New music Friday: Bitmap, European Sun, C-Beem

Today’s new music comes all from England, but spans the indie pop and post punk genres so I guess it might appeal to different audiences?

Bitmap

First, Bitmap is a project by Luke Barwell – who is music photographer Ami Barwell’s brother (small world) and he used to be part of a great band I loved called Salako. I managed to find the Musicality and Reinventing Punctuation LPs on vinyl at the Last Bookstore for only $10 each! So, buying all 3 Bitmap CDs on Bandcamp Fridays was a no brainer for me. Here’s his bio from Bandcamp:

Bitmap is a band made from just one man. Luke Barwell is that man. He is made from atoms and dark matter in equalamounts.

Releasing critically acclaimed albums and singles since 2003.

Luke is formerly a member of John Peel favourites and Belle & Sebastian / Snow Patrol label-mates, Salako (See Merch page for very limited numbers of Salako vinyl etc).

European Sun

Rob Pursey of Catenary Wires reached out to me on Facebook after seeing my review of the Catenary Wires album on about Backseat Mafia. His new band/album European Sun, which does feature Amelia on this track “Favourite Day,” though I think it’s mostly his vocal leads. Here’s some info and a video:

Favourite Day is the fourth single from European Sun, another essential release for fans of Jonathan Richman, the Television Personalities, BMX Bandits, Felt, the June Brides, the Velvet Underground, C86, early Creation, Subway, Postcard and Sarah Records. Favourite Day is released in time for the August Bank Holiday weekend; a paean to Lou Reed, a kitchen sink indiepop retelling of Perfect Day, with melting ice creams, sandy Pringles and a verse that feels like it was written in another world

C-Beem

A great way for me to ignore your music is to pm me on Twitter, so it certainly says something for me to notice and respond to artists on Twitter. I usually only follow artists I know and like already there. C-Beem asked about my name Helen Murphy, so I had to explain that it was randomly generated for Hogwarts Mystery – though it happened to be on the day of the Bauhaus show – so of course, there was a Bauhaus influence.

After I listened to and enjoyed his first track “Ed Straker Future”, he responded with his bio:

The C-Beem handle (altered spelling for search purposes) is from Roy Batty’s great line in my favourite sci-fi film, Blade Runner: “I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.” It’s an intriguing line because it’s never explained what a C-beam actually is! A terrible weapon or something else? I love the enigma of it. It’s also significant from my first name, Chris, not to mention my keyboard workstation which features something quirky called a D-Beam. It hangs together for me in my love for sci-fi and electro-orientated pop.

My music ventures go all the way back to my childhood in Leicester, when my two brothers and I formed a punk-ish rock band called The Foils in the early 80s, well-displayed by Tim’s tinfoil covered drum kit! Jon wielded the axe while I hammered away at the keyboard, and when I say keyboard, I mean a ‘Bontempi Playsound’ with severely limited capabilities, though it did kick out a decent organ sound.

I’d say that John Lord of Deep Purple and Dave Greenfield of the Stranglers were my demi-gods at this time. Through the decades, I’ve weaved through various bands and projects, either as vocalist or keyboard player. Now as C-Beem I solo-record my own stuff like a studio-rat, combining my singing and keyboards.

My influences are defiantly post-punk 80s: New Order, Depeche Mode, Ultravox, Tears for Fears, Psychedelic Furs e.t.c … all artists with a kind of underground futurism in their sound. I am currently mixing tracks for my second album ‘Neon Gods’ planned for Fall release 2020.

My Spotty Links

General Artist: https://open.spotify.com/artist/08uffFb3gAnLsPCqqwT6io…

Little Jet Angel: https://open.spotify.com/album/6Y7y7qgbk2axHMfJwcCtPp…
Tumbleweed in Tinseltown: https://open.spotify.com/album/0QpUKW3rS1KirQUrir8bpt…
Ed Straker Future: https://open.spotify.com/album/0Avpg8sy2Qjm1cJITHI6Hj…

My Twitter Link https://twitter.com/ChrisALM1
My Soundcloud Link https://soundcloud.com/user-431936225