Their debut full-length, dark/gold, is the one of the latest releases on the ever-reliable Father/Daughter Records, and has all the ideals and heart that you’d expect from a F/D album.
The quartet swap lyrical duties and add vocals in charming four-part harmonies, creating an album that’s equally adept at tender openness and rocking out. ‘Fort Funston’ has a joyride-style indie pop meets crunchy punk rock vibe, telling the story of a break-up, set against a backdrop of the titular Bay Area nature reserve.

“Bury it in the mollusc and moss
to be forgotten in the rocks
let the waves erase
the Milky Way of shattered bones”

There’s a weary and emotionally fragile vibe on ‘Fatigue’, the narrator frustrated by a lack of reciprocation from a loved one. This theme is continued ’19th Ave’. “Loneliness is my worst addiction” go the lyrics, “But I can’t stop checking my phone, I’m so scared of being alone”. The track is about warily beginning a new relationship, of taking that risk in opening up to someone new. But, despite the apprehension and uncertainty, it ends on a positive note, including the line “I’m learning how to allow happiness.”

‘Old Dogs’ seems to flip the situation on its head, the narrator now the one who isn’t returning calls. It’s a neat twist from previous tracks, and one which reminds us that problems in any given situation is rarely the fault of just one person, that this human interaction business can be complicated.

“I’m sorry I can’t express
the feelings that I suppress
I can’t keep making you guess”

‘Domino’ hits that perfect balance between serious songwriting and subtly joyous pop punk. Set in the aftermath of a sudden death, the song sounds strong and resilient despite the pensive tone, the group chorus a bright and heartening peak. Final track ‘Keeping a Record’ smoulders with a tension that builds to a finale which sees all the band members join in with the lines, “I am keeping a record, you gave me”.

The vocal harmonies and shared songwriting, combined with the personal themes and self-reflection, have a curious effect. Whether by intent or accident, it feels like whatever problems and worries are raised are shared across the band, and by extension all of us. Too often music deals with these issues in a raw and lonely way, but SOAR show that it’s possible to be introspective and offer a sense of community at the same time.

dark/gold is out now on cassette via Father/Daughter Records, in November on vinyl via Salinas Records and as a download from the SOAR Bandcamp page.

The post SOAR – dark/gold appeared first on Various Small Flames.

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.

If I Die in Mississippi – Artless
(RIYL: bedroom pop, ambient, Sam Ray, sad)

In Love With a Ghost – Let’s Go
(RIYL: electronic, chillwave, dream pop)

Jake Bellissimo – Piece of Ivy
(RIYL: indie pop, Gay Angel)

Jemima Coulter – lampshade ep
(RIYL: bedroom pop, chilled out, Volcano Choir)

Joyride! – Half Moon Bay
(RIYL: pop punk, indie rock, All Dogs)

Julia Brown – An Abundance of Strawberries
(RIYL: experimental, indie pop, Elephant 6)

Lake Michigan – Gleaming
(RIYL: bedroom pop, late night vibes, Arrange)

Lance Bangs – Lance Mountain
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie pop, Colin Thibodeauxxx)

Lazy Legs – s/t
(RIYL: shoegaze, noise pop, feedback)

Little Kid – Flowers
(RIYL: fuzz pop, bedroom folk, reflective thoughts)

Long Neck – Spring Cleaning
(RIYL: bedroom pop, Cyberbully Mom Club, Jawbreaker Reunion)

Max Gardener – Memory Lounge
(RIYL: dream pop, bedroom pop, slacker)

Mineral Girls – Seven Inches of Release
(RIYL: noise pop, emo, indie rock)

Moin Moin – Dawn
(RIYL: folk, bedroom pop, delicate, quiet)

MOLAR / Pale Kids – Split
(RIYL: pop punk, riot grrrl, The Courtneys)

Molly Drag – Tethered Rendering
(RIYL: bedroom pop, experimental, dreamy vibes)

Monarch Mtn – Everyone is Here
(RIYL: grand melancholy, nighttime)

Monster Rally – Mystery Cove
(RIYL: experimental, hip hop, tropicana)

Moving In – Sunburn
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, teenage heartbreak)

