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	<title>the mountain goats Archives - Various Small Flames</title>
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	<title>the mountain goats Archives - Various Small Flames</title>
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		<title>Various Swell Sounds #6: Beautiful Games</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2018/06/28/various-swell-sounds-6-beautiful-games/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jun 2018 13:14:19 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Mixtapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amyl and the Sniffers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Another Michael]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Belle & Sebastian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Darla]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deerhoof]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ex Hex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Frog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gulfer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hello Shark]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Her's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ian Sweet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Maus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Methyl Ethel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mothers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Natalie Prass]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parquet Courts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Queen Moo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sioux Falls]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[slow ref]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[songs: ohia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spartan Jet-Plex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speedy Ortiz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sports Coach]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stephen Malkus and The Jicks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strange ranger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Summer Flake]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Super Furry Animals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Fall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Lagoonas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[various swell sounds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Varsity]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=15417</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Friends help friends make thoughtfully curated playlists Various Swell Sounds is a new collaborative playlist series from Shana Hartzel of Swell Tone, Jon Chin of Cereal and Sounds, and myself. Instead of constantly exchanging tracks amongst each other, we have decided to work together to bring them to more ears. Every month, we will match a selection of our old and brand new favourites to a specific theme, as decided on a revolving basis month by month. It only comes around every [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2018/06/28/various-swell-sounds-6-beautiful-games/">Various Swell Sounds #6: Beautiful Games</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h4 style="text-align: center;">Friends help friends make thoughtfully curated playlists</h4>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/various2-768x768.png?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/various2-768x768.png?resize=768%2C768&#038;ssl=1" alt="various swell sounds logo" width="768" height="768" /></a></p>
<p>Various Swell Sounds is a new collaborative playlist series from Shana Hartzel of <a href="http://swelltonemusic.com/">Swell Tone</a>, Jon Chin of <a href="http://www.cerealandsounds.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cereal and Sounds</a>, and myself. Instead of constantly exchanging tracks amongst each other, we have decided to work together to bring them to more ears. Every month, we will match a selection of our old and brand new favourites to a specific theme, as decided on a revolving basis month by month.</p>
<p>It only comes around every four years, so this month we&#8217;ve hopped aboard the World Cup hype train. We encountered a bit of a hitch when realising that there aren&#8217;t a wealth of football/soccer related indie tunes, especially when 2/3 of the curating team reside in the US. Thus, Beautiful Games was born, a playlist that widens the net to encompass all sports, and plays a little loose with the sound and style, meaning this might not the most cohesive list you&#8217;ll ever get from us. Still, that&#8217;s cool. The World Cup is all about a diverse clash of styles, after all.</p>
<p>Find the tracklisting below, though due to Spotify&#8217;s limited library, that version isn&#8217;t quite complete.</p>
<p>1. Parquet Courts &#8211; Total Football<br />
2. Speedy Ortiz &#8211; Basketball<br />
3. Ex Hex &#8211; Don&#8217;t Wanna Lose<br />
4. Amyl and The Sniffers &#8211; Cup of Destiny<br />
5. Queen Moo &#8211; Goals<br />
6. Darla &#8211; Hey Ref, Let the Boys Play!<br />
7. Varsity &#8211; Smash<br />
8. Gulfer &#8211; Baseball<br />
9. The Lagoonas &#8211; Beach Golf Course<br />
10. Summer Flake &#8211; Shoot and Score<br />
11. Methyl Ethel &#8211; Shadowboxing<br />
12. John Maus &#8211; Touchdown<br />
13. The Fall &#8211; Kicker Conspiracy<br />
14. Slow Ref &#8211; Playing the Game<br />
15. Stephen Malkus and The Jicks &#8211; Chartjunk<br />
16. Hello Shark &#8211; Big Game<br />
17. The Mountain Goats &#8211; Song for Sasha Banks<br />
18. Another Michael &#8211; Football<br />
19. Deerhoof &#8211; Basketball Get Your Groove Back<br />
20. Super Furry Animals &#8211; Venus &amp; Serena<br />
21. Sports Coach &#8211; I&#8217;d Trade My Whole Team for a Dog<br />
22. Ian Sweet &#8211; #23<br />
23. Mothers &#8211; No Crying in Baseball<br />
24. Spartan Jet-Plex &#8211; Sport<br />
25. Strange Ranger &#8211; Sioux Falls<br />
26. Her&#8217;s &#8211; Speed Racer<br />
27. Frog &#8211; Nancy Kerrigan<br />
28. Belle &amp; Sebastian &#8211; The Stars of Track and Field<br />
29. Natalie Prass &#8211; Short Court Style<br />
30. Songs: Ohia &#8211; The Big Game is Every Night</p>
<p><center><iframe src="//playmoss.com/embed/wakethedeaf/beautiful-games" width="100%" height="468" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center>&nbsp;</p>
<p><center><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/y82edd0nooz9iypak8dzimm08/playlist/5kCDw7PxKszO5tEfkx4fMh" width="300" height="380" frameborder="0"></iframe></center><center></center><center><em>Photo featuring Lomelda shooting hoops</em></center></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2018/06/28/various-swell-sounds-6-beautiful-games/">Various Swell Sounds #6: Beautiful Games</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">15417</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>John Darnielle &#8211; Universal Harvester</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2017/09/05/john-darnielle-universal-harvester/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Liam Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Sep 2017 16:57:21 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farrar straus and giroux]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Darnielle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Merge Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scribe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=12483</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>You probably know John Darnielle as the man behind The Mountain Goats, one of the most consistent and affecting songwriters of the last 20+ years. Not content with indie rock stardom, Darnielle is also an author. His first novel, Wolf In White Van, was a complexly emotional extension of his songwriting, what we described as &#8220;a story about reality and imagination and how both can be beautiful and both can be scary and both need to be treated with care”. Now, Darnielle is [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2017/09/05/john-darnielle-universal-harvester/">John Darnielle &#8211; Universal Harvester</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You probably know John Darnielle as the man behind The Mountain Goats, one of the most consistent and affecting songwriters of the last 20+ years. Not content with indie rock stardom, Darnielle is also an author. His first novel, <em>Wolf In White Van</em>, was a complexly emotional extension of his songwriting, <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/11/13/book-review-john-darnielle-wolf-in-white-van/">what we described as</a> &#8220;a story about reality and imagination and how both can be beautiful and both can be scary and both need to be treated with care”.</p>
