This month saw Pope return with The Lunchbox EP, their first proper release since True Talent Champion, and the new songs live up to the precedent in both quality and style. The sunny riffs of opener ‘Lucky’ immediately pull the listener into a simpler, fonder time. “I feel lucky now,” goes the the chorus, what could have been the mantra for those us raised happy in the pre-millennium prosperity. But with the sentiment comes its own complication. Some awareness, however distant or ironic, that things are prone to change.

‘BBQ’ is suitably sweet and spicy, the lazy meandering introduction possessing an almost whimsical air before the vocals add a smoky undertone. The halfway point sees the real counter punch, the track developing jagged edges and a driving momentum before settling back into its easy flow once more. The short and scuzzy ‘6/11’ is hazier but no less peppy, while ‘Goose’ blows out your speakers with a triumphant energy.

The most reflective track on the record, ‘Something Good’ takes the ebb and flow structure and goes to town. Its slow, sprawling sound finds moments of subdued nostalgia punctuated with noisy crescendos. The style is Pope’s forte, harnessing both the bright excitement of the nineties and strange sense of loss it introduced. An awareness perhaps that things couldn’t stay so good, or be that good at all.

The Lunchbox EP is out now and available from the Pope Bandcamp page.

Artwork by Ann Escamilla

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Various Small Flames’

Songs of 2017

Anamon – Kneel Old
Android Automatic – Dark Roads*
Angie McMahon – Slow Mover
Basement Revolver – Johnny Pt. 2
Baxter Roy Long – Paribanou
Bea Troxel – Let Them Know
Big Thief – Mary
Black Belt Eagle Scout – Soft Stud
Bully – Running
Cayetana – Mesa
Charly Bliss – Percolator
Chastity Belt – Different Now
CHUCK – Happy Birthday
The County Liners – Maria
The Courtneys – Tour
Craig Finn – God in Chicago
Crumb – Locket
Crushing – Emery Board
Cut Worms – Like Going Down Sideways
David Bazan – Care
Distant Reader – First Try
Emperor X – God Save Coastal Dorset
Fits – Ice Cream on a Nice Day
German Error Message – 2017*
Gleemer – Soothe Me
Great Grandpa – Favorite Show
Haley Heynderickx – Oom Sha Lala
Hiccup – Teasin’
Horse Culture – Texaco
Illuminati Hotties – ‘(You’re Better) Than Ever’
Japandroids – No Known Drink or Drug
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – If We Were Vampires
Jay Som – The Bus Song
Jeremy Squires – Night Cars
Katie Ellen – Drawing Room
Lizzie No – Monuments
Lomelda – Bam Sha Klam
Mike Pace and the Child Actors – Audits & Surveys
Meursault – The Mill
Mount Eerie – Crow
Nice Legs – Mighty Three
Oceanator – Nowhere Nothing
Ohyeahsumi – Daisy
Old Earth – Pit Dynamics
PASTEL – Stammer
Peter Silberman – New York
Phoebe Bridgers – Motion Sickness
Pope – Talk Me Out of It
Protomartyr – Windsor Hum
Rainwater – Place
Ratboys – Elvis is in the Freezer
Rick Rude – Bald & Fat in Houston, TX
Roadkill Ghost Choir – Classics (Die Young)
Rose Dorn – Dirt
See Through Dresses – Lucy’s Arm
Shannen Moser – A Funeral, A Friend, My Sanity
Sinai Vessel – Died On My Birthday
Slaughter Beach, Dog – Phoenix
SOAR – Fort Funston
Soft Fangs – Jordan // Jackson Elementary
Spartan Jet-Plex – We Believe
Strange Ranger – House Show
Strawberry Runners – Garden Hose
Timid, The Brave – Alice
Us and Only Us – Bored of Black
Vagabon – Cold Apartment
Viewfinder – Instant Moonlight
The Washboard Abs – Veil
Waxahatchee – Never Been Wrong
Wild Pink – Albert Ross
William Ryan Fritch – In Our Blood
The Wooden Sky – Swimming in Strange Waters
Ylayali – Cherry Tomatoes

*Strictly released in 2016, but barely, and we covered it in Jan. 2017.

If you missed it, you can see our Favourite Albums of 2017 list here. Also, the curious can find such lists from previous years here.

The post Favourite Songs of 2017 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“Both the lyrics and instrumentation preach a kind of relinquishment, a cessation of over-analysis and self-reflexive thinking in favour of something more natural, even if the space feels empty or alien. Push forward instinctively, they seem to be saying. Push forward with doubt.”

