dirty projectors Archives - Various Small Flames

Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers

Jon Doyle — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 18:21:50 +0000

Produced and organised by Emilie Rex and Rick Alverson in response to the precarity and cruelty of the present moment, Passages is a new project which asked artists to write and record a song in a place that feels like home. Using everything from home studio set-ups to simple mobile phones, an array of stellar people answered, with Alan Sparhawk, St. Panther, Daniel Lopatin (of Oneohtrix Point Never), Benjamin Booker, Lambchop, Quin Kirchner, Marisa Anderson, Y La Bamba, Lonie Holley, Bonnie Prince Billy, Erik Hall, Dirty Projectors, William Tyler, Aisha Burns, Anjou (ft. I. Nova), Heather Woods Broderick and Tim Heidecker offering their own emotive, authentic responses to the call. “Home, as we know it, is under threat,” as Rex and Alverson explain. “When immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers exercise their human right to safe passage, they defend our ability to do so—and our right to be and feel at home.”

The release will be available via Western Vinyl both digital and on vinyl, including a limited deluxe edition which includes liner notes by 2024 National Book Award winner Jason De León (Soldiers and Kings) and poetry from National Book Critics Circle Award Winner Ross Gay (Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude). Both editions of the vinyl include photography from Pulitzer Foundation Grant Awardee Greg Constantine and cover art by Reena Saini Kallat, which is taken from the series Ruled Paper (red, blue, white) which depicts contested geographies around the world. All proceeds will be shared between two Texas-based organisations, American Gateways and Casa Marianella, who provide all manner of support for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, including food, shelter, access to health care, legal services and other essential things. Plus, on the 4th December, Tim Heidecker will host a live variety show and raffle/auction on his call-in show Office Hours to further support the two organisations.

In preview of the December release, the offerings of Alan Sparhawk and Benjamin Booker have been made available to stream. Both offered statements to explain the context behind the tracks. “Here is a song that came from the struggle to know what to say to someone who is having a hard time,” Sparhawk explains of his song ‘No More Darkness’. “There are real things that we can do to lift each other out of suffering—sometimes it is tangible charity, like this compilation to raise funds and awareness for the plight of immigrants and those who have been displaced. Sometimes it is words of encouragement. It can also just be time spent with someone who needs help getting through the moment. Let’s do our best to turn up the light.”

Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers by Alan Sparhawk

Fittingly for the compilation’s themes, Booker’s track ‘A Place for Us’ is warm, welcoming and nakedly emotive. Lucid whispered truths over gentle but stark guitar. “The human struggle is a family struggle,” he explains of its ethos. “We rise together and we suffer together. There are so many things out of our control, but we can always open our hearts to love and understanding. May you find light in the darkness.”

Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers by Benjamin Booker

Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers will be released on the 5th December via Western Vinyl and you can pre-order it now.

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Bells Atlas – Hyperlust EP

Jon Doyle — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 19:07:31 +0000

We wrote a short post on Oakland’s Bells Atlas back in May, when they unveiled their first single ‘Bling’. The song packed far more into its four minutes than the majority of albums, leading us to categorize the Bells Atlas sound as:

“prismatic music which draws upon a diverse range of styles and artists, blending the visceral emotions of R&B and soul with an off-the-wall, avant-garde vibe akin to Dirty Projectors and tUnE-yArDs”

The band have now released their Hyperlust EP, and it’s safe to say that the above description holds fast. The most impressive achievement is how the band manage to weave the different elements into something so natural, the guitars, bells, chimes, drums and vocals knitting together like the sonic equivalent of a patchwork quilt.

The atmosphere on the release is decidedly sunny, the vibe generally laid-back and soulful and the cacophony of instrumentation vibrant and bright. However, behind the summery veneer lies a collection of esoteric lyrics which hold an abstract mysticism, frontwoman Sandra Lawson-Ndu posing vague, existential questions as if channelling some higher power or divine force. “If future takes me to find our bones,” she sings on opener ‘Future Bones’, “I’ll mold them together / and desert this form / Break (break) original rules that would guide the way we’d move until we required cover and strange spirits remained.” The song continues in this manner, using precise imagery to trace imprecise, unknowable things, the words coalescing with the music to create something unclear but imbued with meaning, as if reaching somewhere deeper within your brain or soul than you can consciously go. As Lawson-Ndu sings on ‘Sugar Queen’:

“Intertwined by things we’ll never see, never feel, never know, never we try”

[…]

“Lost in these thoughts that you’ll never know, never hear, never ask, never you’ll care.”

