LEAVING BLOGGER!!!

The three exclamation marks pretty much say it all: I am indeed leaving Blogger and moving to Wordpress (yay!). Blogger has been a wonderful platform but Wordpress offers me more options generally. It's been great, but life goes on...

The new blog address is: http://alittlebitalt.wordpress.com/

This blog will soon be deactivated, so make the most of it.

Love,
Tammy O.

discover: wave & rome

I heard listened to Wandering Wolf courtesy of Dalton Diehl who suggested some songs for a summer playlist in my interview with him and I really suggest you listen to it to get you in the mood (is that weird?).

Okay, so you did it? Good. Now, you can tell me what you think on my Twitter but I think you generally get why this band deserves a discover post. It's a really pretty song! Yes, I do mean to pretty.

So, Wandering Wolf is an indie rock band from Nashville, Tennessee that began in 2013 and is fronted by Sam Tinnesz (picture below).

This is Sam

It was created with his co-writer and co-producer, Josh Farro and was borne out of an effort to push and depart from genre boundaries. Their EP, Across The Map was released in March 2015 and it was produced by Matt Bronleewe and mixed by Chad Howatt. It's an all round awesome EP that you can listen to on their Soundcloud.

Check them out on Twitter and Facebook and get their EP from iTunes.

interview: dalton diehl of young brother

Okay, so I got an interview from Dalton Diehl, of Young Brother and here it is. Hope you guys enjoy learning more about the Kamikaze singer!

this is him.

Check out Young Brother on Soundcloud, Twitter and Facebook!

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1. Say a little about yourself.

I live in Nashville, TN. Write songs for a living. Massive Denver Broncos fan!

2. Musical influences?

At this moment: Justin Timberlake, N'sync, Tove Lo, Nick Jonas, Kendrick Lamar, Prince

3. Favourite book, song/album, artist and movie?

- A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (Donald Miller), 

- currently: Can't Feel My Face (The Weeknd)

-  I just love movies in general. I don’t know if I have a favorite. I love a great story.

4. How did you get your start or what pushed you into the music business?

Started writing songs after I got two concussions playing college football. Ended up teaming up with a manager in Nashville who got me and my band a record deal with EMI.

5. In your interview with New York Minute Magazine, you said that you used to do Christian music but you sort of broke away from that sphere. How does your background in Christian music influence the music you do now, if it does at all?

Musically, it doesn’t really at all. The funny thing is though, 90% of the people who I'm writing my favorite stuff with right now, all used to be in the Christian music industry.

6. Some artists don't like to restrict themselves to just one genre, like Imagine Dragons- they like to diversify, but I would say your music is alternative pop?  Do you identify your music as being part of any particular genre(s)? 

If I had to put a genre on it, yes, it would be alt pop. I prefer records that keep me guessing as a listener so I imagine when I do put out a full length, it would touch on a few different styles.  

7. What are your plans for your debut album, now that Kamikaze has been released?

Right now, I'm just writing non stop. There's a few things in the works but none of which I can really elaborate on at the moment. 

8. What songs would you recommend for a summer playlist?

There's been ALOT of great music this summer...just a few would be:

- Can't Feel My Face (The Weeknd) 

- King (Years & Years)

- Wandering Wolf (Wave & Rome)

- Get Free (Whissell)

9. You wrote the songs on the Kamikaze EP with your producer(?) What is co-writing with another person like?

Ruslan Odnoralov and Dustin Burnett - Some co-writes can be weird but not with those guys. we must have all been on the same wave length. we were all hungry to put out something a little left of center but still felt like accessible. 

10. Is there any advice you have for other musicians?

Don’t put a time limit on your dream. In this business, NOTHING happens fast. And if it does, it will be gone just as fast as it came. Take your time and put out good art that you really believe in.

11. Do you play any instruments?

I can play guitar and piano. Not at any impressive level. Which is why I mainly just sing when playing live.

12. Why Young Brother?

I have one brother who is older than me so…I am in fact the young brother. 

I wanted a name that would always be me. 

Thanks Dalton, for answering my questions (he's got great taste doesn't he?). I hope I can work with him more in the future. Hope you liked that- it's pretty much all I've got for the moment.

discover: young brother

I have this really annoying habit of finding a song that I like and listening to it till my ear drums bleed (figuratively of course). Man Up has fallen under this category in the past few days (Lean On was at the top but it looks like Man Up has indeed, manned up (is that a thing? I don't know...) and is taking over pretty quickly).

Okay, so this is Dalton Diehl, also known as Young Brother:

He is from Nashville and his main genre is alt-pop I guess. He's influenced by pop acts like Jessie Ware, Lorde, and all their cohorts in awesome and his songs are essentially anthems. No, seriously, you guys should listen to Man Up right now.