We were intrigued, then, when Los Angeles based Half Stop Sessions announced a five video series with the band, keen to see how the Young Jesus aesthetic transmits to live performance. Pleasingly, thanks to the energy and enthusiasm of the band and the talents of the Half Stop crew, the session encapsulates everything that makes Young Jesus great. There’s a song being unveiled every day this week, with the ‘Untitled’ opening interlude and ‘Green’ already showing how Rossiter and co. threw everything at the performance.

We’re honoured to share the third instalment, which happens to be a brand new song that is assumedly going to be included on some future release. ‘Saganism vs. Buddism’ is based on a dream “about the cosmos, potentially meditation as well.” As you might imagine, the meaning of such a song is difficult to pinpoint, but Rossiter invites us to “find out together, right now.” What is clear is that the song explores spirituality in our secular society, and the ideas in the title seem less like direct competitors and more like two impossible poles of a spectrum, complete with their own ironies. To indulge our own opinion, Young Jesus seem to capture the reality, us left to scrabble around somewhere near the middle, where banality and transcendental emotion seem tightly entwined, as though we’re trying to impose some religious impulse from a primitive part of our brain on whatever happens to catch our eye.

“I have begun seeing with my third eye
I begun investments with my dad
I have begun contacting various mystics
I have began buying rocks in stores”

The video was filmed, directed and edited by Travis Button, with Jordan Epstein on second camera and Brad Dujmovic taking care of the sound. Enjoy!

Young Jesus is out now and you can get it from Gigantic Noise. The band are also currently on tour with Pope. Half Stop Sessions have kindly listed all the dates on their page, so if the idea of Young Jesus travelling with the Pope to sing about finding fulfilment in the laws of nature and Eastern practises, be sure to check for a show near you.

While you are over at Half Stop’s website, why not explore the previous sessions, with some great videos with the likes of Palehound, The Weather Station and Kevin Morby. And, finally, remember to check back each day this week for the remainder of the session with Young Jesus. For convenience, why not follow Half Stop Sessions of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, or subscribe on Youtube?

Photo by Travis Button

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If my appreciation of Young Jesus’ last album, Grow/Decompose teetered on the edge of outright gushing, then it was only because the LA-based band are one such example, at least for me. While I’m not suggesting they deserve to be placed alongside the artistic giants of our day quite yet, there’s something about John Rossiter’s writing and vocals that captures the essence of today as I understand it. At once earnest and detached, devoted and deranged, his characters exist on the leading edge of our secular society, a wild, shapeless frontier whose inhabitants are paralysed by confusion yet subject to the age-old primitive brain-twitch that screams for transcendence.

Void as Lob is a new two-song EP from Rossiter and his updated line-up of Eric Shevrin (keys), Marcel Borbon (bass) and Kern Haug (drums), a release which demonstrates quite perfectly what we’re getting at with the whole important/relevant thing. The A-side ‘Baked Goods’ finds the narrator (and/or his brother, Steve) rising from a melancholic daze with a desperate logic, incoherent or too-coherent for us to grasp, demanding and willing and throwing himself wide open for the chance to raise above our meat-based animal existence. As on G / W‘s ‘Milo’, here the characters are delving deep into a pool of confusion with vigour, as if hoping they might break the surface on the other side and emerge into clarity.

“There is a logarithm entered backwards that acts to repeat
the right amount of existential crises from my brother Steve
the holiest of home made baked goods levitating in the street
the Steve-y cadence of losing control to access ways to see”

“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!”

Young Jesus tell of a world where the capital-G God has been removed yet atheism remains a flimsy myth, its inhabitants left locked in a desperate search for something to believe in. Some manage to achieve a wide-eyed fanaticism in created powers, collapsing their existential worries into a bright white point, while others are doomed to shuffle around the fractured world, detached and ennui-filled, looking for themselves in fragments of televisual dreams.

Void as Lob is out today via the Young Jesus Bandcamp page, or on tape from Funeral Sounds. The band are about to head out on a pretty extensive tour (see below), sharing dates with Pope (marked with *) and Alaska (^), and will be bringing along a zine/experimental tape called Conceptual Beach in addition to the EP.