This idea of the lyrics and music entwining to work together is an important part of the Bells Atlas sound. Of course, the majority of songs are based on this marriage but there usually seems a certain degree of disconnect, the words an afterthought to the riffs, the instrumentation an accompaniment to the poetry. Here, both are treated with equal importance, so much so that it becomes difficult to determine which came first. It’s hard to imagine such an experimental sound being created before the profoundly obscure lyrics, yet it’s almost as if Lawson-Ndu is writing about the music itself, as if the lyrics already existed in the kaleidoscopic cocktail and she merely had to delve in and present them for our ears.

You can buy Hyperlust now from Bandcamp, as well as their previous releases and some pretty cool t-shirts.

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Bells Atlas – Bling

Jon Doyle — Wed, 13 May 2015 13:30:03 +0000

Bells Atlas are a band from Oakland, CA who make distinctive, prismatic music which draws upon a diverse range of styles and artists, blending the visceral emotions of R&B and soul with an off-the-wall, avant-garde vibe akin to Dirty Projectors and tUnE-yArDs. Indeed, their own bio describes them as: “kaleidosonic soul punch, afro-soul, rhythm pop-sicles, taste the r’nbow – Missy Elliot meets Bjork meets the Malian-born love child of David Longstreth and Annie Clark.” I think the only thing that could possibly be more apt a description of Bells Atlas’ sound is Sophie Roach‘s artwork for their new EP, Hyperlust.

‘Bling’ is the latest single from Hyperlust, a jagged pop hit which manages to not only bathe the listener in a glowing summer chill but also challenge the concept of capital-T Truth in reality and the mind, answering its own mystical questions with the only fair motto of our times. I don’t know.

“What do you mean?

I don’t know

Just a sign of science

Just a sign of science

What did you see?

Eyes to the floor

And if I do not understand it, was it real?

What do you mean?

I don’t know”

Hyperlust will be released on the 31st May and you can pre-order it now from Bandcamp. If, like me, you are new to the band, be sure to go back and explore their previous releases.

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The Covers Mix: Volume #6

Jon Doyle — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:56:00 +0000

Welcome to the sixth edition of our Covers Mix. Once again we present 20 covers that we like a lot and think that you will too. If you missed any of the previous volumes than check them out – One, Two, Three, Four, Five.

Tracklisting:

1. Borrowed Tune (Neil Young Cover) – Field Report*
2. Someone Like You (Adele Cover) – Shipwrecks & Island of Misfit Toys
3. Good Good Things (The Descendents Cover) – Edsel
4. Ceremony (New Order Cover) – Chromatics
5. Angels (The XX Cover) – KOTKEE
6. Dark Eyes (Bob Dylan Cover) – Dirty Projectors
7. If I Had No Place To Fall (Townes Van Zandt Cover) – Nathaniel Rateliff^
8. Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – Praything
9. From the Soil, a Violin (Goose Lake Cover) – Wand (formerly First Nations)
10. I Can’t Talk About It (El Perro Del Mar Cover) – His Clancyness
11. Such Great Heights (Postal Service Cover) – Iron & Wine
12. From The Morning (Nick Drake Cover) – Pickering Pick
13. Night Moves (Bob Seger Cover) – Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson^
14. Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (Traditional) – Daniel Rossen
15. My Dreams Have Withered and Died (Richard and Linda Thompson Cover) – Angel Olsen & Marissa Nadler
16. No Ordinary Love (Sade Cover) – The Rosebuds
17. You Aint Seen Nothing Yet (Bachman Turner Overdrive Cover) – Yo La Tengo
18. Indian Sunburn (Schooner Cover) – Wesley Wolfe
19. Ohio (Damien Jurado Cover) – Neil Halstead*
20. I See a Darkness (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy Cover) – Johnny Cash

* = taken from Fuel/Friends Chapel Sessions
^ = taken from Daytrotter Sessions

Please remember to support the artists! We’ve included links on the tracklisting that will take you somewhere more specific for each band so be sure to check out their original material. Also visit Daytrotter and Fuel/Friends, the sessions they do are well worth your time.

The Covers Mix: Volume #6 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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Wake the Deaf’s Top Tracks of 2012

Jon Doyle — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 10:51:00 +0000

Top albums? Check. Top EPs? Done. Now it’s time for our favourite tracks of the year. Each of us has picked the one song that hit us hardest this year.