He released his EP Kamikaze and it is brilliant. The title track is alt-pop brilliance, but the song that really grabbed my attention was Man Up. It's a song with a message that still fits right into any fun-loving playlist. The whole thing is a mishmash of songs that have bits of electronic music and pop thrown in, and it sounds like they are co-habiting on the tracklist. They work well together, but they are also amazing on their own. You will feel every single track in your heart (and sometimes your feet)



To read more about Young Brother, check out this interview with New York Minute Mag. If you listened to Man Up and don't like it, well....

Follow Dalton on: Twitter|Facebook|Instagram|Soundcloud|Youtube|Website

twenty-five hundred

So, this blog has 2,500 views as of Sunday! Yay, right? I will now create a classic top ten list to ommemorate this special event. Enjoy.

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My Top Ten Songs of 2015 In No Particular Order (So Far) Or MTTS2INPO (SF).

1. Search Party- Sam Bruno

I just blogged about Sam Bruno and it was evident that I love this song, so there isn't much to be said. Just go here to read that article and understand why.

2. Here- Alessia Cara

Listening to Alessia Cara is a quite the treat so I'll let you learn for yourselves just how awesome she is. Listen to the song and then go read my 'discover' article on her to learn more.

3. Careless- Alex Winston

Alex Winston is one of those alt-pop singers who can readily spin out a radio-ready track and Careless is musical proof of that. It's an awesome song that is more of an inner self-search than most of her previous work from her as yet untitled LP and is made all the more awesome by the fact that she overcame a throat infection in order to record said LP. So listen and marvel at alt-pop perfection.

4. Gold- Imagine Dragons

Imagine Dragons released their sophomore album Smoke and Mirrors in February and I obsessed for a bit (refer here and here). I loved the album, as any fan would. It showed that Imagine Dragons could go beyond what they were known for (alt-rock) and try new things, which is a vital trait in any musician. Gold is a song about being successful...and the bad side of the success, I guess. I love it.

5. Mercy- Muse

Muse has always been a champion of the people and the freedom of said people, but their last album, The 2nd Law, explored other themes. However, with Drones, they are back to dealing with pertinent issues, which are in this case, freedom. Mercy is perhaps the theme song to the whole soundtrack as it states its ambitions most clearly: show me mercy/from the powers that be/show me mercy/can someone rescue me and it is the most unapologetic in its showing that we are indeed becoming puppets in the hands of...something (society? technology, most likely). The accompanying video is terrifying mostly because the concept is not all that out there. It depicts a sentient machine fighting for freedom from its "handlers". Scary because it could actually happen.

6. Crystals-  Of Monsters and Men

OMAM has always done creepy-indie really well (see Little Talks, Mountain Sound, and their plethora of songs) and the video for Crystals, the first track of their album Beneath the Skin is concrete proof if you didn't really get it with Little Talks, this should do it for you. My favourite part of the song is the chorus: cover your crystal eyes/and feel the tones that tremble down you spine/cover your crystal eyes/and let your colours bleed and blend with mine. It is perhaps the most beautiful song off the album although I Of The Storm is a close contender.

7. Hallelujah- Panic! At The Disco

This single is perhaps my favourite P!ATD song (which I say a lot but whatever). Its' a song about knowing you're a sinner and owning up to that, and I can relate to that, the being able to admit that you do the wrong thing sometimes. It's the band's first song since Spencer Smith left the band and it is amazing, so obviously, the music has not been affected.

8. Pierre- Ryn Weaver

Pierre is perhaps the most flippant, poppy track on Ryn Weaver's The Fool and it is of course, my favourite. I discovered OctaHate a few months ago and ended up listening to it obsessively for a few weeks and then passing it on to my friends who in turn obsessed over it. It is a song about past lovers and one lover that is still going strong. It showcases Ryn's vocals beautifully and I still can't get past the bridge when I'm karaoke-ing to it.

9. Heavydirtysoul- Twenty One Pilots

Twenty One Pilots' Blurryface is a testament to how much they've evolved over the past few years. All their albums are symbolic for different points and situations in my life and I have never been more grateful to be part of the fanbase of a band before. Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph are two goofy geniuses and every bit of hype this album had, it deserved. Heavydirtysoul is track number one and the lead into the chorus still gets me every time: gangsters don't cry there, therefore I'm/Mr. Misty-Eye/therefore I'm. You'll love it.

10. Be Your Shadow- The Wombats

This song is track number four on The Wombats' new album, Glitterbug and it is one of my favourites. The lyrics read like an ode to obsession with a new flame. However, the video tells a different story and you should watch it, it's fascinating (and funny). The chorus has been stuck in my head for months and it will definitely get stuck in yours.