<p>Now, Darnielle is back with a second novel, <em>Universal Harvester</em>. Set in 90s small-town Iowa, the novel centres on Jeremy Heldt, a young man who works at the counter of the local video store. His days are quiet and predictable, the gentle rhythm of counting cash in the register, of reshelving slot returns, of waiting for the 5:30 rush as people get off work and drop in to grab their night’s entertainment. But, perhaps predictably, this rhythm doesn&#8217;t last long. A customer returns a copy of the Boris Karloff movie <em>Targets</em> with concerns that something&#8217;s not quite right. “There&#8217;s something on this one”, she says. And so begins a strange and ominous story in which Jeremy tries to figure out the nature of the disturbing footage that has been spliced into some of the store’s VHS tapes.</p>
<p>Even reading that super concise summary, you might already be forming ideas on what sort of novel this might be. But it&#8217;s not quite as simple as that. In fact, Darnielle’s narrative threatens to take one of many turn-offs as it unfolds, before veering away onto a different road entirely. The opening suggests something akin to a Mountain Goats song, a coming of age story set amidst small town loneliness and the aftermath of grief, while the appearance of the sinister home movie splices seems to signal a shift to horror. Later still we have a plucky potential love interest who wants to play detective, perhaps signalling a <em>Stranger Things-</em>style ‘neighbourhood (still, just) kids confront creepy goings on’ adventure.</p>
<p>But the truth is we don&#8217;t get any of that. Or we get all of it, it&#8217;s hard to tell. The unfolding narrative remains elusive, fractured into pieces that are too slippery or malformed to fit together into something so cohesive as a genre. Shifts in both voice and time add to this effect, stories other than Jeremy’s stitched into the narrative in a manner not unlike those creepy VHS segments.</p>
<p>Perhaps linked to this guessing game Darnielle plays with the reader, <em>Universal Harvester</em> is also preoccupied with alternate futures, of how things might have turned out different if the characters had made different decisions, had been different people. All of this is backed up with some at-times breathtaking prose, the flat, open Iowa landscape captured with a sense of sadness and foreboding. Take, for example, the following description of a house fire.</p>
<p>“And indeed, all the way down to the present day, Jeremy will sometimes see himself replaying the payoff he’d first imagined, that vivid unrealised presentiment: of taking matters into his own hands and turning the CLOSED sign around before sundown. Driving to Collins. Heading down a gravel road, a cloud of dust rising from his back tires as he goes towards the Titanic orange beacon of Lisa Samples house, now in flames, oil-black smoke ascending into the Iowa sky in a single furious column, the sound of the fire reaching him before he was physically near enough to hear it, the rumble and the roar”.</p>
<p>The Iowa landscape could be considered one of the novel&#8217;s main characters. Indeed, the only one that&#8217;s present throughout each segment. It&#8217;s refreshing to read a novel not set in New York or LA, and which treats its reader with the same kind of understated modesty that&#8217;s displayed by the families. As Colin Barrett put it in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/20/universal-harvester-by-john-darnielle-review-mountain-goats">his review</a> for The Guardian, &#8220;there is no distancing smugness, no grating whimsy and no urge to mansplain to the nation&#8221;. Darnielle is happy to pose the puzzling questions and let us ruminate on them.</p>
<p><em>Universal Harvester</em> is out now on <a href="https://scribepublications.co.uk/books-authors/books/universal-harvester">Scribe</a> in the UK and <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/universalharvester/johndarnielle/9780374282103/">Farrar, Straus &amp; Giroux</a> in North America.</p>
<hr />
<p>We would usually make a mixtape of songs to accompany this book review, but this time we don&#8217;t need to go through the effort. John Darnielle has recently released a new Mountain Goats album, <em>Goths</em>. Get it from <a href="https://www.mergerecords.com/goths">Merge Records</a> or the Mountain Goats <a href="https://themountaingoats.bandcamp.com/album/goths">Bandcamp page</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2017/09/05/john-darnielle-universal-harvester/">John Darnielle &#8211; Universal Harvester</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12483</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Millennium Mix: 2002</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/09/19/millennium-mix-2002/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Sep 2016 18:42:43 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Mixtapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2002]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broken social scene]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carissa's Wierd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iron & wine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julie Doiron]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mclusky]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Múm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Okkervil River]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pavement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Say Hi To Your Mom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sigur Ros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sleater-kinney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[songs:ohia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spoon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the decemberists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Flaming Lips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the libertines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thee More Shallows]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wilco]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=10523</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Millennium Mix is a new series in which we remember our favourite songs released since Jesus turned two thousand and the Millennium Bug failed to show and left us with a mixture of relief and strange disappointment. The rules are 1) the song must have been released within the specific year (though we’re not going to worry too much if a Japanese vinyl release was actually 1999 or whatever) and 2) only one song is allowed from any one album (so it’s [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/09/19/millennium-mix-2002/">Millennium Mix: 2002</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Millennium Mix is a new series in which we remember our favourite songs released since Jesus turned two thousand and the Millennium Bug failed to show and left us with a mixture of relief and strange disappointment. The rules are 1) the song must have been released within the specific year (though we’re not going to worry too much if a Japanese vinyl release was actually 1999 or whatever) and 2) only one song is allowed from any one album (so it’s likely we’ll miss out some of our very favourite tracks, but that’s okay). Seeing as we began 2000 as nine-year-olds, it’s likely the mixes will grow longer as we progress through the 00s and pass into an era where we got a little obsessed with music.</p>
<hr />
<p>Ah, 2002. Who could forget the International Year of Ecotourism, Mountains, and the Outback (in Australia)? If that wasn&#8217;t enough, the queen celebrated her golden jubilee, <a href="http://thefutbolfactory.us/tff_blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Ronaldo-con-Brasil.jpg">the king</a> came back with a bang to win the World Cup, and Hollywood decided it would release (almost) nothing but sequels. Of course, there was also a lot of great music, and here&#8217;s a selection of our favourites.</p>
<p>Tracklisting:</p>
