The opening track ‘Ode’ introduces both the sound and themes of the album very nicely. “Twenty five, barely getting by”, Vick sings “you’re still the guy I look to, do you know why?”, before the song kicks up with percussion and a sweet and catchy chorus of “we don’t say it / but we don’t need to”.

The second track is the super short ‘I Mean These Things’, which is almost like a standalone chorus about the way a loved one can erase all doubt and worry (“everything i write is the same and everything i mean i don’t say / ‘cept you and i fall right out of the category”). The stripped back acoustics on ‘Marinate’ match the song’s atmosphere perfectly, the first time the album hits a purely sad and reflective note, as Vick sings,

“i’m an introvert attracted to the
extrovert lifestyle
can i be me
if i change my mind
and be more worthwhile”

‘July 9 2015’ has a real Free Cake For Every Creature vibe, the gentle indie pop backed with shambling percussion. In a premiere with our friends at The Le Sigh, Vick explains that the song was written in response to finishing college and moving back home. But refreshingly, the song isn’t the regular future-gazing that post-university blues usually bring. As Vick explains,

“I was journaling in the coffee shop across the street from my apartment and it was one of the first moments I allowed myself to be like, “what just happened?!!” instead of “ok now what? what’s next now that you’ve graduated?” it felt like I was losing sight of all the growth and experiences I just had because I was constantly thinking about what was expected of me to do next. I just wanted to write about the present moment and about the things I was sure of instead of allowing myself to be engulfed by my uncertainty.”

The atmosphere is decidedly understated on ’23’, a song about getting older in years but not necessarily in mind (at least all the time) that’s full of nice turn of phrase like “i’m a selfish hugger / you’re a confusing lover”. We described ‘Did You See Me Cry’ previously as “a song with a soft and sad confidence, building to a finale of layered vocals”, the delicate acoustic guitar ringing quietly behind words thick with self-reflection and some kind of acceptance.

“i can keep four friendships alive
that’s my quota for this life
cigarettes out front the laundromat
say what you said and take it back”

‘Blue’ doesn’t sound as sad as the title and lyrics suggest, a subtly grooving bass line supporting one of the more upbeat sounding tracks on the album, while finale ‘The Park Behind Walmart’ has its own quiet confidence, with slapped drums and nicely layered vocals that twine around one another.

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

Boy Scouts makes sad-sounding songs that are a lot more than mere wallowing in self pity. There are no immediately rough edges, the whole atmosphere gently contemplative rather than bitterly confessional, but things aren’t sugar-coated either. The lack of angry snarls doesn’t mean everything is peachy, but equally the sad and lonely bedroom pop vibe doesn’t mean things are terrible either. And that’s the real triumph of the album, because it feels true.

Homeroom Breakfast is out on Mt. Home Arts and is available on cassette with lovely silk-screened art by Nora Einbender-Luks. You can also get it on a name-your-price download via the Boy Scouts Bandcamp page.

Also, in case you missed it, we spoke with Taylor about the album and her influences – check it out!

The post Boy Scouts – Homeroom Breakfast appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Hi Taylor, thanks for chatting with us! How is life now that your debut album, Homeroom Breakfast is out in the world?

Hello! Yes, having that out in the world has been real nice. It’s always a good feeling to finish a project, ya know, and this is my first time having physical copies of my music so I’m super stoked about that aspect! An amazing artist/pal named Nora Einbender-Luks did the art and it’s so cool to have kind of created something with someone else.

Your Bandcamp page says the album was written and recorded in both Brooklyn and San Francisco. Was there a reason for this split? And what’s your recording process like?

My last semester of college was in Brooklyn and that was the same time I started working on this album – so the first few tracks I wrote and recorded were done in my apartment there, and the rest were recorded in my apartment in San Francisco once I moved back after school.
I kind of write or at least add to songs as I’m recording, so the recording process for me is a lot of trial and error and is so much fun. I often have just the basic structure of a song when I go to record because I mostly hear new parts as I’m listening back to it rather than while I’m playing or writing it.. I use garageband, a borrowed mic + interface from my friend Rose or my iphone built in mic, and whatever instruments I can get my hands on. Luckily I have lived with/know a lot of musicians so I’ve been able to use a lot of other peoples stuff and it’s been great!

