Music from a Cold Climate: Canadian Ladies who can sing

I am not an audiophile, so I am writing this post for both you and me. I have spent a great deal of time scouring the interwebs looking for some new Canadian music by the ladies. Since, at BlogHer we are all about the 80’s. I like lots of different types of music, from folksy to rock me like a hurricane.

The first lady I came across was “Lenore” , just the one name. She is folksy, and I like it. There are several mp3 samples on her site, which is important to me when scanning for new music. This bit from her bio was funny:

“Her shoes suit her music!” That may sound odd, but Canadian singer/songwriter Lenore will tell you that she hears it all the time. Certainly, her red high-top runners evoke the sense of irreverent fun this fiery singer brings to her up-tempo high-energy performances. Her song topics and moods range from political to poignant with her trademark sense of humor apparent throughout.

Jennifer Lauren http://www.jenniferlauren.net/ is somewhere between folksy and pop and was easier on my lazy ears. A nice soft melodic voice, coffee with cream in the afternoon. She is available on iTunes and described as “country”. Ok, I am not the expert here, I defer to Apple. You can listen to samples of all her music on iTunes. Hurrah!

Although not a Canadian songstress, Regina Spektor was introduced to me by a BlogHer, while I was visiting her, and I am Canadian, see the connection there? Leah and Simon from a girl and a boy.com played her fantastic album while we were toodling around San Francisco getting a fabulous tour of the city. It was such a great time! But I am here to tell you to get yourself some Regina Spektor. Wonderful voice, thoughtful lyrics, and melodies I can wrap my head around.

Just as a point of order, I hate it when anyone calls a female singer a “song bird”, but that would just be me. I am not going to add Alanis Morrisette or Sarah Mclaughlan because if you don’t know them or don’t love them, I can’t help you. There is a lot of country music coming from Canada as well, but it just ain’t my thang.

Of course I have to promote a local to my city and a friend, Kat Danser . She is what I would classify as kick-ass blues. I mean, I don’t want to weep when I listen, and that is sort of the blues for me. I mean can you tap your toes to the Blues? Probably, again, I ain’t no expert. There is an excellent sample of a song called Big Beauty, which is fantastic. “I am the juiciest fruit that you may ever eat, cmon and take a bite and you will see I’m a big beauty.” Love it. Also, the website is groovy, which is just a bonus.

That was a brief tour of what I found in the last week or so. I know there is a lot more out there, I just have to keep my eyes and ears open.

www.jenandtonic.ca
contributing editor, World blogs :: Canada