<p>1) Broken Social Scene &#8211; Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl<br />
2) Say Hi To Your Mom &#8211; Kill the Cat<br />
3) The Decemberists &#8211; July, July!<br />
4) Spoon &#8211; The Way We Get By<br />
5) The Flaming Lips &#8211; Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1<br />
6) The Mountain Goats &#8211; The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton<br />
7) The Libertines &#8211; Time For Heroes<br />
8) Mclusky &#8211; To Hell With Good Intentions<br />
9) Pavement &#8211; Baptiss Blacktick<br />
10) Sleater-Kinney &#8211; One Beat<br />
11) The Mountain Goats &#8211; No Children<br />
12) Okkervil River &#8211; Westfall<br />
13) Thee More Shallows &#8211; Where Are You Now?<br />
14) Julie Doiron &#8211; All Their Broken Hearts<br />
15) Múm &#8211; Green Grass of Tunnel<br />
16) Iron &amp; Wine &#8211; Faded From Winter<br />
17) Carissa&#8217;s Wierd &#8211; So You Wanna Be A Superhero<br />
18) Wilco &#8211; Radio Cure<br />
19) Songs:Ohia &#8211; Didn&#8217;t It Rain<br />
20) Sigur Ros &#8211; Untitled I</p>
<p><iframe src="//playmoss.com/embed/wakethedeaf/millennium-mix-2002?cover=1" width="100%" height="468" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>What did we miss from 2002? Let us know via the usual channels! Be sure to check out our posts on <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/07/22/millennium-mix-2000/">2000</a> and <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/08/15/millennium-mix-2001/">2001</a>, and come back next month when we&#8217;ll be turning our attention to&#8230; 2003.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/09/19/millennium-mix-2002/">Millennium Mix: 2002</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">10523</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hystopia &#8211; David Means</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/09/09/lit-links-hystopia-david-means/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Sep 2016 10:56:53 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mixtapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Angel Olsen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Battle Ave.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Black Flag]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Means]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Faber & faber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farrar straus and giroux]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Frederick Squire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Great Captain!]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hallelujah the hills]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hovvdy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Husker Du]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hystopia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[japanese breakfast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeremiah Nelson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Moreland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julie Doiron]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Justin vernon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lit Links]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Literature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[macmillan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mount Eerie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nathaniel rateliff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paper Bee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Right Away]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Stooges]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=10514</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Born and raised in Michigan, David Means made a name for himself through a series of superlative short story collections, with Assorted Fire Events (2000) winning the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, The Secret Goldfish (2004) shortlisted for the Frank O&#8217;Connor International Short Story prize and The Spot (2010) winning an O. Henry Prize. April saw the release of his debut novel, Hystopia, which in keeping with the trend of acclaim has been nominated for 2016&#8217;s Man Booker Prize. A book within a [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/09/09/lit-links-hystopia-david-means/">Hystopia &#8211; David Means</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Born and raised in Michigan, David Means made a name for himself through a series of superlative short story collections, with <em>Assorted Fire Events </em>(2000) winning the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, <em>The Secret Goldfish</em> (2004) shortlisted for the Frank O&#8217;Connor International Short Story prize and <em>The Spot</em> (2010) winning an O. Henry Prize. April saw the release of his debut novel, <em>Hystopia</em>, which in keeping with the trend of acclaim has been nominated for 2016&#8217;s Man Booker Prize.</p>
<p>A book within a book, <em>Hystopia</em> is actually the novel left behind by Eugene Allen, a Vietnam vet from a slightly-alternate version of the 60s where John F. Kennedy survived Oswald&#8217;s assassination attempt and is serving his third term in office. Opened and closed by various notes and testimonies from friends and family members, Allen&#8217;s work makes up the majority of the novel, a narrative imagining characters from his time in Vietnam once they return home. The kicker, though, is that while they are back in the States, they never really &#8216;get home&#8217;, with the war following them back to a dystopian (but far from unrecognisable) America ravaged by biker gangs and forest fires.</p>
<p>In an attempt to solve the crisis of PTSD and violence, the government turn to an experimental psychiatric method called &#8216;enfolding&#8217;, where veterans reenact traumatic scenes while dosed up on a tranquilliser, Tripizoid. While even the doctors working on the project believe the technique to be without substance, it proves paradoxically effective for many subjects and blanks memories of combat. &#8220;Confusion is undoubtedly an element of the curative process,&#8221; writes Means. &#8220;In most cases the patient does forget about it, becoming fully immersed in the reenacted trauma&#8217;s nullification of the real trauma&#8221;.</p>
<p>Which isn&#8217;t to say it&#8217;s a silver bullet. Indeed the novel opens with a &#8220;failed enfold,&#8221; Rake, a man filled with the sort of all-consuming rage and propensity for violence unique to men forced into the sacrifices of war only to end up on the losing side. We find him with Allen&#8217;s sister, Meg (whom he has almost certainly kidnapped, and has undergone some degree of enfolding too), as they drive across Michigan on an anarchistic rampage of murder, drugs and destruction. Eventually, they reach the home of Hank, Rake&#8217;s former sidekick who has developed a love of trees since enfolding, a man who tries to protect Meg and figure out a way in which they can save themselves from Rake.</p>
<p>The second strand of the story deals with another enfold Singleton and his colleague Wendy, government officials breaking protocol to meet up and fall in love, who somehow end up on the trail of Rake, as though their rule bending was in fact a conspiracy on the part of their superiors to engineer the operation. Again though, confusion reigns, with Singleton&#8217;s boss admitting that a key part of being a commander is having the &#8220;gumption to go back and revise history&#8221;, talking of writing operation plans <em>after</em> the operation in order to ensure they are correct.</p>
