I wanted to take a step back from writing about the relationship between the Internet and music for a while, and instead just write about music by itself. After all, music is what I love, what I studied at university and ultimately why I started ElectricKiwi.

There’s so many things that I love about music, but the two main reasons are how it makes me feel and how it can bring people together. The feeling of discovering a new artist and growing to love them is amazing but for me the feeling you can get when you introduce someone to an artist they haven’t heard before can be equally as satisfying.

On that note, I decided I want to start a regular feature on this blog which talks about what I’ve been listening to recently.

Over the last few weeks (and I suppose generally, too) I’ve been listening to a really varied mix of music. I think variation is so important. There are so many genres out there, it makes little sense to limit yourself to just one or two.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine recommended I listen to La Dispute as I had just discovered MeWithoutYou and they were in the same sort of vein. I always intended on listening to them, but for one reason or another, didn’t ever get round to it. I’m glad I accidentally stumbled across them on Spotify the other day because their album ‘Wilderness’ is an intense – if unsettling, and at times a little uncomfortable – listen. ‘Kings Park’ is perhaps the one track that represents the album best, with the last 30 seconds being the most unsettling moment of the album. Lyrically, the themes are very dark and this is matched perfectly by the instrumentation which often sounds disjointed and destructive in the best possible way. I haven’t had a chance to listen to any of their older material yet but if it’s anywhere close to the quality of ‘Wilderness’ I’m going to regret not finding it earlier!

I’ve also been enjoying something completely different: Kina Grannis. Kina is a singer/songwriter who gained a lot of recognition through her YouTube videos. Her ‘Living Room Sessions’ album is the perfect soundtrack for the transition between Autumn and Winter, with her covers of ‘Timshel’ by Mumford and Sons and ‘Blood Bank’ by Bon Iver being my personal favourites. Her harmonies are beautiful and her interpretations of this selection of songs are sincere and performed as if they were her own compositions. Her original material is good too, but this is something I can’t get enough of at the moment.

Another band I came across by accident via Spotify is We Are the In Crowd, a pop-punk outfit featuring both male and female vocals. I’ve always had a soft spot for bands with female vocalists and this band are no exception. They may not be the most technical or sophisticated of musicians, but is that always a crime? No. They have a pop sensibility that doesn’t feel forced and they definitely know how to write a good hook! Their bonus acoustic tracks also show that their songwriting skills are strong enough to stand on their own without any overproduction. ‘Best Intentions’ is out now.

As I said before, I love finding new music so if you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them. You can also find me on Last.fm should you want to have a peek at what else I’ve been listening to.