This UK indie outfit was formed by two friends who grew up on the Isle of Wight in the English Channel. Multi-instrumentalists Paul Butler and Aaron Fletcher played in separate local bands on the island before reuniting at the end of the 90s to record together as the Bees. Their debut album was recorded in Butler's shed on a selection of home studio equipment. The charming, well-constructed pop songs on Sunshine Hit Me eschewed samplers and sequencers, creating a mellow sunshine pop style out of an eclectic range of styles including 60s Brit Invasion, psychedelic, funk, reggae and Latin. Though occasionally veering towards self-indulgence, the duo's talent shone through on tracks such as debut single "Punchbag" and the Os Mutantes' cover version "A Minha Menina". The album drew a favourable critical response from the UK music press, with Butler and Fletcher receiving a Mercury Music Prize nomination a few months after its release in March 2002.

Listen to The Bees at Finetune.

• I Love You
• Horsemen
• CHICKEN PAYBACK (MADLIB'S SOUL DISTORTION VOCAL REMIX)
• These Are The Ghosts (Undead Version)
• Go Karts

• Radiohead
• The Shins
• Beck
• Rolling Stones
• The Killers
• Flaming Lips
• Supergrass
• Blur
• Oasis
• Arctic Monkeys
• David Bowie
• Kaiser Chiefs
• TV On The Radio
• Led Zeppelin
• The White Stripes
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• The Verve
• Kings Of Leon
• The Smiths
• Feist

• Stuey_P
• copacetic_existence
• sagnelson
• jhwhite85
• ChickenCrab
• GlassOnion
• bloeffle
• jenzweben
• belleradio
• kgmankin
• gojanglesi

• mattsearch on 2007-08-14 13:01:07.437:
  Great tunes, great group.