All Around Sound Is Turning Eight! - Will Stratton

This year All Around Sound will enter it's eight year of operation. While not quite the milestone moment as a year five or year ten, each year that this blog exists is treasured. Mostly by me. Most of the music blog that I came up admiring and working alongside have more or less faded into obscurity: either having grand closing ceremonies or quietly closing up shop with the unspoken hope that they're start up someday later down the line, All Around Sound still exists and at least tries to encapsulates the spirit of our shuttered favorites: namely that of enthusiastic music discovery. Last year was a banner year for the blog seeing impressive releases from a number of our proven favorites but also newer acts and if this year is anything like the year that proceeded it, it'll be as exciting a year musically as ever.

photo by Josh Goleman

As is now tradition, this year I asked some of my favorite artists to contribute a mix to help ring in the blog's new birth year.Today's is a contribution from a longtime favorite of mine Beacon based singer/songwriter/composer/arranger Will Stratton. Ever since I was introduced to Stratton around the 2012 release of his incredible Post-Empire via a music subscription service started by a mutual friend and music writer, I've been positively fiending for more from the fingerstyle virtuoso. Stratton represents an ideal in my love of folk: brilliant, understated songs filled with thoughtful lyricism and composed of elegant melodies and rich, complementary arrangements. Will and I have geeked about over our mutual love of classical music and folk while also sharing a number of recommendations of things we'd think the other might like in a multitude of other genres. And maybe that's why it's taken so long to extend the offer to Stratton. But thankfully, once I saw the error of my ways, Will was more than happy to oblige my offer.

Will on his particular mix:

This mix is composed of music I like to listen to when I’m at home, often when I’m cooking. I think music that conveys the comfort and reflection of being at home is often overlooked when talking about music, although of course for a lot of us it’s the most common type of music we listen to. Travel music and party music and workout music is all good, but as someone who often works from home, and writes and records at home, I usually listen to albums all the way through, but sometimes it’s nice to live in a varying space, and that’s what this is for. There are old favorites like Karen Dalton and Sandy Denny on here, and more recent ones like Lomelda and Jim Ghedi. That’s really the main thing I like about making mixes—listening to the past and the present commingle and converse. 

Thanks to Will for contributing/dealing with my constant requests for album updates. And thank you as always to the readers of this fine blog for checking us out on our little corner of the Internet. Whether you're a longtime or newer follower, frequent or sporadic visitor, you're very much appreciated. 

All Around Sound Is Turning Seven! - Day 4: The Deloreans

As mentioned earlier in the week, an unintended theme for this year's blog birthday contributors is that they're all artists we've covered while All Around Sound was pretty much in its infancy (Genders wasn't quite but they previous project Youth however was). Today's contributor, Louisville rockers The Deloreans, are one of the first bands of the batch that we covered and our love affair began with them after being played a track of there's by Sam of now defunct blog MiddleClassWhiteNoise back when turntable.fm was still a thing. It was a love whose flame was fanned by fellow Louisville native and longtime fan Zach of We Listen For You. He assured me The Deloreans were a band that had to be seen to be truly enjoyed and by convincing them to come to New York for CMJ quickly proved himself incredibly right.

Since our initial meeting years ago on the streets of Manhattan while Zach sang their many praises, we've managed to stay in touch and even frequently discuss classical music with multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Jeremy Perry and guitarist Loren Pilcher. Though asking them to contribute in All Around Sound's birthday was pretty much a given, it was also a matter of timing and thankfully the stars aligned and they could participate. Jeremy Perry crafted a mix and gives us the run down:

One of my very favorite pieces of music from 2016. Erik Blood's string arrangement and calculated production at first seem to be diametrically opposed to the raw lyrics and tossed off vocals by the brilliant OC Notes. But this is one of the best matches of seemingly-opposites that you'll find. The respectful honesty of OC's words is extremely effective from a literal standpoint, while the rest of the track underscores the emotional complexity of the sentiment.

This track is a few years old yet I keep coming back to it. Matt Meyers really found something with this track in terms of melodic/harmonic and lyrical timing. Lyrically, I'll think of a different interpretation every time I hear it - but every interpretation is something. With only a guitar and vocals on this track, Meyers doesn't have production to hide behind - the great thing is that he didn't need it.

Probably one of my favorite songs that has come out in the last few years. Great lyrics and timing all around. Plus,it's one of those songs that seems like not many people 'get' it so it seems even more special to me. 

If you haven't heard of this artist yet you certainly will. He was just nominated for a Grammy and is getting a lot of nods from the upper echelons. There are plenty of hits and perfectly-spun pop tracks on his debut album but this shorter track is my favorite.

I thought I had heard enough songs where it seemed the rather lame desire to recreate the vibe of Dylan's "Lay, Lady, Lay" were the raison d'être. Even if it was the case I really like this track from this band who I don't know much at all about.

I don't know a lot about this group other than I think they are from Lexington, KY and that I heard they aren't playing anymore. But that's a shame. This track is much more effective at reaching towards subversive anti-pop than most attempts. Also it seems that the type of band that makes this kind of music doesn't typically end up with a vocalist this good.

These guys are from Chicago. This track is older for them but it's a great one and I come back to it quite a bit. Listen to how they wait until almost the end of the song to hit the top of the track's dynamic range. Not a level of patience you'll find much. It makes me drive faster for some reason.

Someone wrote my band Deloreans an email saying our singer (me) sounded like the singer for The Associates. I had never heard of them and curiously looked them up. This is the first track (a Bowie cover) I listened to. I immediately loved it. But only in my dreams can I sing as great as this guy - I wish. This is also a case where this band truly made their own version of the song. There is nothing similar. He creates his melodic phrases, the arrangement is quite sparse and modest, the guitar solo, or rather moment is one of the most interesting things I've heard for a guitar solo.

