The lineup is incredible, Ruination Record Co. managing to recruit lots and lots of bands and artists who we’ve loved (and featured) in the last few years. So if, like us, you’ve grown to love the experimental bedroom ambient of Lung Cycles, or the quietly infectious and odd pop of Trace Mountains, or the heart-on-sleeve bedroom pop of Tall Friend, then this is the charity compilation for you.

And that’s not to mention Ben Seretan or Wilder Maker, LVL Up or Will Stratton, Minor Moon or Adeline Hotel or Horse Teeth. I think you get the idea. And, not content to sit comfortably in one genre, there’s something for everyone here, even if every one of these bands is new to you. There are folk songs and electronic songs and straight up indie rock songs, sad ones and mad ones and kinda strange ones. For example, Obody’s ‘Something That You Are’ is warm and wheezing, the elegant baritone vocals reminiscent of Frederick Squire, while Strange Ranger transform ‘San Francisco Earthquake’ into an arrestingly lo-fi acoustic track.

It feels like a big pick ‘n mix bag of sweets, you have no idea of what you’re going to get next, just that it’s sure to be tasty. From the country stomp of Leland Sundries to the Keaton Henson-style delicacy of Big Eater, Ben Brock Wilkes’s intricately captivating guitar-based folk to the manic punk rock of Gymshorts, each track is is solid and holds its own amongst the others. Perhaps most interesting is the array of singer-songwriters on show, each of whom craft a bold or heartfelt story in their own way, such as this gem by Bea Troxel.

There are so many reasons to buy this album. First of all, 48 great songs for just ten dollars is nothing short of a steal. The artists we’re not familiar with just serve to highlight the diversity on show, and make us want to spend an entire week checking out back catalogues. And of course, most importantly, you’ll be supporting a really, really good cause. So what are you waiting for?

So Many Singing is out now and you can get it from the Ruination Record Co. Bandcamp page.

The post Ruination Record Co. – So Many Singing appeared first on Various Small Flames.

What this translates as is a really nice collection of lo-fi DIY pop songs. Stand-outs include Libbie 2000’s ‘sister saint’ cover, which introduces some crunchy guitar to smooth bedroom pop, and ‘be good’ by thanks for coming, which brings to mind Long Neck.

There are also appearances from WTD fav Tall Friend, who covers Waxahatchee’s ‘Brother Bryan’, bedbug, who provide a take on ‘Troubled Medium’ by P.S. Eliot, and Deer Scout who covers ‘clumsy’ in her usual delicate style.

All 22 tracks are great, so why not make a small donation and check them all out? You’ll probably find your new favourite band in the process. Proceeds of the project will be split between between two great causes: the Standing Rock Sioux of North and South Dakota to help with their protest against the Dakota access pipeline, and the council of American-Islamic relations’ New York chapter, which has a particularly important role given recent political developments.

You can get Long Island Ladies #1 as a name-your-price download from their Bandcamp page. Remember all donations go to great causes! They have also teamed up with our prolific pals at Z Tapes to give the compilation a physical release. Head to the Z Tapes Bandcamp page to order one!

P.S. For more politically motivated music, check out our post to support the Women’s March, and last week’s generous donation from Bandcamp and a whole host of kind artists (many of whom’s individual donations are still ongoing).

The post Long Island Ladies #1 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

And, of course, being comprehensive is impossible these days, so let us know if we missed your favourite and maybe we’ll add it to the collection.

Tall Friend – Tawl Friend
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, bugs)

Talons’ – Growing Up / Work Stories / Shitty Aja
(RIYL: lo-fi, sad, post 9/11 angst)

Terry Vs. Tori – s/t
(RIYL: indie pop, summer)

The Grey Estates – Summer at The Grey Estates Volume 2
(RIYL: garage, dream pop, summer)

The World is a Beautiful Place & I’m No Longer Afraid to Die – Formlessness
(RIYL: indie rock, emo, re-takes on older songs)

These Bashful Claws – Everything, All At Once
(RIYL: emotive pop, alternative, Gleemer)

Thiago Nassif – Tres
(RIYL: alternative, electronic, experimental)

Tiger in My Tank – Skinned Genie and the Same Chords
(RIYL: indie pop, dream pop, “mid-fi”)

Trace Mountains – Buttery Sprouts & Other Songs
(RIYL: bedroom pop, LVL UP, lo-fi)

Triathalon – Cold Shower
(RIYL: pop, r&b, smooth moves)

Varsity – Smash / Still Apart
(RIYL: indie pop, sports)

The Wandering Lake – From James’ Garden / Ashame
(RIYL: psych folk, indie rock, desert rituals)

The Washboard Abs – Have U Scanned Ur Club Card?
(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, nostalgia)

Will B & the Teen Creeps (now Lanky Boy Club) – Slackers
(RIYL: bedroom pop, slacker)

Woods End – I
(RIYL: folk, alternative, winter)

Young Jesus – Void as Lob
(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, spoken word poetry)

Your Heart Breaks – From Mount Eerie / Ryan Woods / Toby Foster / Theo Hilton / Clyde Petersen
(RIYL: folk punk, Nana Grizol, Defiance Ohio)

Yours Are the Only Ears – Low
(RIYL: bedroom pop, sad, melodrama)

Be sure to check out the previous sections of our favourite free music of 2016 list here.

