“I tend to get lost in nostalgia—fixated on the past, out-of-touch with the present, uninterested in the future,” explains Balto lead Daniel Sheron. The Californian outfit’s latest single ‘Spanish Wine’ confronts this habit head on, albeit with digressions toward trysts in laundromats, conga lines in Cuba and the ghost of an imagined future with no distinction between state and civil society. “I wrote this song in the height of the pandemic as a rejection of that concept,” Sheron continues. “I needed a reminder that the past is an illusion—it doesn’t exist anymore!”

Big Joanie – In My Arms

London punk trio Big Joanie return later this year with new album Gone Home on Kill Rock Stars and the Daydream Library Series from Ecstatic Peace Library. A record which promises to examine the concept of home in all of its variety, be it where we’ve come from, where we’re going, or some imagined place we work towards and dream about. Single ‘In My Arms’ combines these elements of past and future, reflecting on fond memories as a way to instigate a desired future. Check out the video directed by Lydia Garnett below:

Back Home is out via Kill Rock Stars and Ecstatic Peace Library on the 4th November and you can pre-order it now.

Butch Wifey – Eighteen

Based in Boise, Idaho, Butch Wifey is the recording project of Chloe Ponder, who makes indie pop songs she says “aim to dredge up the uncomfortable feelings associated with queer relationships.” Her latest single ‘Eighteen’ draws upon two periods of anxiety faced several years apart. The first was leaving home for the first time at eighteen, and the second was early-twenties romantic troubles, both of which elicited a similar sense of unease and confusion. But for all the discomfort of the subject matter, the single is ostensibly a slick and summery pop song, Ponder’s vocals providing a nostalgic and wistful edge.

Canary – i used to write you love songs

If there seems to be something of a paradox at work on ‘i used to write you love songs’, the latest single from Pennsylvania‘s Canary, then it’s one which depends on the definition of a love song. Because though the track has all of the tenderness and contemplation of a classic love song, it doesn’t take long for the track to reveal its fangs. By the time Zach Dennis’s guitar goes spiralling and Kat Leverenz sings the titular refrain, it becomes clear this isn’t a love song at all, at least not in the usual sense. What begins soft and sedate blooms into a heavy and dynamic exploration of heartbreak and betrayal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1MYacMeP9s&ab_channel=Canary

‘i used to write you love songs’ is out now and available on streaming services.

Couch Prints – All I Know

Described as “centred around the American car crash,” New York-based Couch Prints’ forthcoming mixtape Waterfall looks to capture the contemporary moment. The project of Jayanna Roberts, Brandon Tong, and Jacob Truax, Couch Prints make synth pop that’s equal parts danceable and introspective, and latest single ‘All I Know’ represents perhaps their furthest foray into the latter aspect of their sound. The song is “a simple expression of the unease caused by the boundless media and content of the modern world,” say the band, “an ode to ignorance is bliss”. Sonically it feels like a balm for this sensory overload, stripping back the dance elements to leave a gently spacious song built on gentle guitar and Roberts’ soft vocals.

dani mack – fleabag

We first featured dani mack, the project of Baylee Barrett, back in April when we covered her single ‘Someday’, released via LA label Future Gods. We called it “bright and disarmingly straightforward…weav[ing] a careful balance between strength and vulnerability.” Now Barrett returns with a new single, ‘fleabag’, a taut and irreverent pop song about trying to let go of residual shame. “In simplest terms, which most can relate to, it’s a nod to dating and how terrible it is,” Barrett explains. “[But] on a deeper level, it’s a song about my own sexual repression and my difficulties with casual relationships. I grew up a devout Christian and letting go of the guilt that was instilled in me from such a young age is still something I still struggle with. There’s still a little part of me that’s afraid that come judgment day.”

‘fleabag’ is available now via streaming services.

