Tracklist:

Act Of – I am Fungus
Static Animal – See You Around
Skirts – Brite Boy (Alex G cover)
Space Mountain – Cloud
Alexander – Going To Sleep
German Error Message – Murmuring
Thelma – Take Me To Orlando
Jeffrey Silverstein – Make Yr Peace (And Have It Too)
camp counselor – museum of broken relationships
Spartan Jet-Plex – Stop
Lala Lala & Why? – Siren 042
Shrimpwitch – Leerers
Sir Babygirl – Flirting With Her
Spielbergs – Five On It
Stella Donnelly – Lunch
Mentalease – Avert a Gaze
Priests – The Seduction of Kansas
Mike Pace and The Child Actors – Hazy, Hot & Humid
Swim Camp – Circle K
BURLY – Kent Lame
Miserable chillers – Cider Palace
Imp of Perverse – Tripping Thru a Hallway On Fire
Go Fever – Olivia
Polyan – Dan Song
Morning River Band – Bury Me
Nigel Wright – Overcast
Denmark – I Know
Sister Wanzala – I Went Whaling in My Gap Year
Body Meat – Nairobi Flex
Derek Piotr – Repeating Bloom (Simon Whetham Remix)
Michael Chinworth – Good As It Gets
Mesa Luna – Dispel
yot club – jaded

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

Still, that’s not to say the record is one long dreary dirge of heartbreak. Indeed, one of its key motifs is that of juxtaposition. Clear guitars soundtrack muddied emotions as love and loss stab one another in the back, freedom and pain flashing in a constant cycle. How much value can be drawn from such an existence is up to interpretation. “Brambles are an interesting growth,” the press release describes. “They can bear flowers and fruit, but many consider them weeds due to their growth in neglected areas and sharp thorns. Whether brambles are worth eradicating or cultivating is all up to perspective.”

The continuation of a series of songs across all previous Morning River Band albums, opener ‘Drinking Blues Reprise (3,700 Brokenhearted Days)’ sounds exactly as you’d imagine, all hungover lonely cowboy blues. The wry pessimism lifts somewhat on ‘Monmouth County Blues,’ or at least shifts slightly into a different shape. The song more reflective, its narrator in a constant search, knocking on doors and interrogating the half moon in the heavens.

There’s another dose of red-eyed whiskey blues on ‘Drinking Blues, No. 3 (Bend, Fall, Break)’, while ‘Sun Alone’ finds our narrator contemplating a sunrise by himself, reflecting on wronged lovers and a lingering sense of guilt. It’s a song wrapped up in both regret and defiance, the familiar Morning River Band theme of men fated to make bad decisions and abandon those that try to love them. “I ain’t ever coming home,” goes the devastatingly simple final line, summing up the spirit of the track in a handful of words.

The first upbeat country song on the album, ‘Bury Me’ is infectious, full of bluesy guitar and carefree defiance. It begins like a story we’ve all heard before, as Field sings “The good Lord said to Noah, ‘son build yourself a boat, take two of each of everything out there that doesn’t float.’” But this Noah doesn’t want to listen, and vows to live (and die) on his own terms.

“But Noah turned away,
he said I don’t work for you.
I toil and sweat I do the things you refuse to do

so send the wind and send the rain,
I’ll die right where I stand,
bury me with my regrets”

Continuing the theme of juxtaposition, ‘(All of My Best Friends Are) Dead & Gone Blues’ bemoans the diurnal cycle, pining for the moon all day and the sun all night. Even the mourning suggested by the title is bittersweet, the loss altered by the knowledge that he too won’t be far behind them. After the playful interlude of ‘Space Boy Rag,’ ‘Ezekiel’s Wheel / Gloucester Skyline’ emerges, two songs in one separated by a void of guitar effects. However, the second half rises from quiet acoustic guitar into a rousing ballad, as though in defiance of the gaping space from which it crawled.

The album then ends on ‘The Last Red Bank Blues’, a track which serves as both the denouement and genesis story of Brambles. Here the broken-hearted narrator parks atop of a mountain and eases his foot from the brake, the only note he leaves behind that of a lyrical tune (the song, the album). This is a man finding betrayal and divorce hollowed out into their blackest nadir, and escaping through a headlong rush toward a hard ground.

Brambles is out now via Under The Counter Tapes and you can get it from Bandcamp.

