Pitstop: Zulu Winter

Featured on Listen Before You Buy's Best Songs of 2011 shortlist as well as their Ones to Watch for 2012 artist listing, I can't really explain why it's taken me so long to get into Zulu Winter. I remember hearing a song of there's a couple months back and being impressed enough to put the release of their debut album Language on my own personal list of upcoming album releases.

So what is it about Zulu Winter that had me decide to buy their album based solely on one song? Well, the London indie rock quintet play a sort of intricate, precisely layered rock that belies their rather short time together. Listening to any of their songs might remind you of other British rockers Wild Beasts but not in a copycat sense - more for the similar driving tempos with layers of instrumental complexity. Zulu Winter play the kind of perfectly balanced pop rock that's a favorite of mine to listen to. The kind that doesn't trade in the rock for a more accessibility and the potential for radio play. Mind you, Zulu Winter's music is very catchy and would be perfect for radio but their music is easily the kind that's worth waiting in line to see. Equally at home in intimate venues as well as the arenas they seem destined to play. Zulu Winter play the kind of guilt-free pop rock that I think everyone's looking for. Sure to become an instant favorite even if it does take you awhile to realize it.

Get a taste of Zulu Winter:






Their debut album Language is out May 14th in the UK and June 19th stateside so mark your calendars because you won't want to miss it.

Feist - "Black Tongue" (Mastodon Cover)

This year there's been a bunch of let's say questionable collaborations happening that seemed to occur without rhyme or reason. They've all been more or less hit or miss (mostly miss) but one of the most unexpected ones to roll out between Canadian indie songstress Feist and Atlanta, Georgia metalheads Mastodon is actually excellent. I can't say surprisingly because Feist has a way of imbuing everything she touches with a kind of special awesomeness but there seemed to be so much that could've gone wrong with this and yet, it's utterly perfect.

For their split 7" to be released on Record Store Day (that's this Saturday!), the two decided to take a crack at each other's songs. Mastodon took "A Commotion" from Feist's latest release Metals which makes sense as it's kind of the noisiest, most angry track in Feist's repetoire and Feist took on "Black Tongue", the opening track from Mastodon's most recent release The Hunter. The results are pretty spectacular - namely Feist's portion. Turns out Feist utterly thrives in darker, heavier settings. She doesn't go full metal opting instead for some sort of middle ground that plays to her punky roots while also emphasizing exactly what you love about her: She's ridiculous adaptable - settling for sultry instead of ethereal with her higher notes having just the right amount of wail. It's a surprising enough turn that it makes me hope she lounges around in darker sounds a little longer. Here's to hoping.

Get a taste of Feist's contribution to the 'Feistodon' split 7" - out in just two days!



(via Listen Before You Buy)

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.

Watch: The Dø - 'Gonna Be Sick!"

Turns out today I'm shining an inadvertent spotlight on Listen Before You Buy. Not only are they where I found out this video happened but Frank turned me onto The Dø and last year's remarkable Both Ways Open Jaws. In retrospect it probably should've been on my Best Of list. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.

There's not really a whole lot I can say about The Dø's spectacular new video that won't sound like gushing. Everything about it is incredible - from the pacing, the plot, the direction, the nifty way they use sheets as water, to the very idea of putting Olivia Merilahti on a fake boat and having her besieged by peril after peril for no reason (let's be serious, who would ever let that beautiful woman go out to sea in a rowboat all  alone? Not me.). See? Gushing. Check out  The Dø's video for "Gonna Be Sick!":


(via Listen Before You Buy)

Watch: Rhye - "Open" [NSFW]

There are benefits to staying up til 4-5 in the morning, one of them is that Listen Before You Buy is usually already starting the day posting perfection before most of us are even entering REM sleep. One late night/early morning, Frank of LBYB posted a random video and basically called it the most gorgeous thing ever. That's a tall claim but turns out he was right. The video was a live living room version of Rhye's "Open".

There's not a whole lot of I can tell you about Rhye. And everything I can more or less comes directly from LBYB. Rhye either is or is fronted by Mike Milosh who happens to be from Toronto. They recently just released a 3 song 12" through Innovative Leisure. Oh, here's something I can tell you - the track is downright sexy. Also, gorgeous. The falsetto is so good, I thought it was a girl at first. The group also just released a brand new video for "Open" that takes its sexiness to the next level.