The post Favourite Free Music of 2016: T – Z appeared first on Various Small Flames.

So when we heard they we putting out The Most Beautiful Place on Earth / Commercial Music, a split release with fellow Floridians Yikes on their own label Viridian Sounds and the excellent It Takes Time Records (who put out this from Boosegumps), we were excited. So excited in fact we decided to ask them some questions about it.

So, Naps/Yikes…Why did you decide to put out a split release with Yikes/Naps?

Ryan: There are a ton of great bands from Tallahassee that we could’ve done a split with, but I think at least for me Yikes was an obvious choice — we have a lot of love for their musical endeavors, both in and out of Yikes, they’re great people, and they had a lot of great songs that I was really interested in producing.
Katryn: We want their coolness to rub off on us, that’s the true end goal here.
Laura: They’re the bee’s knees.
Jeremy: We’ve played so many shows with them and their songs are so good it feels like a privilege to release ours alongside theirs. They’re the goodest boys.
Yikes: Because they’re our talented Tallahassee homies! Also we love Naps because they helped yikes get a lot of shows when we were just starting out and our sounds mesh well together.

The first single, ‘Social Skills’, is something of a departure from the sound on You Will Live in a Cool Box, is this a sign of things to come on the record?

Ryan: This new EP is a different type of record than our first one was for sure — a little less representative of our live show but maybe a little more realized in terms of where we could take things. But I would say it reflects a different side of the band rather than an intentional departure from where we were at when we recorded Cool Box. We just got into the studio to start working on our full-length and I don’t know that either EP is more indicative of how that’ll end up sounding than the other.
Jeremy: Yeah, in terms of production it’s definitely a huge difference—the first EP was very lo-fi and was recorded full-band. Our side of this split is more assembled of individually or separately recorded tracks—I don’t think all four of us actually play on any one of the songs.
Laura: I think the split is just one version of the way we want to hear our songs, a version that wouldn’t lend itself well in our live setup.

What are the prevalent themes on The Most Beautiful Place on Earth / Commercial Music?

Ryan: I didn’t think of You Will Live In A Cool Box as a break-up record when we were making it, but it centered a lot on the experience of falling out of love and feeling kind of out of step with the world as a consequence of that experience. I think The Most Beautiful Place on Earth to me is partially about having that out of step feeling even when the variable of love loss is removed.
Yikes: The most frequent theme on the split is probably insecurity, social anxiety and getting used to adult relationships.
Katryn: The song I wrote on the split is actually the first song I had ever written, and it’s also about falling out of love and how much it sucks to be stuck in close proximity to someone who has hurt you, which is definitely a very prevalent theme in a lot of what I’ve written for Naps thus far. Stanley and I recorded it two and a half years ago, before Naps even existed, and it was our first time really hanging out and also how we became friends! We went to a party later that night and made a bloodless blood pact to be friends forever. Sorry this isn’t super related to the question but it’s a cute story so YOU’RE WELCOME.
Laura: Why wasn’t I a part of this bloodless blood pact?
Katryn: Because you are the queen of my life and I am the Vice President of the Laura fan club so I think it goes without saying that we are never going to not be friends, you fool!

The release is being put out by It Takes Time Records, as well as Naps’ own Viridian Sounds. Would you like to explain how the partnership with It Takes Time came about?

Ryan: Jordan from It Takes Time actually got in contact with us way back in 2015 about putting out Cool Box, but we weren’t able to go through with it in the end because of scheduling reasons — we ended up just doing it ourselves so that we’d have tapes to sell on tour, and that’s how Viridian ended up getting started. We still really wanted to work with ITT, plus they put out a bunch of great stuff in the time between our two releases, so we hit Jordan up when we were working on the new stuff.
Yikes: Stanley said he had the plug and he delivered.

The single is also being released on a new digital single imprint of Viridian Sounds called Lavender Sounds. What can people expect of this new venture?

Ryan: Lavender Sounds is an idea that came out of my love for single-oriented music, especially older twee imprints from the 80’s and 90’s that put out an enormous amount of great pop music on 7” and flexidisc singles. It’s still in the early stages of being a thing, but ultimately we’d like to be able to use it to foster an artistic community that can interact by contributing to this ongoing collection of music.

Could you describe Naps in three words?
http://tinyurl.com/ztux95q

What is Naps’ spirit animal? Why do you say so?

Orca Whale because of their humble power and compassion.

If you could arrange to put Naps on a split release with any other band (alive or dead) then who would it be?

Beat Happening mainly because I know Ryan loves them and they are definitely a noticeable influence on naps

In your humble opinion, who is the best band ever to arise from Tallahassee?

T-Pain

Finally, could you name five acts that we’d be fools not to listen to?

