As I cruise at 30,000 feet listening to my personal approved electronic device it occurs to me that its a good chance most of you have never heard of  the 2 bands  I'm currently listening to.

Te first band is “Great Big Sea” This band hails from Newfoundland. This 4 man band is nearly unheard of in the states. Their stomping grounds are in Canada and there they have found great success. They have a great pop sound, with great vocals by front man “Sean McCann”. Unlike a lot of current bands they actually sound like they have fun in their writing. They don't have the angsty sound of a lot of bands in the states and really have a competent sound vocally. They don't yell or scream their lyrics, in fact they actually sing (take some note you current pop bands) and have a little thing called melody (having gotten used to pop music in the states I only had a passing notion of what this even was).

But the really neat thing about them is this, not only do they have a great pop repertoire,  they also perform a lot of  traditional folk music and music with a heavy Irish drinking band sound. You might think that during one of their live shows they'd have to stick to the pop sound because it the folk wouldn't be palatable to mainstream audiences. You'd also be wrong.  They have a rabid following and they demand the full act at their shows.  Traditional songs like “I'se the Bye” and “What do you do with a drunken sailor” have a hell of  a lot of life in the hands of these more than competent musicians.

A few of their songs  focus on the sea and sailing and fishing. Commercial fishing being a large part of life in their native newfoundland. “Boston and St.John's” is a particularly moving song for me as it tells  of the sadness in leaving your love for a long trip. “There isn't THAT much ocean between Boston and St.John's”. He asks if she can love him even though he leaves. Being a traveler that is gone over 50% of the time it strikes a chord with me. “I'm a Rover” deals with this also but instead of a sad parting its about finding your love when you finally get home.

Then they have songs  like “That old Black Rum” and  'The Night Pat Murphy died”  have a strong Irish or Celtic feel and are great fun. The linguistically acrobatic “Merri Mac” is a hoot too. Take the time to look them up. You'll need to dig because they are unlikely to show up on the shelf in FYE or Sam Goody's. Or even Best Buy. But they are worth the effort.

The next band is actually just one guy. Jonathan Coulton is an interesting artist. I discovered him by his acoustic performance of “Future Soon” in the beginning of a seminar I watched on  immortality. (thats another topic entirely). The future soon was a fun, folksy song that talks about this geeks love for this girl. He speculates about the future and the killer robot soldiers he accidentally unleashes  and it all goes bad from there. It was hilarious. I decided I had to know more and went looking. Apparently most of his music is like that. The sound is either fol or pop but the lyrics are just broken.

The topics of his songs range from the corporate buzzword laden “RE:Your Brains” which is the negotiation for the brains of a guy by a highly literate corporate zombie.  Yes a brain eating zombie, great stuff.  Code Monkey is one of his more popular songs about a Programmer. Programmers are often called code monkeys so this song is sung with the vocabulary of a simian, in other words primitive. “Code monkey like fritos, code monkey like tab and mountain dew. Code monkey like you”. You can even think of this as a sequel to his song “De-Evolving”. De-Evolving is sung  from the point of view of a person who is literally turning into a monkey. “I don't even know what phylum I'm in”.

Bizarre subjects but fun music make this guy a must listen artist. He's kind of a post modern Weird Al, but without all the parodies. Well all the parodies but not of songs but of the absurdities of the world with a splash of fun.

Oh, I almost forgot. He has a cover of “Baby got Back” that will have you singing along or choking on your soda. Either way its great.

Interestingly enough I don''t think he's just a musician. I've heard him hosting podcasts for PopSci and even doing interviews for other net news source. So chances are you may have come across him but had no clue he sung. Almost all his music can listened to on his site and he sells his music direct. DRM Free mo3's no less. That in my opinion gives him a huge leg up over current mainstream artists selling their music in stores like itunes exclusively..

There now that I've introduced you to these guys go and give them a listen. Load them into your mp3 player of choice and jam. I know thats what I'm going back to. 5 hour flights so much fun.

Be sure to check their website and give them a listen. You may become a new fan or at least you'll have a chance to hear something from talented artists that isn't another garbage Britney or Soulja Boy song. Most mainstream music sucks so give these guys a try and expand your horizons a bit.

Http://jonathancoulton.com
http://greatbigsea.com

This is Dissident from the reckless philosophers signing out.