Pitstop: Landshapes

It's hard to believe it's been about three years since I was first introduced to British folk outfit Lulu and the Lampshades over on Eardrums Music. Since then the group has been more or less silently plying their trade and has most notably undergone a name change. They're now called Landshapes and in a rush of new-name fervor we're getting new tracks from the group. 

One of the most famous tracks from Landshapes in their Lulu and the Lampshades days was "Cups(You're Gonna Miss Me)"  named after their rather impressive ability to create percussive effects with a set of stackable cups and it seems they have no intentions of shelving the track anytime soon. Which is a relief since it's probably one of my favorite tracks to come from the group (Though in truth there were only about two others to choose from). Landshapes uploaded "Cups" to their bandcamp along with a new track by the name of "Cold Water" which is rather in-line with their brand of peppy harmony-laden chamber pop.  

There's also demo of a song called "Racehorse" which is rather reminscient of a slower, much less dance-y North Highlands. It's also the most down tempo track we've heard from the quartet so far so that's pretty exciting. It's not all sunshine and rainbow-tinted folk pop. Instead for "Racehorse", the quartet channel their more experimental side and really showcase some vocals. It's a refreshing change of pace, really. 

 

Alcoholic Faith Mission - "Running With Insanity"

One of the first blogs I ever read, much less with any sort of regularly (read: religiously) was Eardrums - a delightful indiepop blog based out of Norway that tended to focus on music no one much did over here in the states. It was through them that I discovered the Music Alliance Pact a collection of blogs from various countries that would put forward one song a month to represent their country on what turned out to be fantastic eclectic homegrown batches of delectable tunes and through it I found a host of wonderfully blogs to check out (I Guess I'm Floating being one of them, though it took me years to realize this).

When Eardrums dropped out I more or less forgot about the amazing MAP but this week when those awesome fellas at We Listen For You sallied forth to represent the United States, it was once again brought to my attention. While We Listen For You's pick of Houndmouth's "Penitentiary" was an excellent contribution, the track that really knocked me off my feet was Denmark's choice of Alcoholic Faith Mission's "Running With Insanity" from their fourth studio album Ask Me This. 

Dimly aware of Alcoholic Faith Mission's existence from their slot on the Old Flame Records roster it wasn't until the palatable strains of Thorben Seierø Jensen's rousing vocals over an equally earcatching and pleasant accordion in "Running With Insanity" that I was even remotely aware of how special this band is. It was love at first listen. 

And there's certainly plenty to love. Arguably the best track on the new album, "Running With Insanity" has just about anything you could want. A Jackson Pollock of vibrant tonal colors, it shifts gears quickly but always smoothly. A bit of chamber pop goodness one moment, a bristling jam the other, one thing remains constant:  An infectious energy and smile-inducing sense of wonder as the song's textural landscape shifts before you. A highly lovable gem and a perfect display of the awesome making its way out of Scandinavia. A surefire favorite.



(via We Listen For You)

 

Pitstop: Town Hall

My discovery of Brooklyn folk trio Town Hall was the dual effort of Sam over at Middle Class White Noise and Eardrums. While I had seen that Sam had wrote about them over on his blog when I saw them over at Eardrums I knew they were serious business.

And it's not hard to see why. Taking a peek at their five song Sticky Notes & Paper Scraps EP they released early this year, there type of songwriting is very fitting of their band name - bringing together a diverse set of characters with rich, intriguing stories. "Mary A. Longden", which might very well be my favorite track for the trio, pairs a sort of supernatural storyline with some very real, though superficial concerns.


"Mary A., Mary A Longden, the only woman who never died", the songs first lines quickly establishes the oddness of the tale before "'cause all the women want to know how she keeps her skin so smooth, what pills does she take, what creams does she use every morning" takes the wonder down to a realistic level. Grounds it in reality. And that's what makes the track - Town Hall pairs the strangeness of the characters with a kind of quirky acceptance of the fact. The tale is a bit tall but by acknowledging that, in the song no less, it shows that they're at least aware of it.




Town Hall make small town murmurs into a songwriting staple, elevating rather small actions into fully realized music moments. That along with the group's obvious instrumental talent and very distinct voices makes them highly worthy of your attention. Their debut full length Roots & Bells adds more to the trio's pre-established character studies. They may not be real but all of their tunes ring with an unmistakable aura of truth. Their writing is sincere, their tunes catchy, their characters well written, their instruments well-played and that's what makes Town Hall a pretty great folk act. So start paying attention because it doesn't look like they're going away anytime soon.

Watch: The School - "Where Does Your Heart Belong?" + "Never Thought I'd See The Day"

Yesterday I thought to myself "Whatever happened to The School? They're about due for another album, I think". Seems like someone heard my inner musings and decided to pay up. Today British retro pop group The School offers up "Where Does Your Heart Belong?", the second single from their new album Reading Too Much Into Things Like Everything. The follow up to 2010's Loveless Unbeliever, seems like the new album is a continuation of the group's nostalgia-fueled love ballads. Which is more of a feat than anything- to resist the urge to royally shake things up or experiment with your winning formula too much. It might sound like a lack of risk-taking or stagnation but just listen to "Where Does Your Heart Belong?" or lead single "Never Thought I'd See The Day" and you'll anything but. Reading Too Much Into Things Like Everything seems to be more of the lovelorn ballads with top shelf arrangements that Liz and her crew do oh so well. That's not a bad thing. Not by a long shot. Watch the videos for the singles below.


