Other Lives

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[Left to right: Colby Owens (clarinet and percussion), Josh Onstott (bass and percussion), Jenny Hsu (cello and backing vocals), Jon Mooney (violin, horns, piano and percussion), Jesse Tabish (vocals, piano, guitar and percussion)]

-American indie rock band from Stillwater, Oklahoma.
-Formally known as Kunek
- Their latest album 'Tamer Animals' was released last February in 2011
-Band toured with Bon Iver
-Played  Iceland Airwaves festival
-Has music featured on Greys Anatomy and Ugly Betty
-Covered Lenoard Cohen's The Partisan, watch here.
-Opening for Radiohead (Jesse's favourite band) for the first half of their 2012 tour
-Played Coachella 2012

Songs to listen to: For 12, Tamer Animals, and It was the Night





Conclusion: Again with the cello and violin... always gets me! Jenny is just wonderful. The music is eerie and very much like a soundtrack to something deceiving and grey. Jesse's voice is good, but what takes it out the park for me is the array of instrument and the end product of every song. They're definitely one of those bands you can watch jam for hours. Also not sure what it is about them but they remind me a lot of The National... which is weird because their leading vocals don't resemble those of Matt at all... I think it's just the general feel of their music. Dark, tricky, eerie, and full of bass.

Houndmouth

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[Top: Left to Right: Matt Myers (guitar), and Shane Cody(drums) Bottom: Katie Toupin(keys and vocals), and Zak Appleby (bass)]

-Four piece rock/folk band from Indiana & Kentucky formed last year.
-Originally a duo between Katie Toupin and Matt Myers (The Saint James Hotel) they soon collaborated with Shane Cody and Zak Appleby to form Houndmouth.
-Played SXSW and are going to play Forecastle 2012!
-Played shows with The Lumineers and Those Darlins
-Here's the story on how they decided on their name Houndmouth taken from This is Our Jam Blog :

Where did you come up with your name, Houndmouth?
Matt: One night we were doing guitar tracks at Shane’s house -- we record at nighttime to get rid of all the noise during the day like sirens and car honks -- but there are always these two dogs that the neighbors have that bark all night. So, we recorded a bunch of tracks and finally get one that we liked. Then, we played it back and Shane said, “It’s not gonna work -- there’s too much houndmouth on this!” He was clearly drunk because no one would say “houndmouth." Ever. Still, the rest of the group (sobriety aside) decided that they liked the unique charm of the name Houndmouth

Songs to listen to: Krampus (down below), and Houston Train
Conclusion: Their song Krampus is bomb. I literally wake up every other day with it in my head. Katie's voice on top of the boy's harmonies is just perfect. They have a really great folky sound and I'm excited to hear more from them. Considering they've only been around for about a year, I would say they're doing pretty great. Definitely got to keep my eye on this group.

Of Monster and Men

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[1st row: Árni Guðjónsson(piano/accordion), Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir (co-singer/guitarist), Brynjar Leifsson (guitarist) / 2nd row: Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson (co-singer/guitarist), Kristján Páll Kristjánsson (bassist), Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson (drummer)]

- Six piece indie/Folk band from Iceland
-The band started off with Nanna singing solo on a project she called Songbird with her school friend Brynjar on guitar. They decided they wanted to do something different when they met with other members of the band and Ragnar (Nanna's boyfriend's best friend). They all joined up and played their FIRST show at Iceland's Músíktilraunir Battle of the Bands competition and took it home! Watch their performance, click here.
-Their song "Little Talks" came from Nanna watching her friend dye her hair red.
-Nanna has said to have taken a lot of inspiration from Fiest.
-Their video for "Little Talks" was created by a group called "We were Monkeys" from Canada. Check them out, click here.
-Playing Pukkelpop ,Osheaga, Newport Folk Festival, South by Southwest & Lollapalooza.
-Raggi on the comparisons to Arcade Fire: “It’s definitely a compliment, being compared to Arcade Fire,” he said. “And I think it’s due to…we are a lot of people in the band, and have a big sound, and stuff like that. But because you want to make your own name, hopefully when the album comes out people will see that we are very much our own.”