<p>This sense of counter-history runs throughout the novel, from Singleton and Wendy&#8217;s quest and Hank&#8217;s transformation into peaceful nature-lover, right down to Eugene Allen&#8217;s re-telling (re-imagining?) of his sister&#8217;s story. What becomes important for these troubled people is not discerning the capital-T Truth but rather finding a variation they can believe in. More often than not, this involves a sense of mission, the victim&#8217;s need for order in the face of chaos, the desire for purpose or meaning in &#8220;an age when everything else seemed to be spinning deeper and deeper into despair,&#8221; anything which enables them to form a narrative of the world in a way they would like it to exist.</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>&#8220;It was crazy, he admitted, but it kept him going and like all good delusions it was fuelled by genuine hope and dedication to the truth&#8221;</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>And that&#8217;s what sets apart David Means&#8217; Vietnam from that of the postmodern cannon. Yes, it is full of claims and counter-claims and impenetrable paranoia, but rather than using these to trace a descent into bewilderment, <em>Hystopia</em> utilises them to chart a way out. In a world where confusion and conflict constitute the resting face of the planet, maybe disinformation is needed not to obscure the truth but rather create it?</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a playlist of songs that are suitable or relevant in one way or another, or maybe just capture the mood of certain characters and scenes.</p>
<p>Tracklisting:</p>
<p>1) Search and Destroy &#8211; The Stooges<br />
2) IN EVIL HOUR &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/2015/07/24/battle-ave-year-of-nod-2/">Battle Ave.</a><br />
3) High &amp; Wild &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/angel-olsen/">Angel Olsen</a><br />
4) My War &#8211; Black Flag<br />
5) Everything Falls Apart &#8211; Hüsker Dü<br />
6) Saigon Shrunken Panorama &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/the-mountain-goats/">The Mountain Goats</a><br />
7) Rugged Country &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/japanese-breakfast/">Japanese Breakfast</a><br />
8) Meg &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/05/09/hovvdy-taster/">Hovvdy</a><br />
9) Love, Come Save Me &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/2015/06/03/right-away-great-captain-ragc-anthology/">Right Away, Great Captain!</a><br />
10) I Need You To Tell Me Who I Am &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/2013/07/15/john-moreland-in-the-throes/">John Moreland</a><br />
11) Drugs To Make You Sober &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/06/06/jeremiah-nelson-whittier/">Jeremiah Nelson</a><br />
12) Are We Failing? &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/hallelujah-the-hills/">Hallelujah The Hills</a><br />
13) Flaming Home &#8211; Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron and <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/06/21/frederick-squire-spooky-action-distance/">Frederick Squire</a><br />
14) Lovers as Mirrors &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/06/16/loone-paper-bee-now/">Paper Bee</a><br />
15) Forgetting is Believing &#8211; <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/?s=nathaniel+rateliff">Nathaniel Rateliff</a><br />
16) Redemption:1 (An Army Man And His Self-Discovery) &#8211; Justin Vernon<br />
<iframe src="//playmoss.com/embed/wakethedeaf/hystopia?cover=1" width="100%" height="468" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><em>Hystopia</em> is out now via Faber &amp; Faber (UK) and Farrar, Straus and Giroux (US) and you can get it from most good bookshops. Check out the other works by David Means on his <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2270.David_Means">Goodreads page</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/09/09/lit-links-hystopia-david-means/">Hystopia &#8211; David Means</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>The Mountain Goats&#8217; John Darnielle unveils 2nd novel, Universal Harvester</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/08/02/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-unveils-second-novel-universal-harvester/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 2016 17:56:19 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alex Merto]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farrar straus and giroux]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FSG]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Darnielle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Literature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rodrigo Corral]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Universal Harvester]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wolf in White Van]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=10067</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Back in 2014 we reviewed John Darnielle&#8217;s Wolf in White Van, the National Book Award nominated novel which pretty much proved his overall writing genius beyond that of the uncannily consistent Mountain Goat records. The piece was pretty in-depth, but the take home message was how Darnielle managed to create a character so vividly human: &#8220;Sean is 3-dimensional/real/alive because he is at once remarkably kind and empathetic and capable of destroying lives. In some ways he is ignorant beyond hope and in [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/08/02/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-unveils-second-novel-universal-harvester/">The Mountain Goats&#8217; John Darnielle unveils 2nd novel, Universal Harvester</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Back in 2014 <a href="http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/11/13/book-review-john-darnielle-wolf-in-white-van/">we reviewed John Darnielle&#8217;s <em>Wolf in White Van</em></a>, the National Book Award nominated novel which pretty much proved his overall writing genius beyond that of the uncannily consistent Mountain Goat records.<em> </em>The piece was pretty in-depth, but the take home message was how Darnielle managed to create a character so vividly human:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Sean is 3-dimensional/real/alive because he is at once remarkably kind and empathetic and capable of destroying lives. In some ways he is ignorant beyond hope and in others understanding beyond all expectation&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Well the good news is that John Darnielle is back with a new novel.<em> Universal Harvester</em> apparently hits a &#8220;sad/frightening axis&#8221;, which supposedly means a blend of straight up B-movie terror and horrors more human in nature, things like loneliness and sorrow and grief. The preview on the <a href="http://www.fsgworkinprogress.com/2016/08/announcing/">FSG website</a> gives a few more details, claiming that the work is a&#8221; significant literary leap&#8221; in terms of scope and craft, describing the general plot like something between <em>Infinite Jest</em>, <em>The Ring </em>and a grown up sequel to <em>Eerie, Indiana. </em></p>
<p>Twentysomething Jeremy works at a late 90s Video Hut in small-town Iowa that&#8217;s just about to be transformed/finished by the dawn of DVDs and the internet, though he seems &#8220;blissfully unaware&#8221; of such forces. The twist is that customers keep returning tapes that are apparently damaged or tampered with, like <em>She&#8217;s All That</em>&#8216;s four minute interruption of &#8220;grainy, homemade, black-and-white footage that is distinctly creepy-as-hell—there’s a darkness there, an overwhelming sadness&#8221;. Jeremy, like all good video store clerks/literary protagonists, explores just what is going on with the strange stock, though we&#8217;re going to have to wait and see just what path Darnielle sends him down.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Universal-Harvester_01-1.gif"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="10071" data-permalink="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/08/02/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-unveils-second-novel-universal-harvester/universal-harvester_01-1/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Universal-Harvester_01-1.gif?fit=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="450,450" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="Universal-Harvester_01-1" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Universal-Harvester_01-1.gif?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Universal-Harvester_01-1.gif?fit=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1" class="size-full wp-image-10071 aligncenter" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Universal-Harvester_01-1.gif?resize=450%2C450" alt="Universal-Harvester_01-1" width="450" height="450" /></a></p>
