Yowler

“Water permeates the record in all of its guises, in rain and in blood and in sinks, in rivers and seas and oceans, in sheet ice and snow melt and the film over an eye” – The Offer by Yowler gives Maryn Jones a chance to create something intensely personal.

Samantha Crain

“Music has the power to change minds and to nudge humanity down a different path but for the most part I feel like most music just wants to follow the mass around asking what they like and what they want from them. There are bigger things going on, music and art needs to direct attention towards those injustices.” – We chatted to Samantha Crain her forthcoming album Under Branch & Thorn & Tree.

Late Night Music in the Museum

“The evenings showed that museums can be innovative, adaptable and welcoming to all, centres of the community rather than simple tourist novelties…What better way to ensure the survival of an institute than to make it central to the lives and well-being of the people it serves?” – We were left feeling inspired by recent events at the National Museum in Cardiff.

Fevered Press, Fevered Certainty

Cool people cover cool songs by cool bands for a cool zine. What’s not to like? The Epoch Fanzine from Fevered Press, Fevered Certainty.

Right Away, Great Captain

“The journey is an epic one, written in novelistic detail that surpasses the overwhelming majority of albums – tracing the sailor’s time at sea…and his return to land” – Andy Hull’s Right Away, Great Captain release entire catalogue in one anthology.

Harley Alexander

“Just the right blend of luminous and languorous to occupy your headphones during the summer (or dreams thereof)” – Glorious summer vibes from Harley Alexander on Gold Shirt.

Fazed On a Pony

Fox Food Records continue their hot streak with this slice of “raucously rad” indie rock from Fazed On a Pony.

Star Horse

“Keepin’ it dreamy with yearning vocals and a resounding crystalline shimmer” – A few words about ‘Slower Now’ by Star Horse, which premièred on No Fear of Pop earlier this week.

May Roundup mixtape

If you missed the chance to read everything we posted during May, do yourself a favour and catch up with all the cool bands via this handy mixtape.

Introverted Stars

“When I hear Alessia [Cara] valorize her love of staying at home, it feels like an affirmation that my preternatural quietness is a bearable tic rather than a curse. She wants to be alone in her room, and she has the courage to tell it to the whole world” – Molly Long wrote a fantastic piece for The Fader about being introverted and shy… while also being a pop star.

Mark Kozelek Being Offensive Pt. XXVI

“He can use sexually violent language to reduce female critics to the status of groupies, knowing that while male musicians’ misogynist acts are examined for nuance and defended as traits of “difficult” artists, women and those who call them out are treated as hysterics who don’t understand art” – Laura Snapes wrote about her recent run-in with Mark Kozelek for The Guardian…

“Maybe a feminist reimagining of popular music doesn’t just involve putting more women onstage. Maybe it includes creating spaces without stages: where power is fluid, where no one can play god, where art can be shared without elevating artists three feet above their audiences” – …and Sasha Geffen wrote a great piece for Consequence of Sound about Kozelek’s recent behaviour and how he is far from the only example.

Sufjan or ETs?

If you’re like me then you quite like Sufjan Stevens, and you ABSOLUTELY LOVE UFOs and all that weird stuff. Test your knowledge (of either category) with this fun list from Mandala Laura over at McSweeney’s.

Jenny Hval

You can stream the new Jenny Hval album over at the New York Times:

Titus Andronicus

And Titus Andronicus unveiled another track from their forthcoming album ‘The Most Lamentable Tragedy‘:

And Finally… the 8tracks Playlist of the Week

This week’s winner is this gem from Badical Turbo Radness.

The post Week in Review: #4 (1st-5th June) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Fevered Press, Fevered Certainty is an independent press run by two non-binary radicals in Michigan. Their aim is to highlight voices on the margins, and they do so by publishing really cool zines and books. They have recently published the first volume of The Epoch Fanzine, which “includes photos, interviews with collective members, essays, dance, and song covers by the qt n friendly community surrounding the collective”. The blurb gives you good reason to grab a copy right away:

“read to feel posi, read to feel closer to yr fav bands n artists”

Perhaps the best bit about the zine are the covers of songs by Epoch faves Told Slant, Small Wonder and Eskimeaux by some really cool and talented people. They serve as 1) cool new takes on tracks I really like and 2) introductions to artists I’m not at all familiar with. What’s not to like?

First up is Leor Miller (of Cipinko), who transforms Told Slant’s ‘Lack’ with fuzzy lo-fi guitars and deadpan vocals, cultivating a sort of Bret Easton Ellis-style so-cool-he’s-numb kinda vibe. Then Detroit’s Chill Corea brings a lo-fi synth pop rendition of Eskimeaux’s ‘Alone At the Party’, think Casiotone for the Painfully Alone meets Free Cake For Every Creature.

The second Told Slant cover comes courtesy of Pitsburgh’s Unraveler, who chooses ‘Ohio Snow Falls’ and provides a version which manages to capture the awkward twitchy passion that makes Told Slant so good. Michigan-based Anywaves also cover Told Slant, with a guitar-less take on ‘Parking Lots’, complete with that slightly desperate warbling crack to the vocals, before alone@home wrap things up with ‘Pocket Full of Posies’, a track which the band describe as “characteristic Eskimeaux, with prettiness and sadness in every line”.

You can get the fanzine via the Fevered Press website, and download the songs on a name-your-price basis over at their Bandcamp page. Now excuse me while I go listen to all these artists’ back catalogues.

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