Future Islands – Seasons (Waiting on You)

“It’s heartening to know that a band who have been toiling away at their craft for years can go from relative obscurity to flavour of the month with one astounding T.V performance. It’s also heartening to know that within the loose circles of pop music, there’s still an appetite for the surprising and the unusual. When I first saw Samuel T. Herring’s chest beating, lateral chicken dancing and unexpected bellowing during Future Island’s performance of Seasons on Letterman, I was bowled over—it violated every expectation I might have had of a synth pop band within the first thirty seconds and left me wondering what the hell I’d just watched by the end. It’s catchy, it’s refreshingly different, and Herring’s performance absolutely demands your attention in a way that few other songs have this year.” Dave 

Field Report – Pale Rider

“Every year I seem to fall for an album that demands to be played front to back (see: Hospice, Spectral Dusk, White Lighter) and 2014 was no different. It’s difficult to settle on a single song from Marigolden but I’ve plumped for ‘Pale Rider’, a track which exemplifies what Field Report are all about. The song deals with the pressure of meaning so much to another person, a blend of sadness and regret illuminated with sparks of intense emotion and a fierce hope. I’ll leave you with my favourite lyrics of the year: ‘now you’re cantering crooked and screaming at the wind / and shooting off flare guns in memory of the kid / his birthday was yesterday; he would have been six / oh my god, I am so sorry.’” Jon

Strand of Oaks  – JM

JM is Tim Showalter’s tribute to the late Jason Molina, and more generally to the consoling and healing power of music. The lyrics are comprised of a (presumably autobiographical) list of struggles and difficult times – “And I hated all my friends, I wouldn’t let them in”, “I was sitting in the bath, cleaning off the ash” – followed repeatedly by the caveat “but I had your sweet tunes to play”. Describing how Showalter (and every single one of us) finds solace in songs, the track smoulders in a flickering twilight before igniting in a storm of wailing guitars and thundering drums, ending with: “I won’t let these dark times win, we got your sweet tunes to play”. It’s big and triumphant and sincere and it’s my favourite song released this year. Thanks for the sweet tunes, Tim.“ Liam

Photay – Reconstruct (Feat. Seafloor)

I have a theory that Photay must have stumbled on the formulae for the perfect song. Reconstruct has absolutely everything. After battering in your ears with a raw as hell bass riff, it journeys successively through a dreamily singalong chorus, a ponderous breakdown and a jazzy jam-ending. I haven’t stopped listening to it for months.” Matt

Flying Lotus – Never Catch Me (Feat. Kendrick Lamar)

“Never Catch Me sees two of the finest bring out the best in each other. FlyLo’s rhythm and grooves are matched every inch of the way by Kendrick Lamar’s flawless delivery. As songs about death go, it’s as upbeat as possible. Lines like “Looking down on my soul now, tell me I’m in control now, Tell me I can live long and I can live wrong and I can live right,
And I can sing songs and I can unite with you that I love, you that I like,
Look at my life and tell me I fight,” focus on our desire to affirm our time as worthwhile, the fear of wasting it and eventually being forgotten. Matched with a charming video, it’s been on regular rotation for a fair few months now.“ Will

The post Wake The Deaf’s Top Tracks of 2014 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

As ever, please support any of the acts you like and buy their own music. There are some super-talented and prolific acts on here who release a lot of their stuff for free, and I’m sure a few dollars, or even just an email of appreciation, would be very welcome.

Tracklisting:

1. Seasons (Waiting On You) (Future Islands Cover) – Slow Club
2. Don’t Let Me Get Me (P!nk Cover) – Arrange
3. Doin’ It Right (Daft Punk Cover) – Verdigrls
4. Flotus (Flying Lotus Cover) – Spazzkid
5. This Charming Man (The Smiths Cover) – SKATERS
6. Ain’t That Enough (Teenage Fanclub Cover) – Nai Harvest
7. Son Of Sam (Elliott Smith Cover) – The Provincial Archive
8. Her Sinking Sun (Coma Cinema Cover) – Julia Brown
9. Thru The Wall (Paul Baribeau Cover) – Matthew Lee Cothran & Delaney Mills
10. It Is What It Is (Blood Orange Cover) – How Sad
11.Dreams (Fleetwood Mac Cover) – Emily Reo
12. Is This Is (The Strokes Cover) – Total Warr
13. Everything Is Embarrassing (Sky Ferreira Cover) – Saturday Looks Good To Me
14. Bein’ Around (The Lemonheads Cover) – Courtney Barnett
15. Call It What You Will (Joe Pug Cover) – Vandaveer
16. Waking Hour (Vandaveer Cover) – Joe Pug
17. The Promise (When In Rome Cover) – Sturgill Simpson
18. The Mother We Share (CHVRCHES Cover) – SOAK
19. Game Of Pricks (Guided By Voices Cover) – Meursault
20. Ooh La La (Faces Cover) – Manchester Orchestra
21. Romulus (Sufjan Stevens Cover) – Donovan Woods
22. Drive All Night (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – Sharon van Etten

Covers Mix #11 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post The Covers Mix: Volume #11 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Opener ‘Seasons (Waiting On You)’ is the lead single from the album, and has a nice video courtesy of director Jay Buim –  a visual slice of modern day Americana, shot on location in the Great Plains. It’s a really great track, the band’s trademark heartfelt new-wave with a belter of a chorus. I’m no tastemaker, but I can’t help but feel it could prove a popular hit, particularly as summer (and festival season) comes calling.

A second track has also been given the video treatment, this time album closer ‘A Dream Of You And Me’, which has this amazing stop-motion video courtesy of Elena Johnston and William Cashion.

Singles is out on the 25th of March, pre-order it now via 4AD.