Like most people I listened to a lot off David Bowie this past year. This track is the one I probably played the most. He recorded this in Philadelphia and hired out some local vocalists to sing the backing parts.

Thanks to Jeremy and The Deloreans for contributing to this year's blog birthday celebration. If you haven't listened to The Deloreans brilliant second album "American Craze" I highly recommend you do while the rest of us wait for the follow up that's sure to be just as special. If you have: listen to it again. It's a masterpiece worth revisiting over and over.

All Around Sound Is Turning Seven! - Day 3: Wild Ones

Much like previous contributors Genders who's mix went up earlier this week, Portland's Wild Ones were a discovery I made through fellow Portland friends Typhoon. In fact both Wild Ones and Genders' former band Youth went on a west coast BFF tour together and that's essentially how both bands came to my attention. I even emailed them for info at the time since at the time they didn't have a bio. Wild Ones, similar to Genders have undergone a number of changes since I happened upon them but one thing has remained the same: they're still making sweet synth pop jams helmed by their amazing frontwoman Danielle Sullivan. Their debut full length Keep It Safe was an instant favorite, "Show Me Islands" from their Heatwave EP was our song of the summer for two consecutive summers, and their upcoming sophomore record is one we're eagerly awaiting.

Considering how thoroughly invested we are in their new record, it seemed pretty logical to ask what they were even listening to. The result was a mix from Danielle that in her own words is "is pall over the damn place". It's an eclectic mix in the best way pairing Danielle's love of pop (both mainstream and of the indie variety) with innovative songwriters and even a little world music. Enjoy!



Thanks to Danielle for sending us this rad mix and here's hoping it's not too long before their sophomore record is ready to release and subsequent tour. If you haven't seen Wild Ones live yet, I highly recommend rectifying that.

All Around Sound Is Turning Seven! - Day 2: The Heligoats

A rather unintentional theme of the bands that I tapped to participate in this year's blog birthday is they all were written about in my blog's second year. But unlike first contributor Genders, Chicago's The Heligoats were making music long before I discovered them. While I discovered them in 2011 from a NPR Tiny Desk Concert they did months earlier, singer/songwriter Chris Otepka had been making music both as The Heligoats and as part of Troubled Hubble well before I was old enough to discover what cool music even was. Perhaps the fact that Otepka's been making music for almost two decades has something to do with it or perhaps it's just that Otepka personality steers him toward pretty innovative and astute lyrical observations. Whatever the case The Heligoats make music that's both wonderfully familiar in sound and surprisingly unique in composition. Their camping themed concept record Back to the Lake was an engaging listen full of unexpected twists and turns. When someone is able to make music both as enjoyable and as fascinating as The Heligoats I wonder what kind of music they're even listening to. So I asked. And thankfully Chris Otepka delivered and gives us a play-by-play. Enjoy his mix!

Happy Birthday to All Around Sound! Endless Pitstops forever! Thanks for inviting me to the birthday party. And thank you for the love you've given us through the years and for all of your service spreading the love.  It was great to meet you this past year at Silent Barn!  Hope to cross paths again soon.  Here's to many more years to All Around Sound!  Happy B-Day!  I am not going to bog this party with a lengthy playlist, but rather a few significant samplings from my recent adventuring.  I know I may be revisiting some artists you've already covered, but that seems unavoidable, provided the power of your radar.  

First up, friend rock, Chicago dudes, Meat Wave just released The Incessant on Side One Dummy this past week.  Produced by Steve Albini, a tight three piece, with short, raw, powerful songs. So good.   

Good god, Caveman! From New York! The only time I've seen a band, having never seen or heard of them before, to wake up the next day with a song of theirs in my head.  Delicious, melodious, rocking, and nice dudes to boot.   My band, Troubled Hubble got to open for these guys a couple weeks ago at Gas Fest in Davenport, IA.   It was a great time, and this band killed!  

I love Palehound. Dry Food came out at the end of Aug 2015, and I think I listened to it about 142 times in 2016, if I'm doing my math right. It is truly impossible to pick a favorite song from the record. Healthier Folk is so sick! Cinnamon, Molly, the whole record is so good. To be honest though, the song that got me first hooked on Palehound is from their 2014 Bent Nail EP "I Get Clean'. Go see them March 22nd at Sunnyvale!

My roommates are virtual pillars of the progressive rock and metal community and some of the biggest music fans I have ever known in my whole life. Knowledgeable headbangers. Husband and wife, Heather and Justin, beautiful people, tour managers and drivers for bands like Circus Maximus and Evergrey, from Sweden and Norway, crew members of Prog Power USA in Atlanta, GA, and always introducing me new bands, sounds, songs, scenes. One band they work with stands out more than any of them, Pain of Salvation, from Sweden! Just released their 9th studio album, The Passing Light of Day, which has stuck with me and has had me diving backwards into their previous, and sometimes completely bizarre prog rock back catalog. The new record is so tight, so focused and very powerful, if you're into that kind of thing.  I saw them in Detroit as they passed through the Midwest on tour last week.  It was an honor to meet them. I love their drummer, Leo Margarit. Brilliant.  

I installed 800 sq feet of pergo flooring in an attic this past summer over 3 days, listening to nothing but Mother Mother.  They're a band from Vancouver, BC and are on tour right now and I think they're fantastic.   I discovered them on CBC Radio while living in Port Angeles, WA for the past 8 years.   Their "Oh My Heart," record from 2014 is full of some of the best written folk, gaze pop I've ever heard.   Great band, very cool songwriting.  I always go back to Mother Mother. 