<p><em>Universal Harvester</em> is set for release on the 7th February, 2017 on Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and you can pre-order it now from most good book shops.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Book design by <a href="http://rodrigocorral.com/">Rodrigo Corral</a> and <a href="http://alexmerto.com/">Alex Merto</a></em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2016/08/02/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-unveils-second-novel-universal-harvester/">The Mountain Goats&#8217; John Darnielle unveils 2nd novel, Universal Harvester</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">10067</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Covers Mix: Volume #13</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/12/17/the-covers-mix-volume-13/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Dec 2014 20:16:43 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Covers Mixes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mixtapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[8tracks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advance base]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carly rae jepsen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Covers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[creedence clearwater revival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cyberbully mom club]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daft Punk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[damien jurado]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[elliott smith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kississippi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lost film]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mao ra sun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marissa nadler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[matt paxton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mixtape]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nathaniel rateliff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nirvana]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[one direction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[phosphorescent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[playlounge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shunkan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spazzkid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the field mice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the national]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the yellow dress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[two white cranes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[winterpills]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=74</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>We&#8217;re up to volume 13 of our covers series. Thirteen is unlucky for some, but not for you because these covers are great. Honest. Tracklist: 1. Something About Us (Daft Punk cover) &#8211; Spazzkid 2. Waves and Waves and Waves (Playlounge cover) &#8211; Two White Cranes 3. Dogmas (Kississippi cover) &#8211; Cyberbully Mom Club 4. Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen cover) &#8211; The Yellow Dress 5. Clouds (One Direction cover) &#8211; Shunkan 6. Lodi (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover) &#8211; [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/12/17/the-covers-mix-volume-13/">The Covers Mix: Volume #13</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We&#8217;re up to volume 13 of our covers series. Thirteen is unlucky for some, but not for you because these covers are great. Honest.</p>
<p>Tracklist:</p>
<p>1. Something About Us (Daft Punk cover) &#8211; Spazzkid<br />
2. Waves and Waves and Waves (Playlounge cover) &#8211; Two White Cranes<br />
3. Dogmas (Kississippi cover) &#8211; Cyberbully Mom Club<br />
4. Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen cover) &#8211; The Yellow Dress<br />
5. Clouds (One Direction cover) &#8211; Shunkan<br />
6. Lodi (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover) &#8211; Advance Base<br />
7. Emma’s House (The Field Mice cover) &#8211; Lost Film<br />
8. Pitseleh (Elliott Smith cover) &#8211; Marissa Nadler<br />
9. Pink Rabbits (The National cover) &#8211; Matt Paxton<br />
10. Ontario Gothic (Foxes in Fiction cover) &#8211; Julia Brown<br />
11. Australia (Attic Abasement cover) &#8211; R.L. Kelly<br />
12. Sister of the Moon (Fleetwood Mac cover) &#8211; Globelamp<br />
13. I’m On Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover) &#8211; Wakes<br />
14. When the Sun Hits (Slowdive cover) &#8211; Mao Ra Sun (Feat Dems)<br />
15. Tomorrow is a Long Time (Bob Dylan cover) &#8211; Phosphorescent<br />
16. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover) &#8211; Noah Gundersen<br />
17. The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton (The Mountain Goats cover) &#8211; Nathaniel Rateliff<br />
18. Museum of Flight (Damien Jurado cover) &#8211; Winterpills</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe style="border: 0px none;" src="http://8tracks.com/mixes/1909545/player_v3_universal" width="400" height="400"></iframe></p>
<p class="_8t_embed_p" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://8tracks.com/wake-the-deaf/covers-mix-volume-13?utm_medium=trax_embed">Covers Mix Volume #13</a> from <a href="http://8tracks.com/wake-the-deaf?utm_medium=trax_embed">Wake The Deaf</a> on <a href="http://8tracks.com?utm_medium=trax_embed">8tracks Radio</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/12/17/the-covers-mix-volume-13/">The Covers Mix: Volume #13</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">74</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>November 2014 Roundup &#8211; A Mixtape</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/12/03/november-roundup-a-mixtape/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2014 18:18:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Mixtapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monthly Roundups]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[8tracks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chalk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cyberbully mom club]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eric and magill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[german error message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Girlpool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gorgeous Bully]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grouper]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john statz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kissing fractures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lung cycles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mike pace and the child actors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mix]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mixtape]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mixtapes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nathan reich]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[november]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ought]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[r.l. kelly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sally fowler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sarah louise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scotdrakula]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Siskiyou]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spencer radcliffe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the twilight sad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[two white cranes]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=83</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>If you haven’t been following our posts in the last month, check out this handy mix to be sure not to miss a ton of great artists. Tracklist: 1. Deserter &#8211; Siskiyou 2. Pill &#8211; Ought 3. There’s a GIrl In the Corner &#8211; The Twilight Sad 4. Kill What You Love &#8211; Scotdrakula 5. PS You Still Do This To Me &#8211; Kissing Fractures 6. Walls &#8211; Two White Cranes 7. Lifetime Warranty &#8211; Cyberbully Mom Club 8. The [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/12/03/november-roundup-a-mixtape/">November 2014 Roundup &#8211; A Mixtape</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you haven’t been following our posts in the last month, check out this handy mix to be sure not to miss a ton of great artists.</p>
<p>Tracklist:</p>
<p>1. Deserter &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/102467687496/feet-on-the-ground-volume-14" target="_blank">Siskiyou</a><br />
