COVER ART made by Kristine Zipfel. Visit Kristine’s website www.khanran.deviantart.com.

We have done an interview with Kristine, where you can read more about her and her art. You can find the illustrator interview here.

THE BOOKLET is designed by Julia Pax and put together in InDesign by Andrej Dolinka.
View the booklet.

PROBLEMS DOWNLOADING? If you have problems downloading the single-zip, try downloading through this link instead.

ABOUT Karibean

Karibean are Enrico Carletti (vocals, bass guitar), Corrado Verdolini (guitar) and Luca Gobbi (drums, vocals) from Ancona. Their music is breathing Beach Boys vibes and makes you want to live close to the ocean. The three-piece from Italy’s east-coast have formed in 2010 and released their wonderful debut EP »Love, Tears & Spiritual Blessing« this summer.

You can listen to a special Christmas edition now that includes two additional songs. Everybody who thought about a Christmas under palm trees, by the beach surfing or just enjoying a light breeze while sunbathing, this might be your soundtrack. You can find Karibean on the Internet here: http://karibean.bandcamp.com/ and  http://www.facebook.com/karibeanband.

Sorry, our “retired” compilation “A Good Crop” has now been put in its cage again. The week is over, and it will never ever be available anymore. 

You can listen to a few songs from it here, but we will not give away any more copies of it anymore.

COVER ART made by Sarah Lippett. Visit Sarah’s website http://crayonlegs.com/
We have done an interview with Sarah, where you can read more about her and her art. You can find the illustrator interview here.

THE BOOKLET is designed by Julia Pax and put together in InDesign by Andrej Dolinka. View the booklet.
PROBLEMS DOWNLOADING? If you have problems downloading the single-zip, try downloading through this link instead.

ABOUT LAURA K

23 year old Laura K wrote her first song when she was 8, and learned to play piano 3 years earlier. Today, she writes lots of poppy songs and plays several instruments: keyboard, ukulele, glockenspiel and melodica, whilst also singing with her lovely voice. Her songs tell tales of love, life and heart break, yet she somehow manages to do it in an uplifting and amusing way. She used to live in Brisbane, where she played in bands like Roman History and Little Scout, but is now based in London. In addition to making sweet songs on her own, she also plays keyboards and sings backing vocals in Tigercats. She says that the coolest thing that’s ever happened to her was meeting Jarvis Cocker backstage at Leeds Festival, where he put her on the guest list for one of Pulp’s sold out shows at Brixton Academy. So, now you know Laura K. Maybe you should listen to her music?  www.laurak.bandcamp.com

A PHOTO INTERVIEW WITH LAURA K

The innovative website A NEGATIVE NARRATIVE make interviews with bands, but instead of answering with words, the artists have to take a photograph for each question. You can view Laura K’s photographic answers on A.N.N.’s website, or in the booklet for this single. Hope you enjoy them!

We are collaborating with A Negative Narrative on this single-series, and they have made photo-interviews with all our single-artists. Visit http://anegativenarrative.com/ and see more bands’ photographic answers to their interview questions.

THE COVER SONG:

We have encouraged the single-bands to make a cover version of a song they think deserve more attention.

Laura K has chosen to cover “Beach Comber”, originally written and performed by Real Estate. The song can be found on Real Estate’s self-titled debut album (listen on Spotify)

THE COVERED ARTIST: REAL ESTATE

http://www.myspace.com/realestate

Real Estate is a psychedelic surf pop band hailing from Ridgewood, New Jersey now rooted in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The band was formed in Ridgewood, New Jersey by singer/guitarist Martin Courtney, guitarist Matthew Mondanile (Ducktails), bassist Alex Bleeker (of Alex Bleeker and the Freaks), and drummer Etienne Pierre Duguay (of [{Predator Vision]]) in 2008. In 2011 Jackson Pollis joined on drums.

After issuing singles on the Underwater Peoples and Woodsist labels, the band’s 2009 self-titled debut received an 8.5 rating and Best New Music tag from the Pitchfork Media website. Tours followed supporting acts such as Girls, Kurt Vile, Woods, and Deerhunter. In 2011, Real Estate signed with the Domino Recording Co. and plan to issue their sophomore record, Days, on October 18th, 2011.

Here is Real Estate’s original version of the song:

In June 2008, we released our very first compilation, “Summer’s Here!”, which featured 48 summery popsongs on 2 volumes. The cover art was made by illustrators Alex Noriega and Helena Garcia, and the project was originally meant to be a one-off event by Knut’s blog “Eardrums Music”. It became very popular, and people soon started asking for another release.

