xmas Archives - Various Small Flames

Wake The Deaf’s Advent Calendar 2013

Jon Doyle — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 19:04:00 +0000

What better way to count down to Christmas than with good music? With no festive theme in particular, we’ll be sharing a song a day in the lead up to the 25th. We hope to feature a variety of genres so there is something for everyone.

Check back each day in December to find a song we think you will enjoy.

1st – Ages and Ages
2nd – Ricky Eat Acid
3rd – Nate Connelly
4th – Jess Williamson
5th – River Tiber
6th – Damien Jurado
7th – Palehound
8th – Whirr
9th – Glass Vaults
10th – House By The Lake
11th – Lyndsie Alguire
12th – Fyfe
13th – Princess Reason
14th – Water Liars
15th – Frog Eyes
16th – Sirs
17th – The Pollyanna Band
18th – Kalle Mattson
19th – Netherfriends
20th – Wake Owl
21st – Beat Radio
22nd – Emily Reo
23rd – Donovan Woods
Christmas Eve – Polyvinyl Compilation

Merry Christmas!

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WTD’s Advent Calendar – 20 – Old Ugly’s Christmas With Friends

Jon Doyle — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 11:12:00 +0000

Only five days until Christmas so I thought I’d share another festive release. Edmonton’s Old Ugly label have put together a Christmas album featuring some talented folks from variety of genres. The collection of songs is a combined effort between Old Ugly and their Cabin Songs offshoot so while there is your fair share of beautiful acoustic music there is also some nice ambient/experiemental stuff too. just compare the two selected tracks below to see the kind of variation on this release. It’s a lovely change from the usual awful covers that surface at this time of year.

Chris Tenz – Glimpses by OLD UGLY

Butterbones – Golden Rivers II by OLD UGLY

Download it for free on Bandcamp and enjoy while wrapping presents or cooking your turkey.

Tomorrow’s post won’t be from Canada, promise.

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SNOWBEAST – ▲ S N O W B E A S T ▲

Jon Doyle — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:26:00 +0000

SNOWBEAST, from Vancouver, are certainly an interesting band to listen to. Their EP, ▲ S N O W B E A S T ▲, is swirling concoction of musical styles that is hard to pin down. There are relaxed surf rock baselines (‘Backyards and Alleyways’), Vampire Weekend-esque African influences (‘No One Wants to Live in the Ghetto’), electronic beats and fuzzy repetitive choruses (‘A Howl Like a Wolf’) and in-your-face shouty bits (‘Snowbeast’ and ‘Somewhere, Ontario’). It’s all there, waiting for your attention. Just compare the two tracks below to see what I mean.

You can stream/buy the EP from their Bandcamp page and see a video inspired/taken from the film of the same name below.

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WTD’s Advent Calendar – 15 – Loraine

Jon Doyle — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:23:00 +0000

Loraine are a new instrumental post-rock band out of Atlanta. Their EP, An Autumn Evening, was self-recorded and produced in several bedrooms but you would never guess it from the full encapsulating sound. I’m not an expert of the intricacies of post rock but this sounds very nice to me; gradual build ups, soaring guitars, crashing cresendos, all of which manage to invoke whatever it is in the human brain that reacts to this sort of music with goosebumps and that familiar soaring feeling. What more could you want? Listen below to see what I mean.

After Everything, More Than Anything by Loraine

The EP is available on a pay-what-you-can basis over at Bandcamp. The lovely artwork is by Leonid Afremov.

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WTD’s Advent Calendar – 9 – Portage

Jon Doyle — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 10:20:22 +0000

Portage are back with their second* LP, Landings. I’ll admit now that this is the first I’ve heard of the Minnesotans (kudos to Adam for changing this), and I like what I’m hearing. If you enjoy rock & roll that is sometimes bluesy, sometimes contemplative, and sometimes finger-clicking-foot-stomping, I think you will too.

Check out the first track from the album below and buy the whole thing on Bandcamp.

Getting Easier by Portage

*Be sure to check out their debut too, also available on Bandcamp.

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WTD’s Advent Calendar – 8 – Sam Moss

Liam Doyle — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 17:00:07 +0000

Today’s feature is on an album which was released over a year ago but which escaped my attention until now. It is also the first (and quite possibly the last) Christmas music to feature in our Advent Calendar. The record, entitled ‘Tree and Star: A Christmas Album For Solo Electrified Guitar’, is courtesy of Vermont’s Sam Moss (who I previously wrote about here). The title serves as a pretty accurate description of the album, it’s just Moss on his guitar playing sparse instrumental interpretations of everyone’s favourite Christmas songs. I’m not sure it’s going to kickstart a Christmas party but it’s simple and reserved and very good. If you hurry (as there’s only 3 remaining as I’m writing this) you can get a CD of the album for $10 (£6.25) or download it for just $4 (£2.50) over at Moss’ Bandcamp page.

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WTD’s Advent Calendar – 7 – Reuben Hollebon

Jon Doyle — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 09:58:00 +0000

Reuben Hollebon, from Norfolk, UK, is a folk songwriter with a diverse sound. His new EP, Clutch, is a blend of fingerpicked guitar and other jangly instruments that pick up the pace and turn regular songwriter material into a much fuller sound. He is equally adept at hushed and haunting melancholic outpourings (‘Seven’), and more upbeat tracks that skip along with foot-tapping energy (‘Home’). A lazy comparison would be Keaton Henson’s ’Dear…’ meeting a folk rock band like Peter Wolf Crier. Listen to the first track on the release below.

Clutch is available to stream on Bandcamp and is due out on 10th December on Akira Records.

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WTD’s Advent Calendar – 3 – Ljóst

Jon Doyle — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 10:43:57 +0000

Ljóst, a two-piece from Arizona, make atmospheric music that can’t really be pigeonholed into post-rock. Their self-titled EP will show you why. Sure, ’þögn’ has that slow build up to sparkling guitar crescendo so familiar to the genre but ‘Stars’, while still starting slow and accelerating to a climax, has clear folk leanings, and the spookily restrained ‘Fang’ ticks none of the boxes.

Buy it on Bandcamp.

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WTD’s Advent Calendar – 1 – Annie Dressner

Jon Doyle — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 17:52:05 +0000

Annie Dressner is a songwriter from NYC that has moved to the UK to create her album Strangers Who Knew Each Other’s Names. Her music is a blend of traditional folk/Americana vocals and conversational lyrics. Think Zooey Deschanel covering a Bright Eyes song.

But please don’t judge her on cheap comparisons alone. Listen to my favourite track below and head over to her Bandcamp page to hear/buy the album, or get it from her own store.

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Wake The Deaf’s Advent Calendar

Jon Doyle — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:51:00 +0000

Join us as we share 25 of our favourite new (at least to us) artists over the month of December, one per day. There’s no particular order or theme, just good music in the countdown to Christmas.

1st – Annie Dressner
2nd – Knots
3rd – Ljóst
4th – Fantasy Rainbow
5th – Timid, The Brave
6th – BLACK ZEROS
7th – Reuben Hollebon
8th – Sam Moss
9th – Portage
10th – Angel Olsen
11th – Moon Ate The Dark
12th – Challenger
13th – ScotDrakula
14th – Dusted
15th – Loraine
16th – Husky
17th – SNOWBEAST
18th – Mike Tod
19th – Stalwart Sons
20th – Old Ugly’s Christmas With Friends
21st – Nils Frahm’s Screws Reworked
22nd – The Holidays Don’t Have To Be So Rotten
23rd – The Tree Ring
CHRISTMAS EVE – Fred Woods

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