The concept behind the video is fantastic. Essentially men and women sexing each other up with a notable twist - every so often someone changes. Not in a slow metamorphosing kind of way but like boom - new person having sex. It sounds a bit racy (and let's face it, it is) but it's also pretty remarkably well done. One of those audio-visual combinations that you can't imagine existing any other way.

Watch Rhye's gorgeous video for the equally gorgeous track "Open":

Rhye - Open from Rhye on Vimeo.


You can listen to Rhye's debut 12" on Spotify.

All Around Sound Is Turning Two! - Day 2: Listen Before You Buy

This week, All Around Sound is turning two years old and to help celebrate our auspicious milestone, I ask a bunch of blog friends/people I love to help make the occasion a little more special with some fancy playlist-love.

I'd be lying if I said that the whole idea to have blogs submit playlists to be featured this week wasn't in part some sort of elaborate ruse to get Frank over at Listen Before You Buy to do something for me for a change. I'm not exactly sure how I fell in with Franky and the Listen Before You Buy staff but it was through his blog/twitter that I stumbled into Mumuplayer and befriended everyone who was there (which coincidentally wasn't Frank). Frank runs a tight ship over at Listen Before You Buy featuring a pretty much overwhelming plethora of great and diverse music and for some odd reason allows me to contribute over there when the mood strikes me. When I came up with the idea for guest playlists from blogs that have influenced mine - Frank was my main go to guy. While I don't exactly aspire to have a behemoth of a site and team that he does, just thinking about all the good work his blog is doing inspires me to write more and to write better. So thanks Franky for a blog well run and agreeing to my little request.

Frank writes:

In this current digital climate of music discovery and all-you-can-eat consumption of anything with a soundwave, it's a special thing to stumble across an artist that deserves all the fame and acclaim on the planet, yet is flying just too low below the radar to break out into the mainstream, and so it goes for music blogs too.

Finding a gem of a music blog that's passionate, articulate, intelligent and knowledgeable can be few and far between, but when you do find one you latch onto it and protect it like it's your favourite baby squirrel. Such is the case with Dante's "All Around Sound" which falls into each of the above descriptions (baby squirrel being the most apt). 

Passionate writing is an instant attraction for me to a music blog, and All Around Sound has it in spades. Subscribe, Like, and Follow. You won't regret it.

That's some high praise right there. Even better? Frank's diverse playlist.

You can listen to Frank's Blog Birthday mix on Spotify here. Here's the text version:
1. British Sea Power - "Apologies To Insect Life"
2. Beyonce - "Party ft. Andre 3000"
3. Badly Drawn Boy - "Pissing in the Wind"
4. St. Vincent - "Your Lips Are Red"
5. Bob Dylan - "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream"
6. Camera Obscura - "Other Towns And Cities"
7. T. Rex - "Get It On"
8. The Smiths - "Bigmouth Strikes Again"
9. Massive Attack - "Interia Creeps"
10. Alton Ellis - "Rock Steady"
11. Justice - "TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY"
12. Slow Club - "Hackney Marsh"
13. Yeasayer - "Ambling Amp"
14. Daft Punk - "Da Funk"
15. Sex Pistols - "Anarchy in the UK"
16. Frederic Chopin - Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 9 No.2
17. The La's - "There She Goes"
18. Blur - "End Of A Century"

Watch: Of Monster and Men - "Little Talks"

A couple days ago, Iceland's up and coming folk pop sextet Of Monsters and Men released their debut video for "Little Talks". The video follows the band's males on a journey whose purpose isn't ever quite explained. Somewhere along the way they meet up with a superpower goddess like creature (played by the band's sole female - Nanna).\ who escorts them for the rest of the trip, fending off all sorts of terrifyingly gigantic creatures and rescue them from certain danger. The whole thing plays like a video game with a cheat activated and yet it's beautifully enough to forgive that.

Watch the video for Of Monster and Men's "Little Talks":



Of Monsters and Men's My Head is An Animal is out April 3rd.

(via Listen Before You Buy)

Watch: Guards - "Do It Again"

Well this is embarrassing. Since witnessing their amazingly lively show at We Listen For You's CMJ showcase, I have mentioned New York City retro pop rock foursome Guards absolutely zero times on this blog. No idea why - they're great. Well here's hoping I can make up for it.

