Tuesday Tunes--April 12, 2016
Shaun Cordingley
This week's Tuesday Tunes has a bit more of a mellow feel to it (if you ignore the smashing indie rock tune), with a heavy British flavour. I also, for the first time (as far as I can remember) am featuring more debut singles than not.
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new and different music, or re-expose them to things they may have forgotten about.
At the top of each section, will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website, so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Love and Hate - Arrow Benjamin
London born singer-songwriter Arrow Benjamin is first up this week with his excellent, soulful single 'Love and Hate'. Heavily featuring Arrow Benjamin's amazing voice (which some may recognize from his featured role on Naughty Boy's 'Runnin' with Beyonce), this is a gospel infused slice of nostalgia-feeling (but decidedly modern) soul. This is one of those songs that I feature on here that you can probably be certain to hear an awful lot of, as I would be surprised if 'Love and Hate' and Arrow Benjamin did not become much more well-known, and used in film/television, soon.
Check out his other single 'Look at Me' which is a bit faster, but is sure to draw some love, especially from Gnarls Barkley fans. Plus it gives you a chance to really appreciate Arrow Benjamin's awesome hat.
You & Me - The Hunna
Also hailing from London, indie rock quartet The Hunna have a really great track in 'You & Me'. This is one of those songs that is just screaming for summer, as it's undeniably well produced, upbeat, catchy, and one of those songs that just makes me want to grab a beer and sit against a tree. This has pretty much everything one should expect from a true up-and-coming indie rock band (and yes, it is rock; this is electric guitars, bass and drums).
Their debut album 100 is expected some time this year.
Going Sideways - Shred Kelly
Fernie, British Columbia's folk-rock group Shred Kelly is up next with their song 'Going Sideways' off of their third album Sing to the Night (released in 2015). This is the purest of pure folk songs, heavily featuring the claw-hammer banjo (for which the band has become known), but also their beautiful harmonies.
If you have never heard Shred Kelly before, I do have to suggest you explore their three albums--particularly Sing to the Night as they are really showing a lot of growth musically, and the diversity of tempo and sound they are infusing into their folk-rock is really quite excellent.
Foxglove - HAARM
This debut single from Liverpool based HAARM is a little slice of indie pop that really gets its' hooks into you, between the harmonies, the simple, rhythmic drumming offsetting the almost nonchalant vocals giving 'Foxglove' a compelling sound. This is one of those songs that I could not wait to get on this list once I heard it, because I know that I 100% want to have it on my playlists for the month, and am really looking forward to hearing what HAARM release next.
Hot Air Balloons- Blue House
I'm not going to lie, I do not really know much about UK based Blue House, but this gloriously 1990s sounding indie pop tune (their debut single from late 2015) is absolutely awesome. Blue House is made up of James Howard (formerly of Fiction) and Ursula Russell (formerly of Drop Out Venus) have delivered a simple, but charming bit of mellow, yet resonant pop song, heavily relying on Russell's blissed-out vocals to give 'Hot Air Balloons' a real charm that carried the song right onto this list.
March's Tuesday Tunes Apple Music Playlist is now available! As usual, I have done my best to mix it all together like I'm spinning a set for you, but as that is hard to do without being able to fade, mix, or talk through the transitions, you will have to forgive a few hard edges...although this one was not as hard as some months previous.
The February Tuesday Tunes Apple Music Playlist, with all the songs put together the way we all like it, the Massive, 2-month (and almost impossible to blend together) December & January Tuesday Tunes Apple Music Playlist is right here. The November Tuesday Tunes Apple Music Playlist and the October Apple Music Playlist is still available of course as well, in case you have not caught those yet (or just need more theguysfrom.com in your life).
Support what you dig! It's soooo much cheaper than anything else out there. You cannot even buy birthday hats for what one of the songs listed here would cost you...Yeah, it's my birthday this coming weekend....
We will see you again next week with 5 more Tuesday Tunes!
-S (@Shauncord)