And the usual disclaimer applies, there were too many great tunes to include them all, so treat this more as a selection rather than a comprehensive round-up of the year. Enjoy.

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – Constellation

“You’re used to quiet words
and so am I
so I’ll just whisper“

Tiny Ruins – Dream Wave

“always a dream wave drawing you off track
dream wave, a coast calls you back“

Magana – Get it Right

“You were red but my gold turned you green
So you stood there lying through your teeth“

deer scout – holy ghost

“I could find a new kind of devotion
I could know you by another name“

Hovvdy – Meg

“Speak because i know you feel a certain way
but ill pass it along anyway“

Bedbug – Leaving Town, Moving to a National Park <3

“I’m too young for that anyways
everyone’s just tryna skip town these days“

Soccer Mommy – Skinned Knees

“i left
burning streets in tennessee
for a north east feel“

Mitski – Your Best American Girl

“Your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me
But I do, I finally do“

LVL UP – Hidden Driver

“God is peeking
softly speaking
fucking everything
until I slowly do see“

Lisa Prank – Starting Again

“You say you’re not still drinking
you just started again
I swear I don’t still miss you
I just started again“

Dicktations – Dicktations Forever

“It’s hard to say when I first figured out something was wrong“

Joyride! – Running on Empty

“Young and running on empty
you said that you thought I looked pretty with my makeup on
so I went home and I took it off“

Sioux Falls (now Stranger Ranger) – Dom

“Spending too much time on the internet
are you ok? you don’t seem very into it“

Camp Cope – Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams

“It’s the trophy wives raising trophy wives raising children on TV
Scared of people like you and me
Just don’t ask questions you’ll sleep peacefully
We will not go out in silence and we will not go quietly“

Fake Boyfriend – BUMTOWN

“Why do I cling to the threads that mean the least?“

Outer Spaces – I Saw You

“I saw you, a shedding snake“

American Enthusiasm – Holy Wow

“Make a note of all the words I cough out on my death bed“

The Hotelier – Soft Animal

“Fawn, doe, light snow
Spots on brown of white 
make me believe that there’s a God sometimes“

Beach Slang – Future Mixtape for the Art Kids

“We’re not lost, we are dying in style
We’re not fucked, we are fucking alive“

CHUCK – Death

“You hold on to whatever kin
that keeps on breathin’ in
that keeps you from driftin’
like paper in the wind“

You Won’t – Ya Ya Ya

“So your daddy was a poltergeist
sent your little sister screaming down the hallway
well I don’t know about the afterlife,
but I can help you to forget about the old days“

Mountain Almanac – Kids Playing Outside

“Saturday morning, cartoon time, let’s go“

Basement Revolver – Johnny

“Please just stay away from Johnny
cos I love him understand“

Boy Scouts – Did You See My Cry

“walking walmart shopping center
i’d never been better
on my own two feet
i guess“

Free Cake For Every Creature – First Summer in a City

“i’ll be singing when i’m 90
climb a tree to see
what tastes to smokey sweet
first summer in a city“

Haley Heynderickx – First I’m Sorry

“Mother knows I drown in my lies
Father knows I learned my lesson the second time.
Ask me where I’ll go I’ll say do not know
No, I do not know“

ARMS – Missing

“I don’t want to force your hand
but wishes disguised as plans will never do
Like the king of deathbed regrets
and the queen of last requests could ever choose“

Naps – Bad Vibrations

“Can’t stand up to the world’s expectations
I’m living on a bad bad vibration“

The Washboard Abs – Day Draws Nearer

“Your backyard
you talked to God
about the heartbreak you forgot“

Trace Mountains – Forgiveness

“old dirt you thrown underneath the stair
is right there
right where you said i’d tremble and stare
at the vast unforgiving spirit lurking there
but it takes time, to realise forgiveness“

Nassau – Desert Blues

“I took a marker and wrote your number on the bathroom stall
That’s just my way of reaching out cos I’m too proud to call“

Adeline Hotel – Near You

“Sleep better tonight
In the heat of red moon light
Whatever we are, whatever we’ll be
I used to live near you, you used to love near me“

Simon Balto – Foothills

“I’ve never been a faithful man
I’ve always been too proud to pray
But won’t you come out to the foothills
And hold me together for one more day“

Cloud Cult – No Hell

“There’s no use in running unless you run like heck
The best things we’ve learned we learned from the wreck
Jesus coming back as a woman this time
Handing out hugs in the clinic line
Someone tell the devil we don’t need no hell
We’re all pretty good at beating up ourselves“

Slingshot Dakota – Break

“And in the end there’s two of us
it was always two of us“

Good Good Blood – No Sadness/Furrowed Brow

“We’ll have no sadness/furrowed brow
There is no shame in dying now
I said from my death bed“

Ben Seretan – Bowl of Plums

“My friends call me when they’re feeling low
We talk quietly for hours and walk the room
Flowers growing in a coffee can
Our lives are wonderful and sad sometimes“

Chris Bathgate – Big Ghost

“I got a Big Ghost
of static in my throat
from coming up too short“

Wintersleep – Metropolis

“The man that you are, the man you were, the man you left
Turn into stars, flowing in through the wilderness“

Mothers – Lockjaw

“I don’t want your kind words
I want your ghost inside a thimble“

Car Seat Headrest – Drunk Driver / Killer Whales

“You build yourself up against others’ feelings
And it left you feeling empty as a car coasting downhill
I have become such a negative person
It was all just an act
It was all so easily stripped away“

Space Mountain – Never Lonely

“Met a friend today
And im feeling okay
She’s in my head
I’m never lonely“

Hallelujah the Hills – What Do the People Want?

