The always excellent Graham Reid over at Elsewhere posted a brilliant track from the vaults - Vacuum Cleaner by Londoners Tintern Abbey , a minor classic on the Deram label. So what could I do but whip the Nuggets II box off the shelf and submerge myself in the more obscure sounds of the mid-sixties.. and once again it struck me (and I should really know by now) that The Marmalade 's I See The Rain is a work of staggering pop genius, their third 45 and described by none other than [...]

[Soma Quality Recordings] Mark Henning has released a slew of dependable, mildly twisted techno that's seen him increasingly recognised and charted over the latter half of the 00s. By proxy, Tokyo native Den remains something of an unknown quantity. Working together, they've produced four tracks more commercially minded than those familiar with Henning's discography may be accustomed to; the resulting Cosmic Marmalade EP for Soma Quality Recordings is something of a mixed bag. "Canis Major" opens [...]
It's not all swearing and disco round here, I do other shit as well you know. Lately I've been organising an art exhibition called Marmalade and Manners. We're raising money for The Oxford Wheels Project , a charity I run in Oxford which provides free skateboard and BMX facilities. I'll spare you the gory details of getting repeatedly fucked in the arse by City Councillors suffice to say Oxford needs a new skatepark. This exhibition will be showing work from artists who have been brought together through painting and skating at the Skate [...]
After a "wild, fast" tour of the UK in a "little tiny roller skate thing" of a car, Sea of Bees have made it home in time for this video and super-short interview with BreakThru Radio. I shall continue to bang my head on my desk and regret that I missed seeing the show in [...]

Finally, I'm done with my SXSW features! yes, almost a month later. Don't judge. Last of my favorite acts from SXSW is Sea of Bees. Sea of Bees is Julie "Junes" Baenziger (plus about 3 other performers for the live show). Her unique soprano vocals are in sharp contrast to her tomboyish looks. The songs were booming and haunting, with tracks like "Marmelade" and "Gnomes" as the stand-outs. Although a strange comparison, each sounds like it would work well as part of the soundtrack to a Western: untamed and heavy, spurs and all. Jules commanded the stage with [...]
Feb 26, 2011, 2:43am
SGTMT
Tweet A few weeks back we posted about new London band Good Dangers . We liked them a lot but, perhaps unfairly, described them as 'so homemade they're basically Jam'. After writing the post I felt an ever so slight tweak of regret. These poor souls may well have spent hour upon hour putting in the graft and work that comes with being an unsigned band in an overcrowded indie music scene. But then in the midst of my regret [...]
Original copies of We Are Ever So Clean are pretty hard to come by. I've seen a couple in the past year (mono and stereo UK), but that is because I'm usually lucky. It's hard to believe that a record like this came out during the same year as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band . That album was (obviously) a critical success and expanded on the musical themes of the band's earlier works, while incorporating more "psychedelic" elements like reversed tape loops and echo. Meanwhile, the Blossom Toes were taking those same elements [...]
Marmalade is a song I wrote to a friend, and it was a message of worth and truth and kindness and beauty, that you can have good and that you can be loved," Julie Ann Bee of Sea of Bees tells Spinner Magazine. ...we did the video in our hometown in Sacramento ......I had fun stomping on the oranges at the Aztec Theatre and squeezing them until they were completely demolished." Enjoy "Marmalade" above and its remix below from Julie Ann, "Jules", new album, Songs for the Ravens [...]
Sea of Bees is Julie Ann Bee (Baenziger), a Sacramento-based songwriter/multi-instrumentali st. On Songs For The Ravens , her full-length debut, she channels traditional American folk into rich, gorgeously arranged indie pop. "Marmalade" is one of many jaw-dropping standouts, pairing Julie's spellbinding vocals with waves of electric harmonies. Watch its hallucinatory clip above and grab Songs over at Crossbill Records . Sea of Bees- Marmalade
A cloudy start to Memorial Day weekend? Hope the weather gets fucking nice . Fast. The Marmalade "I See The Rain" from Nuggets II The Dodos "Walking" from Visiter Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros "Johnny Appleseed" from Global A Go-Go The Radio Dept. "Pulling Our Weight" from Pulling Our Weight EP 13 & God (The Notwist x Themselves) "Perfect Speed" from s/t BONUS [...]

Especially in music, it seems there are a lot of names that most prominently exist as a footnote. I'm sure that's a peculiar place to find oneself in. You see this often in the quite communal scenes of the late '60s and early '70s, the best example being the Beatles and how everyone associated with them gets the distinction of "sixth Beatle," "seventh Beatle," and so on. Marmalade is such a group. Most music dorks seem to immediately associate Marmalade as simply the group that did a decent cover of a Beatles song, and [...]

Last night's Life on Mars brought a couple more good songs to the episode. The show's still doing okay, but the music, like its predecessor in the UK, is definitely a highlight. Last night's episode was a good one - they're starting to deviate a bit from the original, which is good. Sweet Cherry Wine - Tommy James & the Shondells Just A Little Lovin' - Dusty Springfield Reflections of My Life - The Marmalade [...]
Words are overrated. From Little Richard to Rihanna, sometimes a song can say more with random sounds than any coherent content. So to celebrate the inanity of catchy hooks that don't mean a thing Queen - Tutti Frutti (Little Richard) Rocking out one of the most famous phrases in rock and roll, Freddie Mercury "wop bop a lu bop, a wop bam boom"s his ass off with some crowd participation. And – big shock – Brian May is very good at guitar. [ Buy ] [...]

I promised myself that I would stick to just one cover for this episode. Just one. Not too much effort. I've gone a bit over the top in previous weeks, with five versions of Happy Days and eight versions of High Wire . It's all very well, but it takes an enormous amount of time and effort on my part. For this reason, I've only got one cover this week. Actually, I couldn't resist slipping another one in. Here's Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da . [...]

From: The Very Best of (Castle, 2005) Download Learn Home Fan Last.fm
Heaven And Hell - Black Sabbath International Bright Young Thing - Jesus Jones Show Me How To D.A.N.C.E. - Justice vs Jay-Z Hey You - Dean Wareham Walk On - Jeff Tweedy (Neil Young cover via I Am Fuel You And Your Sister - [...]

Apologies for not being up on the blog lately. I’ve been busy with someone things but I’m glad SeveredHand posted Longwave’s “I Know It’s Coming.†Back in college, we must have listened to that song at least 200 times over the period of a few months. I’m going to build on SH’s evening theme from yesterday. Here’s Gillian Welch’s version of a Greg Brown tune called “Summer Evening.†Welch’s voice, especially on Time (The Revelator), might be one of the most supremely sad and beautiful things I’ve ever heard. In a few days, I’ll be heading back to my [...]