Today, Guards dropped the video for their most recent single "Do It Again" on Spin. The video, directed by Kaylie Schiff, is a modern take on Soul Train that takes place in Los Angeles' Echo Club. Instead of the band performing, there's a mariachi band that is somehow playing "Do It Again" while the members of the band and several others dance their way down the line with some of their best moves. It's fun and features one of the most awesome dancers in a Dracula cape, I've ever seen.

Watch the video for "Do It Again":


(via Listen Before You Buy)

Pitstop: Azealia Banks

For me, writing about anything vaguely resembling hip-hop is as common as a Haley's Comet sighting but every once in awhile I hear something so undeniably good that I feel like I have to spread it despite my normal hip hop ambivalence. May I present Miss Azealia Banks.

Azealia Banks might very be the most unlikely of hip-hop sirens - a musical theatre actress, it took a bout of depression and a metaphorical trip to rock bottom to push her into rapping and singing and now she does it with an almost overwhelming intensity. When I first heard her song "212", it wasn't until the middle eight when I was really hooked; when you really got a load of her impressive pipes. And yet that's a staple of R&B: girls with impressive vocal chops. What sets Azealia Banks apart from the scores of young ladies making their rounds in the more mainstream circles? Well, Banks' songs are deeply rooted in reality. There's no hyping oneself up that's common in rap songs - talking about how great you are or how rich or hard you are. No, Azealia Banks tackles some more realistic topics - namely sex. Like the "212"'s rapid-fire delivery of the most non-PG materials you might ever encounter. It could be shocking, if it wasn't so charming. She's been compared to Nicki Minaj, mostly due to her affinity to both rap and sing, but really Banks' mouth is much more reminiscent of female rappers like Lil Kim and Foxy Brown. But as much as you try to compare Banks she's undoubtedly unique not solely defined by her foul mouth lyrics or her sparse beats but with an impossibly affable charm. Surprisingly considering her strong-willed nature is at the forefront of her lyrics which occasionally come off more as demands, threats, and provocations. And yet that's what keeps me coming back for me - despite an intimidating amount of presence for a 20 year old, her songs are fun in addition to being good.

Her follow ups to "212" show that Banks' discovery is no fluke, she's ready to keep putting out great tracks that leave you wanting more. And with Banks currently in London readying her debut record, it certainly won't be long. Especially if your lucky enough to be European - she's got a slew of tour dates lined up. So until the debut drops, I'm just going to keep repeating tracks like "Liquorice" and "NeedSumLuv" until my ears fall off.

   NEEDSUMLUV (SXLND) by Azealia Banks

 212 ft. Lazy Jay by Azealia Banks 

 LIQUORICE by Azealia Banks

(via Listen Before You Buy)

Pitstop: Dry the River

(Photo by Tom Oldham)

My discovery of British folk quintet Dry the River is due massively in part due to Spotify's feature that lets you know what your friends are listening to. One night I noticed Sam of Middle Class White Noise and Frank of Listen Before You Buy listening to extensive amounts of Dry the River and intrigued I figured I'd give it a listen as well. Turns out I had heard of Dry the River before - they were the openers on The Antlers' European tour late last year and are soon to join one of my all time favorite bands Bowerbirds on their upcoming North American tour. Sold and sold.

Despite their latest single "No Rest" peaking my interest, it wasn't until I heard "No Ceremony" that I knew for sure Dry the River would be a band I would follow to the end of their days. With big rock licks, Dry the River wouldn't be out on place in some of the UK's big stadium venues and yet their arena rock moments are grounded by a folky sincerity and intimate attention to detail all anchored by intricate, infectious melodies and agile wordsmithery. I haven't heard a song by them yet that I didn't like.


Dry the River's debut album Shallow Bed is due out in the UK on March 6th with a US date hopefully soon to follow just in time for their US tour with Bowerbirds. Until then you can listen to their tunes on their Soundcloud

Get a taste of Dry the River with my favorite track "No Ceremony":
 Dry the River - "New Ceremony" by Dry the River

Also check out the music video for "No Rest", the first single off their upcoming album:

Dry The River 'No Rest' from Academy Films on Vimeo.