Francie Cool Archives - Various Small Flames

Favourite Free Music of 2016: P – S

Jon Doyle — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 12:38:56 +0000

Part four of the list of our favourite free music of 2016, this time covering artists beginning P – S. For an important explanation re. ‘free’ vs. ‘name your price’, head to the first post.

And, of course, being comprehensive is impossible these days, so let us know if we missed your favourite and maybe we’ll add it to the collection.

Peach Club – The Bitch Diaries
(RIYL: punk, rock, lo-fi)

Pet Cemtery & Henoheno & Brittle Brian & Francie Cool – Split
(RIYL: bedroom pop, sad music, lo-fi)

Porridge Radio – Rice, Pasta and Other Fillers
(RIYL: lo-fi, bedroom pop, carbohydrates)

Post-Trash – Volume Two
(RIYL: compilations, bedroom pop, indie rock)

Psychic Shakes – Psychic EP
(RIYL: lo-fi pop, chilled out vibes, down-tempo beats)

Ratbath – Dead Skin Cells
(RIYL: bedroom pop, folk, sad)

Ravetank – Wasting Your Life From 9-5
(RIYL: alternative, pop, lo-fi)

Real Swell – everything else is terrible!
(RIYL: lo-fi, experimental, lo-fi pop)

Rhucle – Rustic Lullaby
(RIYL: ambient, mindfulness, field recordings)

Ryan Tanner – Promised Land
(RIYL: folk, Americana, country)

Ryder Eaton – Peach Pit
(RIYL: folk, lo-fi, experimental)

Saint Clementine – If We Are Falling / I Wish I Knew What You Did Last Summer
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, pop punk)

The Saxophones – If You’re on the Water
(RIYL: ambient folk, dream pop, alternative)

Sea Offs – Sea the Blind
(RIYL: ambient, folk, dream pop)

See You At Home – The Future’s Here and It’s Terrible
(RIYL: indie, emo, dream pop)

Shalash (or, ШАΛАШ) – X
(RIYL: ambient, drone, compilations)

Skittish Arm – The Dog EP
(RIYL: ambient, drone, experimental)

Soccer Mommy – For Young Hearts
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, indie)

Svelte – svelte EP
(RIYL: post-rock, noise, shoegaze)

Swell Tone & Z Tapes – Summer of Sad
(RIYL: bedroom pop, sad songs, compilations)

Be sure to check out the previous sections of our favourite free music list here.

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Friends For Equality, a benefit compilation from Fox Food Records & Spartan Jet-Plex

Jon Doyle — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 19:43:29 +0000

When the world is heading in a direction opposite to that you would choose, indifferent (and often outright nasty) figures are gaining power, and societal divisions are widening by the day, there’s a strong and justifiable urge to retreat to small circles, rebel against the outside pressures through self-expression and individuality. However, while creativity is unquestionably a force for good, now more than ever it’s important to remember that art alone cannot right every wrong, especially for those at the sharp end of the changes in policy and attitude that are continuing to grow across the world. Which isn’t to say art shouldn’t be one of our main weapons, it’s just a case of ensuring we use it in the correct way.

Take for example Friends For Equality, the benefit compilation in support of Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU and Planned Parenthood put together by Nancy Kells and Fox Food Records. Collecting the talents of 42 acts, the release features a diverse range of unreleased tracks from all over the world, including WTD favs such as Henry Demos, Henoheno, PAT MOON, Rainwater, Francie Cool, Lewtrakimou, Slumbers and Monarch Mtn, not to mention songs from the creators themselves in the form of Spartan Jet-Plex and Good Good Blood. As you might expect, it’s also a great way to discover new artists, and while there are too many to write about properly, there’s enough variation in style and genre to ensure every music fan will find something to their liking.

Not content with the compilation, Nancy is organising a benefit show at Strange Matter in Richmond, VA on the 17th February, and working to put together a zine for which the theme is “social justice/civil rights – so anything related to that – drawings, photographs, comics, editorials, poetry, short story, etc.” Submissions are currently open until the 2nd January, so email spartanjetplex@gmail.com if you want to participate or help in any way.

You can buy Friends For Equality now via Bandcamp, and be sure to remember that the $5 price tag is a minimum suggestion (and impossibly generous for 42 tracks). Equally, if you don’t have cash to spare, you can help by spreading the word or getting involved (just contact Spartan Jet-Plex via the email address provided above).

Artwork by Ryan McCardle

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March 2016 Roundup – A Mixtape

Jon Doyle — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 12:05:01 +0000

Here’s a mixtape featuring every artist we wrote about during March 2016. There are plenty of gems in there so if you’ve spent the last month spring cleaning, gorging on chocolate eggs, or rubbing your eyes after a long hibernation, be sure to check this out.