Fusilier – No Words

Fusilier is the project of Atlanta-born, Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Blake Fusilier. Later this month he will release a new EP, Treason, which promises to explore themes of selfhood, alienation and belonging in a style that draws on a diversity of influences, from Bill Withers and Fela Kuti to TV on the Radio and Nine Inch Nails. But as lead single ‘No Words’ shows, the result is something wholly his own, sleek and sinuous yet charged with a desire to make meaningful change. Namely through a reframing of the self within a wider picture, reaffirming one’s own ability to define themselves beyond whatever outside forces might think or want them to be. As Fusilier puts it, the song is about “letting go of the thought that I’m not the main character in my own story.”

Maya Lucia – numb or something

‘numb or something’ is the latest single by indie rock artist Maya Lucia, who makes angsty and exuberant songs that allow her to vent her emotions in the healthiest way possible. Taken from a forthcoming album, miss girl world, the song is a great introduction for newcomers, a stormy and infectious pop song that’s noisy enough to purge any lingering frustrations. “This is the song you scream in your room after a long day,” Lucia describes. “It’s melodrama at its core — the feeling of the world ending only to realize you’re crying over nothing.”

You wouldn’t care if I went and disappeared
You wouldn’t care if I drowned myself in tears

miss girl world comes out on August 19th and you can preorder it from the Maya Lucia Bandcamp page.

 Mol Sullivan – Deep End Dive

Cincinnati‘s Mol Sullivan has made a name over the last decade making earnest and unflinchingly intimate songs leavened with pop melodies and confident vocals. Latest single ‘Deep End Dive’ is described as “a reflection of a regretful approach to a loved one,” and combines difficult soul searching with feelings of growth and hope. Born of Sullivan’s recent sobriety, the track displays a genuine sense of self-reflection and reconciliation, a clear mind piercing the storm clouds of the past and allowing more positive progress into the future.

‘Deep End Dive’ is out now and available from the Mol Sullivan Bandcamp page.

Prudence – Waste Some Time

The recording project of Sydney‘s Tom Crandles, Prudence makes what we’ve described previously as “human traits wrapped up in a gloominess as grey and chilly as the Cold War-era of the post-punk and new wave it references, revealed only in the intermittent illuminations made so prominent by the twilit tones.” New album Negatives looks to continue the aesthetic, a fitting soundtrack for the troubled world in which it was created. Lead single ‘Waste Some Time’ introduces the shadowy and conflicted atmosphere, a lean and linear pop song that’s all sinew and forward motion, forgoing the repetition of the conventional verse-chorus structure.

Negatives is out on 26th August and you can pre-order it now from the Prudence Bandcamp page.

Snake Lips – Braindead II

After a series of releases on Repeating Cloud and Totally Real Records, Portland, Maine’s Snake Lips have unveiled brand new record Happy Anxious. The title feels like the perfect fit for their hectic sound, lead Cody Mitchell’s vocals delivered with both volatility and wry humour, as though strung out between hope and despair and choosing to ride the instability. Single ‘Braindead II’ sets the mood, its lo-fi punk style barrelling along with real pace as Mitchell shouts, shrieks and smirks about the hand life has dealt him.

Zack Keim – Canyon

Pittsburgh singer-songwriter Zack Keim cut his teeth in music from an early age, forming bands from his early teens and touring as the frontperson of punk outfit Nox Boys when only sixteen. But, despite the band’s success, his creativity wasn’t satisfied, turning to solo work as a new outlet with the 2017 album First Step. New single ‘Canyon’ represents Keim’s first solo work since, emerging from some major life changes as well as the usual global turmoil with a newfound freshness and confidence. A bright-eyed refusal to back down from his passions and will to create, and perhaps the first time he has really started to develop his artistic voice.

