We are very excited about our next release by Julian Pitt, aka Armstrong, as it is one we have hinted at and teased, especially with the inclusion of the wonderful song “This One” on our label sampler that was released several years back. So to say that the release of Armstrong‘s “Happy Graffiti” album was highly anticipated and eagerly awaited by some of us would be a huge understatement.
Previous albums have received excellent reviews with Julians’s music being compared to Aztec Camera/Roddy Frame, The Pearlfishers, Teenage Fanclub, Prefab Sprout, Lloyd Cole, Dream Academyand Trash Can Sinatras. Alex Green (Caught In The Carousel) once wrote: “Under Blue Skies is one of the most satisfying and melodic albums in recent memory…Armstrong’s lustrous debut presents Pitt as the new unheralded prince of pastoral pop. With a voice that lilts and soars like Roddy Frame or The Pearlfisher’s David Scott, Pitt is truly a splendid find.” Powerpopaholic stated about Songs About The Weather: “Fans of sunshine and baroque pop would do well to check out the latest album from Armstrong … If you enjoy wistful ballads and sun-kissed melodies that are brimming with emotion you’ll want to listen to Armstrong”
We are very proud to finally, after many years, release this wonderful gem of an album and hope it brings you much joy.
For this album we teamed up again with the brilliant UK label, Country Mile Recordshttp://www.countrymile.org/ a partnership we are very proud to involved with. Please Enjoy!
Armstrong – Happy Graffiti
Beauty 034
$15.00 CDN OUT NOW!
“Happy Graffiti” is available as a CD (Beauty 034) directly from our store
and also from Country Mile Records http://www.countrymile.org/.
Armstrong info: http://thebeautifulmusic.com/the-bands/armstrong/
Armstrong Bandcamp: https://armstrong2.bandcamp.com/
Thirty years in the making and it is finally here, and we are so excited to be finally releasing the long-anticipated debut album by The Dupont Circles, a band that has been lost in time, but are now ready to be rediscovered. We have been working on this album for about five years and the recordings span a period of about 30 years. They were formed originally as The Spills in 1988 in Washington D.C. and morphed into The Dupont Circles, with their early recordings dating back to several rare 7” singles on the Cara Records label – “Sarah The Weather Girl” in 1995 and “The 53 Bicycles EP” in 1998 and after that several appearances on compilations, on some pretty cool labels like March Records, Planting Seeds Records, Japan’s Rover Records, and Italy’s Lost In Tyme label, not to mention a contribution to our very own Television Personalities tribute series.
This is a very exciting release for the Beautiful Music label, when you get to release an album by two extremely talented musicians, whose careers you have followed for years. So what happens when you combine the talents of the queen of power pop, Lisa Mychols AKA Ellie, on the sunny west coast of the USA, with the talents of pop maverick, and one of the most productive musicians, across the ocean in Scotland, Paul Ryan, aka Trip, aka SUPER 8? Well let me tell you, it’s the soundtrack of your Summer, The Hit of Summer 2020 and an album you will return to year after year! These Sun-drenched melodies, just conjure up images, of sandy beaches, surf boards, shiny cars, crashing waves and beautiful people. It’s here, a Summer Smash (sort of like Denim‘s Summer Smash, but without the car crash), an album to cherish and love & blast on the car speakers with the roof down. Estella from Fadeaway Radiate, described their single Honey Bee as “a must for lovers of sunshine pop, northern soul and the sound and aesthetics of the 60’s in general. The song is a groovy feel-good tune with lush layers of sprightly harmonies”. The whole album, carries on in a similar theme, and I dare you to get these songs and melodies out of your head, once lodged there. This is what timeless music is made of.
musician, that is just waiting to be discovered. Some may recognize the name as the person behind the wonderful band Play People who first recorded two EP’s on the brilliant This Almighty Pop! label run by a person with impeccable taste, Stephen Maughan (of Bulldozer Crash, Kosmonaut and The Memory Fades) and a 7” single on another highly regarded label Cloudberry Records (run by Roque Ruiz, who is one of the most knowledgeable people in the indie pop world). So already with a pedigree like that, you know it is going to be excellent and we are immensely proud to have it as a Beautiful Music release.
there appears to be quite a lot more going on in the music of these songs and Lloyd isn’t that easily pigeonholed. The release starts off with “Lost & Lonely” in a beautiful, meandering, dreamy Beatles influenced song with hints of “Strawberry Fields Forever” and then picks up a bit with some mid 70’s soft rock / easy listening, lounge moods sneaking in, but it’s Lloyd’s vocals that tear at your heartstrings but inspire hope when he sings lines like “leave me down here on my own” & “the suns coming up”. However, it’s what follows, the amazing “OXFORD Guitar Club” with its hints of New Order meets The Jazz Butcher, with a bit of an Altered Images guitar feel that really hooked us. We won’t give our impressions on all the songs, as we would prefer you make your own, but suffice to say Lloyd keeps that beautiful momentum going all the way through these songs. This is a brilliant mini LP/EP, in our opinion, but we prefer you made your own opinions.
Just who are The Irony Board & why have we not heard of them before? Information about the band is quite scarce, but we do know that they had a song featured on one of Firestation Records legendary “The Sound Of Leamington Spa” series (Volume 7), which in itself automatically gives them some street cred., as Firestation Records are certainly one of the purveyors of great taste in this modern era. We also know that a published novel, “Capturing The Wry”, was written about the band, this book written by John Hartley (aka Johny Nocash) chronicles the crazy and fascinating story of the trials and tribulations of his unsigned band The Irony Board. That book, which is highly recommended, was endorsed by Merric Davidson (editor of Toppermost.co.uk) and Steve Williamson (EIO40 kingpin), and several members of the Trash Can Sinatras, making this story even more intriguing. Initial copies of the book were accompanied by a free bonus CD, of studio recordings, of the tracks featured within the book. That however is just the tip of the iceberg.
As we get back in action, we have a brand new album to be released on our label in May, which I’m very excited about, it’s an album by James Clarke Five, the latest project by James Hughes (AKA Clarke), an amazing musician who played in the short lived, but very talented 80’s Liverpool band, 
We can however confirm that new music is in the works and judging from this latest single “End Of The Summer”, a beautiful and languid delight of hooks and harmonies, we can confidently say that there must be some humans behind this project and without a doubt, you are going to love their new album. Listen to “End Of The Summer” on their Bandcamp page.