Look beyond America’s borders for awesome music

I love music. I think by this point, you’re all familiar with who I am and how I write about… I love music. I think by this point, you’re all familiar with who I am and how I write about bands you’ve never heard of. I greatly enjoy filling you, as readers, in on the wonderful world of music that is yet undiscovered or underrated.

Today, I do not plan on chastising you folk for what you listen to or on insulting any groups. Today is a day of praise, and for good reason. While we as Americans have some great bands, it’s important to expand your horizons. And I don’t think enough people listen to the great music from other nations such as Canada, Sweden and even Japan.

I think it’s about time to change all of that.

Don’t be appalled if you actually recognize some of these artists — many don’t. I know people who don’t even know who Johnny Cash is, let alone Radiohead. I’m also sure I left a few out on this list, but it’s up to you to catch on to these relatively popular names for these nations and then branch out. I also included some pivotal artists that everyone should know, and I hope you do. Here are some great bands from nations beyond just our borders:

Canada There’s more to this nation than just free health care and decriminalized marijuana. Not only did they give their citizens rights to download and share music online, but they also are home to bands that need recognition.

I strongly encourage those looking for great chill-out music to explore the likes of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and their side projects (A Silver, Mt Zion, Molasses, Exhaust, Set Fire to Flames, Valley of the Giants, and at least 10 more officially listed.) People often refer to this band as perfect sex and stoner music, but I prefer to use it for everything from meditation to writing papers. Their ambient sound, which builds to strong climaxes, makes it all worthwhile.

For the metalheads, there’s Voivod, the progenitors of what can be dubbed “space metal.” Futuristic sounds fill the landscapes that surround your ears, all while not defaming the name of metal. And Neil Pert was one of the best drummers ever in the seminal band Rush, and vocalist Geddy Lee was misinterpreted by casual listeners as a female!

Another band that comes to mind is the dancy Hot Hot Heat. They captivate listeners with a catchy sound that needs to be heard to be explained.

England I have to throw England into a separate category from Europe because the area is just that important!

England is home to some of the best rock the world has ever known. I don’t believe there is a single person on Earth who does not like or have teeming respect for The Beatles, arguably the greatest band of all time. And it’s impossible not to be a fan of The Clash and The Sex Pistols, of British punk in the ’70s and ’80s. And I have never met a person who couldn’t at least rattle off titles of songs by The Who, The Smiths or The Cure.

But there are other notables, such as Radiohead, which happens to be my favorite band of all time. It’s interesting to see that they used The Beatles formula, starting as a poppy band and then moving to experimentalism. Let’s just hope they stay together for a long, long time. Blur has also been a favorite, even through their constant ups and downs.

Coldplay has seen a lot of popularity over the years, but I also recommend to you listeners the Muse. A power-trio with some of the most gorgeous vocals ever recorded, they’re a severely underrated band that could fit in several genres.

Every metal fan should have at least owned or heard one Iron Maiden record. Bruce Dickinson has one of the greatest voices of all time for metal, and really helped establish all of those power metal singers that came after him.

If there’s any reason you haven’t heard idm (intelligent dance music) yet, just pop on some Aphex Twin or Squarepusher. In my opinion, these guys almost single-handedly made idm popular on the worldwide scale.

Finally, make sure you give a good listen to Massive Attack’s Mezzanine and Portishead’s Dummy, quite possibly the best “sexy” albums ever made. I’m sure you can draw your own conclusions as to why these trip-hop geniuses are ever so popular!

The rest of Europe Home to some of the best metal and hardcore from beyond our borders, Scandinavian nations have arguably the best metal out there. The “Gothenburg metal” scene contains favorites such as In Flames, At the Gates, Dark Tranquility and The Haunted.

The death metal scenes in nations such as Sweden are extremely popular thanks to labels such as Nuclear Blast. They’ve been paying homage to bands from around the world, including Sweden’s calculus metal thrashers Meshuggah, the gorgeously progressive Opeth (currently one of the finest metal bands on the planet) and even America’s Death, who were considered to be one of the prime innovators for the genre.

Sweden also housed important hardcore/punk outfit Refused, which would turn into the danceable mod rockers The (International Noise Conspiracy). But I strongly urge you to listen to Dublin’s My Bloody Valentine (R.I.P.) Loveless has been considered one of the best albums of all time, and for good reason. Their shoegaze sound really saw mass popularity after these guys hit the streets. And Kevin Shields eventually came back out to release new material for the amazingly gorgeous film “Lost in Translation” last year.

Other notables from Europe include Iceland’s Bjork, Sigur Ros and Mum.

Other areas I don’t want to spread myself too thin, nor make this column as long as an encyclopedia. I have to cut myself short, but here’s some more bands that you need to check out from around the world: Polysics (the Japanese equivalent of Devo), Sigh (Japanese death metal that mixes country, free jazz, reggae and more into their breakdowns), Melt Banana (Japanese spazzcore), Clann Zu (Australian indie rock with an Irish influence), Air (French electronica gurus), Bogdan Raczynski (Polish drill n’ bass/idm), Giardini di Miro (Italian spacey indie rock), and many more!

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with American music; in fact, I see great things on the horizon. But without these other trend-setting artists around the world, I don’t think we’d be in such luck as we are today.

Ciao, sayonara and goodbye for now.