HTMLflowers is the name under which Grant Gronewold operates. At least it’s one of them, anyway. He’s also one half of Brothers Hand Mirror, an act that I’ve championed to death over the course of this year and one that you certainly need to be listening to if you’re not already. More than just a sonic prodigy though, Gronewold also produces some astounding graphic art, the image featured to the right of this text being one of his more recent.
What I like most about Gronewold (aside from his incredible technical creativity) is that he lets his personality permeate his songs. His raps aren’t two-dimensional bootycall rhymes but the outpouring of an embattled soul. More than most any other artist I’ve listened to, Gronewold’s heart is visibly in his music. The most recent personal deluge is ‘Almost Living’, a track that explores life with cystic fibrosis, a condition that sees him spending a great deal of time in hospital. It’ll feature on a forthcoming record he’ll be releasing that will be thematically centred around living with chronic illness. It’s worth taking the time to watch the video if you haven’t already, it’s damn compelling.
Html Flowers – Almost Living from Ryan Alexander Lloyd on Vimeo.
If you’re open to earnest, left-of-center hipster-hop then this is for you. He was recently interviewed over at Crawlspace and had some seriously interesting/candid responses to share with the world. Below is the explanation he gave for the seemingly bizarre moniker HTMLflowers.
“Now, HTML Flowers… I want to become everything I think I can be in terms of an artist. The name HTML Flowers is like – my dad died a while ago and I never really knew him, and we found out nine months after he died via an internet obituary. The website gave you the choice of lighting a virtual candle or leaving some flowers for him, so that’s where HTML Flowers comes from. I picked that name because I wanted a name that reminded me of how pathetic my father’s life and death were, because he was a really isolated person who couldn’t connect with people and he had a lot of addiction problems as well, and he was just someone who was so self-centred and who ruined any chance of family and love for himself.”
Give us something pretty”, you cried. “We want something gorgeous and we want it now.”
I didn’t appreciate your demanding tone but the only thing I hate more than a sense of over-entitlement is your disappointed face, so I logged on to the world wide web online and I came across this little gem, a Sydney gent who flies by the name Mammals. Guy has this For Emma, Forever Ago thing going on that works a real treat for a pair of sore ears and tired eyes. ‘Carried’ is the most recent of his singles and available to you as a free download. I must’ve listened to this and the rest of the pearls you can hear via his bandcamp dozens of times now with still no end in sight. A true pleasure. Mammals was a recent finalist in FBi’s Northern Lights competition so if you’re interested in bragging rights then you’d probably best get on this before the rest of the world does. Attention is already being paid. Enjoy.
Ugh. It’s happening again. I’m getting clingy. I never mean to, it’s just that some artists have talent in racks upon racks and what am I meant do about it and who are you tell me what’s right and wrong get off my back I’m doing the best I can. This time it’s Oscar Key Sung whose EPs and work with both Oscar + Martin and Brothers Hand Mirror have been impeccable. I have here the perfect double for you, a combination of two electronic maestros whose tandem output is better than the work of either one alone. Thomas William has provided the original beat via his gorgeous Andromeda before Oscar Key Sung has walked all over the thing with lush vocals and a straightening out of the beat. EVERYONE WINS. It’s the first track from Thomas William’s Deccan Technicolour Remix album which sees the likes of Oscar Key Sung, Option Command, Dro Carey and plenty of other Aussie beatmakers applying their vibez to Thomas William’s already strong record. There’s also this brand new collab between William and Guerre which you’d do well to take heed of.
There’re a few tracks presently on my mind so decisions have had to be made. I’m going to run with an international track to start with, the first cut from Local Natives’ sophomore release. The album will be called Hummingbird and come January you’ll have it in your sweaty yet delicate palms.
Do you like it? What do you think? Lots of reverb? No reverb? I’d love to hear your opinions so please leave them in the comment box below. For one reason or another it’s crucial that you tell me what you think. Don’t bother dwelling on it too deeply, just spew forth your least considered response. Ideally, I’d like to hear that ‘this is not as good as something else’ or that the drumming is ‘sick’. Better still, why don’t you just tell me about your day or CTRL-V whatever you’ve currently got cached on your clipboard. Nothing is beneath me!
Sick drumming though. Breakers is a step up in terms of production but it’s a step back for songwriting with an over-reliance on pretty wails and swelling noise. Don’t get me wrong, I like both those things, but the first LN record had that and more. Still a great track but here’s hoping that this is the radio release from the record.
Sorry about all that before. I actually really like hearing your opinions. You’re alright.
If you’re at all familiar with indie-award-winning-pseudo-literary music blog Sound Doctrine you’ll know that we don’t do a whole bunch of giveaways, because we’re a combination of underfunded and uninspired. Also, there’s not really a ‘we’, it’s just me. Or I, or whatever. Anyway, it’s not that I don’t want to give you good things it’s just you’re better than a free ticket to Busby Marou or a promotional copy of the new Mumford record. So in celebration of getting some cool guy memorabilia made up for myself (see above) I’ve got my hands on a few very, very, very (very) limited edition split EPs by The Middle East / Sleeping In Trains (see below). I’ve got fifteen of these to give away in a week’s time when I’ll physically pulling names out of a literal hate. Maybe a snap back cap, maybe a bowler, this is yet to be decided.
These were first available at their shows about six or seven years back. I got mine when they played a set at Blackstump (I know right!?) and to this day, the four Middle East tracks from this split are #2, #5, #6, #7 in my all-time most played songs. That first set blew my mind just as they did every subsequent time I saw them on stage.
Let’s not underplay the tracks from Sleeping In Trains though. Their side of the split is outrageously good. Sleeping In Trains was the band from which Mark Myers would emerge to join The Middle East (and his own project The Starry Field) so it’s a safe play to assume it’ll be king kong.
THE MIDDLE EAST
1 The Bats and the Brave
2 At Home In Our Convictions
3 The Streets
4 Gold
SLEEPING IN TRAINS
5 Rabbit Hole
6 Tie your Heart
7 Away
8 Cameron
9 Sweet Dreams
