Much has been said recently about how political turmoil and social instability will provide fertile conditions for great art, and whether or not you subscribe to this idea, we’re pretty sure that paying artists makes for even better soil in which to sow creative seeds. The title to this post says ‘free’ music because it’s snappier than ‘name your price’ music, but really that’s a convenient/attention-grabbing misnomer. Bandcamp provides pretty much the most direct way for us to connect directly with musicians and support their work from all over the world, so why don’t we utilise this tool and ensure that art perseveres in the face of everything else that’s going on?

Anyhow, here’s the first segment of the list, covering artists beginning with A – D. We don’t pretend to be in any way comprehensive, so let us know if we missed your favourite and maybe we’ll add it to the list.Albosel – Container
(RIYL: folk, dream pop, magic woods)

Alexandra Gordon – Rain Songs
(RIYL: bedroom pop, folk, Free Cake For Every Creature)

BB Cream – s/t
(RIYL: pop punk, bedroom pop, lo-fi, grrrl power)

Bedbug – if i got smaller grew wings and flew away for good
(RIYL: experimental, twee, sincerity)

Betty Becky – s/t / All the Boyfriends
(RIYL: bedroom pop, punk, lo-fi)

Blue Smiley – Return
(RIYL: garage rock, fuzz, dream pop)

Bois – Asleep with Songs of Longing
(RIYL: pop, soul, indie rock)

Boy Scouts – Homeroom Breakfast
(RIYL: bedroom pop, folk, self-reflection)

Cabbage/Oxblood – Split
(RIYL: bedroom pop, post-grunge, slacker rock)

Candy – Azure
(RIYL: jangle rock, dream pop, lo-fi)

猫 シ Corp. – News at 11
(RIYL: vapourwave, 90s TV, mass media)

Cayetana – Tired Eyes
(RIYL: indie rock, jangle pop, punk)

Cereal + Sounds & Z Tapes – FRY YR BRN
(RIYL: indie rock, covers, TV theme songs)

Coping Skills – Relatable Web Content
(RIYL: lo-fi, bedroom pop, Millennial angst)

Constant Companion – Curious Design
(RIYL: pop punk, lo-fi, indie rock)

Corvus B. – France, Later
(RIYL: poetry, spoken word, haunting banjo)

Crabapple – Further Out
(RIYL: indie pop, summer jams, lo-fi)

Daytime TV – DAYTIME TV 2
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, rock)

Deer Scout – Customs
(RIYL: folk, singer songwriter, Gregory and the Hawk)

Dogbreth – Second Home
(RIYL: pop punk, Cloud Nothings, Joyride!, rock ‘n roll fun)

Dowsing / Ratboys – Split
(RIYL: indie rock, pop punk, emo)

Dying Adolescence – Dear you, It can’t wait.
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, teenage feelings)

The post Favourite Free Music of 2016: A – D 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.

The band have recently completed their second EP, Daytime TV 2, recorded with Connor Jones at Malthouse Studios in Bristol. The new release will continue with the band’s signature sound of “poppy melodies and harmonies, balanced with a subtle lo-fi and psychedelic aesthetic”. But it’s not all bright and sunny. As they describe, “Lyrically the EP is personal, telling of the frustration of our current situation, and the realities we never expect but have to deal with”.

This lyrical darkness is apparent on ‘Cigarettes’, the first single from Daytime TV 2 which we are proud to present today. Like all the best pop songs, it’s laidback sense of cool has undercurrents of something more sombre which lays meat on the bones of the track’s catchy immediacy.

“I wonder why you never put up a fight,
favour solitude and cigarettes in the night,
I wonder why you sit and stare at the walls,
waiting for nothing to happen at all”

The EP will be released track-by-track via the Daytime TV Bandcamp and Soundcloud pages, and will eventually be available in its entirety as a free download.

Photo by André Baumecker

The post Song Première: Daytime TV – Cigarettes appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Daytime TV – S/T (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, 80N7)

Debaser – MOOD RING
(RIYL: mixtapes, lo-fi, weird)

Derek – Rookie of the Year
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi)

Devon Mello – Constance All Grown Up (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, bedroom pop)

Dicktations – Words Don’t Love You (REVIEW)
(RIYL: garage rock, Weezer, Black Lips)

Diners – It’s All True
(RIYL: indie pop, Telekinesis)

Diocese – S/T 
(RIYL: garage rock, Krill)

Eerie Summer – The Way I Don’t Understand Anything Anymore (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie pop, shoegaze, jangle, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart)

EP – Ashland (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi)

Fairweather Currents – Things Get Better (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, folk, acoustic Nana Grizol)

Fanpage – L Y A (REVIEW)
(RIYL: noise pop, shoegaze, Jenny Hval)

Faux Discx – Where We Were (COMPILATION)
(RIYL: indie rock, post-punk, shoegaze)

Fazed on a Pony – Hunch
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie rock)