This was the start of EardrumsPop, and since then there have been many releases from us, with the kind help from lots of bands and illustrators. Stefan has put together a Soundcloud selection with some songs from our first compilation, and you can listen to it by clicking on the image above. Enjoy!

We wish you a perfect, warm and melodic summer!

We plan to expand, get bigger, stronger, better, richer and move into new territories. We thought selling tubas would be a brilliant way to get rich fast, but we haven’t sold a single one yet, so we’re dropping that idea. This is our new business-plan:

We’re planning to make some tshirts, – firstly because we would love to have an EardrumsPop-shirt ourselves, secondly because we would be honored if anyone else would like to wear one, and thirdly because we do in fact pay some bills to be able to give out these releases for free.

It may be a distant hope, but we hope that the tshirt-sales may pay some bills for us.

An EardrumsPop-shirt can not be just plain text and nothing more. We need a shirt-design that say something about the label’s connection to music AND illustration. It doesn’t have to be a picture that shows music and illustration directly, but it will have to be an illustration in the spirit of EardrumsPop.
We can not pay much – or anything – for the design, but we’d like to ask our “fans” and our illustrator-friends if any of you would like to give it a try.

If you would like to help, please do the following:

1. send us an email telling us that you might send us a design later. Our address is team@eardrumspop.com
2. send us a sketch of your design or the finished design + preferably how you would like it to be placed on the shirt. We would like the shirts to be in black, so please try to make your designs fit to that.

We will pick one or more of the designs we like that will be printed as tshirts.
Any questions or ideas? Please contact us on the address mentioned above.

COVER ART is made by James Lloyd. Read our illustrator interview with him here.
THE BOOKLET is designed by Julia Pax and put together in InDesign by Andrej Dolinka. View the booklet.
PROBLEMS DOWNLOADING? If you have problems downloading the single-zip, try downloading through this link instead.

ABOUT THE VERY MOST:

Photo by Laurie Pearman

The Very Most are an indie-pop band from Boise, Idaho, USA, though with six members, they are quickly approaching »collective« status. In a backyard studio they carefully construct layers upon layers of guitar, bass, drums, strings, percussion, woodwinds,
synths, vocals and effects to create their sunshine-filled melodic sound.

In 2009 they completed their third full-length, A Year With The Very Most, which is a compilation of four EPs themed after a different season of the year and in 2010 they released their EP Patricia. They’ve been cranking out the pop hits since 2002, and hope to be doing so for the foreseeable future.

www.myspace.com/theverymost

A PHOTO INTERVIEW WITH THE VERY MOST The innovative website A NEGATIVE NARRATIVE make interviews with bands, but instead of answering with words, the artists have to take a photograph for each question. We are collaborating with A Negative Narrative on this single-series, and they have made photo-interviews with our single-artists. Visit http://anegativenarrative.com/ and see more bands’ photographic answers to their interview questions.

THE COVER SONG:

We have encouraged the single-bands to make a cover version of a song they think deserve more attention. THE VERY MOST have chosen to cover »If Monday’d Never Come«, originally performed by Brilliant at Breakfast.

Brilliant at Breakfast describe themselves as Pop with dabs of madness. Perky, childish, whimsical songs. Themes range from popular culture (comic book superheroes, Greek mythology, urban legends, novels, other bands) and everyday life (end-of-vacation blues, intoxicating drinks, sugary drinks, road accidents).

A decidedly uncool band which happens to be comprised of an infinite number of stick figures, we aim to take bedroom musicianship further with cheap instruments, rhymes and riddles, an outlandish sense of humor, mediocre musical skill, and cups over cups of coffee.

www.myspace.com/brilliantatbreakfastmusic

If you enjoyed the single, please tell your friends about it! Write about it in your blog, on Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm etc. Play it on your radio show, your podcast or as loud as you can on your stereo with your windows open. Spread the word about the single and help us let lots of people hear it!

COVER ART is made by Anne Roecklein. Read our illustrator interview with her here.
THE BOOKLET is designed by Julia Pax and put together in InDesign by Andrej Dolinka. View the booklet.
PROBLEMS DOWNLOADING? If you have problems downloading the single-zip, try downloading through this link instead.

ABOUT BOCA CHICA:

(PHOTO: Rebecca Chiappelli)

Boca Chica is an orchestral twang pop band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Led by songwriter Hallie Pritts, their songs are dark, catchy, and combine somewhat surreal lyrics and instrumentation with bar band appeal. Drawing influences from classic country stars, Boca Chica filters those twangy tendencies through a modern indie pop lens.

