BEEHIVE CANDY

Adam Stafford - Atheist Money. Background promo - Adam Stafford returns with his first album in nearly three years following the widely acclaimed Imaginary Walls Collapse in 2013.  Taser Revelations was recorded at The Happiness Hotel, Song by Toad's newly aquired warehouse recording space. Utilising the warehouse's natural room reverb to great effect, the album features producer and multi-instrumentalist Robbie Lesiuk performing a variety of instruments including steel drums, organ and piano. Greggor Douglas plays the Roland Juno/omnichord and ex-Maple Leaves Anna Miles provides harmony vocals.  Continuing Stafford's trajectory into electrified alternative pop, Taser Revelations begins with some of the most melodically catchy songs he has ever written, before taking a swerve down a dark alley midway through the album, venturing into industrial syncopation, samurai-guitar attacks and some unsettling, vivid imagery. Album available ( here ). 'Atheist Money' m...

The Wealthy West - I've Got To Go. Background bio - Brandon Kinder may not be a household name but there's a good chance you've heard his songs or voice somewhere over the past few years as front man for Austins anthemic rock group The Rocketboys.  As a solo singer under his own name and his Wealthy West moniker Brandon's music has been used in an enormous array of TV shows, indie movies and commercials.  On 'Long Play' his debut LP as The Wealthy West he lets his fancy fly free and sets of on a grand journey. Themes of travelling, searching and seeking, tie many of the songs together. The Wealthy West becomes a character looking for something he may never find... or has already found and has to convince himself of that. Ultimately there is an honesty to the music. There are no wasted lyrics to fill space. Where The Wealthy West is clear on his road there is a sense of joy. Where he's confused or foundering there's a feeling of hope and experience to...

My Fury Darling - Satisfied. Background & promo words - There is a bruised elegance, razor­sharp wit, and quirky theatricality about the music of Richmond, Virginia-based band My Darling Fury. With a name that evokes thoughts of vulnerability wrapping its arms around unbridled rage, the indie pop trio of Todd Matthews, Joel Hollister and charismatic frontman Danny Reyes, defies genre limitations with songs that celebrate the unpredictability of life and love. Following the release of their debut album Licking Wounds in 2013, the band returns with A/O/K, out this Winter; a record that continues to push their singular aesthetic in new and exciting directions. My Darling Fury’s affinity for complex rhythmic structures, operatic­-sized dramatics, and chamber music intimacy should surprise no one, considering that Reyes and Matthews both come from classically trained backgrounds. With a pliant, strikingly beautiful voice that recalls Freddie Mercury, Andrew Bird and even Na...

Third Ear - The Ghost Road. Promo words - Third Ear engage the senses and offer an exquisite arrangement of themes and mood, designed to gently guide you as you embark upon a shared journey. Sometimes breezy, laid back and cool, sometimes taut, explosive and rollicking, Third Ear’s musical works are textured throughout with depth, imaginative flair and a soulfulness that seeks the heart.  Having well served their “live music apprenticeship” by travelling and performing extensively across the country supporting various headliners, Sunshine Coast based act Third Ear have released their debut single “The Ghost Road.” Produced by Mark Paltridge and recorded at Spark 1 Studio’s Maleny, The Ghost Road displays a captivating mix of classic American 60’s surf beat and Jim Morrison style dark lyrics and overtones reminiscent of The Doors.  According to Third Ear, “‘The Ghost Road’ is written from the perspective of a person attempting to conquer psychological torment, depression...

Cabin Cults - Lights Out. Background promo - After sharing stages with the likes of The Jungle Giants, The Cairos, North East Party House and more, Adelaide’s Cabin Cults are now gearing up for their headline launch show for new single ‘Lights Out’ January 16 at local watering hole The Hotel Metro. Taken from their just released EP ‘Riot Is The Watchword’, ‘Lights Out’ is an energetic slice of synth driven post-punk with an urgent lyrical desperation of disbelief that’s all wrapped up in a Pixies inspired pop sensibility. Teaming up with producer Badcop (Tkay Maidza, Mio), the band have craftily captured their jam room instincts while ultimately shaping their material with an electro inspired sound. The fraternity of Cabin Cults is made up of brothers and friends and indeed hails from the city of churches where the myth of purity amongst the reality of depression is evident throughout the city. The habitus that shapes them plays through them and through this body of work reveals ...

