New tracks from Lands & Peoples

When I was first introduced to Baltimore's Lands & Peoples, they had just made the impressive leap from quartet to two-some and were figured out how to function. In the months since then, the duo have since developed a rather impressive live show where the two weave massive amounts of electronic know-how with intertwining vocal harmonies and busy instrumental parts. The result is a musical style that in blending various genres creates something transcendental.

Lands & Peoples Microshow recording provides a notable progression from their Live at the Metro Gallery debut; several of their old songs are polished and all the more better for it. "Untitled #2" becomes "Memo", and the vocals in general improve tenfold. There's also some new songs that are pretty great too. If Lands & Peoples can improve so much in about a couple months, there's no guessing how great they'll be in a year or two. Here's hoping there's much more on the horizon for the enterprising young band.

Get a taste of Lands & Peoples new updated sound with new track "Ghosts" and "Frozen"
Lands & Peoples - Ghosts by All Around Sound Blog

Lands & Peoples - Frozen by All Around Sound Blog

You can download the Microshow here.

Pitstop: Balkans

Before heading off to CMJ almost two weeks ago, I had thoroughly planned out the showcases I would be attending and the bands I wanted to see. Or so I thought. Strangely enough there didn't appear to be that much happening on the Tuesday night I had chosen to start my CMJ adventure but the promise of Gauntlet Hair and Atlanta based band Balkans (who were short-listed on Spin Magazine's 30 Must See CMJ bands) playing at Pianos was the saving grace of my evening. Despite Gauntlet Hair cancelling, the evening was no doubt saved by Balkans.

The Atlanta foursome channel a Strokes-esque manner of cool, understated jangly rock while not just sounding like wannabes. Balkans' self-titled debut is collection of punky, drawling vocals with rapid, unforgivingly precise guitar rock with an oddly infectious pop sensibility. Their songs, though short, are an excitingly, attention-grabbingly angular - the kind that have you returning to the album to hear that awesome guitar lick again and again. If you haven't listen to Balkans yet, one listen will have you regretting it instantly.

Check out Balkans with this intense live video of album opener "Edita V":

Crystal Fighters release new video for "Champion Sound"

British folktronic dance band Crystal Fighters have certainly come a long way from the plotless "I Love London" with their brand new video for "Champion Sound". Though the premise is pretty standard: Boy meets girl; girl whisks boy away on a whimsical adventure - the way it's done is pretty nice to look at. As the boy sets up shop on a street to play for money, he's picked by a carload of colorful gypsy folk and sits next to the girl of his dreams. From there he's brought back to the gypsy den where the members of Crystal Fighters make up the house band for a sort of wacky gypsy dance party. And then the lines between fictional realities blur and you're not exactly sure what's actually happening. I won't spoil the ending for you, just watch the video to find out what I mean.

The Lost Cavalry - Snow City Radio EP (2011)

After months of anticipation-gathering updates and the release of two of the tracks, British quintet The Lost Cavalry are ready for their release of their brand new Snow City Radio EP. The four song follow up to last year's Waves Freeze to Rolling Hills EP takes the otherworldly tales and on-point song composition to a whole new level. Whereas Waves features yawny swells and a pervasive contemplative air, Snow City Radio adds some much beneficial variety. Sure, Mark West's talent for creating sprawling pieces of lyrical story-telling is still there but it's imbued with a brand new heretofore un-experienced energy that propels each song forward into the next culminating with the enrichingly collaborative "The Flood", slowly building into this cathartic moment of absolute release.

Snow City Radio proves that the brilliance of Waves Freeze to Rolling Hills wasn't just some marvelous fluke (not that anyone thought that) but just the warm up for Mark West's rather impressive set of songwriting chops.

The Lost Cavalry's Snow City Radio EP is out November 21st but you can preview all four songs on the Bandcamp:

Pitstop: Conveyor

Brooklyn quartet Conveyor is probably one of the only instances of meeting a band before having a chance to listen to their music I've had. Two of it's members happened to be outside during We Listen For You's CMJ Day Party and through appealing to my love of all things ARMS pretty much convinced me to check out their music when I got home.

There's isn't a whole lot available from the budding quartet and yet in just four short songs on their Sun Ray EP, I fell a little in love. Beginning with the hazy, melody-driven "Foreword", each song on Sun Ray invokes a different feeling or emotion. "Sun Ray" with it's bright, playful bounce is a delightfully pleasant pastoral ode to the wonders of nature. "Yes, Some Things Are So Heavy" proves the beneficial nature of imbuing your music with emotional cues - the repetitive lyrics brought to life by the swirling vocal harmonies and driving drums.

As is the case with the majority of my favorite music, what Conveyor do is kind of hard to explain in terms of genre. Occasionally noisy but extensively dreamy, Conveyor's music is defined in part by what's going on at that very moment like the electronic blips that form part of the framework of "Milkman". All in all, a distinctly infectious venture. Here's hoping we get to experience more of Conveyor.

Hear Conveyor's Sun Ray EP on Bandcamp:

North Highlands - Wild One (2011)

From the second I was introduced to Brooklyn quintet North Highlands at their co-headlining show with ARMS this summer, the news of their album has been constantly on my brain. How would their dance-y brand of chamber pop translate from the stage to an album? The answer is surprisingly well. Which is not surprising given they’ve been sitting on the album for a bit.

While Brenda Malvini’s vocals aren’t all that commanding, in fact barely registering louder than a delicate coo, that’s their strength. She could be screeching and wailing for your attention but instead she softly and sneakily wins your heart and the band makes sure to always keep her as the focus. No matter how busy the parts are, there’s always a pocket for Malvini’s soft, dreamy vocals.

Wild One is kind of a misnomer. Though it gets its name from its most raucous track “Roundhouse”, the album’s energy is a lot more subtle. Instead the songs are given room to flex and grow in this way that I wish more songwriters utilized. Their debut is downright balmy- recalling the sort of musical sight-seeing artists like Lord Huron invoke despite the fact that the album was written and recorded in bustling cities like New York and Philadelphia. The warm, inviting organic metamorphosis packs the album with these spectacular moments that’s the direct result of having such talented members all share the spotlight and keeps all the songs fresh and exciting. Wild One is no doubt a labor of love, talent, and a wonderful debut from a band that deserves to have more music out that it currently does. Here’s hoping North Highlands are already prepping a follow up because as satisfying as Wild One is, it only makes you crave more.

You can listen to their whole debut at their Bandcamp:

Fleet Foxes post teaser for upcoming new video

About a half hour ago, Seattle folk rockers Fleet Foxes posted this teaser trailer for their upcoming video for "The Shrine/An Argument". Directed by Robin Pecknold's older brother Sean, the video is bound to be epic. I mean, when you decide to make a video for an 8 minute track that's pretty much the only thing it can be. So until the official release of the video, enjoy the short teaser:

The Shrine / An Argument from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo.