Crushing Archives - Various Small Flames

Favourite Songs of 2017

Jon Doyle — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 18:00:49 +0000

As we mentioned in our favourite albums post, producing end of year lists is a task verging on impossible, given the sheer volume of great music that has passed through our ears in the past twelve months. Still, it’s a nice way to look back and collect some of the stuff that really stuck with us, not to mention give the briefest mention to the good stuff we didn’t get a chance to cover, so without further ado here is a list of our favourite songs of 2017. They’re in alphabetical order, because trying to mould such a long list into cohesive playlist isn’t worth the effort, so feel free to dip in and out as you please.

Various Small Flames’

Songs of 2017

Anamon – Kneel Old
Android Automatic – Dark Roads*
Angie McMahon – Slow Mover
Basement Revolver – Johnny Pt. 2
Baxter Roy Long – Paribanou
Bea Troxel – Let Them Know
Big Thief – Mary
Black Belt Eagle Scout – Soft Stud
Bully – Running
Cayetana – Mesa
Charly Bliss – Percolator
Chastity Belt – Different Now
CHUCK – Happy Birthday
The County Liners – Maria
The Courtneys – Tour
Craig Finn – God in Chicago
Crumb – Locket
Crushing – Emery Board
Cut Worms – Like Going Down Sideways
David Bazan – Care
Distant Reader – First Try
Emperor X – God Save Coastal Dorset
Fits – Ice Cream on a Nice Day
German Error Message – 2017*
Gleemer – Soothe Me
Great Grandpa – Favorite Show
Haley Heynderickx – Oom Sha Lala
Hiccup – Teasin’
Horse Culture – Texaco
Illuminati Hotties – ‘(You’re Better) Than Ever’
Japandroids – No Known Drink or Drug
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – If We Were Vampires
Jay Som – The Bus Song
Jeremy Squires – Night Cars
Katie Ellen – Drawing Room
Lizzie No – Monuments
Lomelda – Bam Sha Klam
Mike Pace and the Child Actors – Audits & Surveys
Meursault – The Mill
Mount Eerie – Crow
Nice Legs – Mighty Three
Oceanator – Nowhere Nothing
Ohyeahsumi – Daisy
Old Earth – Pit Dynamics
PASTEL – Stammer
Peter Silberman – New York
Phoebe Bridgers – Motion Sickness
Pope – Talk Me Out of It
Protomartyr – Windsor Hum
Rainwater – Place
Ratboys – Elvis is in the Freezer
Rick Rude – Bald & Fat in Houston, TX
Roadkill Ghost Choir – Classics (Die Young)
Rose Dorn – Dirt
See Through Dresses – Lucy’s Arm
Shannen Moser – A Funeral, A Friend, My Sanity
Sinai Vessel – Died On My Birthday
Slaughter Beach, Dog – Phoenix
SOAR – Fort Funston
Soft Fangs – Jordan // Jackson Elementary
Spartan Jet-Plex – We Believe
Strange Ranger – House Show
Strawberry Runners – Garden Hose
Timid, The Brave – Alice
Us and Only Us – Bored of Black
Vagabon – Cold Apartment
Viewfinder – Instant Moonlight
The Washboard Abs – Veil
Waxahatchee – Never Been Wrong
Wild Pink – Albert Ross
William Ryan Fritch – In Our Blood
The Wooden Sky – Swimming in Strange Waters
Ylayali – Cherry Tomatoes

*Strictly released in 2016, but barely, and we covered it in Jan. 2017.

If you missed it, you can see our Favourite Albums of 2017 list here. Also, the curious can find such lists from previous years here.

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June 2017 Roundup

Jon Doyle — Tue, 04 Jul 2017 15:06:47 +0000

Another month has been and gone, taking with it the longest day of the year. Christmas adverts will be appearing on our screens before we know it! The end of June 2017 also signals our two month birthday, and while Various Small Flames might not be done with the cosy nest and partially digested worms quite yet, the coming weeks should seem some tentative attempts at flight—which in music blog terms means new ideas and features. Keep ’em peeled.

In the meantime, check out the mix below to hear everything we covered during June 2017, and click through the links in the tracklisting to be whisked away to the specific posts.

Tracklisting:

Roadkill Ghost Choir – Classics (Die Young)
Julia Lucille – Darkening
girl valley – faceback
Deer Scout – Sad Boy
Crushing – Emery Board
Crumb – Plants
Alex Napping – You’ve Got Me
Squirrel Flower – Daylight Savings
Andrew Younker – Pretend Therapist
Outside The Academy – Anaesthetise
Sammus – Perfect, Dark
Miserable Chillers – Love Theme (For The Wilderness)
Ohyeahsumi – Cosmos Bowling
Maud Scheltinga – I’ve Come to Know You Well
Midwestern Exposure – Riverboat
Will Graefe – Blood Feather
Baxter Roy Long – Purpose Against An Unavailing Balance
Idan Altman – Heroic Bee
american poetry club – how i felt about most things
About a Million – Young Bull
Flamingods – Bhima
Headless Pin Up Girl – Forever Watching the Skies
Wild Pink – Albert Ross

Check out the previous round-up mixes here, and stick around next month for yet another selection of the best new music.

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Crushing – s/t

Liam Doyle — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 17:58:07 +0000

New Brighton band Crushing, featuring members of Personal Best and Cheap Lad Pints, describe their music as “heart-warming indie pop somewhere between The Weakerthans and Pavement.” ‘Oi Jealousy,’ the opening track from their self-titled EP, immediately makes good on this promise through warm guitar, manic drums and emotive vocals. ‘Sleeping Bag’ follows in a sweet lo-fi fuzz, with its repeated refrain of “everything might be okay now,” while ‘Sweat Vapour’ teams under cool laid back guitar with affecting vocals.

But perhaps the most emotional moments on Crushing come on ‘Telling Lies’, a stripped-back indie pop song that builds to a rousing finale. “But the truth is I still feel young and scared on the inside.” guitarist/lead Jay sings, “and anyone who says otherwise is just telling lies.” Final track ‘Emery Board,’ which is possibly the most noteworthy, begins with a noirish vibe, shadowy bass plodding behind razor-sharp guitar and disaffected vocals, before blooming into something catchily energetic, eventually fading away into the void.

“I graded away, my closest friend
with an emery board
and an empty ballpoint pen”

Crushing is out now on cassette and digital download via North London label Keroleen Records. Get it from their Bandcamp page.

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