The sentiment is an oddly fitting summation of the Cloud style. This is music for people who, for all of their earnest effort and hard work, invariably find the world presenting itself in some kind of opposition, like some subtle, callous trial designed to impart a constant sense of unease and discomfort. In a previous piece on the album Plays with Fire, we described Taormina’s music as “essentially about maintaining humanity in the face of contemporary society,” with songs about sadistic jobs and unromantic love performed with a sincere and sometimes near-spiritual style, aiming to breath meaning and joy into even the most dour of circumstances. “Walk with me into the void,” Taormina sings on the previously unreleased ‘Good Things’, “keep my faith in good things […] ”

Billed as “almost literally the only document of the band’s live performance,” Live at Kulak’s Woodshed sees Taormina joined by David Yorr and Jonathan Davies to play a mixture of tracks from Plays With Fire and Comfort Songs, all recorded by a dedicated camera crew (complete with jibs and sliders) at the Valley Village venue. The result is an audio/visual live album that only furthers the empathetic, intimate nature of Cloud’s songs, and will stand as a fitting remembrance of the band.

The opening credits of the film feature ‘Blue Eyes Deceiving Me’ by Sydney band Even As We Speak, one of the indie pop bands that rose to prominence with Sarah Records. Taormina recently met with the band to discuss their career and recent revival, and we’re lucky enough to host the conversation in full below:

Cloud meets Even As We Speak

by Tyler Taormina

The first time I heard “Anybody Anyway,” from the compilation A Three Minute Song is One Minute Too Long, I listened to it forty times in a row. Two days later I realized I hadn’t listened to anything else but Even As We Speak’s masterful pop tune— Mary Wyer’s ecstatic voice and Matthew Love’s sardonic lyrics had me stunned… That was a long time ago, and it’s with much confusion and excitement to sit down with a band I’ve long admired for an interview. Even As We Speak have been a tremendous inspiration for my band Cloud and have the opening credits song in my directorial debut feature film, Ham on Rye with their impossibly catchy ‘Blue Eyes Deceiving Me’. We sat down recently to chat about the band’s history with the legendary Sarah Records label and recent revival.

Tyler Taormina: What was going on at the onset of the band, who were your influences?

Mary Wyer: Kate Bush was my influence [laughs] but Matt has a wider influence.

Matthew Love: We’re pretty eclectic in taste but back then in the 1980’s it was really Flying Nun bands, they had bands like The Clean and Tall Dwarfs and The Bats all of these fantastic bands that were doing a kind of DIY Indie thing and no one else in Sydney was doing that at the time. So we sort of got interested  in the lo-fi pop as opposed to the more punk stuff that was going around at the time, heavier stuff. That sort of made us stand out a bit, but we just happened to be doing that in Australia when the c86 and DIY stuff started taking off a bit more in the UK.

MW: We were just so far away. Matt and I decided England was the place to be—well, the band  decided at the time that we were all going— and at the last minute they pulled out. So at the last minute Matt and I went on our own in 1988, this is before any letters from Sarah Records or anything. We were recording ‘Goes So Slow’, ‘Nothing Ever Happened’.

ML: And ‘A Stranger Calls’.

MW: Yeah and we recorded then in a strange little flat. Then when we came home and put them out on Phantom Records that’s when John Peel picked up on ‘Goes So Slow’. Then Matt and Julian joined the band.

TT: How do you look back at the scene at that time in London?

MW: [laughs]

ML: Yeah… we were kind of outsiders when we got there. When we initially signed up with Sarah and they said we were going to do a tour, we did a short tour in 1990 or 1991 or something. We went over there and the first gig was at a venue called the Camden Falcon in London and we turned up there and everyone was wearing these anoraks and had these pudding bowl haircuts. They were all part of this subculture thing going and [laughs] we didn’t know what to make of it. We thought it was pretty funny.

MW: We were a very motley crew I must say. We were pretty scraggy and we didn’t have many clothes. We never had an image of any sort.

