I heard a song today that really caught my ear. The band is called Of Monsters and Men. Not to be confused with the 1968 sci-fi novel “Of Men and Monsters.” A tale about super intelligent and giant aliens that have conquered Earth. Humanity exists on the margins of this race’s society, living in borrows in the walls of the homes of these creatures and stealing for sustenance. Whoa right?
This 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 piece band from Iceland have been favourably compared to Mumford and Sons or the Arcade Fire. Their song “Little Talks” dominates the radio on that volcanic Island like Mumford or Arcade do here. The buzz was brought to North America by Seattle hipster jam superstation, KEXP and I heard the song on XM-AltNation.
Of Monsters and Men – “Little Talks”
Download MP3 >> 01 Little Talks
While researching something to say about Of Monsters and Men, KEXP came up because they were an early champion. So on a whim I decided to listen to a few cuts of their “Song of the day” podcast. Holy shit, lots of rad stuff on there… they have it figured on KEXP.
I just clicked some random songs and one that caught my ear was Brooklynites, We Are Augustines. I don’t know, but first listen of the song “Headlong Into The Abyss” had me thinking it would make a great song for my World War One podcast…
The story about these guys is extraordinary. Basically, they were a positively hyped band called Pela. They were on the verge of great things when some tragedy befell the band. They had a hard time fighting with their record label. During this stressful time the lead guitarist Billy McCarthy learned his brother James had commit suicide. It became too much and the band folded very quickly in the summer of 2009.
Billy and another band member decided to try and soldier on, but this time as a new group (Augustines) and release their music independently. A little tweak of the band moniker and some powerful endorsements from KEXP… and We Are Augustines is back in business. Have a listen to this:
We Are Augustines – “Headlong Into the Abyss”
Download MP3 >> 03 Headlong Into the Abyss
That’s a blog. Go with yourself.
The Morning After 