Boca Chica is a band that thrives on collaboration and with this new EardrumsPop release they take it to a new level. Not only do these songs benefit from internal band collaboration, but each song represents a melding of minds– be it with a writer like Jacob Liechty on »For Jacob with Malaria«, another band like Lohio on »Afternoon Tea«, or with another songwriter like Nik Westman on »You’re the Blues«.

Boca Chica pushes the boundaries of what it means to be a »band«, having had more than 40 different members since their inception and their current lineup includes Hallie Pritts, Susanna Meyer, J.Vega, Ricky Moslen, James Hart, and Kraig Decker.

http://www.myspace.com/bocachica

A PHOTO INTERVIEW WITH BOCA CHICA The innovative website A NEGATIVE NARRATIVE make interviews with bands, but instead of answering with words, the artists have to take a photograph for each question. We are collaborating with A Negative Narrative on this single-series, and they have made photo-interviews with our single-artists. Visit http://anegativenarrative.com/ and see more bands’ photographic answers to their interview questions.

THE COVER SONG:

We have encouraged the single-bands to make a cover version of a song they think deserve more attention. Boca Chica have chosen to cover “You’re the blues”, originally performed by Nik & the Central Plains.

Here is the original:

This is how the band present themselves:
“Nik & the Central Plains are a twangy indie rock band from Pittsburgh, PA.. We do garage folk rock and roll. The tunes are driven by three guys and a 1982 mercedez benz. Each song invites the listener to a story you haven’t heard before. We have one full length record which was released in March 2010 ( It was chosen as 1 of the top 5 local releases of 2010 by Pittsburgh public radio station WYEP 91.3). We will be releasing our second full length record April 22 2011.

Visit: nikandthecentralplains.com

If you enjoyed the single, please tell your friends about it! Write about it in your blog, on Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm etc. Play it on your radio show, your podcast or as loud as you can on your stereo with your windows open. Spread the word about the single and help us let lots of people hear it!

In December and January, we had a survey among our listeners, and wow, you have been active! Lots and lots of replies have arrived, and today, we will reveal the results. Thanks to all the people who have participated!

You can listen to the tracks in the soundcloud-playlist above (click the play-button), or you can listen/download at soundcloud, OR get all the releases you are missing from our releases-page. There is also a soundcloud player below this post, which is easier to download from. So here we go!

OUR LISTENERS’ FAVOURITE EARDRUMSPOP RELEASE:

1. TINY FIREFLIES 28% OF THE VOTES
2. BAFFIN ISLAND 19%
3. BETWEEN TWO WAVES 18%
4. SOMETIMES ALWAYS 12%
5. INSECT GUIDE (BATS) 9%

OUR LISTENERS’ FAVOURITE SONGS FROM THE SINGLES:


1. TINY FIREFLIES – SNOW 18%
2. BAFFIN ISLAND – YOU MAKE TWO WEEKS TWO DAYS 13%
2. TINY FIREFLIES – HOLDING PATTERN 13%
3. BAFFIN ISLAND – YOU INVITED ME 11%
4. ALISON EALES – LAND AND SEA 7%
4. SOMETIMES ALWAYS – YOU CAN ALL HIDE 7%
5. OLÁFACHADA – THERE IS ANOTHER SKY 6%

OUR LISTENERS’ FAVOURITE ARTWORK:

1. MINKEE’S COVER FOR TINY FIREFLIES 23%
2. ANDY HART’S COVER FOR SOMETIMES ALWAYS 17%
3. Daniel Novakovic’s cover for Between Two Waves vol. C 15%
4. Helena Garcia’s cover for Alison Eales 12%
5. Julia Pax and Ronald Scharf’s cover for Between Two Waves vol. B 7%

OUR LISTENERS’ FAVOURITE COVER-VERSION FROM THE SINGLES:


1.TINY FIREFLIES – END OF THE WORLD 38%
2.BAFFIN ISLAND – DARLING PLEASE COME HOME 21%
3.ALISON EALES – OVERBLOWN GESTURES 12%

OUR LISTENERS’ FAVOURITES FROM BETWEEN TWO WAVES:


1. Tiny Fireflies – Don’t Wait Until I Fall Asleep 13%
2. Baffin Island – You Make Two Weeks Two Days 9%
3. Oláfachada – There Is Another Sky 6%
3. Bubblegum Lemonade Vs Fin-Ray – Fourteen Days 6%
4. Suspicious for the Winter (Casa Murilo + Like Spinning)- Empty Streets 5%
5. Jacob Borshard and Cake on Cake – Summer Will Have Its Way 4%
5. Boa Constrictor vs The Honeydrips – Please Do Not Lie     4%
5. Joel & Julia (Butcher The Bar + Julia Guther)- Pope Pius X 4%

OUR LISTENERS’ FAVOURITE NETLABELS (OTHER THAN EARDRUMSPOP)

1. Holiday Records 21%
2. Bubbletone Discos’ Club7 17%
3. SEA Indie 16%
4. BEKO DSL 14%
5. We Were Never Boring Collective 8%

So, – were these your favourites as well? Please comment!

