I’ve decided to write a post to share the music I’ve been listening to in these past few weeks. I’ll try to make it a monthly feature on this blog as of now.

Most people love music. I’d consider my feelings for music as a bit superior to love (yup, quite a big deal). One of my great regrets so far is that I haven’t learned an instrument yet. I intend to change that as soon as possible (right now I’ve got a few other things to work on, like learning Spanish, writing and getting to know my new camera).

This means that for the moment, I just enjoy listening to others playing it.

I’m not so trendy and am often a bit late on the new good bands to discover, but I’m curious and I like to dig around so I often end up finding some interesting stuff that isn’t popping up in the mainstream. The musical styles I listen to go all over the place and I’m sure everyone will find something they enjoy!

Here are a few bands that I’m liking right now (the quasi total female domination is purely coincidental):

Les Hay babies, a folk trio that hails from Eastern Canada. They sing pretty prose (in French and English) over sweet/sad banjo and guitar melodies.

Keep discovering!

Les Soeurs boulay. This duo, made up of sisters Stéphanie and Mélanie, is getting alot of praise thrown their way right now in Quebec. Well, they deserve it! Like Les Hay babies, their music is of the folk/country genre, except where the latter uses the banjo to accompany their guitar, these two girls jam on a ukulele.

The Gun Club: I’ve been meaning to explore Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s work for over 10 years now but I only got to it a few weeks ago. Shame on me. It’s been 17 years since Pierce left this earth but his gloomy, dark post-punk songs live on and have been a major inspiration to other bands that made quite an impact on the musical world, most notably France’s Noir Désir.

Makiza: Makiza was a Chilean Hip-hop group that was active from 1997 to 2006. They were known for their politically charged lyrics. I’ve also been listening quite a bit to the solo music of one of Makiza’s members, the awesome Ana (Anita) Tijoux.

Shonen Knife: This Japanese pop-punk outfit has been at it for many years (32 to be exact), but you’d never know it from looking at them. As of 2008, Naoko Yamano is the sole founding member still in the band, but at 52 years old, she still looks practically as young as when she started. She and her band has seen and done it all over the course of their impressive career, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Fugazi and other important bands of the 90s alternative music scene.