Adrianne Lenker – cradle
German Error Message – Hopelessness
Jo Schornikow – Incomplete
Grizzly Coast – Half-Light Boy
Taylor Hamilton – Might Say
Porridge Radio – Give / Take
Patio – Scum
Ruthie – Spirit Now Moves
Esther Rose – Don’t Blame It On the Moon
Blood Cultures – Flowers For All Occasions
Puddle-Cuddle – Compost
Mess – Dead Space
Cry Babe – Soft Honk
The Painters – Pieces of Life
Two Meters – Ground
Erin Durant – Take a Load Off
Michelle Blades – Ring
Eric & Magill – Thanks to Sciences
Foundlings – Caught Up on You
Craig Finn – Something To Hope For
JW Ridley – Homesick (Out The Blue)
Pieket – Eternal Recurrence
The Curfews – Rose
Emily Fairlight – Body Below
Raggedy – Brainwash
Barrie – Saturated
Blush – Forever Is a Long Time
Shane Leonard – Empire Builder
Con Davison – Sofa Bed
Gold Light + Snakemusk – The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
The Chats – Pub Feed
Shutups – Yellowjacket
Izzy Heltai – Stuck In Stone
Adam Ostrar – Take It Back
The Death Of Pop – Last
Toledo – Some Samurai
Yot Club – Japan
Evan Thomas Way & The Phasers – Long Distance
K. Campbell – Heads Up
The Duke of Norfolk – As the Heralds Revere You
Leaky Engine-John Birch Society Blues
naps – treading
Vieo Abiungo – What the Rain Restores
Old Earth – The Friends ∴ The Gods
Good Good Blood & Astral Social Club – Heathen Astronaut

Like what you hear? Catch up with the rest of our Monthly Mixes!

The post April 2019 Roundup Mix appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Adam Ostrar is back with a follow-up record, The Worried Coat, and his ambitions are no less impressive. Working with collaborators from the likes of Califone, The Boxhead Ensemble and The Lofty Pillars, Ostrar uses the album to develop his playful, experimental folk-rock hybrid, though the groovy tone hides the its true nature. Very much a product of our time, The Worried Coat collects various divergent voices to create the true fabric of present-day America. Careful to avoid any easy stereotypes or caricature, the Ostrar hurdles concepts like ‘red’ or ‘blue’, ‘good’ or bad’ and instead presents an entire society shaped by abstract forces like nostalgia, nationalism, capitalism and corruption. “It’s twelve narratives on otherness, self-identity, and our personal relationships with anxiety,” Ostrar explains. “How we often betray our best intentions through willful ignorance.”

Emerging from a gentle, honeyed rhythm, ‘Kansas City’ is a prime example of Ostrar’s ability to juxtapose mood and theme. The track finds Joe the Plumber gazing back into a sepia tone past, the warm instrumentation lapping at the edge of his memories. Only, the kicker is that no such past existed, his nostalgia centred on a time embellished and idealised within his head.

Elsewhere, we have displaced refugees (‘Bloody Waves’), environmental activists (‘Storm the Beach’), imperialist bigots (‘Walk the Savages Home’) and even evangelical snake-oil peddlers who might just be named after an infamous radio host (‘Alex the Cretin’). Veering between psychedelic rock, laidback pop and sparse hymns, the sound is as varied as its cast of characters, the threads uniting into a very American tapestry that could be said to show a dystopian future, if only the scene wasn’t so God damned familiar.

The Worried Coat is out now on Super Secret Records.

The post Adam Ostrar – The Worried Coat appeared first on Various Small Flames.