Just Surrender/The Loved Ones/Isles and Glaciers

I decided I'd talk about  bands from my youth, showcasing punk/alternative bands that I listened to in high school and a band that fits right in with that same style of music. When I was younger all I'd listen to was punk-type music.
The bands Just Surrender and The Loved Ones were both bands that had super catchy rock songs which Id often rock out too. Both bands have a very similar sound, pure rock....nothing flashy about it.
Just Surrender have dual vocalists who work well off each other, one with the harsher more rugged voice and the other sounding more poppy. The Loved Ones sound a bit more raw with their sound yet still maintain a poppy feel.

The third band is Isles and Glaciers, a newer band I found last year. They are a supergroup consisting of members from Chiodos, Boys Night Out, Emarosa, and The Receiving end of Sirens among other groups. The dual vocal combo of Craig Owens (Chiodos) and Johnny Craig (Emarosa) is excellent. Owens has an extremely unique high-pitched voice while Craig  bluesy/sould vibe mixed with rock sounds excellent.
All three tracks are awesome.

-Adam G

Lindsey Stirling: Crystallize

Continuing with the dubstep theme from two posts ago, here's Lindsey Stirling, a violinist who is known for playing hip-hop styled music. She broke out on Americas Got Talent in 2010, making it to the quarter finals.
This song, "Crystallize",  I find to be a great mesh of the beauty of Lindsey's violin and the roughness of the dubstep sound.
A friend of mind posted this on Facebook and I appreciate him greatly for it.

-Adam G

Chiddy Bang: Pretty Much Amazing

Who doesn't love some fun hip-hop? That's what Philly's own Chiddy Bang are, some good ol' fun hip hop to just have a good time to. Chiddy Bang's members, Chiddy and Xaphoon Jones started making music together while at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. Chiddy Bang's music could labeled as alternative hip-hop, fusing classic hip-hop sounds with alternative samples. While they've released a couple of mixtape's in the past few years, they started gaining significant exposure with their mixtape The Swelly Express. Specifically with their track "Opposite of Adults" which uses a sample of "Kids" by MGMT. Chiddy Bang released their first studio album Breakfast this past February, with it's main singles "Mind Your Manners" and "Ray Charles".

As I've recently started embracing hip hop and rap a lot more in my "musical life", Chiddy Bang has been one of the central groups in doing so. They have a solid sound to just have fun, bob your head to and rap along with.

-Adam G

Alex Clare & Awolnation

Here's another few songs I've come across recently which have been on repeat on my iPod. Both songs have a dubstep feel to them, mixed with some rock. The first song, "Too Close" is by Alex Clare, a British singer/ songwriter who released his first album The Lateness of the Hour this past July. 
The second song, '"Sail" by Awolnation has a much more unique sound to it. It's off of their album Megalithic Symphony which was also released in 2011. "Sail" has been used in many xtreme type videos, including this one here where I found the song.

I'm not usually such a fan of dubstep but songs like these are slowly changing my thoughts.

 - Adam G

Imagine Dragons: Welcome To The New Age

Imagine Dragons, an up and coming band from Las Vegas, Nevada are slowly building a following after releasing their EP "Continued Silence" in April, and playing at the SXSW (South by Southwest) concert in Austin, Texas. Imagine Dragons are a mixture of alternative/indie/pop rock, who have created a sound which can be the utmost commercial while remaining "indie". They are set to release a full length album at some point in 2012.
The little taste of "Continued Silence" has gotten me excited for their full album later this year.

-Adam G