The post Weekly Listening: August 2022 #1 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

Frog – American
The Phone Booth – Ballad of Indifference
Spielbergs – 4AM
Neurotic Fiction – Collateral
Neighborhood of Make Believe – Track Names
Pizzagirl – body part
Orchid Mantis – porch song
Gorgeous Bully – patience
Reighnbeau – Trading Heat
Troy Everett – Absent
Amparo – Hounds
REW<< – Victoire Impossible
Okay Embrace – Moving
Young Jesus – For Nana
Vender & The Cobras – Everything is Beautiful
The Lostines – Faith in Love
Haley Heynderickx & Max García Conover – Little Wind
Rivulets – Everything Goes
Balto – Bullshit Dream
Meat Wave – That’s Alright
Docks – Kiosk
Satanic Ritual Abuse – Hurting (Adjective/Verb)
SATU – Growing Up
Anna Tivel – Fenceline
Madison Turner – Richmond, Virgina
Elly Swope – 6.8
Nathan Ball – All or Nothing
Monarch Mtn – canyon blues
Stripmall Ballads – You Were Good (I Was Good For a While)
Katie Mullins – Crocuses
Lisa/Liza – Tea Kettle
free cake for every creature – shake it out
Katy Kirby – Tap Twice
Lung Cycles – hottest day of the year so far (4pm version)

You can find all of our Monthly Roundup playlists here, and peruse a wider range of mixtapes that we’ve put together over the years.

The post November 2018 Roundup appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Spielbergs – 4AM

Spielbergs are Mads Baklien, Stian Brennskag and Christian Løvhaug, an Olso-based trio who push a frantic brand of indie rock. Coupling nostalgic emotion with carefree abandon, the outfit draw comparisons to the likes of Japandroids and Beach Slang, and their debut album This Is Not The End promises to live up to such billing. Lead single ‘4AM’ is good supporting evidence, a racing number that forgoes none of the emotional intensity, turning what could be a fun but superficial track into something far deeper and more rewarding.

This Is Not The End is set for release on the 1st February via By The Time It Gets Dark and you can pre-order it now.

Anna Tivel – Fenceline

Here at VSF we often find ourselves drawn to the folk music coming out of Wisconsin, with blog favourites Old Earth and Field Report having held our attention for a long while, not to mention Bon Iver, Aero Flynn, and on and on. So, while Anna Tivel herself is based in Portland, Oregon, the fact that she recorded her new album, The Question, with Shane Leonard and Brian Joseph in Eau Claire suggests the kind of folk pedigree to which she belongs.

‘Fenceline’ is our first taste of The Question, a follow-up to 2017’s Small Believer, and suggests that Tivel has picked up where she left off. Using her distinctively haunting writing, the song explores issues of gates and walls in their various guises. Such imagery is perhaps at its most pertinent since the end of the Cold War, and Tivel taps into the humanity that such partitions bisect, allowing more complex, human emotions to form. “This is a song about the divisions we create to keep each other out,” Tivel explains, “from fences and walls, to the gates of heaven. I guess I got to thinking a lot about what makes us different and what makes us the same, what breeds hatred and fear and what breeds understanding.”

You can find Anna Tivel’s music on her Bandcamp page.

Pizzagirl – body part

Pizzagirl is the recording project of Liverpool native Liam Brown, who has released a number of singles that exist within a distinct soundscape, with his bio describing how he marries “80s teen-film nostalgia, 90s dial-up internet culture and the modern meme age” to form his own style. Latest track ‘body part’ takes us a step further into the strange, bright world, opening in a lonely haze which soon morphs into a more traditional pop song. Brown’s baritone brings to mind Devon Welsh’s Dream Songs, and certainly add feeling, like watching your own nighttime hallucinations on VHS.

‘body part’ is out now and can be found on the pizzagirl Bandcamp page, along with all previous releases.

Satanic Ritual Abuse – Hurting (Adjective/Verb)

Satanic Ritual Abuse is the project of Josh Cohen, who you may know better as the person behind the label Memorials of Distinction. His debut album, Hurting, is due for release at the end of November, a collection of songs written between 2009 (when a 16 year old Cohen began making music) and 2014, which are only now seeing the light of day.

