Following on from singles ‘Sun Self‘ and ‘Kristofferson/StarStuffs‘, DoomFolk StarterKit (the recording project of Portland’s David Swick) is back with a brand new song. Existing within a conflicted state familiar in our contemporary moment, ‘2Hands’ finds a narrator caught between a need to retreat and rest and the seemingly endless task of working in order to stay afloat. A challenge faced with Swick’s trademark brand of introspective sincerity.

Field Guides – Margaret

“Attempting to not just represent the world, but show it to us anew.” That’s how we described Ginkgo, the forthcoming album from Field Guides on Whatever’s Clever in our preview of lead single, ‘Salmon Skin‘. Latest track ‘Margaret’ takes its inspiration from the nineteenth century author and women’s rights activist Margaret Fuller, her transcendentalist belief in the possibility of change lingering over an otherwise melancholic scene of domestic conflict. “And all that we have is ours for the taking” goes the final line, amended slightly from those which come before it, shimmering if not with hope then some mysterious precursor. Check out the video by Caleb Bryant Miller, Rebecca El-Saleh and Kupstas himself below:

Ginkgo is out via Whatever’s Clever on the 26th June and you can pre-order it now.

Fronjentress – Moon

Consisting of a rotating band of musicians based in Portland, Fronjentress unites artists who share an interest in the styles and themes of country music. “Classic country for contemporary times” is how the project describes its output, utilising traditional instruments and tropes to create something rooted within the present moment. Out this week on Perpetual Doom, latest album Baby Got Problems displays not only the aching melancholy of classic country music but also its wit and wry humour, as demonstrated on lead single, ‘Moon’. “If they told us that the moon / could be our new home pretty soon,” it begins:

Well, I’d pack a single bag
and go drifting
because this world has gotten strange
I surely won’t miss the rain
from my lonely paradise up in space

Baby’s Got Problems will be released on 14th May via Perpetual Doom. Order it now via Bandcamp.

Old Moon – Eastern Skies

Old Moon is the project of Tom Weir from Lyme, New Hampshire, who next month is releasing a brand new album titled Cities of the Plain via à La Carte Records and Love Chain Tapes. New single ‘Eastern Skies’ introduces Old Moon’s style, opening as an electrified folk song stark and expansive enough to live up to the McCarthy reference of the album’s title, but soon evolves into gothic shoegaze clamour. Weir’s vocals emerge from this with a brooding intensity, as though suspended within the sound, or else conjuring the heavy, sparkling tone itself.

Otracami – Pipe Scream

The project of Brooklyn-based songwriter Camila Ortiz, Otracami pitches itself between open coastal landscapes and gloomy bedrooms, working to unveil the mystery within both worlds. Latest single ‘Pipe Scream’ evokes the building pressure of an interrupted flow, its spacious, dreamy sound belying the desperation beneath the surface. There might not be a crashing crescendo within the track itself, but the promise of release is ever-present, even if the dam holds for now.

pipe scream
until it’s not
water pools behind my eyes
until i let it fall

Photokem – Future Minister

Consisting of Nana Acheampong (vocals), Leah Blom (violin), Nico Fennell (instrumentals/production), Jack Kelly (instrumentals) and Evan Ryckebusch (cello/bass), Photokem is an Austin-based outfit formed in 2021 after the group read Acheampong’s writing in the University of Texas’ BlackPrint publication. None of them had recorded music before, and Acheampong had never sang in public, which makes the richness and detail of debut EP Luffon Bright all the more impressive. ‘Future Minister’ introduces the style, its arrangement moving from quiet folk and emo-inflected rock to vivid orchestral swells, all tied together by Acheampong’s conversational yet striking delivery.

Shrill Pill – Still Alive

Northampton, MA’s Shrill Pill introduced their new EP Sparky on Hand Over Foot Records with the plucky and raucous ‘Loud and True’, though the latest single shows a different side to the band. ‘Still Alive’ offers an altogether more restrained sound, its quiet folk sensibilities creating a space reflective and warm, but within this subdued mood the lyrics still hold a feistiness. “War stories and war trophies are not the same at all,” goes one verse. “One you win and one you tell your friend you love but never call / Memory is better than an elegy / Keep me in your thoughts but please don’t talk to me.”

Troy Everett – ripples / outcast

The music of Maryland-born, D.C.-based artist Troy Everett encompasses a whole range of genres. From orchestral strings and electronic beats to more metal-adjacent screaming, his work lifts elements from across the stylistic gamut to bring to life his reflective and vulnerable themes. New double single ripples / outcast is the perfect example of this range, the first a mournful classical composition, the latter a stark and confessional pop song which slots alongside the work of artists like G. Brenner. “I feel like an outcast in my own mind,” Everett sings as the song builds around him, frenzied beats and lush classical arrangements coalescing into something urgent and poignant.