Bad Reed - EP. Background Bio - Brantford, Ontario pseudo-rockers Bad Reed channel a multitude of popular and obscure influences into unique snapshots of passion. Bad Reed released their first professional studio EP last year,and it's available on line for free ( Here ). Bad Reed is Costa Chatzis on percussion, Austin Sharpe on bass, Sydney Sollazzo vocals and keyboards, and Graham Walker on guitars. Hailing from small towns and diverse backgrounds, Bad Reed consists of members with varying music tastes. The group emerged in March 2015 from the ashes of their previous acts to forge a new, focused force of nature. Strip-searching music's history while fusing modern zest, they are likened to acts from Alt-J, Hozier, Jack White, and The Black Keys to Snarky Puppy, The Mars Volta, and Esperanza Spalding. Bad Reed is engaging and danceable. Bad Reed is happiness and strife. Bad Reed is harmony and dissonance. Bad Reed is overcoming the odds and getting even. Expect to hear ...

Gooch and the Motion - Coming Home. Artist, Ryan “Gooch” Nelson and his band, Gooch and the Motion, are preparing to release their debut album, “Comin’ Home,” on February 19th 2016. Background - Ryan “Gooch” Nelson is an inspiring quadriplegic cancer survivor from New Jersey, who hasn’t quit since his paralyzing 2004 auto accident, with an infectiously upbeat attitude and an ability to write and perform equally infectious blues-based rock. His producer, nine time Grammy winner Joe “The Butcher” Nicolo (Billy Joel, Cypress Hill, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, Boyz II Men, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince), thought enough of Gooch to make him the first artist on his new record label, Blacbird Records, distributed by Universal . On his Facebook page Ryan 'Gooch' states - I am a quadriplegic, musician, writer, & a man of many hats. I am living my dream and want to inspire others to never give up on theirs. The Washington Post carried an article on Gooch and can be found...

Mind The Journey - Rose Colored Glasses. Background promo - Raised on a tranquilising shoreline in Connecticut, Spencer Sabo spent his youth learning the drum set, making crazy films with his brother, and exploring his creativity. In high school Spencer found like minded peers and started playing drums in a band. Here he began his journey of learning the ins and outs of audio production, recording and mixing the songs they created. It wasn't until the age of 17, when Spencer began experimenting with an old keyboard, that Mind The Journey was born. He made sure that what was in his head was the exact way his creation came out. This lead to Spencer releasing his first dreamy 8 song EP, of which gained buzz both on line and locally, with him playing shows in the New England area. Years later in Boston, a now almost-man and adrift introvert, Mr. Sabo is releasing his first 12 track album, entitled Colour In The Gray Machine, which was entirely created in his makeshift basement stu...

Housemate - Wild Gardens. Background promo - Housemate has never been one to conform to musical genres and "classification". A self-taught disciple in the craft of genre-splicing, "Wild Gardens" embodies the contrasting influences and conflicting diversity personified by his Stop Out Records back catalogue and live shows. 'Wild Gardens' coolly dissolves from its eccentric outset into a backdrop of acidic jazz trombones and cinematic melodies to disclose a calculated trapstep killer ominously lurking underneath its kooky leftfield exterior. From the opening notes 'Wild Gardens' was one of those pieces of music that gained my total attention. Different, and yes a little eccentric, however immensely pleasing. With so many directions being taken, they somehow come together as a strange, but wonderful piece. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Atlanter - Jar...

From the Internet Archive (IA) this is the New Riders Of The Purple Sage live at the Fillmore East, New York, USA back on the 28th April 1971. Back in 2009 we featured the band live at the Fillmore West from the same tour, (that feature has now been updated with Internet Archive streaming and download links). The Fillmore East gig is such an excellent performance and recording, that I just could not resist featuring this to. The background for the band below is the same as, that we provided with the 2009 feature. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969, and its original lineup included members of the Grateful Dead. After a few warm up gigs throughout the Bay Area in 1969, the New Riders (for all intents and purposes John Dawson and David Nelson) began to tour in May 1970 as opening act with the Grateful Dead. This relationship continued on a regular basis until December 1971. Throughout much of 1970, the Dead would open with an acoustic set th...