I also always go back to Laura Veirs.  This is one of my favorite things on all of You Tube in case you wanted to know.
I could go a million places from here.  I've recently been revisiting Rilo Kiley's "The Execution of All Things," and have found it having a very positive effect on my days. I listen to a lot of rap. Kendrick Lamar & Mac Miller's "Fight the Feeling," has been on heavy rotation through my days. Vince Staples, Childish Gambino, Tribe Called Quest. MF Doom has been one of my favorites for a long time and someone recently posted the SadeVillian mash up on You Tube, I hadn't heard it before a couple months ago.  It's pretty great.   

Sometimes I fall asleep to this:

And sometimes I fall asleep to this:

Saw her at Empty Bottle in Chicago this past summer. Unbelievable.

Finally, everyone should listen to Mascaras, from Portland, OR.  Second finally, everyone should see Mascaras, from Portland. Lastly,  support Mascaras from Portland.  Any chance to see or hear Papi Fimbres play drums should be taken seriously.   That is all for now.  Happy Birthday, All Around Sound!  
Love, Chris

Thanks to Chris for his awesome and incredibly eclectic peek into his listening habits. If you haven't for some weird reason make sure you check out The Heligoats' pretty spectacular discography and stick around for more mixes later this week.

All Around Sound Is Turning Seven! - Day 1: Genders

This year this blog All Around Sound will enter it's seventh year of operation. I say this every year but looking back I never would've anticipated the blog running this long at it's inception. It's insane to think that we're still here in our little corner of the internet especially when so many of the other blogs we've featured here in the past have gone by the wayside. Nevertheless we're still trucking and we will be for quite sometime. We're offering up another year of our birthday mixtape spectacular. 

Every music writer longs for that one band that they knew before anyone else. One of my absolute favorite bands that I essentially got to see form before my very eyes (albeit from across the country) is Portland's Genders. Stumbling upon their previous band Youth with it's heavy beach rock vibes and watching the transformation into psychedelic experimental rock that's pretty definitive of their current sound has been a treat. Genders have grown into a fairly mighty band so it only made sense to reach out to them to help us celebrate another year of being around especially since we've written many a love letter to their continued growth. 

Genders' Stephen Leisy is up with the first mix of week inspired by the band's touring:

Hey Dante,
Here's a mix. Not too much theme or backstory, but all the songs remind me in some way of time spent on the road or just hanging with my bandmates. Most of all the bands on this list (with two exceptions) are bands we've played with, been inspired by, and sung along in the van to. Happy Birthday All Around Sound! 

Thanks to Stephen and Genders for contributing and being in an awesome band worth covering. Stick around for other contributions throughout the week. 

All Around Sound Is Turning Six! Day 3: dimestore saints

It is pretty fitting that Sam of dimestone saints and I have varying accounts about how we even met each other. And they reveal a bit about our personalities but mostly they differ because we have different ideas of the moment we regarded the other person as notable. Since mine is actually correct, I'll share mine first. I was introduced to Sam inadvertently on Twitter when he was retweeted into my timeline by Kyle of Cemeteries for being one of the vocal few to actually be talking about the new Cemeteries record Barrow. Considering the only person I talked to about the new Cemeteries record had pretty much been the man who made the record, I took immediate notice and gingerly tapped the follow button. Instead of talking about the record that made me take notice of him in the first place, I merely interjected on occasion about seemingly random things Sam was talking about at the time. The very modern model of a casual friendship developed much like two students might chat about nothing in particular until class starts on the first day of school.

I am not the most trusting in other's taste but Sam was able to win me over in a surprisingly short amount of time. Not due to our tastes aligning on anything in particular - though our mutual appreciation of Cemeteries and Daughter certainly did help. But what ultimately convinced me that Sam was the real deal was just his rather impressive work ethic. dimestore saints updates pretty consistently and the bands and artists Sam elects to talk about aren't the same ones everyone's eating up on Pitchfork and Stereogum. That in and of itself was winsome to me as so many bloggers in an effort to make a name for themselves or attract page views and the like, often write about more well known artists. Many of the artists Sam writes about are relatively unknown to me before he writes about them and the more "popular" artists he writes about he does so with passion and care. Ultimately what I like about Sam is that we approach music writing from similar mentalities.

So when rounding up a group of passionate music lovers to help ring in another year of All Around Sound for its annual mix swap, Sam's inclusion was a given. The friendship was newer and the waters relatively untested but our similarities connected us.

Sam's side of the story:

Dante is presently my favorite Twitter curmudgeon, one of the few people I know who might actually rival me in outwardly grumpiness. One of our first conversations on the platform concerned classical music, though; Dante's background as a violinist, paired with a seemingly insatiable appetite for discovering and dissecting music, yielded a handful of recommendations that steered me back towards a familiar genre with a new frame of mind for consumption.
I suppose that classical music theme runs through this birthday mix a bit, but not intentionally. Lately, we've been trading thoughts on effects pedals (he's quick to extoll the virtues of equalizers, while I'll go to bat for multiple delays on the same pedalboard), but our common ground falls on loopers. I started stockpiling this mix with songs that were either constructed around loops or retain that quality, and fleshed it out with impressionable tracks often on heavy rotation in the early evening, when a majority of our correspondence seems to take place.
So I guess this mix is a combination of topics and times I associate with Dante. Maybe he'll tell me it's complete garbage, but I'm banking on at least a 60% approval rating, based on his inclined tastes. Six years is an eternity to run a website and not get burnt out; kudos to Dante and All Around Sound for weathering the storm. Here's to six more.

All Around Sound from vanderlyle crybaby on 8tracks Radio.

Thanks to Sam for contributing this year and for the good he does over at dimestore saints.