Naps – Happy All the Time Forever Always
(RIYL: ambient, experimental, tape hiss)

No Museums – The Drifting Knives
(RIYL: basement rock, indie pop, lo-fi)

Nice Try – s/t
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie pop, Frankie Cosmos)

Nikolas Escudero – 100
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie pop, slacker)

No Dice Tapes – 2016: the year all bad things went away and everything turned out to be fine
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie pop, good causes, ironic titles)

Noname – Telefone
(RIYL: hip hop, rap, courageous poetry)

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

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

And the usual disclaimer applies, there were too many great tunes to include them all, so treat this more as a selection rather than a comprehensive round-up of the year. Enjoy.

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – Constellation

“You’re used to quiet words
and so am I
so I’ll just whisper“

Tiny Ruins – Dream Wave

“always a dream wave drawing you off track
dream wave, a coast calls you back“

Magana – Get it Right

“You were red but my gold turned you green
So you stood there lying through your teeth“

deer scout – holy ghost

“I could find a new kind of devotion
I could know you by another name“

Hovvdy – Meg

“Speak because i know you feel a certain way
but ill pass it along anyway“

Bedbug – Leaving Town, Moving to a National Park <3

“I’m too young for that anyways
everyone’s just tryna skip town these days“

Soccer Mommy – Skinned Knees

“i left
burning streets in tennessee
for a north east feel“

Mitski – Your Best American Girl

“Your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me
But I do, I finally do“

LVL UP – Hidden Driver

“God is peeking
softly speaking
fucking everything
until I slowly do see“

Lisa Prank – Starting Again

“You say you’re not still drinking
you just started again
I swear I don’t still miss you
I just started again“

Dicktations – Dicktations Forever

“It’s hard to say when I first figured out something was wrong“

Joyride! – Running on Empty

“Young and running on empty
you said that you thought I looked pretty with my makeup on
so I went home and I took it off“

Sioux Falls (now Stranger Ranger) – Dom

“Spending too much time on the internet
are you ok? you don’t seem very into it“

Camp Cope – Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams

“It’s the trophy wives raising trophy wives raising children on TV
Scared of people like you and me
Just don’t ask questions you’ll sleep peacefully
We will not go out in silence and we will not go quietly“

Fake Boyfriend – BUMTOWN

“Why do I cling to the threads that mean the least?“

Outer Spaces – I Saw You

“I saw you, a shedding snake“

American Enthusiasm – Holy Wow

“Make a note of all the words I cough out on my death bed“

The Hotelier – Soft Animal

“Fawn, doe, light snow
Spots on brown of white 
make me believe that there’s a God sometimes“

Beach Slang – Future Mixtape for the Art Kids

“We’re not lost, we are dying in style
We’re not fucked, we are fucking alive“

CHUCK – Death

“You hold on to whatever kin
that keeps on breathin’ in
that keeps you from driftin’
like paper in the wind“

You Won’t – Ya Ya Ya

“So your daddy was a poltergeist
sent your little sister screaming down the hallway
well I don’t know about the afterlife,
but I can help you to forget about the old days“

Mountain Almanac – Kids Playing Outside

“Saturday morning, cartoon time, let’s go“

Basement Revolver – Johnny

“Please just stay away from Johnny
cos I love him understand“

Boy Scouts – Did You See My Cry

“walking walmart shopping center
i’d never been better
on my own two feet
i guess“

Free Cake For Every Creature – First Summer in a City

“i’ll be singing when i’m 90
climb a tree to see
what tastes to smokey sweet
first summer in a city“

Haley Heynderickx – First I’m Sorry

“Mother knows I drown in my lies
Father knows I learned my lesson the second time.
Ask me where I’ll go I’ll say do not know
No, I do not know“

ARMS – Missing

“I don’t want to force your hand
but wishes disguised as plans will never do
Like the king of deathbed regrets
and the queen of last requests could ever choose“

