Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of biphop May 25th, 2009 - I must admit that I wasn't always a fan of hip hop music. Up until the mid 1990's, my experience of it had been Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer, and Kris Kross. Those are all classics for sure, but aren't exactly representative of true hip hop. Hip hop, as with all types of music, has dominant artist that are more on the pop side. Today, artists like 50 Cent, Flo 'Rida and Rick Ross would be ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Alberto F. May 17th, 2009 - John Scofield is an American jazz guitarist. I first came across his music through the drummer of my high school band. Before that, I had really only listened to big band jazz, and wasn't used to the intimate style of small trios and quartets. At the time, I was only able to play the piano, but Scofield opened my eyes to a different guitar sound than I was used to; markedly different than ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Ella Mullins May 8th, 2009 - Iron & Wine is the stage name of Samuel Beam, an American songwriter on the Sub-Pop label (famous for bands like Nirvana). His music is typically sparse in its arrangement, generally consisting of an acoustic guitar and his soft, almost whispered vocals. While it's not the blues, the rhythmically repetitive and percussive nature of his guitar playing, in concert with simple vocals, exudes a similar energy. The first song I heard from him was ... Read More

April 11th, 2009 - Nujabes is a Japanese hip hop producer and DJ. I first came across his music while watching the fantastic short anime series Samurai Champloo. Honestly, I'm not a huge anime fanatic, but Samurai Champloo had a certain feeling behind it that I really got into. One of the main reasons for that feeling is that the music is extremely important. I feel that the series was almost built around the music; it influenced the actual story with each ... Read More

Photo courtesy of  Sparky18 February 6th, 2009 - In my productions so far, I've been happy programming drums using my Korg keyboard. I'm just use to playing "drums" using standard keyboard mappings. While I've been interested in the MPC, I never had the extra money to buy something that would be redundant for my needs. Lately though, I've been hot for the Monome. Since I've been wanting to perform electronic music live, carrying around a Monome makes sense. It's much more compact than a ... Read More

Photo courtesy of 2nk February 1st, 2009 - I love hearing music from other countries. Even if the music is still in English, it comes from a different culture and it feels fresh. Even within the same genre, the differences are hard to put your finger on, but you know that it's unique. Here in North America, it's difficult for me to fall hard for new music. Of course there are a few bands out there that surprise me, but the top40 is stuff ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Shayne Kaye January 16th, 2009 - So since everyone else is reporting on NAMM, and I couldn't make it out, it would feel a little fake if I just regurgitated what other sites were posting. So instead, I've decided to create a new segment here on Key Of Grey named "Artists You May Not Know" (AYMNN). I will attempt to bring to your attention artists, local to me or international, that may be outside your radar. They may be bands, they ... Read More