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! 

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/