The lineup is incredible, Ruination Record Co. managing to recruit lots and lots of bands and artists who we’ve loved (and featured) in the last few years. So if, like us, you’ve grown to love the experimental bedroom ambient of Lung Cycles, or the quietly infectious and odd pop of Trace Mountains, or the heart-on-sleeve bedroom pop of Tall Friend, then this is the charity compilation for you.

And that’s not to mention Ben Seretan or Wilder Maker, LVL Up or Will Stratton, Minor Moon or Adeline Hotel or Horse Teeth. I think you get the idea. And, not content to sit comfortably in one genre, there’s something for everyone here, even if every one of these bands is new to you. There are folk songs and electronic songs and straight up indie rock songs, sad ones and mad ones and kinda strange ones. For example, Obody’s ‘Something That You Are’ is warm and wheezing, the elegant baritone vocals reminiscent of Frederick Squire, while Strange Ranger transform ‘San Francisco Earthquake’ into an arrestingly lo-fi acoustic track.

It feels like a big pick ‘n mix bag of sweets, you have no idea of what you’re going to get next, just that it’s sure to be tasty. From the country stomp of Leland Sundries to the Keaton Henson-style delicacy of Big Eater, Ben Brock Wilkes’s intricately captivating guitar-based folk to the manic punk rock of Gymshorts, each track is is solid and holds its own amongst the others. Perhaps most interesting is the array of singer-songwriters on show, each of whom craft a bold or heartfelt story in their own way, such as this gem by Bea Troxel.

There are so many reasons to buy this album. First of all, 48 great songs for just ten dollars is nothing short of a steal. The artists we’re not familiar with just serve to highlight the diversity on show, and make us want to spend an entire week checking out back catalogues. And of course, most importantly, you’ll be supporting a really, really good cause. So what are you waiting for?

So Many Singing is out now and you can get it from the Ruination Record Co. Bandcamp page.

The post Ruination Record Co. – So Many Singing 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.

If any of the above points make you feel a little down, here’s a playlist of every band we featured during September to cheer you up. As always, click the artist name in the tracklisting to be whisked away to the specific post.

Tracklisting:

1. Hidden Driver – LVL UP
2. Death – CHUCK
3. Seskinore – Hiva Oa
4. Shut Out the Light – Tiny Dinosaurs
5. Foothills – Simon Balto
6. Lie 2 Me – Shana Falana
7. annie – moving in
8. A Lonely Road – Jordan O’Jordan
9. Augustine – The Chairman Dances
10. Golden – Mt. Wolf (feat. St. South)
11. I – Slenko & McKeys
12. zszs – rgz
13. Meditations – Tall Ships
14. Tossing & Turning – Saint Clementine
15. Century Woods – Lisa/Liza
16. Clear Section – Spartan Jet-Plex
17. Trancendless Summer – Peter Silberman
18. Where We Began – Tilman Robinson
19. will you?/you will – Fossil Jane
20. Ya w/Me? – Lomelda (from Swell Tone’s Summer of Sad)
21. Soon Soon – Praything
22. Drive – Mere Women
23. See Through – Suzy Callahan
24. Untitled (Slow) – Jana Irmert
25. Beyond the Stars – The Edge Of The Light
26. Northern Arm – Evening Hymns
27. It’s Not Real – Hazel English

You can check out the previous monthly roundups here, and our various other playlists and mixtapes here.

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

The hectic fuzzed-out guitars on opener ‘Hidden Driver’ bring to mind Neutral Milk Hotel with their folk-tinged indie rock melodies. The song has a wonderfully joyous runaway quality, something that really comes to the fore when the drums kick in roughly half way through. Lyrically, it heads straight for the big questions, a breathless and conflicted contemplation of a higher power. It deals with religion in a very twenty-first century way, forgoing dogma or organised practices, but still refusing to give up on something beyond the physical world we experience every day.

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

‘Blur’ is all noodly guitar and Caridi’s vocals, a sub-two minute slice of melodic and emotive indie rock. ‘She Sustains Us’ follows a formula that will be familiar to anyone who has followed the band (or the Trace Mountains spin-off project), Benton’s vocals languorous and following the melody, on top of crunchy guitar and additional vocals from Susannah Cutler (aka Yours Are the Only Ears). The laid-back pop punk of ‘Spirit Was’ sounds warm and fuzzily emotional, the lyrics with an opaque, witchy quality, with lines like:

“I feel like a sketch of a perfect circle.

Light still leaks in,
black rings in the water,
I write your name in the dust where the spirit was”

To revert back to our preview, the album’s first single ‘Pain’ is “a track about being hurt in the past, and how such things can follow us into the present and beyond. The details of the past trauma are left vague but scathing lyrics indirectly paint a picture of great suffering, the narrator trying to help the victim wrestle their psychological demons while cursing the person who caused their manifestation…the musical equivalent of all those uplifting promises and mini-epiphanies that are made and exchanged between people desperate to recover.”

‘Closing Door’ is one of several tracks that are familiar from last year’s Three Songs EP, though it comes with a slight makeover and the audiovisual treatment by director Robert Kolodny. The video features Sean Henry looking like a grown up Mike Wheeler, wandering through a forest populated with slo-mo insects and multicoloured ghosts, eventually finding a welcoming room suffused with golden light and friendly faces.

‘Five Men on the Ridge’ is a heavy squall that dissipates as quickly as it arrives, hitting a lull with plodding guitars and gentle vocals before erupting again with a burst of guitar and black roiling clouds of harsh noise. ‘Cut From the Vine’ slows things down, Corbo’s lyrics a mix of pastoral images (“And when it’s quiet you hear animals at night / some can swim and some can fly”) and something slightly more supernatural (“And I see shadows on the hillside / and I hear voices in the wind chime / so if I’m not here in the morning / then I’ll see you on other side”).