-Poster (Tampa)
-Swept (Tampa)
-Woolbright (Davie)
–Honeyuck (Tallahasse)
-Annacrusis (Tallahassee)
-Souljaboytellem.com

Could you describe Yikes in three words?

Ryan: Tite spicy memes
Laura: what I want
Jeremy: Double Bacon Cheese
Katryn: Stephen Joseph Malkmus

What is Yikes’ spirit animal? Why do you say so?

Ryan: Yikes’ spirit animal is an exeggutor coz they have many faces. And they love plants.
Laura: A porcupine – yikes! look out for those spikes
Jeremy: A Dry Bones from the Super Mario series— dry, skeletal, and almost obliviously cool
Katryn: Stephen Joseph Malkmus

If you could arrange to put Yikes on a split release with any other band (alive or dead) then who would it be?

Ryan: The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Laura: Why?
Jeremy: Deerhunter
Katryn: Stephen Joseph Malkmus

In your humble opinion, who is the best band ever to arise from Tallahassee?

Ryan: Hmm, there’s a few directions you could go with this. I feel like the obvious lol answer is Creed, and the obvious legit answer is T-Pain… that being said almost anyone who is involved in the scene here will tell you that Ex-Breathers is the greatest Tallahassee band, which is pretty much objectively the right answer.
Laura: I’m a huge fan of Lauren Morgan’s voice, who used to be in USA-Holes from Tally before she started up SALES in Orlando. Also Cleats <3
Katryn: Ex-Breathers are the most talented sweethearts, and there are a lot of other great Tallahassee bands worth mentioning too, like Night Witch, Nostradogmus, and Blemish!
Jeremy: Yeah Ex-Breathers is literally the best band in the entire world. Shouts out also to Echo Base, Lingua Franca, orangesoda, Capital 6, Silt, Surface to Air Missive, Melt Channel, too many to list honestly, and Katryn covered my other favorites already.

Finally, could you name five acts that we’d be fools not to listen to?
Ryan: Future, Young Thug, Teen Suicide,
Laura: GRIMES!!
Jeremy: To pick just five right now…….. Carly Rae Jepsen, BOOSEGUMPS, JANK, Long Neck, Kississippi.
Katryn: NEW FLORIST NEW PORCHES NEW JAWBREAKER REUNION NEW TALL FRIEND <3

You can pre-order The Most Beautiful Place on Earth / Commercial Music via It Takes Time Records or Viridian Sounds.

The post Interview: Naps & Yikes appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. A Hospital + Crucifix Made of Plastic – Florist
2. Richmond – talons’
3. Say – Indoor Voices
4. Aeroplane – House Plants
5. When I Was an Island – David Karsten Daniels
6. The Gentleman’s Apocalypse – JR Green
7. Hitman – Mrs. Hopewell
8. sun drops – ratbath
9. A Cruise – Brian S. Cassidy
10. Orpheus – Matt Kivel
11. Your Love – Jeremy Squires (INTERVIEW)
12. Blood Moon – C.M. Slenko
13. Bake – Broken Beak
14. Brushes Like a Fox – Saint Corsair
15. daniel – francie cool
16. Baby Blue – Mount Moriah
17. For You – Free Cake For Every Creature
18. Have This Dance – Govier
19. Goodness (trailer) – The Hotelier
20. The River Because – Sawtooth
21. why are you so cool? – Dying Adolescence
22. cockroach – tall friend
23. Waiting – Faint Peter
24. Heart Destroyer – Lazy Legs
25. Take it Forever – Beat Radio (INTERVIEW)
26. Every One of Them, Dogs – Quarterly
27. like a feather or a pawprint – Field Medic
28. Lay For June – Old Earth
29. 2 old 2 broke – Gorgeous Bully
30. Funny Man Routine – Table People
31. House & Home – Arlo Aldo
32. Cave Song – Sea Ghost
33. Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac cover) – Boosegumps (from Sugar Rush)

The post February 2016 Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“i’ll become a big oak tree and
let the beetles eat their way through me and
when they’re done you’ll carve your name
‘cause nothing can be like it was
before i met you and i felt your touch
(you laid your eggs in my stomach) “

“You can belong anywhere effortlessly like a sharpie mark or a cockroach”, begins ‘cockroach’, a song about about the constant need for attention and affirmation, about missing everyone in your life and trying to reconnect. ‘c’ is again suffused with a quiet sense of loneliness and isolation, this time swapping out the insect references in favour of avian metaphors, “we are feathered friends with different calls / I just can’t seem to decipher yours / and while I dream of your mouth/  you dream of heading south for the winter”.

‘suf’ is almost in slow motion, the vocals mumbled and sometimes barely there at all, before it takes off at the half way mark and things gain a little intensity, a song marked by the killer (quite literally) opening line of “all my stories involve dead animals”. The EP’s finale, ‘guts’, is about telling your deepest secrets to someone and feeling like “more and more of a monster, of a scary thing to harbour from”, about that irrational feeling of impurity about things that have happened in the past, and ultimately, about the all-redeeming qualities of friendship.

Get Tawl Friend on a name-your-price basis from the Tall Friend Bandcamp page.

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