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These songs have been on most of my playlists so far this year and they deserve every little bit of my affection. I hope you like them too.

Tammy O.

essay: when i grow up

Imagine getting the chance to talk to all your favourite (and even the not-so-favourite) people in the world. Imagine getting the chance to ask them important and trivial questions alike, just because you can. Imagine not having to do this by sneaking into their houses and tying them up against their will (which is wrong and an invasion of privacy, and can also get you locked up).

This is the kind of life I envisioned for myself when I decided I want to be a journalist. Preferably a music journalist, I always specify, but fashion is okay too. I say this because I was never told I couldn’t pick what path I wanted to take in life. I know what these people earn and I know it’s not completely comfortable and so do my parents which is why they constantly tried to steer me in the direction of law, or advertising (which I may even take up someday) even through their supportiveness of my decisions, all because of a system of education that does not know how to cater to the needs and wants of Generation Y and therefore leads people to believe that our bloodshot eyes and arthritic fingers developed from the hours we spend looking at screens and typing out missives will never get us anywhere in life. This is not true. Why should we be judged based on our fascination with devices invented by the judges in the first place? As Spock would say, it is simply not logical.

While the Internet is condemned as a domain of lies and annoying advertising, it has provided me a platform that has allowed me the chance to study mathematics if I wanted to (which I wouldn’t because I math and I have a terrible history) and write about which alt-pop song has my spine tingling. With websites like Coursera.com, catering to the generation that has essentially grown up on the Internet, there are a large number of options available to us. Of course, a physical, viable degree is also important from physical, viable universities because no one’s going to take you seriously if you say you got your degree in Marketing from an online website, but it’s a step into the future.

I’ve wanted to be many things, and those things were on the science track for a while- at 6, I wanted to be a doctor, at 8, an inventor, at 9, an archaeologist, before taking what I will term as the ‘dreamy preteen track’, with wanting to become a musician at age 11, when I first received a guitar which subsequently lost all its strings before I learned how to play it, wanting to be a writer of fantastic novels from ages 12-14 before I realised that I really did have to pick something and pick it quick.

 By this time, I had discovered blogging and Tavi Gevinson and I had my inspiration and it was all about fashion and fashion magazines for me for a while, with a particular one-track focus on journalism before Tavi founded Rookie Magazine and I was forced to confront what I really wanted to do with my life. Here was a girl my age doing the things I wanted to be doing and I felt inadequate because I had not achieved as much as she had nor did it seem like I had the willpower to do so and it felt as if I had been walking someone else’s path, essentially living a lie. So for a while, I tried my hand at other things and nearly came unhinged because I was thinking: I’m so bad at this, or this is so boring, what am I doing here???

Then I heard Lorde for the first time in 2013 and I remember thinking, ‘wow, this girl really knows what she’s talking about’ and so I googled her and all these interviews and articles sprang up and I read about how she did her own thing and didn’t overthink the opinions of others and was intelligent (doctorate proof-reading, anyone?) and how she was awkward but never let that stop her, and I began to understand the kind of person I was. Or at least, the kind of person I hoped to be.

I’m a seventeen year old girl and in this day and age, some people still take that to mean that I don’t know how to make my own decisions. Sadly for them, I really, really do.

I want to travel, for one, and maybe settle down in Italy or New York, someday. I want to work for Alternative Press and Pitchfork and every decent music magazine I can get my hands on before I’m 30. I want to pitch in for music sections of fashion magazines I really love. I want to interview Imagine Dragons and Ryn Weaver and Lorde and First Aid Kit, and even Taylor Swift. I want to help good indie artists get their music out there. I want to go to festivals and dance my heart out. I want to converse with the girls who are my heroes (Lorde, Tavi Gevinson) still even though I have become my own person with my own dreams and aspirations and wants. I want to get a PhD in a few years in Literature or English just so I can flaunt it in the faces of people who may still wish to define me by my looks or my age or my gender or even, archaically, by the colour of my skin. I want to finish a book. I want to win an award. I want to maybe one day find my t’hy’la (cool points to those who recognise the Star Trek reference).

I want things and maybe I don’t even have to wait to grow old to get them. I just have to keep my eyes (and mind and heart) on everything I’ve listed, and the things I haven’t and maybe I won’t be a screw-up like it has been predicted by people who can't possibly see the future that I will become. 

Live long, and prosper.

No images belong to me.

discover: alessia cara

Alessia Cara is one of those pop stars you know you'll stick with for a long time as her single 'Here' which is gaining ground as an extremely relatable alt-pop hit has proven. There's even a remix which sounds almost as awesome as the original song by Mickey Valen (listen to both below).

