The New Music Showcase

I’ve been in Brussels for four months now. I’m getting used to being away from “American Culture”. For instance, I know that Anna Nichole Smith is dead, but I only have a vague indication of how predominant the story is.

I’ve seen “Dreamgirls”, but I haven’t seen “Last King of Scotland” or “The Good German” or “The Good Shepherd” which apparently were big hits three months ago.

So I’m becoming pitifully unaware of TV and Movies. So what? Even when I lived in the US, I might be the only American whose never seen an episode of Lost or Desperate Housewives or Gray’s Anatomy.

One realm I feel I haven’t lost a step is music. I don’t have normal music tastes anyway: iTunes tells me I have 417 Jazz CDs and 40 Rock CDs (and I’m not even done with ripping my collection).

Since I’ve been in Brussels, I’ve discovered some really nice music:

• Scatman John Larkin: a completely unknown to me vocalist with a normal voice but great jazz/scat chops. I found him on Pandora.com.
• Billy Stewart: a heard his version of Summertime in a bar in Brussels. I also heard him on Pandora.com.
• Les Humphries Singers: Who?? WTF? Believe it or not, it’s a German-based choral group led by an English hippie back in the 1970s. Their song “In My Father’s House” is a nice poppy gospel song which I heard one day on a Flemish-language radio station.
• John Proulx: I saw him play piano years ago at a jazz recital in Chicago. I thought he was great and I remembered his name. About 5 years later I hear the same guy on Pandora.com. It’s the same dude. He’s got a nice singing voice. Think Michael Buble, but without the obvious ripoffs of other singer’s songs.
• Amy Winehouse: I predict that this chick will be the new Gnarles Barkley. I heard her two songs Back to Black and Rehab on a Francophone radio station. Sandy bought the CD for me the last time she was in Paris. It’s great: she’s soulful and crazy and a great big mess. All wrapped up in a Phil Spector/Motown sound.
• Donny Hathaway: Yes, I might be the last person who has ever heard of Donny Hathaway. I guess I’ve heard of his duets with Roberta Flack, but I had never listened to his singing until recently. In my opinion, his signature songs are Jealous Guy, For All We Know, and A Song for You. (I plan on dissecting my love/hate relationship with A Song for You eventually. In a nutshell, I don’t really like the song, but I love it when Donny Hathaway sings it.
• Badfinger: I fell in love with Badfinger back in the 1980s because they sounded a lot like the Beatles. I had forgotten about them until I heard them on an Armed Forces Radio station the other day.

So what is the common thread to finding new music?

1. Good music can be anywhere. European radio formats are a lot less restrictive than the US. You could hear anything!
2. Pandora.com might be the greatest thing on the internet. You tell them what kind of music you like and it will try to find music that ‘matches’. The more you rate the music they play, the better their recommendations. I would have never heard of Larkin, Stewart, or Proulx without Pandora.
3. Keep your ears open and write down what you like. Many bars play interesting music. Ask the bartender what they’re playing and you might get turned onto something new. I asked a bar tender about a group that sounded like Stevie Wonder and now I’m listening to Jamiroquoi.