Regular readers will have an inkling that music is a big passion of mine. Any chance I get I talk about it – be it in reference to apps or simply some of the great new offerings from SXSW. And you’d be right – I have my headphones plugged into my head practically 24/7. As all music lovers are aware, tech has become an integral part of the day to day music experience, and I for one am always on the look out for anything to benefit the big passion in my life.

And that was exactly what I got when I stumbled across a tidy little app called Hound on Gizmodo. Accurately described as a “reverse Shazam” all you need to do is say out loud the name of the song or artist you are looking for and you will be presented with a whole host of info on said song or artist (thankfully you can also type the song or artist you are looking for making it ideal for under the table use for those boring family dinners). A list will be presented of matching titles, very useful if you are searching for a specific version of The Beatles’ Yesterday, which is officially the most covered song of all time with over 3,000 versions. Though retrospectively, scrolling through 3,000 options may be a little tedious… I digress, once you select the track you’re looking for you will be presented with, deep breath, the cover art, album title, lyrics, similar artists, biography, album appearances of the track, the option to listen to it on Youtube, the option to buy the mp3 of the track, a share feature, a bookmark option and a brief snippet of the track to ensure it’s the one you’re looking for essentially making it the ideal one stop app for your musical queries.

And now for the test – how extensive is the library on Hound? I started off with an easy one, 70’s pop-punk innovaters The Buzzcocks. Hound came out on tops, having read the biography I now know they are from Manchester and that Pete Shelley had previously been in a number of local heavy metal bands. Now for a real test, little known London based acoustic singer songwriter Keaton Henson. Once again Hound comes off well, having album info and offering links to Youtube. Unsurprisingly there is no biography, but it’s still enough for Hound to get a thumbs up from me!

Download Hound for free from the Android Market here