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.

Emily Yacina – Nice Try
(RIYL: bedroom pop)

Evening River Band – EP5
(RIYL: country, folk, psych rock)

Ever – But I Am
(RIYL: bedroom pop, dark rooms)

Exam Season – Mostly Homely
(RIYL: indie rock, emo, Trust Fund)

Family Video – Places To Sleep
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, longing)

Field Medic – that beer called becks reminds me of a haiku i wrote
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie pop, modern folk)

Fish Food – For Shadow Hurts
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, weird lyrics)

Folktale Records – Folktale Sampler (COMPILATION)
(RIYL: experimental, folk, indie pop)

Fossil Jane – will you?/you will.
(RIYL: bedroom pop, singer songwriter, )

Free Space – Ahead of Myself
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, Trace Mountains)

Generifus – Peace Sign Rising
(RIYL: indie pop, indie rock)

Georgia Maq – Brain Studio Session
(RIYL: acoustic, bedroom pop, Camp Cope)

Ghost Camp – Great Lakes
(RIYL: indie rock, psych pop)

Glider – Demos
(RIYL: lo-fi, psych pop)

GoldFlakePaint – Too Far From Town To Learn
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, Gold Flake Paint)

Good Good Blood – O Belong / Motion Sickness
(RIYL: ambient, dream pop, folk)

Gorgeous Bully – Better Demons
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie rock, fuzz)

Govier – Predator
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, “alien folk”)

High Sunn – i will never learn
(RIYL: chillwave, lo-fi, dream pop)

The post Favourite Free Music of 2016: E – H appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. Staying in Line – Un Blonde
2. Skinned Knees – Soccer Mommy
3. Dream Wave – Tiny Ruins
4. No Sadness/Furrowed Brow – Good Good Blood
5. Pain – LVL UP
6. Theory Wars – Pop Weirdos
7. Crab Line – Trust Fund
8. Heaven’s Gate – Ghost Camp
9. Holy Ghost – Deer Scout
10. Desert Blues – Nassau
11. Okkervil River R.I.P. – Okkervil River
12. Housemouse – Wyndwood
13. Smash – Varsity
14. Raised By Wolves – Eternals
15. Starting Again – Lisa Prank
16. Feel You – Pat Moon
17. Nothing – Naps
18. Everywhere A Man Can Be (Teaser) – Zachary Lucky
19. Mailbox – Alexandra Gordon
20. Ditmars – Rainwater
21. You Are on the Water – Ben Seretan
22. Pinesol – Fern Mayo

You can check out the previous monthly roundups here, and our various other playlists and mixtapes here. Thanks as always for getting us through another month. Here’s to a good August!

The post July 2016 Roundup: A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

‘Clean Air’ opens proceedings with a joyously messy indie pop song, David Pressler’s vocals juxtaposing the dynamic instrumentation. ‘Heaven’s Gates’ is another pop jewel, practically demanding frantic toe-tapping at the very least, with lyrics possessing a lovably odd quality…

“Awake ’til we’re alone
with streetlights made of spider eggs
I’m looking over anyway
to see you, this clear
storming heaven’s shores and gates
and crossing over interstates
to meet you right here”

The rest of the record has a similarly weird vibe, as if written in some other dimension that fractured from ours just slightly. There’s a decidedly sci-fi feel to ‘Ganymede’, Pressler’s vocals cramming in lines, barely keeping up with the rattling pace of the song (“The weight of all the suns in space today the stars can trace your name / The time it takes to stay awake the dirt and grass above the graves”). ‘Neptune’ has a surfy vibe along with something a little stranger, like the soundtrack to one of those shock-endings in a movie where the camera pans back to take in the seascape and planet Earth sits on an apparently alien horizon, while ‘Sadie’ is stirring and triumphant, the sort of song guaranteed to make you feel that little bit better. Pressler’s vocals are still a downbeat drawl, but sound somehow hopeful as he sings

“Golden hearts in the ground
you taste like Seven Crown
and bottle rockets at night
racing to the light “

‘Eucahrist’ is a lo-fi clatter, the punk-style drive and energy rushing things to a stop in just two minutes, before ‘Say When’ picks up this infectious energy and channels it into percussion. ‘Kickball Katy’ is a rollicking punk song with group vocals that shout the refrain “I hate everything but kickball Katy!”, while ‘Cowboys’ is a searing slice of guitar rock, the vocals somehow staying afloat on the maelstrom of noise. Penultimate track ‘Coronada’ delivers one last blast of indie rock before the more reserved closer, ‘Voyager’, which plods along in a lazy shuffle as Brielle Stango joins Pressler to sing:

“And it’s alright, and it’s ok
if you’re scared of the new day
And it’s alright, it’s ok
Last night was miles away”

The track picks up pace around the halfway mark, descending into a glorious guitar-led outro that signs Great Lakes off in style. It’s an album of many layers, equally adept as a straight-up indie rock LP as it is a weird and almost cosmic journey into the galaxies of the human mind.

You can get Great Lakes on a name-your-price basis from the Ghost Camp Bandcamp page or on cassette via Third Floor Tapes.

The post Ghost Camp – Great Lakes appeared first on Various Small Flames.