BEEHIVE CANDY

Well we are a little slow of the mark this month bringing you a selection of new music, so thats our current excuse for rushing headlong through eight great new selections of music that really do take us in different directions. We start very gently with a track from 'Under The Sodium Lights' which is Drew Sullivan’s Slow Dancing Society latest ambient epic. We are told that "The album feels like a distillation of the three stunning releases that preceded it – and as such is Sullivan’s finest work to date. The delicate interplay between focused melodic details and blurred washes of sound draws the listener into a hypnotic state, where the waking world and the world of sleep cascade in and out of balance". Or to put it another way it's a great selection of music that fans of ambient and mood music should love and a wider selection of people should also check out! Under The Sodium Lights sees its official release on 30 September 2010 through Australian label ...

This is a selection of songs performed for Austin City Limits by Robert Earl Keen , at the Austin City Limits Studios, Austin, Texas, USA. None of these songs were included on the official release 'Live In Austin' which is from a 2001 concert recording. Robert Earl Keen first performed on Austin City Limits in 1988 as part of the Texas Showcase which included four other artists. This selection also includes sets recorded in 1994 and 1997. Trying to place Robert in one music genre is difficult, hence the various descriptions below, he can move from one style to another in a seamless manner. The musicians that work with him are part of the trick and his own down to earth style makes listening a joy. Songs like 'Road Goes On Forever' remind me of both Bob Dylan, and Emmylou Harris in terms of delivery and arrangement however he stamps his own style completely on each song. If Robert Earl Keen is new to you and you only half like anything 'Americana' then chec...

This is Pat Benatar recorded live at Portland Coliseum, Portland, Oregon, USA back on March 31st, 1986. There is a pupose for featuring this excellent concert at this time. In June this year (2010) Pat Benatar's memoir, Between a Heart and a Rock Place was released. The book touches on her battles with her record company Chrysalis, and the difficulties her career caused in her personal life. Those nice people at Harper Collins Publishers kindly sent Beehive Candy a review copy, however it arrived a month or so after the books release by which time a reasonable amount of reviews and publicity had already happened, and the impact we were likely to have was probably close to zero. However I do like a good read, and it's been a while since I read a biography or memoir so I decided to enjoy the book. One thing this memoir is most definately not, is a sex and drugs and rock'n'roll epic. Rather it is a book firmly placed in reality and covers many of the outrageous ...

No let up in great new music coming our way, here's the third and final 2010FM edition for August, that in our increasingly 'trade mark style' we will now gallop through.  We are advised that featured track ‘Winter Weeds’ "contains all the ingredients that make Liam Singer ’s music so utterly beautiful and unique. With its striking minimalism and melancholic romanticism, the track swoons and sways. Singer’s piano and vocal interweave with the heavenly backing vocals of Boxharp’s Wendy Allen, all topped off with Scott Solter’s masterful production". The track is a taster of Liam Singers forthcoming album, Dislocatia. "Full of fantastical song-stories, the album carries the listener skyward like a clockwork cloud. In Liam Singer's music, the prosaic and the magical are two sides of the same dusty coin. Dislocatia is out through Hidden Shoal on October 5th". This is a gorgeous gentle start to this 2010FM edition, we look forward to hearing more from...

This is The Move with a mixture of BBC sessions music recorded from 1967 to 1970. Not to be confused with the official 1998 release (The Move - The BBC Sessions - Strange Fruit UK records) , this material is different and in fairness of lower quality. Whilst we do not know for certain, the probabilty is a good portion of this BBC material was recorded 'off air' from BBC Radio One, that at the time was on AM. Some clearly is studio master, and even the 'AM' element conjours up memories of listening to 1960's 'medium wave' radio stations. It is therefore reasonable to speculate that the originals of this material never made it to BBC transcription disc, or the record label had more than enough material for the 1998 (single CD) album release. Whatever the case this remains another fine 'time capsule' from one of Englands finest and most consistent bands of the 1960's. Source: BBC Radio and TV-Byen Sound Quality: Highly list...

We are struggling to keep up with all the new music coming our way again at the moment, so this is another batch of what we really like right now, with more planned to follow soon. For speed, where we think it's appropriate we have shamelessly copied and pasted from the accompanying publicity material. New York's maestro of shadowy lounge tinged pop Rich Bennett is back with a follow up to his stunning 2008 album Music for Underwater Supermarkets. Influenced by the classic exotica of Martin Denny, the aching folk-pop of Fleet Foxes, and the conceptual sweep of The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle, Bennett's latest work On Holiday  is brimming with subtly dark, breezy melodies and the buoyant vocals of both Bennett and Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Rebecca Pronsky. From the gorgeous "ride on top a pop cloud" single ‘Misty Valley’ to the delicious minor key melancholy of  ‘Night Part 2’, On Holiday is as intoxicating as it is playful. The album is out now through A...

Regarded by many as the best The Smiths live bootleg (and vastly superior to the 'contractually obligitory' live album Rank) , this concert recording was from the second of two nights at the Los Angeles Universal Amphitheatre and performed on August 26th, 1986. Circulated as a silver disc by 'Big Music' and titled Thank Your Lucky Stars. (Big Music :: BIG091) the CD version uses artwork reminiscent of The Smiths own album covers. The NME reviewed this concert as follows - Los Angeles Universal Amphitheatre - August 25-26, 1986 Whoever said that misery loves company wasn't kidding - almost 12,000 people turned out for The Smiths' two-night stand in Los Angeles. What they heard were 24 perfect pop sparklers, exquisitely executed by maestro Johnny Marr, while the Most Miserable Man in Manchester camped around the stage, occasionally stopping to pose languidly across the monitors, nipples to the wind, to face his adoring public. But this was a wondrous jou...

This is Calexico in concert at the Roskilde Festival held annually south of Roskilde in Denmark, with this concert taking place on the 1st July 2000. They were joined on stage part way through the set by touring companions Mariachi Luz de Luna . This show took place the evening after the tragic accident during the Pearl Jam set where nine fans were killed when the crowd surged. (Pearl Jam's song "Love Boat Captain" references the tragedy with the line "Lost nine friends we'll never know... two years ago today." When performed in concert, lead singer Eddie Vedder modifies the lyric to reflect the passage of time since the tragedy). One of Calexico's founder members Joey Burns remembered the occasion as follows - "Calexico and members of Mariachi Luz de Luna travelled roughly 1,000 kilometers the night before our performance at Roskilde in Denmark on July 1, 2000. I am sure we had been up nearly the whole night partying and watching movies on th...