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Tracklisting:

Frog – American
The Phone Booth – Ballad of Indifference
Spielbergs – 4AM
Neurotic Fiction – Collateral
Neighborhood of Make Believe – Track Names
Pizzagirl – body part
Orchid Mantis – porch song
Gorgeous Bully – patience
Reighnbeau – Trading Heat
Troy Everett – Absent
Amparo – Hounds
REW<< – Victoire Impossible
Okay Embrace – Moving
Young Jesus – For Nana
Vender & The Cobras – Everything is Beautiful
The Lostines – Faith in Love
Haley Heynderickx & Max García Conover – Little Wind
Rivulets – Everything Goes
Balto – Bullshit Dream
Meat Wave – That’s Alright
Docks – Kiosk
Satanic Ritual Abuse – Hurting (Adjective/Verb)
SATU – Growing Up
Anna Tivel – Fenceline
Madison Turner – Richmond, Virgina
Elly Swope – 6.8
Nathan Ball – All or Nothing
Monarch Mtn – canyon blues
Stripmall Ballads – You Were Good (I Was Good For a While)
Katie Mullins – Crocuses
Lisa/Liza – Tea Kettle
free cake for every creature – shake it out
Katy Kirby – Tap Twice
Lung Cycles – hottest day of the year so far (4pm version)

You can find all of our Monthly Roundup playlists here, and peruse a wider range of mixtapes that we’ve put together over the years.

The post November 2018 Roundup appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Spielbergs – 4AM

Spielbergs are Mads Baklien, Stian Brennskag and Christian Løvhaug, an Olso-based trio who push a frantic brand of indie rock. Coupling nostalgic emotion with carefree abandon, the outfit draw comparisons to the likes of Japandroids and Beach Slang, and their debut album This Is Not The End promises to live up to such billing. Lead single ‘4AM’ is good supporting evidence, a racing number that forgoes none of the emotional intensity, turning what could be a fun but superficial track into something far deeper and more rewarding.

This Is Not The End is set for release on the 1st February via By The Time It Gets Dark and you can pre-order it now.

Anna Tivel – Fenceline

Here at VSF we often find ourselves drawn to the folk music coming out of Wisconsin, with blog favourites Old Earth and Field Report having held our attention for a long while, not to mention Bon Iver, Aero Flynn, and on and on. So, while Anna Tivel herself is based in Portland, Oregon, the fact that she recorded her new album, The Question, with Shane Leonard and Brian Joseph in Eau Claire suggests the kind of folk pedigree to which she belongs.

‘Fenceline’ is our first taste of The Question, a follow-up to 2017’s Small Believer, and suggests that Tivel has picked up where she left off. Using her distinctively haunting writing, the song explores issues of gates and walls in their various guises. Such imagery is perhaps at its most pertinent since the end of the Cold War, and Tivel taps into the humanity that such partitions bisect, allowing more complex, human emotions to form. “This is a song about the divisions we create to keep each other out,” Tivel explains, “from fences and walls, to the gates of heaven. I guess I got to thinking a lot about what makes us different and what makes us the same, what breeds hatred and fear and what breeds understanding.”

You can find Anna Tivel’s music on her Bandcamp page.

Pizzagirl – body part

Pizzagirl is the recording project of Liverpool native Liam Brown, who has released a number of singles that exist within a distinct soundscape, with his bio describing how he marries “80s teen-film nostalgia, 90s dial-up internet culture and the modern meme age” to form his own style. Latest track ‘body part’ takes us a step further into the strange, bright world, opening in a lonely haze which soon morphs into a more traditional pop song. Brown’s baritone brings to mind Devon Welsh’s Dream Songs, and certainly add feeling, like watching your own nighttime hallucinations on VHS.

‘body part’ is out now and can be found on the pizzagirl Bandcamp page, along with all previous releases.

Satanic Ritual Abuse – Hurting (Adjective/Verb)

Satanic Ritual Abuse is the project of Josh Cohen, who you may know better as the person behind the label Memorials of Distinction. His debut album, Hurting, is due for release at the end of November, a collection of songs written between 2009 (when a 16 year old Cohen began making music) and 2014, which are only now seeing the light of day.

Cohen is currently drip-feeding singles to amp up anticipation, and the latest is the title track, a self-described “noisy, anti-doo-wop, anti-romance croon about feeling trapped in dysfunction, finding yourself snared in circles of emotional violence.” As all that suggests, this isn’t a bright and sunny pop song. Cohen’s vocals echo as if from a dark and clammy cavern, skittering drums crawling the walls in a kind of itchy and feverish paranoia. The whole thing lights up sporadically in the song’s second half with a blare of strangely joyous noise, just a glimpse of the unstable emotions that the album promises to provide.

Hurting will be released on the 30th November and you can pre-order it now from the Memorials of Distinction Bandcamp page.

