The album comprises of 15 tracks of dreamy bedroom pop, and right from the opener ‘Monsieur Mono’, it’s clear that we’re going to get some good fun to go along with it. It’s not hard to imagine a roomful of people throwing some swanky 60s psychedelic shapes as Castillo sings:

“Flock of my house, they drink champagne.
They never forget where meat gets made.
Plot in a chord, I’ll need perfume.
Confession receipts, alone and in my room”

There’s a different kind of throwback on ‘Prudent Policies’ which is all fuzzy pop, like a long lost NME fan-favourite from the 80s, while ‘Major Works’ shares a similar feel, shrouded in a warm and hazy MBV-style blanket. Other stand outs (to my ears) include ‘Knelt in Hair’, which ripples with a nostalgic and sleepy romanticism, and the pepped up ‘Wrong Souvenir Love’. ‘Signal Peru’ adds a dash of cool-kid pop to the mix, which, along with tracks like ‘The Same Chords’, shows that Tiger in my Tank are equally adept at lean and catchy indie rock.

“Oh, pillage the city’s sense of haute perfection.
Bank-rolled sewage plant infection.

But the same chords are okay with me”

The final track brings together all the elements, somehow managing to be simultaneously  dreamy and catchy and fuzzed out with feedback. It’s the sort of song that makes you disappointed that summer has gone for another year, because you just know it would sound so good on a warm, bright evening.

You can get Skinned Genie and the Same Chords on cassette and name-your-price download via the Cereal and Sounds Bandcamp page.

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The track begins as a slow, warm folk song sung in a tone somewhere between forlorn and contemplative, though soon morphs into something more dramatic. Starting with the middle verse, where Okusami’s guitar and vocals slow like a steadying breath, the song slowly emerges into something wider and richer and full of impassioned life, all culminating in the maelstrom of noise that sees the track out.

“Close your eyes
we’ll take the first step at the same time
into that dark unknown
beyond these bulbs
if we ever emerge again
think of what we’ll tell them
when we were nowhere, we were nothing”

You can grab the track on a pay-what-you-can basis now on the Oceanator Bandcamp page, and be sure to keep your eyes peeled for any future releases.

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Brian Sendrowitz’s Beat Radio, an act I previously described as “a band formed upon the notion of art as an undying passion” have always challenged that notion in some way, crafting songs which elevate what could be mistaken for small, mundane things to importance. As we wrote in a preview post back in December:

“[Their songs are] living stories boiled down to key scenes, playing out like small movies – packed with love and loss and life, the sorts of things that happen to everyone yet never fail to feel like the most important things in the world”

Beat Radio’s fifth album Take It Forever feels like a culmination of ideas, the product of some long, hard thinking on this topic. The title tracks opens the record with this very much in mind, diving head-on into the oncoming rush of disappointment and frustration and impossible dreams to offer a hand of comfort. “So take it easy,” Sendrowitz urges, “take it forever. I hope this song makes you feel better.” When the song lists NPR and premières and well-paid publicists it’s not some anarcho-punk cheap shot at our consumerist culture, but rather a warning to other artists that such measures of success (and the constant need for validation they bring) will only lead to the liquor cabinet. What’s more, the song isn’t blaming anyone for feeling such a way but rather explaining it, citing our conditioning through the modern fairy-tales of popular culture and self-improvement as the main source of dissatisfaction and hurt.

‘”We take our stories from television
we’re haunted by our own ambition
and no one’s looking out for each other
when everything is a competition

everyone is casting spells
building myths around themselves

and all we want is everything
and all we find is suffering

the point of everything i guess
is “don’t give in to bitterness”’

‘Lost in the World’, which we we lucky enough to première on WTD,  is what we called “an autobiographical song… [which] becomes a call to arms for creative people”. It offers an alternative to the money/fame malaise, a reminder that art can be justified in other ways. ‘Losing Time’ achieves the difficult task of feeling very much of the now without being ham-fisted, weaving modern references into the fabric of the song rather than having them front and centre. “You could open up your heart,” he sings, “to people that you’ve never met. A poet for the modern age, famous on the internet”. The song also opens up the idea of the art-based messages being applicable to life in general, or maybe that art and life are so entwined that they are one and the same. Either way, it wants you to know that disappointment and darkness are temporary, that small joys are abundant and to be celebrated.