"Where Does Your Heart Belong?":


"Never Thought I'd See The Day":


Seems like The School's Reading Too Much Into Things Like Everything is out May 15th on Elefant Records so be sure to pick it up.

(via Eardrums Music)

All Around Sound is Turning Two! - Day 6, Pt. 2: All Around Sound is Two!

After a week-long celebration featuring mixes from Middle Class White Noise, Listen Before You Buy, Eardrums Music, ARMS, and We Listen For You, the actual day of celebration has come. Today, All Around Sound turns two year old. A pretty monumental achievement in my honest opinion. From it's start in 2010 (at the insistence of my good friend/mentor Ryan), All Around Sound has gone through many (subtle) changes though has managed to stay true to its mission statement. All Around Sound is all about the promotion of good music - not necessarily the search for the next big thing but more of a means to educate, share, and enjoy some of the astounding things I come in contact with.

Everything I've blogged about has been for the sake of spreading awareness and sharing my love for the bands and artists I've discovered as I've more or less discovered them and in these crazy two years, I've managed to cover quite a bit. Not bad considering All Around Sound is just me. I've also made some pretty stellar relationships with bands/bloggers/music-lovers of all kinds over the past two years (as can be evidenced by the little playlist tribute they helped me put together). While their playlists have been varied in theme and artists, my own goal for my playlist was simply to recap all the good things I've had the joy of featuring here because, quite frankly, they all still deserve the attention. It's a little retrospective playlist with a focus on some of favorite things to share and hopefully that you'll enjoy.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with this birthday celebration, with providing material for this blog to run, for picking up an instrument, and even for just giving a damn about music. Thank you to people who stumbled upon this site looking for free music who were probably pretty sore when they didn't find it. Thanks to my friends who put up with me chattering about how much work I have to do for the blog and making the occasional effort to read it despite it all being "weird hipster folk shit". And last but not least, thanks to everyone who's even read this thing, I may not know who you are but I appreciate that you come here and hope you continue to do so for as long as this here blog exists. If you haven't done so, feel free to comment or message me about anything you like (or don't like) as I love a good music conversation.

Enjoy!
- Dante

P.S. If you've stuck around for this whole week, THANK YOU! I owe you a high-five either digitally or in person.

All Around Sound in Turning Two! - Day 4: Eardrums Music

At the end of this week, All Around Sound turns two year old! To best help ring in this monumental achievement, I enlisted the aid of some of my favorite blogs/music-loving people to help celebrate the occasion with a festive playlist.

Today's contribution is a real treat. It almost goes without saying that Norwegian based Eardrums Music hold a very special place in my heart.  Spurned on by my newfound of Sondre Lerche and subsequent eccentric commitment to Scandinavian music the summer preceding my first year of college, I stumbled upon Eardrums Music and returned pretty much daily to see what tasty indie-pop they’d be offering up that day. Eardrums Music is the first music blog I ever read before I ever entertained the idea of blogging myself and before I even knew music blogs were an actual thing and has no doubt had a heavy-hand in the formation of my music tastes, laying down a lot of the foundation for the things I’m into now (especially via their brilliant seasonal compilation albums released through their netlabel Eardrums Pop).  During my first year, my blog often served as a reblog of several of the bands Eardrums was championing – and while I’ve been able to step away and find my own bands to love and support, Eardrums remains a consistent benchmark in new music discovery. While Middle Class White Noise's extensive playlists might've inspired this playlist week - some credit is also due to Knut and his Loved Songs Spotify playlists which I totally "borrowed" the name for for my Best of 2011 track playlist.

Knut's Contribution:

Congratulations! Two years is a long time for a music blog,  and lots of good blogs seem to end their time long before they've had their second birthday. I guess it's the ones who really care who stay active for years. My blog has been on and off for almost 6 years, and I just made my 1000th post. I never thought I would be doing this for so long! Will Eardrums Music be around next year? I really don't know. I hope your blog will be here for many, many years.
My gift to you is a playlist with songs that represent the 2 years you have been active. It's called "One, Two..." and includes songs that contains the word one and two. I must also say that I had a hard time choosing songs, because my first mix included 50 songs. So, these are my absolute favourite ONE-TWO-songs, I guess ;-).
I hope you will have a brilliant birthday!

Birthday present - one-two... from eardrumspop on 8tracks.