Cohen is currently drip-feeding singles to amp up anticipation, and the latest is the title track, a self-described “noisy, anti-doo-wop, anti-romance croon about feeling trapped in dysfunction, finding yourself snared in circles of emotional violence.” As all that suggests, this isn’t a bright and sunny pop song. Cohen’s vocals echo as if from a dark and clammy cavern, skittering drums crawling the walls in a kind of itchy and feverish paranoia. The whole thing lights up sporadically in the song’s second half with a blare of strangely joyous noise, just a glimpse of the unstable emotions that the album promises to provide.

Hurting will be released on the 30th November and you can pre-order it now from the Memorials of Distinction Bandcamp page.

Meat Wave – That’s Alright

Chicago punks Meat Wave have carved out a niche of intelligent noise, with records such as 2017’s The Incessant capable of raw emotion and release while also drawing from literary influences. Last month saw the release of a split 7″ single with fellow Chicagoites Lifestyle, and Meat Wave’s offering, ‘That’s Alright’, continues their careful balance between thoughtful and furious. However, the track does stand out from the rest of their discography for its (relatively) tender tone. A lullaby this is not, though the dark, dystopian atmosphere is at least used to highlight the brilliance of any beams of light.

The split is out now via No Trend Records and you can get it from the Meat Wave Bandcamp page.

The Phone Booth – Ballad of Indifference / Swim in Oceans

Santa Barbara band The Phone Booth are currently putting the finishing touches to their debut album, Roman. Though the record could not quite be said to be a concept album, it is structured around voicemail recordings from Steven Roman Gonzales, the best friend of the lead songwriter who passed away two years ago. Indeed, the album is something of a tribute to the lasting influence of Gonzales as a friend and artist, and marries cathartic indie rock with personal, intimate lyrics in a manner that feels at once angry, celebratory and nuanced.

In preparation, the band have put out two singles which introduce their sound. ‘Ballad of Indifference’ is a slow burning slice of lo-fi rock, the smoulder eventually drawing flame which quickly transforms into a hectic blaze of emotional release. ‘Swim in Oceans’ bursts into life from the ashes, switching the style to the breathless cool of No Age.

Katie Mullins – Crocuses

Katie Mullins didn’t think she was going to sing again, let alone record and release a new album. After haemorrhaging her left vocal chord for the third time, Mullins turned to meditation and experienced something of a miraculous healing, from which “digital triptych” Three Songs “flowed involuntarily […] during winter walks from one teaching gig to the next.” ‘Crocuses’ is one such example—joining contemporaries such as Mountain Man in crafting classic, hymn-like folk that draws its primary inspiration from the splendour and severity of the natural world.

Three Songs is out now and you can get it from the Katie Mullins Bandcamp page.

Troy Everett – Absent

Troy Everett is a songwriter and composer from Washington DC who is now based in Los Angeles. Serving as an introduction to his sound, ‘Absent’ is a swirling slice of ambient textures and frantic drums, pitching the track at the intersection of ambient, neo-classical and Burial-esque dubstep. Everett’s vocals emerge through this clamour with ethereal force, as though conjured by the motion of the instrumentation, leading to a style that is both compelling and haunting.

You can find Troy Everett on Soundcloud.

Nathan Ball -All Or Nothing

Splitting his time between Cornwall and London, Nathan Ball makes a charged brand of folk music that draws as much from War on Drugs as it does from songwriters such as Jose Gonzalez. His latest single ‘All or Nothing’ is proof, the confident, uplifting tempo balanced against a sensitive emotion. “It’s about trying to stay focused on something whilst feeling a weight of expectation on you,” Ball explains of the track. “And, instead of talking about it, becoming more introverted.”

You can hear more on Soundcloud, or find more information on the Nathan Ball website.

Balto – Bullshit Dream

The music of Balto has come in a variety of forms and styles, from the bluegrassy folk of October Road to the psych and pop inspired rock of Strangers, though never have Daniel Sheron and co. released what could be said to be an explicitly political song. However, with ‘Bullshit Dream’, this changes, the song coming to Sheron in one spontaneous moment and released as a stand alone single for election season.

