With that in mind, The Mirror Trap’s ferocious sound might come as a surprise upon first listen. Blending the energy of post-hardcore with deep, ominous drums The Twilight Sad would be proud of, Moore and Co. create weighty, atmospheric anthems inspired by the contemporary world. Financial inequality, technological identity (or the lack thereof), information overload and narcosis… The Mirror Trap are concerned with all of the things which make today’s society such a strange, confusing place. Lead single ‘Piranhas’ feels like the consequence of these pressures, a furious, frustrated scream which could be read as an act of rebellion, a burning of bridges or a desperate cry for help.

We’re up to our eyeballs, in half a million problems

Piranhas come calling and tear the flesh right off us.

I woke up this morning, with three bears in my porridge,

with no good news in paper, no let up in the weather.

I live for the weekend, a bowl to put my keys in,

I hide my desires, so you wont kick me out the gang.

As part of our Quiet, Constant Friends project, we’ve been asking people to make playlists based around a book of their choice, and thought The Mirror Trap might be just the folks to continue the Lit Links series. Lead Gary Moore stepped up the the plate with a collection of tracks inspired by a work by Orwell, which seems pretty suitable considering the themes they’re concerned with. Grab your headphones and have a read below!

George Orwell’s Keep The Aspidistra Flying
by Gary Moore

For some unknown reason I avoided George Orwell for years. I think the romantic in me insisted I only read exotic novels by wayward Frenchmen or stoic Russians. Reading the work of a British man whose real name was Eric seemed unthinkable. But a brief fascination with the Spanish Civil War led me to read Homage to Catalonia and the flood gates opened, I swiftly set about reading every word Orwell had ever written.

Keep The Aspidistra Flying is perhaps my favourite Orwell novel. Set in 1930’s London this is the story of a writer rejecting the constraints of money and the “evils” of consumer capitalism, giving up his humdrum day job in advertising to peruse his artistic passions. This appealed to me as booth a burgeoning creative and as a giant lefty. Gordon Comstock, the central character of the novel, is a man with a commendable plan and outlook but is shown throughout to be flawed and shambolic, he is not a hero or a villain, and he is just unreservedly human. He drinks too much, and smokes too much, he is neurotic and distracted.

Keep The Aspidistra Flying is raw, cynical and often bleak but is ultimately a brilliant book, in both the story it tells and the somewhat prophetic points it makes. I tend to feel a little bit dirty reading it, but in a way I rather enjoy

Tracklisting:

1) Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club Sleep) – The Rakes
2) This Charming Man – The Smith
3) Atmosphere – Joy Division
4) Cigarettes & Alcohol – Oasis
5) Shot By Both Sides – Magazine
6) ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit’sworldwouldfallapart – Manic Street Preachers
7) Is This It – The Strokes
8) Common People – Pulp
9) I Love a Man in Uniform – Gang of Four
10) Lost in the Supermarket – The Clash
11) Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve
12) Fake Plastic Trees – Radiohead
13) For Tomorrow – Blur
14) Rat Race – The Specials
15 What a Waster – The Libertines

Simulations will be released on the 8th July via Riverman. The band have a few festival dates lined up before an European tour this autumn with Placebo (marked with *):

Jul 09: T In The Park, Stirling, United Kingdom
Jul 31: Y Not Festival 2016, Derby, United Kingdom
Aug 19: Astro Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Aug 21: Summer Sonic Festival, Tokyo, Japan
Oct 13: Train, Aarhus, Denmark*
Oct 14: Vega Main Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark*
Oct 16: Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway*
Oct 18: Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden*
Oct 20: Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland*
Oct 22: Riga Arena, Riga, Latvia*
Oct 24: St Petersburg Arena, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation*
Oct 26: Moscow Olimpiyskiy, Moscow, Russian Federation*
Oct 29: Torwar, Warsaw, Poland*
Oct 31: Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg, Germany*
Nov 02: Laxness, Cologne, Germany*

P.S. Be sure to tune in next week, where we’ll be presenting a playlist from Gary’s cat based around Exile and the Kingdom by Camus.

P.P.S. Not really.