Who/what would you cite as your main influences?

Woah! I love thinking about this. My brother Travis Vick and my friend Rose Droll are for sure my main influences. They both are incredible musicians, performers, people. Also my brother got me into really good music at a young age so I’m really grateful for that. I’ve always had a strong connection to Rose’s music and now we’re friends and are each other’s #1 fans so it’s really rad and powerful – both Travis and Rose inspire the heck out of me!

I feel like a lot of people immediately put artists in your genre into a sad/lonely box without much thought, so I’m going to ask you outright – Do you consider your songs sad and lonely?

I don’t think so. I think because I’m not sad or lonely, I can’t consider them as that even though others might (which is fine). My songs might have glimpses of sadness or whatever, which is because the best outlet for me if I’m sad is to write a song or a lyric or something. So I understand why people might think that. But yeah, I think other feelings than sadness can be felt when listening to a song that might be deemed as sad so I try not to write off an artist as being sad/lonely because sometimes connecting over something sad can feel really good… if that makes sense.

The album has been released on cassette with Mt. Home Arts. How do you feel about releasing it with them and how did the relationship come about?

Mt. Home Arts is so awesome and great! Releasing an album with them has been so cool, I feel very lucky and happy to have had the opportunity. I emailed for a long time with Tim Woulfe, one of the founders of Apollonian Sound (who has since merged with Mt. Home Arts!) about releasing my music with them, we ended up doing a few shows together on the east coast last month and I got to release my album on their label. It all feels very good. They are great people.

Your debut release was self-produced and released. Do you have any advice or sage wisdom for other people young or old who are thinking about grabbing a guitar and recording something at home?

Oh man! Some of the best advice I’ve heard and think I also read once on an Alex G AMA was to make music that you want to hear. I would also say to not think that you’re limited because you’re recording at home or by yourself. I still don’t know much at all about recording or mixing, but that’s what makes experimenting so fun. You can do whatever you want and can create this audible, invisible thing, it’s so awesome. Experiment and share what you’re excited about with someone, or everyone. Do what feels good.

Finally, what 4 or 5 bands/artists have you been listening to recently? They can be brand new or a hundred years old, whatever you’re into.

I’m recently very into Andy Shauf’s albums The Party and The Bearer of Bad News. Also Diners’ album Three. WHY? is probably my favorite band ever so I’m still always listening to them and also to Elliott Smith for forever.

Homeroom Breakfast is out now on a beautifully packaged cassette via Mt. Home Arts and is available to download via the Boy Scouts Bandcamp page.

The post Interview: Boy Scouts appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Remember, we’re on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, so don’t hesitate to get in touch and let you know your favourite tracks from June. Or July. Or whenever.

Tracklisting:

1) Gofer – Yucky Duster
2) The End Parts One and Two – Paper Bee
3) Pas De Deux – Brenda’s Friend
4) Mostly Homely – Exam Season
5) rosy – Long Neck
6) Cool It! – Terry vs. Tori
7) best thought – Honeyuck
8) buttery sprouts – Trace Mountains
9) Green Ennui – Flying Circles
10) Memento Mori – Jake Bellissimo
11) Same Light – Tim Lannen
12) Golden Car – Tincho
13) Can’t Take My Mind – Skyjelly
14) E.V.I.L – Medicine Boy
15) Bike Thief – Frederick Squire
16) Oh Well – Adeline Hotel
17) Offering – Loone
18) Something Profound & Meaningful – See You At Home
19) Bowl of Plums – Ben Seretan
20) Muted Colours – Chain Wallet
21) Little One – Aaron Holm
22) Fear O’ the Light – Katie Dey
23) Protracted – William Ryan Fritch
24) Dizzy – Danielle Fricke
25) Uncanny – Sister Grotto
26) Hands in Our Names – Karima Walker