Alessia Cara, born Alessia Caracciolo is an 18 year old (19 in two days) Italian-Canadian R&B and alt-pop singer who is a self-proclaimed 'anti-social pessimist'. She's shy and doesn't like parties, and I have never connected so well with a person I don't even know before. She was signed to Def Jam Recordings after  a record exec's daughter heard her cover of The Neighbourhood's 'Sweater Weather' which is amazing, of course. Already, she's been compared to Lorde, another awesome teenage singer-songwriter, but Alessia is in a league of her own.

Her voice is silky-smooth and her lyrics feel like they were written for the listener. 'Here' is a song about being the shy one at parties- it is any wallflower's anthem, including myself. Alessia said in a TEDXTalk, she explains that 'Here' is essentially autobiographical as it talks about a party that she went to when she was younger that she hated so much, she had to call her mom to pick her up. Gen X teens are subject to a lot of generalisation in terms of our love of technology, our outspokenness, and our need to rebel. Parties are commonplace for anyone over the age of 14 these days, and at these parties, there's drinking, smoking, lots of inappropriate behaviour that desensitises us before we even reach our twenties. However, not all of us are party animals- we prefer to stay at home and find other things to occupy our time with and Alessia Cara is viral proof of that.

Along with her song, its remix and the video of her cover of Sweater Weather, BBC Radio 1 posted her performance of Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood' for their Live Lounge and it is beautiful - Taylor Swift approves completely. Also, read this interview on RookieMag.com.

Sweater Weather cover

Official video for Here

Follow Alessia on:
Youtube|Soundcloud|Twitter|Website|

No images belong to me.

discover: sam bruno

It has been way too long since I wrote on this and I apologize to anyone who checks here for new material. However, I have yet another treasure for you to enjoy and I hope you can appreaciate and love her music as much as I do.

First of all, let me introduce you to the song that should keep your ears warm (warm?) this summer:

Listen to it before you proceed with the rest of the post.

If you don't like it, then you really shouldn't be here. This is pop you can listen to without feelign sick to your stomach after the first five seconds. It has the 'Paper Planes' (M.I.A 2007 hit) vibe to it, mixed with something that feels a little like Lorde that makes me want to sway and stop in the middle of the stairs to class and dance like no one's watching even when there are peopl everywhere- this is pretty hard to achieve for me seeing as I hate dancing in public anyway.

It is essentially a song about running away, but it also feels like summer and freedom with those people you care about enough to spend weeks with. It's beautiful synth-pop that makes you feel like you can do anything.

Sam Bruno (pictured below) doesn't have much by way of singles on her Soundcloud or Youtube channel, although she's done some pretty cool collabs.



'Search Party' is shaping up to be one of the top songs of the summer and then it'll be overplayed everywhere and I may start to despise it, but for now, I will let it warm my ears and be my one true love (until I find another one true love of course).

At this rate, I'm not sure I can wait to hear rest of the songs off the Paper Towns soundtrack.

Sam Bruno's Links:
Soundcloud|Twitter|Youtube|Facebook|Website

discover: x ambassadors

When Dan Reynolds hears a band on the radio that is totally awesome, he fanboys much like the rest of us, non-famous humanoids. However he also begs his producer to sign them and then proceed so to produce the majority of their debut album.

X Ambassadors is an alt-rock band from Ithaca, New York formed in 2009 and signed to Interscope Records that produces music that strikes you right in the heart. They began with the name Ambassadors, touring with artists like LIGHTS. The band is comprised of brothers: Sam and Casey Harris, and their friends, Noah Feldshuh and (get this) Adam Levin (I know!).

They self-released their debut EP- Ambassadors EP and then their LP, Litost. They did a Kickstarter to raise money for a music video for of the songs from the LP, my personal favourite Unconsolable.

Unconsolable was also used on their debut EP for their label, Love Songs Drug Songs released in 2013, which also included a song co-written by Dan Reynolds (lead singer of Imagine Dragons, you should know this). In promotion of the EP, they toured with bands like The Mowglis, Imagine Dragons and Jimmy Eat World. They released their second major label EP, The Reason in 2014. They also released a single with Jamie N Commons in 2014 called "Jungle".

They featured on a track "Transmission" on Zedd's new album this year as. Their debut album VHS is set to be released on the 30th of June (can't wait).

X Ambassadors have lyrics that speak to you about life and the things that we do or have to do that make us happy or not so happy. I strongly suggest you reader of this belated post, give them a try.

Listen to Unconsolable below if you're not sure and tell me what you think in the comments.