Swollen Members, an underground hip-hop/rap group from Vancouver, Canada, have been releasing dark and brooding music for 10 years now. Each of their albums has won best Rap recording at the Canadian Juno awards, and they are definitely the most successful Canadian rap outfit. With lyrics that incorporate references to mythology and dexterous wordplay, Swollen Members is definitely worth checking out, even for those who don’t normally enjoy rap/hip-hop.

Today’s MSMOTD
Imogen Heap – 2-1 (buy this song)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Imogen Heap, an English singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from London, has a really distinctive sound and an even more distinctive name.  I had assumed it was some artsy-fartsy assumed name for her musical endeavours (sort of like how Celldweller’s “Klayton” was actually born Scott Albert), [...]

Amethystium is the solo project of Norwegian composer Øystein Ramfjord. Besides having the most Norwegian name in all of Norway, he writes gorgeous atmospheric chilled-out/ambient electronica/worldbeat music ala Enigma, Delerium and Deep Forest.

I now have use of a decent dv camera, so I hope to record and post some video of my live performances, playing and improvisation.  I’m hoping to get a decent mic so that I can do video of my playing a real piano, as my style with a weighted keyboard is quite different than [...]

Today’s MSMOTD
Gypsy and The Cat – Jona Vark (download this song)
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I have a real soft spot for 80’s pop.  Hall & Oates, Toto, The Outfield etc etc are all wonderful, with simple, catchy melodies, bright instrumentation and pleasing vocal harmonies.  They make great summer driving music, and so I [...]

Today’s MSMOTD
Dream Theater – The Count of Tuscany (buy “Black Clouds & Silver Linings”)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Dream Theater.  DREAM THEATER!  I am so excited to finally write about what is probably my favourite band.   There’s no way I can cover everything or even adequately begin to present their music, so consider this [...]

Today’s MSMOTD
Celldweller – Birthright (Beta 1.0) (buy this song)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Celldweller isn’t a band so much as a one man army.  It’s the multifaceted, crazed and brilliant creative output of just one oddly-coiffed individual -> Klayton Scott (real name: Scott Albert).  Klayton has fronted various musical ventures over the last decade [...]

Mons – Dancing in the Light (Doreen’s Theme)
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When I announced that I would write a theme song for the winner of my Unnamed Melody Contest, I was intending to do a short, simple and memorable fanfare like the opening of the Superman Theme.  Sometimes I get carried away with [...]