Tracklisting:

1. prairie creek redwoods state park, ca – bedbug
2. See the World – Kidsmoke
3. Motion | Sickness – Good Good Blood
4. Downtown – Gabriella Cohen
5. Automatic – Kyle Morton
6. Throwing Roses – Eva Foote
7. vildt+sødt – Eugenia
8. Dicktations Forever – Dicktations
9. Fallen Robin – Wild Leaves
10. Palms – Native Other
11. Not Your Prey – Squirrel Flower
12. Luna – Akira Kosemura
13. Made of Gold – Albert af Ekenstam
14. She Floats – Van-Anh Nguyen
15. Dead Radiance – Ego Death
16. Sponge State – Sløtface
17. Black Mass – Wooden Maria
18. Float – Silver Liz
19. glass machines discovering water – Corvus B.
20. Longshot – The Furious Season
21. The Same Chords – Tiger in My Tank
22. Let’s Go to the Beach – Sophie Longshaw
23. Blue Moon – Many Voices Speak
24. One Footed – MAH KEE OH
25. Country Room – Static Animal
26. The Ground Before Him – Drowning By Numbers
27. Refugee – Cameron James Henderson
28. down (kenny) – ever
29. Strange Tones – Youceff Kabal
30. Don’t Let Love Go By – Golden Suits
31. Sit and Stare – Tiny Dinosaurs
32. Settle Down – Dark Mean
33. telegraph ave. – Betty Becky
34. WEN – glider
35. Nicholas – Holiday Oscar
36. Lyse Striber – True Strength
37. Careless – Stationary Suns
38. Vulnerable – Mark Timmins
39. On & On – Reuben Hollebon
40. Recoiled – William Ryan Fritch
41. Lonely Girl – Praything
42. Drinking the Same Water – Katie Spencer
43. Get It Right – Magana
44. Cheer Up Free Your Mind – Jenny O.

That was October 2016, and if you like what you see/hear, why not check out the other months too?

The post October 2016 Roundup appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Youceff Kabal – Strange Tones

Belgium-born Youceff Kabal is a musician working out of Phoenix, Arizona. After releasing two albums under the moniker YUS, he has released his most recent record under his own name. El Yunque is psychedelic dream pop, like a mix between Vampire Weekend and Eric & Magill, and mammoth single ‘Strange Tones’ is the perfect introduction to the lush, vibrant sound. So kick back and float away on the layers, following the words of wisdom in the opening verse: “all i seem to get out of it / is a need to slow down a bit / why can’t i just take it easy? / livin’ hard holds nothin’ for me”. Then get the release via Bandcamp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3TKwblo0C8

Cameron James Henderson – Refugee

Cameron James Henderson is a songwriter from Sydney who this summer released his latest album, Storm Rollin’ In. ‘Refugee’ is the standout track on what is a beautiful album, a gentle and awfully relevant folk song dealing with people forced to leave their homes and place their trust (and lives) in the hands of a strangers, hoping kindness and empathy might win out. Get the album from Bandcamp.

MAH KEE OH – One Footed

MAH KEE OH are a two-piece band out of Denton who released a record last spring. ‘One Footed’ is one of the standout tracks, a song which toes the line between bummed and blissed out, drawing on elements of shoegaze, grunge and indie-rock to create something both disaffected and dreamy. The album, also entitled One Footed, is available now via Olympic Dreams Records.

Sophie Longshaw – Let’s Go To The Beach

Sheffield songwriter Sophie Longshaw offers an optimistic view of the British summer in this lovably laidback take on acoustic pop music, one of two singles on a double A-side with Chris Mann on Twin Records.

The Furious Seasons – Longshot

The latest band headed by veteran songwriter David Steinhardt, LA-based The Furious Seasons release their new album, Look West just a few days ago. Opener ‘Longshot’ serves as a great entrance point to the acoustic album, the instrumentation dripping with nostalgia and Steinhardt’s vocals unfolding with a smooth, timeless cadence. Get Look West from their webstore.

Sløtface – Bright Lights

Sløtface are an indie rock band from Starvanger in Norway. The band have just released a brand new song, ‘Bright Lights’, taken from their forthcoming EP, Empire Records, out in November on Propeller Recordings. A departure from their previous singles, the track finds Sløtface pushing dark 90s rock vibes, Haley Shea’s vocals worming their way through the fog of drums and reverb.

Van-Anh Nguyen – She Floats

Classically trained Australian pianist Van-Anh Nguyen is set to release a neo-classical/ambient EP at the end of the year, and first single ‘She Floats’ offers a good insight into what to expect. Leaving out any fancy flourishes, the track utilises the poignant simplicity of piano with some light ambient atmospherics to create a wonderfully bittersweet feel. Find more info on her website.

Native Other – Palms

Native Other are a band from Toronto who blur the lines between art pop, RnB and emo to sound something like Dirty Projectors and Minus the Bear sharing a vacation to Hawaii. ‘Palms’ is the first single from their new EP, If I Can Keep It Together, which is out now! Listen below, or stream the full EP via Chart Attack and buy via Bandcamp.