Radiohead - Spectre. And we quote - Last year we were asked to write a theme tune for the Bond movie Spectre. Yes we were. It didn’t work out, but became something of our own, which we love very much. As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it. Simply wonderful, enjoy Radiohead and their interpretation of a Bond theme for Spectre. In my opinion, better than.... but hey ho, I'm an unashamed Radiohead fan. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Southern End - Lost Girl. Background promo - Newcastle band Southern End, formed in early March 2014 with members Patrick McBeath on lead vocals/rhythm guitar, Aidan Liddle on lead guitar, Duncan Brown on Drums/percussion and Andrew Gray on bass guitar and backing vocals. After getting together in high school through similar influences, they decided to jam out a few of their favourite songs and have since then written and recorded many songs.  Lead singer Patrick McBeath brought ‘Lost Girl’ to the band’s rehearsal the day before their scheduled recording session at Trackdown Studios with producer/engineer Evan McHugh. Impressed by the songs potential the band quickly stuck the pieces together and recorded it in the studio the next day. “We had heaps of originals to go in with, but after we finished it at rehearsal we all knew it was the right song to use” says Southern End.  The finished product was a track that took an atmospheric pop approach to blues. Southern End are...

Joseph Sant - Nor'easter. Background promo - Joseph Sant is a musician living in Brooklyn, NY, hailing originally from Seattle, WA. He deals in lush, green, mountainous musical textures hewn out of his Pacific Northwest. He composes with angular shapes, the noise of subway brakes, off-kilter grids, and the encroaching sea. His debut, Sea White Salt, is influenced by New York’s coasts, imperilled as they are by climate change, reshaped in an instant by catastrophic storms, and prey to wolfish markets. These songs explore the connections and analogies between forces of nature, impassable social barriers, and the gravity of all-consuming love and persistent dreams. For Sea White Salt, Joseph collaborated with his good friend and producer Gabriel Galvin, erstwhile proprietor of Four Foot Studios in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They recorded Sea White Salt in a few overnight marathon sessions in the dead of winter, just before Four Foot Studios was evicted, casualty to the overh...

Twin Ages - Outlaws. Background promo - Formed in Melbourne’s inner South East, from the ashes of original angry, young band Junk and Jill, that featured various musicians and produced a couple of independent releases, Twin Ages has come a long way conquering everything you could throw at a band, from a broken hand in a broken down van to dating every Yoko in Melbourne.  Their passion is now supported by an arsenal of stories presented to you in the form of cut throat rock and blues. Twin Ages have played some of Melbourne’s most prestigious venues, (Espy, Cherry Bar, The Vineyard, The Hi- Fi Bar, The Brunswick hotel, Revolver, etc, etc) to large crowds. The unique sound these guys produce is unlike anything else coming out of this generation, combining a throwback to traditional Blues, a lot of rock and even some heavy undertones. Their style is one of a kind and marks them for future fortunes. ‘Sabertooth’, their 2nd release is already receiving airplay in Melbourne, and the...

Zaflon - Nightmare Division (feat. Gilan-Music). Background - An ambient and sinister down tempo, LDP 1 is the debut EP from South London innovator Zaflon. Two songs featuring Zaflon’s latest collaborator Gilan_Music among the cyclonic sub-bass, abstracted guitars, harmonic piano and crooked percussive breaks. The featured track is described as follows - ‘Nightmare Division’ (feat Gilan_Music) – is the first of two tracks featuring Gilan (both the low male vocal and high female vocal are sung by her). “This track uses a lot of samples of river noises that I recorded on the Thames riverbank, including the hull of a big old barge being hit with a stick. There are flies, doors and breaking watermelons in there, too, among plenty of other things. Abstracted guitars and an outro consisting of an old piano and a 909 drum machine play out as a modern nocturne. The river driftwood vibe is a theme that runs throughout LDP 1.”  'Nightmare Division' is the second of four tracks ...

