February Archives - Various Small Flames

February 2016 Roundup – A Mixtape

Jon Doyle — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 14:00:31 +0000

That’s right, February 2016 is a thing of the past. We think it’ll live on in our ears though, because there was some exceptional music floating around that we’ll be going back to all year. Here’s a playlist featuring every act we wrote about, hosted on the brand new (at least to us) Playmoss platform. As ever, click on the artist’s name in the tracklisting to be beamed off to the specific post.

Tracklisting:

1. A Hospital + Crucifix Made of Plastic – Florist
2. Richmond – talons’
3. Say – Indoor Voices
4. Aeroplane – House Plants
5. When I Was an Island – David Karsten Daniels
6. The Gentleman’s Apocalypse – JR Green
7. Hitman – Mrs. Hopewell
8. sun drops – ratbath
9. A Cruise – Brian S. Cassidy
10. Orpheus – Matt Kivel
11. Your Love – Jeremy Squires (INTERVIEW)
12. Blood Moon – C.M. Slenko
13. Bake – Broken Beak
14. Brushes Like a Fox – Saint Corsair
15. daniel – francie cool
16. Baby Blue – Mount Moriah
17. For You – Free Cake For Every Creature
18. Have This Dance – Govier
19. Goodness (trailer) – The Hotelier
20. The River Because – Sawtooth
21. why are you so cool? – Dying Adolescence
22. cockroach – tall friend
23. Waiting – Faint Peter
24. Heart Destroyer – Lazy Legs
25. Take it Forever – Beat Radio (INTERVIEW)
26. Every One of Them, Dogs – Quarterly
27. like a feather or a pawprint – Field Medic
28. Lay For June – Old Earth
29. 2 old 2 broke – Gorgeous Bully
30. Funny Man Routine – Table People
31. House & Home – Arlo Aldo
32. Cave Song – Sea Ghost
33. Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac cover) – Boosegumps (from Sugar Rush)

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February 2015 Roundup – A Mixtape

Jon Doyle — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:52:42 +0000

Did you miss anything on Wake The Deaf this month? Catch up with this handy 8tracks mixtape featuring a track from all the artists. Click the names in the tracklist to be zoomed off to the relevant post.

Tracklisting:

1. The Blackest Crow – Robbie Banks
2. Good News is Too True – Newfoundland
3. The Blues Easing – Slows Down
4. Silly River – Gay Angel
5. A Whole New Shape – Happyness
6. The Ghost at Woodland Park – Molly Drag
7. Matches – ACAB Rocky
8. Comb The Feelings Through You Hair – Grooms
9. Spider’s Web – Obody
10. Field Guide – Sarah Louise
11. So Long – Anomie
12. Slow Time Vultures – Elephant Micah
13. Light Leaks – Ben Seretan

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

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February 2014 Roundup – A Mixtape

Jon Doyle — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 18:17:22 +0000

A collection of songs by artists featured in the past month here at Wake The Deaf.

Miss last month’s edition? Listen to our January round-up.

February Mix from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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Shelley Miller

Jon Doyle — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:46:00 +0000

‘February’ is the fourth album from Chicago songwriter Shelley Miller. Written in the aftermath of Chicago’s ‘Snowmageddon’ in 2011, the atmosphere of the record is very much one of a desolate cold, capturing the feel of the city during those months. Lyrically the songs stay close to this feeling, Miller’s soulful vocals dealing with the most pertinent topics (love, life and death) in the stark winter. Sometimes sad, sometimes angry, sometimes wistful, elated and worried. The album is far from bleak though – there are many tracks with hopeful refrains and the sound as a whole is hardly downhearted. As she sings in the opener ‘November’:

“Race down the sidewalk like kids on a rink,
Cold fingers flying, we’ll warm them,
When we go inside, sit for a while,
Laugh at the smiles we can’t keep to ourselves,
I catch your eyes watching mine,
All our words lost somewhere,
Between our hearts and our heads.”

And that is what I enjoy most about the album. Rather than, as many records do, capturing an overarching feeling and creating ten or so songs around it, February captures the whole spectrum of feelings one would experience across a period of time – from gloomy despair to an uncontrollable hopefulness. Not pessimistic or optimistic but rather a realistic blend of the two. The cyclical and ever-changing nature of human emotion is woven through February, perfectly summed up by the closing track (aptly named ‘March’):

“The ice is melting and the sun’s come out,
Amen, amen,
The ice is melting and the sun’s come out,
Amen, amen.”

Head over to Bandcamp to stream/purchase February or you can go to CDbabyto grab yourself a physical copy.

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