ML: We weren’t fashion conscious like the English were and with the DIY stuff that we’ve been doing, following with the Flying Nun bands as well, it was all very dressed down. Pop shop clothes and no one had any money. We were all dressed pretty badly usually.

MW: There were six of us living in a three bedroom flat. It was squashed, we had no money and we probably ate twice a day, slept on filthy floors wherever we went. It was a drudge! It was really hard and we were missing people at home, I was missing my son. It wasn’t all joy but I’m glad we did it, I would do it again. We were driving around in a little blue bus with these two wooden benches that ran along the sides and a big cavernous space with all the equipment and no seatbelts.

ML: And we all hated each other!

MW: We just used to glare at each other. Matt and I didn’t talk for that entire year actually.

[we all laugh]

MW: But we’re pretty good now! [laughs]. It was all character building.

TT: Is there any record or song from that time that you felt that the electricity was firing the most, that you were possessed by some creative spirit?!

ML: Yeah, the whole Feral Pop Frenzy recording that was pretty amazing. There was a lot of energy around the band at that time. We were getting played on the BBC from a UK label which none of the other Sydney bands had. We were kind of able to rake in a lot of free resources, that’s when Julian joined the band.  There was a lot of energy, I was having a bit of a manic episode at the time, it was all kind was a bit frenzied. You can see it in the record.

MW: I often describe when Matthew brings in a new song that’s like Christmas. It’s like a Christmas present. “Oh my god, here’s a new song. What do I get to sing?” It’s wonderful. I love all of the songs and I feel really privileged that I get to sing them.

TT: Beautiful.

MW: I love ‘Suddenly’ and ‘Wherever I Go’. Those two songs… they make me a bit sad, but I really like them.  Oh and we should mention seeing as ‘Blue Eyes Deceiving Me’ is featured in your film that we’re desperate to see, Ty! That was an interesting time. That was recorded in England on some farmhouse in the middle of nowhere with some guy who wore far too much aftershave. That particular song is very dear as well. It’s funny because we had an interview recently where we say it’s about my blue eyes deceiving Matt but Matt had another take on it as well.

ML: It’s kind of a bit layered. [laughs] It’s really a relationship song about that feeling in relationships when you feel like you’ve been deceived but it’s really about self deception. That’s what I felt at the time. I don’t know if I still feel like that but that’s how it felt at the time.

TT: It’s actually very eerie how much it relates to the film. “Do you know what it’s like to be one of the chosen few, or are your eyes deceiving you?” is a lyrics that speaks to the very essence of Ham on Rye.  Also, I wanted to ask, is it with a heavy heart to do so much looking back at this time?

ML: Yeah it is. The current album we’ve been doing at the moment is really sort of focused on what it is to be middle aged. I didn’t want to write about boy-girl falling in love stuff at 54 years of age, but things that were real to us as older musicians. Part of that exploration has brought up a whole lot of nostalgia and regret and all of those sort of feelings that accompany this time of life. Not that there aren’t positives. There’s heaps of positives. But tragedy is an important part of life and there’s a little bit of tragedy around the band. So I think it’s important to all fade into the art at the moment. It makes it all a bit personal.

MW: And perhaps a bit more healing.

TT: What prompted the reunion?

MW: I was living in Abu Dhabi at the time when we decided to put the Peel Sessions out. Matt and I had a significant birthday party and we decided to have a joint birthday party and play. We did a couple of gigs and then Maz from New York asked us to come to New York to play the NYC Popfest. It was kind of like “Oh wow, this is so much fun!” We’re all in a better financial position and a better place with each other. It was so much fun hanging out with this group of people known for so long and have been creating with for so long. They’re a family. We went on a family holiday and it was heaps of fun! Matt had some songs, Indietracks were interested. We did the UK tour. Matt still writes amazing songs. Also, I don’t think Julian often gets enough credit for his amazing production.  Then there’s Anita and Rob who are so important to the band and don’t get mentioned enough!

ML: There’s a lot of magic in this band. It seems a pity not to be making music together when there’s s much chemistry there. Relationships are what bands are really about.  I think that makes a big deal, it gives the band its energy.

TT: I wanted to ask you about the new record, when can we expect it?

