Now, aside from certain misgivings pertaining to the diversity and focus of such events, there’s also a long and likely important discussion as to what degree protest alone can change (see Micah White’s case in The Guardian, citing the relative failure of Occupy). However, there is little doubt that activism is as or more important than it’s been for years. The tricky part will be maintaining this level of enthusiasm and commitment to equality beyond single marches or petitions. As White writes at the end of his piece: “The Women’s March on Washington has a role to play in this unfolding drama, but only if we cultivate a few moments of detachment from the thoughtless excitement to truly take time to consider this question: what happens on the day after the women march?”

The answer, I think, should be a doubling down on listening to women, non-binary folks and people of colour. Like, truly listening. Allowing them not only a voice but also the respect/power/position that will enable such a voice to enact social and political change. This can and should start at the smallest levels, equating to nothing more than a commitment to seeking out non-male/white opinions and voices and considering them with equal weight. Look for female journalists and authors and thinkers, PoC musicians and artists and film-makers. Heck, even just read The Le Sigh and Swell Tone and The Grey Estates, anything to shift your perspective away from the dominant voices. Do this until your bookshelf and record collection and Twitter feed look a little different, and the worldview that’s being beamed to you will look a little different too.

We’re under no illusion that our blog posts and mixtapes will solve anything, or that we’re preaching to the converted in this cool little echo chamber. So consider this as us shutting up for a few minutes, both to give space to voices that need it and a reminder that we’re standing by, on your side. You’ve lit the match, it’s time the void went flash. Never think that what you are doing is too small, and never assume that you are doing enough.

Tracklisting:

1. Jenny Hval – Untamed Region
2. Oh Rose – Running
3. Camp Cope – Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams
4. The Breeders – Hag
5. Screaming Females – Mothership
6. BB Cream – Heroine
7. Shannen Moser – A Funeral, A Friend, My Sanity
8. Tanukichan – Enough
9. Noname – Reality Check
10. Patti Smith – Kimberly
11. Sammus – Perfect, Dark
12. Vagabon – Fear & Force
13. Diet Cig – Tummy Ache
14. Jay Som – The Bus Song
15. Haybaby – Her
16. Betty Becky – Telegraph Ave
17. Suburban Lawns – Janitor
18. Heavens to Betsy – Nothing Can Stop Me
19. Tacocat – Dana Katherine Scully
20. Colour Me Wednesday – Two Fifty For You Girls
21. Allison Crutchfield – Dean’s Song
22. Cherry Glazerr – Nuclear Bomb
23. Mal Devisa – Dominatrix
24. Nicole Dollanganger – American Tradition
25. Angel Olsen – Sister

P.S. This seems a good time to remind you that Nancy Kells of Spartan Jet-Plex recently put out Friends For Equality, a compilation in support of the Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU and Planned Parenthood. In addition, she has arranged a benefit show in Richmond, VA in support of Forward Together and Sister Song (full details here).

There have also been similarly great releases like Wren & Shark and Friends, Don’t Stop Now (featuring covers by the likes of Lisa Prank and Augusta Koch of Cayetana) and Our First 100 Days. Oh, and some specially written songs by Hip Hatchet and Adeem the Artist.

Photo by Benjamin Lovell

The post Lit a Match, the Void Went Flash: A Playlist for Moving Forward appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The post Wake The Deaf’s Favourite Songs of 2015 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The title track is an emo-shaded slice of indie rock with a jangle pop undertow. It proves a good introduction to the nature of the album, melodramatic but not all dark and gloomy, the lyrics like sparks in the night, flashes that often reach a violent intensity:

“In the darkest days I knew that you were mine
you breaking books like I had broken your spine”

‘Stuck w/ Me’ is more jangle pop, this time treading close to the lovelorn shoegaze of Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The themes here are pretty self evident from the title, the lyrics a profession of love held aloft regardless of how the object of said love feels about it (“Well I’m afraid that I don’t want nobody else / You’re stuck with me”). ‘Young Blood’ opens with chugging guitars (“like a puréed fruit / my time in the blender has changed me / I just need time to regroup / I’ll get it together eventually”) before blooming into bursts of flailing indie rock. Finale ‘Baby Angel’ brings everything together, ostensibly a love song, the ending of which builds and builds into a pounding, crashing finale, a fitting end to a great collection of songs.

“You’re going to have to leave your friends and family behind for good
You’re going to have to forget about everything you never thought you could
Because it’s everyone else or me
You have to prove your loyalty
That’s the way it has to be”

Get Cool Waves, Young Blood now via the Fox Food Records Bandcamp page, as a pay-what-you-want download or on lovely red cassette tape, which also comes with some extra goodies including a polaroid taken by the band. The band are also signed to Aussie label Monday Records, so check in there for tour updates, etc.

The post Home Lives – Cool Waves, Young Blood appeared first on Various Small Flames.

While All of Something isn’t out until October, the band have released two singles to whet your appetite, complete with videos featuring animations by the excellent Laurent Hrybyk. First up is Saturday, our introduction to the richer sound of the newly-formed quintet, a short, sharp track about dwelling on the future while trying to live in the moment.

