About the Writers
Writer: Alicia Atout (@AliciaAtout)
About: Creator of A Music Blog, Yea? 18. Toronto, ON. Absolutely love music, concerts, & it’s always a joy meeting the bands who inspire & influence me to write. There are many groups I’d love to share with others & thought that this is the perfect way to do so! I also like long walks on the beach, of course.
Favourite 3 Bands: Noah & the Whale, Mystery Jets, Bombay Bicycle Club, and Skint & Demoralised. Wait, does that say 3? Pshh… no!
Must Hear Album of 2012: Zulu Winter’s Language, Olly Knights’ If Not Now When?, Mystery Jets’ Radlands… And The Vaccines’ Come of Age.
Favourite Segment: Gimme Your Answers.
Favourite Venue: The Phoenix, Toronto.
Writer: Madison Atout (@madisonatout)
About: I’m 15 and I love to listen to indie music, read, draw, and go to concerts. I also love music from any decade, right now I am really into 80s music, specifically new wave music.
Favourite 3 Bands: Bombay Bicycle Club, The Vaccines, Mystery Jets
Must Hear Album of 2012: The Vaccines- Come Of Age, Alt-J- An Awesome Wave, The Maccabees- Given to the Wild, Mystery Jets- Radlands
Favourite Segment: You’ve GOT to Hear This! and Gimme Your Answers
Favourite Venue: The Phoenix
Writer: Yaz Atout (@YazAtout)
About: Six Foot Two
Favourite 3 Bands: Bombay Bicycle Club, Maximo Park, Mystery Jets
Must Hear Album of 2012: Vaccines – Come Of Age, Olly Knights- If Not Now When?, Mystery Jets- Radlands
Favourite Segment: I love them all!
Favourite Venue: Massey Hall, Toronto
Writer: Nadia Kaakati (@nadiakaakati)
About: I’m a 23 year old Canadian lucky enough to have grown up surrounded by wonderful music. Loving all types of art, music has been one of the many crucial forms of expression that I explore passionately. My family has always played a large role in exposing me to different types of music, and for this reason I love a wide variety, but have a soft spot for indie, alternative and folk. Growing up in Canada, I am partial to seeking out great local bands, but never limit myself to location. With my favourite bands stemming from Canada, the US, the UK, and Iceland, I search everywhere and anywhere for a great tune. Having studied literature and philosophy, I can certainly appreciate brilliant lyrics. If there’s a show at Massey Hall, chances are I’ll see you there.
Favourite 3 Bands: The National, The Shins, Iron & Wine
Must Hear Album of 2012: Beach House’s Bloom
Favourite Segment: You’ve GOT to Hear This
Favourite Venue: Massey Hall
Writer: Leah Edwards (@leahhedwards)
About: An almost UofT English / Sociology grad.
Favourite 3 Bands: Neutral Milk Hotel, Passion Pit, and Brand New.
Must Hear Album of 2012: Grimes’ Visions
Favourite Segment: Quick Picks: 5 Tasty Jams
Favourite Venue: The Opera House, Toronto
Writer: Natalia Kasprzyk (@malinoowa)
About: I’m a 21-year-old music addict, gig goer and student from Poland. I love drawing, photography and festivals
Favourite 3 Bands: TRANSFER, The Chevin, Mystery Jets
Must Hear Album of 2012: Borderland – The Chevin, Babel – Mumford & Sons, Radlands – Mystery Jets
Favourite Segment: Gimme Your Answers
Favourite Venue: Fabrika, Poznań, Poland; Stodola, Warsaw, Poland
Writer: Fi Carroll (@Dirtyroknroller)
About: Self confessed gig junkie the only thing I love more than watching my favourite bands is discovering new ones.
Favourite 3 Bands: Sound of Guns, The Enemy, Kasabian
Must Hear Album of 2012: Sound of Guns’ Angels and Enemies, The Enemy Streets in the Sky, The View Cheeky for a Reason, General Fiasco Unfaithfully Yours, Little Comets Life Is Elsewhere ….It’s been a good year!!
Favourite Segment: Gimme Your Answers
Favourite Venue: Manchester Apollo
Writer: Sophie Draper (@SophieMDraper)
About: I’m a 17 year old student and artist who is madly obsessed with Kasabian. I also adore record stores, gigs and astronomy, I dress like Alexa Chung and like to dance like Florence Welch.
3 Favourite Bands: Kasabian, Oasis, The Stone Roses
Must Hear Album of 2012: Lonerism – Tame Impala or A+E – Graham Coxon
Favourite Segment: You’ve GOT to Hear This!
Favourite Venue: O2 Academy Brixton, London. The atmosphere is always mega!
Writer: A Cultured Lad (@aculturedlad)
About: Hi! I live in London, gyms make me sick, I have a really bad weakness for french fries, McNuggets and red velvet cake. I love film, books, indie music (of course!) and going to gigs as well. I love going out in general and not being stimulated, but then again, who doesn’t love staying in with copious quantities of Maltesers and a Will and Grace boxset? I also write on my own blog over at
http://www.aculturedlad.com
: )
Favourite 3 Bands: The Smiths, Arcade Fire, Florence + the Machine
Must Hear Album of 2012: In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull – The Cribs, An Awesome Wave – Alt J, Given To The Wild – The Maccabees
Favourite Segment: All of them! This blog is wicked!