“What do the people want?
The people don’t know what they want“

Mount Moriah – Calvander

“Carry on and on and on on
With your cosmic reach
Newport river whispered fate
Spells cast with every crashing wave
Neon lines and a new name“

Frederick Squire – Bike Thief

“The lights are on
And we are sinking way down in our chairs
We don’t say much of anything
Even though there’s still a lot to say“

Kevin Morby – We’ve Been Here Before

“Running my mouth off at the storm
Yelling, “man, what the hell did you do that for?“

Sam Moss – Vertebrae

“Did you watch my vertebrae
Slendering out
Or did you watch your own?
Stretching skin over the bone
I’ve grown
Learning to be proud“

Arlo Aldo – House & Home

“O’er the mountains out past the trees
where the grasslands, meet the sky
you’ll find me singin’ my songs
with my lover in my mind“

Will Johnson – Nervousness Fangs

“Jesus what a mess
what they’re all selling
and what’s being sold“

Jeremy Squires – After All

“There’s an old painting of Jesus on a wall
and a tapestry that hangs by a cross
that weighs heavy on my shoulders now and then
I get caught up with why the things we love ain’t never last“

The Dead Tongues – Stained Glass Eyes

“Fifth wind brought a howl got me in a storm
I saw a lighthouse spinning at the edge of the world
like looking through a window to the day
I was born“

Kyle Morton – Automatic

“It’s my head, it’s my head
breaking itself to make a thought but instead
Just some pornographic images to stave off my death
It’s all automatic“

Keaton Henson – Alright

“Obviously
My wounds are open to see
But don’t take them seriously
I’ll be fine“

Talons’ – Work Stories

“Is this what the end of the world looks like?
Or is this just life?“

Jordan O’Jordan – A Lonely Road

“There are truths we may or may never know friend
and that is the point“

Mal Devisa – Sea of Limbs

“Honey-lover
keeper of the bees
Soft-spoken
seldom-seen“

Young Jesus – Hinges

“I’m pretty sure I’m a kind of collection of things
scattered throughout the backyard
under the moon
pulling weirdo slow dance moves
maybe always losing it a little
i am ashamed to believe in myself!“

Lung Cycles – For a While

“I feel like sharing
so I’ll press record
and I’ll tell you that I had a vision“

Sister Grotto – UNCANNY

“When we go, we go alone“

John K. Samson – Virtute At Rest

“You should know I am with you, know I forgive you
Know I am proud of the steps that you’ve made
Know it will never be easy or simple
Know I will dig in my claws when you stray“

If you missed it, you can see the list of our favourite albums of 2016 here, and stay tuned for our collection of the best name-your-price releases on Bandcamp next week.

The post Wake the Deaf’s Favourite Songs of 2016 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. Fire – Mal Devisa
2. wild fire/flowers – Trust Fall
3. Home Alone – Max Gardener
4. Your Love – Jeremy Squires
5. Veins – Camp Howard
6. How To Dance – Mount Moriah
7. Good Evening – Adeem the Artist
8. Shallow – Candy
9. Francie Cool – Francie Cool
10. Bad Vibes – Zebrafi
11. Piece of Ivy – Jake Bellissimo
12. Snow Day – Julia Brown
13. Alive – Dear Tracks
14. Ted the Radical Westy – Ravetank
15. ft1 – naps
16. We Have The Perimeter Surrounded – Hallelujah the Hills
17. Bullet in a Broken Gun – Oscar Lush
18. Color Peels – The Wandering Lake
19. Nowhere Nothing – Oceanator
20. Suagr Skull – The Washboard Abs
21. Of Wandering – Littler
22. bicycle – Twelve Gardens
23. Ya Ya Ya – You Won’t
24. Find You – Family Video
25. Jack Campbell (Quick Jammer) – Dingus.
26. Candy – Fish Food
27. It May Very Well Do – 100 Watt Horse
28. Life – Whim
29. Meg – Hovvdy
30. Piano Player – The Hotelier
31. Calvary – Chris Bathgate
32. Postman – Sam Moss

The post March 2016 Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The blurb has us hopeful here at WTD, promising “a reflection on the crumbling of youthful idealism in the face of the compromises and moral ambiguities of adulthood… and to the enduring, quixotic sense of shared purpose that has fuelled their creative partnership”. They also promise an evolution in sound from their début, what the band describe as a “raw, driving, cacophonous aesthetic”, which is apparently “the natural outgrowth of the four-legged noise circus You Won’t has been bringing to dive bars and rock clubs across the US for the past few years.”