The second is ‘The Washing Machine’, a track which fits snugly into the Father/Daughter roster next to Diet Cig. The song swaps out worries over an imagined future to doubts over an achieved one, the sinking feeling when you realise a previous dream and discover it might not be as special or rewarding as you might have imagined.

“Sometimes at night it looks like you’ve stopped breathing,
Maybe it’s just I am crushing you.
We’re driving each other crazy but I know that you’ve been changing
So I’m gonna sleep until my bed is unmade
Cuz everything feels a little bit less safe
But I think that it’s okay to feel all of something “

You can pre-order All of Something now via Father/Daughter Records, with a variety of vinyl designs to choose from.

The post A new album from SPORTS appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“Over Easy is an album by and for people too old to be kids but too young to be capital-A Adults, where relationships are dictated by your presence or absence at shows, boredom is seen as the ultimate evil and growing up looms like some nightmare threatening to come real”

The New Paltz duo are back with a new double A-side seven-inch. ‘Sleep Talk’ is a kind of post-post-breakup song, with lead Alex Luciano opening with some self-deprecating statements (“I can’t play instruments very well, and I eat all of your cereal/But i’ll never be a smoker ’cos, the second cigarette makes me feel like shit), before imagining going to the home of her ex’s new girlfriend and telling her everything. This segues into nostalgic reminiscing for the doomed relationship (“I’m getting coffee by myself, but I still know how you like yours”) before the final declaration/threat which turns an awkward situation into a rather complex one:

“If I told you I loved you,
I don’t know who
it would scare away faster”

Second track ‘Dinner Date’ will be unveiled in August, and the seven-inch will be released on the 18th September by Father/Daughter Records and Art is Hard Records.

The post Diet Cig – ‘Sleep Talk’/’Dinner Date’ 7″ appeared first on Various Small Flames.

January was a bit of a scrappy month in terms of regular posts, but we still managed to cover some excellent artists. Why not catch up with any you missed with this tailor-made mixtape? Click the artist names in the tracklist to be whisked off to the review.

Tracklist:

1. Jesus in the 70s – Siskiyou
2. 2 Broke 2 Old – Gorgeous Bully
3. Another Way To Go – Adeline Hotel
4. Scene Sick – Diet Cig
5. Dog Burial Theme – Dicktations
6. Up the Academy – Mike Pace and the Child Actors
7. Con/ A Sewer/A Cat – Amateur Love
8. The End is a Vicious Thing – Puzzlecuts
9. Manic Pixie Dream Girl – Furnsss
10. Party Girls – Gleemer
11. Soft Reputation – Unlikely Friends
12. Passing Through – Harley Alexander
13. Coward’s Luck – Hip Hatchet
14. Memphis – The Wandering Lake
15. How a Resurrection Really Feels – The Hold Steady
16. Fire in My Eyes – Yours Are The Only Ears
17. Traffic is Okay – Sitcom
18. Gold & Rose – Dear Sister

Also make sure you check out our mammoth collection of our Favourite ‘Free’ Music of 2014. Finally, if you enjoy long, rambling pieces that try and draw connections between my favourite music and my favourite books, check out this piece on The Hold Steady’s Separation Sunday (Craig Finn said he enjoyed it, so it carries his stamp of approval).

January 2015 Roundup from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post January 2015 Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

‘Breathless’ opens with the mixture of worry and excitement faced when moving into a new home. “I don’t have any kitchenware but I can walk ’round in my underwear” Luciano sings, but is soon worrying about her new-found freedom/isolation. “Will you still come visit me on North Front street? Will you still watch the Simpsons on my floor, pretend it’s 1994?” The mixture of energy and naivety is as relatable as it is enjoyable, a childish (in a good way) reaction to the threat of normality and dead-eyed maturity. ‘Pool Boyz’ features another life at the child/adult interface (“lets have a slumber party tonight in jail”) and ‘Harvard’ speaks of the alienating effects university can have on us and our friends (“Fuck your Ivy League sweater, you know I was better”).

The other two tracks concern one of the age-old defences against growing up, The Scene. Unfortunately, living The Scene to the point where lives revolve around it is just as brain-numbing as a shitty job, as lead track ‘Scene Sick’ points out. “I’m sick of hearing about your scene, I’d rather talk about something more exciting. I don’t care I don’t care I don’t care I don’t care.” Things are taken a step further on ‘Cardboard’, highlighting that loneliness descends upon everyone, even those is something as tight and communal as the music scene. “Let’s start with I’m sorry I didn’t go to your show, the thought of seeing you depressed me too much to go. I smell like cigarettes and last night’s booze and I hate everybody here but that’s no excuse.”

Over Easy is an album by and for people too old to be kids but too young to be capital-A Adults, where relationships are dictated by your presence or absence at shows, boredom is seen as the ultimate evil and growing up looms like some nightmare threatening to come real.

Over Easy will be released on cassette on the 24th February. You can pre-order it now over at Father/Daughter Records.

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