Naps – Bad Vibrations

“Can’t stand up to the world’s expectations
I’m living on a bad bad vibration“

The Washboard Abs – Day Draws Nearer

“Your backyard
you talked to God
about the heartbreak you forgot“

Trace Mountains – Forgiveness

“old dirt you thrown underneath the stair
is right there
right where you said i’d tremble and stare
at the vast unforgiving spirit lurking there
but it takes time, to realise forgiveness“

Nassau – Desert Blues

“I took a marker and wrote your number on the bathroom stall
That’s just my way of reaching out cos I’m too proud to call“

Adeline Hotel – Near You

“Sleep better tonight
In the heat of red moon light
Whatever we are, whatever we’ll be
I used to live near you, you used to love near me“

Simon Balto – Foothills

“I’ve never been a faithful man
I’ve always been too proud to pray
But won’t you come out to the foothills
And hold me together for one more day“

Cloud Cult – No Hell

“There’s no use in running unless you run like heck
The best things we’ve learned we learned from the wreck
Jesus coming back as a woman this time
Handing out hugs in the clinic line
Someone tell the devil we don’t need no hell
We’re all pretty good at beating up ourselves“

Slingshot Dakota – Break

“And in the end there’s two of us
it was always two of us“

Good Good Blood – No Sadness/Furrowed Brow

“We’ll have no sadness/furrowed brow
There is no shame in dying now
I said from my death bed“

Ben Seretan – Bowl of Plums

“My friends call me when they’re feeling low
We talk quietly for hours and walk the room
Flowers growing in a coffee can
Our lives are wonderful and sad sometimes“

Chris Bathgate – Big Ghost

“I got a Big Ghost
of static in my throat
from coming up too short“

Wintersleep – Metropolis

“The man that you are, the man you were, the man you left
Turn into stars, flowing in through the wilderness“

Mothers – Lockjaw

“I don’t want your kind words
I want your ghost inside a thimble“

Car Seat Headrest – Drunk Driver / Killer Whales

“You build yourself up against others’ feelings
And it left you feeling empty as a car coasting downhill
I have become such a negative person
It was all just an act
It was all so easily stripped away“

Space Mountain – Never Lonely

“Met a friend today
And im feeling okay
She’s in my head
I’m never lonely“

Hallelujah the Hills – What Do the People Want?

“What do the people want?
The people don’t know what they want“

Mount Moriah – Calvander

“Carry on and on and on on
With your cosmic reach
Newport river whispered fate
Spells cast with every crashing wave
Neon lines and a new name“

Frederick Squire – Bike Thief

“The lights are on
And we are sinking way down in our chairs
We don’t say much of anything
Even though there’s still a lot to say“

Kevin Morby – We’ve Been Here Before

“Running my mouth off at the storm
Yelling, “man, what the hell did you do that for?“

Sam Moss – Vertebrae

“Did you watch my vertebrae
Slendering out
Or did you watch your own?
Stretching skin over the bone
I’ve grown
Learning to be proud“

Arlo Aldo – House & Home

“O’er the mountains out past the trees
where the grasslands, meet the sky
you’ll find me singin’ my songs
with my lover in my mind“

Will Johnson – Nervousness Fangs

“Jesus what a mess
what they’re all selling
and what’s being sold“

Jeremy Squires – After All

“There’s an old painting of Jesus on a wall
and a tapestry that hangs by a cross
that weighs heavy on my shoulders now and then
I get caught up with why the things we love ain’t never last“

The Dead Tongues – Stained Glass Eyes

“Fifth wind brought a howl got me in a storm
I saw a lighthouse spinning at the edge of the world
like looking through a window to the day
I was born“

Kyle Morton – Automatic

“It’s my head, it’s my head
breaking itself to make a thought but instead
Just some pornographic images to stave off my death
It’s all automatic“

Keaton Henson – Alright

“Obviously
My wounds are open to see
But don’t take them seriously
I’ll be fine“

Talons’ – Work Stories

“Is this what the end of the world looks like?
Or is this just life?“

Jordan O’Jordan – A Lonely Road

“There are truths we may or may never know friend
and that is the point“

Mal Devisa – Sea of Limbs

“Honey-lover
keeper of the bees
Soft-spoken
seldom-seen“

Young Jesus – Hinges

“I’m pretty sure I’m a kind of collection of things
scattered throughout the backyard
under the moon
pulling weirdo slow dance moves
maybe always losing it a little
i am ashamed to believe in myself!“