The post June 2016 Roundup: A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Thematically, the album bulges at the seams with passion and life, tales of souls floating around in a huge and amazing, if sometimes terrifying, universe. Fans of acts such as Small Wonder and Told Slant (who Loone are touring with soon) will find lots to like. The A-side belongs to Loone and the opening track, ‘All Pacing Horses’, begins with Berger and Longhaul’s voices in harmony, the instrumentation gloriously messy. Setting a trend for the rest of the release, the lyrics are a cosmic weave of natural and corporeal imagery, a love song on a different plane entirely (e.g. “skin is not an ocean made of edges and salt / a heart is not a meadow knitting water into frost / but I saw fields of you”).

‘Ocatillo’ starts slow and heartfelt, Longhaul and Berger again sharing the vocals, before eventually whipping up into ramshackle noise. It’s one of those songs that turns several corners, continuously shifting and changing, with the lyrics again providing an organic and widescreen take on emotions like devotion and hope (“I wanna hold your hand stepping into the dark / I wanna feel the land that blooms in your heart / there are many roads we will be on alone / and its not true most don’t lead home / but I will take comfort and joy in knowing you’re out there too”).

“I am tired of this stupid human body,” they sing on ‘Offering’, my current favourite, which is part green and gloomy folk, part haunted pop. The track ends in a fun and noisy singalong end in which other voices join Longhaul’s in a moment of pure carefree catharsis.

“Every place I’ve ever lived is full of ghosts
every time I leave I make another one
every one I’ve ever loved it full of ghosts
every time they leave they make another one”

‘Foam’ follows smoothly from the  previous track, an almost eight-minute journey that seemingly enters several different rooms across its run-time. The lyrics are lovely, possessing an esoteric poetry almost akin to the prose of Blake Butler, telling the story of a little girl who’s tall like the world, of accidentally killing cacti and bonsai and fennel by relocating them from their homes.

The second side belongs to Paper Bee, who sound something like a cross between the thudding heart-on-sleeve pop of Eskimeaux and the strange and poetic folk of Joanna Newsom. Opening track, ‘The Choice to be Heard and Not Seen’, is a wonderful introduction. As someone who pays a lot of attention to lyrics, songs like this are simply a treat. I’m not going to apologise for pasting a lot of lyrics, I mean, just look at them:

“The most desolate stretches of highway surround me when I say I am home
Stretching out like the sorest of arms through the heat reaching to the sea grasping
Towards a life that was never mine
Towards my ghost in the thickest darkest parts where the moon-dappled snow takes the form of our hearts deepest fears”

‘Lovers As Mirrors’ climbs and climbs, becoming an emotionally charged indie rock song, ending with crashing drums and wordless choral vocals, while ‘The End Parts I and II’ starts gentle but soon transforms into another gloriously noisy track, Berger’s vocals existing at the centre of the tumult of instruments. There are also lulls, consisting of just vocals and very quiet and subtle guitar, which feel loaded with weight after the volume and density of the track’s other sections.

“When it rains in this desert I’m home
clouds roll in I don’t feel as old
smell the asphalt I’m a kid again
it wasn’t better but still I miss it”

‘Ugly I’m Sorry’ is softer and more reserved, opening with Mountain Man-style vocal harmonies which are succeeded by the onset of Berger’s wonderfully flowing and poetic lyrics, before the final track ‘A Swarm’, which has Yowler-esque guitars and lyrics that proclaim love’s ability to protect and heal (“oh surround me with your love strong as a swarm of bees”).

