“fire walk with me
things aren’t what they seem
audrey horne your such a dream
come and dance with me”

We also get an acoustic version of the track, as well as a similar take on a song called ‘Scully’, which you don’t need me to tell you is about everyone’s favourite sceptical FBI agent. By the way, the band have a full-length album in the works called Be Kind To Me, which is due for release in September. You can listen to two songs right now, including ‘wait for you’, a cool slice of lolling bedroom pop that opens with a quote from Heathers, “If you were happy all the time then you wouldn’t be a human being, you’d be a gameshow host”.

You can get tv luv right now on a pay-what-you-want basis at the Teen Love bandcamp page. You can also pre-order Be Kind To Me ahead of its release on the 11th of September.

The post Teen Love – tv luv appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Fanpage is difficult to pin down in a distinct genre. Imagine combining the DIY bedroom poppers’ lyrical style with a punky delivery and shoegazy soundscapes, and then playing the whole thing a few clicks too slow, and you will be getting somewhere near what Trip sounds like. The result is an atmospheric release that is at once both sad and slightly creepy, with the angsty croon and eerie languidity of the Julee Cruise stuff on Twin Peaks.

You can grab the release on cassette or digitally over at Fox Food Records. While you are there, have a browse of their other releases, including some good stuff from NEWFOUNDLAND and Oh, Rose.

The post Fanpage – Trip appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Indelicate takes the unsettling tones of the single and runs with it, putting the ‘dream’ into dream pop. Opener ‘Porcelain’ sets out the stall – a strange, off-kilter song that simmers away without ever boiling over, and is back by what can only be described as understated moans. If a song could ever be described as haunted it would be this one.

The lyrics across the whole album are abstract and unsettling. Their fragmented nature means that you are constantly picking up images and storylines in brief snippets, leaving you to try and piece together something coherent. Kind of like when your brain picks out faces in cloud and wood grain, you unconsciously form a narrative thread or ‘complete picture’, or rather a collection a bizarre Lynchian scenes that slowly merge to form a complete picture. It’s like taking a thousands of weird screenshots from Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet and Eraserhead to make one giant mosaic that is super-weird. Hyper-Lynchian.

You can buy the album over at Bandcamp.

The post Baby Cages – Indelicate appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The album’s title is a direct reference to this period in Stratton’s life (the Twin Peaks reference a result of repeated bed-ridden viewings during his recovery). The Gray Lodge represents a midway point between the White and Black Lodges which serve as epicentres of good and evil in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. “What struck me about what I was going through was that all the notions of good and bad and pain and pleasure, darkness and lightness, were all gone,” he says. “They no longer made any sense to me because my frame of reference was completely different. The Gray Lodge was the hospital for me, and the Northwest in general―this really gray, dark, rainy place where I was going to heal. The album title is about coming out of that experience feeling a bit wiser than I was before.”

Musically, Gray Lodge Wisdom is a worthy addition to Stratton’s impressive canon. His finger picked guitar and beautiful string arrangements are present, as are his woderfully eloquent lyrics. The album also contains some very nice guest appearances. Tamara Lindeman (aka The Weather Station) provides a guest verse on the title track, and Hollie Fullbrook (Tiny Ruins) sings on ‘The Arrow Darkens’. The sound is subtle, gentle and reflective, not mournful nor angry or jubilant.

But the legacy of the album is its impact on Stratton’s attitude towards his disease. This is not an album based entirely on the pain and suffering of that period of his life. Rather it is a portrait of a young man feeling his way into the world. Yes his disease has left an indelible mark on him, but he refuses to be defined by the disease alone, and is now attempting to hang on to the positive effects it had on him. “I feel like I have to choose the things to hold onto that I want to remember and that I want to continue to make a part of who I am,” he explains. “Coming out on the other side of this and having an immense feeling of gratitude is a pretty powerful thing.” The album is one of acceptance: a recognition that suffering and death are part of life, and a conviction that these things should not define our existence.

“Why sing about death when I almost died? Why sing about life when I’m still alive?”

You can buy Gray Lodge Wisdom right now via French label Talitres

P.S. You can still get If You Wait Long Enough the excellent benefit album that was put together to help Stratton pay his medical bills.

The post Will Stratton – Gray Lodge Wisdom appeared first on Various Small Flames.

While I’m far from an expert in London’s noir rock scene, and would be therefore could be oblivious to any number of similar groups or artists that adopt this simultaneously sensual and creepy style, I am going to embrace my potential ignorance and say that Shadow of a Dream is a delightfully different EP that is well worth your time.

‘Atmosphere’ is a word being bandied about to describe the EP and you can see why. There seems to be an element of showmanship in all aspects of the act, from the dramatic instrumentation and vocals to the sartorial state of the band and the associated artwork (see the poster below for an example). They seem intent on forming something more than a regular touring band, an image, something recognisable as theirs.

The Lynch reference is a good one. I can imagine Newman performing on a stage draped in red velvet while James and Donna fall out/make up, Bobby and Mike get in over their heads in some scheme and Agent Cooper communicates with the mysterious giant, the music climaxing and falling into lulls at odd moments while the audience either seem hypnotised by the song or else completely unaware there is anyone on stage at all.

For those of you that are into Halloween and that sort of thing, I’m sure you would find a song on Shadow of a Dream that would fit nicely onto a playlist.

The EP is to be launched at a Halloween show in London, with further details on the poster below.

The post JB Newman & the Black Letter Band – Shadow of a Dream appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The two Jurado covers are from Slowcoustic’s fantastic Covers Project, the Rufus Wainwright one is from Pickwick’s Fuel/Friends Chapel Session and the Dire Straits cover was included after reading an article on the late Matt Ryd on Cover Lay Down. I have no idea what is going on in the Mac DeMarco track.

Tracklisting:

1. Falling (Twin Peaks Theme) – Field Mouse
2. You Took Your Time (Mount Kimbie Cover) – Julia Losfelt
3. Talamak (Toro y Moi Cover) – Houses
4. Thinking About You (Frank Ocean Cover) – Typhoon
5. Heysátan (Sigur Rós Cover) – Leif Vollebekk
6. No Other Love (Jo Stafford Cover) – Night Beds
7. Foolish Love (Rufus Wainwright Cover) – Pickwick
8. Beacon Hill (Damien Jurado Cover) – Small Houses (w/ Kevin Killen)
9. We All Make The Flowers Grow (Lee Hazelwood Cover) – Siskiyou
10. Father and Son (Cat Stevens Cover) – Johnny Cash & Fiona Apple
11. Indie Queens Are Waiting (Dan Mangan Cover) – Will Driving West
12. Fade Into You (Mazzy Star Cover) – J Mascis
13. Fit (Windmill Cover) – Snob Dylan
14. Don’t Let Them See You Cry (Manchester Orchestra Cover) – Ted Monday
15. Isolation (Joy Division Cover) – If Thousands
16. Medication (Damien Jurado Cover) – Wes Tirey
17. Drive All Night (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – The Swell Season
18. Romeo & Juliet (Dire Straits Cover) – Matt Ryd
19. Gypsy He-Witch (Jason Molina Cover) – Will Oldham
20. Medley (Various Covers) – Mac DeMarco

As always, the mix is intended as an introduction to these artists. I have put links in the tracklisting so you can explore a bit further. Enjoy!

The Covers Mix: Volume #9 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post The Covers Mix: Volume #9 appeared first on Various Small Flames.