The post Future Islands – Singles appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The band was expanded during the recording of Labor, with Dave Hadley (on pedal steel) and Andy Stack (of Wye Oak – on bass) joining regular members Bob Keal, Austin Stahl and Andy Abelow (who provided a lovely cover of ‘Two Years on Film’ on Slowcoustic’s J. Tillman tribute). These additions are particularly apparent on several tracks, including ‘The Salt’ (which you can hear in the player below) which has a bassline reminiscent of Elephant Micah (an artist the band profess a love for on their blog).

The entire album is filled with beautiful writing, poetic vignettes which compliment the style and pace of the instrumentation perfectly. I don’t have the lyrics to hand but from what I could gather by ear, there are several references to water and the sea, see for example on ‘The Salt’:

“Wandered into the water just in time to watch the salt lines climb up the wall”.

and on ‘Bloomington’

“I can’t follow you into the brackish water, where the oysters make their beds”.

The closing track, ‘Through The Blue’ is also heavily based around this theme and, again, is superbly written. My current favourite is the title track, with it’s opening of:

“Oh I swear I will find even more light in this coming year,
And the darkness will subside or bring focus unto the light.
I will build a shrine and within place my present mind,
Shaped from water, auburn earth, I will favour my lover over others.”

The song starts with a gentle guitar but swells and gains momentum as it progresses. The narrator delivers a pretty hopeful message of inspiration and promises to labour for his lover. I got some Strand of Oaks vibes, particularly from the electric guitar work later in the song. That has to be a good thing.

Every six months or so I tend to fall hard for a hushed and delicate folk album (past examples include Mountain Man’s Made The Harbor and Spirit Guides by Evening Hymns) and I think I have found my next one. The album has been on repeat all week and but I still can’t stop listening. Any fan of this type of music should be checking this out right away.

You can buy the album now on beautiful 140-gram white vinyl (in a sleeve featuring the art you can see above by artist Skye Gilkerson) or as a digital download, from the band’s Bandcamp page. As you may guess, it comes with my seal of approval.

P.S. The band are also going out on a North American tour with Peals, an experimental outfit made up of William Cashion of Future Islands and Bruce Willen of Double Dagger, who have recently released a very good album, Walking Field, on Thrill Jockey. Also check out the ingenious Furniture on their website, an interactive track comprised of 16 sound clips that the listener can play or adjust at their will. Get the tour dates here.

P.P.S. If you’re not familiar with Small Sur’s previous release, Tones, then 1. Take a good long look at yourself and 2. Get it here.

The post Small Sur – Labor appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. Lovecrimes (Frank Ocean Cover) – The Afghan Whigs
2. Little Dreamer (Future Islands Cover) – Doe Paoro
3. Bad Days (Flaming Lips Cover) – Siskiyou
4. Again (Janet Jackson Cover) – How To Dress Well
5. Dog Song (Mountain Man Cover) – Stupid Loser
6. Celebrated (Husker Du Cover) – Mark Kozelek
7. Say Say Say (Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney) – Woodpigeon
8. Zebra (Beach House Cover) – Yellow Ostrich
9. Atmosphere (Joy Division Cover) – Flowers Of Hell
10. Climbing Up The Walls (Radiohead Cover) – The Twilight Sad
11. Islands In The Stream (Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton) – Constantines & Feist
12. Louie Louie (Richard Berry/The Kingsmen Cover) – The Royal Iguana Fur
13. Harvest Moon (Neil Young Cover) – The Sour Notes
14. Into The Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – Paul Baribeau
15. Forgiveness (Patty Griffin Cover) – The Local Strangers
16. Calling And Not Calling My Ex (Okkervil River Cover) – Ola Podrida
17. Please Please Please Let M Get What I Want (The Smiths Cover) – Pickering Pick
18. Jesus, Etc. (Wilco Cover) – Bill Fay
19. Look At Miss Ohio (Gillian Welch Cover) – Blind Pilot
20. The Party’s Over/No Children (Willie Nelson/Mountain Goats Cover) – Manchester Orchestra

Please support the artists by exploring their other releases and becoming huge and dedicated fans.

The Covers Mix: Volume #4 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post The Covers Mix: Volume #4 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Hope this works out.

Part II // Night – Tracklisting:-

26. Gospel – The National
27. Asa – Bry Webb
28. Ponytail – Talons’
29. Late July – Small Houses
30. Seeds of Night – The Cave Singers
31. Swamp Dragon – Spirit Tramp
32. Voyage – Kodak To Graph
33. Brooklyn Sunset – AFTA-1
34. Late Nitez – MedicineHat
35. Lost In Tokyo (Jacques Greene Remix) – Koreless
36. Sun (Midland Re-Edit) – Caribou
37. Higher Ground – TNGHT
38. Nostromo – Fortune Howl
39. Salt of Love – Groundislava
40. Cotton Flower – Future Islands
41. Fineshrine – Purity Ring
42. A Real Hero – College (Feat. Electric Youth)
43. Seventeen – Youth Lagoon
44. Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl – Broken Social Scene
45. Catharsis – The Wandering Lake
46. North – Arrange
47. Singing Sailors – Sad Souls
48. O’ River – The Horse Thieves
49. Long Desert Train – Jason Molina
50. Lurk Underneath – Trouble Books

2012 Summer Mix – Night from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

Again, please support the artists on this mix. Our intention is to share our favourite music with others so hopefully you like what you hear and buy some records.

We tried to do something a bit different with this mix and we’d love your opinion on the idea/track listing. Does it work at all or fall flat on it’s face? Do you have any good themes for a future mixtape? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook or the clunky Tumblr message system. We would love to hear from you.

The post WTD’s Summer Mix: Part II – Night appeared first on Various Small Flames.