Govier Archives - Various Small Flames

Favourite Free Music of 2016: E – H

Jon Doyle — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 12:09:10 +0000

Here’s the second segment of our list of our favourite free music of 2016, covering artists beginning with E – H. 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.

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)

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Album Première: Z Tapes & Cereal + Sounds – FRY YR BRN

Jon Doyle — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 08:45:21 +0000

We’ll stop writing about Z Tapes as soon as Filip and Co. stop releasing great music from all over the world. It doesn’t look like that day is coming any time soon though. To keep the winning streak going they’ve teamed up with the good peeps over at Cereal + Sounds to release FRY YR BRN, a benefit compilation based on theme songs of the televisual variety.

With an array of styles and influences across the twenty-three songs, there truly is something for everyone. Try Isabel Rex‘s oddly melancholic ode to amusing genetic copies of famous people, MagicPerm’s blissed-out memorial of a forgotten Toon Disney gem and WTD favs Nice Legs‘ surf rock anthem for everybody’s favourite infant puppets. Or maybe you’d prefer Queer Jane’s take on those meddling kids, Lake Michigan‘s bummed-out nod to a semi-fictional Will Smith or Ainsworth’s tribute to Mister Rodgers (and his inspirational acceptance speech)?

Elsewhere, Casper Heyzeus attack their pizza-loving effort with the hyperactive energy of child actors in action figure TV commercials, IZE offer something strange and sultry enough to make Lynch himself proud and Pet Cemetery takes the theme of your teenage angst and makes it seem insular and strange, a song for one of Orange County’s outsiders who never appeared on screen because they were always locked in their gloomy bedroom playing records.

In other words, this is a near-enough perfect compilation for those of us who grew up under the ever-present bombardment of photon-based entertainment. Listen to the whole thing below and let nostalgia burn through the white noise of your image narcosis:

FRY YR BRN (Theme Song Benefit Compilation) by Z Tapes
FRY YR BRN is out on the 22nd April and you can buy in now from the Z Tapes Bandcamp page or their online store. All digital sales will go to a Slovakian charity helping survivors of domestic abuse and children without a proper home.

Artwork by Mimi Jaffe

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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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New music from Govier ahead of new album, Predator

Jon Doyle — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 20:12:24 +0000

Govier is the bedroom pop project of Atlanta-based Malcolm Hirsch, a purveyor of lo-fi goodness both in terms of sound and aesthetic (he draws his own artwork). His latest release, Hermit Crab, is a great example of this. Two parts Malkmus to one part Kozelek, he crafts songs which deepen with every listen, the original simplicity or irreverence folding inwards until you can no longer see it.

Anyways, there’s a new Govier album coming soon. Titled Predator, the album is possibly about monsters (metaphorical or otherwise) and our fear of them, although we’ll have to wait and see. So far we only have the first single, ‘Have This Dance’, a track awash strange sounds which could belong amongst the stars or at the bottom of the sea. The vocals are deadpan yet the lyrics are earnest, with Hirsch suffering from the classic Gen Y affliction of wanting to be honest without appearing naive.

“Feeling kind of insecure,
well, maybe… not sure.”

Predator is due to be released this spring with a limited run on Z Tapes so be sure to keep an eye out on Govier’s Bandcamp page. In the meantime, why not get acquainted with Hermit Crab from last year?

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