August 2016 Roundup

Liam Doyle — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 19:01:30 +0000

Another month, another whole host of positively brilliant music we’ve had the pleasure of writing about. If you missed anything, or maybe took a much needed internet-free holiday, then here’s a playlist featuring every artist we covered.

Tracklisting:

1) Lost (Season One) – Camp Cope
2) Johnny – Basement Revolver
3) Can U Hear Me Now? – Porridge Radio
4) All 4s – ARMS
5) If You’re on the Water – The Saxophones
6) In Ribbons – Psychic Shakes
7) a good pet – Real Swell
8) Breadcrumbs – The Perennials
9) Father is a Craftsman – Modern Studies
10) Aligning With the Sun – Dear Tracks
11) Cake Bath – Cloud Cover
12) Postdoc Blues – John K. Samson
13) Room For Love – Wooden Dinosaur
14) Crab Line – Trust Fund
15) 1 – Young Jesus
16) Life’s Rough – Serial Chiller
17) Never Lonely – Space Mountain
18) I Wish I Was Plural – Free Space
19) More Than Science – Sunshine Faces
20) Maya – Competition
21) Fireball – Albosel
22) It Hurts- A Day Without Love
23) That Went Well- Guppy
24) Kids Playing Outside – Almanac Mountain
25) Patience To Undo the Patience – Psalmships

You can check out the previous monthly roundups here, and our various other playlists and mixtapes here. Be sure to pop back throughout September and beyond to see what autumn brings!

The post August 2016 Roundup appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Song Premiere: Wooden Dinosaur – Room of Love

Liam Doyle — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 18:45:45 +0000

Wooden Dinosaur is the recording project of Michael Roberts from Brattleboro, Vermont. Roberts recently rallied his band members and recorded Wooden Dinosaur’s eleventh album, Working Weather, which is due later this year on Lost Honey Records (who also released Sam Moss’ Fable, a record Roberts played on).It’s an album that means a lot to its creator. Born during a struggle to fight off the demands of real life (which for Roberts means caring for animals and tending the garden of his homestead), it was a task just to find some time to create, especially as he was relying on the help of twelve (!) other musicians too. Add young children to the mix and it’s understandable that music might take a backseat. But Roberts obviously still believes it’s important to create, to express himself. As he explains:

“When the responsibilities of adult life start tugging at your limbs from all sides, you need to prove to yourself that this thing called music is still worth your time and money. In the past few years, I’ve had to work at this music thing harder than ever before in my life. I’ve sacrificed sleep to simply find a few minutes to sit down with a guitar and write, to make it to a gig or rehearsal.”

Today we’re delighted to unveil the first single from the album. ‘Room For Love’ is what the label describes as a “big band, rollicking, Americana-y thing”, which is pretty accurate as descriptions go. Roberts fronts the ensemble that also features percussion, fiddle and pedal steel, providing all the zip and bounce needed for a late-summer slice of romantic country. What’s more, like all the best folk music, Wooden Dinosaur manage to conjure that peculiar nostalgia related to rural living, stimulating the part of the brain or soul that still yearns for honesty and simplicity – working with our hands and living from the land.

“So I took your hand and you took mine,
hey I’ve found someone to work side by side.
We laid our prayers aside for the hammer and glove,
we built a room of love.”

Working Weather is set for release on Lost Honey Records on the 30th September. You can pre-order it on vinyl, CD or download from the Wooden Dinosaur Bandcamp page. The band are also playing some album release shows in October, so be sure to head along if you are in the area:

*with Sam Moss, Trevor Healy

Photo by Hart and Sol Photography

The post Song Premiere: Wooden Dinosaur – Room of Love appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Wooden Dinosaur Archives - Various Small Flames

August 2016 Roundup

Song Premiere: Wooden Dinosaur – Room of Love