The bullshit dream of the title is name-checked as socialism, though in reality the song re-positions the phrase to examine the wafer thin promise of American life, running through a frantic list of the banal and narcissistic trappings of contemporary existence, as well as the consequences of what Chekov might call such ‘moral illness’. The result is the bizarre and the ridiculous placed alongside the chronic afflictions of our time, all raced through with Dylan-esque abandon.

“Snapchat, pornhub, cyber sex
Electronic cigarettes
A spray tan on the president
He’s just working on a dream I guess
Slimfast, botox trophy wives
Pool boys, fuck toys, magic mikes
You’re so pretty, won’t you get in line
A face like that goes viral”

You can find Balto on Bandcamp.

Vender & The Cobras – Everything is Beautiful

Vender & The Cobras is a Chicago-based band led by Matt Beard (who also plays in Friends of the Bog). Last month saw the release of the outfit’s second album, The Lion’s Boy, and ‘Everything is Beautiful’ is a good introduction for the uninitiated. Because Vender & The Cobras is a personal and sincere album that’s nonetheless underscored by a certain wry wit—like two parts Bright Eyes to one part Sufjan. Within the wistful flow of ‘Everything is Beautiful’ lies cutting emotion and a hint of self-deprecation, though all warmed through by a persistent sense of hope.

The Lion’s Boy is out now and you can get it from the Vender & The Cobras Bandcamp page.

The post Bright Sparks: Vol. 18 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

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.

The post Best of the Rest: Things We Have Missed #6 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Acres – Acres

(RIYL – Post-Hardcore, Ambient, Post-Rock, The Devil Sold His Soul, Rinoa)

The Act Of Estimating As Worthless – Amongst These Splintered Minds//Leaden Thoughts Sing Softly

(RIYL: A Weather, The Microphones, Trouble Books)

A Dark Horse – A Dark Horse

(RIYL: Electric President/Radical Face, Elliott Smith, Sparklehorse)

Among Giants – Truth Hurts

(RIYL – Punk, Folk, Nana Grizol, Tony Hawk 2)

And The Giraffe – Creature Collector

(RIYL – Folk, Indie Rock, Iron & Wine)

Arrange – New Memory

(RIYL – Bedroom Pop, Ambient, M83, Bright Eyes)

August Nicky Golden – Demos

(RIYL – Folk, Punk, Lo-Fi)

Balto – Monuments

(RIYL – Americana, The Head And The Heart, The Lumineers, Tyler Lyle)

Black Atlass –The Black Atlass EP

(RIYL – Electronic, R&B, The Weeknd, James Blake, Holy Other)

Blacks& – A Ghost That Follows Me

(RIYL – Dance Pop, Chill, Tropical)

Broken Fences – Broken Fences

(RIYL – Acoustic, Harmonies, The Civil Wars, Stars)

The Caretaker – Extra Patience (After Sebald)

(RIYL – Experimental, Oneohtrix Point Never, Tim Hecker, Franz Schubert, WG Sebald)

Chad Serhal – Golden

(RIYL – Acoustic, Singer Songwriter, She Does Is Magic)

Damn You Laurie – Songs So Far

(RIYL – Indie Pop, Folk, Sing-a-longs, The Evening Chorus)

Daniel & The Lion – Free Love (Single)

(RIYL – Sappy songs, Dolorean, Donovan Woods, Noah Gundersen)

Darwin Raymond – Night

(RIYL – Ambient, Instrumental, Emotive)

Dose – So This Is Where We Are

(RIYL – Electronic, Instrumental, Hip Hop, Chillwave)

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It’s worth noting that a lot of these releases are available on a pay what you want basis, meaning that if you like a particular record you’re able to make a donation of your choice. I can’t stress highly enough how important it is to support these artists in any way you can. Buy their music or go see them live or buy a t-shirt or whatever, it really is the least we (as music fans) can do.

The post Favourite Free Music of 2012 (A – D) appeared first on Various Small Flames.