Field Medic – Light is Gone (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, folk, lo-fi, J. Tillman)

Fog Lake – Victoria Park (REVIEW)
(RIYL: experimental, atmospheric pop, solitude)

Fox Academy – Elsie (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie pop, summer nostalgia, golden oldies)

Fraternal Twin – s m a l l  w i n d  p o w e r (REVIEW)
(RIYL: gentle acoustics, natural glitches, intimate songwriting)

Free Cake For Every Creature – Moving Songs (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, folk, post-collegiate blues [or, overcoming them])

Furnsss – New Moves (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie rock, deadbeat disinterest, Abe Vigoda, Hallelujah The Hills)

Gay Angel – Floral (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie pop, weird, early CFTPA)

Gleemer – No Goobyes (REVIEW) / Moving Away (REVIEW)
(RIYL: pop punk, grunge, Pains of Being Pure at Heart)

GoldFlakePaint – The Human Noise We Sat There Making https://goldflakepaint.bandcamp.com/album/the-human-noise-we-sat-there-making
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, compilations, all the cool stuff GFP write about)

Good, Good Blood – S/T (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, atmospheric folk)

The Grey Estates Vs Gold Flake Paint – The Pale Light Between (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, compilations, Gold Flake Paint, The Grey Estates)

Griffin Washburn – S/T
(RIYL: chill indie pop, psych, The Lagoonas)

GRNDMS – Capitol Mill (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, folk, Frankie Cosmos)

We’ll be sharing a new section of the list every day this week, so be sure to check back for the complete collection. If you find something you like, or think we missed something life-changing, then why not let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or good old email.

The post Favourite Free Music of 2015: D-G appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Mitski/Eskimeaux/Elvis Depressedly/Dude York

“Try as we might to describe why a night of live music can comfort us, relieve us, inspire us, confront us or sometimes even change us entirely, the actual phenomenon is something you have to be present to fully understand” – Erika wrote about the Mitski/Eskimeaux/Elvis Depressedly/Dude York show in Seattle, and drew some pictures too.

Daytime TV

“Lo-fi, psych-tinged, rock music, fusing the DIY indie rock ethos with mid 2000’s British garage rock” – Our thoughts on the self-titled EP from Daytime TV

Ought

Canadian rockers Ought have a new album coming very soon on Constellation Records.

Don DeLillo

“Don DeLillo is a hero of mine. The finest writer of our times… ” – We made a playlist of songs to soundtrack DeLillo’s White Noise, together with some gushing words.

K. Adem

“If further evidence was needed, Beautiful Dreamer confirms Adem’s eclectic songwriting abilities” – Our thoughts on the latest release from K. Adem.

Oh Pep!

“What should perhaps be labelled multi-instrumental indie pop, something akin to Sylan Esso meets Vampire Weekend” – We previewed the upcoming EP from Oh Pep! with some words about first song ‘The Race’

Sorority Noise

“Teenage, I’m-so-misunderstood melancholy is doubly effective, providing a sense of connection to anyone unlucky enough to find themselves in the throes of an adolescent heartbreak, while proving immensely gratifying to everyone else in the way that manufactured grief is always gratifying – a distracting and digestible simulacrum of suffering, a romantic and wistful removed-from-Real-Life pain, like watching an episode of The OC with your name in the main credits. But the thing is, anyone listening closely will soon discover that Sorority Noise are different…” – we explained why Sorority Noise are more than just another emo band

Typhoon

“Let it be known, the stripped back, piano led performance of ‘Prosthetic Love’ is gorgeous” – Typhoon put out a seven-inch featuring some lovely alternate versions of songs from White Lighter

National Museum Cardiff

Finally… We told you about the exciting things coming up in July at the National Museum Cardiff

The post Week in Review: #9 (6th-10th July) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Daytime TV make a pleasing brand of lo-fi, psych-tinged, rock music, fusing the DIY indie rock ethos of the 80N7 compilations with mid 2000’s British garage rock. Opener ‘Background Painters’ is a good introduction, with its lo-fi guitars and thumping drumbeat, simultaneously ballsy and chilled out and perfect for the summertime. ‘Orange River’ is all jangling guitars and galloping drums before the entry of a synth line and droll vocals about the titular orange river, and ‘Hounoured If I’m Honest’, has shimmering guitars preceding familiarly deadpan, uber-cool vocals. Later in the song a weird squealing and distorted clarinet gives things a slightly surreal edge, like the shadowy figure of (a clarinet wielding) Colin Stetson hovering at the edge of the scene. Closer ‘Back in the Roc’ has a groovy swagger and a catchy breezy pop chorus of, “Come on and get over, don’t take your time”. It’s just the right blend of catchy and cool and it’s not difficult to imagine the folks over at 6Music grabbing hold of this and sending it on a meteoric rise.

You can get DAYTIME TV on a name-your-price basis via the band’s Bandcamp page.

The post Daytime TV – s/t appeared first on Various Small Flames.