Last year, King TV's 'When She's Around' was featured on the very first Beech Coma release. Intimacy and hedonism high-five each other throughout the song as guitars switch from almost silent to screeching in waves - it's an utterly brilliant and thrilling song. When I first emailed frontman Louis Milburn about working with the band, I distinctly remember him asking me never to mention his age - just 17 at the time - as he was worried venues would stop booking the band.

Having just turned 18, and Louis is astoundingly prolific. Two further King TV releases under his belt, he also started writing solo work under the name Lou E late last year and released the beautiful and uplifting 'Teach Yourself'. Behind the scenes, given the number of different demos he has sent me since, I would guess there are in excess of 25 finished brilliant Lou E songs waiting to be unveiled - and today I have the utter pleasure of sharing my favourite, ‘Just One Thing’.

Taken from Vol. 3, out March 9th, ‘Just One Thing’ is a sprawling affair that really belongs over a sun-drenched road-trip scene in a cult 80s film. Juxtaposing everything that ‘When She’s Around’ is about, warm acoustic guitars slowly rise up like a heat wave from hot tarmac, whilst Louis’ vocals take you away with him as the dream-like, hazy melody slowly becomes lodged in your brain. 

Beech Coma Vol. 3 is released March 9th on cassette, t-shirt bundle and download - pre-order here - http://beechcoma.bandcamp.com/album/vol-3-2

Buy 'Vol. 3'

Lou E - Just One Thing

CreditLivesForever

schizo love (remaster)

Lattice Moore - "Superused"
The First Single Off 'Spilt', The Debut Album From Lattice Moore
Out 4/29/2016 On Forged Artifacts [FA032]

Buy Tape

Lattice Moore - Superused

High Lows

Happy Cassette Store Day! We’ve decided to celebrate by giving one of our favourite EP’s of recent times a proper physical release, it is of course Comfortably Swell, the debut EP from Brighton brother and sister duo Penelope Isles.

Originally self released on their own Wavey Head label, Comfortably Swell is seven tracks of wonderfully varied melodic beach pop. I often find it quite a struggle to write about music that I love so dearly, but thankfully our pal Ross has already done a pretty great job of describing what makes this release so special.

"Opening slowly with each listen, the way the group engage is in their apparent ease in writing such compelling melodies. Each chorus swells with emotional value; the gentle delivery of their vocals producing the most stirring effect. Lily sings with an innate ability to evoke child-like curiosity, ‘Apple Juice‘ full of wonderment in it’s loose and adventurous moments, ‘The Loop‘ dwells on love’s disorientating nature as guitars sweep and mingle in swelling distortion, while ‘Tea‘ dreams nostalgically of the coast, patters of synth topped with another heart-wrenching chord progression through it’s chorus.

It all builds around an empathetic belief in the reminiscent romance of growing up and it’s influence on what’s happening in the very present. ‘Bad Head‘s introduction is of wishful thinking and a proactive need for change; “I’m trying to act my real self / but I don’t think it’s working.”. A plea for difference and positivity opens the record to the colourful remembrance of youth, ‘Apple Juice‘s comfort and buoyancy in simplicity is the complete antithesis; “I think I’m the better swimmer / after only two weeks” Lily’s lyrics are convivial in their simplest form, yet are penned by an irrepressible melancholy, trying to hold onto the happiest of memories that allow at least a moment of escape, “grab your bucket and spade / before the memory fades“. "

If it had been left to me I would’ve just gone for the much less eloquent description of “Comfortably Swell is the sound of your favourite Beach House and Deerhunter records spinning round inside a tumble dryer full of glitter and that one good Melody’s Echo Chamber album.

As anyone who arrived early at our Label Mates party in March or our 6th Birthday in August will attest, live, these songs take on a new form as they soar and swell. Despite their early billing both times, I think I can honestly say both times they have been my favourite band I’ve seen that day. We’re really excited for whatever they come up with next, but in the meantime we thought giving this amazing EP a bit more attention served as a nice stick in the ground.

Comfortably Swell

Penelope Isles - Bad Head

i will actually make this album one day, but for now here is another demo

iknowwhatsbestforyou (demo)

Judy's Lament

Kite

From Fran's debut album out 11/15 on Fire Talk.

Pre Order / Pre Save: ffm.to/franaprivatepicture

The trick is to make a confession entertaining. A Private Picture, the debut album by Chicago’s Fran, delivers a collection of extremely personal experiences that have been distilled and abstracted to the point that you can see yourself in their imagery, find analogs to your own emotional history in their scenarios –when you hear them, it’s a conversation. It’s therapy, if therapy was allowed to turn you on and make you shake what you got. At its core, Fran’s music is about sharing a truth -–telling it, confessing it, yelling it—in the service of human connection. Or, as Jacobson puts it, “I feel that I am a songwriter for the same reason I wanted to be an actor. I want to tell the truth. I want to challenge myself to get closer and closer to the core of an experience, an emotion- I want to say it, sing it, in a way that says exactly what it is. I cry when I write songs because I am constantly making discoveries, about myself, about the world, about the best way to convey and connect and get closer.”

A Private Picture

Fran - So Surreal

DIY label based in south west England releasing great music on weird things.

You can stream all our releases in full over on our bandcamp - http://artishardrecords.bandcamp.com

Penelope Isles - Bad Head

Art Is Hard Records

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