All Around Sound is Turning Six! Day 2: Chill Mega Chill

My meeting Ian is essentially a direct result of Rafael from Heart & Soul and Dave from Stadiums & Shrines corralling me into my first experience with Portals via their Stadiums & Shrines and Portals initial collaborative CMJ showcase back in 2012. After experiencing what was heretofore one of the wildest, visionary musical experiences of my life, Portals became an important destination for my musical development and their participation at SXSW (unofficially) is one of the reasons I was lured there in 2014. I didn't meet Ian at the Portals showcase however. I met Ian as part of a larger mob of Portals kids roaming the streets of Austin that started a series of random coincidental encounters at other showcases, taco stands, and the like. It wasn't until after the festival, after the spell of booze and tacos was broken that ironically enough I felt I got to know Ian on an individual basis. In fact, I've never actually read Ian's old blog Cactus Mouth and while it features many artists I've like, I've never really paid as much attention to his cassette label Chill Mega Chill as I probably should. Despite our meeting at SXSW, our friendship was born less out of a desire for networking and more of realizing, through aligning music interests, that we'd come to like each other as people. And that's more or less how I approached Ian to contribute a mix for All Around Sound's birthday as as friend who's music taste I trust and enjoy and certainly wasn't disappointed.

Ian's words about his mix WASTELAND:

Genre movie scores had their heyday in the mid to late-80s, but their influence has certainly been seeing a resurgence as of late. The most prominent example of this is probably Disasterpiece's excellent score for It Follows that borrows generously from the past but twists the music in a way that brings it up-to-date. Other films like You're Next, Starry Eyes, and Turbo Kid have seen similar success bridging that decades-wide gap and it shows -- Mondo's vinyl-exclusive soundtrack for You're Next sold out in four hours. But this revival of sound isn't exclusive to film scores. There is a large crop of musicians dipping their toes in the waters of '80s genre film and applying its influence. Even the master himself, John Carpenter, has come out of music retirement and released an album, Lost Themes, whose sequel is soon to follow. For those who were never really into horror movies, maybe all of this doesn't mean much, but to those who were the geeky horror kid growing up, well, it's everything.

Thanks again to Ian for his contribution. Enjoy!

All Around Sound Is Turning Six! Day 1: Palm

Whether you're new to this here blog or you've been following for years, you may or may not know that this year All Around Sound is entering its sixth year of operation. While it doesn't have that sweet milestone feel like 5 or 10, any additional year of a blog running is pretty special. And so All Around Sound is turning six and like last year's milestone fifth year and the many years before it, I've sought fit to ring in the occasion with our annual celebratory mix swap.

I met Palm like I do most bands - completely by chance at a show while they opened up for the band I originally went to see. In this case I was lured to the BSP Lounge in Kingston by the mighty Buke & Gase almost two years ago now and Palm happened to be one of the two bands that were selected to open for them that night and unlike the other opener Celestial Shore I hadn't seen them much less even heard of them before that night. What followed was an explosion of technical but enjoyable noise rock. The fact that they were apparently playing all new songs that they hadn't even committed to recording yet while selling a cassette featuring older stuff pretty much sealed the deal on them and ensured that I went to see them every opportunity I had until they finally released their brilliant debut album Trading Basics last year.

When I set about brainstorming this year's contributors for All Around Sound's birthday, Palm seemed a natural choice if only to satiate my curiosity about what kind of music this kind of dynamic band listens to. When on stage, they're ferocious, wildly chaotic but impressively precise. Offstage, they're incredibly nice and delightfully fun. What do people like that even listen to in their down time? I asked and thankfully Palm delivered.

Listen to Palm's mix:













Due to not all of Palm's picks being available everywhere I've included their original tracklist in case you want to preserve the mixes continuity and listen to it in its original form.

Tom Dissevelt - "Orbit Aurora"
Nelson Angelo e Joyce - "Um Gosto De Fruta"
Skeeter Davis - "My Last Date"
DJ Rashad - "Ghost"
DJ Nigga-Fox - "Um Ano"
Micachu & The Shapes - "Sea Air"
Julio Bashmore - "Knockin' Boots"
R. Stevie Moore - "Don't Let Me Go To The Dogs"
Gary Numan - "Films"
CE Schneider Topical - "Something To Eat"
The Cradle - "In Your Hands"
Cooper Burton - "Ha Ha (Uh Huh)"
Every Kim Parcell - "Hard Moon"
Hank Wood & The Hammerheads - "I Thought I Was A Good Man"
Yellow Magic Orchestra - "Firecracker"
Gary Wilson - "Groovy Girls Make Love At The Beach"

Thanks so much to Palm for contributing this year AND if for some reason you haven't listened to them, I strongly recommend you get on that. Seriously. Here's a link to Trading Basics. Go. Listen to it and thank me later.

All Around Sound Is Turning Five - Day 5: Son Lux

When I started All Around Sound in 2010 there was a very concentrated effort to leave the classical music world to which I had previously belonged behind and engage with music in almost an entirely different sphere. They were of course outliers - as my discovery of indie classical artists like ETHEL (who I had actually had the pleasure of meeting while attending college) and Brooklyn Rider who took the antiquated form of the string quartet (probably my favorite ensemble for which classical music is/was written) and update it in a way that was wholly unexpected. Son Lux came right at the time of that discovery and what he was doing was so marvelously unlike that so undefinable in terms of form or genre that it turned my whole idea of popular music on its side. Son Lux's Ryan Lott is a classically trained composer and yet, the music he fashions as Son Lux can hardly be called that at all. His method almost perfectly at the crossroads of the methodical precision a classical composition and the intuitive flow of pop music while being created through arguably the least cohesive means. It was a revelation to discover Son Lux both as a wildly innovative force and as a creative entity composed of more than just Lott and each subsequent release since NPR introduced me to We Are Rising has proved to be a completely mindblowing experience.