Now I Know You and See How Wide You Are to the World is a terrific album. It’s as rich and as complex as life itself, steeped in passion and poetry, whirring like the universe and everything in it. There’s a line at the end of ‘Ugly, Im Sorry’ that sums up the whole release rather nicely, capturing its in a handful of words far better than I am able to in this review:

“And I wanna hold your hand
and go explore the pulsing humming darkness”

You can get Now I Know You and See How Wide You Are to the World on cassette via Mt Home Arts. As usual with the label, the tape comes in a lovely package, complete with a hand- and die-cut silkscreened package with artwork by Longhaul.

The release also sees the start of an exciting new stage in the life of Mt. Home Arts. They’ve joined forces with the folks at Apollonian Sound, meaning we should expect more great hand-crafted items in the future! Stay tuned for more news on the “collaborative publishing collective”, it promises to be pretty exciting.

The post Loone & Paper Bee – Now I Know You and See How Wide You Are to the World appeared first on Various Small Flames.

So we’re unveiling the tracks one by one in a sort of music-streaming drumroll, and tonight we are delighted reveal a song by New Zealand’s Nadia Reid. ‘Runway’ closes out the compilation, a track as fitting as it is beautiful. Here, as with all of Nadia’s music, she speaks with the rich texture of experience beyond her years, her words defiant and fragile and human in the very best sense of the word.

“When I hit the ground in all my glory
I will know
where I have come from.

In the shadow of the doubt that meets the morning
I have come,
I have faced it”

If you like what you hear her record, Listen to Formation, Look for the Signs, is out on the 27th November on Sputnik and Scissortail Records, so be sure to get your pre-order in.

The artwork in response to ‘Runway’ is by the brilliant Heather Swenson, who uses an array of different techniques and styles for her strange, vibrant pieces. You can find all of her work on her website, follow her on Tumblr and keep an eye on her work with Mt. Home Arts. Christmas is coming, you know. Who wouldn’t like something to put on the wall?

Remember that you can/should order Quiet, Constant Friends on cassette via the Wake the Deaf Bandcamp page,* a limited release which comes with a few postcard prints of original artworks. Who knows, you might get Heather’s. Better still, every penny of the profits go straight to Worldreader, so you can spoil yourself and help others in one fell swoop.

*Digital downloads are available for those of you living in modern day society. And of course all tapes have downloads too.

The post Quiet, Constant Friends: Nadia Reid – Runway appeared first on Various Small Flames.

GRNDMS

“Capitol Mill is proof that sunny little songs need not be mindless nonsense, and that you don’t need to write explicitly sad songs to resonate with the listener” – we reviewed the début album from GRNDMS, out now on Fox Food Records.

Eskimeaux

“About doing the best you can and hoping it’s enough, about accepting and learning and growing so that whatever hand you’re dealt, you carve out some semblance of meaning and happiness to make everything worthwhile” – Eskimeaux’s O.K., out now on Double Double Whammy and Mt. Home Arts, is a triumphant success.

Peptalk

“Peptalk paint ecosystems, thriving arrangements of geology and biology where plants and animals and wind and rain follow their own instinctive patterns. However, things are not quite what they seem…” – We welcomed you to the weird and beautiful world of Peptalk’s Islet.

Craig Finn

“Finn’s sharp turn of phrase… elevates mundane situations to something meaningful, transforming everyday words and imagery into things imbued with symbolism” – the first song from a new album by The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn.

Henoheno

“Emotional suffering is presented in a detached manner, as if the narrator has transcended into an outer body experience or else knows the pain so well it lacks the immediacy it once possessed” – we were delighted to premiere ‘Destroy’, the first track from Henoheno’s upcoming album I Made These Songs Before I Moved.

Kalle Mattson

“Strummed guitars and slow-burning drum machine beats which conjure a vivid, nostalgic image, like a city as seen from a dark shore at night” – ‘A Long Time Ago’, a new song from Kalle Mattson’s upcoming EP Avalanche.

PONY

“Sun-kissed and salt-lipped… four songs about romance and break-ups during the summer months” – we reviewed CRUSHED, the debut EP from Toronto band PONY.