Lung Cycles – For a While

“I feel like sharing
so I’ll press record
and I’ll tell you that I had a vision“

Sister Grotto – UNCANNY

“When we go, we go alone“

John K. Samson – Virtute At Rest

“You should know I am with you, know I forgive you
Know I am proud of the steps that you’ve made
Know it will never be easy or simple
Know I will dig in my claws when you stray“

If you missed it, you can see the list of our favourite albums of 2016 here, and stay tuned for our collection of the best name-your-price releases on Bandcamp next week.

The post Wake the Deaf’s Favourite Songs of 2016 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. Hold That Thought – Joyride!
2. Betsy’s Back – Bloody Death Skull
3. Cold Spell – Lunar Quiet
4. Go To Sleep – Skinny Blonde
5. Limbaud – American Enthusiasm
6. Saurkraut – Your Dog
7. Ache – Dæva
8. Bound By Blood – Hollow Twin
9. Florida’s Warm – Day Joy
10. The Dark Side of the Holy Ghost – Young Elk
11. The Park Behind Walmart  – Boy Scouts
12. Fear & Force – Vagabon
13. Stanton Park – Luke De-Sciscio
14. uuu – Field Medic
15. Meeting Points at 2AM – dné
16. The Rain Thief – Honey Stretton
17. The Stranger – Tyler Butler
18. Nervousness Fangs – Will Johnson
19. Constellation – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
20. The Dark Streets of Newark – Monarch Mtn
21. Violet – Roddy Hart & the Lonesome Fire
22. Work – naps
23. Passage of Old – Seabuckthorn
24. We’re Stuck With The Beauty – Winter Villains
25. Why They Call You Blue – Jordan Buchell

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

Opener ‘how it feels’ dives right in, the guitars squealing and shredding in carefree triumph. But Jenna Marx’s vocals hold an uncertain edge and bring a depth to things, the emotional texture that puts Joyride! ahead of many bands who try to carve a similar niche. Half Moon Bay deals mainly in pensive reflections on relationships and how they alter with the passing of time. It’s punk pop without the brash sneering, the perfect centre of a Venn diagram between fun rock ‘n roll and reflective bedroom pop. “How it feels is like a steady build / or a subtle loss that you won’t notice ’til your sense of self is gone” Marx sings, “do you feel anything when you look at me after all these years?”

The vocals push through a squall of guitar and crashing percussion on ‘for good’, before the bounding 90 seconds that are ‘hold that thought’ which, in a just universe, would become a car stereo singalong hit.

Another of my favourites is ‘running on empty’, which opens with big crunchy guitars that wouldn’t be out of place on a Japandroids record and the great opening lines “Young and running on empty / you said that you thought I looked pretty with my makeup on / so I went home and I took it off”. The song goes on to talk about how some things remain, sometimes turning stale and sometimes not.

“And he said I don’t wanna grow up
because I don’t wanna grow apart
so we’re just gonna keep showing up
save face from another change of heart”

‘rumors’ comes tearing in from nowhere, before the frenetic energy of ‘bargain barn’ which feels like the breathless (and somehow slightly sad) escape after stealing a sweater, ending with the line “I don’t know why I’m so sentimental”. There are a couple more rockers before the album ends on a reflective note with ‘how to tell her’.  ‘girls who wanna realize themselves’ has a rich and fuzzy melody, while ‘boardwalk’ has a mid-tempo 90s alt-rock dynamic, complete with screeching guitar and pounding drums. The aforementioned closer has shades of the stripped-back, frankly honest indie rock of Family Video. It’s a fitting end to what’s a really great album and, after all the thoughts and doubts throughout, leaves the listener with a calm sense of wistful acceptance.

“I’m still mad that we all wound up here
with the same distorted view
I was hoping that one of us would’ve made it out
but we’re still wading through
a waist-deep water, cannon fodder
I know that I’m my mother’s daughter”

You can get Half Moon Bay on vinyl from Salinas Records, cassette from Stupid Bag Records, or as a name-your-price download from the Joyride! Bandcamp page.