So when it came time to sit down and figure out who to ask for assistance for this year's blog birthday mixes - the milestone fifth year of the blog rapidly approaching, Son Lux came to mind. Not only as an artist whose brain I would of course love to pick (and what better way than to see how they arrange music) but of an artist who completely changed the notion of what a composer/artist could be in the modern age. Despite the sea of electronic acts coming and going Son Lux stands out to me and countless, nameless others I'm sure as a distinctive voice. It's music that while electronic in presentation doesn't invoke an intimacy or familiarity with the genre to engage with it that manages to be capture your attention purely by being interesting. There's an insane amount of depth to Son Lux's production and yet, it never feels like the music of Son Lux is purely about the production. It's the subtle alchemy of everything - its production, collaborators, Ryan Lott's lyricism with strives for vague universality but still manages to resonate with the listener. 

Son Lux is the kind of artist whose music can change the whole way you see music in general, he did for me so it only seemed natural to involve him in a celebration of the evolution of the blog. Luckily despite being holed up in the studio creating the follow up to Lanterns, time could be found for Son Lux to contribute a mix and it means a hell of a lot that they did. Listen to this electronic-heavy mix, it's a keeper.

 

Thanks to not just Ryan Lott but Son Lux as an entire whole: Ian Chang and Rafiq Bhatia as well as Sean Hallarman of Big Hassle Media for facilitating the exchange to ensure that it all went down as smoothly as it could. 

All Around Sound Is Turning Five - Day 4: Rami Haykal (Glasslands/Popgun)

While there a number of good venues to catch music in New York City, there was never a particular venue I favored going to; never a venue I care about; never a venue I would go to for the sake of the venue itself like Glasslands. I wasn't the first to discover the hidden wonders of the Williamsburg haunt as like almost all things I stumbled upon it due to its association with bands I loved and music I liked. Sadly Glasslands is dead and gone but it's made a lasting impression as for three years it was my most consistently attended venue of choice and the sense of community there was enough to silence the crotchetiness the crowd at a live show can and often does inspire in me.

And despite Glasslands being one of my regular haunts, it's almost absurd the amount of time it took me to meet Rami Haykal, its co-owner and co-founder of the booking company responsible for much of the shows that drew me there in the first place. When Hundred Waters' headlining show there sold out before I could grab tickets, I took to the internet to see if there was some sort of way to offset my poor life planning - Rami came through with a completely unwarranted act of kindness and for the first time since my first show there and only a rather short time before my last, we met.

Though Glasslands is gone but not forgotten, its spirit lives on through Popgun's amazing tastes. There might not be a one stop shop for all the bands I want to see, in a space where everything was just so but they still manage to put together shows worth going to and write emails worth reading with a sense of humor and joy for what they do that many music people would do well to take notice of.

So even though the only place I felt a familial connection with is gone, it seemed a pretty forgone conclusion that during the time when I celebration the impact others have had on this wee blog that Rami and his work with Glasslands and Popgun would factor into it in someway. I reach out and he was happy to provide a mix of some of his favorite jams 2015 has doled out so far.



Thanks not only to Rami for the mix but to Jake Rosenthal, and to both the Glasslands and Popgun staffs for creating a sense of community in a city where it's incredibly easy not to feel anything at all.

All Around Sound Is Turning Five - Day 3: Stadiums & Shrines

One of the interesting things that rounding up a new batch of blogs, bands, and music friends to contribute mixes every year for All Around Sound's birthday is that it provides an opportunity to reflect - not only on the state of the blog itself but on just how lucky I am to meet a bunch of lovely people who are kind enough to volunteer their free time and great music tastes towards something as minor as celebrating a blog's continued existence.

While I've met most of the people I know in music seemingly by accident, I was actually introduced to Dave from Stadiums & Shrines by past mix contributor and undeniable friend of the blog Zach from We Listen For You during my first official CMJ (technically the second but semantics!) at the Beats Per Minute x The Needle Drop x We Listen For You showcase at Public Assembly. It was a brief introduction which most likely consisted of me being utterly uninformed about who he even was and just generally being my regular embarrassing self but ended up being a major moment when later I ran into him again at the bar next door, we chatted, I ate, and he extended an invitation to a showcase he was hosting with Portals later that night. I needed some convincing but Dave ultimately did just that and I showed up that night with Rafael from Heart & Soul and had my mind absolutely blown not only by the utterly abstract nature of their showcase - sitting was encouraged as bands played in dim lighting and visuals were projected on three of the room's four walls but also by the outsider brand of music. There was not a buzz band in sight and I relished experiencing the totally refreshing newness of it all.  I was plugged into realm of music completely outside of my knowledge and I wanted to explore more of it.

Since then Stadiums & Shrines has been a regular go to for music of that ilk where absolutely every sense in stimulated and the artists themselves are challenged to create new works. Stadiums & Shrines was a blog that essentially occasionally created its own content and it was marvelously intoxicating. They've also got some incredibly next level visuals that accompany their Year-End Lists so I was sold. Stadiums & Shrines is such a rad batch of creatives I knew when I started people contribute mixes that I absolutely needed them to be apart of it, it was just a matter of timing and thankfully, just in time to usher All Around Sound into its 5th year, Stadiums & Shrines provides a welcome addition to the birthday festivities.

Dave's contribution:

"There's a fire in you, Dante... a great desire to engage with music, to seek and discuss. It's been burning All Around Sound for five years now, but one can imagine it was there, in you, All along. This is a sequence of music in honor of your blog's birthday. And more so, these are songs of simmer, combustion, and eruption, dedicated to the eternal blaze that is Infernal Dante.

