The title track has a slow, lullaby-like quality, Won’s vocals delivering lyrics that feel like the turning of a new leaf, like the calm optimism of a bright morning that’s full of possibilities.

“Today I will not remind myself
my mind will stay quiet
and all I’ll be able to hear
Is the sound of my footsteps
on the way to meet you”

‘Separation is Okay’ swaps keys for gentle guitar, a quietly confident breakup song gilded with triumphant sampled horns, again like the sound of someone overcoming a difficult period. It paints that feeling of seeing sadness in things but feeling generally okay about it. ‘Little Cloud’ is another lullaby, with gentle cooing background vocals and naively gentle lyrics about the titular little cloud. The final track is the EP’s first single. ‘Happy’, is an upbeat song that focusses on the repetition of good vibes in a hope they’ll come true.

“I am so positive
I am so happy
I tell myself every day,
I’m starting to believe me”

On the Way to Meet You is out now on 7″ lathe cut vinyl on Birdtapes (and also comes with a cool zine) and as a name-your-price download via the Boosegumps Bandcamp page.

The post Boosegumps – On the Way to Meet You appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“We discussed our thoughts and our feelings
but that doesn’t make me wanna
stare at the ceiling with you”

‘Flip Flop’ is a lean and bright song about falling for a jerky guy with jerky friends (one who wears flip flops), while ‘Construction Man’ is slightly off-kilter pop which accelerates and decelerates throughout its minute and a half run-time. “I think you’ve got a real good case of the bads”, goes the song of the same name, “Call your mother call your doctor you’re sad, you can’t make thing you can’t break things so instead you feel bad”. This is a bummer pop song that feels somehow uplifting, drawing solidarity from the act of hearing that other people sometimes feel down too. ‘Break Your Phone’ is a sub-one-minute punk song before ‘Blue Elvis’, with its slow, sidling start, and ‘Donny S Hits Zack Up About a Job’, a rather specific song about the awkwardness that arises when a friend/acquaintance asks you to recommend them for a job. From here, the punky elements of the album are dialled back almost entirely on stand-out ‘Gofer’, a glorious two minute pop song of unrequited love:

“I’ve been hanging around
(just because you told me to)
I’ve been hanging around
but how long, how long
is too long?”

There’s an insistent drumbeat and fuzzy, basement-recorded vibe on ‘Paul Revere’, an angry, mean song punctuated with moments of silence and the repeated cry of “do you really think you’re that good looking?”, before things brighten on closer ‘Seashell Song’, where Black and Gaster’s vocals bounce around off one another with thoughts on summer wanderings (“Does it ever cease to be exploration? Or can it only lead to a permanent vacation?”).

The album rattles through in almost no time at all (under twenty minutes), but has enough vim and vigour to ensure you go straight for that repeat button. Yucky Duster’s music is undoubtedly rough around the edges, but that’s a quality that works in their favour. If you want to hear pop songs that have been smoothed and slicked to within an inch of their lives then move along. But if you want to hear a bunch of people having a blast with their friends, then step right in, Yucky Duster are the band for you.

You can order Yucky Duster on cassette via Birdtapes.

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“Nothing has a rhyme or a reason
can somebody distract me?
i shift between anger and apathy
luxury and violent tendencies
and I’m bored and i’m
and i’m bored and i’m stuck
and i’m bored and i’m stuck and i’m broke”

‘arbitrary numbers’ has a prominent post-punk bass line and tells a tale of social anxiety, of the inability to leave a cluttered apartment. “I can’t make myself go outside and pull it together,” she sings. “it’s a simple to go outside and get it together”. There are further post-punk vibes on ‘half dark’, a song which has some of the former apathy and confusion but also some kind of defiance, a my-life-isn’t-perfect-but-I’m-okay-with-that sort of strength. Next up is ‘gold’, a short and manic burst of punk which drives headlong at the paradox of preaching punk rock values in our consumer-driven, capitalist, society, before closer ‘takeout’ finishes up with another angular elbows-and-knees indie pop track. However this feels a little lighter than the previous ones, with the closing line capturing another pitfall of all this angst and anxiety. What if we’ve been misreading everything all along?

“Thought I was here but I’ve been somewhere else the whole time”

Patio don’t just make throwaway pop songs, their music will likely resonate with scores of people across the (Western) world. These are songs for those people who have been given a lucky draw in life and still don’t feel quite right. Those people who sometimes feel sad and bored and confused despite having friends and family and enough money to not have to worry about going hungry or anything serious like that. In short, people disillusioned and struggling to find meaning in their twenty-first century lives.

You can get Luxury now via the Patio Bandcamp page.

The post Patio – Luxury appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The band have finished recording their debut full-length with Swearin’s Kyle Gilbride (who’s worked with other WTD-favs like Radiator Hospital and Girlpool), and a few of the tracks are available for your streaming please. The latest of which, ‘Tectonics’, was unveiled today. Starting with near Titus Andronicus-style guitars and percussion, Madeline’s half-deadpan vocals carry the song through until it descends into frenzy in the closing portion, the instrumentation accelerating along with the final refrain of “all will change!”

“I want to be good at a lot of things
but I don’t know how to go about that
culture shifts
like tectonics”

Of Wandering will be released on Birdtapes on the 25th March, including some lovely vinyl varieties (with coke bottle green and yellow editions). You can pre-order the vinyl now, or grab a digital copy via the Littler Bandcamp page.

P.S. If you find yourself state-side this Spring you can catch the Littler on tour. Check the dates below:

Photo by Emily Burtner, Artwork by Nathan Zeidman

The post Littler build up to new album Of Wandering with Tectonics appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Adult Mom – I Fell In Love By Accident

(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, kimya dawson)

Alone – S/T

(RIYL: downbeat, morbid beats, Why?)

Andrea – #OneSampleOneDay

(RIYL: electronic, chill, samples, r&b)

Animal Teeth – Me & You

(RIYL: indie rock, lulls and crescendos, reverb)

Astro Children – Proteus

(RIYL: shoegaze, surreal, weird sounds, literary references)

Baby Cages – I’m So Sorry

(RIYL: bedroom pop, dream pop, lo-fi)

Bashe – Open Up

(RIYL: math rock, pop, electronic)

Bearhead & Tape Sounds – S/T

(RIYL: experimental, electronic, samples)

Beat Easton – S/T

(RIYL: emo, Death Cab, Modest Mouse)

Ben Sollee – The Hollow Sessions

(RIYL: folk, covers, cello)

Birdtapes [Label] – Top 40 Compilation

(RIYL: covers, lo-fi, Top 40, tape hiss)

Boreal The Sky – S/T

(RIYL: indie rock, experimental, Said the Whale)

Cannon Beach – Concrete, People and Things

(RIYL: electronic, folk, Mount Eerie)

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone – In Sydney

(RIYL: CFTPA, Advance Base, indie pop, live recordings)

Chemists // 化学者 – Slow House Virtual

(RIYL: dream pop, ambient, chillwave, Rem’s Floating Chandelier)

Clipping – Midcity

(RIYL: hop hip, rap, harsh noise, Death Grips)

Coma Cinema – Posthumous Release

(RIYL: bedroom pop, downer, Elliott Smith)

Coyotes In The Room – Violence

(RIYL: lo-fi, garage, psych)

Crying – Get Olde

(RIYL: 8-bit, punk, indie pop, Gameboy, Rilo Kiley)

Cullan Bonilla – That’s fricked up fricked me up I’m fricked up now frick

(RIYL: acoustic, lo-fi, bedroom pop)

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