The post Morning River Band – Brambles appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Henoheno – I Made These Songs Before I Moved (REVIEW)
(RIYL: Bedroom pop, Elvis Depressedly, Alex G)

Henry Demos & Lewtrakimou – I Was trying to Get There But it Was Hard to See From the Balloon (REVIEW)
(RIYL: experimental, psychedelic, lo-fi, incredibly cool/nice people <3)

Hermann Doose – Hawaii Was Beautiful
(RIYL: pop, surf rock, ARMS)

High Bloom – Haloed
(RIYL: ambient, electronic pop, Orchid Tapes)

Honeyuck – very tiny songs (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, twee folk, Frankie Cosmos)

Isabel Rex – American Colloquialisms/Two Hexes (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, garage rock, Olive Drab)

The Island of Misfit Toys – I Made You Something
(RIYL: emo, indie folk, hardcore)

Jake Rollins – Spend a Few, Make a Few (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, summer pop, slacker rock)

JANK – Awkward Pop Songs
(RIYL: power pop, emo, Algernon Cadwallader)

Jay Som – Untitled
(RIYL: dream pop, woozy rock, dreaming of summer)

Joplin Rice – Low Hum (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi)

Katie Dey – asdfasdf
(RIYL: bedroom pop, experimental, lo-fi)

The Kickstand Band – In the Sun
(RIYL: indie pop, surf rock, )

Kip McGrath – S/T EP
(RIYL: lo-fi, bubblegum pop, twee)

Kitten Crisis – Have a good summer
(RIYL: pop punk, summer days, Radiator Hospital)

Lady Paw – Long Shadow

(RIYL: dream pop, experimental, Twin Sister)

Laurence – Happy Town
(RIYL: bedroom pop, folk)

The Le Sigh – Vol. II (close enough to 2015!)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, compilations packed with goodness, female-identified/non-binary artists)

Letters From Bummer Camp – Vol. 1
(RIYL: punk, Boosegumps/Long Neck/other NJ-indie artists, helping good causes)

Long Neck – Heights (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, Two White Cranes, Cyberbully Mom Club)

Kizzy Hall – one last shame spiral
(RIYL: scrappy rock, basement pop, Coma Cinema)

Mike Pace and the Child Actors – The Flood
(RIYL: box-office music from the 80s/90s, Oxford Collapse)

Miniature Philosopher – Leaving ‘Bula
(RIYL: Paul Baribeau, Nana Grizol, Talons’)

Mini Dresses – FOUR
(RIYL: dream pop, laidback vibes)

The Modern Folk – Surround Me / Leather Jacket (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, DIY, shambling rock n’ roll)

Morning River Band – Abyssal Channeling (REVIEW)
(RIYL: folk, country, bar-room rock)

We’ll be sharing a new section of the list every day this week, so be sure to check back for the complete collection. If you find something you like, or think we missed something life-changing, then why not let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or good old email.

The post Favourite Free Music of 2015: H-M appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“songs about those men down on their luck but too stubborn to change, men doomed to making the same old mistakes and who continue chasing the same misguided remedies.”

Since then I have delved into the band’s back catalogue and decided to write a little something about what I found. I started with Between the Ocean and the Blues, the band’s album from way back in 2011. The tone is somewhat more introspective than later releases, more ruminating regret than brash hungover shame. The album opens with our first taste of the band’s ‘Drinking Blues’, a series of songs which continue until their latest release from earlier this year and really capture much of the band’s thematic goals. ‘It’s OK (To Be Scared)’ is sadder and slower, with it’s repeated refrain, “It’s okay to be scared, it’s okay to be compromised, broken down and beyond repair”, while ‘If Not the Flood, the Fire’ is a harmonica-heavy country song which deals with questions of swapping drink for the bible, the narrator’s doubts about which are expressed in the title line.

We then get a series of more sorrowful songs. ‘Mandatory Overtime Blues’ and ‘Morning After Blues’ are slow, sliding country songs and ‘Bluebonnet Blues’ continues in the sad and steady vein. The second Drinking Blues track, ‘Drinking Blues, No. 2 (Drinking in Heaven With George Jones)’ sees the narrator ambivalent about death and dreaming about good times with country singers in the afterlife, “If you’re ever looking for me oh lord / you’l find me drinking in heaven with George Jones”. Closer ‘Sunken Ships’ provides a pretty send off with some meandering country.

You can get Between the Ocean and the Blues on CD (see above), or as a free download, both from the Morning River Band bandcamp page.

Next up is To Suzie, an album from 2013 which sees the band continue with their brand of country/Americana and really start to hit the groove that has taken them through until their latest release. The record opens with ‘A Broken-Hearted Man’, which continues with the tales of sad men and their desperate coping mechanisms (e.g. “A wedding vow means nothing to a broken hearted man”), and is followed by ‘Suzies Theme’, a country-fried instrumental. ‘Hangover Blues’ is a female-fronted, almost honky-tonk, ode to the trials of a morning after a night on the booze.