The post Joyride! – Half Moon Bay appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The album is a singular vision, a product of Cantor’s hard work during a year spent boarded up in a makeshift studio. The sound is difficult to define, sitting at a crossroads between introspective, lo-fi bedroom pop and catchy energetic power pop. We get the usual guitars and drums, but we also get samples and synths and orchestral strings, all melded together with the hiss and feedback of cassette tapes. This makes for a pretty eclectic record, no two songs quite alike.

This is nicely illustrated on the first two tracks. Opener ‘Heavenly Blues’ is slow and reserved and thick with background ambience, while the second track, ‘Crossed Out’ immediately clears the air, bursting onto the scene with a clean guitar line and heralding the record’s first does of indie rock. This eclecticism continues throughout the album. ‘I’m Not Going to Your Heaven’ is a lo-fi rock song with a slight psych swagger – something along the lines of the less raucous tracks on Titus Andronicus’s debut, ‘Bells Underwater’ is a short and sweet acoustic track and ‘Personal Heaven’ is all jaunty indie pop (akin to something by Telekinesis!).

My current favourite song on Silver Blues is ‘Louder Than Summer, which builds from sad and ghostly beginnings, adding thumping drums and building real emotional intensity. Check it out below:

&amp;lt;a href=“http://thegoodbyeparty.bandcamp.com/album/silver-blues” data-mce-href=“http://thegoodbyeparty.bandcamp.com/album/silver-blues”&amp;gt;Silver Blues by The Goodbye Party&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

From that slow-build we get another complete change of direction with the chugging guitars and catchy power pop of ‘Disrepair’. Other standouts include ‘Funeral Season’, a super-melancholic dirge, with lyrics like, “I remember you in dreams / you and your twin were still alive / your voice still ringing out on the machine / remnants of a disconnected life”, and the stark and mournful closer ‘White on White’.

Despite the variation from start to finish, Silver Blues is a coherent, complete album that is very much worth your time. You can pre-order the LP nowvia Salinas Records or download it on a pay-what-you-want basis from Bandcamp.

The post The Goodbye Party – Silver Blues appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:
1. Le Sigh – Johnny Foreigner
2. What You Need – Jacques Greene
3. Opinion Piece – Jon Hynes
4. Is What It Is – She Keeps Bees
5. Dead Lamb – King of Cats
6. Full of Minnows – Happyness (from 80n7)
7. Gypsy Dead Girl – Field Medic
8. Do Girls – Theophilus London
9. Fireworks (Reprise) – Radiator Hospital
10. Garden – Hiatus
11. All the Experts Say – Joyride!
12. 24 – Shipwrecks
13. The Way He Looks at Me – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
14. G – Young Jesus
15. Spring Sheet – Fairweather Currents
16. 925 – Gorgeous Bully (from 80n7)
17. On the Rocks – The Rural Alberta Advantage
18. Never Catch Me – Flying Lotus ft. Kendrick Lamar
19. Seraphine – Peirson
20. Colorado – Noah Young

September Mix from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post September 2014 Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The real triumph of Bodies of Water is the way in which Joyride! are able to marry their infectious hooks and DIY punk energy with lyrics that have an honest tenderness, more akin to something you’d expect from a bedroom pop act than a rock band. There are awkward tales of young love and anxious innocent yearning. Listening to the lyrics feels like reading the poetic scrawls in the margins of Marx’s diary. With lines such as:

“you’ve got a big heart but they say it doesn’t work well. i’m not that surprised” on ‘earthquake’, and:

“We might not say much but we still like to talk”, on ‘small talk’.

My current favourite track is ‘all the experts say’, which is all fuzzy distorted guitars as Marx sings sweetly of past hopes and current compromises. Then, in the last third, drums kick in and Marx delivers the repeated refrain of, “how to sit still, how to stand straight, how to move on from a southern state.”

Bodies of Water is out now on cassette via Lauren Records, order it here. It is also being released on vinyl by Salinas Records. The release date is the 18th of September and you can pre-order it here. Finally, you can also download it for as much as you’d like via the Joyride! Bandcamp page.

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