All Around Sound Is Turning Three! - Day 1: Rawkblog

In a little less than a week (March 10th to be exact), All Around Sound will be entering it's third year of operation. To help ring in the occasion I thought I'd offer another smattering of playlists belovedly curated by friends of the blog/myself as well as influencers of both my taste and the blog's direction on occasion.

Kicking off the week is Rawkblog, run by LA-based music journalist David Greenwald. My relationship with  Dave is one I wouldn't take likely. Our music tastes are separate for the most part connected at its strongest by a love of indie rock/pop. Dave's single-handedly responsible for me checking out Fiona Apple's The Idler Wheel.... His biggest success/influence, to me at least comes in the form of his digital music club. For $2.99/month and a free subscription to Spotify, each week he sends out his picks for album of the week as well as an older album he feels pairs well with the album as well as a monthly mixtape. That's a lot of music.  In a lot of ways, Dave is responsible for the whole mixtape run on All Around Sound. He also gives some rather excellent behind the scenes help like advice on interviews. We may differ on a few hundred issues like what's an acceptable song of the year (Usher's "Climax" it is not) but overall, I have trust in Dave's taste and look forward to his weekly offerings.

Dave's Contribution - I Came All This Way:

I have a special place in my heart for "unpopular pop," a sorta-genre coined by Jon Brion and first applied to his circle of friends, collaborators and Largo players circa '99: people including Elliott Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Fiona Apple, Badly Drawn Boy, Aimee Mann and others you, uh, probably haven't heard of. Brion's concept rings truer than ever: for bands not candy-coated enough for the mainstream but not fashionable or weird enough for the underground, it's easy to get left on the shelf. For this mixtape, I compiled some of my favorite unpopular pop: picks from underappreciated bands, secret classics from better-known acts and Trashcan Sinatras' "Freetime," the best Britpop song ever recorded, Coachella headliners be damned. 

Pitstop: High Highs

My introduction to High Highs happened almost a year ago as my first taste of Rawkblog's Mercury Music Digital Record Club. Since then the Brooklyn trio by way of Australia have put out their self titled four song EP via Small Plates Records and have been winning the hearts of plenty with their brand of immersive, quiet folk pop.

What sets High Highs apart from the myriad of other folk pop troubadours is perhaps their subtle pairing of acoustic with electronic elements to achieve dreamy soundscapes not unlike dreampop champions Beach House. Each song on the EP is stunningly arresting and artfully engaging to the point of near confusion: when the last song ends it's like being jerked out of a sound sleep of the most pleasant variety.





Despite the trio's pervasive sense of soft, melodic quiet however there is an awe-inspiring lushness. Full and rich, and delicately arranged as to keep it from ever becoming overwhelming. High Highs draw from an impressive sonic palette that manages to engross all the senses and engages more in four songs than some bands manage to do in years of music-making.



And as can be heard in High Highs latest single "Once Around the House", their musical competency is more than just a four song fluke. High Highs are here to stay with their dazzling brand of subtle, captivating folktronic pop and I for one couldn't be more pleased.



You can grab High Highs self-titled EP from Small Plates Records here.

Matty Fasano - "Christopher"

Considering how much I talk about ARMS, you're probably more than familiar with Matty Fasano. If not, let me quickly bring you up to speed: Matty Fasano is ARMS' bassist, occasional synth player, and is responsible for all those creamy dreamy harmonies you hear on Summer Skills and the EP released way back in 2010. Matty Fasano is also a member of Illuminator (where he also holds down the harmonies) and last year he released the "Unkind"/"Unusual" single. This year, Fasano is releasing an EP by the name of Living in Armchairs and though I haven't heard it yet, it's definitely a must own for me. Why? Well, based on the strength of Fasano's debut single last year and new track "Christopher", it's pretty hard not to get excited about the EP.

"Christopher" builds on top of the piano-centric ballads of "Unkind" and stormy "Unusual" to create a proper evolution of the two. Fasano continues to shy away from the pop conventions that he inexplicably might fall in, in favor of songwriting that relies far more on being emotionally evocative than being catchy or memorable (which fortunately, it is) and plays to Fasano's obvious strengths - the track filled to the brim with lovely, lovely harmonies.

 Christopher by Matty Fasano

(via Rawkblog)

Matty Fasano's Living In Armchairs is out April 3rd. Matty Fasano is also playing a release show with Friend Roulette, you can buy tickets here.