BEEHIVE CANDY

Healyum - Cheap Alcohol. Background - Newcomers Healyum have delivered on early promise with new single ‘Cheap Alcohol’.  Previous singles ‘Lies’, ‘Three Months’ and ‘Fools Eyes’ have been supported by Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1, BBC Introducing, and Radio X (where all three have appeared on the evening playlist).  ‘Cheap Alcohol’ will join those earlier singles on the bands debut ‘Join The Party EP’ (released on July 27th).  Combining London Grammar-like minimalism with a shimmering, pop-tronica edge inspired by Lorde, they’ve received glowing reviews.  The music has also found it’s way onto various BBC Drama & Channel 4 TV shows, and they won the ‘Breakout Artist Award’ at the NMG Awards last year. The band’s BBC Introducing support led to them being filmed live in-session and they recently played alongside fellow Bedford-boy Tom Grennan as well as Fickle Friends and Circa Waves. Singer-songwriter Jeaná Healy explains that if she threw a party, ‘Cheap Alc...

Tomberlin - Any Other Way. Background - Tomberlin, the rising Louisville, KY-based artist, has released a video for "Any Other Way," the opener from her anticipated Saddle Creek debut album, At Weddings. On her deeply moving debut album At Weddings, Sarah Beth Tomberlin writes with the clarity and wisdom of an artist well beyond her years. Immeasurable space circulates within the album's ten songs, which set Tomberlin's searching voice against lush backdrops of piano and guitar. Like Julien Baker and Sufjan Stevens, she has a knack for transforming the personal into parable. Like Grouper, she has a feel for the transcendent within the ordinary. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, and now based in Louisville, Kentucky, Tomberlin wrote most of At Weddings while living with her family in southern Illinois during her late teens and early twenties. At 16, she finished her homeschooling curriculum and went to college at a private Christian school she describes, only half-jo...

Jen Awad - Break A Man. Background - Grab the nearest fire extinguisher cos Jen Awad is about to set your wig alight. This half Egyptian, half Peruvian powerhouse delivers the kneecap melting soul and sass of Etta James combined with an in-your-face swagger reminiscent of Tina Turner. Self taught on vocals, piano, guitar and bass, Jen also pens the lyrics to all of her material.    Jen's ability to deliver cherubic, velvety vocals that effortlessly transition into the radical rumble of a runaway 18 wheeler doing 90 mph on an open highway is a feat in itself to witness live. Backed by an eight member band with a horn section, Jen Awad packs a combination punch that will leave your core ringing in the most delectable manner imaginable. Recently Jen Awad has been selected to play the Broke L.A. Festival, being 1 of 50 acts chosen out of 700 contenders. She has consistently filled her local L.A. venues to maximum capacity and is steadily gaining ground as a widely respected a...

Japanese Television - Tick Tock. Background - Japanese harp and synth player Ian Thorn and Bassist Alex Lawton met on tour in Europe, performing as part of a Canadian space-rock orchestra. They bonded over their shared passion for Finnish experimental band Circle, Pink Floyd, Television, Broadcast and Brian Eno, and went on to form instrumental space-surf band, Japanese Television, with James Moriaty and Tim Jones. They put together a collection of tracks that would make their debut self-titled EP and went into “the studio” (i.e a village hall outside of Peterborough, England, armed with an 8-track) with Kristian Bell of The Wytches at the helm. The EP is out on 7th September via revered underground label Tip Top Recordings (Cassels, Sun Cop). This week the band share first single from the EP; Tick Tock - a white knuckle ride journey through time and space. The single was given its first play last night on John Kennedy's Radio X, with John making it a 'hot one'. He sai...

Princess Chelsea - Wasting Time. Background - New Zealand subversive pop artist Princess Chelsea (Chelsea Nikkel) shares the second single "Wasting Time" from her forthcoming fourth studio album The Loneliest Girl, due out on 7 September via Lil' Chief.  The album examines the loneliness and ultimately the artistic satisfaction a strong work ethic can bring, the result of which is this eclectic collection of pop songs. The Loneliest Girl captures moments of inspiration and madness, with lyrics that show Chelsea isn't afraid to ask the deeper questions while still maintaining a playful nature about it all.  "I can’t be bothered with subscribing to any kind of 'sound,'" Chelsea says. That becomes evident upon listening to "Wasting Time," a pop culture puzzle, sonically speaking. The song has influences of early Madonna melded with 1960s Brian Wilson that Chelsea peppers with kitschy Yamaha DX7 synths, trombone, and a choir.  The music ...