Eugenia – vildt+sødt

Eugenia, consisting of writer Camilla Lily Pape and director Johan Ask Pape, are a brand new duo from Denmark. While details are scare, their latest song ‘vildt+sødt’ is an exciting hint at their blackly atmospheric indie pop sound. The video is also worth your time too, with Scandinavian actor Baard Owe (who you might know from Lars von Trier’s Riget) joining the band for a live session, doing little beyond possessing one of the most expressive faces ever committed to film.

Kidsmoke – ‘See the World’

We last featured Kidsmoke when we featured their debut release Higher back in 2013. Since then the Wrexham-based band have released a second EP and two further singles, and have grown in popularity enormously, with attention from BBC Radio and Spotify. Their latest single, ‘See the World’ is a laid-back indie pop anthem that glows with the remnants of summer. Lyrically it’s inspired by the all-encompassing tumult of the UK’s EU referendum earlier this year, and is the closest thing to a political song Kidsmoke are ever likely to write. Check it out on Bandcamp.

Gabriella Cohen – Downtown

You might know Gabriella Cohen as the front of the Australian band The Furrs, though last year saw her self-release a well-received solo full length, Full Closure and No Details. After signing to Dot Dash, the album is set for a re-release in conjunction with Brooklyn based label Captured Tracks, and the laconic lovesick lullaby ‘Downtown’ serves as a great introduction to anyone who missed it first time around. Buy it now via the Dot Dash & Remote Control Records online shop.

You can check out the previous Things We Have Missed here, or click through to our Reviews and Previews to find the things that we didn’t.

The post Best of the Rest – Things We Have Missed #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Today we are delighted to share a piece by Shana Hartzel, one half of the excellent, Philly-based music blog Swell Tone. If you are unfamiliar with the site, Hartzel and her partner in crime Victoria surf the high seas of new music and write about the best of it, with well-written reviews, cool sessions, innovative (and often pizza-based) guest appearances and regular mixtapes full of unearthed gems. Basically, it offers everything a music blog should.

As if that wasn’t enough, Shana also writes for The Wild Honey Pie, and is the assistant director of Philadelphia’s Y-Not Radio, and hosts the show ‘Aussie Unlocked’ on 2nd Fridays, 9-10pm (or you can find them on-demand via Mixcloud).

Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park
by Shana Hartzel

Though I’ve never been the most dedicated reader, my adoration for Jane Austen hasn’t waned since my first required reading of Pride and Prejudice. The English novelist’s romantic yet satirical fiction is an ideal match for my constantly shifting mental stream of humor and enchantment. It is a rare literary love that, at its peak, led to a full day of my life being dedicated to baking scones and lemon tarts, wearing frilly dresses, and plowing through the film adaptations of her three biggest novels in the company of a large pot of tea and my equally nerdy best friend.

There is something especially intriguing about Mansfield Park. Austen’s third novel is arguably her strongest exploration into the cloudy dichotomies of the British middle class and her most controversial work. Amongst an examination of the period’s morals and privileges and a slew of amorous entanglements, the story centers around the life of Fanny Price. Fanny is relocated at age ten from her markedly poor family to live with her wealthy relatives at Mansfield Park where she becomes a tiresome burden to everyone but her cousin Edmund.

Thanks to Edmund’s kindness, Fanny survives through an upbringing of monetary privilege and emotional abuse to become the most morally centered resident of the estate. As a character, Fanny isn’t nearly as agreeable or as openly charming as Austen’s other protagonists. Her emotional fragility appropriately reflects her constant treatment as an inferior. Yet, she always manages to imperfectly persevere through matters of affairs, slavery, debauchery, and consanguineous relationships. Seemingly unaffected by normal rules of decorum, her free will and clarity of thinking are always her best defense against the surrounding negativity. In the many ways it both defines and guides her, Fanny’s sincere approach to life is what has always drawn me back to this story in particular.

While the book itself portrays music as a skill that elevates character or a means by which affections are exchanged through dance, I have aimed to take a more modern musical approach to the grandeur and societal confines of Mansfield Park. Below, you’ll find an assortment of songs that challenge structural and melodic conventions in the way that Austen’s characters grapple with the expectations of their environment and upbringing. The sonic mix paints the spirit of the novel’s colorfully quaint world in stokes of humble grace, fearsome defiance, and (of course) irrevocable declarations of love.

Tracklisting

1. 1914 – Florist
2. Looking Out for You – Joy Again
3. For You – Free Cake For Every Creature
4. Super Rat – Honeyblood
5. The Garden – Flinter
6. Don’t Feel So Alive – Gabriella Cohen
7. p r e s c r i p t i o n – Good Try
8. Hey – The Twoks
9. Your Best American Girl – Mitski
10. Don’t Go – CBMC
11. Jogalong – Rozi Plain
12. Girl! – Terror Pigeon
13. Right Now – Amber Arcades
14. Tame One – Your Friend
15. All Day and All Night – And The Kids
16. No Room For Doubt – Lianne La Havas Ft. Willy Mason
17. Running with the Wolves – Aurora
18. You and I – Margaret Glaspy
19. Geranimo – Aphra
20. The Sun – BATTLE AVE.

You should most definitely add Swell Tone to your ‘blogs to check regularly’ list, and you can also find them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud and Playmoss. The Quiet, Constant Friends compilation is still available on our Bandcamp page, including a rather nice limited edition tape and art print bundle. All profits go to Worldreader so why not treat yourself?

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