Underground Bands and Indie Music Reviews

In my previous post I mentioned Making April, an indie-band that is known for its beautiful piano melodies.  One of my favorite songs is from their debut EP, “Runaway World”, and the track is called Roses and Butterflies.

You can listen or download the acoustic version of the song here: Roses and Butterflies.

Playing the piano is such an important part of my life. I love the peaceful feeling you get when the whole world seems to just melt away and all that matters is you and your instrument. You guys know what I’m talking about. Creating music, to put it simply, is a magical experience.

So, for those of you who loved this song, I have the Roses and Butterflies sheet music for you guys to download here to play on the piano. Enjoy!

Making April once had the #1 spot on Myspace’s Top Unsigned Artists list and since then, they have come a long way.

Making April‘s hit three man band started in Sean Scanlon and Steve McCaffrey‘s dorm room. The third member of the band is one of their long-time friends, Greg Federspiel. While still in college the three friends managed to record five songs on their demo tape, which eventually was the inspiration for their debut EP: Runaway World.

Since college, they have sold over 100,000 songs on Itunes and have toured with well-known bands like:  Secondhand Serenade, Rookie of the Year, Automatic Loveletter and White Tie Affair. In 2008, Making April signed with Universal Records and produced their debut album The Egg Hunt earlier this year.

The band somehow manages to perfectly incorporate the best of alternative music with awing piano solos, which makes them one of today’s top indie bands and a personal favorite of mine. Make sure and check them out on itunes or Myspace.

Hey Monday is an indie rock/power pop band from West Palm Beach, FL. Though the name Hey Monday sounds like an oxymoron, since the majority of us don’t look forward to the end of the weekend, Cassadee (the lead singer) explains:

“We liked the name Hey Monday because it’s very contradicting,” says Cassadee. “Most people don’t really say they’re happy about a Monday, they view it like it’s the first day of the rest of their week, but Monday can also just be a new beginning…”

And the band definitely has reason to look at their career as a ‘new beginning’. With a powerhouse voice that has been compared to Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Avril Lavigne, the music industry has  been blown away with her and her band’s talent. After signing with Columbia, Hey Monday released Hold on Tight October 2008.

Since Hey Monday is a band with a  pop-y and mainstream sound, I wasn’t expecting much. But the album pleasantly surprised me. “How you love me now”,  the second song on the track-list has an explosive chorus and is one of the songs that is easy to rock out to. The following track “Homecoming” has an awesome bridge, while “Candles” is strikingly emotional and one of the two ballads on the album. It seems that the farther you get in the album, vocals get stronger and riffs hit harder. My personal favorite, “Hurricane Streets” will blow you away with the energetic beats and stunning hooks. Basically the whole album is filled with songs I could easily score spots on the hot music charts.

Listen to a few songs:
Hey Monday – Candles
Hey Monday – Hurricane Streets
Hey Monday – How You Love me Now

If anyone wants to download the full album for free, just Tweet a link to this post or post the link in your status update and send me either your twitter user-name or a screen-shot of your facebook profile and I’ll get that to you. No limit on how many people can enjoy this album! Email me this info at: madisonhawkins28@gmail.com!