I learned about a new instrument recently: Dobro resonator guitar. It has a distinctive look ("guitar with a shield thingy on the front) a distincitve sound (about midway between an acoustic guitar and a banjo) and features prominently in many blues/bluegrass/country songs. Needless to say, it features prominently in Brother Dege's music what with the rhythmic blues/folk style with a smattering of mellow rock mixed in for taste.

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This goes out to Darkhanos

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Some delightful folk and bluegrass this time around courtesy of Poor Man's Poison. One of my brothers introduced me to them recently. I am not usually one for this type of music (a bit too much country), but they have certainly grown on me. Mandolin is one of those instruments I enjoy listening to (another is dobro), and Poor Man's Poison has it in spades.

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Pirate Metal.

Pirate. Metal. Just take a moment to savour the delicious barminess.

Alsestorm is an interesting combination of power metal with folk metal elements mixed in all wrapped in bombastic pirate-themed theatrics. Never before did I imagine I would ever utter the phrase "heavy-metal accordion".

(Beardie - ???)

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Something new, apropos of nothing: some blog posts wherein I act my age and slap a bunch of self-indulgent stuff various musical bits and bobs I enjoy listening to up on a public blog post.

At the very least, I figure who reads this may (possibly) discover something new and exciting, or (more likely) have something to laugh at and poke with sticks.

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This one is quite interesting (for me at least). One of Significant Other's co-workers introduced me to this particular group a few months past, and I must say I am quite impressed. Infected Mushroom is primarily a psychedelic trance group with some industrial elements mixed in. Quite interesting if you are into that sort of thing...

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Great Big Sea was a Canadian folk rock band who performed modern rock interpretations of traditional Canadian folk songs and sea shanties. They were one of the first folk bands I ever really listened to. Oddly enough, they were recommended to by a complete stranger who I struck up a conversation with in an airport restaurant of all places (hi David!).

"Someday Soon" is one of my all-time favourite songs.

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More folk music!

I never heard of Slaid Cleaves before stumbling upon him through Pandora, but I am glad I did. Some of his works shades uncomfortably too close to country (), but overall, I enjoy his singing.

(AiDraws - Harpsy playing Guitar)

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Some more of that delicious electro swing. Energetic, upbeat, and just plain fun to listen to (at least to my ears). You know that saying "Dance as though no one can see you"? That is me listening to this.

(Art-Anon - 23 SkidDerpy)

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Some classic blues rock with a dash of country and a hint of Celtic rock mixed in for flavour. Mark's voice is absolutely delicious and the smooth guitar riffs are like sonic velvet. The one or two older chappies and chappettes who may stumble across this post are probably sagely nodding and saying "Finally! SIG has stumbled across some Good Taste!".

I am certainly glad I stumbled across and re-discovered him on Pandora.

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Brown Bird certainly is/was an interesting band that I have only recently discovered. Some more folk music, lightly seasoned with a dash of Americana, a measure of Bluegrass, and a hint of Gypsy. It reminds me a bit of a Bluegrass version of Jason Webley in places. I really love their Bluegrass/Gypsy style of rhythm and beat without the nasty "countrified" twangy nastiness that sneaks into such music...

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I never though I would ever say this, but I think I am beginning to come around to (some) kinds of American Country music. Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band certainly puts a big, fat "+" in the "fun to listen to category". A commenter in one of the videos below mentioned that Reverend Peyton is like "the White Stripes and George Thorogood and Hank Williams put together". It is quite apt.

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A second set of BRMC goodness!

(rodrigues404 - Lancer)

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Some more dance-rock/dance-punk style music from New York this time around.Yet another band Significant Other introduced me to. It is quite energetic with an enjoyable combination of indie rock and a dash electronic dance/synthpop mixed in. Some of their later bts have a darker, angrier feel to it (cf. Stir the Blood), but all in all it is quite an enjoyable, upbeat listen.

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Some deliciously epic instrumental "film traileresqe" music here. I am not sure of what the exact name of this genre is, but it has an epic orchestral, sweeping feel to it. Mr.(?) Puumala here is certainly one of the best of the bunch my coworkers and I have run across on the production floor thanks to Pandora Radio...

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Some tasty blues-rock/metal this time around. I was introduced to them by my fellow co-workers on the production floor. Left Lane Cruiser has a pretty heavy hard-rock sound infused into some Mississippi hill country blues. It makes for a good compromise for those of use on the production floor that like to listen to country music, and those of us (myself included) that prefer hard rock

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More Avatar goodness!

This certainly is an interesting album, filled with a pleasingly wide variety of influences and sounds. I remember an interview somewhere (YouTube perhaps?) a while back with Johannes Eckerström, the lead singer, saying the band did not want to get stuck making the same sounds and music again and again. They succeeded quite well here; a veritable cornucopia of different styles here!

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More slide guitar and dobro goodness!

(Unknown - discotecnia ottanta)

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On the power metal cheesy fun scale from "At home in the 80's" to "Featured on the box art for a graphics card", Gloryhammer certainly pegs the metre. The first song is about a wizard leading an army of undead unicorns which sets the tone for everything that follows.

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A bit of neo-psychedelic rock here. Think "Doors" mixed with "Black Rebel Motorcycle Club". If you enjoyed Black Rebel Motorcycle Club from (much) earlier, odds are you will enjoy this.

(johnjoseco - Rocktavia)

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