Favourite Venue: Without a doubt, O2 Brixton Academy, London.
Writer: Michael Dakin (@SirMop26)
About: Music is the backbone of my day. It’s there when I get my kids ready for school, always on at work, and fills my evening. I’m a father, a husband, a maths guy, and a lover of music. And, I hate keeping all the awesome music to myself, so I love to share it with others to enjoy! After many years of trying to play music and having no talent whatsoever, I’m happy with this place for me in the music world!
Favourite 3 Bands: Tame Impala, Pink Floyd, The Boxer Rebellion
Must Hear Album of 2012: Tame Impala, Lonerism
Favourite Segment: All of them are amazing, but I really love Getting Cozy With…
Favourite Venue: Ha. Yup. Well, the last live performance I attended was Thomas the Tank Engine with my son, so that says a lot. Unfortunately, I’ll be unable to answer this question due to lack of data :)
Writer: Georgie Celestine Luhur (@georgiecel)
About: I’m 22, live in Australia, and work as a web designer, currently studying a Masters degree. I love web design, blogging, photography — but I’m more passionate about music. It’s so lovely when all those hobbies come together: I photograph at gigs, I love writing about new music I’ve discovered, and I love presenting my work digitally and creatively! Music is a big part of my life and I also play piano and guitar. Aside from that, I have interests in fashion, restaurants and travelling.
Favourite 3 Bands: Too hard to choose! Mostly Australian bands like Hey Geronimo, Lime Cordiale, Cub Scouts, Velociraptor, The Griswolds, but also classics like Pink Floyd, Nirvana, The Beatles, ELO.
Must Hear Album of 2012: Museum by Ball Park Music or Strange Flowers by Regular John.
Favourite Segment: Gimme Your Answers and Getting Cozy With… :)
Favourite Venue: The Standard (Surry Hills) and Beach Road Hotel (Bondi).
Writer: Cedric Casimier
About: Just a simple guy with a love for music. I write my own songs and play guitar and piano in my free time. I’m probably what you’d call a hipster. If you’ve never heard it, chances are I have.
Favourite 3 Bands: Radiohead, The White Stripes, Nirvana
Must Hear Album of 2012: Cloud Nothings “Attack on Memory”
Favourite Segment: Quick Picks: 5 Tasty Jams
Favourite Venue: I’ve always wanted to go to the Glastonbury festival. I hope one day to actually go!
Writer: Katrin Kugler
About: I’m 17 years old and I love to go to concerts, listen to Indie and Alternative Rock music and play the guitar. Oh, and I’m very successful in collecting drumsticks after concerts!
Favourite 3 Bands: Band of Skulls, The Family Rain, Muse, The Black Keys, The Beatles…
Must Hear Album of 2012: Sweet Sour by Band of Skulls
Favourite Segment: Gimme Your Answers and You’ve GOT to Hear This!
Favourite Venue: The Atomic Café, Munich
Writer: David Berry (@joeypeapot)
About: Just a student who wants to show you your next favourite band.
Favourite 3(?) Bands: Isles and Glaciers, Marvin Gaye, The Airborne Toxic Event, Explosions In The Sky, The Gaslight Anthem, Justin Timberlake, Dead Man’s Bones.
Must Hear Album of 2012: Probably The XX’s ‘Coexist.’
Favourite Segment: ‘Let Me Introduce You To’.
Favourite Venue: Manchester Academy 2.
Writer: Vincent Hughes
About: I was born ’93, the son of an audiophile with a passion for everything from The Beatles to Iron Maiden. Raised in the Irish countryside on my father’s taste, I suppose it’s not surprising that I’ve gone through so many musical phases; from rock to rap, nu-metal to emo, post rock to math rock and back again, electronic to indie. I like to imagine my taste is maturing, as over the last few months, the bands I’ve been listening to have been a lot less genre-specific.
I play guitar for an instrumental indie/math-pop band called SUPER7AIYAN. If you like the stuff I’m into, feel free to check us out!
Favorite 3 Bands: This is a really tough one; I have a tendency to fall in love with songs or albums, as opposed to bands and artists. Also, I have like seven bands tied at number 2 on my list. So, yeah, at the moment, I’m going to go with Enemies, Mogwai, Cloudkicker, The Altered Hours, Tandem Felix and Half Moon Run. Though, the list’ll probably change by the time you read this.
Must Hear Album of 2012: I have no sense of time, so I have no idea which of the albums I love most came out when. Also, we’ve established that I’m indecisive, so, for now, I’ll go with Dark Eyes by Half Moon Run, An Awesome Wave by Alt-J, Waking Season by Caspian, Fade by Cloudkicker, and The Lovers by Lone Wolf.
Favorite Segment: My favorite segment would probably have to be ‘Let Me Introduce You To…’; over the last two years or so, what I referred to as a love of music actually became that. Seriously, it crossed the border between hobby and obsession some time ago. So, I’m quite fond of diving into new music, and you find some serious gems among smaller bands sometimes!
Favorite Venue: My favorite venue would have to be a tie between The Roisín Dubh in Galway, or The Button Factory in Dublin. As a venue, I prefer The Button Factory, but I have some rather fantastic memories from the Roisín. The first gig I went to after I started to seriously care about music was in the Roisín, and that’s where I came across Enemies. ‘course I love the place!
