Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Sheldon Wood August 4th, 2010 - Last night, I watched a BBC documentary on Jeff Buckley and was reminded that, while I thought everyone knew who he was, many don't. The first track I heard from him was a haunting cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". While many have covered the song, none have come close to the emotion that Jeff Buckley infused into it. He was a troubled soul, struggling to simultaneously reconcile his artistry with his sudden stardom, and his ... Read More

May 18th, 2010 - A while back, I posted about an online music discovery tool. One of the artists I got as a recommendation when I typed in Nujabes, was Nomak. At the time, I enjoyed the music that I was able to get my hands on, but I felt that he was too similar to Nujabes. Downtempo, jazzy, hip hop is not a new thing, and I think that there were probably many artists in Japan who were producing it, but it ... Read More

Photo courtesy of encosion May 10th, 2010 - Kings of Convenience are an indie folk duo from Norway. I'm not really sure how to explain their sound other than to say that they remind me a bit of Simon and Garfunkel. It's not necessarily their songwriting (although there are some songs that have that vibe), but their unusual vocal harmonies. These days, I hardly hear any music that has a constant vocal harmony going the entire song, and the intervals and style that ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Barcelona April 13th, 2010 - Just before I left for Japan last year, I was checking out what aquariums were there (I love aquariums). I came across a video (embedded below) showcasing the whale-sharks of an Okinawan aquarium. While I didn't get to Okinawa to see them, they had a whale-shark in Osaka where I was staying. While I watched the video, I noticed that the music synced to it was getting quite a bit of hype. It turns out ... Read More

April 3rd, 2010 - Back when I was first getting started with producing music, I worked with a Japanese powerpop band in Toronto. They were already veterans so it made it quite a bit easier for a green producer like me. Unfortunately, that band split when most of the band moved back to Japan. The drummer from that band has joined the Onepercentres for their 3rd album, Daydreaming Horses. If you like jrock, check it out! I've embedded a video of their first ... Read More

March 24th, 2010 - Oliver Nestor, aka DL Incognito, is a Canadian hip hop artist from Ottawa. I first came across him in the early part of this decade. In a time when a lot of Canadian hip hop seemed like a low-budget parody of the US commercial "hip pop" scene, he was a breath of fresh air. The video embedded below is from "Organic Music for a Digital World" released in 2006. Read More

Photo courtesy of eytonz November 29th, 2009 - Today's group in the "Artist You May Not Know" series is M83. Do you miss the 80's? Crazy hair, synths, and lots of reverb? Well then, M83 may just be the throwback you're looking for. M83 is the project of French artist Anthony Gonzalez. It was founded by Gonzalez and Nicholas Fromageau in 2001; Fromageau left M83 after the first album. I would characterize the music as very New Wave-ish but with a modern electronic aesthetic. Not ... Read More

Nope, this isn't a picture of the B'z...it's a picture of me playing my Tak Matsumoto guitar again. Finding CC-licensed pictures of B'z was difficult. August 31, 2009 - In preparation for my sabbatical to Japan next week, this installment of the Artist You May Not Know series will highlight the Japanese rock duo B'z. B'z consists of Tak Matsumoto on guitar and Koshi Inaba on vocals. They were formed in 1988 when Tak, already a well known guitarist and studio musician, saw ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Bill Shouldis June 26th, 2009 - City and Colour is Dallas Green's (of Alexisonfire fame) solo project. In stark contrast to the post-hardcore assault that is Alexisonfire, City and Colour features singer-songwriter acoustic balladeering. I'm not particularly a fan of screaming in music, so I have to be in a certain type of mood to listen to Alexisonfire, but when I do, I enjoy the melodic counterpoint Dallas Green brings to George Pettit's screaming. City and Colour brings Dallas' soaring melodies ... Read More

Photo courtesy of techbirmingham June 19th, 2009 - Ernie Halter is an artist signed to the independent record label Rock Ridge Music (which is in turn distributed by Warner Music). I came across his music in a somewhat convoluted way. Back when I was researching Melissa Polinar for the interview, I stumbled across an artist she worked with, Passion (I'll dedicate an AYMNN segment to him another time). Besides recording his own original songs, Passion, like Melissa Polinar, performs covers of other artists. ... Read More