Tracklist:

Field Medic – henna tattoo
Leggy – Taffy
Myshiuno – Turf War In Chinatown, SF
Press Club – Suburbia
Shady Bug – Make it Up
Calicoco – Anchor Park
LUNCH – Forget Everything
krissanthemum – Honesty Hour
Wy – Pavements
UV Rays – Flowerhead
Fanclub – Stranger
Jeffrey Silverstein – Easy Rider
Ryan Dugré – Tonight
Okay Embrace – Phantom Text
Samia – Lasting Friend
community college – karaoke
runnner – eggshell
Fields of Heaven – Song of Loss
Minor Moon – Hold Me Up (Liar)
Lampland – You Little Liar
Westkust – Swebeach
kate can wait – licantropía
Bleeder – Rusted and Raw
Laveda – Dream Sleep
Pass/Ages – As It Rises
Yuri Tománek – In the end, we all fade away
Tender Glue – Dear Peri
Red Wedding – Bones
Women Tied to Railroad Tracks – Endless Carpet
Eyesore & the Jinx – On An Island
Bellows – What Can I Tell You About the World?
Merival – Sinner
Vassals – Lil Anvil
The This – The Strangest Ritual
Breakup Films – You Said You Hate Not Seeing Me
The Phone Booth – Healthcare
Seamstress – Everything
Zelma Stone – Light Bulb Boy
Charlotte Cornfield – Andrew
Wicketkeeper – Night Night (Whatever)
a. harlana – faces
Lady Dan – What Sanity
Tesha – Funeral

The post February 2019 Roundup Mix appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The intention shows, with the ten songs on No Mood feeling like an extended family, united by common themes but each unique in its own way. One recurring motif is weather-based imagery, Bazarian referring to a whole range of meteorological phenomenon to allude to atmospheric changes altogether more human. This is apparent immediately, as the quietly turbulent opener ‘Flood Lights’ begins with the image of a burst pipe, and moves on to moonlit water and cyclical tidal flows. But the real drama involves the characters, an unhappy story told through snatches and glimpses, captured in lines such as “Oh you’re climbing the stairs, and I probably should start crying when I see you.”

As we described in a preview, ‘Don’t Drive’ is another track that uses the weather to great effect, a song about “[the] approach of a winter storm, snow and ice immobilising the city and trapping the principle characters within their apartment.” Again, the situation is utilised to further the human dimension. “The moment opens up a space within normal time,” we continued, “a relaxing of life that allows a certain magic inside, made all the more precious by the certainty that it will be over as quickly as it began.”

The insular and crystalline atmosphere on ‘Night Driveway Practice’ belies the quietly seething lyrics, Bazarian’s whispered vocals delivering lines like “Everyone I know is batshit and I’m on a downward swing,” while ‘Feeling Like A Man’ is subtly theatrical, Bazarian’s voice snaking around the constant subtle percussion in a menacing slink. The lush mid-tempo Americana of ‘Did You Ever Want To Know Why?’ follows, full of peaks and troughs, Bazarian’s voice rising from a hush to a near-yell as the song progresses. Again weather forms the central metaphor, particularly in the refrain at the end of each verse.

“We gotta stay warm and dry somehow”

‘You Little Liar’ ends on the gentler, acoustic end of the Lampland spectrum, an Elliott Smith-meets-Sufjan-style heart-on-sleeve folk song. Bazarian’s lyrics tumble with an easy flowing melody, a couple telling each other lies about black holes and dying palm trees. It’s perhaps the standout track on the album, a deceptively simple close to the preceding diversity, a spring shower following a stretch of snowstorms and hail.

No Mood is out now and available on 12″ LP and download from the Lampland Bandcamp page.

The post Lampland – No Mood appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Kalle Mattson – Twice The Gifts

We’ve been fans of Kalle Mattson for a number of years now, appreciating his distinctly emotive and perceptive songwriting. So, though we’re not big on Christmas music as a rule, his new single ‘Twice the Gifts’ forced us to reconsider—a delicate, tender song that uses the holiday season as a pressure on already existing cracks.

“My parents got divorced something like the day after I was born,” Mattson explains. “So my only memories of Christmas & the holidays are divorced ones. Spending half the day at one house then driving to the next. Two dinners, double the families, and yes twice the gifts.” The song is Xmas stripped of its idealist image, an ode to the non-nuclear family at a time when traditional structures are broadcast from every screen.

Supermercat – Johnny Rack

Self-describing as “friendly punk with a splash of Sheryl Crow,” LA’s Supermercat make a boisterous yet accessible brand of rock that combines the attitude of punk with the singalong value of pop and ties them together with something of a country swagger. Therefore, single ‘Johnny Rack’ could be seen a bouncy slice of fun or a scathing stare down, depending on your frame of mind, though in reality it is likely that is both at once—showing that, with a fierce enough spirit, you can let the good times and heads roll.

You can find Supermercat on Bandcamp.