Tracklisting:

1. Fire – Mal Devisa
2. wild fire/flowers – Trust Fall
3. Home Alone – Max Gardener
4. Your Love – Jeremy Squires
5. Veins – Camp Howard
6. How To Dance – Mount Moriah
7. Good Evening – Adeem the Artist
8. Shallow – Candy
9. Francie Cool – Francie Cool
10. Bad Vibes – Zebrafi
11. Piece of Ivy – Jake Bellissimo
12. Snow Day – Julia Brown
13. Alive – Dear Tracks
14. Ted the Radical Westy – Ravetank
15. ft1 – naps
16. We Have The Perimeter Surrounded – Hallelujah the Hills
17. Bullet in a Broken Gun – Oscar Lush
18. Color Peels – The Wandering Lake
19. Nowhere Nothing – Oceanator
20. Suagr Skull – The Washboard Abs
21. Of Wandering – Littler
22. bicycle – Twelve Gardens
23. Ya Ya Ya – You Won’t
24. Find You – Family Video
25. Jack Campbell (Quick Jammer) – Dingus.
26. Candy – Fish Food
27. It May Very Well Do – 100 Watt Horse
28. Life – Whim
29. Meg – Hovvdy
30. Piano Player – The Hotelier
31. Calvary – Chris Bathgate
32. Postman – Sam Moss

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Francie Cool – S/T

Liam Doyle — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 02:20:34 +0000

We covered two short releases from Philadelphia’s Francie Cool a few weeks ago, where we found ourselves being dragged into her eccentric-but-delightful world. Much of those releases felt like demos for something more developed, though at the end of the piece we hinted that a full-length album was in the pipeline. Sure enough Cool put out a self-titled record last month, produced by Carl Stevens.

Opener ‘Sugar Cutie’ sounds like the soundtrack to some whimsical village populated with adorable anthropomorphic animals, sweet and whimsical and slightly hyperactive. Though the lyrics are often dark and strange, the chorus makes things more ambivalent with a hint of something gentle at the centre of the song. “You always were a rough love, you always were a cutie”. ‘Chikura’ is an oddball acoustic pop song, the lyrics again odd and unnerving, ending on a Japanese outro that we’re afraid goes over our heads.

“Big brother said
“What if Francie we’re just all dead?”
I think he’s right
Drinks his blood red
late at night”

After the synth pop interlude of ‘Koenji’, ‘Osaka’ returns to the acoustic lo-fi vibes and morose lyrics (“Losing all my friends / waiting for the end”), complete with another closing sample from something Japanese. The title track is a synth pop song which kicks into life with electronic drums and vocals, like a anime version of Owen Ashworth. The track provides some useful facts about the about the titular Francie Cool (she’s cool, she walks to and from school, she likes boys and playing with synths, etc.) before closing with a less that irreverent refrain.

Don’t do drugs, just laugh it off it’s okay;
anxiety it’s only in your mind everyday

‘Kung Fu’ is probably the only bedroom pop song you’ll hear this year about the life of a warrior, complete with little hiiiya! karate sounds, and the opening lines of ‘Tsukiji’ are equally loveable. “I can’t do anything except watch four hours of the Lord of the Rings”. The song goes on to anxieties based on identity/gender, though in a way that weaves such concerns into small details of life (Super Monkey Ball 2 gets a mention, as does a stroll through a farmer’s market), meaning the song only packs gravity if you’re willing to listen closely and follow the threads. ‘All My Friends live in Himeji” is similarly serious, sounding like Told Slant meets Casiotone for the Painfully Alone as it confronts issues of self-esteem, before it segues into dreamy pop, sounding like a different track altogether. The album closes with ‘Kanagawa’, which doesn’t betray the wonderful oddity of the rest of the record.

“Blue hair blue veins
Tommy’s not my friend
I’m gonna teach him pain
Blue hair blue past
and finally at last
this surely will too past”

Francie Cool is an album at once playful and serious, a release not willing to commit to full twee fun or straight-laced emotions but instead moulding them together, confronting important issues through a weird, interesting lens. Emerging from the rough demos, the world of Francie Cool is blossoming into something to behold. You can buy the album now from the Francie Cool Bandcamp page.

Album art by Callie Best

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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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Introducing Francie Cool

Jon Doyle — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 10:36:06 +0000

Francie Cool is “just a normal girl” from Philadelphia who makes an eccentric brand of bedroom pop. wow i really fucked myself up is a four song/snippet EP which serves to highlight the variety of strings present on the Cool bow. ‘sucker’ and ‘avery 3’ are bummed-out bedroom pop in the vein of Boosegumps, consisting mostly acoustic guitar and near-spoken vocals, while ‘daniel’ shows off the stranger side with odd electronics, like the soundtrack to some long-lost 90s anime show, and ‘himeji rag’ is a jaunty piano sing-a-long.

Yes it’s rough, and yes it’s almost over before it begins, but you should think of wow i really fucked myself up as a trailer or a tech demo. We’re hearing whispers that Francie Cool has a full-length coming in spring that you are going to want to hear, but in the meantime you should grab this release from the her Bandcamp page.

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