2. Pill &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/103042800831/ought-once-more-with-feeling" target="_blank">Ought</a><br />
3. There’s a GIrl In the Corner &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/103571023571/the-twilight-sad-nobody-wants-to-be-here-and" target="_blank">The Twilight Sad</a><br />
4. Kill What You Love &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/103654687536/scotdrakula-scotdrakula" target="_blank">Scotdrakula</a><br />
5. PS You Still Do This To Me &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/103140897191/kissing-fractures-lost-self" target="_blank">Kissing Fractures</a><br />
6. Walls &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/103218466211/two-white-cranes-s-t" target="_blank">Two White Cranes</a><br />
7. Lifetime Warranty &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/103745113076/cyberbully-mom-club-amy-locust-whatever" target="_blank">Cyberbully Mom Club</a><br />
8. The Great Big World &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/102289901621/spencer-radcliffe-r-l-kelly-brown-horse" target="_blank">R.L. Kelly</a><br />
9. Misery Loves Company &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/101941716891/gorgeous-bully-smiling-laughing" target="_blank">Gorgeous Bully</a><br />
10. Blah Blah Blah &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/102975767391/girlpool-s-t-ep" target="_blank">Girlpool</a><br />
11. My Song &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/102289901621/spencer-radcliffe-r-l-kelly-brown-horse" target="_blank">Spencer Radcliffe</a><br />
12. Summer Lawns &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/101854554381/new-album-from-mike-pace-and-the-child-actors" target="_blank">Mike Pace &amp; The Child Actors</a><br />
13. Crossroads &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/102467687496/feet-on-the-ground-volume-14" target="_blank">Sally Fowler</a><br />
14. Sweet Isolation &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/102467687496/feet-on-the-ground-volume-14" target="_blank">Nathan Reich</a><br />
15. Home At Last &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/103476672356/john-statz-tulsa-kickstarter-campaign" target="_blank">John Statz</a><br />
16. Our Town &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/102893213736/chalk-how-to-become-a-recluse" target="_blank">Chalk</a><br />
17. Mole &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/102546505526/book-review-john-darnielle-wolf-in-white-van" target="_blank">The Mountain Goats</a><br />
18. Easy It Goes &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/102384991181/eric-magill-in-this-light" target="_blank">Eric &amp; Magill</a><br />
19. Slow Thickening &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/103823198391/german-error-message-lung-cycles-split" target="_blank">German Error Message</a><br />
20. Cabin Lights &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/103823198391/german-error-message-lung-cycles-split" target="_blank">Lung Cycles</a><br />
21. The Day is Past and Gone (Variations) &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/102467687496/feet-on-the-ground-volume-14" target="_blank">Sarah Louise</a><br />
22. Holding &#8211; <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/101776945726/grouper-ruins" target="_blank">Grouper</a></p>
<p class="_8t_embed_p">
<p><iframe src="http://8tracks.com/mixes/4895695/player_v3_universal" width="400" height="400" style="border: 0px none;"></iframe></p>
<p class="_8t_embed_p" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;"><a href="http://8tracks.com/wake-the-deaf/november-2014-mix?utm_medium=trax_embed">November 2014 Mix</a> from <a href="http://8tracks.com/wake-the-deaf?utm_medium=trax_embed">Wake The Deaf</a> on <a href="http://8tracks.com?utm_medium=trax_embed">8tracks Radio</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/12/03/november-roundup-a-mixtape/">November 2014 Roundup &#8211; A Mixtape</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">83</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>John Darnielle &#8211; Wolf in White Van</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/11/13/book-review-john-darnielle-wolf-in-white-van/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:28:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2014]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farrar straus and giroux]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Granta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Granta Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Darnielle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lit Links]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Literature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wolf in White Van]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=97</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Nowhere does the truism ‘less is more’ apply more than when writing fiction. I recently watched George Saunders tell Google staff that he strives to honour the reader’s intelligence when writing, namely by removing all redundant or even half-justified words and sentences that tell the reader something they could have worked out for themselves. Wolf in White Van is a masterclass in negotiating the trade-off between providing and withholding information to create depth and nuance. Having forged a career writing [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/11/13/book-review-john-darnielle-wolf-in-white-van/">John Darnielle &#8211; Wolf in White Van</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Nowhere does the truism ‘less is more’ apply more than when writing fiction. I recently watched George Saunders tell Google staff that he strives to honour the reader’s intelligence when writing, namely by removing all redundant or even half-justified words and sentences that tell the reader something they could have worked out for themselves.<em> Wolf in White Van </em>is a masterclass in negotiating the trade-off between providing and withholding information to create depth and nuance. Having forged a career writing short songs about long stories, it should come as no surprise that John Darnielle is immensely talented at this.</p>
<p><em>Wolf in White Van</em> is a story about reality and imagination and how both can be beautiful and both can be scary and both need to be treated with care. The protagonist Sean Phillips, recently disfigured, creates a postal adventure game called ‘Trace Italian’ to pass the time and escape from his injury-induced isolation. The world he creates is a desolate and dangerous post-apocalyptic wasteland, a place which acts as a safe haven where Sean and the players can not only flee their own lives but take complete control of another. In the game, players journey across the land in an attempt of finding the inner sanctum, a mystical place of safety that no player has ever reached. I don’t want to get into the plot too much as I don’t want to spoil things, but the structure of the novel’s narrative is similar to the game, orbiting some central answer or truth that is never quite reached.<!-- more --></p>
<p>The idea of a new life is important. The game allows an existence that is far more exciting than reality yet fundamentally safe, some other dimension where the laws of physics and biology and history do not necessarily apply. For example, the dystopian world of Trace Italian might be irradiated and full of bounty hunters but death is not easy to come by. “It’s very hard to die, because all the turns pointing that way open up onto new ones, and you have to make the wrong choice enough times to really mean it.” (Pg 157) Mistakes are not severely punished and players get a second (third, fourth) chance when choosing the wrong option. This sits in stark contrast to Sean’s experience in real life where one bad decision changed everything in seconds with no hope of return.</p>
<p>But just how permanent and binding real life’s choices are is a matter of perspective. There is an argument that the game is not a contrast to Sean’s life but a reflection, a direct mirror of his experience. As traumatic and affecting as his incident was, he is given some semblance of a second chance. For all of the physical and psychic suffering he faces, the bottom line is that he survived. To return to page 157, it’s very hard to die.</p>
