Of Monsters and Men

Those who know me know that when I find something that hits me hard, I become a giddy fool, I’m the kid in a candy shoppe and I can’t stop talking about it. Usually this only applies to the arts (music, television or movies mostly) but I suppose it can apply to anything. Today my friend introduced me to Of Monsters and Men, a music band out of Iceland. I had been looking for new music and sure enough, there are some good bands still coming out. The band has a kind of folk/rock sound, many compare them to Arcade Fire, Mumford and Sons and the XX’s. They aren’t unheard of – their single “Little Talks” did quite well on the charts. I had heard it before and certainly liked it when it came on the radio, but it never quite registered. I didn’t know who sang it, but when my friend sent me the video, I knew what song it was within seconds. Today I saw a video of their live performance of “Mountain Sound” and it is one of the happiest songs/videos I’ve seen in a while. It’s upbeat and the vocals are shared by both a man and a woman (Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson and Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir) which complement each other nicely. There are six band members and an array of instruments used. What do you think of them? How do you come across new music? Do you have somewhere you like to go to discover up and coming artists?