JP Harris - When I Quit Drinking. Background - In today’s musical culture, the word “authenticity” seems to have lost all meaning. What used to represent something bona fide and true is now just watered-down marketing speak, stamped onto press releases without a second thought. Born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1983, JP Harris doesn’t fancy himself a musician as much as he does a carpenter who writes country songs. However, his stranger-than-fiction story begins after the eighth grade, when he left home on a Greyhound bus in the middle of a summer night. And he’s never looked back. Released this week is an album highlight and first single, “When I Quit Drinking,” which, as its title suggests, is a tender look at one of Harris’ most personal struggles. Gossamer strands of pedal steel complement the gentle quaver in his voice, underpinning some of his most personal lyrics to date. With his forthcoming album Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing (due out October 5th on Free Dirt Records), Harri...

Joy Autumn - Brave. Background - Brave is her poppiest song to date and possibly her best. Her chamber-esque, Kate Bush influenced voice is still front and center, but the instrumentation, full of synths and drum machines, is intriguing and the chorus, incredibly catchy.  Written as a personal pep talk during a dark period of depression, the song ultimately became something larger—an encouragement to confront your fears, to be honest about your experiences, to reach out for help and take tremendous leaps of faith like approaching a love-interest or chasing your dreams. “I wrote Brave when I was feeling so depressed I could hardly get out of bed. I forgot why I created music in the first place and Brave was written as a personal pep talk to myself. Depression is something that I’ve struggled with my whole life, but is not something that I’ve talked about publicly, until this song.  If I can help one person become inspired, despite their obstacles, to get out of bed, ta...

Michael Nau and the Mighty Thread - When. Background - Michael Nau will release his new, full band album ‘Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread’ through Full Time Hobby on 3rd August. ‘Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread’ is the follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed album ‘Some Twist’ and its extension ‘The Load’ EP. Following the release of singles 'Less Than Positive', 'Funny In Real Life'  and 'You You', the band have now shared a video for album track 'When'. “The video is just a bunch of old (public-domain) home movie footage that I liked and I’ve been trying to assemble in different ways,” says The Mighty Thread drummer and 'When' video creator Graeme Gibson. “Good people moments. I found that editing visuals is a bit different than audio so I enlisted the help of an experienced documentary editor Emilee Booher to put the footage to good use.” “There was a musical language that we created; something without a guiding pattern that...

Alex Arpino - I Remember You (Dancing with the Devil). Background - Alex Arpino has had a rich history in Perth music, with a decade fronting indie pop purveyors The Autumn Isles behind him, he has now set out on a solo escapade by releasing his debut self-tilted record - also to receive a hometown launch this September 1. Following on from first taster Space Ghost (In a Puppet), current single I Remember You (Dancing with the Devil) heralds an open playing field and showcases not only his songwriter prowess, but Arpino's skills as a producer. Written and recorded in his studio, Alex Arpino handles all instrumental and vocal duties with help from Malcolm Clark (The Sleepy Jackson) on drums and has pieced together an infectious set of songs balancing the line between new wave and psych pop. A creative force, Alex Arpino has been described as a renaissance man, whether it’s producing large scale urban art murals and delicate portrait work or constructing records, his depth of art...

Sophie Morgan - Sons & Daughters. Background - Twenty one-year-old singer-songwriter Sophie Morgan has announced her second EP Sons & Daughters will be released on 21st September, with the lead title track Sons & Daughters, out now. Born in Liverpool and raised in Rainhill and Widnes, Sophie began playing piano aged 6 and wrote her first songs aged 9. Brought up on an early musical education of Nick Drake and Van Morrison, and later introduced to Joni Mitchell and Carole King, Sophie released her first singles Marionette and Quietly in 2016. She followed these with the release of her debut EP Annie and lead single Hey Annie last year, alongside a UK and European tour with The Waterboys, whose track The Whole Of The Moon features on the Annie EP. Sons & Daughters was written in the same afternoon as previous single Hey Annie, with The Verve’s Simon Jones and Davide Rossi (Goldfrapp, Coldplay, The Verve). It is an emotive folk song which fully showcases Sophie’s warm...