Tracklisting:

1. prairie creek redwoods state park, ca – bedbug
2. See the World – Kidsmoke
3. Motion | Sickness – Good Good Blood
4. Downtown – Gabriella Cohen
5. Automatic – Kyle Morton
6. Throwing Roses – Eva Foote
7. vildt+sødt – Eugenia
8. Dicktations Forever – Dicktations
9. Fallen Robin – Wild Leaves
10. Palms – Native Other
11. Not Your Prey – Squirrel Flower
12. Luna – Akira Kosemura
13. Made of Gold – Albert af Ekenstam
14. She Floats – Van-Anh Nguyen
15. Dead Radiance – Ego Death
16. Sponge State – Sløtface
17. Black Mass – Wooden Maria
18. Float – Silver Liz
19. glass machines discovering water – Corvus B.
20. Longshot – The Furious Season
21. The Same Chords – Tiger in My Tank
22. Let’s Go to the Beach – Sophie Longshaw
23. Blue Moon – Many Voices Speak
24. One Footed – MAH KEE OH
25. Country Room – Static Animal
26. The Ground Before Him – Drowning By Numbers
27. Refugee – Cameron James Henderson
28. down (kenny) – ever
29. Strange Tones – Youceff Kabal
30. Don’t Let Love Go By – Golden Suits
31. Sit and Stare – Tiny Dinosaurs
32. Settle Down – Dark Mean
33. telegraph ave. – Betty Becky
34. WEN – glider
35. Nicholas – Holiday Oscar
36. Lyse Striber – True Strength
37. Careless – Stationary Suns
38. Vulnerable – Mark Timmins
39. On & On – Reuben Hollebon
40. Recoiled – William Ryan Fritch
41. Lonely Girl – Praything
42. Drinking the Same Water – Katie Spencer
43. Get It Right – Magana
44. Cheer Up Free Your Mind – Jenny O.

That was October 2016, and if you like what you see/hear, why not check out the other months too?

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

‘A Boat for Land & Water’ opens and sets the tone for the entire release, a deep, dramatic folk song that seems to emerge from some timeless place. Muto’s voice is no small part of the feeling, so rich and bottomless that it comes off slightly ominous, a kind of unmasked soul-singing which hits you in the chest. ‘Anastasia’ follows a similar pattern, the instrumentation restrained and constant and Muto’s vocals booming above, while ‘Black Mass’ finds gentle guitar and percussion play into hypnotic repetition, the vocals moving and mournful.

“It’s unnatural
You’re oil on water
Oh so gradual
It’s closing in on us
I’ve no conscience at all
This must be comeuppance
You’re collateral
I’m throwing you under”

The release closes with the title track, another stark, bleak folk song, this time complemented by plaintive violin and sparse percussion. The track gathers momentum across its run time, the vocals rising and the instrumentation gathering around them as though swelling at Muto’s command, the booming voice of some medieval magus conjuring the elements to display his emotions.

“So at last you’ve come
Hallowed by the dawning sun
A silent salangane.
Hound at either side
Wire coats and clouded eyes
Treading ever by”

Well-Wisher is out now and you can get it on a pay-what-you-can basis from the Wooden Maria Bandcamp page.

The post Wooden Maria – Well-Wisher appeared first on Various Small Flames.