<p>Patrick deWitt (author of the excellent <em>The Sisters Brothers</em>) described <em>WIWV</em> as “a hymn for those who inhabit lonely universes, and a harbour for anyone who has sought refuge in a reality other than their own.” I feel this goes a good way to getting at the heart of the novel. Much of Darnielle’s song-writing concerns outsiders who are humiliated or neglected or just plain ignored, but always resisting in their own way, always fiercely alive. Sean’s disfigurement serves as an obvious example of this idea of separation and social exclusion &#8211; a young person who looks or acts or lives differently is treated with wonder or terror or both and finds he misses out on basic and fundamental aspects of the human experience through no fault of his own. Sean’s injury is obviously vital to certain aspects of the plot, but in others it is just another manifestation of a common problem – he is different. He could just as easily love men or paint his nails or collect cards and wear black t-shirts emblazoned with dragons, he would still join a vast ensemble of Darnielle’s characters who are in the same position.</p>
<p>Whether or not Darnielle would want his musical career dragged into every mention of his literary one is up for debate (I’d imagine it could get annoying being labelled as ‘that Mountain Goats guy’ rather than a National Book Award nominated author) but, hell, we’re a music website, we have an excuse to dig too deeply into past lyrics. I could really use some footnotes here to save clogging up the text with quotations but you’ll have to live with it. The obvious first point of call is 2004’s <em>We Shall All Be Healed</em>, an album that reportedly draws upon Darnielle’s adolescent years for inspiration. The song ‘Mole’ is particularly interesting, with allusions to digging and deserts and hospital beds. Some of the lines seem very much relevant to <em>WIWV</em>: “I came to see you up there in intensive care / They had handcuffed you to your bed / There were tubes going into you and out from you / Bright white gauze bandages at your head […] Out in the desert we’ll have no worries / Out in the desert just you and me.”</p>
<p>The song ‘Cotton’ on the same album also has a line which seems fitting: “This song is for the people / who tell their families that they’re sorry / for things they can’t and won’t be sorry for.” Indeed, if you look hard enough (too hard, perhaps) there are lyrics relevant to the novel across the whole MG discography. ‘Game Shows Touch Our Lives’ from <em>Tallahassee</em> contains the line: “People say friends don’t destroy one another / what do they know about friends?” and <em>The Sunset Tree</em>’s ‘Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod’ reads: “and alone in my room / I am the last of a lost civilization / and I vanish into the dark / and rise above my station.” ‘The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton,’ a contender for my favourite MG song, explores a similar outsider-with-convictions theme, namely a pair of goth/heavy-metal types planning to outpace, outlive and get even. The track contains a line which seems to capture the central tenet of Darnielle’s writing. “When you punish a person for dreaming his dreams don’t expect him to thank or forgive you.”</p>
<p><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/therumpus.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Darnielle-John-C-Lalitree-Darnielle.jpg?w=1170" alt="" /></p>
<p>John Darnielle’s talent (dare I say genius) is taking the admittedly gratifying Outsider Gets Revenge story (or the sequel &#8211; Unnoticed Becomes Noticed: Through Violent Means) and making it less clear-cut, more human. Sean is not a character eternally consumed by rage or frustration, and his fixation on fantasy seems a longing for the cruel-but-clear world of binary morality and total conviction. Sean is 3-dimensional/real/alive because he is at once remarkably kind and empathetic and capable of destroying lives. In some ways he is ignorant beyond hope and in others understanding beyond all expectation. Through it all, one thing is clear: he is not evil or noble, hero nor villain. He is not Conan the Barbarian.</p>
<p><em>Wolf in White Van</em> was published by <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/wolfinwhitevan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Farrar, Straus &amp; Giroux</a> in the US and <a href="http://grantabooks.com/Wolf-in-White-Van" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Granta</a> in the UK. You can buy it now from all good bookshops and bad online corporations.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/11/13/book-review-john-darnielle-wolf-in-white-van/">John Darnielle &#8211; Wolf in White Van</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<title>Kyle Adem &#8211; Syracuse</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2013/06/11/kyle-adem-syracuse/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Jun 2013 08:26:14 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[electronica]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[folk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hip hop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Darnielle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kyle Adem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rap]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spoken Word]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syracuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the mountain goats]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=386</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>We wrote about Kyle Adem a while back, with his album Armour catching our eye with frantic storytelling in the vein of Andy Hull. Syracuse, his new album, is very different from that record. The title track that opens proceedings is a strange and otherworldly spoken word piece that builds into something cinematic, the soundtrack of a weird old sci-fi film set in a future year that has already passed. It ends with an alarm clock sound just as the [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2013/06/11/kyle-adem-syracuse/">Kyle Adem &#8211; Syracuse</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We wrote about <a href="http://www.kyleadem.com/fr_home.cfm" target="_blank">Kyle Adem</a> <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/post/26900159420/kyle-adem" target="_blank">a while back</a>, with his album <em>Armour</em> catching our eye with frantic storytelling in the vein of Andy Hull.</p>
<p><em>Syracuse</em>, his new album, is very different from that record. The title track that opens proceedings is a strange and otherworldly spoken word piece that builds into something cinematic, the soundtrack of a weird old sci-fi film set in a future year that has already passed. It ends with an alarm clock sound just as the song was building toward a climax, as if Adem was exploring an alternate reality where he played with computers rather than guitars. It’s an effective opening that certainly makes you sit up to see where the album takes you next.</p>
<p>The album flits between with traditional songwriting with guitar strumming and experimental nods to other genres, refusing to sit nicely in the ‘folk’ box. With spoken word bits and different instruments appearing throughout, you never quite know what is around the corner. &#8216;St. John’s Ukrainian Catholic Church’ is an urgent message that John Darnielle would be proud of, and the next track &#8216;I am Alright’ is a regular folk song that you might expect after <em>Armour</em>, but then &#8216;I Am Not’ defies all expectations and does whatever the hell it pleases. It’s a tangled jungle of a song with snaking tendrils feeling in all sorts of directions from 80s electronica to hip-hop and rap and even a Paul Simon inspired ending.</p>
<p>There is something admirable about Kyle Adem. We mentioned last time that he left a career in buisness to pursue his creative ideals and that attitude is present on Syracuse. This is the record, these are the songs, listen to them. If they are hard to characterise then, frankly, that is none of his concern. Where he goes next will be very interesting to see.</p>
<p>Buy Syracuse now from the <a href="http://www.kyleadem.com/fr_home.cfm" target="_blank">Kyle Adem Store</a> or on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/syracuse/id649993274" target="_blank">iTunes</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2013/06/11/kyle-adem-syracuse/">Kyle Adem &#8211; Syracuse</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">386</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Frontier Ruckus &#8211; The Eternity of Dimming</title>