Old Earth

“[Milwaukee] completely shaped and nurtured me. I grew up and spent most of my life here, so going from being a teenager seeing punk shows in VFW halls in the early ’90s to being an artist that some people know and read about in the city is kind of crazy” – Old Earth spoke to Milwaukee Record about the pros and cons of moving to California.

Kathryn Joseph

“I never felt like we were making something beautiful. I just thought my songs were shit, and that this is all really embarrassing” – Kathryn Joseph spoke to The Skinny before winning Scottish Album of the Year award for Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I’ve Spilled. We reviewed the album here, and certainly aren’t surprised.

Joseph also unveiled a new song, ‘the worm’, via The Line of Best Fit.

Jenny Hval

I feel a little intimidated at the prospect of writing about Apocalypse, girl, the new album from Jenny Hval. Luckily there are already some great reviews out there, we particularly liked these from The Quietus and God is in the TV.

Crosslegged

“In the past, my summers have been defined by the artists that manage to capture the heaviness of a muggy afternoon or the confusing side of a fleeting romance. I know Speck will be a record that falls into that special category for me this year” – The Le Sigh are streaming Speck by Keba Robinson’s Crosslegged.

Naps

“Finding out about Naps felt like being told a really good secret” – understanding that there can never be enough quality new music, The Le Sigh also premièred a new song from Florida band Naps (who we have featured on numerous occasions).

Frog

“Irreverent, strange and just a little addictive” – Clash premiered a video for Frog’s ‘Judy Garland’. ICYMI, we reviewed (and loved) Kind of Blah and spoke to Frog about their music.

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus have released Sorry About the Delay, a mix of demos, rarities and unheard album cuts in preparation for the forthcoming album The Most Lamentable Tragedy. Pitchfork have all the details, including the link for a free download.

Strand of Oaks

“Filled with bite and sometimes regret, but also a good deal of warmth” – The indomitable Timothy Showalter visited NPR’s Tiny Desk Sessions. We have written about Strand of Oaks quite a bit, but probably still haven’t conveyed how much we love Showalter’s work.

And… our favourite 8tracks playlist of the week was this one by beneller (that cover art!!)

the ultimate summer playlist from beneller on 8tracks Radio.

The post Week in Review: #6 (15th – 19th June) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“Eskimeaux is basically me: it’s an empowered persona that has brought me warmth and fulfilment in times of isolation and confusion about my origins”

And with this knowledge of the origins of the name comes a glimpse into what has shaped Smith’s sound. This is not a beginning. Smith has more or less grown up with Eskimeaux, grown into Eskimeaux. New album O.K. feels like the product of that development, borne out of a sense of purpose and artistic confidence that comes with long hard years of trial and error.

That said, while Eskimeaux is Smith, it would be a misnomer to label the project a solo venture. Quinn Moreland‘s pretty extensive history of Smith’s music career to-date for Impose hints at the influence other musicians have had on Smith, tracing the evolution of Eskimeaux from inception to present, which sees Smith at the centre of a talented group of people in Brooklyn (partly as The Epoch collective) who work together on their various musical projects. When you thank the likes of Told Slant, Bellows, Yours Are The Only Ears, Florist, Small Wonder, Sharpless and Mitski for helping create your record, you know you are in good hands. As our preview of the album stated back in March:

“While the proof will be in the pudding, it seems O.K. is a testament to the power of gathering good friends and kind strangers who are all pulling in the same direction, a reminder that good, carefully put together art has infinitely more value than whatever the PR men and women try to push at you”

O.K. feels like an epiphany, where Smith has found the required confidence (almost certainly with the help of her friends) to speak openly without distortion or the safety-net of irony. The biggest temptation when feeling isolated and alone is to accentuate the feeling of dissociation, to lie to yourself or others by claiming that being understood (ie. less alone) is not needed. This could be through angry, primal art which strives to remind everyone that they are merely phony, bullshit-ridden animals who will grow old and die, or by creating art so abstract and inhuman that no-one can recognise it, retreating into the false security of faux-mysticism which aims to transcend the need for human connection. While Eskimeaux was never near the extreme ends of these avenues, Smith’s early work did see her feelings/message buried beneath a haze of ambient noise. O.K. sees this stripped back in favour of candid pop songs which fit very nicely into The Epoch back catalogue.