MW: It needs to be out by July, so that’s our aim. Emotional Response is putting it out.

ML: We’re finishing it up at the moment. It needs to be done by July as we’re organizing a tour in Europe in September if all things come together. So we wanted it done mid year. There’s plenty of work to do! We’re gonna be busy.

TT: What was the tour last year like?

MW: I just loved it so much. We were playing with three other bands we really got along with. There was one night where we all had to sleep in a dormitory, it was outrageous! It was like being kids again. One bathroom for sixteen beds. Every single person on that tour was a lot of fun. And we met so many people, now that you’ve got the internet, meeting all these people you’ve been talking to on Twitter. Then you meet them in real life and you get to know their real name and what they look like.

TT: Was it really sentimental?

ML: We’re not really too big on nostalgia. We prefer to be working on new stuff. I didn’t get the impression that it was purely a nostalgia thing, I think it was more of a good night out, they wanted to see one of their favorite bands.

TT: What about music of today? What are you listening to these days?

MW: Uh, Cloud…

[we all laugh]

Live at Kulak’s Woodshed is out now on Audio Antihero and you can get it from Bandcamp. Even As We Speak can also be found on Bandcamp, and have a new record coming this year via Emotional Response Records.

Photo by Carson Lund

The post One of the Chosen Few: Tyler Taormina meets Even As We Speak appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

Nectar – Slouch
Moon Racer – New Crush
Haley Heynderickx – The Bug Collector
M. Grig – Millpond Way
Lisa/Liza – Vanity Plate
Tancred – Reviews
Cloud – Disenchanted
Wellness – Fake Flowers
Kraków Loves Adana – Heather
Spartan Jet-Plex – Alright
Clara Marie – Bike or Boat
Nate Terepka – Tempelhof
Never Betters – Pictures
The By Gods – Wait Up
Talk, Tired Thanatoid – I Hit a Car
FRANKIIE – Glory Me
Queen of Jeans – U R My Guy
Grievances – Bliss
Painted Forest – Witness
Pema – Depend
VedeTT – It Seems To Be Natural
Boys – End of Time
Sun June – Young
Buck Meek – Cannonball
Young Jesus – Storm

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

As we’ve come to expect from the Audio Antihero cohort, the album is essentially about maintaining humanity in the face of contemporary society. That is, moving headlong through every banal custom and soul-crushing circumstance and coming out the other side with some degree of happiness, sanity or at least autonomy intact. Which sounds heavy, but Plays With Fire is anything but, the entire record suffused with a dreamy atmosphere which belies these existential themes. The majority of the tracks are pitched firmly on the upbeat side of the divide, and some, like ‘Disenchanted’, are downright playful. Furthermore, this doesn’t come off as an ironic juxtaposition. The bouncy sound is not the punchline to the cynical joke of the lyrics, but rather a facet of the sincerity with which Taormina pursues his craft, a perspective that is unafraid of honesty or even naivety in chasing its desired tone.

We’re delighted to get Taormina on board to write a track by track to Plays With Fire. This sort of feature is always interesting, but this in-depth and intimate take on the exercise makes for not only an illuminating read, but also an enhanced or altered listening experience that helps you get to the core ideas behind the record.

1. Happer’s Laugh

Comes like a meditation, or a dream in slow motion. I picture this track to be a sort of warning of what’s to come down the dark road of getting older and coming to grapple with what is called the “real world.” The lyrics, although brief explore the frustration of a seemingly impossible journey towards “true strength,” unfettered by externalities.

2. Disenchanted

I wrote and recorded this song having never heard it with my ears until the day recording began. For many moons did it exist only in my head as something I would sing along to. I loved it. I couldn’t wait for the world to hear it. It’s slightly different from what I had originally pictured, I like the recording more than the version I had imagined. Only when a friend was recording on this track did I realize the time signature wasn’t in 4/4.

3. Two Hands Bound

An anthem for hating your job and feeling oppressed to the point of atrophy. Since then I can happily say I have a job that I like a lot more! I question whether this song fits on the record but it has a nice upbeat quality to it despite the lyrics that I think is nice.