		<link>https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2013/02/08/frontier-ruckus-the-eternity-of-dimming/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Liam Doyle]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2013 11:23:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[1990s]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[90s]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Americana]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bandcamp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Meiklejohn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deadmalls and Nightfalls]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Decemberists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Detroit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[folk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[frontier ruckus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Darnielle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John K. Samson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Loose Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[michigan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Okkervill River]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Orion Songbook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Quite Scientific Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Eternity of Dimming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the mountain goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Sunset Tree]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Weakerthans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Will Sheff]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=440</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Frontier Ruckus have made their third full-length record &#8211; a 20 song double album entitled Eternity of Dimming. The album has been out in the USA for a couple of weeks (on Quite Scientific Records) and the European release (via the wonderful Loose Music) is just around the corner &#8211; the 11th of February to be exact. The album builds upon the band’s two previous albums (2008’s Orion Songbook and 2010’s Deadmalls and Nightfalls &#8211; both of which I would highly [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2013/02/08/frontier-ruckus-the-eternity-of-dimming/">Frontier Ruckus &#8211; The Eternity of Dimming</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.frontierruckus.com/" target="_blank">Frontier Ruckus</a> have made their third full-length record &#8211; a 20 song double album entitled <em><a href="http://music.frontierruckus.com/album/eternity-of-dimming" target="_blank">Eternity of Dimming</a></em>. The album has been out in the USA for a couple of weeks (on <a href="http://www.quitescientific.com/" target="_blank">Quite Scientific Records</a>) and the European release (via the wonderful <a href="http://loosemusic.com/" target="_blank">Loose Music</a>) is just around the corner &#8211; the 11th of February to be exact.</p>
<p><!-- more --></p>
<p>The album builds upon the band’s two previous albums (2008’s <a href="http://frontierruckus.portmerch.com/stores/product.php?productid=18145&amp;cat=462&amp;page=1" target="_blank">Orion Songbook</a> and 2010’s <a href="http://frontierruckus.portmerch.com/stores/product.php?productid=18144&amp;cat=462&amp;page=1" target="_blank">Deadmalls and Nightfalls</a> &#8211; both of which I would highly recommend), and confirms the ability to make sun-soaked Americana with a literary lyrical bent. Indeed the album’s lyrics are extremely dense &#8211; coming in at over 5,500 words &#8211; and paint a vivid picture of growing up in suburban Detroit during the 90s. The album artwork serves to capture the themes on display and does a better job than I could possibly hope to with words. The era evoked will certainly hold greater appeal to those of a certain generation and I’d guess that if your birthday falls between 1980 and 1990 then you will identify with a lot of the lyrics, from sun bleached VHS tapes to sports coaches to the birthday parties of friends and school mates. This is not simply a chronicle of childhood, however. A lot of the lyrics are tinged with nostalgia and a sort of wistful sadness. This is probably best illustrated by sampling a few of the lines from the album:</p>
<p><em>There’s a dead world locked in a Nintendo 64<br />
In some divorced friend’s mom’s apartment bedroom drawer</em></p>
<p>(From <a href="http://music.frontierruckus.com/track/open-it-up" target="_blank">Open It Up</a>)</p>
<p>Or:</p>
<p><em>The shrink-wrapped cosmetics and cardboard aesthetics of department store picture frame inserts that my </em><br />
<em>Mother keeps under a sink in a cupboard with her high school diploma and it hurts to try<br />
To keep all our treasures intact for forever</em></p>
<p>&amp;amp;lt;a href=“http://music.frontierruckus.com/track/dealerships” data-mce-href=“http://music.frontierruckus.com/track/dealerships”&amp;amp;gt;Dealerships by Frontier Ruckus&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;</p>
<p>I would advise that this brand of folk or Americana is not for everyone. Frontier Ruckus have not attempted to jump on the bandwagon of popular contemporary folk acts and tried to make foot-stomping, sing-a-long choruses that could grace huge venues and festival headline slots. But this is not a criticism, in fact I mean it more as a complement. There is remarkable restraint and real <em>feeling</em> here. I found it very difficult when listening to the album to draw direct comparisons, although I think that it would be fair to cite  <a href="http://www.mountain-goats.com/" target="_blank">The Mountain Goats</a>, particularly <a href="http://www.themountaingoats.net/music/sunset.html" target="_blank">The Sunset Tree</a>, with it’s evocation of coming of age and being a teenager in America. Other artists that come to mind are John K. Samson’s <a href="http://www.theweakerthans.org/" target="_blank">The Weakerthans</a> and Will Sheff’s <a href="http://www.okkervilriver.com/" target="_blank">Okkervil River</a> (particularly their earlier albums) and <a href="http://decemberists.com/" target="_blank">Decemberists</a>, mainly because of the literary style lyrics, which you could almost read as poetry from the liner notes.</p>
<p>The band have also released a video for the closing track, Careening Catalog Immemorial, which was directed by <a href="https://twitter.com/budgetfabulous" target="_blank">David Meiklejohn</a> and again captures the album’s aesthetic pretty nicely. Watch it below:</p>
<iframe class="youtube-player" width="1170" height="659" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XZQCR8eJshM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent" allowfullscreen="true" style="border:0;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox"></iframe>
<p>Europeans can pre-order the album from <a href="http://music.frontierruckus.com/album/eternity-of-dimming" target="_blank">Loose Music</a>, while North Americans can get the album in a beautiful double vinyl package, on CD, or by digital download <a href="http://music.frontierruckus.com/album/eternity-of-dimming" target="_blank">via Quite Scientific</a>. The band are also about to embark on a European tour, including several stops in the UK. Check out the dates below:</p>
<p><strong>01 Mar &#8211; Windmill, LONDON</strong><br />
02 Mar – Burgerweeshuis, DEVENTER<br />
04 Mar – Stengade, COPENHAGEN<br />
05 Mar – Pustervik, GOTHENBERG<br />
06 Mar – Debaser Slussen, STOCKHOLM<br />
07 Mar – Debaser, MALMO<br />
08 Mar – Kulturhaus 73, HAMBURG<br />
09 Mar – Underground, COLOGNE<br />
10 Mar – Fachwerk Gievenbeck, MUNSTER<br />
12 Mar – Rote Fabrink, ZURICH<br />
13 Mar – Cardinal, SCHAFFHAUSEN<br />
14 Mar – Silencio, PARIS<br />
<strong>16 Mar – Start The Bus, BRISTOL<br />
17 Mar – Whelans, DUBLIN<br />
19 Mar – Ruby Lounge, MANCHESTER<br />
20 Mar – Bloc Bar, GLASGOW<br />
21 Mar – Fibbers, YORK<br />
22 Mar – Jericho Tavern, OXFORD<br />
23 Mar – The Borderline, LONDON</strong></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2013/02/08/frontier-ruckus-the-eternity-of-dimming/">Frontier Ruckus &#8211; The Eternity of Dimming</a> appeared first on <a href="https://varioussmallflames.co.uk">Various Small Flames</a>.</p>
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