The post Lit Links: The Mirror Trap appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The band haven’t put out a full-length album since 2012’s Time is Past, but did have a song (and award-winning video) on the OIM Records compilation out this summer. Not ones to rest on their (film festival) laurels, the act recently reworked Joanna Newsom’s ‘The Book of Right On‘, composing a completely new arrangement that is clearly novel yet still imbued with the special something Newsom weaves into all of her work. The result is a haunted indie pop song, the vocals (which are far crisper than Newsom’s) circled by an array of plucked guitars, glockenspiel and distortion and stalked by a vast empty space illuminated by pedal effects and echoes. Have a listen to the track below and download it for free via Soundcloud:

Discovering the track coincided with us planning Lit Links: a new, semi-regular feature as part of our Quiet, Constant Friends project, one which will hopefully allow us to examine to relationship between music and literature from a different angle. The idea is to create a playlist of songs that are in some way relevant to a particular book, be they songs which are related to the plot or themes, exist within the same general mood, or just bring to mind certain passages for whatever reason.

Well, the link might be tenuous but we saw ‘book’ in the title and thought Foxtails Brigade might be the perfect people to kick us off. Luckily for us, Weinbach agreed, and has put together an excellent piece/playlist centred on Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron by Daniel Clowes.

Daniel Clowes and Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron Speak To Me
by Laura Weinbach

Despite mild disappointment and passively hoping for something better, there is a kind of entertainment factor to simply observing the innately crude, grotesque nature of the world. Daniel Clowes has a knack for magnifying that film of abhorrence clung to most people, places and things. When I picked up my first issue of Eightball as an early twenty-something year-old, I was hooked from the get go feeling like this was was something that sees the world the way I do and Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron immediately became the series within that I most anticipated.

What’s cool about Clowes, particularly with regard to Like A Velvet Glove, is that he captures an essence that feels uncensored and honest and without seeming to try too hard; there’s fluidity to the pages. As a result, the story reads like the transcription of a dream in a mood of impending desperation on the brink of total apathy. But unlike just hearing someone talk about some dream they had that isn’t real and doesn’t make sense to the listener, this isn’t boring because it feels like it’s the reader’s dream too.

Anyway, there’s no doubt that this book and much of Clowes’s other work, has had an integral impact on my developing psyche and pushed its influence one way or another through the stuff I make. Though it’s sometimes hard to really know or see what’s at the core of one’s own art, I sense a similar condition to Clowes’s (or at least his characters) inside much of what I do.

Tunes To Listen To While Thinking About Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron
(in no particular order):

1. Laura Palmer’s Theme – Angelo Badalamenti
2. Can We Kiss – Calvin Johnson
3. Took You Two Years To Win My Heart – Final Fantasy
4. Never Had No One Ever – The Smiths
5. Lightening Rods – Faun Fables
6. Shine On You Crazy Diamond – Pink Floyd
7. The Artifact and Living – Michael Andrews
8. Red Head Walkin – Beat Happening
9. In Boxes – Aurora Aksnes
10. I’m An Outlaw – Kurt Vile
11. Unloved – Foxtails Brigade
12. Barragan – Blonde Redhead
13. Seven Two – Blonde Redhead
14. Another One – Mac Demarco
15. The Perfect Timing – Nedelle Torrisi (from the 2013 Paradise In Piano Album)

To find out more about our Quiet, Constant Friends project you should head here. You can buy the Quiet, Constant Friends compilation now from the Wake The Deaf Bandcamp page: All tapes come with limited-edition postcard prints (which you can browse here) and all proceeds go to the global literacy charity Worldreader.

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Wayne Szalinski are actually a band (who are presumably fans of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids). They have spent the last few years carving out a career in Michigan, with two well-received EPs and plenty of sold-out shows acting as a timely sign that an LP is called for. Black Mirror is that record, a “neo-noir” album that “struggles with masculinity/identity, entangled sexuality and violence, and questions why we love at all.” That might sound rather deep and gloomy, but, while the subject matter is serious, the sound is strangely uplifting, danceable in a tortured, melodramatic sort of way. 

In some ways, using ‘melodramatic’ to describe the things explored through this album feels unsuitable, as the question of identity (be it sexuality or otherwise) is inherently personal and therefore intimate and raw. In other words, the question of identity (that is, what makes you YOU) is always going to be something that sounds at least partly melodramatic when confronted in art. Here however, the tag is entirely fair and justified (in a positive context). As the neo-noir tag suggests, Black Mirror is a stylized, visceral and amplified portrayal of inner-turmoil/torment faced by people whose identity does not fit with the socially accepted norms, taking what is a common and everyday pain and making it dark and weird and uneasy. Takes ‘Bandages’ as an example:

“You’d look prettier dead
so i’ll take you by the hand and direct you to the bed
you’ll strain your lungs into the pillow crying
no no no.

After it is done, I can see the stains on your teeth
and the sides of your face seem to lack all symmetry
I will forgive and never forget,
I won’t deny my philosophy’s amiss
these words are poison delivered through the lips
stating it simply: ignorance is bliss.”

