Music has always been important to me.

I grew up playing the piano and eventually learned the Clarinet and Bass Trombone. I was also facinated by computer generated music. One of the first programs I had for my Commodore 64 was “Music Maker”. I was attracted to the Amiga computer not only for it’s graphics capabilities, but what it could do with sound too. How many people remember Aegis Sonix?

In 1982, I was introduced to pop music. The days of Cindy Lauper, and Michael Jackson. It felt like everything was so new – a whole world opened up to me. I was the only one in my immediate family that seemed to like this kind of music. Everyone else was listening to classical.

Over the years my tastes matured and I listen to a range of different artists, and styles. I love talking to people about the music scene in Canada, and learning about artists we’ll probably never hear of in Canada or North America.

I fully admit, I dislike the North American music scene. Don’t get me started, as I can rant about this for pages.

Here are a few that I swear by:

Canada
Glass Tiger – Fronted by Scottish-born Alan Frew, I had a chance to see Glass Tiger in concert when I worked at Canada’s Wonderland. It was a rainy night, and a very intimate concert.

Alanis Morissette – Alanis was originally from Ottawa, and released two albums prior to moving to Los Angeles and making it big with Jagged Little Pill. When Jagged Little Pill was released, i was in the UK and felt embarassed that she was Canadian. Now, I really appreciate her music, and she is still very active promoting Canadian music and artists. She has not forgotten her roots.

Kon Kan – Fronted by Barry Harris, Kon Kan took the world by storm with “I beg your pardon (I never promised you a rose garden)”. They released three albums – Move to Move, Syntonic and Vida! before disbanding. Barry used to DJ at The Barn in Toronto, and is now based in the US and works as one half of Thunderpuss 2000. Score for Canadian dance music!

Brother Love Canal – Considered the Canadian B52s, Brother Love Canal are way better than the B52s. Be sure to check out their new album, “Little Tingles”.

Boomtang Boys – Another score for the Canadian dance music scene. The blokes behind Boomtang Boys are an amazingly talented and diverse team.

Corey Hart -One of those artists I grew up with. He recently re-recored his smash hit, “Sunglasses at night” for 2002.

Love Inc. – Chris Sheppard and Simone Denny (Brad left prior to the release of their second album) combine talents to create some of the most amazing dance music I have heard. Shep’s weekly dance show on radio influenced my tastes in techno, house and drum’n’bass.

Delerium

Australia
Christine Anu, Boxcar, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue

United Kingdom
Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Erasure, New Order, 808 State, Electronic, The Grid, M People, Heather Small, Mel C, Pink Floyd, Samantha Fox

United States
Garth Brooks, BT, Echoing Green, Madonna, Moby, Nine Inch Nails