5/21 — Los Angeles @ The Smell
5/28 — San Diego @ Che Cafe
5/29 — Fullerton @ Intimate Warehouse
5/30 — Tucson @ Gary’s Place
5/31 — El Paso @ Boomtown
6/1 — Denton @ Rubber Gloves
6/2 — San Antonio @ Imagine Books and Records
6/3 — Austin @ Cheer Up Charlies
6/4 — Houston @ TBA
6/5 — Lafayette @ Wild Salmon *
6/6 — New Orleans @ Heavens Gate *
6/8 — Nashville @ Two Boots *
6/9 — Raleigh, NC @ Slim’s Downtown *
6/10 — Washington, DC @ Everglades *
6/11 — York, PA @ Skid Row Garage *
6/12 — Philadelphia, PA @ TBA *
6/13 — NYC @ Aviv w/ Very Fresh, Spit, Pope
6/14 — Providence, RI @ Aurora *
6/15 — NYC @ Silent Barn *
6/16 — Boston @ Ol Yeller *
6/18 — Columbus, OH @ Misfit Manor *
6/20 — Chicago @ Subterranean *
6/21 — Madison, WI @ Mickeys *
6/22 — Rock Island @ Rozz Tox *
6/23-25 — Yorkville, IL @ Summer Solstice Fest
6/26 — Kansas City @ House Show ^
6/27 — Denver @ Juice Church ^
6/28 — Albuquerque @ Dog House ^
6/30 — Las Vegas @ The Warehouse ^
6/01 — Los Angeles @ Roach Motel ^

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Naomi Pop – S/T (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie rock, other Z Tapes artists)

naps – one hundred percent confident (REVIEW)
(RIYL: ambient, experimental, naps with an uncapitalised-n)

Naps – You Will Live in a Cool Box (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, garage rock, indie pop, Naps with a capitalised-N)

Nadia – I’m your protector now
(RIYL: dream pop, healing, electronic)

Newfoundland – Good News is Too True (REVIEW)
(RIYL: atmospheric folk, dream pop, Youth Lagoon, Meursault)

Noël – ’10
(RIYL: punk, emo, indie)

Ocean Floor – Old Haunts (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, Mount Eerie)

Oddigtl – solarium
(RIYL: beats, lo-fi, electronic, laidback summer soul)

Old Gray – dex
(RIYL: sad, bedroom pop, slo-mo emo)

Pasture Dog – Southern Gothic (REVIEW)
(RIYL: lo-fi, hymnals, all things Southern Gothic)

Prairie Empire – Sad Winter Songs (Outtakes and Demos)
(RIYL: folk, acoustic, sad bastard music)

Pet Cemetery – dietary requirements (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, ambient, Coma Cinema)

Phargo. – Rende’s
(RIYL: emo, Braid, anime)

Plums – Jen
(RIYL: dream pop, summer crushes, nostalgia)

PONY – CRUSHED (REVIEW) 
(RIYL: indie pop, Best Coast, Vivian Girls)

Pope – Fiction
(RIYL: noise, grunge, No Age)

Porridge radio – im not sure anymore
(RIYL: lo-fi, sadcore, bedroom pop)

The Pretty Greens – Lonely Hearts Club No Jerks Allowed
(RIYL: The Raincoats, Bratmobile, Brill Building pop)

Radiator Hospital & Martha – Split EP
(RIYL: indie rock, power pop, Radiator Hospital, Martha)

rchrd prkr – it’s getting worse
(RIYL: emo, punk, lo-fi)

Robbie Bankes – Through February Snow (REVIEW)
(RIYL: folk, Tyler Butler, winter)

Romantic States – s/t
(RIYL: minimalist pop, garage rock, blends of quiet & loud)

Ruth & Trudy – Still Pond (REVIEW)
(RIYL: indie pop, experimental, lo-fi)

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.

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“Grow/Decompose… shares [David Foster] Wallace’s metamodern style – a postmodern web of motifs and strange humour countered with a modernist sincerity and genuine sense of hope …if played on repeat Grow / Decompose never ends, a musical ouroboros of well-worn paths that are both doomed and blessed and quite possibly all we have.”

We were lucky enough to get the opportunity to ask John and Eric from the band a few questions.

Jon: Thanks for speaking to us John. How is life in LA this time of year? Why did you decide to move from Chicago? 

Young Jesus: Life in LA is good. It’s certainly a strange place, easy to let it own you in a way, but also a highly motivating and inspiring place. There is a lot going on here that I really was not exposed to in Chicago. Chicago’s a wonderful place for me in many ways, but it became ‘home’ too much. I had an idea of what it was in my mind, so I wasn’t really open to a lot of the interesting things the city had to offer. It became a place where I drank a lot and played a lot of videogames. Both have their merits, but I personally needed to get out. It’s interesting that Home, to me, is a pretty straightforward record– almost journalistic. And I was hazy and drunk through a lot of it. Grow / Decompose is meandering, questioning, more subtle I hope. But I’ve never been more clear-headed. I guess the easier it is to think, the more questions come.

One thing I’ve noticed while reading up on Young Jesus is that no-one seems to agree as to who you sound like. I’ve seen Smashing Pumpkins, The Replacements, Staind, The National etc. etc., while I picked up some strong Hold Steady vibes, both in terms of your writing style and the dark-and-joyful sound. Do your listening habits reflect this wide(ish) range comparisons? Or are journalists and bloggers trying too hard to pin your sound? 