Meat Wave – That’s Alright

Chicago punks Meat Wave have carved out a niche of intelligent noise, with records such as 2017’s The Incessant capable of raw emotion and release while also drawing from literary influences. Last month saw the release of a split 7″ single with fellow Chicagoites Lifestyle, and Meat Wave’s offering, ‘That’s Alright’, continues their careful balance between thoughtful and furious. However, the track does stand out from the rest of their discography for its (relatively) tender tone. A lullaby this is not, though the dark, dystopian atmosphere is at least used to highlight the brilliance of any beams of light.

The split is out now via No Trend Records and you can get it from the Meat Wave Bandcamp page.

The Phone Booth – Ballad of Indifference / Swim in Oceans

Santa Barbara band The Phone Booth are currently putting the finishing touches to their debut album, Roman. Though the record could not quite be said to be a concept album, it is structured around voicemail recordings from Steven Roman Gonzales, the best friend of the lead songwriter who passed away two years ago. Indeed, the album is something of a tribute to the lasting influence of Gonzales as a friend and artist, and marries cathartic indie rock with personal, intimate lyrics in a manner that feels at once angry, celebratory and nuanced.

In preparation, the band have put out two singles which introduce their sound. ‘Ballad of Indifference’ is a slow burning slice of lo-fi rock, the smoulder eventually drawing flame which quickly transforms into a hectic blaze of emotional release. ‘Swim in Oceans’ bursts into life from the ashes, switching the style to the breathless cool of No Age.

Katie Mullins – Crocuses

Katie Mullins didn’t think she was going to sing again, let alone record and release a new album. After haemorrhaging her left vocal chord for the third time, Mullins turned to meditation and experienced something of a miraculous healing, from which “digital triptych” Three Songs “flowed involuntarily […] during winter walks from one teaching gig to the next.” ‘Crocuses’ is one such example—joining contemporaries such as Mountain Man in crafting classic, hymn-like folk that draws its primary inspiration from the splendour and severity of the natural world.

Three Songs is out now and you can get it from the Katie Mullins Bandcamp page.

Troy Everett – Absent

Troy Everett is a songwriter and composer from Washington DC who is now based in Los Angeles. Serving as an introduction to his sound, ‘Absent’ is a swirling slice of ambient textures and frantic drums, pitching the track at the intersection of ambient, neo-classical and Burial-esque dubstep. Everett’s vocals emerge through this clamour with ethereal force, as though conjured by the motion of the instrumentation, leading to a style that is both compelling and haunting.

You can find Troy Everett on Soundcloud.

Nathan Ball -All Or Nothing

Splitting his time between Cornwall and London, Nathan Ball makes a charged brand of folk music that draws as much from War on Drugs as it does from songwriters such as Jose Gonzalez. His latest single ‘All or Nothing’ is proof, the confident, uplifting tempo balanced against a sensitive emotion. “It’s about trying to stay focused on something whilst feeling a weight of expectation on you,” Ball explains of the track. “And, instead of talking about it, becoming more introverted.”

You can hear more on Soundcloud, or find more information on the Nathan Ball website.

Balto – Bullshit Dream

The music of Balto has come in a variety of forms and styles, from the bluegrassy folk of October Road to the psych and pop inspired rock of Strangers, though never have Daniel Sheron and co. released what could be said to be an explicitly political song. However, with ‘Bullshit Dream’, this changes, the song coming to Sheron in one spontaneous moment and released as a stand alone single for election season.

The bullshit dream of the title is name-checked as socialism, though in reality the song re-positions the phrase to examine the wafer thin promise of American life, running through a frantic list of the banal and narcissistic trappings of contemporary existence, as well as the consequences of what Chekov might call such ‘moral illness’. The result is the bizarre and the ridiculous placed alongside the chronic afflictions of our time, all raced through with Dylan-esque abandon.

“Snapchat, pornhub, cyber sex
Electronic cigarettes
A spray tan on the president
He’s just working on a dream I guess
Slimfast, botox trophy wives
Pool boys, fuck toys, magic mikes
You’re so pretty, won’t you get in line
A face like that goes viral”

You can find Balto on Bandcamp.

Vender & The Cobras – Everything is Beautiful

Vender & The Cobras is a Chicago-based band led by Matt Beard (who also plays in Friends of the Bog). Last month saw the release of the outfit’s second album, The Lion’s Boy, and ‘Everything is Beautiful’ is a good introduction for the uninitiated. Because Vender & The Cobras is a personal and sincere album that’s nonetheless underscored by a certain wry wit—like two parts Bright Eyes to one part Sufjan. Within the wistful flow of ‘Everything is Beautiful’ lies cutting emotion and a hint of self-deprecation, though all warmed through by a persistent sense of hope.

The Lion’s Boy is out now and you can get it from the Vender & The Cobras Bandcamp page.

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