4. Me, Her & Lavender

Reminds me of my childhood friend, Greg Salwen’s old band, City Museum. They had a song called “Hands” which took a look at a string of people and how they all dealt with that time period in life when “your friends start making plans.”

5. Oh, So Juvenile

I wrote this song in the ten minutes after the event referenced in the first line happened. Someone smiled at me in a way that opened up something that hadn’t been opened in years. Something where after the Comfort Songs era I was certain was a ruse. I fell in love again, and very unromantically at first. I felt like it was juvenile!

6. Heartfluttered

This song I wanted to be a spiritual ascension of some kind—I don’t know where to or why. I just know that it ends with the nagging force, one of the formations of the begging flame explored in this record—the desire to procreate. I was still a virgin when I wrote this song.

7. Wildfire

I think the first line really sums up so much of the thesis here, “Every flame wants to be a wildfire.” I remember when Nolan from the band Infinity Girl, who also ended up mixing this record, took the train in from Brooklyn to record guitar on this. It was so fun and he Greg Salwen and I had a sleepover where we talked about how pathetic our love lives were.

8. Comet Happer

The title a reference to one of my favorite Scottish films, I won’t say which! I really like the way this came out. The ending especially is my favorite. I think that this title actually brings back an old theme of Cloud’s which is the futility and inevitability of wishing to change your circumstances.

9. Mary Goes Mad Again

So to me, the record is about struggling to keep these human incentives and motivators at balance, trying to remain pure-hearted, happy, and even sane. Well in ‘Mary Goes Mad Again,’ sanity is gone. Written very quickly in a period of time where I’d felt I’d lost my mind. The song has a contented and childlike disposition on these enormous woes that push us over the edge or very close to it. The song suggests, “oh well, I guess it happens,” and with a light smile. I wanted this to feel like a nursery rhyme and a psychedelic experience, which for better or worse seem to be a common pairing in the work I’ve been doing. The vocals were recorded by somebody who I’d met and briefly fell in love with, on the first day I met her. After hearing her speak I asked her to record and she agreed without a care in the world.

Plays With Fire is out now and you can get it from the Audio Antihero Bandcamp page, including a rather lovely vinyl edition.

Photography by Carson Lund

The post Cloud – Plays With Fire: Track by Track Guide appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

Typhoon – Rorschach
Cloud – Two Hands Bound
Trust Fall – do it right
Wooing – In Colour
Tree House – Nonsense
Long Neck – Milky Way
Sara Renberg – Take the Summer Off
Special Moves – Half and Half
Lying Down – Betty and Barney
Pastel – Close
Monarch Mtn – Saint in Armor II
Doomking – I Laid the Prairies to Rest
vierzig skizzen – passwords
Old Robes – The Spider and the Spectator
Jeremy Squires – Gift
Bill Vuono – Think of Me (feat. Earl McVeigh)
Kraków Loves Adana – Rapture
Cool American – Focus
Bucolic – Blue Tree
There’s Talk – Give It Up
Airium + Double Honey – Concrete House Of Dreams And Pools
The Saxophones – Just You
Jelani Sei – LVNDR TWN
Why Dogs Why – Linus

You can find all of our monthly roundup mixes here, and be sure to stick around into March to see what musical goodies we’ll be sending your way. And, of course, please reach out on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram if you have something you think we should hear.

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

As such, fans of Taormina’s label mates Frog and CHUCK will recognise the creative philosophy that dictates the record, the use of wide-eyed sincerity and tongue-in-cheek irony allowing Cloud to explore the bummed-out confessional tone of Bright Eyes without ever descending into self-pity. Further, by funneling this through the prism of lush-but-lo-fi pop, the melancholy is at once accentuated and transcended, the often soaring instrumentation lifting what would otherwise be morose thoughts and consuming worries into something almost otherworldly. The result is an intensely personal and introspective record that manages to flip the self-focus into the complete opposite, aiming outwards to conjure empathy and connection, and hence living up to the album’s title.