Aside from all of these details, Black Mirror is also a solid slice of math rock/pop, mixing the dark introspection of The Smiths or Jeff Buckley’s Grace with the British indie bands that popped up when emo-revival hit the indie scene on these shores (This Town Needs Guns, Meet Me in St. Louis, Hot Club De Paris etc.). So it’s up to you: either take it superficially and have a good dance or listen closely and explore it’s murky centre.

You can buy Black Mirror from their Bandcamp page.

The post Wayne Szalinski – Black Mirror appeared first on Various Small Flames.

As ever, please support any of the acts you like and buy their own music. There are some super-talented and prolific acts on here who release a lot of their stuff for free, and I’m sure a few dollars, or even just an email of appreciation, would be very welcome.

Tracklisting:

1. Seasons (Waiting On You) (Future Islands Cover) – Slow Club
2. Don’t Let Me Get Me (P!nk Cover) – Arrange
3. Doin’ It Right (Daft Punk Cover) – Verdigrls
4. Flotus (Flying Lotus Cover) – Spazzkid
5. This Charming Man (The Smiths Cover) – SKATERS
6. Ain’t That Enough (Teenage Fanclub Cover) – Nai Harvest
7. Son Of Sam (Elliott Smith Cover) – The Provincial Archive
8. Her Sinking Sun (Coma Cinema Cover) – Julia Brown
9. Thru The Wall (Paul Baribeau Cover) – Matthew Lee Cothran & Delaney Mills
10. It Is What It Is (Blood Orange Cover) – How Sad
11.Dreams (Fleetwood Mac Cover) – Emily Reo
12. Is This Is (The Strokes Cover) – Total Warr
13. Everything Is Embarrassing (Sky Ferreira Cover) – Saturday Looks Good To Me
14. Bein’ Around (The Lemonheads Cover) – Courtney Barnett
15. Call It What You Will (Joe Pug Cover) – Vandaveer
16. Waking Hour (Vandaveer Cover) – Joe Pug
17. The Promise (When In Rome Cover) – Sturgill Simpson
18. The Mother We Share (CHVRCHES Cover) – SOAK
19. Game Of Pricks (Guided By Voices Cover) – Meursault
20. Ooh La La (Faces Cover) – Manchester Orchestra
21. Romulus (Sufjan Stevens Cover) – Donovan Woods
22. Drive All Night (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – Sharon van Etten

Covers Mix #11 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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You can buy Higher from the band’s Bandcamp page for a very reasonable £3.50 (or £3 for a digital download).

The post (Kidsmoke) – Higher appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Today is the first volume. It features a mix of styles and bands, covering classic songs and new music. We hope you enjoy these re-workings as much as we do.

WTD’s Covers Mix, Volume #1:

1. Crystalized (The XX Cover) – Holly Miranda
2. Her Vore (Coma Cinema Cover) – Fog Lake
3. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths Cover) – Dan Mangan
4. Don’t Haunt This Place (The Rural Alberta Advantage Cover) – Yellow Ostrich
5. Tears Are In Your Eyes (Yo La Tengo Cover) – The Antlers
6. Cars (Gary Numan Cover) – The Leisure Society (Thanks to TWR for the shout!)
7. Old Old Fashioned (Frightened Rabbit Cover) – John Statz
8. Owner Of A Lonely Heart (Yes Cover) – Grizzly Bear
9. I Fought The Law (Bobby Fueller Cover) – Titus Andronicus
10. I Will Truck (Dirty Projectors Cover) – Painted Palms
11. A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell Cover) – James Blake
12. Devil Town (Daniel Johnston Cover) – Bright Eyes
13. Like A Diamond (Glass Ghost Cover) – Sharon Van Etten
14. Ex-Girl Collection (The Wrens Cover) – Will Sheff
15. Angst In My Pants (Sparks Cover) – Signals
16. Sleep All Summer (Crooked Fingers Cover) – St Vincent & The National
17.Beacon Hill (Damien Jurado Cover) – The Head And The Heart
18. Best Ever Death Metal Band Out Of Denton (The Mountain Goats Cover) – Andy Hull
19. Godbye Again (John Denver Cover) – Youth Lagoon
20. Long Desert Train (Jason Molina Cover) – Strand Of Oaks (Thanks to CXCW)

You know the drill – support the bands. Each of the artists’ names above will take you to their website so explore further. Don’t be an Emily White, musicians have to eat too.

The Covers Mix: Volume #1 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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