Lead single ‘Ya Ya Ya’ holds up to expectation, the ramshackle indie pop reassuringly You Won’t, a sound that sounds as fresh and distinctive now as it did back in 2012. The nicely strange lyrics explore feelings of personal worries and failings from the viewpoint of a concerned narrator, the track ultimately hopeful of some better future.

“So your daddy was a poltergeist
sent your little sister screaming down the hallway
well I don’t know about the afterlife,
but I can help you to forget about the old days”

Revolutionaries is due to be released on the 29th of April via Extraneous Music LLC / Meddling Kids. Stay tuned to the You Won’t Bandcamp page for updates.

The post You Won’t announce new album and unveil single, Ya Ya Ya appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Brooklyn’s Radical Dads are about to release Universal Coolers, their third album and the follow up to last year’s Cassette Brain EP. The band, comprised of ex-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah drummer Robbie Guertin, Chris Diken and guitarist/vocalist Lindsay Baker, draw inspiration from the guitar rock of heavyweights such as Pavement and Yo La Tengo, creating a hook-laden, melodic brand of twin guitar (zero bass) indie rock.

Opener ‘Absurd Tests’ sets the tone, a sub-two minute shot in the arm of carefree and ramshackle DIY rock. ‘Tomorrow’s Trash’ is all squealing guitars and Baker’s volatile delivery, while ‘Slammer’ is a blend of spiky rock and romantic dream pop, with some pretty odd (but funny) lyrics. “Snakes on the sidewalk / all over my block / I won’t go outside any more/ Good lord, they’re up to my front door”.

‘In the Water is a song about the repression of the masses, “And the negative creeps keep coming around / piling up as we’re shutting down / you can’t see it from the surface you can’t identify its purpose / its in the water”, but my current favourite track is ‘Don’t Go’, which has a really great, catchy chorus of, “Prepared pianos in our room / the kids come up to dance in the doom / new signs will soon appear in space / don’t worry dear, don’t go away”.

The title track features a simple shout-along chorus of “Universal Coolers!”, with ‘verses’ comprised of lots of squally noise and mumbled vocals. The yelled chorus trend continues on ‘Desperado Dude Lens’ (“Your name on a plaque at the world’s end / white hairs flying back in the wind / he’s going up the trail / he’s got that ex-explorer desperado dude lens”), before ‘Flight To NZ’ shakes things up with an almost spoken word account of the titular flight to New Zealand (“hey we were going away / headed for a new place / sitting on the tarmac / a couple, a couple of former sad sacks”), complete with roaring guitars and slamming drums.

The final two tracks are DJ Pancake, with its time-bomb percussion, and Cassette Brain (which you may recognise from the aforementioned EP), which is all low rumbling guitars and a pounding drum beat, and, at its core a love song. “We won’t get swept away / you will clear the toxic sludge from my head / we’ll go to the library and hammer away each day we’re not dead”. Basically, Universal Coolers is a really great indie rock record and if you find you can’t enjoy it then perhaps there is something wrong with you. I firmly believe that the “virtues” of innovation and trendsetting are majorly over-rated. If every band poured as much love, care and carefree energy into their records then the world would be a better place, both musically and otherwise.

You can order Universal Coolers now via Old Flame Records (who have also released albums by Shark?, Swimming and You Won’t), on either CD or limited edition blue or black vinyl.

P.S. Here’s a fun fact for you – The artwork was produced by Steve Keene, the prolific Greenpoint artist who designed some pretty famous album covers such as Pavement’s Wowee Zowee.

The post Radical Dads – Universal Coolers appeared first on Various Small Flames.

I’ve reproduced all of this from his Bandcamp page because it feels a suitable way to convey my thoughts on the album. Much of the garage/indie rock on Bandcamp is quick and loose, glorious in it’s sloppiness, the transient goodtime of a laidback slacker summer encapsulated in lo-fi music. The name (vaguely summer-y) and artwork (quite summer-y) meant that I judged this as another of those albums. What I found was something different. Something tighter, more careful. Something that seems a labour of love rather than a throwaway let’s-have-a-good-time-while-we-are-alive pop-punk record.

The result is what I’d imagine a genetic experiment involving Justin Vernon and Josh Arnoudse (of You Won’t) might produce. Heartfelt lo-fi rock with a folky edge, songs simple enough to sing along to but nuanced enough to demand you return.

(If I sound like I’m waxing lyrical then I don’t much care).

The album was released on tape via Thundercloud Records, although that was back in April and they have all been sold. Blame us for being so late. You can instead pick up a digital copy for whatever you can afford right here.

The post Swim Lessons – Winged and Wounded appeared first on Various Small Flames.