Remember, we’re on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, so don’t hesitate to get in touch and let you know your favourite tracks from June. Or July. Or whenever.

Tracklisting:

1) Gofer – Yucky Duster
2) The End Parts One and Two – Paper Bee
3) Pas De Deux – Brenda’s Friend
4) Mostly Homely – Exam Season
5) rosy – Long Neck
6) Cool It! – Terry vs. Tori
7) best thought – Honeyuck
8) buttery sprouts – Trace Mountains
9) Green Ennui – Flying Circles
10) Memento Mori – Jake Bellissimo
11) Same Light – Tim Lannen
12) Golden Car – Tincho
13) Can’t Take My Mind – Skyjelly
14) E.V.I.L – Medicine Boy
15) Bike Thief – Frederick Squire
16) Oh Well – Adeline Hotel
17) Offering – Loone
18) Something Profound & Meaningful – See You At Home
19) Bowl of Plums – Ben Seretan
20) Muted Colours – Chain Wallet
21) Little One – Aaron Holm
22) Fear O’ the Light – Katie Dey
23) Protracted – William Ryan Fritch
24) Dizzy – Danielle Fricke
25) Uncanny – Sister Grotto
26) Hands in Our Names – Karima Walker

The post June 2016 Roundup: A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Following up 2015’s Under the Shrub, Brenda’s Friend are back with a new six-song release, House Down. The album opens with the title track, a song which begins with a clear kick-drum thump but soon descends (or ascends) into an intricate stack of sound and lyrics. The spine of percussion remains throughout, a lifeline tied around the listeners ear as they delve into the kaleidoscopic shifting of vocals and instrumentation. ‘Sponge’ strips things back, the vocals now superimposed for emphasis, the lyrics ranging from pre-teen demands (“I want it! / I need it!”) to weird allegorical verses:

“I don’t want to stay at the bottom of that pond
I don’t want to lick up all that scum
don’t want to float with the salient sponge
take a breath, say hello to the sun”

‘Who Who’ is a track heavy in reverb, sitting between a bluesy rock and the riot grrrl sound of the 90s. Oelsner and Tobey join together to give the vocals a mantra-like quality, the collaborative casting of some swaggering, self-assured spell. ‘Pas De Deux’ is far gentler, the vocals soft and fine though cut with slight suggestions of something stranger, the lyrics abstract and instrumentation pulsing and buzzing in odd repetitions, as though accelerating toward some unclear conclusion.

“Oh I made a mess and cleaned it up
then the sky opened wide, it was terrible.
Oh I, melting candles underfoot
But your guard was so hard you laughed at the air
burned your own hair”

‘Horoscope’ is short and off-kilter, packed with a high-school blend of confidence and confusion (“stuck in the middle of my horoscope / its set to wait all month”), like the soundtrack of the best 90s kids TV show you’ve never seen, while closer ‘Navy Beach’ is a reckless garage rock hit to be played in dive bars packed out by rough heads on shore leave.

House Down is out now and you can buy it from the Brenda’s Friend Bandcamp page, including on limited-edition cassette via Winspear Records. Also, be sure to check out the Amy O and Erin Tobey Bandcamp pages.

Album art by Janelle Beasley

The post Brenda’s Friend – House Down appeared first on Various Small Flames.