You can also check out Knut's playlist here. Here's the text version:

1. Rory McVicar - The Only ONE
2. Ice Choir - TWO Rings
3. Ally Kerr - Be the ONE
4. Pastels/Tenniscoats - TWO Sunsets
5. The Sundays - You're not the only ONE I know
6. Azure Blue - TWO hearts
7. The Smiths - I want the ONE I can't have
8. Baffin Island - You make TWO weeks TWO days
9. Milky Wimpshake - ONE good use for my heart
10. Adorable - Cut #2
11. Gigi - ONE woman show
12. Northern Portrait - I give you TWO seconds to entertain me
13. The Magnetic Fields - You're the only ONE
14. Guther - TWO minds inbetween
15. The Jesus and Mary chain - Deep ONE perfect morning
16. Gregory and the hawk - TWO faced twin
17. Nicely Dressed - If I could be the ONE
18. The Caretaker race - TWO minutes by train
19. Ultra Vivid Scene - Special ONE
20. Darren Hayman & the secondary modern - TWO tree island
21. Palpitation - ONE step behind
22. Page France - We remain as TWO
23. Acid House Kings - ONE TWO three four
24. Jenn Grant - (I've got) the TWO of you
25. Suede - My insatiable ONE

Enjoy! 

Listen: Heart-Sick Groans - "If the Canary Stops Singing"

(Photo by Simon Hellsten)

Considering that they're going on their fourth year of officially putting out music, its a bit surprising more people haven't heard of Swedish indie pop trio Heart-Sick Groans. They were among the first new bands brought to my attention by Eardrums Music when they were featured on the Fall themed compilation album A Good Crop (alongside established acts like Fanfarlo and Sambassadeur) back in 2008 and they've pretty much been hard-working on new material ever since.

Last year, Heart-Sick Groans put out both their third EP Look!!! These Three Painters of Hits Have Done It Again! as well as the first track and subsequent video, "A Bossanova with This Casanova"  from their upcoming six song EP . Unlike their previous releases, rather than put out a batch of sweet tunes for rabid consumption, the threesome have decided to slow down their process and give each track an individual release with about a month between. This upcoming Friday marks the release of their brand new single "If the Canary Stops Singing" but in a gesture of friendship and good graciousness, the three are letting you hear it a day early: here.

Yup, that's right. World premiere of Heart-Sick Groans' latest single "If the Canary Stops Singing" right here at All Around Sound. Enjoy.



And if you like what you hear, you can grab Heart-Sick Groans other tunes on their Bandcamp. And keep up with news of the EP on Facebook or Twitter as well as right here. So stay tuned.

Eardrums Pop release second digital single

Eardrums Pop latest free digital single is from Finnish band Paperfangs. The band creates sparkly dream-pop not unlike first digital single artist Tiny Fireflies, except Paperfangs involves noticeable use of electronics and is much more upbeat. The second single features the two original songs "The Fastest Planes" and "The Vastest Plains" followed by a cover of US duo Kiss Kiss Fantastic's "Violet. They're certainly a talented bunch as they even made their own cover art. Learn more about the artists, the project, and download the single here.

Listen to the Paperfangs' digital single:
Paperfangs - ePop006 - digital single by EardrumsPop

Eardrums Pop releases first digital single!

Norway based blog Eardrums Music's net label Eardrums Pop kicked off the week by releasing their first ever digital single. The single is the first in a series of free monthly digital releases the net label will be releasing. The single from Tiny Fireflies consists of two original "Holding Pattern" and "Snow", and a cover of the Claudine Longet version of Skeeter Davis' "End of the World" as well as cover art by UK illustator Minkee. You can get more info on the project, the single, and the artists' at Eardrums Pop here.

Listen to the digital single:
Tiny Fireflies - ePop005 - digital single by EardrumsPop

EardrumsPop to release free digital releases in the Fall

One of my favorite blogs, Norway based Eardrums Music, and its netlabel EardrumsPop have announced that this fall, around October, they will start releasing free monthly digital releases. The releases will feature all the awesome qualities of their seasonal themed compilations like amazing cover art made by cooperating artists, explanitory booklets, and what's sure to be great original songs. The singles will be comprised of two orignal songs and possibly a cover song from an artist the band thinks deserves more attention. I for one could not be more excited. Is it fall yet?

Eardrums Pop Compilation Out NOW!

This week saw the release of Kate Nash's sophomore album, Horse Feathers' third album, and on a smaller scale the release of Between the Waves, a collaborative compilation project by Scandinavian-based Eardrums Music blog. Between the Waves is the fourth in a series of free compilations released by Eardrums Music and its somewhat new net label Eardrums Pop, and is markedly different in that features several artists/bands coming together to create collaborative works under new names. Even one of the album arts (there are three) was a collaborative effort between two artists. Though several of the artists have created new names for their work together, many of the artists have been featured on previous Eardrums Pop releases like My Little Pony, Bubblegum Lemonade, Le Man Avec Les Lunettes, and Heart-Sick Groans)

The release is available for free download here:
http://www.eardrumspop.com/releases-2/

For those of you needing a little convincing first enjoy this video for There is another sky by Olafachada:

Oláfachada - There is another sky from EardrumsPop, the label on Vimeo.

Want to sample it first? You can stream each album on the Eardrums Music blog here:
http://eardrumsmusic.com/2010/04/20/b2wrelease/