Which is a long way of saying that Cloud is exceptionally good, and therefore the fact that Taormina is back with a brand new record, Plays With Fire, should be cause for much excitement. The press release only furthers the anticipation, promising “nine songs […] of quiet optimism and greying nostalgia, mixing the wide-eyed naïveté of Jonathan Richman with the cold-weather pop of Yo La Tengo and the fractured soundscapes of Galaxie 500.”

In preparation, Audio Antihero is releasing the first single, ‘Two Hands Bound’, at the end of February, complete with a new, non-album track as the B-side. The track is a sunny pop song that perseveres with positivity despite the lyrics exploring far more complex and existential ideas, as though putting on a certain level of happiness or confidence might let it come true—the Fake It ’til You Make It philosophy of dealing with life.

“I fell so low
some things you’ll never know
how odd to pray
tried again the other day
c’est la, c’est vous
got work in the afternoon.

Born to die a thousand days
and, oh, to see what life remains
‘cause losing is a way of life
and building is another way of life”

Plays With Fire is due for release on the 9th March, so keep an eye on the Audio Antihero Bandcamp page. In addition, Comfort Songs is still available, including on limited edition cassette, so why not treat yourself to that too?

Cover photo by Carson Lund

The post Cloud announce new album with single, Two Hands Bound. appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. Your Best American Girl – Mitski
2. Shine – Solids
3. Vertebrae – Sam Moss
4. Joy Lies Down – Cloud (Bern Yr Idols comp from Audio Antihero)
5. Near You – Adeline Hotel
6. I Saw You – Outer Spaces
7. Madeline – Yoni & Geti
8. Keep it Light – ARMS
9. Figure It Out – Jake Rollins
10. We Learned to Cry – Adeem The Artist
11. ant hill paradise – Bedbug
12. I’m Young – Erin Tobey
13. coca cola purgatory – Ryder Eaton
14. Muppet Babies – Nice Legs (FRY YR BRN comp from Cereal + Sounds & Z Tapes)
15. Dawn Raid – The Second Hand Marching Band & Benni Hemm Hemm
16. President – Nice Try
17. SHIP – Fake Boyfriend
18. If You Let It – Sioux Falls
19. sorry for not answering the phone, i’m too busy trying to fly away – In Love with a Ghost
20. Clueless – Holiday Home
21. Realistic Birthday Music – Hallelujah the Hills
22. Age of Consent – Cayetana
23. Seattle – Tincho
24. Lance bangs #1 single released on 4/20 – Lance Bangs
25. Cigarettes – Daytime TV
26. Everything Costs – Radical Face
27. Tired of IPAs – talons’
28. Soak – Good Good Blood
29. Heavy as a mountain – Moin Moin

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

“This is a small thing but I thought it’d be nice to get a few unreleased/rare songs together from Audio Antihero and friends to try and raise a little bit of money for Bernie’s presidential campaign. If you’d like to chip in to give Americans some universal healthcare that’d be great. Win or lose, every penny keeps them in the fight and helps hold the DNC accountable to liberal voters.”

Now we’re not American but even we are feeling the Bern. If you prefer your world leaders fair and honest then he seems like a pretty good option. To be honest, I’m not sure how he passed the politics entry exam after ticking the boxes for common sense and empathy. And of course, it’s worth remembering that the alternatives are pretty dire – the majority of Americans deserve a lot better than idiotic bigots, crazy businessmen and power-hungry career politicians. If you need further proof that Bernie seems like a great guy, check out this collage of his speeches from the last 30 years:

Anyway, the music! Bern Yr Idols is packed full of rare/unreleased tracks from the Audio Antihero cohort, including numbers from Frog, Benjamin Shaw and Cloud. Basically it’s great. What better way to get your mitts on some great music than helping Bernie do something great?

You can buy Bern Yr Idols from the Audio Antihero Bandcamp page and help fight the good fight. If, for some strange reason, you would like to donate without getting cool music, you can do so directly right here.

Artwork by Benjamin Shaw

The post Audio Antihero release Bern Yr Idols, a Bernie Sanders benefit comp appeared first on Various Small Flames.