Slow Culture - Hoax. Background promo - Slow Culture is the musical child of four guys who spent their adolescence saturated in music. The culmination of various lineups and bands dating back to 2009, their music holds within it the personality of four people who've effectively grown up together. It started (as all promising bands do), when Jack, Ben and Lee decided to form a band even though two didn't play an instrument. Ignoring this basic requirement, the three carried on. With Payton joining later, opting for bass synth, the groups sound was cemented, developed from a wide variety of influences.  The product of various lineups dating back to 2009, Slow Culture could be described as the meeting place of psychedelic and alternative rock. Their debut single, “Hoax”, alternates between quiet withdrawn verses and raucous choruses, layered with psychedelic sounds reminiscent of early Pink Floyd. Recorded at Free Energy studios in Camperdown and produced by the legendary Phil...

Anna Rose - Start A War. Background promo - At first glance, one wouldn’t guess that Anna Rose, the adorably petite blonde with the sugary name, is a fearless, unabashed, mind-blowingly talented Rock and Roll powerhouse.  But, Rose, in fact, is walking, singing proof that big things most definitely come in small packages.   It’s no wonder that Pancakes and Whiskey declares her a “complete badass.” Anna Rose is gearing up for the release of her new EP, Strays In The Cut, a collection of six mesmerizing tracks that find the singer/songwriter pushing her musical boundaries. “I am very much an album artist and a storyteller, so the idea of scaling it all back to the size of an EP was a challenge in itself. It forced me to look at the songs in a different way, the production, everything. These six songs needed to tell the whole story. The limitations I placed on the length made the process so much more imaginative in every other aspect.” shares Rose. Strays in the Cut is the...

Three Tree Town - Two Birds. Background Promo - The pleasantly contrasting vocals and war-drum beats of Three Tree Town’s latest track “Two Birds” marks the beginning of the bands delve into their new sound. After several successful festival sets and over ten years playing together, the band now takes their countryside popularity and head for bigger lights.  In an unprecedented alliance with renowned musician and studio owner Beau McKee (Closure In Moscow) the band have managed to capture their alt/folk roots and combine them with new percussion grooves to form an en/rely alternate sound. “We never tire of this track” says one of two lead singers Dylan Berends. “And now with the alternate arrangement, this apple landed nowhere near the tree it fell from!”  With a “pull and go” style guitar technique, mix of female and male vocals and bouncing drum rhythms, “Two Birds” is an upward journey, speeding towards eternity, gaining momentum with each bar. The raspy vocals Dylan...

Flightress - The Room. Background - “The Room” is the latest offering from Perth acoustic duo Flightress, and explores the idea of homelessness, and one version of how it could feel to be put in that place personally. Songwriter Minky G says, “I wasn’t trying to make a political statement on being a refugee or losing your home, this is just how it feels to me when something that you thought was solid and immovable is taken from you, and you have to rely on other people to get you out of that place. But sometimes, that’s when you find the best parts of others, because it’s so much easier for them to walk away, and sometimes they don’t”. Recorded by the sea at Driftwood Studios in Trigg, WA, and produced by the talented Rene de Vries, “The Room” takes on a uniquely Australian sound, with the duo including sounds from the garden outside the studio (check out the magpies at the end of the track!) They also enlisted a cello player, who rocked up with a 19th century instrument to inclu...

Living Hour - Seagull. Background - Living Hour began in the basements of South Winnipeg, writing dreamy love songs inspired by the cinematic sky of their hometown. Blending bright shimmering guitar pop with thick casio drones and uniquely powerful, smoky vocals, their sound washes over you like  the soundtrack to the best parking lot makeout session of your youth.  Watery echoes of gorgeously sung melodies, psychedelic interlocking guitar, and huge driving crescendos create an enchanting wall of blissful dream pop. Living Hour contributed two songs to Family Portrait II, a vinyl compilation put out by Art is Hard Records (Bristol/London) in April 2015, and released a super limited edition cassette of their debut s/t album with Tree Machine Records (Bloomington) that same month. The band will release their debut album world-wide with Lefse Records (Portland) on February 19, 2016. Tour Dates: March 3    Winnipeg, MB    The Good Will Social Club Mar...