We listen to a lot of different things. From The Hold Steady and Pile to William Basinski and Stars of the Lid. It all plays a part in the thinking of a record. It might not be obvious while listening, but our musical influences affect things beyond melody/rhythm. Little eccentricities come out in strange ways. That’s what makes it interesting hopefully.

As a follow-on to that, how do you feel after releasing a new record to the world? Do you like that reviewers each come to their own conclusions? Or do you feel pretty certain of the narrative you’re trying to conjure? I was kind of guilty of bringing a lot of my own thoughts into my review of the album, and I guess I was conscious that perhaps that isn’t always a good thing for the artist? 

We have a narrative in our heads definitely. But a huge part of the narrative is that there is no absolute correct narrative. We’re glad to see people put their own interpretations on it cause that means they’re interacting with it. They’re having a similar process sorting through the album that we had sorting through life to create the album. I have a huge mental picture of records like Brand New’s Devil and God… or Weezer’s Pinkerton. And it’s probably so different from how they view it! That’s so great. That we ultimately have a point of intersection/relation and have– potentially– come to it from totally different places. Albums (as Roger Ebert said about movies) can be machines that generate empathy.

Grow / Decompose, just like your previous album Home, seems to focus on a defined set of themes and characters in a way that makes it not quite a traditional album but perhaps not quite a concept album. How do you feel about the term ‘concept album’ in relation to your releases? 

I became pretty engrossed in this album over the past year. It took over my life in a lot of ways. I gave myself to this record rather than to people, and at one point couldn’t really see a love that was there for me because I was so absorbed in the story/writing. I loved Neil, Milo, and May. So the concept is a strange reflection of life. Grounded in reality. Without a traditional arc because life doesn’t have that. Some things end, some don’t.

There is a decidedly novelistic feel about your writing. Would you say literature has an influence on your writing style? (If yes) Which authors would you say have had the biggest impact? 

I work in a bookstore and am reading more than I’m listening to music probably. Literature has had a major influence. The five main books are Hilda Hilst’s The Obscene Madam D, Clarice Lispector’s Near to the Wild Heart, Mircea Cartrescu’s Blinding, Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor, and Suicide by Edouard Leve. And Muriel Spark. So six. These books very literally changed my life this past year. Oh and Jesse Jacobs By This Shall You Know Him.

Lispector/Cartrescu/Hilst showed me that it was okay (and beautiful) to think in absurd, non-normative logics. That you could create your own, and these logics are capable of carrying emotional/sentimental weight.

Reading Leve felt like breaking the law. It’s a work he turned in to his publisher and soon after killed himself. In fact, I could read it and feel safer. I do think it is a dangerous book, not for everyone, but for me it was a powerful life-affirming read. Almost named the record Les Atomes which is a band mentioned in one of Leve’s books (either Suicide or Autoportrait, I forget).

O’Connor and Spark deal with religion (specifically Christianity) in a rare way. They are ultimately believers, but are not afraid of examining the grotesque byproducts of belief. It’s easy to write off organized religion, maybe a bit harder then to look at it very honestly and specifically and turn the lens onto yourself as well. I’m an atheist, but some of my favorite thinkers (Spark, O’Connor, Jeff Mangum) are oddly Christian. Who knows what that means. Time to become a priest.

With its stories of addiction and general sadness shot through with a sense of hope, I compared Grow / Decompose to David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. Where do you stand on the whole irony vs. sincerity debate? Do you subscribe to the New Sincerity movement, or do you feel cynicism and darkness have role to play in the best, most enlightening/comforting art?   

I think you can confront darkness with sincerity and that the best stuff acknowledges the light that is in the dark and vice versa. We’re on board and interested with what New Sincerity could be about, and if people want to group us in with that, that’s okay. But we can also be sarcastic and ironic. So watch out.

You guys run the label Hellhole Supermarket that is putting out Grow / Decompose and take care of all of your own press and management. Is this sort of control important to you? I mean, I know there are some great labels out there, and some PR companies who make the effort to connect as human beings, but I can’t tell you how nice it is to get personal emails from acts about their new music. Does this increased involvement lead to a more rewarding process overall? Or is it an annoyance that gets in the way of music (or watching TV or whatever)?

I always tell Harrison, “if this label gets in the way of BBT (Big Bang Theory) one more time I’m gonna lose my smoothie.” I love those bang boys.

Finally, could you name 4-5 artists you are currently enjoying? They can be old or new, hidden gems or radio darlings, whatever you find yourself returning to at the moment.

Fragile Gang‘s For Esme, Pope, Mitski, Princess Reason, Earl Sweatshirt (‘solace’ is connecting a lot today).

Read our review of Grow / Decompose and then buy the album from Bandcamp or Hellhole Supermarket.

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