BEST OF EARDRUMSPOP by EardrumsPop

COVER ART is made by Jared Davis/Far Concern. Read our illustrator interview with him here.
THE BOOKLET is designed by Julia Pax and put together in InDesign by Andrej Dolinka. View the booklet.
PROBLEMS DOWNLOADING? If you have problems downloading the single-zip, try downloading through this link instead.

ABOUT FAR CONCERN:

Far Concern is Jared Davis, who produces collagic pop music from a bedroom in Melbourne, singing short simple melodies with lyrics about fantasy and nonsense.

http://www.soundcloud.com/far-concern

A PHOTO INTERVIEW WITH FAR CONCERN The innovative websiteA NEGATIVE NARRATIVE make interviews with bands, but instead of answering with words, the artists have to take a photograph for each question. We are collaborating with A Negative Narrative on this single-series, and they have made photo-interviews with our single-artists. Visit http://anegativenarrative.com/ and see more bands’ photographic answers to their interview questions.

THE COVER SONG:

We have encouraged the single-bands to make a cover version of a song they think deserve more attention. FAR CONCERN have chosen to cover “Suddenly yr in my heart”, originally performed by Scraps.

Here is the original:

Scraps is the performing name of Laura Hill, who makes charming electronic pop in Brisbane, Australia. She is a very well kept secret, and hasn’t performed all that much outside of Brisbane, but has developed a strong reputation in her hometown. Scraps blends clever and original song writing, somewhat wonky electronic keyboard playing, catchy melodies and a big personality. A release on new Brisbane independent label that is making waves in its own right, Bedroom Suck, is forthcoming. Scraps has also produced videos for her a few of her tracks, a real purveyor of DIY bedroom-pop!

http://www.myspace.com/sssscrapssss

If you enjoyed the single, please tell your friends about it! Write about it in your blog, on Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm etc. Play it on your radio show, your podcast or as loud as you can on your stereo with your windows open. Spread the word about the single and help us let lots of people hear it!

COVER ART is made by Emma Virke. Read our illustrator interview with her here.
THE BOOKLET is designed by Julia Pax and put together in InDesign by Andrej Dolinka. View the booklet.
PROBLEMS DOWNLOADING? If you have problems downloading the single-zip, try downloading through this link instead.

ABOUT EARLY TO BED:

Early to Bed is a cross-atlantic collaboration between Meagan (Wisdom Tooth) and Henry (Me and the Horse I Rode In On). Meagan lives in the USA. Henry lives in Denmark. Together they make sounds.

Henry and Megan have never met and found each other on the Internet- they have been collaborating ever since.  In Megan’s words:  “I know how to write songs but I can’t lay down a solid instrumental track for the life of me, which is where Henry comes in. He listens to the songs I send him, feels them out, and then translates them into something more polished and eloquent; something that articulates better what the original versions are clumsily trying to communicate.”

http://wisdomtoothjams.tumblr.com/
http://wisdom-tooth.bandcamp.com/
http://meandthehorseirodeinon.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Me-and-the-Horse-IRode-In-On/174214239053

A PHOTO INTERVIEW WITH EARLY TO BED The innovative website A NEGATIVE NARRATIVE make interviews with bands, but instead of answering with words, the artists have to take a photograph for each question. We are collaborating with A Negative Narrative on this single-series, and they have made photo-interviews with our single-artists. Visit http://anegativenarrative.com/ and see more bands’ photographic answers to their interview questions.

THE COVER SONG:

We have encouraged the single-bands to make a cover version of a song they think deserve more attention. Early To Bed have chosen to cover “Pair of Bonnie and Clydes”, originally performed by Virgil Shepard Walters.

Early To Bed’s Meagan Day says:
“Virgil Shepard Walters is a disappeared band. I was really into this guy’s music four years or five ago, and he had an internet presence and everything, and then all the sudden it was like he got sick of himself. We all do sometimes, don’t we? Anyway, he erased himself, he’s nowhere to be found.”

The only place we have found traces of him on the internet, is on this last.fm page:
http://www.last.fm/music/Virgil+Shepard+Walters

If you enjoyed the single, please tell your friends about it! Write about it in your blog, on Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm etc. Play it on your radio show, your podcast or as loud as you can on your stereo with your windows open. Spread the word about the single and help us let lots of people hear it!