Oft times the day seems long

Formed in London in 2012, Flowers have released two albums and an increasingly assured string of singles on labels like Fortuna Pop, Kanine, Oddbox, Cloudberry and Where It's At Is Where You Are. Those associations might give you an idea of where they are coming from: beautiful, effecting pop with echoes of C86 indie, post-punk pop, shoegaze, 90s 4AD and even a dash of early Slumberland Records. Far more than just a sum of their influences, they've dazzled pop fans around the world with their distinctively spiky songs and Rachel Kennedy's thrilling, ethereal vocals.

"Erik" is their contribution to Slumberland's SLR30 Singles Series and their first single since 2017. Written about their wayward pet hamster, it's a lovely tune that wouldn't sound out of place on a Belly record, a prime piece of the grungy, fuzzy pop that Flowers are so expert at creating. On the flip, "Candour" is deeper and slower, recalling early SLR groups like Black Tambourine and Henry's Dress, a connection that makes their participation in our singles series all the more appropriate.

Erik

Flowers - Erik

The second single off of our new album "Needs Help". To order, use the links below.

Download: theverymost.bandcamp.com/album/needs-help
CD: kocliko.bandcamp.com/album/kr17-needs-help
Cassette: lostsoundtapes.bandcamp.com/album/needs-help

Her Three - Year Old Laugh Or The Time The Microphones Played In My Living Room

By Sam Rakestraw: 
Imagine that you had access to a time machine. You could go anywhere, any place, at any point in time, and do whatever you please. I’m fairly confident there’s one place where most wouldn’t go: 2020. Maybe you’d want to fast forward to whenever this horrible time of Covid uncertainty and loss comes to an end and return to a life free from restrictions. Or, you could go back to the world before the viral trauma when your favorite local restaurant, amusement parks, or theaters weren’t closed. It’s hypothetical, but it’s fun to create that escape. One of Nashville’s newest indie rock bands, Nite Tides, makes that escape to the west coast of the Sunshine State with a 60s pop take in their debut track, “Forever Baby.”

Born and raised in San Diego, Ryan Poole made the musical pilgrimage to Nashville to work in recording. After the move, he spent the next seven years behind the soundboards in the studio mixing, editing, and largely working on other people’s music. Poole, however, found himself idling in the studio one Sunday this summer. 

“It was the Sunday afternoon after the Fourth,” Poole recounted. “I didn’t have anything to do. And I was telling myself, ‘Dude, don’t go into the studio; take a break from work.’ But I just got this bug in my head. I wanted to do a song that was kind of surfy for a long time,” he remembers.  

The retro sounding song about escaping to the Golden State beaches for surfing, away from a sickly world, influenced the project name, “Nite Tides,” as Poole brought some of his buddies on. What was intended to be a day of messing around in the studio developed into a 100-hour project.

“Forever Baby” begins with an overture of guitar. They sound violent at first, as the strings are aggressively tugged at. It’s almost like the section of The Beatles’ A Day in the Life, where the instruments sound as if they’re winding up for an ear-splitting roar. But that roar never comes. Out of the blue comes a tropical guitar and ukulele melody. Whatever image of a growing storm the listener had in their mind is now replaced by a Californian seaside with towering foaming white waves beckoning to them. Poole sings the verses of escaping the current time in a wavy trance-like tone similar to Day Wave. In fact, Poole cites the 2015 indie rock project as one of his influences towards creating this track. 

“The Enneagram test is a personality test like Myers Briggs or anything else,” says Poole, “My particular Enneagram is what they call a seven. Basically, the main thing regarding the seven is having fun, always busying yourself with activities, and trying to avoid pain by having fun and never stopping. This song hits that seven quality in a bunch of ways. Even after its creation, I couldn’t just take a Sunday off and be lazy. I had to do something fun and creative.”

Many of the song’s lyrics were an escape for Poole to write and sing. The rest of the song structures piano and guitar chords to versus that sing, “If I’m not sick and you’re not sick then we’ll head out west where the sunset lives and we’ll ride a wave forever baby.”Those lyrics were what  brought Poole into the studio. From there, he wrote more verses that built on the theme of escaping in the true nature of an Enneagram seven.

“Forever Baby” is Ryan Poole’s time machine to the coast, set in the 60s and a love letter to surfing. It’s an accurate estimate to say that Poole would take his time machine to the San Diego beach circa 1968. “With the idea of Nite Tides, that’s how I’m branding the whole thing. Creating this aesthetic of 60s beach surfers and classic cars (he drives a 64’ Thunderbird). It’s just very much a Beach Boys-like band, and we’re having fun with it. That’s not everything about me; it’s not my whole personality or my whole taste in music, but it is one big part. So, Nite Tides is this compartmentalized part of me—my retro beach side.” #surf #surfrock #janglepop #indiepop#bedroompop#lofi

Forever Baby

"Behind Bar // Sword" were recorded during the Mirror LP sessions with Jack Shirley at the Atomic Garden in 2016.

