the humble opinion of Beehive Candy, worth checking out (have we said that before?).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally we are back in 2013 again when the excellent (as all of the above musically are for me - there you go, well balanced journalism) Star Anna was introduced to Beehive Candy.

These words were said about her- "Star Anna is an American original.  She sings from a place of beauty that takes me to a higher place," says Pearl Jam's Mike McCready.

Guns 'n' Roses/Velvet Revolver's Duff McKagan says, "She is the real deal.  She will be a talent that we can all say that we saw her when. Guaranteed."

Star Anna's latest, Go To Hell (Spark & Shine Records), will find you agreeing with McCready and McKagan.

A dark, haunting collection of songs that capture the essence of betrayal, regret, and hope, Go To Hell delivers melodic, soaring folk-rock with an Americana heart, best described as Americana-soul, and it will penetrate right to your core.

Seattle, Washington, by way of Ellensburg, Star Anna's Go To Hell, comprised of ten tracks, was a hard record for her to make.  Her personal life was in upheaval as the record was being made; yet Star Anna persevered and came out better for it.

"There were a lot of battles going on at the time this record was being made and a lot of betrayals that I was dealing with that had been woven into my personal life as well as the life of this record," recalls Star.  "We decided to keep moving forward and make this record. The title speaks for itself."


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK then, well in all honesty that really is just a random taster, whilst looking back over the last couple of years it really is hard to know where to start. But start Beehive Candy has, I hope to follow this up with part two sometime real soon.