Swim Camp – Pretty Bird
Black Belt Eagle Scout – Indian Never Die
Pedro The Lion – Quietest Friend
Cat Clyde – Anymore
She Keeps Bees – Coyote
Cartwheel – Nothing
Tempertwig – Comfort Blanket
Downhaul – Wires / Enough
Witching Waves – Eye 2 Eye
LISA – Primitive Us
Yamachan – Rose Gold Blue
Spelling Reform – The Second Coming
Faith & Majesty – Summer Fling
Caroline Lazar – Georgia
Jeffrey Silverstein – Easy Rider
Ronnie Rogers – Leaning On
Nanami Ozone – Alone Too
Fresh – Willa
Perfume V – Perfume Homes Movies
Hand Habits – Can’t Calm Down
MUNYA – Benjamin
LUNCH – Forget Everything
Control Top – Chain Reaction
Prudence – Euphoria
Cult Film – Bored to Death
Walking Bicycles – Fat Cat
Lost Dog – DFT
Sharkmuffin – Serpentina
Bandy – Trying to Reach You
Gold Connections – Like a Shadow
AllegrA – Spoon or Fork
Parkway & Columbia – Wondering and Wandering
la loye – to live underwater
Kitchen – Claws
Spectator – Waves
Sailor Boyfriend – The Battle of Sugarhill
Ladada – My Van
The Exbats – 2027
Adir L.C. – Reacting
minihorse – Drink You Dry
Trevor Stott – Halfway in the Night
Tyler Burkhart – Waiting For You
Or Sobre Blau – Mártires

Like what you hear? Catch up with the rest of our Monthly Mixes!

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

As if to set out their stall immediately, Nanami Ozone open with ‘Sidewalks’. The track initially sounds like murky post punk but soon blossoms into something altogether expansive, the voices of Miller and Opich like liquid light at the centre of a tangled grey cloud of static energy. A song about occupying an awkward no-man’s land, follow up ‘Alone Too’ combines catchy dream pop vocals with rumbling guitar and slapped drums, showing the band are capable of earworm melody as well as raw power. “I don’t want to be with you but I don’t want to be alone too,” sings Opich, the sentiment representing the first sign that Nanami Ozone are not interested in making sickly pink love songs.

‘On the Ground’ is a celebratory shot of shoegaze goodness, while ‘Affection’ builds from blown-out guitar into a leaden 90s alt-rock. Miller’s vocals are initially little more than a downbeat mumble, the song dragging itself along on its belly as guitars chug and drums stomp, but the second half sees things perk up, the vocals straining for something higher as the atmosphere brightens.

Miller handles lead vocals on ‘The Art of Sleeping In’, a dark and smoky track that pairs a towering storm front of intertwining guitars with propulsive percussion and Opich’s disarmingly soft backing. He then continues on ‘3 Mile Drive,” where wiry guitar gives way to bursts of punchy noise, the vocals stitched into the fuzzed-out instrumentation to create a shimmering MBV-style sonic blanket.

‘Erase Time’ is one NO‘s more sedate moments, existing in a sense of twilit negative space, while ‘Make It Alright (Damage)’ gets all grungey around a sighing centre, proof that elemental noise can have an emotional core. The album then closes on ‘Think of Me None’, an Opich-led song that dials back the volume in favour of Mazzy Star-esque aching sentiment.

Please stay
or I’ll miss the way that you taste
like toothpaste

A record that takes three decades of influences and turns them into something genuinely thrilling and new, NO is a delight. Come for the all-enveloping noise, stay for what’s just below the surface, the melody and feeling that elevate these songs beyond simple indie rock.

NO is out now and you can get it on LP or cassette from Tiny Engines or as a download from the Nanami Ozone Bandcamp page.

The post Nanami Ozone – NO appeared first on Various Small Flames.