May it burn, on.
S&S"

Mountains - Simmer
Brian Eno - St. Elmo's Fire
Tim Hecker - City In Flames (In 3 Parts), Pt. 1 / Pt. 2 / Pt. 3
Kiasmos - Burnt
Broadcast - Drums On Fire
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Fire (Glenn Rivera ReStructure Mutant Disco Edit)
Lone - Airglow fires
Joe Henderson featuring Alice Coltrane - Fire
Microkingdom featuring Sam Herring - I'm On Fire
Jon Hopkins - Form By Firelight (with Raphaelle Standell)
Tiny Vipers - Forest on Fire

Boards of Canada - Farewell Fire

Much thanks to Dave and the rest of the Stadiums & Shrines crew for being a constant inspiration and essentially subtly expanding the range of All Around Sound content for the better.

All Around Sound Is Turning Five - Day 2: SoftSpot

My excitement when Brooklyn based art rockers SoftSpot do, well, pretty much anything has risen to a rather surprising level since I was first introduced to them from past mix contributor Caleb Moore of Lands & Peoples. If there's a band that has provided some of the most consistent releases that you can return to over and over again, SoftSpot are such a band. It seems like if they're not touring behind an album, they're hard at work on another one and yet, there music never comes off as that of the run-of-the-mill career band. Each of SoftSpot's sojourns to the studio have resulted in records that manage to challenge themselves as musicians without coming across as an impenetrable art project. SoftSpot manage to find a pitch perfect balance between the complex layering of not only their song's textures but its subjects while also ensuring an engaging listening experience. They're a band that respect the full length album form and go the extra mile to tie it all together in surprising and inventive ways.

So of course I was incredibly interested to see how the foursome would take to the task of contributing a mix to my blog birthday celebration and lucky for me they were game and they're contribution is as diverse as their four members while simultaneously achieving a sense of logical singularity. It's a peak at the collaborative nature of the foursome as each voice was heard, considered, discussed, and occasionally debated until the outcome resembled something the band was proud to put their name on.

Enjoy SoftSpot's mix:

All Around Sound Is Turning Five - Day 1: Golden Suits

Whoa what. When I started All Around Sound in the beginning of 2010 (March 10th if we're being particular) at the urging of one of my very best college friends Ryan, I never could have possibly imagined that it would be a thing I would devote huge batches of my time nevermind years to. And yet, here we are. All Around Sound is about to enter it's fifth year in operation. It's a milestone to be sure but every post is a milestone moment - written with near-fathomless love and a just toned down enough sense of urgency that it seemed apt to celebrate this grander moment in very much the same way it has been in the years before - through the customary mix swap of sorts. 

photo by Sammy Goldfien

While I arrived at Department of Eagles just in time for them to play their last show and head into an indefinite hiatus, there's a lot to be said for their effects on my music tastes. In Ear Park was one of the first "experimental" records I heard where I didn't feel an overwhelming bit of pretension, its arrangements were next level, and the lyricism on a wholly different caliber than I had encountered that I immediately immersed myself into Department of Eagles rather shallow catalog. If you've been unfortunate enough to hazard a conversation with me, I've most likely either made a passing Department of Eagles reference or erupted into a full on rant about how/why Department of Eagles are better than Grizzly Bear. 

I'd be lying if any time Daniel Rossen announced an album, tour, or any sort of news at all or when Fred Nicolaus emerged out of years of hiding in plain sight with a newly monikered project that I didn't immediately imagine the Department of Eagles reunion of my dreams. That's yet to happen but the resulting output from the two have been just as good. Fred Nicolaus' new album under his new Golden Suits moniker serves to illuminate just how nimble a performer, agile a lyricist, and earnest a singer the man is for those tragically unfamiliar. It's Nicolaus' stepping out and he does so with such subtlety and grace that it was unsurprising that it wound up being one of my favorite records. Fred is such a deft hand at capturing the subtle nuances in the variances of mood that it seemed like a no-brainer to ask him to put together a mix for All Around Sound's birthday and he doesn't disappoint. 

In Fred Nicolaus' own words:

"When you love an artist, there comes a time when you reach saturation point with their "classic" period and start to wade into the dark waters of their "lesser" albums.  For Randy Newman, who I deeply love, the darkness roughly coincides with a decade - the 80s.  Though 80s pop references are very much a hallmark of the current zeitgeist, Newman's stuff still somehow evades coolness - I have a suspicion that no young Bushwick bands are looking to "Trouble In Paradise" for synth tones.  Still, I got tired of listening to "So Hard Living Without You" for the thousandth times a couple years ago, and started to dig in.  Some of it is fun bad, like "Pants," which finds Newman yelling in a Dad-in-the-shower voice about taking off his pants on top of some yuppie blues rock.  Some of it is just bad bad (pretty much all of "Born Again") and some of it is frighteningly lame - on "Masterman & Baby J," Newman actually raps a couple verses (for real).  Still, there are a few gems, my faves are collected below.  It's mostly ballads, but I always liked R.N. more as a balladeer than a satirist anyway - when the cranky, smart, sarcastic guy writes a tearjerker, you trust it more.

Thanks so much to Fred Nicolaus for his beautiful unexpected mix of Randy Newman ballads and for low key helping to lay the groundwork for the only Department of Eagles reunion I may be able to achieve (here on this blog). Stay tuned the rest of this week for mixes from some of my favorite bands, blogs, and music friends old and new.

All Around Sound is Turning Four - Day 5: Kishi Bashi

It was a strange sort of serendipity that brought me to Kishi Bashi - or rather the sense of serendipity a showgoer feels when the opening act for the band you actually paid to see is not only good but incredible. I had long been a fan of Sondre Lerche and trusted his pretty much flawless skill in electing such talented openers but nothing prepared me at all for Kishi Bashi. When he took the stage with violin in hand and practically an armory of instruments at his disposal I settled in for a show and certainly was not disappointed. It wasn't the spectacle of your typical one man band but the pure display of bonafide musicianship and enjoyment that won me over. Everyone longs for that one 'I saw this band when they played to pretty much no one in a bar in the middle of nowhere' story and Kishi Bashi is more or less mine. Except you can replace "bar in the middle of nowhere" with the Bowery Ballroom and "no one" to a packed house of unexpected (but delighted) observers. Nevertheless I had that moment, shared with a bunch of strangers, and seeing his gradual rise from virtually unknown opener to venue packing headliner is a point of pride for me. As I continued to catch him live and noted the borderless development of a unique trademark sound a question always nagged at me that never quite got answered (or asked) the few times I've been able to strong arm Kishi Bashi into talking to me - what sort of music does K. even listen to? So I asked him and got this mix.