“Build it up and watch it all come crashing down
when its over start to build it up again
Even if its not the life you dreamed about
everything you did was worth it in the end

celebrate the things you love
this is where you’re meant to be
try and keep an open heart
dream a little dream of me”

‘Art is a War, There Are Casualties’ attempts to breathe life into the “If I Manage To Reach Just One Person” truism, a wonderful idea that’s been repeated into cliché by false-modesty, and ‘Song for Camden Power’ follows up with a perfect example. As explained in this post over at Impose, the track is written in memory of Beat Radio fan Camden who kept in touch with Sendrowitz over the internet. Sadly, he lost his life too soon in a road traffic accident, and the song is part-elegy, part-celebration of his life, exploring how human connection brings meaning and value to what can otherwise seem a confusing and arbitrary existence. ‘We’ll Be Forgotten’ plays like an explanation for previous strife (“I was just searching for a feeling, something to keep me from unravelling”) and an attempt to come to terms with our relative insignificance, while ‘Dreaming of the West’ details how companionship can relieve the pressure of this in other ways, both in sharing the existential load and helping us forget it entirely:

“We were brightening the corners
we were dreaming of the West
we were moving over mountains
we were fighting loneliness
feeling was our sickness,
feeling nothing was our guilt
I’m a little lost without you
It’s the simple things you miss”

‘Elizabeth’ continues this idea. Part-apology (“I’m a little hard to read, even though I’m easy going”), part-expression of gratitude (“and sometimes I still wonder if I’m still dreaming”), the song is a bona-fide love song, denying emphatically that romance is dead (Sendrowitz met Elizabeth, his wife, in pre-school) and cementing the idea that the philosophies on Take it Forever extend beyond creative circles. ‘I Dreamed The Internet Ended’ barely breaks the one minute mark, before ‘Invisible Cities’ closes the album, a rousing, stripped-back love letter of a song sent from the edge of nothing, a realisation or admittance that we cannot do it alone, one final insistence that human connection makes it all worthwhile.

“I was in the basement of a bar
I was at the end of a subway car
I was falling asleep on a silver cloud
I was wondering where you are now
And I’m out on the edge of the world
Waiting for you
Looking out for your love”

With a large dose of hope and a pervading sense of goodwill, Take It Forever plays like the manifesto of someone who doesn’t know all the answers but finds meaning in asking the questions, the words not of a revolutionary or prophet but an ordinary man striving to make life extraordinary, just as it should be.

Take It Forever was release on Sendrowitz’s own Awkward For Life Records and you can buy it now from the Beat Radio Bandcamp page.

The post Beat Radio – Take It Forever appeared first on Various Small Flames.

But while Sendrowitz has often written relatable music, it’s not often he has turned the light on his own life. However, new album Take It Forever could see this change, taking the chance to explore what it means to be a musician and an artist in our current society. We’re delighted to bring you a premiere of the second track ‘Lost in the World’, what is possibly Beat Radio’s most direct writing to date. An autobiographical song, it starts by detailing his relationship with music and writing (in what could quite easily be taken as a metaphor for life itself) and becomes a call to arms for creative people, playing out as an anthem of advice and encouragement complete with a rather triumphant sound:

“So we never got famous
and we never left home
there were times when I was lonely
I was never alone
and all my friends got tired
everybody moves on
I always seemed to find a reason and
I kept singing songs”

If the other song titles are anything to go by (‘Art is a War, There are Casualties’, ‘I Dreamed the Internet Ended’) Take It Forever will continue this exploration of creating music/art in modern society, a theme clearly important to Sendrowitz. Beat Radio are a band formed upon the notion of art as an undying passion, one which must survive and persevere on the thin side of real life. Jobs, partners, children… all of these things are realities for the contemporary artist, whether it sits nicely with your romantic ideals or not, and an ability (or otherwise) to pursue art as your primary method of income has never been further from a fair yardstick as to the quality and value of your work. Indeed, Sendrowitz took this a step further in an interview we did in 2013:

“Whenever I put pressure on music to have it be something that could take the place of my day job, it always seems to take the joy out of it“

And it makes sense. I mean, just listen to a Beat Radio song. It comes through. Sendrowitz makes music because he is driven to do so, by himself and no-one else. Because it makes him happy. Because it makes him feel alive. What could be a more pure motivation than that? Have a listen to ‘Lost in the World’ below and see what I mean:

P.S. Beat Radio have a great song on our compilation tape in aid of global literacy. Why not grab yourself one?

The post Song Premiere: Beat Radio – Lost in the World appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“H*ckhound plays like the anxious survivor of some tragedy, troubled but sincere, full of love to give and lose and so desperate to prove it he drags you along by the arm and pleads into your ear in a constant flow”

Now the band are back with a new EP, Words Don’t Love You. After the variation in style across H*ckhound, this release sees the band settle into a groove, peddling a laidback punk rock something like The Strokes playing in your garage. Opener ‘Action Park’ is a perfect example, a jangly summer tune for nostalgic slackers:

“If there was one thing you could never stand about summertime,
it was sitting on your couch with nothing on your mind.
I only wish I could hate those moments half as much as you
but then again, I guess, I got nothing better to do”

‘Boys’ follows a similar vein, making vague statements with a drunken clarity to no-one in particular, while ‘New Jersey Girls’ skirts with a surfy vibe, the gruff, disinterested vocals blurring what is meant and what is not, the sheen of irony a safety net for the emotional gymnastics on show. ‘(When Were You) Dreamin’ is reflective warm evening hit, a streak of defiance and goodwill defeating worry, and ‘Pox’ sees a continuation of this feeling. A mix of bedroom pop and garage rock with a tropical shimmer, the closer is the stand out track, the vocals finding the perfect blend of understatement and intensity, the song building across it’s runtime with notable force.

“When you walked away,
you slipped through the cracks.
Who’s left to tell you to come back?
I drove to our place.
I looked for the signs:
the arrangement of things
that you left behind.

And we walk and talk for hours.
And we walk and talk for hours.
And we walk and talk for hours.
Then say that’s all we really need.
That’s all we really have to offer”

You can buy Words Don’t Love You now from the Dicktations Bandcamp page.

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“Over Easy is an album by and for people too old to be kids but too young to be capital-A Adults, where relationships are dictated by your presence or absence at shows, boredom is seen as the ultimate evil and growing up looms like some nightmare threatening to come real”

The New Paltz duo are back with a new double A-side seven-inch. ‘Sleep Talk’ is a kind of post-post-breakup song, with lead Alex Luciano opening with some self-deprecating statements (“I can’t play instruments very well, and I eat all of your cereal/But i’ll never be a smoker ’cos, the second cigarette makes me feel like shit), before imagining going to the home of her ex’s new girlfriend and telling her everything. This segues into nostalgic reminiscing for the doomed relationship (“I’m getting coffee by myself, but I still know how you like yours”) before the final declaration/threat which turns an awkward situation into a rather complex one:

“If I told you I loved you,
I don’t know who
it would scare away faster”

Second track ‘Dinner Date’ will be unveiled in August, and the seven-inch will be released on the 18th September by Father/Daughter Records and Art is Hard Records.

The post Diet Cig – ‘Sleep Talk’/’Dinner Date’ 7″ appeared first on Various Small Flames.

‘Breathless’ opens with the mixture of worry and excitement faced when moving into a new home. “I don’t have any kitchenware but I can walk ’round in my underwear” Luciano sings, but is soon worrying about her new-found freedom/isolation. “Will you still come visit me on North Front street? Will you still watch the Simpsons on my floor, pretend it’s 1994?” The mixture of energy and naivety is as relatable as it is enjoyable, a childish (in a good way) reaction to the threat of normality and dead-eyed maturity. ‘Pool Boyz’ features another life at the child/adult interface (“lets have a slumber party tonight in jail”) and ‘Harvard’ speaks of the alienating effects university can have on us and our friends (“Fuck your Ivy League sweater, you know I was better”).