The album confronts loneliness head-on, outlining the strange but undeniable fact that each of us are distinct creatures cut off from the thoughts of anyone else, even those who mean the world to us. In lieu of telepathy, we are forced to communicate in crude alternatives, arranging words and gestures haphazardly in the hope of them saying what we really mean. ‘I Admit I’m Scared’, a song which worries about the effects you have one your loved ones, puts this quite beautifully:

“And everything I said
spewed like sparklers from my mouth
they looked pretty as they flew
but now they’re useless and burnt out”

While all the songs are linked by sincerity, there is a variation of sounds and styles across the album. Opener ‘Folly’ is a folk song bathed in reverb and guitars, the narrator casting a significant other as something magnificent and unknowable. ‘Pocket Full of Posies’ is a creepy, gritty track of vulnerability, while ‘Broken Necks’ is a bona fide pop song, a heartbreaking collapse of a relationship rendered danceable with synths and clap-along percussion and a catchy chorus. Current favourite ‘The Thunder Answered Back’ is more fierce, bubbling with certainty before exploding in the cathartic refrain of “You coward, you hummingbird”. The track continues with a dramatic closing, euphoric and elemental: 

“I screamed out how’d it get this bad? And the thunder answered back
if you know not what you lack then you must unturn your back
Your inside is overcast you are tethered to your past
and it must feel like fucking hell to be a patchwork of yourself,
a bunch of scraps thrown and sewn around your bones
and though you’re alone it’s holding you too tightly.
But who are you?
From where do you come?
What do you believe in?
Whom do you love?”

The sense of loneliness never leaves, but it’s joined by the acceptance of the weird paradoxical truth that you can never be OK without first recognizing the fact that you won’t always be OK. And, perhaps more importantly, the understanding that everyone is in the same boat. Obviously, for this to be a comfort then people need to make it known, so it’s lucky indeed that ‘Alone at the Party’ is the anthem of this realisation, finding solace and community in the fact that we are all at some level lonely. This is what Eskimeaux does best, she says things that might not be cool or pretty or ‘normal’ in order to help. In this way O.K. is like an unveiling, an opening of the chest, with Smith delving into herself to show us every gruesome detail that we too possess. We see her heart and lungs and rounded ribs, the fragile threads of nerves and blood vessels which twitch and tremble in the spotlight, we see a space lined with thorns or glass or thick black bile in which sits something hard and smooth and bright, something that we recognise despite it having no shape or weight or name. Closer ‘That’s OK’ concludes the viewing, cleansing the cavity with peace and sewing herself back up safe in the knowledge that communication has finally been achieved:

“Frankie is face down in our bed,
you are downstairs
and all I want is to hear you say
is ‘we’re not the same but that’s ok’.”

O.K. is about reality, the moment we live in and the people we share it with. It’s about the things we want and the things we wish for and the things we can’t control. It’s about doing the best you can and hoping it’s enough, about accepting and learning and growing so that whatever hand you’re dealt, you carve out some semblance of meaning and happiness to make everything worthwhile.

You can buy the album digitally from Eskimeaux’s Bandcamp, on CD/vinyl from Double Double Whammy or on beautiful cassettes from Mt. Home Arts (see below).

Embroidery artwork by Susannah Lee Cutler

The post Eskimeaux – O.K. appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Eskimeaux is the recording project of Brooklyn-based musician and producer Gabrielle Smith. Adopting the moniker in 2007, Smith has put out a series of albums which vary from weird experimental noise to sad bedroom folk. Her forthcoming album O.K. on Double Double Whammy is said to be ‘beat-driven and poetic bedroom pop’, which sounds pretty good to us.