Kishi Bashi's contribution:

Kishi Bashi's 21 favorite mostly funky classic moments in prog rock / jazz-rock fusion  (in no particular order):

WARNING: DANGEROUSLY HIGH LEVELS OF MUSICIANSHIP. SOME OF THESE MAY BE ENJOYABLE TO MUSICIANS' EARS ONLY!

All Around Sound is Turning Four - Day 4: Salt Cathedral (Umami Vol. 2)

My discovery of Brooklyn based Colombian born experimental pop crew Salt Cathedral is probably the best endorsement for showing up on time for a show I could ever give. Lured to their set by Hundred Waters who were in turn opening a show for Freelance Whales, Salt Cathedral (then called il abanico) were by far one of the most dynamically unique bands I'd ever seen. Fusing prog rock intricacy, with complex rhythms but a clearly defined pop sensibility I was enamored almost immediately - torn between the urge to dance my heart out and stare jaw agape in awe. They were the kind of band, I would later discovery, you could catch again and again and never, even for an instant, feel any sense of predictability.

Last year, Salt Cathedral premiered a mix over at This Is Fake DIY and in that instant or rather the instant the mix faded from my ears I knew I wanted one of my own and when tapped to do so, they were gracious enough to oblige and not only that continue the series that had begun on This Is Fake DIY - Umami. Meaning a pleasant savory taste, Umami (both Vol. 1 and the second volume presented here) is a collection of tunes the band could and does cook to, eat to, and probably relax to immediately after. It's nonabrasive but beyond mere fluff. Songs with real meat in them but not enough to fill you up but just to give you a hankering for more. Essentially, it's my kind of mix.

Salt Cathedral's contribution:

All Around Sound Blog Birthday Mix - Umami Vol. 2 by Salt Cathedral by Allaroundsoundblog on Mixcloud

All Around Sound is Turning Four - Day 3: J Fernandez

If left to my own devices, I probably wouldn't have ever discovered J Fernandez. While a fan of bedroom pop, there's something about Fernandez's stylistic psychedelic inflected type that leads me to believe I would never have stumbled upon such a thing on my own. The credit for point my ears in the right direction lies solely on Caleb from Lands & Peoples who first recommended show mates Thin Hymns before quickly following that recommendation with Fernandez. Needless to say I was enamored - Fernandez music scratched an itch I wasn't even aware I had; satisfying the total suspension of genre that results in instantaneous affection. And that was all before I had the chance to actually see him. I had the pleasure of catching J Fernandez and band at CMJ and his live show was electric, intricate and precise and a distinctive take on the tepid bedroom jams imbuing them with a galvanizing fire, a charming fervor. And with my approval totally won, I did the only thing I could think to do: I asked him for a mix.


J Fernandez' Contribution:

I recommend this mix for zoning out while creating excel spreadsheets.

All Around Sound is Turning Four - Day 2: We All Want Someone To Shout For

It's really a testament to Will Oliver's industriousness that I was largely unaware that We All Someone to Shout For was solely the work of him for an embarrassingly long period of time. The site updates so frequently with many posts a day that the idea that it was not only run but operated by a single person seemed utterly farfetched to me. The idea that We All Want Someone To Shout For is really only slightly older than my blog was also shocking but also inspiring. When first conceiving All Around Sound, the general set up of We All Want Someone To Shout For is essentially what I was aiming for - stimulating live reviews, passionate track and album reviews, and even bits of news here and there. It was a formula I toyed with but ultimately didn't work for me. But it's a good look for We All Want Someone To Shout For and one that succeeds based purely on Will's indomitable work ethic. As I went from a casual observer to an actual friend of Will's, his inclusion in All Around Sound's yearly birthday celebration seemed not only logical but necessary. We're essentially cut from the same cloth - sharing a tendency to be known for the bands we fiercely champion more than anything else, which causes a strange sort of pride (for me at least) as it means someone's paying attention enough to know what's you're fervently supporting.

Will's Contribution:

I tried to think of a really cool concept for the mix but struggled to find anything that stuck. So I thought about how this mix was celebration the birthday of your blog and realized that I needed to create a playlist that had some meaning and heart.I started blogging after many years of obsessing reading blogs and discovering so much cool new music. I first really started digging through blogs in 2005, during what I like to call the Golden Age. I have warm memories of discovering certain songs that permanently altered my relationship with music forever. To this day, these songs still hold a special place in my heart. I look back at them and remember the very moment I found these tracks and the awestruck feeling that only comes so often. It was like entering a new world, and it's one that I've emerged myself into with my own blog.
Without the songs that I shared with you on my mix, I wouldn't have started We All Want Someone, and may have never met you, or so many other fantastic bloggers. So I felt it was only right to create a mix looking back on the songs that shaped who I am as both a music blogger and (more importantly) a music lover.

 A big fat Happy Birthday to All Around Sound. Here's to many, many, more!