‘I’ is another Caridi track, which is reminiscent of the more melodic parts of Hoodwink’d, before a real change of pace on finale, ‘Naked in the River With the Creator’. The song starts as with a slow slide of organ and gentle vocals, giving it a devotional air like some antiphon sung from an altar. Grainy static builds and builds, eventually drowning out all else and heralding heavy guitars and a stomping drum beat. The vocals get stranger, short staccato bursts like an incantation chanted around a wax-dripped table, a mantra to summon some ancient deity from the black water of the lake.

A lot of reviews seem to regard them basically as a reheated version of Pavement or Built to Spill, though such comparisons miss the key part of their spirit. There’s a depth here, an intentional ambiguity that listeners are invited to tune in to and meditate on. LVL UP hit that sweet spot between fun pop songs and something a little more profound, with that essential dash of mystery and weirdness to makes things interesting.

Return to Love is out now on Sub Pop Records. You can get it from the LVL UP Bandcamp page or the Sub Pop webstore, including on CD, LP and cassette.

The post LVL UP – Return to Love 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.

Produced by regular collaborator Mike Ditrio, the album is said to draw upon the varying inspirations of the band members, from Caridi’s passion for personal storytelling and Benton’s appreciation of documentary maker Astra Taylor to Corbo’s interest in the occult and other such mysterious things.

Luckily the band have released a single to keep us occupied until the September release. ‘Pain’ is a track about being hurt in the past, and how such things can follow us into the present and beyond. The details of the past trauma are left vague but scathing lyrics indirectly paint a picture of great suffering, the narrator trying to help the victim wrestle their psychological demons while cursing the person who caused their manifestation (“Your innocence was taken from you / Behind closed doors / By one you trusted,”). LVL UP’s trademark buoyancy remains in the instrumentation, not so much juxtaposed against the lyrics but rather helping to support their weight, the musical equivalent of all those uplifting promises and mini-epiphanies that are made and exchanged between people desperate to recover.

“Where is the one you love
who loved you unconditionally
and who you need?
Will you forget or will you repress?
The demons run rampant in your head
and white noise puts you to sleep”

Return to Love will be released on the 23rd September and you can pre-order in now on a variety of formats from Sub Pop or the LVL UP Bandcamp page.

Photo by Shawn Brackbill

The post LVL UP sign to Sub Pop, announce new album Return To Love appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The post Wake The Deaf’s Favourite Songs of 2015 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The EP opens with ‘Beamer’, which captures the fee of the record in under two minutes, part fun rock and roll, part something a little darker:

“beamer
i can hear ya but i can’t see ya
when i’m dreaming
of my old house,
it burned to the ground
but you’re still hanging
by the mini-ramp
sitting on your mother’s grave”

The title track has loud chugging guitars but softer, earnest vocals which ruminate on relationship problems (“i can forget about it / i can be with someone new / i can drink and get lit / until i’m seeing two”), ‘Roof’ is a manic sub-sixty second blast, and ‘Yesterday’ has acoustic guitars and mumbled vocals which detail a good day hanging out with good people (“yesterday was a good day / mini-van highway with greg / and me with wind in my eyes”). Penultimate track ‘Birds’ is the album’s longest at just under 2:30, a meandering instrumental track that juxtaposes nicely with the short sweet bursts of the other songs, and then closer, ‘Death’, ties things up rather nicely with a slice of lo-fi DIY pop, kind of reminiscent of You Won’t:

“i’m sitting next to you
and i’m putting back a few
and i’m starting to feel the love
this time i know it’s true”

You can download LOSE on a pay-what-you-want basis over at Bandcamp.

The post m caridi and the glow – LOSE appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The band have even given some pretty mystical (and lengthy!) instructions on how best to listen to the new songs:

“Lo! Lifting fog reveals a cloaked figure in crooked moonlight and it is shown — The Closing Door — the Blur of spirit passing through — Proven Water Rites burning effigies of past selves — demonstrations from beyond a lifting veil. First, the listener dims the lights, burning all candles found within the dwelling. With eyes open toward the ceiling, the listener feels dull heat from the candles in front of them. Eyes closed now, the listener begins to regulate their breathing and in time presses play on their device. Eyes open again, the listener reaches their hands to hover above the nearest flame for the duration of the first passage. The listener stares directly into candle’s flame, regulating their breathing. At the dawning of the second tune, the listener lowers their hands to hold and protect the candle in front of them. A new kind of light is shown now, and the listener’s thoughts may begin to wander & blur, but they continue to stare. At the end of the second passage, the listener blows out all of the candles without hesitation. In near darkness now, the listener is left to sit, breathing the remnants of fire and thoughts that drift about the room. This is the final song.”

We would try to give a few thoughts on the songs but how on earth are you supposed to follow that? Instead, we suggest you pre-order the EP right now via Double Double Whammy and Run For Cover Records.

The post LVL UP – Three Songs appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Looking at the list of contributors the band got to help out with the album, it’s little wonder it’s shaping up so good. It was produced by Kevin McMahon (who has previously worked with indie rock heroes Titus Andronicus) and Hunter Davidsohn (who has worked with a variety of great bands such as Porches. and Rivergazer) and also features contributions from Greta Kline (ie. Frankie Cosmos), Nick Corbo (of LVL UP and Crying).

Year of Nod is due for release tomorrow (the 5th of May). You can pre-order the album on cassette via Seagreen Records or as a download via the Battle Ave. Bandcamp page.

P.S. You can stream the entire album over at Stereogum.

P.P.S The band have pledged to donate all digital pre-order sales to Baltimore to cover rebuilding and legal fees after recent events. All the more reason to grab a copy!

The post Battle Ave. – Year of Nod appeared first on Various Small Flames.