‘Funny Man Routine’ is not as spiky as anything on Ride With Me, Henry Demos swooping in and smoothing over the edges with fuzzed-out reverb. The vocals sound naive and unsure, less swaggering rock demigod, more odd and eccentric outsider, part Withered Hand, part Evangelicals. Think of the track as a lo-fi surf rock, dream pop encore, simultaneously sunny and strange, capped off with the final lines which are funny and weird and sad all at once.

“Doing my funny man routine for the football team at school.
If I showed them the sad parts, would they walk out on me.
So I showed them the sad parts and they fell in love with me.
So I showed them the sad parts and they cried for me”

You can buy ‘Funny Man Routine’ now from Table People’s Bandcamp page on a pay-what-you-can basis. If you’re in the area, be sure to get to Strange Fruit for 9pm in order to catch Nice Legs, JuckJuck GRUNZIE and Table People’s last hurrah. It’s 5000won + free pizza and Table People merchandise, so you’d be a fool not to go (unless, like us, you’re 9000 miles away). All the details are here.

The post Song Premiere: Table People – Funny Man Routine appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“This past year was pretty nightmarish for me – a grandmother whom I was very close to passed away after quick mental decay and hallucinatory visions, a dear friend attempted suicide by pill overdose, I left a long term relationship, and our original guitar player quit to form a new band.  My whole world flipped in a matter of months and all of the songs I began to write were dark, brooding, wallowing meditations in sadness – and quite frankly, I didn’t like it. So I hired a new guitar player (who became our producer/engineer, too – Dave Cerminara) and asked the band to help me write a record where I could be honest and scared and confused, but that remained upbeat with bright, happy melodies. I didn’t want to sing sad songs with sad music because depression sucks.”

This is a perfect summation of the record, fast-paced, energetic and strangely celebratory in terms of sound, yet lyrically honest and quite often dark to the point of bleak. From the laid back psychedelica of ‘Close Call (Adderall Anxiety)’ and ‘Sneakin’ Out’, to the heavy riffs of ‘Liar’ and ‘Yr House Isn’t Haunted’, the songs are shot through with a detached sense of doom, an understanding of personal weakness that obliterates any chance of sentimental hope or self-absorbed melodrama. The feeling is captured perfectly on the punky ‘Tomato Tomato’:

“Id rather suffer than recover from my daily addictions
because at least I know exactly what it is I am getting
its nice to feel like I am in control in control of something”

But that does not mean personality and humour are absent, far from it. ‘It Was Mine (the Whole Time)’ is a cheeky tale of teenage audacity (although is kind of sad if you think about it too much), ‘Sun Spits’ utilises some impressively weird descriptives (“the car crawls like a saturated centipede”) and the blackly triumphant sing-a-long refrain of ‘Thru The Night’ is hard not to love. All together now… “I made it through the night! I made it through the night!”

To put it simply, Shaky At Best is an album about people addicted to trouble, folks gripped by a love-hate relationship with chemicals and loud noises, stuck within the paradox of crippling anxiety coupled with a good-time death wish. It’s about living too hard as a way to escape thinking too hard. Sometimes ideals and bleeding hearts can’t save us, and it’s up to people like Shaky Shrines to make us feel less alone.

You can stream Shaky At Best in it’s entirety below, and buy it from Bandcamp right now.

If you like what you hear, be sure to check out Shaky Shrines’ previous releases, including a 7″ out on Velocity of Sound.

–

The post Album Premiere: Shaky Shrines – Shaky At Best appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“We’re extremely proud of this record. For the first time, The Freaks came together as a collaborative unit, and crafted what we think is our best album yet. It was recorded on a hillside overlooking the ocean in coastal California, and we hope that some of that beauty comes through in the music.”

The first track to be unveiled was ‘The Rest’, a breezy jam which channels the aesthetic of the Californian coast, sounding like an endless drive through a 60s American evening, all the while possessed by a free spirit and powered by a gentle cosmic energy which smooths heartbreak into something tactile and gratifying.

“Sometimes it seems like trouble just won’t let me be
but now I know it just likes my company.
I’ll leave this town behind just to tell myself I’m free
I’ll leave the light on but it’s still to dark to see

But you ran away
Nothing to say
sometimes it just works out that way.
I heard you found a man
started again
I don’t need more fans
I got enough of them.”

Second single ‘Sealong Hair’ is a simpler affair, stripped down to acoustic strumming and basic percussion, but is still gilded with the golden Pacific light. The track even comes complete with a lovely video by Laura Lynn Petrick to enhance the imagery. Have a peep below:

You can pre-order Country Agenda now via Sinderlyn, including on some rather lovely vinyl. Cover photo by Laura Lynn Petrick

The post New music from Alex Bleeker & The Freaks appeared first on Various Small Flames.

[Disclaimer: I say this every year, but only because it’s important] Thanks to the generosity of these wonderful artists and indie labels, you can get all of these releases for free if you wish, but there is often the option to make a financial donation. For those of you that can afford it, a few pounds/dollars to reward all the hard work that goes into making a record seems like a fair deal. Plus, it really is a win-win situation as most of these independent bands put the funds they raise towards touring or making new music. So if you like an artist’s music, give a little something and they’ll make even more music for you to listen to, or even come to your town/city and play it for you in person.

That said, we know times are tough and albums many. Remember, money isn’t the only way to reward someone. If you like an artist and can’t afford to give them some money, why not write to them? Send an email or a tweet or whatever you can to say that what they’re doing makes you happy or sad (in a good way) and thank them very much for being so lovely/amazing. Better yet, spread the word too. Tell family and friends and strangers about them. It doesn’t take five minutes to write a nice message or share an album and you can really make someone’s day. Remember it feels really good to make someone else feel good – kindness makes the world go round after all.

We will be posting part of the list each day this week. As in previous editions, the music has been alphabetized by artist. In an attempt to reduce loading times and technical issues, we have decide against embedding a track from each release. But fear not, each post will include an 8tracks mixtape with a song from each artist, so all you need to do is press play and see what takes your fancy.

If you are an artist who makes great free music, or fan of an artist who you think should be included, why not get in touch? Perhaps we will decide to feature your music in the new year.

Part one – A – D
Part two – E – H
Part three – I – M
Part four – N – R
Part five – S – Z

The post Favourite Free Music of 2014 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The Wytches are members of what is essentailly the garage rock-revival-revival, joining bands like Screaming Females and Krill in a sub-genre that is attempting to make rock darker and weirder. If you think strange surfy, grungy rock would appeal to you then check out the video below, shot by Steve Gullick and cut by Hoodbats.

Pre-order Wire Frame Mattress from Heavenly in the UK, and Partisan in the North America.

The post The Wytches – Wire Frame Mattress appeared first on Various Small Flames.

You can stream/buy the EP from their Bandcamp page and see a video inspired/taken from the film of the same name below.

The post SNOWBEAST – ▲ S N O W B E A S T ▲ appeared first on Various Small Flames.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself in Australia over the winter then there are two dates coming up where you can catch these guys:

8th Dec @The Roxbury w/Joseph liddy & the Skeleton Horse

10th Jan @FBI Social w/Bored Nothing (unannounced support)

The post WTD’s Advent Calendar – 6 – BLACK ZEROS appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Listen to two tracks below (and download them free of charge on Bandcamp). They plan to record a debut EP in the near future so keep an eye out.

Summer isn’t over until we say so.

The post Lazyeyes appeared first on Various Small Flames.