All Around Sound is Turning Four - Day 1 Bonus Mix: Devin Gallagher (Typhoon/Ghosties)

My friendship with Typhoon percussionist Devin Gallagher is one that would've been entirely impossible without the wonders of the internet. After Sam of MiddleClassWhiteNoise turned me on to Typhoon, I made it a point to interact with them on Twitter as I do for most bands I like with interesting things to say. Devin headed the Typhoon Twitter and we found ourselves in various discussions on music theory, minimalism, and exchanging music recommendations born from those discussions. Seeing Typhoon live because less of a singular mission of seeing a band I really dug but also of establishing an in person relationship with a person whose web presence I enjoyed. A very 21st century friendship to be sure.

Devin's contribution:

John Cage liked to listen to traffic outside his window which I think make me think about playing two records at the same time. I like the pops and skips and you can hear the dust catching on the needle. This mix includes music by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Sonic Youth, and Philip Glass, although some of it has been altered.

Devin (Typhoon/Ghosties)'s Blog Birthday Mix by Allaroundsoundblog on Mixcloud

All Around Sound is Turning Four - Day 1: Heart & Soul

In one week's time, All Around Sound will enter it's fourth year. In what is rapidly becoming tradition, I reached out to some friends of the blog to help celebrate with a week-long offering of curated mixes. Enjoy!

There's no denying that I share a sense of odd camaraderie with Rafael of Heart & Soul. Our blogs are vaguely the same age and we're probably the youngest writers in our musical circle. Paired together as the scrappy up and comers, especially in We Listen For You's assessment, our relationship could probably be compared to that of brothers somewhat close in age with Rafael serving more or less as my guide in the realm of outsider pop and all things ethereal and sparse while I mostly just help point out when Rafael's jokes are too terrible. It's win-win. While I have a tendency towards more streamlined production and lusher, fuller sounds, Rafael's influence has led into some rather unexpected cool paths - from my first Portals showcase to my first FMLY Fest and hopefully much more. When thinking of colleagues to help me ring in this special occasion (as has become tradition) it only seemed natural to (begrudging) extend my hand to Heart & Soul. I'm glad I did as Rafael offered up a somewhat personal mix with a thoughtful theme. 

Rafael from Heart & Soul's contribution:

So All Around Sound is entering its fourth year of existence, which in blog year is something like 28. Maybe that's dog years? Regardless, it's pretty impressive considering the amount of blogs that call it quits well before the four year mark. I figured an appropriate theme for this mix would be songs that are also turning four this year. Some of these come from artists I know Dante loves and a few might be a risk seeing as, while we do share a similar taste in music, it doesn't always quite match up. I guess that just makes it more fun. 

Anyway, this is a mix of mostly pop tunes that are pretty special to me for some reason or another. I attempted to arrange these tracks in a way that made sense to me. I hope that's at least somewhat apparent while you're listening. Here we go. Ten tracks from 2010.

Mutual Benefit - "Desert Island Feeling"
Belle and Sebastian - "I Didn't See It Coming"
Foxes in Fiction - "15 Ativan (Song for Erika)"
Glass Vaults - "Worrier"
Sea Oleena - "Island Cottage"
Wintercoats - "The Overture"
Holy Spirits - "Bridges"
Angel Olsen - "Some Things Cosmic"
Coma Cinema - "Black Birthday Cake"
Guards - "Trophy Queen" ft Caroline Polachek

All Around Sound is Turning Three! - Day 7 Bonus Mix: Lands & Peoples

Over the weekend (yesterday to be exact) All Around Sound officially celebrated it's third birthday and while the mix I made to herald the occasion seemed to be the last one -lo, we have a bonus mix from none other than one of my favorite new bands Baltimore's Lands & Peoples.

My discovery of Lands & Peoples came, as all good things seemed to in 2011, from my obsessive and ever-growing ARMS love. You see, in an effort to cram as much ARMS into my brain as humanly possible before Summer Skills was even announced, I stumbled upon the Big Ugly Yellow Couch. One of ARMS sessions had a suggested video of Lands & Peoples live at SXSW and intrigued I followed the link. While the Lands & Peoples I viewed there was almost in no way related to the Lands & Peoples I would come to know, the seed was already planted and those sweet, sweet harmonies had me hooked beyond belief.

After a couple emails sent back and forth to learn about them in which the remaining bands members Caleb and Beau explained a shift in musical direction, I was intrigued and soon got to reap the spoils of the musical soul-searching adventure in the form of a recorded live session. When I finally did get to see them at CMJ, my mind was utterly blown. The two were utterly in sync, trading instruments, swapping places, looping and what have you without the slightest need for a word exchanged between them. And of course, the biggest kicker was that those incredible harmonies remained. I was transfixed, astonished, and in love.

Lands & Peoples have evolved a bit since that first show but one thing remains: their questing for innovative ideas, never content to just do the same thing over, even frowning upon just becoming a loop band and seeking various methods of making their live set dynamic and engaging - a feat they achieve excellently.

So when I thought to ask several bands for contributions for All Around Sound's b-day mix extravaganza, Lands & Peoples seemed like the people to call. Caleb and I already engaging in several suggestion exchanges in the past, I looked rather forward to Lands & Peoples' mix. Unsure of just how weird it would get and or just how absolutely amazing it could possible be. True to form, my completely and utter faith in the band was rewarded.

Caleb from Lands & Peoples' contribution:

This mix will float you around the various influences that I have personally been picking up on in 2012 / thus far in 2013. In chronological order,

I've been obsessed with: 

• Dilla-esque shuffly beat music, 
• anything that is related to or inspired by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop,
• my favorite band of all time Broadcast, and
• the relatively new influx of amazing, 60s throwback pop music (or, "sounds old but is new", and JAMS)

Kicking off the mix is the only song that doesn't fit into any of those categories, and that's Ennio Morricone's main title theme music from the film "Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion".
I have no idea how I stumbled upon this, but I've listened to it about a hundred times within the last couple of months.

Thanks to Dante for being one of the nicest dude's in the game. Happy birthday to A.A.S.!!