“Now its sunday morning
and i should probably go to church
but the organ would pound on my heavy head
and this would go from bad to worse”

‘Drinking Blues, No. 4 (Pills and Pabst Blue Ribbon)’ is short and perky, barely passing the 60 second mark. It has a good-time feel and not quite good-time lyrics, “Lately I been wondering where this life went wrong / doing lots of drinking singing country songs.” ‘Drinking Blues, No. 5 (Drinking Every Day)’ continues in this way, with the opening line of “Life is hell a prison cell where I spend my days”. ‘So Long Suzie (The Damage is Done)’ sounds like a radio folk-rock from the sixties/seventies, and will appeal greatly to fans of Blitzen Trapper or Dr Dog. Next up is ‘Bury Me’, an acapella reinterpretation of the story of Noah and the flood, in which Noah isn’t quite as happy to do God’s will, “Noah turned away, said I don’t work for you / I toil and sweat and do the things that you refuse to do”, followed by another instrumental track, ‘Requiem for Suzie’, and then the finale, ‘Lefty’s Last Blues’, which tells the story of a bartender and dirty rotten gambler who “beat his wife, his daughter, his mother one and all”, and mixes Gatorade with “good old turpentine” after losing his job.

You can get To Suzie on lovely vinyl (I got the pretty pink one), or as a free download, via the Morning River Band bandcamp page.

Finally  I want to mention the self-titled album by Evening River Band, a kind of shadowy cousin to Morning River Band. The project, comprised of members of MRB, is far more towards the rock end of the spectrum, with lots more electric guitars, raucous drums and reverb. The band describe their music as “sludge-folk”, which sounds about right to me. Morning River Band tend to deal in regret and shame, whereas Evening River Band have that sense of night-time riotous abandon that forgets taxing thoughts like that, quite literally selling its soul for a good time. Instrumental ‘Suzie’s Lament’ precedes the shambling country rock of ‘Red Bank Blues (Ordinary Grace)’, before we get a very different interpretation of ‘Sing!’ than that on Abyssal Channeling, this version possessing a lot less country twang and a lot more crash and reverb. ‘Water Rise’ begins acoustic led and more sedate before the rock and roll kicks in with a vengeance, all squealing guitars and smashing drums, before the album closes with two versions of ‘Sunken Ships’, one electric guitar and harmonica solo take and one rumbling full band take. Both are great. It’s a nice change from the Morning River Band releases and I love the idea that come nightfall the band don leather jackets and patched jeans and raise hell in some backwater dive bar.

You can get Evening River Band on vinyl for $6.66 (!) or as a free download via the Evening River Band bandcamp page.

The post Morning River Band appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Until then, here’s our June Roundup, a playlist of songs rounding up everything we covered during June. Clever, huh? Click on the artist name in the tracklisting to be whisked away to the specific post.

Tracklisting:

1. Trisha Please Come Home – Advance Base
2. Slower Now – Star Horse
3. I Make Boys Cry – Adult Mom
4. Cordella – On The Water
5. Destroy – Henoheno
6. A Long Time Ago – Kalle Mattson
7. Only One Who Feels a Little Bit Bad – Fazed on a Pony
8. Ohio Snow Falls – Unraveler
9. Pylon Pile On – Benjamin Shaw
10. For Luck – Cyberbully Mom Club
11. The Offer – Yowler
12. When I Met Death – Right Away, Great Captain!
13. Patriarchaeth – Gwenno
14. Future Bones – Bells Atlas
15. Beautiful Brian – Harley Alexander and The Universal Lovers
16. Whip-Poor-Will – Morning River Band
17. I Admit I’m Scared – Eskimeaux
18. Ideal World – Girlpool
19. Observation Satellites – GRNDMS
20. Podesta – Peptalk
21. Cwm Llwm – Yucatan
22. Clouds – Estan
23. Lullaby – Long Neck
24. KiwiKisses – Trenton Point
25. My Only One – PONY
26. Return to View – The Wandering Lake
27. Clicking Clanking – Ylayali
28. Pull Me Apart – Lung Cycles
29. Red Coat – Adeline Hotel
30. Johnny Go Riding – Damien Jurado
31. When the Day is Fresh, and the Light is New – The Wooden Sky
32. The Crow – Sean Henry
33. Yolanda – O-FACE

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

Adeline Hotel

“Exists within that small and fleeting pocket in time and space that opens just before you take off from a familiar location” – we premièred the first song from an upcoming Adeline Hotel EP

Morning River Band

“Songs about those men down on their luck but too stubborn to change… doomed to making the same old mistakes and who continue chasing the same misguided remedies” – we wrote about Abyssal Chanelling, the latest album from Morning River Band

On The Water

“A strange stop-motion collage that sits perfectly with the lyrical themes of death, decay and, naturally, life” – we premièred a video by Nnamdi Ogbonnaya for ‘Born in Reverse’, the opening track from On The Water’s Cordelia.

