The track is called ‘Everything is Salted Caramel’, a song which sees Exam Season take the juxtaposition of the en vogue sweet treat and apply it to relationships. The message seems to be that it’s okay to take the rough with the smooth and that a dash of proverbially salty feelings is not just normal, but can make the sweet ones taste that much better.

“Everything has to be
sweet and salty”

If you’re unfamiliar with the Pin Pal Club, it’s a subscription service that sends not only a new and exclusive single each month, but also a specially designed enamel pin badge. It was planned to be a thing that ran through 2016, but if you order the year subscription now you get all the previous pins in one package, which might be more or less exciting, depending on your character. Also, the pins and corresponding singles are available for purchase individually via the Art is Hard online store.

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Balto – CA LUV / Born Astray

Portland, Oregon’s Balto are nothing if not busy. Returning from a solo tour of Russia, lead Daniel Sheron has announced the band’s new album will be released next February, and provided two singles to show why we should be excited. ‘CA LUV’ is a peppy folk-pop number with delightfully fluent lyrics, the words following around the fluid bends of the instrumentation with a pleasing trip that will no doubt soundtrack your days once the warmer months return.

If ‘CA LUV’ is made for summer days, then second single ‘Born Astray’ is made for timeless nights, those late hours when regret and alcohol blend into a curious form of joy. Luke Beckel’s vocals capture this perfectly, his soulful croon transitioning to impassioned yells every so often, as though emotions become too urgent to hold in. Get both singles from the Balto Bandcamp page!

Matt Townsend – Came Down From The Mountain

While Matt Townsend has so far peddled solo acoustic music, his forthcoming two-part EP series sees him expand into a wider, more varied sound. Taken from the first EP, The Drifter and the Dream, ‘Come Down From The Mountain’ is folk music that draws upon a number of other elements, with 60s pop, indie rock and orchestral ambient influences all clear and present. You can pre-order the EP now via Bandcamp, and Townsend is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for the release, which you can support here.

Tape Deck Mountain – I Will Break U

Tape Deck Mountain is a recording project led by San Diego’s Travis Trevisan, and ‘I Will Break U’ is the title track of their latest EP. With its harsh sound and ominous vocals, the track lurches forwards like some creeping gas-powered giant, various sharp and jagged noises swirling and combining into a dense, monolithic juggernaut that simply demands your attention.  I Will Break U is out now on Semi-Pro Records and is available via Bandcamp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqY1L6-4Pq4

Swim Team – Are You Forgetting Something?

Swim Team are here to remind you 1) it’s summer somewhere in the world, and 2) Melbourne is a hotbed of garage rock talent. As if to drive home the latter fact, the lineup consists of members of other bands, with Krystal Maynard of Bad Vision, Sammy Wass of The Pink Tiles and Esther Sandler of PAPPY joined by TJ Day on drums to create something of a crunchy pop super group. With debut EP, Holiday, due for release on the 6th January, first single ‘Are You Forgetting Something?’ is our appetite whetter, a warm slice of 90s-style pop-rock that’s simultaneously bright and a little sad.

For those of you lucky enough to live in/near Melbourne, Swim Team have a release show pencilled in for the 14th January at The Old Bar.

Andrew Younker – Pink Slip

Taken from his latest EP, Brainchild, new single ‘Pink Slip’ finds Michigan’s Andrew Younker creating dreamy, nostalgic vibes, his vocals peeking through the lush instrumentation with a cool sense of calm. The lyrics themselves are less magical, painting an indistinct, almost surreal scene involving a businessman on the front lawn and hopes of the titular pink slip. Brainchild is available now via Bandcamp on a pay-what-you-can basis.

Neurotic Fiction – Mediator

Following their snap debut EP earlier this year, Bristol/Cardiff/Exeter band Neurotic Fiction are back with new single, ‘Mediator’. Toeing the line between Buzzcocks-style punk and Brit jangle pop the track races along with an insistent yet upbeat energy, making for an urgent and moreish two minutes that place the band firmly on your radar.

The song is half of an AA single (along with ‘Generals’), being released as part of Art Is Hard Records’ Pin Pal Club. Pre-order yours here.

Happyness – Falling Down

This coming Spring will see Happyness follow-up their excellent debut, Weird Little Birthday, with a new record on Moshi Moshi Records. While the album doesn’t yet have a name, it does have a single. ‘Falling Down’ is a slow-building track mixing retro rock and shoegaze, the opening sequence stretching out over the two minute mark before soft-edged vocals complete the atmosphere of gentle melancholic fondness. Keep an eye on Moshi Moshi Records for pre-order info.

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Tracklisting:

1. Amerika – Wintersleep
2. Born Confused – Porridge Radio
3. Catchyalater – Frog
4. Water – Opals
5. Listerine – Foxall
6. Nightmare Song – Oscar Lush
7. October Mirage – Island Eyes
8. Past is Personal – West America
9. Roller – Quilt
10. Unattached – Two White Cranes
11. On the Nights You Stay Home – Donovan Woods
12. Call Out – Minor Moon
13. Consolation – The Chairman Dances (Lit Links)
14. First I’m Sorry – Haley Heynderickx
15. Waitress – Soft Lions
16. Vanitas – Hanging Hills
17. Waiting – Faint Peter
18. Farewell Navigator – Naomi Pop
19. Gifts – Real Swell
20. Future Wife – Jacob Faurholt
21. Wall – Slows Down
22. Olly Oxen Free – Creature Speak

The post January 2016 Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“Over Easy is an album by and for people too old to be kids but too young to be capital-A Adults, where relationships are dictated by your presence or absence at shows, boredom is seen as the ultimate evil and growing up looms like some nightmare threatening to come real”

The New Paltz duo are back with a new double A-side seven-inch. ‘Sleep Talk’ is a kind of post-post-breakup song, with lead Alex Luciano opening with some self-deprecating statements (“I can’t play instruments very well, and I eat all of your cereal/But i’ll never be a smoker ’cos, the second cigarette makes me feel like shit), before imagining going to the home of her ex’s new girlfriend and telling her everything. This segues into nostalgic reminiscing for the doomed relationship (“I’m getting coffee by myself, but I still know how you like yours”) before the final declaration/threat which turns an awkward situation into a rather complex one:

“If I told you I loved you,
I don’t know who
it would scare away faster”

Second track ‘Dinner Date’ will be unveiled in August, and the seven-inch will be released on the 18th September by Father/Daughter Records and Art is Hard Records.

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In the meantime, the good folks over at Art is Hard Records are releasing the first single, ‘Our Names’ as a taste of what’s to come. The track certainly packs a punch, rattling along in just under two minutes, adding a heaping spoonful of power pop to what we’ve come to expect from Shunkan.

‘Our Names’ is being released as a limited edition A6 screenprinted comic (courtesy of Hats and Milk), which comes complete with a digital download of the track and also demo versions of two other tracks from the forthcoming album. Order the single here.

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‘Shunkan’ translates from Japanese as ‘moment’ or ‘in a moment’, and Sakimoto holds the idea close to her heart. ‘It’s how I want to live from now on,’ she says. ‘Not try and plan out the next 10 years of my life.’ The idea is close to that of Abby Gundersen and her ’never-ending struggle to remain in the present’ (which we wrote about here).

Shunkan’s debut EP, Milk, Honey & Blood, is set to be released on Art is Hard Records on the 5th May. You can pre-order it here.

P.S. Head over to her Bandcamp page to download SUMMERBLONDE: a collection of demos and homerecordings that can be yours on a pay-what-you-can basis. I mean, come on, she even writes songs about The X-Files:

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