Key Of Grey

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

April 14th, 2010 - J Dilla was a legendary hip hop producer, who unfortunately passed away from illness in 2006 at the young age of 32. During his career, he produced tracks for De La Soul, Common, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest and many more. Because of his long fight with the blood illness TTP, he died leaving a huge debt. Unfortunately his family are not bearers of his estate and there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding it. Because of ... 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

Photo courtesy of Max Tannone April 6th, 2010 - Mos Dub is the newest mashup release by Max Tannone. You may recall that Tannone is the mastermind behind the Jaydiohead remixes. Mos Dub combines the lyrics of Mos Def with classic dub reggae tracks of yore. Unlike Jaydiohead which combined completely different sources that drastically changed the feeling behind the tracks, Mos Def's lyrics in Mos Dub could almost have been written specifically for the dub reggae tracks underneath; it's a perfect match. As ... 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

March 2nd, 2010 - I thought I'd start a new segment with recommendations of classic albums that you might not have heard yet, but really should. The albums don't need to necessarily be old, but they do have to have that "classic" quality that transcends time. They can be any genre, but I thought that today, I'd start off the series keeping the classic feel in mind. Donny Hathaway is, in my opinion, one of the greatest songwriters of all time. He was ... 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