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.

discover: jon bellion

This is the man. He looks so hipster...

Anyway, he is a singer-songwriter New York native, full name: Jonathan Giler Bellion, a 24 year old signed to Visionary Music Group. His music is this blend of indie rock, R&B and hip-hop and usually that combination would make me wary but I saw a gif set from the music video for his song Simple and Sweet on Tumblr and that was what led me to google the lyrics I saw and that led me to YouTube and the rest, as they say, is history.

From what I read, he took his time with this album and it sounds like it too; each track is curated beautifully. He's been a producer since he was 14 and he got tired of  the generic music he was asked to put out. Suffice to say, there is nothing generic about this album. He has also released 3 previous EPs before the one he released last year: The Definition, which is available for free on his website jonbellion.com.

Listen to Simple and Sweet below and tell me what you think in the comments.

He's going to work with Zedd on his upcoming album, True Colors. This album is also reported to have collaboration with artists like Echosmith and Selena Gomez. Can't wait! 

Click on the image to head over to jonbellion.com to download his album FOR FREE!



Check him out on:

Twitter|Facebook|Soundcloud

discover: catfish and the bottlemen

Notice I didn't use a witty song lyrics or something as the post title. That's because this band's name speaks for them and it speaks loudly!

Picture from Facebook.

Catfish and the Bottlemen are four guys from Wales (the UK provides some of the best bands of boys- not boy bands, mind you): Ryan "Van" McCann (lead singer), Johnny Bond (lead guitar), Benji Blakeway (bass guitar) and Bob Hall ( he plays drums. Got such a normal name after the rest). The music they make is easily classed as alternative (at least, what alternative sounds like now) with elements of rock and post-punk.

The band name (I just had to put this in here) has a chain of events leading up to it, but basically, Van was a little boy watching a busker called Catfish the Bottleman. 

They've been a band since 2010 with changes in members here and there. They signed to Communion Records in 2013 and released the singles 'Homesick' (my favourite track) and 'Rango' from what would be their debut album, The Balcony, released on the 12th of September last year. Also, Rolling Stone has their eye on them (their good eye) and there's this DJ that really likes them too.

The Balcony

The Balcony is a good, solid debut album and the fact that they haven't been around as long as some other bands does not show at all. Their sound is professional (Van's voice has been compared to that of The Kooks' frontman, Luke Pritchard). The album is said to draw heavily on Van's life (he was a last-resort IVF baby) for inspiration and the cover art for some of the songs makes it sort of obvious in that respect. They're not one for subtlety, they go outright with their lyrics and I love it.

Cover art for Rango

Cover art for Pacifier

Cover art for Homesick

They have also garnered a reputation as an amazing live band and the YouTube videos I've watched cement the fact. So go see them if you're anywhere near where they're playing next. Also, their album was produced by Jim Abbiss who has worked with Arctic Monkeys and is apparently quite well known for that (as he should be), so you should be assured.

Essentially, you should download the album. It is crazy good, perfect for fans of George Ezra, Drowners, Royal Blood and Atlas Genius. Listen to the first minute and a half of the song 'Fallout' in the Song of the Day tab.

Website|Soundcloud|Twitter|Facebook|iTunes

discover: colony house

The title of this post is from a song by my band of the week (day, month, we'll see), Colony House who are amazing (I say that A LOT. Maybe I should start blogging about music I hate...nah).

These guys are into the whole indie rock bit which is amazing since two of them have lots of potential for pop music. However, I won't be getting into a history you could get from Wikipedia or a Google search.

All three are natives of Tennessee and they've been a band since 2009. The lead singer is Caleb Chapman, whose voice is beautiful, Will, his brother, plays the drums and the guitarist is Scott Mills.

Image courtesy of Teen Vogue.

Their lyrics are so evocative too (wonder who writes the songs), not just lyrics for the sake of being lyrics. Their album When I Was Younger was released on July 22 last year and I heard Silhouettes (one of my favourite songs off the album) last month on an 8tracks playlist and I loved it and everything it seemed to convey. Also, they do rock-n-roll like most bands don't these days. There's something about stripped-down, real instruments that conveys a sense of real emotion in the music to a person and these guys have that.

Lyrics courtesy of the band's website

In an interview with Teen Vogue (I'm paraphrasing here, I think), they said that it's so hard to be original these days especially when your sound was probably influence by another person's sound which is very true, but the thing I love about my perspective on music is my ability to see every band as having their own sound. Take for example, Kodaline who everyone says is a rip-off of Coldplay or something. I think Kodaline sounds like Kodaline because while they may admittedly sound a lot like Coldplay, they have this uniqueness to their music. I don't know where that comes from, but it is there, in my head whenever I listen to their songs. What I'm trying to say is that to me, Colony House sounds like something new (well, new in the sense that I don't know the lyrics to more than three of their songs) and a lot like what I'm sure they mean to sound like- themselves.

They will be touring with Needtobreathe (please tell me you know why they are), Switchfoot (you can't not know them) and a couple of other musicians this year in the 'Tour de Compadres', so be sure to check it out if you can. I strongly suggest getting their album. It's beautiful really.

Right now their touring with KONGOS (who are like...whoa!) and Sir Sly, so check out their website for more info on that.

Listen to their song 'Silhouettes' in my Song of the Day tab and tell me what you think in the comments.

Website|iTunes|Soundcloud|Twitter|Facebook|YouTube