Dirty Projectors – Gun Has No Trigger

“As a self-confessed Dirty Projectors fanboy, I’ve always admired their musicianship, instrumentation and ability to surprise, and all these things shine through on this track, but there was something new at play too. I would call it structure but that seems somehow unfair (and entirely subjective to the context of a back catalogue that is at times so cerebral that it verges on impenetrable). There’s a directness and simplicity to this track – perhaps not in technical terms, but certainly in terms of ideas – that feels like a picture coming in to focus. Where in the past, Dirty Projectors songs have sometimes felt like an argument between a room full of incredibly clever music students, Gun Has No Trigger (and the album as a whole) feels like it finds freedom in a structure that, whilst formulaic, forces the more surprising and expressive ideas to play together rather than fight each other to be heard.” Dave

Japandroids – The House That Heaven Built

“A difficult decision but this is the song that I have continually returned to over the past year. It’s positive, carefree, from an album called ‘Celebration Rock’, and I happened to see them play it on the Thursday before a certain night in Munich. It was a sign!” Jon

Evening Hymns – Asleep in the Pews

“Spectral Dusk, my undoubted favourite album of the year, isn’t the sort of record that has a standout track or a couple of killer singles – it works best as a cohesive whole. I ended up going for Asleep In The Pews which nicely sums up the overarching themes of family and loss and the confusing and strange process that follows losing someone you love. It’s a song about trying to be okay that should resonate with most. It certainly does with me.” Liam

Lone – Crystal Caverns 1991

“Immaculately produced, incredibly detailed and yet still brimming with furious energy, this is what dance music should aspire to. I’m a little too young to appreciate the nostalgic element of the recent 90s rave revivalism, but I’ve always found a guilty pleasure in the staccato vocal hits and synth stabs, and this track has plenty.” Matt

TNGHT – Higher Ground

“HudMo’s always been a bit of a character and his collaboration with Lunice as TNGHT helped to reaffirm my belief in music as just pure, unadulterated fun. Higher Ground’s the highlight on our EP of the year. Led by a tuba, with a bit of everything else chucked in for good measure, it’s flat out fucking monstrous.” Will

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Wake the Deaf’s Top 15 Albums of 2012

Jon Doyle — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 10:05:00 +0000

The year’s drawing to a close, the world’s not ended (yet) and so it’s about time we got round to compiling our ‘best of’ list. Our 15 favourite albums of the last 12 months are:

15. Damien Jurado – Maraqopa

(Secretly Canadian)

14. Sand Circles – Motor City

(Not Not Fun)

13. Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind

(Epitaph)

12. Advance Base – A Shut-In’s Prayer

(Orindal)

11. Strand of Oaks – Dark Shores

(Self Released)

10. Actress – R.I.P

(Honest Jon’s Records)

9. Christian Löffler – A Forest

(Ki Records)

8. Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin – Instrumental Tourist

(Software)

7. Holy Other – Held

(Tri Angle)

6. Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan

(Domino)

5. Field Report – Field Report

(Partisan)

4. The XX – Coexist

(Young Turks)

3. Japandroids – Celebration Rock

(Polyvinyl)

2. Evening Hymns – Spectral Dusk

(Shuffling Feet / Strange Ways)

1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!

(Constellation)

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The Covers Mix: Volume #5

Jon Doyle — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:15:00 +0000

Here is the fifth volume of our covers mix series, taking us up to song number 100. Again we’ve tried to add a bit of variety to the list so hopefully there is something for everyone. Enjoy!

Tracklisting:

1. On A Good Day (Joanna Newsom Cover) – Jordan Klassen & Brian Chan
2. Storm Windows (John Prine Cover) – Jeffrey Foucault
3. I’m Going Home (Hank Williams Cover) – Teen Suicide
4. You Are the Everything (R.E.M. Cover) – Redbird
5. You and I Are a Gang of Losers (The Dears Cover) – Admiral Fallow
6. Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty Cover) – Benjamin Francis Leftwich
7. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine (Bob Dylan Cover) – Dirty Projectors
8. Storms (Fleetwood Mac Cover) – Matt Sweeney & Bonnie Prince Billy
9. It’s Not Happening (Be Good Tanyas Cover) – Lowpines
10. Two Headed Boy (Neutral Milk Hotel) – My Latest Novel
11. Cruel Summer (Bananarama Cover) – Superchunk
12. Southern Girls (Cheap Trick Cover) – Cold Warps
13. Tambourine Man (Bob Dylan Cover) – Cloud Cult
14. Black Cat (Donkeys Cover) – Advance Base
15. Save Yourself (Sharon Van Etten Cover) – Brendan Losch
16. Learning (Perfume Genius Cover) – The Bearcat
17. Wicked Game (Chris Isaak Cover) – Widowspeak
18. John Wayne Gacy Jr. (Sufjan Stevens Cover) – Bryan John Appleby
19. Reason To Believe (Tim Hardin Cover) – Evening Hymns
20. You Are My Sunshine (Oliver Hood Cover) – Peter Broderick