Songs to listen to: Little Talks, Love Love Love, Your Bones (Very Fleet Foxes), King and Lionheart


Conclusion: I can't thank Iceland enough for harbouring such a great band! Honestly, it's been hard to shake my tunnel vision for The Head & The Heart, but I've officially found my new love. They're just so wonderful. Not only are they incredibly talented, they're just so pleasantly modest and genuinely surprised from the good responses to their album. I actually heard one of them say in an interview how they basically recorded the album for the heck of it... just wow. This album is not average either, it's pure listening entrancement. This one definitely has my official stamp of approval. Listen to any track and you will see what I'm saying. Story telling at it's best.

Alex Winston

Alex Winston 
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-Originally from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
-Started singing at the age of 10.
-Her family used to push her to sing at every family function and paid for her opera lessons.
-Chuck Berry is her all time favourite artist. She had the opportunity to open for him at one of his shows.
-She moved to New York City in 2010 to work with production duo The Knocks.
-Has played SXSW 2011
-Fan of the Strokes
-Toured with Freelance Whales, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Naked & Famous, Ted Nugent & Chuck Berry/
-Frequent collaborations with Charlie Hugall (who produced Florence + the Machine‘s stunning cover of “You Got the Love”)

Songs to listen to: Sister Wife, Velvet Elvis, Choice Notes

Conclusion: I really like Alex Winston and I'm so happy that she stuck through her passion for music to bring herself to the beginning of my 2012 music playlist. I briefly began listening to her in 2011, but only now am I really obsessing... she's great and definitely worth your time. If you love Marina and the Diamonds and Ellie Goulding... then let me introduce to you my 2012 beginning fix of the year. Obviously they're not identical, but you can't deny the unique voice similarities. Either way, she can't come to Toronto fast enough. Enjoy!

Deer Tick on Letterman

Deer Tick's fourth coming album 'Divine Providence' is set to be released October 25th! Anyone else really excited?

Deer Tick on Letterman Last Night

Birdy

Birdy
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-AKA Jasmine Van den Bogaerde
-Born May 15, 1996 in Lymington, England
-"in 2008, at the age of 12, Birdy won the UK talent contest Open Mic UK, a spinoff of the Live and Unsigned competition. She won both the under 18s category and the Grand Prize, against 10,000 other competitors." - Wikipedia
-Recorded a SWEET cover of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love"... Definitely a must hear!
-Performed in BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2011 The XX's "Shelter" and Ed Sheeran's "The A Team" . Both wish have "Official Videos" out.
-Her first album comes out November 7, 2011. Keep an eye out for this one!

Songs to listen to: Skinny Love, The A Team, Without a Word




Latest tracks by OfficialBirdy

Conclusion: She has the sweetest voice that could pretty much make any song a lullaby. As soon as her album drops I'm pretty sure she will take the scene by storm... she's just just that good. Anyone that likes Adele will definitely jump this band wagon... I know I have! Although, I have noticed that everything I like from her seem to be covers... so we'll see how her writing will hit me. Fingers crossed!

The Weeknd

Abel Preforms at OVO fest.

The Weeknd
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-AKA Abel Tesfaye
-Born February 16, 1990 in Toronto
-Described accurately by Pitchfork as "weird, morning-after tales of lust, hurt, and over-indulgence... embodies such a specific nocturnal quality"
-Drake mentioned The Weeknd's song, "Wicked Games" on Twitter and linked to the singer's music on his website, which brought him a lot of attention.
-House of Balloons, on 21 March 2011.
-Thursday, released on 18 August 2011
-The Weeknd live at The University of Toronto, click here!


Songs to listen to: Birds - Part 1 (below), & Coming Down

Latest tracks by The_Weeknd




Conclusion: It took me a while to get into this guy's music, but here I am finally posting to Louder Than That to share with you his stuff. It's probably the best chill out music I've stumbled upon all year. Makes staying up late lustfully haunting and relaxing. If you aren't familiar with The Weeknd, you can download both his mix tapes for FREE on his website. Click here for his site. Enjoy.