The other two tracks concern one of the age-old defences against growing up, The Scene. Unfortunately, living The Scene to the point where lives revolve around it is just as brain-numbing as a shitty job, as lead track ‘Scene Sick’ points out. “I’m sick of hearing about your scene, I’d rather talk about something more exciting. I don’t care I don’t care I don’t care I don’t care.” Things are taken a step further on ‘Cardboard’, highlighting that loneliness descends upon everyone, even those is something as tight and communal as the music scene. “Let’s start with I’m sorry I didn’t go to your show, the thought of seeing you depressed me too much to go. I smell like cigarettes and last night’s booze and I hate everybody here but that’s no excuse.”

Over Easy is an album by and for people too old to be kids but too young to be capital-A Adults, where relationships are dictated by your presence or absence at shows, boredom is seen as the ultimate evil and growing up looms like some nightmare threatening to come real.

Over Easy will be released on cassette on the 24th February. You can pre-order it now over at Father/Daughter Records.

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Kovacevich describes Heavun as “some corny ass songs I wrote about dying”. It seems he left out the part that said that these corny ass songs are also really good. The overall mood is a little more poppy this time around, falling somewhere in the region of Cloud Nothings and You Won’t. Tracks such as opener Kids Will Be Kids, and Mary, retain the earnest tenderness of previous releases, but also have a bounce, an injection of indie rock toe-tapping rhythms. All these factors considered, the end result is something rather glorious.

Fans of Praything’s previous releases can rest assured that is is also pretty great. Fans of indie pop acts such as Yellow Ostrich, Tokyo Police Club and Born Ruffians would do well to check this out too.

You can buy the EP right now on a pay-what-you-want basis over at Praything’s Bandcamp page.

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There are three covers on the release; a stirring rendition of Motor Away by Guided By Voices, a lovely version of I Think We’re Alone Now by Tommy James & The Shondelles, and a cover of Sam Cooke’s Bring It On Home To Me which signs off the album perfectly.

Their sound is lo-fi but not scuzzy, with Liz Brown’s vocals nice and clear rather than the aural blur that many bands of this genre opt for. Fans of Screaming Females, Sleater-Kinney, Shellshag, etc. should find a new favourite in Bill Times a Billion.

Say It Nicer is available for free over at Bandcamp.

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The new album shows some definite changes from past Beat Radio releases. Yes, the music is still gloriously fuzzy and the words thoughtful and heartfelt, but the lyrics appear to deal with a different set of themes, as if Sendrowitz has changed his focus from a rose-tinted past and decided to confront the present. The explanation of the album on the Bandcamp page pretty much confirms this, with him detailing the circumstances under which he wrote the record and sounding very much part of ‘real’ life (with all the tedious and painful worries it brings), saying that the writing process was his way of dealing with the problems he faced.

Hard Times, Go! is doubly refreshing, firstly because it deals with a different aspect of relationships than the usual first love/loss of pop songs, and secondly in that it demonstrates that attentive and poetic lyrics can work in what is essentially catchy indie rock. Beat Radio show that pop music and literate lyrics aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.

I think Sendrowitz’s achievement (and it is a large one) is successfully managing to transfer the feeling from his earlier nostalgic releases into a new record which deals with very adult issues. It is easy to write and sing about a sunny past and sound in love with so-called better times, but here he manages to still come across as warm and sincere when dealing with less romantic topics. The album is full of realistic but hopeful (and thus hugely endearing) songs about life. It is a personal record, a brave record that truly wants to let the hard times go. It is a triumph.

Hard Times, Go! is available on Bandcamp in a digital or vinyl, with a variety of nice merch items to get too (totes, tees, beer koozies etc.). Also be sure to check out the Hurricanes EP, a collection of B-sides and covers.

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