As ever, please please please support the musicians we feature if you enjoy what you hear. The artist names in the tracklisting will take you to a page for each so please explore their music catalogues.

The Covers Mix: Volume #5 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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YYU – TIMETIMETIME&TIME

Liam Doyle — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:30:00 +0000

YYU is the project of Californian artist, Ben Straus. Back in May he released an album entitled TIMETIMETIME& TIME on a label called Beer On The Rug. It is very difficult to put this album into a genre in an attempt to describe what a listener might expect. I’ve read a few reviews that refer to it as “vaporwave”, although as someone unfamiliar with the genre that isn’t much help (please excuse my ignorance). Other attempts are vague and similarly unhelpful, although “post-dubstep” is the closest to something I would have suggested (probably due to my lack of knowledge in the area).

Anyway, pointless taxonomic arguments on genres aside, this is a very interesting album. Repetition is an important element here, the sound circles and repeats constantly, but it is put together in a way that seems entirely organic and affecting. Strummed guitars, delicate vocals and hushed pianos are all cut up and looped to beautiful effect. The continued repetition that should therefore seem robotic and digital actually comes across as natural and human (as in the continued repetition of a heart beat). The album also remains pretty accessible despite the largely experimental approach, and would, I believe, certainly appeal to fans of Burial and Mount Kimbie, and even Dirty Projectors. Listen to and buy the album from Bandcamp, and check out Beer On The Rug’s website for more information.

YYU has also just released a brand new song on his Soundcloud page which is definitely worth checking out. Stream it below:

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The Covers Mix: Volume #1

Jon Doyle — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:20:00 +0000

Here at Wake The Deaf we love a mixtape and are always looking for new themes/excuses to make them. Looking through our music collections we realised that we have hundreds of cover versions and have decided to share our favourites with you over the next few months.

Today is the first volume. It features a mix of styles and bands, covering classic songs and new music. We hope you enjoy these re-workings as much as we do.

WTD’s Covers Mix, Volume #1:

1. Crystalized (The XX Cover) – Holly Miranda
2. Her Vore (Coma Cinema Cover) – Fog Lake
3. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths Cover) – Dan Mangan
4. Don’t Haunt This Place (The Rural Alberta Advantage Cover) – Yellow Ostrich
5. Tears Are In Your Eyes (Yo La Tengo Cover) – The Antlers
6. Cars (Gary Numan Cover) – The Leisure Society (Thanks to TWR for the shout!)
7. Old Old Fashioned (Frightened Rabbit Cover) – John Statz
8. Owner Of A Lonely Heart (Yes Cover) – Grizzly Bear
9. I Fought The Law (Bobby Fueller Cover) – Titus Andronicus
10. I Will Truck (Dirty Projectors Cover) – Painted Palms
11. A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell Cover) – James Blake
12. Devil Town (Daniel Johnston Cover) – Bright Eyes
13. Like A Diamond (Glass Ghost Cover) – Sharon Van Etten
14. Ex-Girl Collection (The Wrens Cover) – Will Sheff
15. Angst In My Pants (Sparks Cover) – Signals
16. Sleep All Summer (Crooked Fingers Cover) – St Vincent & The National
17.Beacon Hill (Damien Jurado Cover) – The Head And The Heart
18. Best Ever Death Metal Band Out Of Denton (The Mountain Goats Cover) – Andy Hull
19. Godbye Again (John Denver Cover) – Youth Lagoon
20. Long Desert Train (Jason Molina Cover) – Strand Of Oaks (Thanks to CXCW)

You know the drill – support the bands. Each of the artists’ names above will take you to their website so explore further. Don’t be an Emily White, musicians have to eat too.

The Covers Mix: Volume #1 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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