Listen: Tiny Ruins - "The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel"

A little more than a month ago, New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook aka Tiny Ruins announced the details of her forthcoming record Brightly Painted One and offered up the effusive "Me at the Museum, You at the Wintergardens". It was perfect introduction to the subtly arresting folk that.

While "Me at the Museum, You at the Wintergardens" fluttered with coquettish effervescence, "The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel" takes a different route - not quite melancholic but far more introspective. After about a minute of unhurried rumination, the track picks up with the introduction of drums. It's a steady build filled with drive-by harmonies at unexpected intervals that helps to make the track particularly dynamic illustration of the track's theme of uncertainty. Nearly double the size of our first taste of Brightly Painted One, Fullbrook expands her narrative world building on "The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel" while not slacking one bit on the emotional resonance.

Listen to Brightly Painted One's second single "The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel":


Tiny Ruins' sophomore full length is out May 13th on Flying Nun Records.

Watch: Sylvan Esso - "Coffee"

                                                   (photo by DL Anderson)

One of the highlights of my SXSW experience was without a doubt getting the chance to see North Carolina duo Sylvan Esso perform. After making the terrible decision to sleep on their tunes when some of my favorite artists were advising all their fans to do otherwise, I dug in based on a pretty noncommittal suggestion from a friend. "Have you heard of Sylvan Esso? I really like their song 'Coffee'" she practically almost shrugged out and yet that was apparently just the sort of thing I need to light a fire under me - I checked out "Coffee" and was enamored, I checked out "Play It Right" and fell absolutely in love.

One of the most charming things about Sylvan Esso's performance is just how into the music they're creating they get. It's the sort of thing absolute necessary to make an electronic-based performance worthwhile and yet, the twosome went above and beyond in that category. Amelia Randall Meath utterly dominates all free space with her killer and unpredictable dance moves; enough to evoke a chorus of "ooh"s and "aah"s while she dipped and rolled to Nick Sanborn's infectious beats. So it's rather unsurprising, considering not only the lyrics but also how ingrained in the duo's live show it is that the focus of their video for "Coffee" would be on dance.

It starts unassumingly enough - the camera sweeps and follows Sanborn into a dance hall where a night of line dancing is taking place. After a bit of warm up everyone's having a good time and Meath and Sanborn blend right in. And just as quickly the scene changes to a house party in full swing - there's couples kissing, attendees passed out, and no one seems to really want to be there. Meath dances but her heart's not really in it while Sanborn's in the kitchen, downing a beer and barely participating in the conversation that's occurring. Perhaps the most unexpected source of enjoyment is the last segment - an sort of modern sock hop, the fun of the contra dance returns in earnest and then Sylvan Esso deploys its secret weapon - Amelia's badass moves. Despite being the camera's focus, the multitude of people paying her no mind makes the video's message abundantly clear - when you're doing what you want for the hell of it, there's no stopping your good time. A couple of good friends can help but ultimately the moment of pure elation comes final dancefloor chaos. There's an order in Meath and her friends' choreographed sequence but all those people milling about just out of focus are having the time of their lives and really, Amelia probably is too - cracking a smile during the most rigorous part of her dancing right before the cut.



If you can catch them on tour, I strongly, strongly recommend it. Dates here, and you can preorder the self-titled debut record out May 13th on Partisan Records.

Listen: William Tyler - "Whole New Dude"

Last year, right about this time, Nashville guitarist William Tyler put out a record. That record, Impossible Truth, was rather unlike the multitude of other records released at the time or even the whole year. While bands/artists pumped out records that seemed to screech and keen for relevancy, Tyler's Impossible Truth was a revelation in its slow-building organic plod. An album of expansive, patient guitar work - it was an album that seemed much more content to draw absolutely no attention to itself, to lie in wait until the right listener, which the proper amount of appreciation for its supple melodies and silky smooth flow, came along.

Impossible Truth was such a slow burner that I'm rather surprised William Tyler can follow it up quite so soon. And yet, that's clearly a testament to Tyler's musicianship - overflowing with musical ideas but skilled enough to sift through them and give them full breadth of being. There's not a single uninteresting moment in 13 minute offering "Whole New Dude", the bright burning star of Tyler's upcoming Lost Colony EP. After a bit of casual unfurling, "Whole New Dude" gets off to a sumptuous start - William Tyler's bent guitar lines adding just the right splotches of coloring to the rest of Tyler's freewheeling tread. Though always tunefully melodic and pleasantly so, there's always a sense of freedom in Tyler's compositions - that suddenly he'll take an unexpected path and wind up on a very different musical ramble and that's no different here. On "Whole New Dude", Tyler flexes his guitar chops and masterful musicianship with the help of a band while also keeping things on the right side of unpredictable. Tyler's never the sort to suddenly jump ship on a good musical idea but he knows when its outlived its usefulness when all its had to say has been said and transitions to the next one with careful efficiency.

Theoretically, William Tyler's "Whole New Dude" is a song in three parts - it's rousing intro, the spry and spirited meaty development, and its bristling, pseudo-showy coda. The transitions all handled with a delicacy but not quite the sleight of hand you'd expect.



William Tyler's Lost Colony EP is out April 29th on Merge Records.

Listen: Wye Oak - "Glory"

It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, especially those who've paid even the slightest bit of attention to Baltimore indie rock duo Wye Oak, that their SXSW sets were the highlight of the whole damn thing. But unlike their previous live sets where you could be certain to see Jenn Wasner shredding away to her heart's content, the band's decision to shelve guitar created a much more curiosity-provoking experience. While "The Tower" asserted that the duo's new song didn't sound at all lost or lacking, how the guitarlessness translated into their live set was a definite cause for concern. One subtly allayed by the band's excellent musicianship.

"Glory", the second single from Wye Oak's upcoming Shriek finds the duo plotting a distant course from the land of indie rock and settling somewhere in the realm of danceable electro-pop. It still maintains an organic edge, never quite plunging deep enough into the realm of synths and 808s but there's a certain funkiness, a rumpshaking quality alien to Wye Oak songs and one that was no doubt influenced from Wasner's poppier side projects Flock of Dimes and Dungeonesse. Nevertheless, it's not too jarring a transition but one that seems quite natural both within the context of "Glory" and the band itself. You don't need to have seen the duo live to know that their new album will live up to the hype. "The Tower" and "Glory" make that abundantly clear.



And in case you missed it, here's the first single "The Tower", Wye Oak's Shriek is out April 29th on Merge.

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.