The usual Eskimeaux band consists of Felix Walworth (of Told Slant), Lago Lucia, Oliver Kalb (of Bellows) and Jack Greenleaf (of Sharpless), who also helped Smith arrange, mix and produce O.K. It seems clear that Smith has enlisted the talents of her friends to ensure that her album is as good as it could possibly be. As well as the DDW links, she is also a founding member of the Brooklyn songwriting/art collective The Epoch, and this release utilises all of her connections in the independent scene. Aside from the aforementioned band members, Smith also thanks Henry Crawford (of Small Wonder) and Mitski Miyawaki (AKA just plain Mitski) among others. The artwork is no less a team effort, with the main embroidery design by Susannah Lee Cutler (of Yours Are The Only Ears) adapted from a photo by Andrew Piccone, the cover photos by Richard Gin, the insert by Colin Alexander (of Flashlight O) and the spine by Emily Sprague (who you may know as Florist). While the proof will be in the pudding (i.e. how the full release sounds), it seems O.K. is a testament to the power of gathering good friends and kind strangers who are all pulling in the same direction, a reminder that good, carefully put together art has infinitely more value than whatever the PR men and women try to push at you.

Only one song is available right now but it definitely whets the appetites. ‘Broken Necks’ fulfils the poetic pop promise, with Smith’s sincere lyrics of love and altruism supported by unsteady percussion which give the whole thing that weird feeling where life has you sad and scared but you wouldn’t change it for the world.

“When I had a million arms I would wrap them around all your body parts
try to keep away all that could do you harm
try to keep out sickness and keep you warm

but every time the going got tough one by one they were falling off
While you were breaking your neck trying to keep your head up
I was breaking my neck just to stick it out for you
and I know we’d hang out everyday if I wasn’t 100 miles away

from our tadpoles gathering in the creek
and our baby birds learning how to shriek
All the eagles I still haven’t seen and the trees proudly alive and green
I could swear they are there just for you and me
whether friends or in love there’s an indisputable beauty”

You can pre-order O.K. now from Double Double Whammy on variety of vinyl designs. If cassette tapes are more your thing then luckily the good folks over at Mt. Home Arts have you covered (in what promises to be quite spectacular style – see below for an early prototype). We’ll write a full review once we get to hear it but trust our instincts and put your order in now.

P.S. The main photo is by the supremely talented Andrew Piccone.

The post New Album From Eskimeaux appeared first on Various Small Flames.

NAH – WOE

(RIYL: hip hop, noise, Death Grips)

Naked Days – Chai Knees

(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, Neutral Milk Hotel, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)

Names – Billow Green

(RIYL: experimental, folk, Akron/Family)

Nana Grizol – Night Lights I-III & Tacoma Centre 1600(free d/l but donations go to charity!)

(RIYL: indie rock, punk pop)

Nathaniel – Fellatio

(RIYL: hip hop, soul, steamy jams)

Nature Walker – Clairvoyance

(RIYL: experimental, ambient, psych, lo-fi)

NEO – Snufkin Left, Never to Return

(RIYL: Strange things, Final Fantasy soundtracks, Moominwave)

Nice Legs – Lullaby Land

(RIYL: dream pop, lo-fi, Twin Sister. Song: Two)

Noah Young – Colorado

(RIYL: folk, singer-songwriter, Blind Pilot, Bright Eyes)

Nouns – Still

(RIYL: indie rock, punk, heavy emotion)

Of Us Giants – Nova Scotia

(RIYL: Punk, Hardcore, Manchester Orchestra)

Oh, Rose – 1919

(RIYL: indie rock, Angel Olsen, Mitski)

Old Amica – Fabula

(RIYL: ambient, experimental, electronic folk)

Orchid Tapes – Boring Ecstasy: The Bedroom Pop of Orchid Tapes (Compilation)