Be Forest – Bengala

Be Forest are a trio from Italy that create a shoegaze-inspired post-punk, and next February sees them release, Knocturne, their first album in five years. The enlisting of Josh Bonati (Zola Jesus, David Lynch) should give a clue as to the direction of the new record, pushing out in surreal, mesmeric directions to create a rich black sound not entirely of our world.

Lead single ‘Bengala’ is the case in point, though however brooding, represents one of the brightest moments on the record, the song that helps us navigate the rest. “Bengala is the spotlight that lights up the stage after the curtains open,” the band explain. “A celestial body which at the moment of its impact allows us to glimpse our surroundings it’s the brightest point, the north of the compass. This is, though, only ONE of the coordinates of Knocturne. Perhaps the most reassuring.”

Gabriel Birnbaum – Stack the Miles

You might know Gabriel Birnbaum from Wilder Maker, the Brooklyn band who themselves put out a great record this year, and those familiar with his writing will be pleased to learn of a solo album due out on 2019. There’s not much to go on yet, though lead single ‘Stack the Miles’ certainly raises expectations, with Birnbaum’s distinctive delivery driving a track that’s understated yet shot through with real feeling and some brilliant turns of phrase (“the highway’s all police like Chekov’s gun”). As such, the track joins the likes of Monarch Mtn. in painting detailed canvases of American life through poetic imagery and a pervasive atmosphere—a detached, anxious world where miracles and meaninglessness intertwine.

“Water patterns on the window shift like static on tv
in the parking lot by the restaurant, silently
without even the desire for desire, watch the rain rearrange
it’s alphabet an infinite meaningless

I stack the miles I hope it’s enough
I stack the miles I hope it adds up
too many miracles here and I can’t take no more of the good times I’m done”

Grab the single now from the Gabriel Birnbaum Bandcamp page, and keep your eyes peeled for more information on the record.

Castle Pines – Castle Pines

Working out of Corona, CA, Castle Pines make music by and for the disaffected and uncool, anthems not for the performative weirdos of hipster scenes but those quiet, honest folks from blue collar and suburban households. Though the band are prolific, this self-titled single works as culmination of their previous work, bringing their ideals into one track. “We have been performing some version of this song live since we started back in 2009,” the band explain. “It has taken similar iterations but has always held this hazy recollection of the street Castle Pines and all the things that went down […] ‘Castle Pines’ is the capstone of our story as a band, and it is’ both a sad chronicle of suffering and a bright start to better times ahead.”

The song is composed from different facets of contemporary suffering, playing as American dread viewed through a compound eye. Death, poverty, addiction and terrorism are the backdrop, and the foreground the persistent hope of finding a safe home—though one that is itself shaped by nostalgia, pining for a time that can no longer return, the Second Coming of a once famous glory.

No Aloha – The Big One

Based in Portland and with close ties to Salem, No Aloha are a five-piece led by principle songwriters Blake Ferrin and Brette Irish,  the latter having just signed with the fine folks at Good Cheer Records as a solo artist. Which is to take nothing away from the band themselves, because No Aloha are just as worthy of your time. Drawing on the vague doom that hangs over the tectonically-active Pacific Northwest, ‘The Big One’ is a single “about being in a big earthquake and only being able to worry what your crush is doing.” The result is cataclysm for the romantics, where ever the bone-shaking earth can’t break the ties of young love.

You can find No Aloha on Bandcamp and Facebook, and watch Good Cheer Records for more on Brette Irish.

The Beths – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Auckland’s The Beth’s have had a whirlwind year, releasing their debut full-length Future Hates Me on Carpark Records, and touring all over the world. Their festive offering is a take on ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’, which sees them dial back their pop punk energy in favour of strings, what the band describe to The Spinoff as the Beths version of the Ella Fitzgerald version. All proceeds go to Girls Rock! Camp Aotearoa and Women’s Refuge too, so it’s all for a good cause.

Blue Ranger – Ah My

It’s been a weird year with lots of distractions, meaning a fair number of great records have slipped past before we could write about them. One such album was Saving a Beauty by Blue Ranger, so in lieu of the attention it deserves, we’re going to suggest you start with single ‘Ah My’ and discover the rest for yourself. The track highlights Josh Marre’s folk-leaning style and warm writing, giving a glimpse at the affectionate atmosphere that permeates the record. Christmas is a time for fondness, after all.

“Please would you mind
put your arms around me
please keep in mind
you’re sure that someone’s listening

keeping mine in mind”

Lampland – Don’t Drive

Ahead of a full-length album out early next year, New York’s Lampland has unveiled a new single, ‘Don’t Drive’. Fittingly, the song concerns the approach of a winter storm, snow and ice immobilising the city and trapping the principle characters within their apartment. The moment opens up a space within normal time, a relaxing of life that allows a certain magic inside, made all the more precious by the certainty that it will be over as quickly as it began. What could be more Christmassy than that?

“Don’t try to drive tonight
Pressures dropping I was right
Heavy shiver in the air
I don’t know why I’m laughing
You know the bridges freeze first?
And then the gin in your purse
And then the swimming pool where you work”

The post Bright Sparks: Christmas Special appeared first on Various Small Flames.