For now, digital sales of this release will be directed to CCF Wildfire Relief Fund.

Thank you for listening.
Jared, Michael, John
credits
released September 1, 2020

Balms are Jared Padovani, Michael Ascunsion & John Kolesnikow • All Songs Written by Balms • Recorded by Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden, East Palo Alto, CA • Mixed by Justin Gerrish at Hook & Fade Studios, Brooklyn, NY • Mastered by Justin Weiss at Trakworx, San Francisco, CA • Album Art by Naveed Ahmad

Behind Bars

Gwir

Tacsidermi - Gwir

Moon Palace first worked on Faultlines during the Covid-19 stay-at-home order in Washington state. Carrie Biell wrote the song in her basement studio and sent Jude the track on May 10, 2020. From there each member began writing parts at home and working together remotely to bring you this first single off their new EP.

Vocals and Bass | Carrie Biell
Back Up Vocals and Guitar | Cat Biell
Synth | Gabriel Molinaro
Drums | Jude Miqueli 
Artwork by Cat Biell
Lyrics by Carrie Biell
Recorded by Carrie Biell and Gabriel Molinaro
Co-produced by Gabriel Molinaro and Timothy Robert Graham
Mixed by Timothy Robert Graham at Beacon Mountain Recording in Seattle, WA
Mastered by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering in Seattle, WA

Faultlines

A longtime advocate of mental health awareness, Folklaur gets vulnerable and honest in "Seasonal" about the monotony of her depression and how it shifts form throughout the year and at different stages of relationships. This indie-folk song, with a hint of pop, features soothing vocals and glimmering guitars, closing out the album on an optimistic note. Although written in 2019, the song takes a new personal meaning for Folklaur and her brother, producer Justin Scott, after their father died by suicide in March. 2020 has been unimaginable on all accounts, but Folklaur reminds herself as much as others: "If I lived through it, then I will live through this." This song is an anthem to survival and the rebirth that can follow.

Lyrics by Lauren Elizabeth
Music by Lauren Elizabeth & Justin Scott

Lauren Elizabeth: vocals
Justin Scott: guitar, bass, synth
Zack Levine: drums

Produced by Justin Scott Amrhein
Mixed by Brian di Meglio of Cannon Found Soundation
Mastering by Toshihisa Tsuruoka of Saidera Mastering

Seasonal

The Deep

LST-117 THE VERY MOST "NEEDS HELP" cassette tape
Release date Oct 9, 2020

Needs Help is the fifth full-length album from The Very Most, which will be released on October 9, 2020 on Lost Sound Tapes and Kocliko Records. The title comes from the fact that Jeremy, the songwriter/main guy of the band, recorded a bunch of songs that, unbeknownst to him, were outside his vocal range. This required him to recruit a bunch of guest vocalists, including:

Melanie Whittle (The Hermit Crabs)
Kristine Capua (Tiny Fireflies)
Cristina Quesada (Elefant Records solo artist)
Gerri White (Arts & Leisure)
Sally Jati (Starry Eyed Cadet)
Gina Gregerson (Dirt Fishermen/Lovey)
Sarah Lowenbot (Thee Ahs)
Ashley Eriksson (LAKE)
Adam and Darcie
Eli Moore (LAKE)

Needs Help is also an appropriate title due to its mental health connotations (positive or not). The lyrics deal with everyday anxieties concerning parenthood, faith, fallible memories, internet nonsense, and how hard it is, ultimately, to change your life for the better. There's also a song about getting caught being choked up listening to Automatic For The People in your cube at work for the first time in 25 years.

The music itself falls broadly within indiepop, calling to mind at times Belle and Sebastian, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, or Camera Obscura, but is a bit more experimental and, perhaps, a bit darker than what you might expect from the genre. It includes synth textures, dream-pop influences, the requisite boy/girl vocals, and lush harmonies. It's the culmination of five pretty intense years of effort and it had to get made. We hope people enjoy it.

Needs Help

Buy Tapes

Mirasticles (feat. Ashley Eriksson)

Written by Lean Logic.
Produced by Nick Carlisle, mastered by Dick Beetham.
Taken from the forthcoming album "The Last Mirage", released 28th May 2021 on O Genesis Records.
Pre-save "The Last Mirage" on Spotify:
smarturl.it/thelastmirage-ps
Video for "Mother Machine" created by Nathalia Bruno (DRIFT.):
https://youtu.be/R8rK1bP6cVc

Mother Machine

Our upcoming album Love Lost will be out spring of 2022￼.
Follow us on Bandcamp: https://moonpalacemusic.bandcamp.com/follow_me