Bells Atlas

“Using precise imagery to trace imprecise, unknowable things, the words coalescing with the music to create something unclear but imbued with meaning, as if reaching somewhere deeper within your brain or soul than you can consciously go” – the vibrant and mystical Hyperlust EP from Bells Atlas

Frog

“Queens is the most diverse county in America, and maybe the world. Kind of Blah is about living here, in this city, which is sometimes incredibly wonderful and other times feels a lot like prison and most times probably both at once” – we spoke with Frog about listening to Jagged Little Pill with your mom, the brilliance of Lightning Bolt and some terrible advice from David BermanFuneral Sounds

“Casa Ruby strives to enable people to be treated as people” – a benefit compilation from Funeral Sounds in support of multicultural LGBTQ organisation Casa Ruby

Girlpool

“In a weird way, Girlpool have grown up – becoming confident enough to share their dreams and vulnerabilities and in turn galvanise a lonely generation too afraid of ridicule to live the lives they desire” – Girlpool’s new album Before The World Was Big sees the band offer a sustainable and productive antidote to the pressures of growing up

Advance Base

“Sweetly sad stories about lonely Midwesterners trying to make sense of their troubled pasts” – mark your calendars, August will see a new album from Owen Ashworth’s Advance Base

Two White Cranes

“A clear advancement from anything on Two White Cranes, fleshed out with electric guitar and drums and focussed in its writing” – we previewed Radisson Blue, the forthcoming album from Two White Cranes

Evening Hymns

“I could go on about how [Evening Hymns are] brave and heartbreaking and intensely personal, or how [they] made me feel okay and less alone” – Evening Hymns has us very excited for their new album Quiet Energies

Mitski

“I’m not the white boy. I’m not in a position to be heard whatever I make” – Mitski spoke with Caralyn Green for Pittsburgh City Paper about being an introverted person of colour in music. [See our review of Bury Me at Makeout Creek]

Katie Dey

“I remembered that I had earphones in my coat pocket. I plugged them into my phone and listened to asdfasdf and rested my head on the train window. Closing my eyes, what was initially a gloomy train ride turned into something more cathartic” – Gold Flake Paint talked about Katie Dey’s asdfasdf and the restorative power of music

Ornette Coleman

“A giant of 20th century music, pushing jazz into new harmonic territory and reconceiving the way in which musicians improvised” – Stewart Smith wrote about the career and legacy of Ornette Coleman for The Quietus

Long Neck

“An album with no season, or maybe it’s every season, or maybe it’s just the season when you feel most alone” – Stereogum are streaming Heights by Lily Mastrodimos’s Long Neck

Mitski (again)

Out of Town Films shot Mitski playing ‘I Will’ in the middle of nowhere

Swell Tone’s Summertime Sanity

“Getting lost in the heat and the sense of freedom inherent in the forthcoming season is tempting, to say the least” – Shana over at Swell Tone has put together a selection of summer songs, including Yowler, Girlpool, Hot Palms and The Washboard Abs. Any playlist that opens with ‘Skin of Your Yellow Country Teeth’ gets a thumbs up from us.

Kathryn Joseph

We liked Kathryn Joseph’s Bones You Have Thrown Me Blood I’ve Spilled an awful lot. Last week she played some songs for the Roddy Hart Show on BBC Scotland and it sounded great. Check it out on the BBC iPlayer.

And Finally… the 8tracks Playlist(s) of the Week

This week’s winner is mix-master Adam, AKA Songsfortheday, and his summer soundtracks. There are separate day and night editions, so he has you covered for all your musical needs.

The post Week in Review: #5 (8th – 13th June) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Opener ‘Sing’ staggers along to whiny fiddle, before the chorus of “We will sing”, which doesn’t exactly exude pure-hearted joy, while ‘Jacob’s Dilemma’ sounds a little more upbeat, a sort of sawdust-strewn singalong, albeit with rather pessimistic lyrics (“Love don’t last forever, cos every lover will roam”).  ‘Drinking Blues No. 6 (Hard Drinking Blues)’ does exactly what the title suggests,

“Whiskey is a medicine that soothes a sober mind
smoking helps a heavy heart forget,
sleeping in a different bed each and every night
is the remedy for these regrets”

‘Morning River Raga’ parts one and two are country-fried instrumentals, all lolling guitars and deliberate fiddles, and provide a nice respite amidst the raucous tales of booze. Closer, ‘To Give Up (The Ghost)’ tells the tale of a man failing to work things out with his family,

“If the sun fails to rise
stars fall from the skies
could anything change that sad vacant look in your eyes”

You can get Abyssal Channeling digitally (as a free download!) or on a limited edition cassette (see below) via the Morning River Band Bandcamp page.

P.S. the cover art was designed by Derek Setzer.

P.P.S Morning River Band also have several alter egos, including Sunrise River Band, which is a little brighter and sparser, and Evening River Band, who perhaps emerge under a new moon to make folk music altogether darker, sludgy and doom-laden.

The post Morning River Band – Abyssal Channeling appeared first on Various Small Flames.