(RIYL: bedroom pop, ambient, dream pop, Orchid Tapes)

Orlok – Linear Story of a Relationship

(RIYL: electronic, ambient, dream pop)

Oquoa – S/T

(RIYL: folk, Americana, Great American Desert)

Painted Zeroes – S V A L B A R D

(RIYL: indie rock, “dream punk”, The Pixies)

The Past – AIRLESS

(RIYL: pop, experimental, Fang Island)

Petrichoral – S/T EP

(RIYL: surf rock, summer jams, The Beach Boys)

Pill Friends – Fade Into Nothing

(RIYL: indie rock, punk, lo-fi)

Piqua – Finds God

(RIYL: lo fi, punk folk, Defiance, Ohio)

QUARTERBACKS – Quarterboy

(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, Radiator Hospital, Julia Brown)

Radiator Hospital – Torch Song

(RIYL: power pop, bedroom rock, Born Ruffians)

Real Life Buildings – It Snowed

(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, bedroom pop)

Real Swell – Dull Dreams

(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, Happy Trendy)

Remambran – Drawing Out Cassette

(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, Krill)

Rick Ross – Bright Moon Cottage

(RIYL: experimental, electronic, samples)

Ricky Eat Acid – Three Love Songs (D/L here)

(RIYL: ambient, electronic bedroom pop, film scores)

rituals. – Ceramic Spaces

(RIYL: ambient, experimental, new age)

Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2

(RIYL: hip hop, rap, Killer Mike, Danny Brown)

Favourite Free Music of 2014 (N-R) from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post Favourite Free Music of 2014 (N-R) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Sarah Winchester – Northeast Kingdom

Sarah Winchester is a member of the really rather excellent Oregon-based band A Weather, If you are a fan of A Weather and bemoan the fact they only have two albums, Winchester also records solo under her own name, namely this excellent release entitled Northeast Kingdom. The EP (which was originally released way back in 2009 by Team Love Records) contains six songs and each is as beautiful as the next. J. Tillman-esque finger-picked acoustics support writing that is nothing short of poetry. The lyrics, along with Winchester’s distinctive delivery, capture hope and beauty amidst loneliness, a white-bright flicker in a twilit world of isolation and weariness and pain.

Get Northeast Kingdom on cassette, together with artwork by Winchester and artist Heather Swenson via Mt. Home Arts. If anything, the package is even prettier than the music.

Baby Mollusk – Baby Mollusk and the Big Babies

Baby Mollusk is Rachel Gordon. She plays guitar and sings spiky and sort-of-sad songs very sweetly. The Big Babies are Matt Van Asselt and Mike Ditrio. Those guys play bass and drums. Sometimes they all join in together and crash things around a bit in a wondrously joyous noise. Baby Mollusk and The Big Babies is a self-titled album and a really good one at that. You should all buy it on an incredibly good-looking cassette via Mt. Home Arts. You can also download it for however much you want via Bandcamp.

Whatever, Dad – 100% Take Home! Grade Pending

Whatever, Dad is the recording project of Elaiza Santos and sometimes some of her friends. She makes down-tempo rock music that sounds like an internal monologue of a young person written down and backed by a makeshift band. It is every bit as good as that sounds.

You can get the album via Bandcamp. Had you (or we) been more prompt, you could have gotten a cassette that came with buttons and butter (yep) and silkscreen napkins, a package that takes the tape game to a whole new level.

Real Life Buildings – It Snowed

Real Life Buildings is one of the songwriters from The Act of Estimating as Worthless (who also have releases on Mt. Home Arts), and the drummer too! Their names are Matthew Van Asselt and Mike Ditrio (remember them?). It Snowed is their debut album and is due for release on the 6th of November. It has quiet moments and loud moments, ramshackle lo-fi rock and intimate bedroom pop musings (often in the same song).

You can pre-order It Snowed on cassette right now via the Mt. Home Arts website.

The post Mt. Home Arts appeared first on Various Small Flames.